@AIMR what a change to your yard. I hate taking down trees too, and I live in New England where trees take over as soon as you turn your back. @tendstowardschaos, living in chaos with kids takes fortitude and lots of wine. They love the adventure of it all and will also love their new ‘caves’. I send a bit of strength your way.
The dining room closet has now exploded all over the dining room and I am peeling off the wonderful badly installed old fake cedar closet contact paper. As with all peeling old wallpaper or such, some comes off easy, and some must be spoken to severely. A heat gun helps, but it is quite old stuff.
In the process I removed the internet line that is no longer needed, pulled it down to the basement, followed it to the other end of the house (not far really, it’s a small house), then had to go up and remove it from the router under the TV. It wasn’t even hooked up. I also discovered cat toys and dust and more old cable bits that were not in use.
One task always leads to another.
Back to peeling. Then sanding and painting. I’m using left over paint from the first color we tried in the bedroom. Maybe it won’t look so pink in the closet.
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
1785
You spoke a universal truth about home renovation projects…one leads to another!
Hardly anything is straight forward…always some weird thing that often makes you wonder what people were thinking when they did them! I often shake my head at what I find and ask rhetorically, “why?”
Your closet will be much neater and modern without the contact paper for sure!
They are leveling and filling in my yard today to prep for building the patio and retaining wall…the final measurement was 69 feet of wall! I picked out most of the materials today…it makes a difference seeing it all in person than from a presentation catalog!
I am very fortunate to be working with a female project manager–who crochets (bonus!)…she is great at describing and informing and not overly explaining simple concepts (like grade, etc.)…also, the owner of the company is very sensitive to staying on budget. We still are expected to go about 15% over budget due to final details like railings, lights, etc. So excited!
The boys’ rooms are just about done. The built-in cabinet drawers are getting painted, and so is the shelf for DS2’s closet. The closet organizers are arriving this week, along with the curtains, curtain hardware, and one of the rugs. The rug DS1 wants is backordered for three months. So, we just have to assemble and install all of that and they can get back to their spaces. But, now I have to go furniture shopping…with kids. Your sympathy is very appreciated.
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
1787
I do sympathize with you! But, what a great experience for you and your boys to select furniture they will grow up with. I have fond memories of my parents letting us pick out our bedroom furniture and sort of wish I still had my bookcase headboard!
What is the grey-blue color in the bedroom? It looks like it could work for the color I want the exterior of our house painted! The interior of our is Repose Grey by Sherwin Williams. It is lighter than what we want the darker part of the house to be. It will be a while until it warms up enough for the outside, but I am already collecting samples!
BTW–both bedrooms look so crisp and clean! Ready to personalize!
Update regarding my “sitting room”: I got battery operated sconces for Christmas and we just installed them last night. No cords! No electrical! They look so nice!!
And since they’re LED with a remote, you can change them different colors, brightness, and even “party mode” where they flash between all the colors.
I’ve slowly been working on this room. It’s awkward and has doors to the garage, the basement, and stairs to the back door. That being said, it is a transitional mess but I’m trying to make it purposeful. It has my part of my husband’s board game collection. It’s also JUST SO DARK, even with a window! Over the last couple months I have added an overhead light, two lamps, “candles,” and now the sconces.
11 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
1793
It looks like a lovely place to relax and read or craft!
I have been looking at how to add some lighting to a few places in our home as well. Do you keep the sconces on all the time? How long is each charge supposed to last? I do like that they are rechargeable, and not like the candles that need battery changes (and lithium batteries at that!)…
Lighting really does make a difference and you do need a lot from task to ambiance. You have done a nice job of getting all the lighting needs covered!
I gathered supplies tonight (in the garage, didn’t have to buy anything!) to hopefully get around to a little job with a lot of impact tomorrow - hang the big old antique spice rack in the kitchen. It’s not really antique, but it is solid wood and built to look like antique, by my grandfather who was a carpenter, probably some time between 1955 and 1975. It doesn’t really fit our style but it’s a family heirloom and it’s also just really super practical. Everything in our house that was made by my grandpa is just really solid and thought through.
The shelves of the spice rack are different sizes, they bottom shelves are very wide and they get more narrow towards the top, which means they fit many different sizes of spice jars. Our spice jars currently take up half a drawer. The original plan was to get the kitchen tiled and painted first, but we’ve pushed that back for a bit due to lack of energy. We’ve found “a guy” who served in the military with my cousin, is a carpenter but does all sorts of jobs. He’s going to build a ladder in my craft room, and if that goes well, we want him to build more things. I know he tiled my cousin’s kitchen, we have a couple more carpentry jobs for him to do and then we might ask him to do the kitchen. But it might be another year before that gets done, and in the mean time I need to those jars out of my kitchen drawer.
I gathered everything we needed - screws, plugs, drill bit, charged the batttery of our electric drill (brick wall). Mr. Imma really hates drilling anything, but this is a two-person job (the rack is massive) and he’s better at drilling than I am because he’s stronger. I know we’ll be very glad when it’s up!
Everything in the spice rack used to be in a drawer below, so we’ve freed up most of a drawer and reduced clutter by about 80%. This is now the most practical bit of the kitchen. In the drawers below are flatware, tea, coffee, open packages of our most used foods (such as rice and pasta) mixer and blender attachments, and all kitchen textiles - hand towels, tea towels and table cloths. This is where I make my coffee in the morning and prepare my lunch box.
13 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
1798
Looks not only functional, but pretty! Love the spice rack!
Thanks! I usually prefer furniture that’s a little less… frilly, but in furniture? Not sure what the word is. But it came from my grandma’s kitchen, that I spent half of my childhood in, watching her cook, so it does really remind me of her, and it does the job really well. My grandpa was a craftsman and he liked to show off his skills, so he didn’t make anything with clean and simple lines for himself.
I actually love it when there is a stand alone item that isn’t part of the decor and is obviously an heirloom or just a beloved object for whatever unknown reason. Those, you just know, are full of stories.
5 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
1802
I totally agree that a home needs personal items that weave a story of your life. Anyone can decorate with mass produced goods from stores, but to have things you collected or were passed down really add to your home and will spark interest from those whom you invite to your home.
I also love the charm of older things with newer, modern things. The contrast is delightful.
It’s a beautiful spice rack and its history makes it moreso. Is ‘ornate’ close to the word you’re looking for?
We managed to get the bare necessities back into DS2’s room yesterday.
Still working on DS1’s closet organizer. Realized that I should have bought curtain panels for the closet that were slightly longer than the curtains for the window (as those have to be above the baseboard heaters). So, we’re going to use the same panels in our room and take the shorter ones, and replace the too-short panels with longer ones. Measure twice…
