Growroom to guestroom

We are still mid-project on the kitchen cabinets and have other little projects in the back of our (my) mind but our current focus is the guestroom.  Since I'm working we have some more money coming in.  The last time I posted was around the time I was promoted and working 9  or 10 hour days.  After working all day I had zero interest in more than eating dinner with V and going for a walk and/or flopping on the couch.  I'm finally understand the processes in my job and have (sort of) learned to manage my time in a job where everything is urgent.  I was also keeping busy with my writing class and tried yoga.

This weekend I looked at paint colours and carpet samples and got a quote for new carpet to replace the current burned and stained one.  I want to go budget but even budget isn't cheap.

The room was a grow room and then a place for squatters before V bought it so the carpet is a mess. Our cats have also added some new puke stains to the mix.  I want a lighter carpet since the room is kind of dark but don't want it to get dirty.

 Worst blue paint.

 There's a 6th surfboard under the bed.

Stains, a cat on a garbage bag and a piece of wood covering a hole in the wall.  I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that.

Listening to:  6 mix with Grandmaster flash on BBC 6.

Get your paint on

Day 55

I stumbled across Lisa Congdon's blog again yesterday to browse the images of her project "365 days of hand lettering".  The first time I saw her art was in the SF shop Doe (sadly, now closed) where they had really pretty cards, housewares, jewelry and clothes.

I love looking at daily projects like this but never really do a little art project on a daily basis myself.  Do you?

Day 79

She and her friend are offering an online painting class and it's 100$!  I don't have a lot of cash to spare but thought that 100$ was a reasonable price for a 5 week online "class".  Each week you're given an assignment and then you post it to flickr.  It sounds like there are a couple relaxed online discussions too.  I think I'm going to sign up even though I can't paint.

I was trying to decide if 100$ on an online class was something that was reasonable for me right now and thought of what else I could frivolously spend 100$ on.  I scribbled a short list before falling asleep last night.

FUN and FRIVOLOUS!

1. A painting class.
2. A fancy dinner at home for 6 friends.
3. A really cute dress.
4. An overnight stay in a beach cottage.
5. A pair of concert tickets.

If you had 100$ to spend on something fun and frivolous, what would it be?

Have a great weekend!

Around the House

V was out of town this weekend and I surprised him by finishing the laundry room and hanging curtains, coat racks and blinds in the laundry room and in the kitchen.

Llorca supervised

I was so wishy washy about the curtains worrying that the print would be too busy, or too bold, or too bright so I went with sheer white with a chrysanthemum pattern on it.  

I cheated a little too.  I bought full length curtains and just hemmed them.  It ended up being cheaper than buying fancy fabric.

One of the rods is hung higher than the other because they wouldn't fit at the same level.  That's what I get for getting 3$ rods at Walmart.

Cut branches from the yard.

Hot buns

This book has been out for a couple of months but I just reserved it from the library.  I'm excited to read some of Hockney's quotes on creativity and art from the series of interviews.  Some of  his quotes over the years are highlighted here. 

If you're anywhere near London, why not check out his current exhibition?  There's a short interview on the main page about the enormous size of his "pictures" and how they likely wouldn't have even been painted had he not been approached by the gallery for this (current) exhibit.  Interesting!

Today I'll be doing some more painting of my own, of the un-creative variety; I want to finish painting the doors in the kitchen and the laundry room and then start on the window frames.  

I've been making the job easier by listening to a handful of shows on BBC Radio 1, including my usual listens to the Essential Mix, and Annie Mac's dance radio show.  Until yesterday I didn't know they had a dancehall show but they do!  All good painting music.

This photo looks like it could be from an anthropologie catalog:  

One old door, with a patch of vintage green paint: $1099.

I unscrewed a weird sliding lock from the pantry type door in the photo above yesterday so I could sand and repaint the door.  I uncovered a small patch of minty green paint underneath which appears to match the kitchen tile exactly.  I am really curious about what the kitchen has looked like through the years.  I've always though it would be a nice idea to have some sort of log somewhere about the different transformations houses have been through, throughout the years.  Our house was built in 1948.  Almost 65 years old!  How many families with different tastes have lived here before us?

Sung to the tune of "Neverending story"

Never ending kitchen projeeeect, aaaaa, aaaaa, aaaaaaa!
It's true.  The never ending kitchen project is still in progress.

This weekend I cleaned the walls, removed the crummy plastic blinds, hammered off old hardware, filled the holes with putty, taped off edges, covered the kitchen with plastic (again) and started painting the walls and the ceilings in the laundry room and kitchen.

I'm going to sew some curtains for the two windows in the back room to replace the yellowed mini blinds that were there before.  The door is also going to be painted white.  Maybe at some point we will replace the plastic edging nearest to the floor and also the floor itself.  In the past these rooms have been painted yellow, pink, green, and off white.  Imagine those colours with faux wood laminate.  Gross.

I'm going to be looking for curtain fabric to coordinate with this red and mint green tile that's in the kitchen and laundry room.

A few that have caught my eye;

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Any favourites?  I like 1, 3, and 4 the best, today at least. (All fabric by Amy Butler)

The cabinets in the laundry room used to be the same colour as the drawers and cabinets in the bottom of the kitchen.  Those will be painted at some point too.

Weekend manicure