Week 5 of the Challenge and still so much to do!

Well, another week has flown by in the six week challenge that I decided to participate in (what was I thinking????) over at Call It Home.

We did get a lot accomplished this week, but we still have

so much to do - and only a week to finish it up.

What did we get accomplished?

 1. We (meaning the hubs) got the trim up on the bead board wallpaper

 and everything painted.

2. We (meaning the hubs) made the headboard, stained it,

and cut in a special design.

 (can't wait to show you this - it is sooo cool!)

  Still have to install.

3. We (meaning me) made a subway art sign.

(another Pinterest inspiration)

4. We (meaning me) rearranged the furniture.

5. Spray painted picture frames and shelving.

I still have to do something with the window treatments.

I have an idea in mind and I hope to have them ready 

for the room reveal next week.

I was looking at some things the other day and realized that

I keep talking about this room being a guest room

and a nursery, but I have never shown you the 

"nursery" part of the room.

As you know, the entire room is being decorated around these two

watercolor painting that my friend Marsha Penn painted.

They are absolutely AMAZING!

Wish you could see them in person.

I knew that I wanted a new crib set for the new baby.

(When we were in our other house and Little Miss was a baby

we had a "jungle themed" nursery.)

That wasn't going to work in this house.

 While surfing on the Internet I found this 

crib set and knew it would be

perfect.

It really helped that Little Miss

loves

Nemo!

It all just came together.

(Oh, and before anyone says anything, 

yes I know that I have the crib bumper

upside down.  I'll fix it before the room reveal! LOL!)

I do have two different size Nemo's - I got the larger

one first, but they just seemed a little big.  So, I

ordered one a size smaller.

Then, I just had to get Flounder - even though he comes

from the movie

The Little Mermaid

he just went with the theme.

(Plus, I think he's cute!)

So, this is the nursery side of the room.

I think we will be able to get everything finished up this coming week

and be ready for the room reveal next week.

I'll work on the curtains, finish up the Subway art sign, and the 

hubs needs to finish up the headboard and get

it mounted.

Then there is the little decorating that needs to

be done!

Yep, it should be a busy weekend ahead, but am looking 

forward to showing you how everything

comes together!

Be sure to visit some of the other

great bloggers and see

their awesome rooms.

Here's the link:

http://www.callingithome.com/

Now, I'm off to take care of Little Miss!

See you next week!

Progress!

Good Morning everyone!

This is the fourth week of the six weeks challenge over at Calling It Home

(link: http://www.callingithome.com/)

Well, I think we have finally made some progress on the bedroom/nursery.

This week we hung the wallpaper (yeah!).

Oh my goodness - this was the EASIEST wallpaper I have EVER hung.

I can't believe we put off doing this for weeks thinking it was going to be difficult.

If you are looking for a bead board look and don't have the tools

 or the ability to put up "real" bead board

 I would recommend this wallpaper.

It gives the exact same look and

 is WAY easier to do.

Plus, it looks FABULOUS!

Now, we need to get the chair rail and paint. 

However, the paper needs to sit for several days before we paint

 to make sure it is really dry.  

I hope to do that this weekend -

maybe Sunday afternoon?

We shall see.

We have also been working on the windows.

Remember that material I ordered on OnLineFabrics.com?

Well, look what we did with it.

I still want to find some curtain panels

but so far I haven't been able to find what I want.

I might not be able to find them

before the end of the challenge - but I'm going to try.

If not, the shears looks okay for now.  

That is something else we will just have to "wing".

Dan even made them with a shelf so I can decorate

on top when we get to the decorating stage of the room.

Don't you just love Nemo?

(I'll post a tutorial on how we did the valances

 in a future post.)

So, that's what we have been doing this week.

I finally feel like we got something accomplished

this week after several weeks of 

detours.

Now, we're off to Lowe's to get the paint, chair rail, and some flowers for outside.

Have a super week!

Another detour

It just seem like I don't get to do what I think I'm going to do.

This is the third week of the one room challenge over

at Calling it Home.

I always have these great plans that just don't seem to happen.

Last week I planned on putting up the bead board wallpaper over the weekend.

Well, that didn't happen.

We did work in the room - 

I just didn't get done what I thought I would.

So, what did we do -
Well, 
how about some paint on the walls?

The room is now a nice soft blue.

That's all I was able to accomplish this week.

It's a beginning, isn't it?

Sure it is!


Let's see what I'm able to get done this weekend.

 If you want to check out all the
others who have accepted this challenge
(and probably get way more done than I am)
drop over to Calling it Home
and check them out.
http://www.callingithome.com/

See you next week!

Hugs -

Carol

Guess I should have talked to the hubs

This is the second week of the challenge over at
Calling it Home.

 


 If you read my post on Monday you saw that the hubs decided to work in the guest bathroom this week.  It is a project that we talked about working on, but I didn't think we were going to do it THIS week.

Guess I should have talked to him about the project I wanted/committed to do on the challenge - 
namely the guest bedroom!

Well, after a little talking on Sunday afternoon (in other words, my letting him in on my little commitment and all the different things I had in mind to complete in the next five weeks) - we are on the same page, and as soon as we finish the bathroom project we will jump on the bedroom.  We are sure we will be able to finish the bathroom this week - the second coat of paint is on the walls.  However, we still have to set the toilet - clean the room - and then do the pretty part.

While I might have lost a week or two on the challenge room I do have some things to show you and I'm sure I/we will get the 
room finished in the time frame.  

I have been picking up a few things in the last couple of months

 to use in the room.

One of my favorite stores in the whole wide world is Home Goods.
Love, Love, LOVE that store!  

I guess my hubs is very happy that the nearest store is almost two hours away.   Occasionally though he does humor me and we take a day trip down to Ft. Myers.  When I saw this comforter and pillow I knew it would work in the room.

  Saturday the hubs and I had to go into Sebring - 

he had to pick some stuff up at Lowes and I went to our local Marshalls.  I found these two baskets, the shelf, and the letter "L" on sale -  for less than $30 total!  

Not too shabby.

   I found the material online a couple of months ago 

at the Online Fabric Store.

I can't show you anything in the actual bedroom since

 the stuff from the bathroom is spread all

over the room.

We do have plans though.

 I have a big project I want to tackle this weekend.
I want to insert some "cottage/beach" vibe to the room.
I think the best way to do that is to 
add some beadboard.

I bought some "beadboard" wallpaper right after we moved into the house. 







 Originally, I wanted to use it in the bathroom that the hubs just painted, but he talked me out of it.  He insisted that it would just be too difficult to cut in around the towel rods, paper holder, and medicine cabinet - these things are mounted into the drywall and can not be removed like some can and this wallpaper is super thick and might be difficult to work with.  

However, I love the look of bead board. 

So, today I "suggested" that we use it in the bedroom instead.  He is agreeing under protest - his protest is, IF I don't like after we install it HE won't take it down.  HaHa!  Like that is going to happen.

So, my goal for the weekend is to get the wallpaper up and painted.  (Maybe the hubs will even get the chair rail hung for me.)  

 I think we can get it all done this weekend.

We'll see.

Next week, I'll have the beadboard up ready to show you (I hope)
and I'll work on a floorplan to show you 
what my ideas are.

If you get a chance, stop over at Call it Home and check out all the other amazing people who have taken on this challenge with me.
Here's the link:
http://www.callingithome.com/

Opps!

Looks like I have a puppy photo bombing. 

She just wanted to see what I'm up to with all this 
stuff on the floor.

You just can't get upset with this sweet little puppy.

Such a good little girl.

Have a great week!

Hugs -

Carol 

A little detour

Hi everyone!

I told you on Friday that I was going to do some Fall decorating this weekend - and I did.

But, I'm not going to share that today.

Instead I'll show you a little detour that we took.

As you know, I decided that I would participate in the "One Room Challenge" over at Calling It Home

(here's the link if you are interested in checking others out -

http://www.callingithome.com/)

I decided to do our guest bedroom/nursery - well, I guess that the hubs didn't get the memo.

I worked Saturday on getting the house decorated for Fall.

Spoiler alert - I really pared down this year.

Sunday was clean house day, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the house and found the guest BATHROOM completely torn apart - and everything from the bathroom in the guest bedroom.

And yes, that is a toilet sitting in the bathtub.

Now, don't get me wrong.  We have been talking every since we moved into the house about painting this bathroom - so, I'm not against him painting.  Let's just say that I was surprised that he decided to do it now.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, it isn't as easy as just going in and painting  the room.  

Oh, no.

Do you remember what the guest bathroom looked like when we bought the house?

Do you see that border?

Well, guess what it was hiding - the drywall tape was all messed up/missing and the hubs had to repair/replace it all the way around the room.

So, that took all day Sunday - repair, mudding, letting it dry, sand, second coat of drywall mud, letting it dry, and the final sanding.

Today, he did the first coat of paint.  

Now, why am I not helping?  

Well, remember we are keeping a 16 month old little one who would LOVE to help.  So, keeping Little Miss occupied is my way of helping.

Tomorrow, "we" will paint the final coat and then put the room back together.

  Wednesday I'll do an update on the "One Room Challenge".

And sometime I'll still show the Fall decorating!

Plus I can't wait to show you the porch.

So much to do and so little time.

See you soon!

Hugs -

Carol

One Room Challenge

Hello everyone!  

See, I told you I would be back today didn't I?  I've really been thinking and thinking about what to post about - I mean we have done some work around here - but not as much as I would have hoped for.

The last few days I've been scrolling the Internet looking for some "inspiration" and I've come across a challenge that I just MIGHT be able to complete.  It's called The One Room Challenge

 and it's over at Calling it Home (here is the link http://www.callingithome.com/).  

I mean we have just moved into the house, so it's not like there aren't rooms that need some help.  I'm just not sure which room I should tackle.

All the pictures I am going to show you today are ones that I took when we looked at the house back in December.  We closed on the house toward the end of March - so we have been here about, what six months?  There are some things that we have done and there are lots of other things that we want to do, but some of those things are going to require some construction work - and we aren't ready to do that yet.

I guess I could work on the Master Bedroom.

 Or, I could work on the Master Bathroom.

 But it's really small and doesn't really need THAT much work.

I could do the guest bathroom.

Or the laundry room.

Have so many plans for this room.

Then there is the kitchen.

We have already done some work there - so I don't think I  could do a six weeks challenge there.

We could do the family room.

We have done some work in this room - but this is also one of the rooms that we want to do some construction.  I'm not going to tell you what we have in mind - as that will spoil future posts, but just know that it will completely change the look of this room!

 Then there is the back yard.

You already know that we have done some

MAJOR work there, but I haven't shown you what we have done.

But, that wouldn't be fair to do a challenge on a space that is already complete.

So, I think that I will work on the Guest Bedroom/Nursery.

We have done very little in this room and I am really not happy with the way it looks.  

This room has to do double duty.

First it is the guest room, but every day it is Lorelai's room for her naps and diaper changes.  It will also be the new baby's room.  I really want it to look nice for our guests - but it also has to be practical to be used everyday by a sixteen month old and the newborn in December.

 (A little clarification for those that might be new to my blog - Lorelai is my first grand child and my daughter will deliver my second grand baby in December.  I keep "Little Miss" daily while her mom and dad work - and it looks like I will be keeping the new little one too!  Thus the need for a nursery along with the guest room.)

There are some things that I already am thinking about - I'll just have to convince the hubs that they are good ideas.  I know that I want to work on the window treatments and I think that I want to try a different room arrangement.  We have already talked about the hubs making a headboard for the bed and I have some ideas for some decorations that will work around the theme that I want to run.  I have these beautiful watercolor prints that my friend did that I want to use in the room - I think that will be a perfect theme for a guest room/nursery.

I hope that this room makeover is something that we can accomplish in the next six weeks.  Wish me luck as I have to also get the hubs on board.

  

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Oh, by the way - I have plans to do some fall decorating this weekend - check back next week to see what I get done!

Hugs -

Carol

I'm back!

Hello!

Remember me?

No?

Well, I am the one who used to post every single day.

Really, I did.

Notice the past tense?

Yep, seems like I have been a little AWOL - okay, a lot.

I have been thinking and thinking about posts.

I had all these great plans of joining the group of bloggers that post every single day for the entire month of October - but I just couldn't come up with a topic - so, once again - I chickened out.  (I thought about it last year too and didn't do it then either.) Monday, I went through all the links to bloggers that DID accept the challenge and only found about eight (out of hundreds - literally) that I thought would be of interest to me.  So, I bookmarked these sites and have been back to read the posts for the last three days.

Well, guess what - only TWO have posted every day for three days!

REALLY????  

Why join a challenge to post for 31 days if you aren't at least make an effort to do so?  I mean last year one post that I was reading stopped at about day 17 - but had done really well up till then.  All the others completed the challenge and I still follow all of them.  Many of these blogs are taking part in the challenge again this year - but since I already follow them they weren't included in my count above.  Maybe that is one of the reasons I didn't find as many new blogs to bookmark this year is. 

Anyway, I'm rambling.

I really am ready to come back and start reconnecting to those of you that still read this blog.  I'm sure it is not as many as it used to be - and that is okay.  I mean, I sorta deserted you didn't I - I sure can't blame you if you quit reading.

So, starting tomorrow, I'll be back with a post - something that we have done around here.  I really haven't show you guys that much of the new house.  I am ready to do regular posts - probably not every day, but regularly.

Now, just to absolutely make your day, I'll leave you with a picture of our Little Miss!

Hi Five!

Isn't she getting big?

Thanks for hanging in there and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Hugs -

Carol

P.S.  In case you are wondering - the challenge is called "31 Day Challenge"

 and here is the link to the hosting blog - she has the links to all the different categories and bloggers that are participating.  Check them out!

http://www.thenester.com/2013/09/welcome-to-31-days-2013.html