A new favourite...

I stumble across a lot of really beautiful blogs. They are gorgeous-to-the-misty-lighting-max. But when I stumbled across Pure Style Home, I was transfixed. This lady has my weird OCD thingy that makes her want to throw away her children's toys that are made of plastic. She loves her Mom and abhores *design snobbery*. And last but not least, not only did she do a beautiful makeover of her master bedroom she did 2 things in that room that make me want to meet and/or marry her immediately.

1) She installed a TV. period. I am sick to death of no TV's in the bedroom, we sleep with men y'all. Not only did she install a TV, she admits they don't have cable in there. Keep it real sister! I love to watch movies in bed when I'm sick too :)

2) She posted this picture.

Lauren, put the kettle on....

Visit her HERE

help me, I'm a thrifting idiot!

So I went to our local St. Vincent de Paul store on Saturday and the most gorgeous thing was laying upside down on a pile of the most hideous couches ever....this is as close as I can get to the desk I saw and yes it was solid teak (with no chair) with 3 small drawers on each side, a cubby secreted away in the back and a table surface that needs refinishing....

I walked away. Smug in my thinking $85.00 was WAY too much. OMG! I have now awoken from what apparently was some sort of fume-induced madness and know that those desks are HUNDREDS of dollars. It was still there today but they had no one to help me lug this thing into my van....

WAH!

I can only hope no one else in my town knows how awesome a deal this is and that I can convince someone to come and carry the other end tomorrow :(

Send thrifting vibes please!

Hang on to the rim! We're gonna flush this sucka.

Can I get a Halleluiah! The GULPER is in. Thank you “Lover”! Handyman Tom also managed to get the garage door opener installed partially as well. However, apparently I need an electrical outlet installed in the garage ceiling. Hmm. Go figure, now you want electricity too? Geez. Fine. It’s like he expects me to think these things through. Hello, have we just met?


He and Greg are working out which days this upcoming week they can start the laminate flooring in the family room level and then on to the MAIN EVENT. That damn wall. I am so going to be clicking pictures and dancing in the background to John Mellencamp’s Crumblin down….

Which you get to enjoy here.

When Greg and I originally bought the laminate at Home Depot (for a steal, I tell you patience really does pay) we were stoked that it matched our kitchen cabinets so perfectly. We bought 10 mm Kaindl “Savannah” , it’s gonna be so pretty.

Greg was so pleased with himself in finding the truest match that he started making noise about installing it himself. Today he called and asked if I wouldn’t enquire as to whether Tom could fit this into a few more rainy days (Greg would help, of course!). I told him I would still think he was sexy even if he needed help installing laminate floors. I’m sweet like that.

Toilet Humour

So we went to Home Depot. I am of course, describing Trip #1 this week....we've been back (a few times). OY!!!!! - see renovation posts droning on below as to how long my list is....

So, there we are, standing in the "fixtures" aisle. Looking at GULPERS. We are replacing the ridiculous low flow toilet in the main bath with an honest-to-God toilet. You know, the kind your Gramma still has. One that flushes more than a tsp of anything. Our handy friend (a.k.a. Home Depot employee - David) seemed completely befuddled and not only tried to talk me out of this but showed me about 6 toilets that are "water savers" and are more eco-friendly. We were not on the same page, dear reader.

Finally, I had to get my point across. I looked the man in the eye and said "I live with three men. They have man friends. They do not expell a tsp at a time. I want a toilet that could possibly suck out their innards if they sit too long while flushing. I want a toilet that when flushed will make my neighbour's water pressure plummet."

After he finished holding his knees, crying with laughter....we got our toilet. I cannot wait to flush it.

hello there, lover......

OK, he’s not my “lover”…..but he is my handyman. Tom is coming over tonight with his wacky but wonderful wife Christine to discuss the renovations! That’s right, blogland. Dharma has wrestled the cheap but very cheerful Greg to the ground and won the fight about the state of our house and how we don’t live in it. Seriously, this house was perfect when we bought it with a 3 and 9 year old but…..


Problem – We have 2 growing boys/ men. Our 8 year old Q is bursting at the seams in his 9 x 10 space. Toys are spilling out of his room regardless of his mother’s vain attempts at organizing rocks, lego, stuffed animals…he is getting too big for his twin bed too.

Solution One – completely finish our basement with a new laundry, TV room/ office and bedroom for 14 year old L. Cost = roughly $10,000. Greg just laughed, shook his head and walked out to the driveway to look up at the stars and ask God why he married me.

Dharma’s Solution Two – The upstairs area of our backsplit house has 3 bedrooms. Main bath on the extreme left. Q’s 9 x 10 prison on the left, an even tinier office 8 x 10 in the middle (not kidding, the builder must have had children who were never going to grow) and our “master bedroom” 12 x 14 which now houses the king sized bed and not much else.

Our bed is mission style and my Mother refers to our room as the “playpen” because literally the bed takes up the whole damn space….. Greg’s clothes and tallboy are in the middle office, nuff said.

So, after much measuring, we are blowing out the wall between the 2 small rooms to make one large master bedroom. We will give up the now-master to Q and L will stay in the large extra bedroom on the 3rd floor down……NO basement renovation.

We will still have the playpen effect as our bed is HUGE and will have to be in the smaller office but with the wall housing the two closets gone between the rooms we will have much more room to play with. 22‘ x 10’ to be exact. I’m pushing for a pocket door in the wall to the washroom so as to give this Momma some ensuite priveledge so she does not have to do the naked dash all the time. Wish me luck, I’ll be arm wrestling for it tonight.

Here is one of my bedroom inspirations from Young House Love’s House-Crashing:

Of course, you will have to be put through the whole process with me. I’d have it no other way. Why suffer alone, right? I’ve never renovated in my life. I prefer to move. Send prayers and patience please.
….and just think, once my room is done I get to do Q’s! I think I just heard Greg crying in the other room, I’ll be back.

Sometimes I wonder why....

I had sons. This has been a source of mystery for me for as long as I have been a mother. Everyone I know says "It makes sense that you had boys." I am not sure why this seems to make sense to everyone but me but it does, I guess.

This morning, Q asked why he could not have 4 double chocolate cookies for breakfast prior to school...and really, I couldn't come up with one good reason other than "I said so." Maybe this is how the sexes are seperated. By logic. They have their own version of it and in my house (me being the only female) and I have mine....

I'm still working this out. However, when I do play the "I said so." card this is usually the look I get.

The UGLIEST Dresser no more.....

So, you remember this chic, right?

Remember her having her mirrors removed? One of which turned into this?

Well....finally.....I got more than 20 minutes to get at this project so we went gung-ho this weekend my neice and I. I love Maya, she is such a partner in crime. :) Thanks for all your attention to nooks and crannies Miss M!

Let's get ready to rumble..............

First we primed the entire piece with Zinsser primer to cut some of the 30+ years of storage stench and vacuumed the whole piece out. Wiped down the drawers and emptied some Febreeze into the area.....Gramma was obviously a smoker :)

Then we painstakingly added 3 coats of Rustoleum's Heritage White...to all those detailed crannies.

I mentioned my lovely neice painting all the crannies right?

After sufficient drying time (DIYers = 30 minutes), we sprayed the knobs with Aqua Painter's Touch spraypaint by Rustoleum to match this little roadside attraction I had finished a month ago or so... they will be in the same familyroom. The dresser will be the new TV armoire once I get the flat screen mouted above it....projects, projects, projects.

So after much toil, this is the final product. You never see furniture with this kind of detail anymore....and maybe that's a good thing (LOL) but we're proud of it. I may soften the knob colour with a bit of silver to tone it down a tad but she turned out lovely. Just a quick final spray of clearcoat so that I can wipe it down (which in my house WILL happen) and we were finished. Now onto getting that flat screen TV mounted and getting this pretty sista in her new room!

Finally, she is completed. I'm kinda crushin' on her.