The Kitchen... Part 1

So I had started on the kitchen before I thought of the blog so I have no  before pictures. And it's not done yet so there are no after pictures either.

So even though I have no pictures to share at the moment I just wanted to make a... I guess I'll call it a rant post.  And here goes...

Since my mom lives with us I wanted her to feel like this is her home too. I mean she grew up here after all and has even more memories of this place then even I do. So I let her pick out the 'theme' of the kitchen and bathroom. And she chose... Apples/ Country for the kitchen and Sea Shells/ Beach for the bathroom. Now I am psyched about the bathroom but I LOATHE apples in the kitchen.

Ok I guess loathe is a bit strong but I grew up with an apple theme kitchen so I'm tired of it. But anyway now for my rant. My mom wanted to paint the soffits red and the rest of the walls yellow. I know that sounds like an odd combo but try and stay with me. She found the red she wanted on an idea card while we were paint shopping and I kind of pointed her to the yellow that was on the same card and recommended as the main room color. They look great together but we are doing the ceilings throughout the house in nano white by Behr.

I just finished the first coat on the soffits after I had just finished the ceilings and now I have spots of red on my ceilings. I bought an edger based on the recommendation of the wonderful people at Home Depot. IT SUCKS! At least for me and my shaky hands. If you are ever using a dark color close to a light color USE TAPE. I can't stress that enough. It will take more time but the results (and not wanting to bang your head against a soffit) are worth it.

The Boys Room

This room has served many purposes since this house was built. First it was my uncles room, then a spare bedroom, then my uncles room again when he came home from the Army, then a spare bedroom again when he was married, then my younger brothers room when he lived here for a while when he was a child, then an office, then my brothers room again when he moved back in here when my papa's memory started to go.

As you can see this room has had many faces in the almost 60 years it's been built. And now it's time for me to transform it into my boys room.

Here are the before pictures

It was in this room that I found out there are beautiful hardwood floors underneath that horrible carpet. This is also the room that I learned it is a VERY bad idea to varnish floors in the middle of winter when you can't open every single window in your home. The plan for this room is to do a Super Mario Brothers theme. Now we are a retro gamer family. So I wanted to do the room in a Super Mario Brothers 3 theme. The problem with that is there is nothing out there for that. So for now we have stickers up from Super Mario Brothers Wii. That is until I can find a talented friend that can draw me a mural that I can paint. Let me tell you it looks amazing in my head I just have to find someone who can take what's in my head and put it on that walls. 

Here is the 'almost finished' after:

I'm waiting until I have the whole home done to post pictures of everything totally finished. I will say that since this my 3 year old found a stray ink pen and had a drawing party on his walls. Oh how I wanted to strangle him when I saw this.

Happy Reno Adventures,

Clair

My Home Connection

The home I'm currently living in was once my Grammy and Papa's house. It has always been my rock in a stormy sea, my safe place, as Sheldon Cooper would say my point 0,0. I have memories in every nook and cranny of this house.

Just a few examples. I'm currently sitting on the couch in the living room and when I look to my left I can remember when I was a child the piano was still there. That is where I learned to read music, learned to play Doe a Deer (I don't think that is the real name of the song but it's from The Sound of Music), and where I would put on little shows for my papa singing songs like Deep and Wide complete with hand gestures. If I look to the forward right hand corner I remember when my grammy bought a treadmill because she saw on the news that walking every day is good for you. When I look at the back right hand corner I remember when our bed was there after my parent's got a divorce. The double bed my brother, mom, and I slept on for over a year and that I threw myself on when I got my first report card in 2nd grade because I had gotten a B.

Every singe room in this house is like that for me. And I love it. This home was built by my community. My papa, his dad, and a few neighbors literally built this house. Every nail and board was laid by someone in this community.

But anyway, what I am trying to do now is bring back this house in a way that would make my grammy and papa proud. I want a place where I can record the things I find and I'm sure there will be funny things along the way too.