painting

Making It Happen: The Other Girl’s Room

clothedwithjoy 1 Comment

mih ogr

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/(usually) weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

If you have been following along, you will know that within the last couple months our living space has doubled. This has added just a little bit more to my usual workload. Just kidding. This has added WAY MORE WORK to my usual workload. Honestly, it’s starting to wear on me – but the end is in sight. Hallelujah.

The good news is: I have really  buggy children who will BUG ME until I get stuff done – like their bedrooms.

OLIVE GREEN. That was the previous color – ugh. I lived in that olive green room for three years – not my choice. It is now mint chocolate chip green and Paris themed. One super cute eleven year old is just a teensy bit happy. OK, kidding again, she is ecstatic. In fact, I haven’t seen her since we finished the room on Saturday – I suppose she’s still up there reveling in her “private” space. I know she’s still alive because I periodically hear her yell, “GET OUT!” to one of her younger sisters who was apparently attempting to get in.

Char room 2 Char room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since my last Making it Happen post I’ve also: Moved into my bedroom, Almost got the new kitchen livable and Cleaned up and rearranged the “little” girls’ room. Now I just need to find enough time to actually work, build my business and earn enough $$ to hire a cleaning lady.

Amen.

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Making It Happen: Purple Room

clothedwithjoy 8 Comments

MIH PR

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects: Finish paint in both bedrooms. 1/2 DONE!

They found this (and the rot) when they tore out the steps. Now all my bedroom stuff in on a "back burning." w/e ;)

They found this (and the rot) when they tore out the steps. Now all my bedroom stuff in on a “back burner.”  House collapsing into the ground, every floor and door is uneven – w/e 😉

I am super close to having my 13 yr old daughter’s room done! Thanks to my wonderful SIL, J, we painted all day yesterday, then last night E and I cleaned the floor – WE ARE READY TO MOVE FURNITURE PEOPLE! Of course, I need the furniture mover guys… Well, my part is (mostly) done – a little window/door trim painting remains.  I also need the blinds put up, but when we tore out our back steps to replace them, we discovered that the back half of the 123 yr old house is standing on rotting something-or-others, so the hanging of the blinds is on the back burner. Sigh.

THE ROOM LAST WEEK (BEFORE)

ep2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER

eves room

This past week the amount of work left to do on the “new” portion of the house, on top of my regular duties, just seemed overwhelming. But some really wonderful things happened – like my children cleaning my entire house beautifully while I was out on Saturday night. Plus our family received ANOTHER blessing this week – but that deserves it’s own post…

Projects for this week:

Finish paint in my (new) bedroom!

 

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Making It Happen: The Girl’s Room

clothedwithjoy 1 Comment

mih gr

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

For the first time in my 13 1/2 year old’s life she is getting her very. own. bedroom. This is pretty exciting. I didn’t get to do the work on my bedroom this week (family in from AZ) or scrub the bathroom floor (dang it – I was looking forward to that…) – workmen still working in bathroom.

BUT I did get my girl’s room primed. It was work too. There was a lot of scrubbing and cleaning and wiping that went on even before the paint.

BEFORE

ep5 ep4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ep2

Taken during a break. Getting my prime on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is where you learn how cheap I am:

I’ve gone through 4 semi-used cans of primer that I’ve found in my house. They usually are separated and look pretty gross but I just mix them up and voila! Here is my technique:

ep3 ep1

 

Rusty & Dusty? No problem! Just wrap lip in tin foil. 😉

 

 

 

 

I also got gardening done this week – my squash is sprouting!

Projects for this week:

Finish paint in both bedrooms.

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Making It Happen: PAINTED BEDROOM

clothedwithjoy 3 Comments

MIH PBFact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

I’m expanding into the other half of our Victorian Home. I spent all day Saturday and half Sunday priming and painting the (previously) tan/maroon walls. (I’d Rather Be Blogging and I May Be Addicted)

r3

ew. ugly. 

bye bye.

 

 

 

 

 

wall1 wall 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bedroom walls are primed and the top is painted – all with paint I found around the house. Today, I bought the color for the paneling on the bottom – this room will be done this week!

wall 3

 

Bathroom tile floor. I will be on my hands and knees scrubbing this one. And the sink. And the radiator.

Deep breath.

 

 

 

 

Projects for this week:

More painting in my bedroom and the girl’s bedroom. If I scrub a floor – well, that would be cool too.

I am really thankful for great health – no back pain. I’m feeling good – I’ll keep plugging along. God is good.

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I May Be Addicted

clothedwithjoy 3 Comments

I may be addicted.

md2

I had a mini-“help”er.

I’ve spent eight+ hours over the past two days, basically this whole weekend, painting a bedroom. At 6:30 tonight I changed my paint-laden pants into a semi-clean skirt and took my daughter out to buy a bathing suit for tomorrow because the one she bought after church today, during the “entire family buys bathing suits after church extravaganza”, didn’t look right (to her). Of course, as soon as I reached the shopping center I realized it was Sunday and the shops would be closed by 6PM. It was 7:08PM. I promised the girl we would stop at the store on the way to the pool tomorrow and get her a suit, I sent her into the local ice cream parlor for a vanilla milkshake for dinner, swore her to secrecy since the sisters weren’t getting ice cream and came home.

Dishes need to be done, my house is trashed and all I really want to do is lay down and sleep. Or watch Signed, Sealed and Delivered, whichever comes first.

I think not.

I think not.

Before any of that could happen I was hugging my tearful seven year old whose heart was breaking because she didn’t get ice cream (somebody spilled the beans) and I smelled smoke on her hair. When I asked why she smelled like smoke she told me it was because there was smoke upstairs. Uh oh.

“Why does it smell like smoke upstairs?” I yelled up the steps.

My thirteen year old said it was the potatoes on the stove.

 

The boiling potatoes for the potato salad for tomorrow that I put on the stove. And forgot about.

This confirms that I really shouldn’t be allowed near kitchens or basically attempt to work at all for the rest of the night.

Yet here I am. 7:39PM on a Sunday night and I feel compelled to blog.

I wonder what disasters I’ll find when I read this post tomorrow…

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

 

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Making It Happen: EXPANSION

clothedwithjoy 3 Comments

mih exFact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

Clean up the new bedroom. DONE! Yesterday I got a little nervous because I couldn’t remember what the project was for this week. I shouldn’t have worried, I had already cleaned the bedroom. My brain knows me so well…

Before

house 2

 

 

After

Ex 1

Obviously, the doors are off on this huge closet that my German Grandparents had built into the room by their German carpenter buddy in the early 80’s. Part of me wishes it wasn’t there and I had the huge room in its original state, but, then again there really isn’t storage… I’m thinking of wallpapering the ugly doors or something.

Ex3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

house 3

Kitchen Floor Before

Ex5

After! (And I should be getting a new toilet installed asap)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ex2

 

 

I’m not giving myself any projects this week because I’m working around the clock on the “new” section as it is. Painting with the BFF is on the schedule for Saturday. I want to prime and paint my bedroom – going for these shades. 🙂 yes, I’m happy.

 

PS – I got my Gardening/Planting done this week as well.

PPS – My daughter keeps asking me why I’m taking so many naps lately… Uh…

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Joy Inducing

clothedwithjoy 6 Comments

The word is: Paint

I invested a lot of my High School years into art. I loved (still love) art. Yet, after four years I came to the sad conclusion that the internal creativeness that I believe is required for an artist to produce art was not present inside of me. I could imitate art but that wasn’t enough for me to consider pursuing it.

Twenty years later I discovered the key to unlocking the creativity in my heart. Repurposing.  I love to repurpose objects from the past and make them useful again for a new generation.

I’m a very practical person. I feel the most creative when my art can be used in some way. It’s why I love to bake and cook. Crochet. And especially create repurposed items to wear or for the home.

Recently I’ve been painting with my words. In the same way as the art I create with my hands, I want my words to be useful. To have purpose. I want the picture that I paint with my words to produce something in the reader. I want them to induce JOY.

Health

Healing

Laughter

Hope

Companionship

joy 2

I paint with my words.

 

5minutefriday

This post was written for 5 minute friday – click for link.

Making It Happen at Home – Episode 2

clothedwithjoy 12 Comments

making happen real

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For original post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Project.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

There is no one coming home.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

I’ve lived in this apartment for the last three years and it’s really only been over the past six months that I’ve started to feel like this is my home. (I briefly wrote about this in my post, Dwelling.)

Then, a recent post where I discussed my cleaning habits got me thinking that maybe what I need is motivation. Since no one is coming home to motivate me, dear readers, YOU have become my motivation. I plan to post two small home improvement projects that I would like to work on during the next week and then follow up with you next Wednesday to see if this kind of accountability works for me.

Project: Paint the Chifferobe. DONE! I did it!!

BEFORE                                                               AFTER

chif 2Chiffer DONE

PS – I Like my Christmas decorations on there…

Ewww – Remember this?                                                          Look at it now!

chif 1Chiff side by

This blog audience accountability thing seems to be working!

Project: Cut Quilting Blocks

The other thing I wanted to accomplish last week was to start cutting quilting blocks from vintage bed sheets I got from Goodwill. I didn’t need to make the whole quilt – I just wanted to start cutting out the blocks.

BEFORE                                                                 AFTER

Vintage fab 2quilting blocks 2

Three dozen blocks cut! I had to push to get this done last night – but – WE DID IT!

Thank You Blog Readers – this blog accountability thing works!

Projects for this week:

1. Make curtains for dining room

lace

These are nasty and gross.

I have the material, hooks, and double sided hem tape. I’m gonna do it!

2. Continue cutting quilting squares. (not too exciting – but let’s get this done!)

Thanks for being the person coming home – it’s working!  XO. Rebecca

Making It Happen at Home – Episode 1

clothedwithjoy 6 Comments

Make it happenFact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

There is no one coming home.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

I’ve lived in this apartment for the last three years and it’s really only been over the past six months that I’ve started to feel like this is my home. (I briefly wrote about this in my post, Dwelling.)

Then, a recent post where I discussed my cleaning habits got me thinking that maybe what I need is motivation. Since no one is coming home to motivate me, dear readers, YOU have become my motivation. I plan to post two small home improvement projects that I would like to work on during the next week and then follow up with you next Wednesday to see if this kind of accountability works for me.

Truthfully, it could totally fail. We experiment and see.

Project 1: Paint the Chifferobe.

chif 2

Ah, my pretty chifferobe.

Ready for the close-up?

chif 1

tisk tisk

In the early days when I moved here with a 2 year old there was a lot of drawing on the – everything. I’m hoping we’re finally past this stage.

I painted this chifferobe in the late 1990s – that was probably the last time it saw fresh paint. It’s time.

I have paint.

I have a brush.

I’m gonna do this.

Really.

Project 2: Cut Quilting Blocks

The other thing I want to accomplish this week is to start cutting quilting blocks from vintage bed sheets I got from Goodwill. I don’t need to make the whole quilt – I just want to start cutting out the blocks.

Vintage fab 2

These two small projects might not seem like much, but for a single mama of four children under the age of 13, who works & mothers full time, anything on top of feeding, cleaning, dishes, wash, grocery shopping, homework, pickups & dropoffs – plus the full time job is A LOT.

For example: It is presently 7:39 PM and I. Am. Brain. Dead. (and my back hurts)

I hope to come through for you beloved readers – I’ll let you know next week.