Kerst's room

I painted Kerst's room over a week ago. It was originally the builder's flat paint that was a peachy cream. (I am slow at posting - busy doing other stuff).

The silhouette on the door is of Kerst from his Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.

The trunk near the window is John's grandfather's when he immigrated to the United States.  It has his name on it!

I LOVE Craig's List. I found all of Kerst's furniture on there.

Mattress: $40 (pillow top, rarely used ... problem - drove home with it on the top of my van and the pillow top became fluffed up.)

Box Spring: Free. I covered the queen sized box spring with a full size flat sheet. It matches his fitted sheets perfectly. I dislike the box spring showing - and then not matching the sheets.

Dresser: $100

Sleigh Bed: $100 (I LOVE the lattice look!)

Total: $240 ... You can't beat that!!!

Now what to hang on the walls ... I love suggestions and ideas!

Kendall will take care of me. Maybe.

I painted the walls and ceilings in the Master Bedroom and the ceilings in the Master Bathroom (pictures to follow)! This took 4 days. I think I am very buff now maneuvering around John's "little giant" ladder to paint the high vaulted ceilings.

Kendall kept me company. He would hide under the covers on my bed. Every once in awhile he would say, "I love you Mom." But most of the time Kendall would tell me not to fall.

I told him he could catch me.

He said I was too big but I could land on the bed if I wanted to.

Takin' a break

I have been working. Really. Painting. Cleaning (a little).

I will share some of my favorite tools I discovered to paint tons of walls, too many high ceilings, etc - in another post.

Today, I am going to play with Jaley. She has a fieldtrip downtown. A scavenger hunt at a local street - a minature version of Michigan Ave. Whenever I go there I dream I am back in Chicago.

Privacy

The Master Bathroom is used by many. Since the basement isn't finished, we are missing some usable living space that we were accustomed to in the other house. We used every square inch there!

Jenna and Jaley don't have a room yet. They are sleeping in the unfinished basement ... surrounded by stuff that I still need to organize. Why can't I have 48 hours in a day? I could get so much more done ... maybe.

So, since they don't have a bathroom either, they use ours. We take shifts. The curtain I hung in the entry to the bathroom comes in very handy. We had another issue ... the shower door. No privacy.

In our other home, I had installed a film on the old windows to block out the heat when we first moved 2 1/2 years ago. It made a huge difference. We eventually replaced the windows this past March.

Since I was familiar with the product, I knew that they made privacy film too. Mirror. Stained glass. I found frosted. It worked out perfectly!

Before ... Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is painted a dark red/purple. Even the ceilings!

The color made the room small and dark. It also clashed with the Cherry Wood bedroom set John made when we were first married (yes, I married an amazing and talented guy!).

I love all of the windows ... and I LOVE white! I did these same curtains in the other house.

You will need to tilt your screen ... or your head ... you pick. I couldn't get these photos to load properly.

You can see the tall, painted ceilings. One of the master bedroom closets is located off of the bedroom - the other is in the bathroom. These closets are larger than Jaley's bedroom she had when we lived in Ohio (it only fit a rocking chair, her crib and a large doll house - the dresser went in her closet).

I still can't figure out why there are no doors that go to the Master Bathrooms. Once again, a curtain fixes that problem (a longer pole is waiting to be traded out so it fits better).

Once again, tilt your head or your screen. You choose. Here is the master bathroom. At least this color is more of my liking ... yet the ceilings are painted.

And what I am working on now ... stay tuned.

Hunter Green to Evergreen

The Study/Library in the new house is very spacious. I have the desk facing the window so that it looks out to the "front yard/driveway" ... I love sitting and looking out at the beautiful landscaping (which needs a little tlc).

This is the view from the desk:

This room is painted green. I love green. White and Green are my two favorite colors. This room was painted the wrong green. I learned from a friend (one of my visiting teachers) years ago about the importance of having rooms flow - paint colors. The main house color is a dark brown. The hunter green with the hint of blue clashed with the adjoining walls. Thankfully the ceiling colors worked in this room.

I worked on this room for several days. The ceilings are quite high so I took it in strides. I also cleaned the windows inside and out (I don't think they have been cleaned in years).

I LOVE the new color! It is amazing what a little hint of blue in the green does to the flow of the rooms in the house.

Now onto the next room ....

Great day. Terrible Day.

It was a great day 20 years ago today. I married my best friend. 9:10 a.m. was the time of our temple marriage. It was a great day. It still is a great day.

Yet ... it was a terrible day today because I was released from the best calling in the entire world ... Primary Chorister.

Great day. I love my best friend.

Terrible day. I will miss learning and teaching the simple truths of the true church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - through music to the sweet Primary children.

Gold No More

You wanted before and afters ... here you go!

The main floor 1/2 bathroom ... a large room. Large enough for a Christmas Tree in the corner ;o) !

The ceilings are gold (turned out cool in this picture with the flash - but they were really weird). The walls are red with a black wash on them. I actually really like the texture and the color on the walls in this bathroom. The gold ceiling really made the room dark. The kids refuse to go in this bathroom. Oh, and the previous owners swiped the mirror.

Before

After:

I found the mirror at Ross. It had some scratches on the frame so they gave me the mirror for $20! I touched up the scratches with a black sharpie ... you'd never know! The white ceiling really opened up the room.

Cream Puffs

I went to Sam's Club yesterday.

I love to eat all of the samples they offer throughout the store.

I haven't had samples since I started my diet in June.

I say I'm stubborn - sticking to my diet.

John says dedicated.

One of the samples being served were cream puffs.

A favorite of mine.

The server was a nice older gentleman.

He offered me one.

I told him no thanks, I can't eat them.

He replied, "Your figure would definitely allow for several."

That made me smile.

... Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels ...

A silver lining

John's Mom suggested to me to list the things I didn't like about the house I was leaving (to help me adjust to the idea of change). Yes, I had a list ... but I also had SO many things I loved that were hard to leave.

Now I am working on my list of what I love about the new house.

A list in progress:
1. The drive to where ever we are going is beautiful. (I went through a tank of gas driving the kids to and from school - 25 minutes away ... and some errands since I was out. I also started and completed a book on tape this week.)

2. The house is nestled down low and surrounded by mature pine trees. We don't have air conditioning at this new house ... and I see why. We cool off beautifully at night and the house stays very nice through the heat of the day. (Maybe that is because the ceilings are painted the same color as the dark walls ... hence a cave ... hence cool .... oh wait, this needs to be positive. I get to paint the two story ceilings throughout the main floor!)

Busy doesn't even describe it

This summer has had many twists and turns.

John found an investment property in mid-May. I didn't like it. I like where we lived. 3 minutes from the schools ... close to everything. New kitchen. New flooring. New windows. I love our home.

He put an offer down. So did two other people. Our offer wasn't accepted. Phew.

Fast forward three weeks. The realtor called. The financing fell through with the original people. John decided to low-ball the bank since I didn't want to move. The bank went down $1,000. John came up some when he found out that some work had been done and told them that this was his best and final offer. The bank came down another $1,000. Phew. John already gave them his best and final offer.

I get a call one afternoon while I was at the pool with the kids.

"They accepted my offer." Huh?

John played the game - he came up $1,000. The bank accepted it.

"The realtor is coming over tonight to look at the house. We are putting it up on the market on Friday."

I had 18 hours to purge and stage.

20 people came through during the first 2 weeks being on the market. 3 individuals wanted to purchased the house but had homes to sell as well.

John closed on the new house. We ended up finding a renter for our other home ... a great family.

So ... we have been moving (thanks to John's family and my sister-in-law Brooke). The home is nice. Needs some TLC ... and 2,600 square feet in the basement that needs to be finished. One of my big complaints ... 20 minutes from school ... ugh.