So what have I been working on since last Wednesday? I did wrap my bolsters in the black pillow ticking I found last week. I am so glad that is done - I have been looking for that fabric since January. I love my quilt even though it is a bit Victorian with the cabbage roses - but the colors are perfect and it's 100% cotton ands now that the bolsters are covered, it all came together nicely.
One rainy day I painted these little band boxes. They were too glossy, and not the colors I wanted for their new home. Before:
And after:
Why didn't I just leave them where they were? Well...... that's the big project I have been working on. We live in a home with a split entry as I have mentioned before. Behind my red door you can choose to go up 8 stairs to the main living level, or you can go down 5 stairs to another level. Down there is the large laundry room/ man bathroom , a walk in closet, the 2 car garage, and a family room.
The family room is pretty big. It spans the length of the house from the front windows to the patio out back and fills the entire space under the entire living room and dining room and even part of the kitchen. At one end there are two windows that look out onto my front garden and on the side wall, there is a great brick fireplace.
At the other end on one side is a 6 foot long bar, and at the back, sliders to the patio. When the kids were growing up, we lived down there. We went in and out the slider to the patio and pool we had out there. When we had large family gatherings, we would spread out down there. At Christmas, the stocking hung on the mantel. But once the kids got older and our parents aged, going down there and back upstairs for the meals during family gatherings was just too hard to do. We still used it as a TV room, that is until Jay came home from college to live and attend college nearby and we moved him and all his college gear, microwave, dorm refrig etc, down there. We took his former bedroom for our den/David's office. Jay bought his own house 4 years ago, and when he moved out, we moved Jen down there and I took her room as my office/craft room. Then early last fall Jen moved out and I finally did something I had wanted to do for 20 years. I painted some of the paneling. Yes, the room is covered in ugly 1975 paneling. DH loves it - UGH! I have hated since the day we moved into this house in May of 1986. And last fall I finally painted some of it. DH didn't want it all painted so I compromised.
But once I got things moved back in, I just hated the color. It read too yellow! This picture below shows both the wall I painted last fall and the original paneling I didn't touch last fall - all this is in the process of being painted. See that "molding" at the top - it is not even real molding. It is a piece of paneling set on an angle. YUCK! Now the builder of our home was not know to cut corners. Our home is not fancy but the original finishes were pretty decent. But that "trim" was just wrong
And I was just as wrong when I didn't paint that fake trim last fall. And I was just as wrong to not paint the full wall (even though DH said not to ) and I was just as wrong to not paint below the shelf (even though DH said not to ). But this time I have been painting ALL the paneling. The full wall behind the piano and the upper walls are Powell Buff from the historic collection of Benjamin Moore. It is perfect - warm without being yellow. The lower walls below the shelf are Wilmington Tan from the same collection. It is a work in progress but getting there.
*****I started writing this post earlier in the week and had anticipated updating it later today with current pics of the family room. I love being able to write when I have some time and set it to publish at a later time. That;s how I go so much of this post ready because unfortunately my beloved PC is acting up and all my pics are on it. It's backed up - PHEW - but I don't want to upload everything to hubby's desktop just to access my pics - I may be ordering a new computer later today. Sooo - I will have limited use of hubby's desktop in the next few days since he will be working from home and his laptop's docking station is right here too - so if I don't get a chance to visit my favorite blogs or answer your emails or comments, you'll know why!!
For those who are asking - no - I don't play the piano, DH did. He is classically trained and used to play for the kids and me all the time. We used to gather around it and sing Christmas Carols and we have song books with the music from a lot of great movies. But DH hasn't touched it in YEARS and the poor thing needs tuning and a lot of work but he insists we keep it, so we do. It's his house too so I'll humor him. And it is an antique after all. A Mason Hamlin from England - probably worth some money at one time.
So that's what I have been working on. How about you? GO on over to Leslie's and join in!
Until next time - hugs, Linda
