Dining

These are a few of my favorite rooms .

I have a complaint

Wake up .
Feed kids breakfast
Make lunch
Get kids off to school
Make coffee
Check google reader
Feed dogs
Feed frog
Pour coffee
Day officially begins
So my complaint is this , in what kind of a world do these two things happen on the same day? seriously I was reading google reader and Layla from The Lettered Cottage mentions how she picked daffodils for her mothers arrival , are you kidding me! My backyard is officially half way FULL of snow, the snow banks are at least 5-7 feet tall , it is near impossible to turn a corner on the streets because if the height of snow and someone's January day can start with daffodil picking , COME ON!
Just woke up to hear Buffalo is getting 18 more inches of snow by Tuesday , which means it will travel right over Lake Ontario and dump on us too . Of course Buffalo shuts down the city whenever there is a storm , cracks me up actually, they close daycares, schools churches , we close NOTHING , ok maybe the buses won't run , but everything is OPEN baby ! we are a hearty bunch us Canadian's.

That is enough that is my little rant , I have never seen this much snow , its getting to me.

Who know's what this is ??? ANYBODY? want to guess???????

A "whiteover"

A "whiteover" .
I did like the aqua color that I had painted about a year ago , but I tired of it quickly , it was too much of a good thing. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing , there is enough blue in that bath , the wall to the right of the sink is all blue glass.

Now do I paint that little green shelf ? Nah!

This is the reason that I decided to get rid of the aqua on the bathroom vanity, it is too close to my jam cupboard which I have not tired so it was an obvious choice paint the bathroom cabinet needed to go white. It's just paint. Although I have wondered whatthe jam cupboard would look like painted green .

So for the record this cabinet, that my husband and I bought with the remaining wedding gift money we received that was left over from our honeymoon which I still love , except I think I NEED to change those hinges , has been burgundy, I wanted cream way back when , but that was not the in thing, so I later painted it white , recently I painted it the Flik and Co. blue , it is a happy color isn't it ? But who's to say it is finished ?

To answer the burning how many coats did it take Question , well it took 6 coats , awful isn't it , but I can not tolerate streaks of uneven finishes , oh well it looks great now and it is worth the work to get a good finish . I should mention that these cabinets were the pinky pickled oak wood cabinets doors, which I choose to paint , I love wood painted doors .

White and worn - by chriskauf on Polyvore.com

How Many Did it Take ???

Over to the right I am going to put up a poll, I want to know how many coats of paint do you think it took to take this aqua bathroom cabinet to go from this to white ??

I am including primer in the coats count.

Keeping busy

I am feeling blue. Well not really , I have been painting blue though . I gave Sophie's be a fresh coat of soft blue. Sophie wanted me to paint her new dresser , however the finish was too nice to cover over so I went with painting the side table and bed.

I do not have the color that I have used , it was a gallon I picked up for $9.00 and it was a miss tint , it is a soft powdery blue with a touch of robin's egg blue.

More painting is going on today . I have decided to paint the kids cabinets white , I have over done it with the aqua colors , so it is time to temper them a little .

Here are a couple of close-ups of how I dealt with this angle and corner.

Here is how I finished off the end piece it is a 40 dgree cut. This is as detailed as I will get into this installation. I had no step by step directions to guide me through and since I will not be doing this again anywhere else in this house I can not show any more detail than I already have. Sorry.

My dumpster foot stool ,that is right dumpster, it wasn't inside though it was left beside the dumpster. I slipcovered it with some left over fabric I had from my drapes. I found this little foot stool in the dumpster area of a condo where we lived before we had Mason 10 years ago, it was covered in green vinyl, it was awful and rickety but I knew I could fix it up . The top floral piece is a separate slip .

Recessed panelling 101

Ok , so recessed panelling this is what this type of trim treatment is , because the centers are recessed . I have simply taken the wall and added MDF to it , really it is that easy ,most of the joints are butt joints, again easy .

I first removed the trim that was existing and replaced the baseboard with a flat baseboard of MDF , 5 1/2 inches wide. I then determine the height { I installed mine at 44 inches } and draw that around the room with either a laser level or a regular level. I then mark out were the vertical pieces will go and evenly space them out and trace their locations . They do not have to be exact same space on each wall as walls are all different widths , so it is done to visually be pleasing.

I then attach the top piece which is at least 4 inches wide but if I were to do it again I would do little larger maybe even 5 1/2 inch because the chair rail shrinks the look of the top piece and I like it too be a good width, the vertical pieces are 3 1/2 wide. I them took a trim piece of chair rail and attached it to the top of the top rail , then place in all of the vertical pieces , it is really that easy . I did use some latex adhesive which is a helpful item, then I used nails to secure all trim .

After this stage I then use latex caulking to fill in where the wall meets the wood and all joint seams, for a clean finish . Lastly I painted with 3 coats of white {your choice} in a semi gloss . I finished the baseboard with a sunstantial 1/4 round piece of trim .

Oh I should mention , I always countersink the nails and fill them with nail filler and sand them before painting , nothing looks worse than nails showing to ruin your hard work.

I don't know what is up with blogger , they layout has a mind of it's own . I wanted to give you a little tip that I came up with .
Although I am a huge fan of painting furniture but there is some upkeep that comes along with it , that I am fine with , but since I painted my dining room table I came up with a little problem solving step . I had a can of classic black polyshades stain /varathane , it is an oil product in satin , I decided to give the table top two coats of this oil to make it very hard wearing and extremely use able .
I feel much more at ease to allow use , of course I would have before , but now I don't worry about re-painting in the near future.


As I was snapping photos around the house for my short lived obsession with RMS I came up with a few new perspectives I liked.
See I was never competitive but for some reason I want to be in the top rated category , and I got it yesterday so I am done , over with it and obviously pathetic, and I apologize for that , let's chalk it up to hormones, trust me it's hormones, over 35 here it could even be peri M right . Fun , fun , fun , my poor family.


I love this shot into my bedroom , all it needs is a great wood floor , or maybe even a soft wool broadloom , I hate the thought of a noisy bedroom . No wonder it is still not done.

Since I am slowing down my interior improving , I am gonna need something else to blog about .

Is there anything you want to know , or ask , suggest for topic, feel free , give it to me.

Lowe's get 5 *****

Wow , that was a very fun little outing. I had heard Lowe's was great for lighting and boy were they right , I hit the mother load.

This light is so gorgeous , how can it be $33.~ ?



This gorgeous galvanized fixture would be amazing over a bathroom mirror, or outside as it is intended . $24.00

This vintage look bathroom light is $11.00 and has a pull chain , how charming .

This hurricane fixture is teeny tiny , perfect for a tight hallway.

I am mad crazy in love with these next two fixtures , and so affordable.

My wish list from Lowe's

-gorgeous mirrors for around $80.00

-lighting

-a new solid wood front door with a large window $700~ { I saw some for up to $4000~}

-the perfect bathroom faucet for $128~ x 2

-a hand held and height adjustable shower head for the girls , $80~

-crown moulding corners like I have seen on blogs but until now were unavailable $6~ each

I think that is it for now

Rate my Space

What is your experience with Rate My Space ?

I decided to put up some new photos , of my made over dining room , my daughter's room and today my living room , http://www.roomzaar.com/rate-my-space/Living-Rooms/Just-Beachy-Living-room/detail.esi?oid=5708703 here is my most recent attempt at Rate My Space.

I know it shouldn't matter what others think , but sometimes I feel like Rate My Space is used as Shred my Space , I like my readers here much better , you are all so kind. I get nice comments don't get me wrong, but if I don't like a space I just don't vote , I only vote for ones I like or love and there are lot's of them .

Sorry I haven't been posting , but as doctor ordered I have been resting my wrist and it is much much better . Everyone is feeling better today , thank goodness, cause I need my alone time , which I am enjoying right now.

I think I will go on out and check out Lowe's finally , I am pretty excited.

Tuesday January 20th

Today is a good day , I am thrilled to be watching history unfold.
How proud and happy I am to see this day , it is a real step in the right direction , for all you who were able to vote for soon to be President Obama I am so proud , of the progress of a nation .
There are good days ahead .

My thoughts are also with my husband's mother who is having a medical procedure done today. We hope to hear good news .

My poor daughter woke up with the stomach flu this morning and is feeling awful , I hope she is better soon as well . Thankfully no messes to clean up this time , phew!

Low Key weekend

This is my dog trying to relieve himself in back high snow , sorry for the bad quality photo, my flash obviously didn't work .

This is what we woke up to this Sunday , it snowed for 24 hours . I am so happy it happened on the weeken when my husband was home to help , with my wrist we would have been snowed in .

I think this table makeover is a hit , here is how it looks a little dressed up . I will need to get a protective cloth for when we use it though , don't want to damage it , I will still top coat it , but I am trying to rest my wrist ,and I have been doing that, which leaves me with little to do . Bummer for me.

Evidence that the housing market has all but collapsed, see this house , well I love this house , it has a fantastic floor plan and it would be a most wonderful house to live in { I would choose a different color scheme for the exterior}

Trouble with the house is well they have just slashed the price by nearly $100,000.00 GASP! sheer evidence things are bad . At this price I should snatch up my dream house right , NO because MY lovely home has been losing value by the day , I am disgusted at the list prices of houses in my area . {actually some are laughable , outrageous , some sellers are in complete denial and not listening to their agents , obviously }

GOOD thing though I am not temped at all , this house although perfect in every way , 4 bedroom , 4 bath , two car garage , 50 foot lot , well laid out , would never be my house , as I have promised not to move my children from the school they now attend. So although it is a deal and it is at the drywall stage waiting for all the finishes to be chosen , which would be the most fun part , it will stay vacant as it has for the last 7 months , unless someone finally sees its potential , the price reduction should help with that .



So how do things look in your area ? have you been following the price fluctuations ? I always do , I like to know what my house is worth on an ongoing basis , I am a bit of a real estate junkie , there are some deals to be scooped , but not by me , we will ride out this wave , no need to move , any moves will wait until things are looking up , and they will .

I have a TIP

Ok , I was so excited to go on a little outing with a girlfriend today , because Lowe's is opening and I was very eager to get inside and check it out for myself.
My plan was foiled around 3:30 am when my happy dog jumped on me, I obviously was annoyed but still amazed my dog has figured out how to open a closed door , damn lever handles, but it was because one of my children was up with the stomach flu, I guess Lowe's will have to wait.
So I am home cleaning the aftermath , one blanket is fit for the trash , there is no hope .
Funny how I was up and steam cleaning the rug after moving Mason into my room , and hubs was snoring away not hearing a thing , that will always shock me, I mean my steam cleaner is LOUD.

OK here comes my tip:

I was doing a little dusting and noticing the pads on the bottom of my dining chairs were rather dusty , so I used my sticky lint roller to clean off a few legs, which was a pain and it hurt my wrists , and then it occurred to me , rip a sheet off , place it under one leg at a time , voila the perfect way to clean the dusty glider pads on the legs of furniture , one sheet did 6 chairs.

Questions

The dining table was honey pine , I used a high adhesion primer {ZINSSER 123} which allows you to skip sanding, I then painted it with several coats of paint and finished it with a clear topcoat, I ALWAYS use latex paint , I decided to paint it black and since it was already in latex I simply wiped it down and painted it with Tremclad "BLACK" paint in latex I mixed some matte and some gloss that I had to get a satin finish , I will let it cure for several days before top coating it with varathane.
I am glad so many of you like the table makeover, I do too , but I also like white and cream painted furniture , I have painted many items white , and love the look of classic white cottage style painted pieces .
No I will not change the fabric , the fabric on the chairs is a gorgeous linen paisley and the bench is a soft grey linen , perfect as is , I think , I was just looking for contrast for the table.
I have been in many homes with dark furniture and dark floors and deep walls and solid fabrics and I find that mood is gloomy I need light spaces they affect my mood in a positive way . If there is not contrast between pieces a room feels boring to me or flat , I love pattern and mismatched furniture , no matching sets for me , I have collected loved pieces over time and my home reflects that .

I got a new table for FREE

The dining room is complete .

Ok well it feels like it was free , I love the cream colour of my harvest table and I think this is one of the nicest harvest tables out there , it has such pretty legs , not to bulky , but just right.
I have been thinking it blends a little too much with the trim work, and that the dining rooms I am drawn to ALWAYS have dark painted or very dark stained wood finishes . I have been thinking long and hard , every time I sit in the front parlor {I'm going to call it that from now on , that is what it said on the floor plans , it just sounds fancy, I think it's another word for small} to watch tv I look and imagine it dark .
My boredom made me do it , thank you boredom !
I did all the things that needed doing , laundry , dishes ,toilets , floors etc and there I was with a day to fill and my itch for new projects needing to be scratched , and I am so happy with the result , look it just stands so proud , like look at me and my pretty legs , doesn't it?
What do you think am I off my rocker???