Posts

Know thyself. Know thyself. Know thySELF!

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 Know thyself. Know thyself. Know thySELF! This is a humbling post, but also one that will tell of a lot of growth.  I posted earlier that I was working from a "mood board" for the first time, and it was like being a "real" blogger, etc.  making all my choices in advance and working through them like a plan.  Here's the problem: I don't work that way.  Every time I have tried, it goes badly, and then I forget that it doesn't work that way. I get carried away with making new and exciting choices and being 'bold'... but it just means i make increasingly bad choices.  What works for me, is making one choice at a time... *maybe* preconsidering the next one, but that's as far in advance as I can go. I have to see how each choice works with the previous ones.  I hope, by writing that, I will remember that I can only do work as myself.  And it has all worked out (except for the choices I haven't made yet).   Here's what happened. I chose my

Progress on Bedroom Project

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 I work really fast... sometimes I have to force myself to slow down so I don't A. spend too much $ B. Don't make mistakes or C. don't make a mess. (B and C are not mutually exclusive).  Some bloggers manage to project a calm and serene work pattern and beautifully update their story as they go.  I'm trying here.   First big part of the bedroom project was papering the ceiling!  Yes, I am addicted.  No, recovery is not progressing well.  There are 12 steps and NONE of them involved wallpaper!?  How did they think that would work? I kid, I kid. I'm not intentionally being insensitive to addiction issues.  Here's the paper I used, which i bought from Wallpaper Direct because they had a nicer price than amazon (where prices fluctuate)...  https://www.wallpaperdirect.com/us/products/anaglypta/deco-paradiso/110174  I love this paper, not only is it beautiful, it's a nice heavy paper so it's easy to get it smooth, compared to a papery paper (like what I used i
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 Next Project! I'm turning over a new leaf in pretending-to-be-a-house-blogger thing: I'm posting about a room project BEFORE I do it.  This is going to be fun!  I've now moved on to my own sleeping chamber... aka my bedroom.   Here's where we're starting:   My room faces east so it has fantastic light in the morning and actually most of the day. That's why i selected this as my sleeping chamber when I moved in despite it being the smaller of the extant bedrooms.  It's about 12x13.  The wall paint is Behr Nobility blue, and I love it. love. it's not going to change.  This is a very very saturated cobalt blue, with a lot of red in it, actually.  (i'm such a color snob. I'm very selective.) Here's a cool shot of pinterest using this exact color.  Notice how it responds to the two different light bulbs with completely different effects. Definitely, I will have to make sure that the lights in the room are cool colored.   Back to the room. I want
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 Progressive Dining! The center of tanglewood… the room with the most problems…. Is the dining room.   This is an update, but not at all a finished project. Why is this room the one with all the issues?   Because of the way the house was renovated, it is: the largest space, with sightlines into 5 other rooms (if the doors are opened, which they aren’t often because puppy). The wood floor had significant damages and scars from rennovations.  An open plan (not my favorite thing) room that flows right into the kitchen A large room with no exterior walls or windows…. i.e. it’s DARK, ·          So in this post, I’ll share some of the recent changes, but also mention some things I did before I started blogging.  The biggest recent and ongoing project has been the floor.  I have been doing the vinyl plank floor over the wood section by section as time and budget has allowed.  This month… I finished it!  I’ve gotten better at this, but it still has some challenges.  Because I’m
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  The story of the living room floor! Man, I am developing a deep relationship to this house... especially since I have adopted my dog, Bentley.  Not only am I systematically redecorating, thanks to Bentley....I have cleaned more of it more often than I have ever done before. Today, he *(note, not me... HE) tracked in dog poo and got it on the couch and floor. Just enough that i kept getting wiffs of it, until I found the paw prints.  So i laundered the couch cushions, and thoroughly swept, vacuumed, and mopped the room.  Which task was oddly satisfying.  And, it allowed me to play my favorite game: "House detective!" This is almost certainly the original floor from 1940. This area has been low income & blue collar for decades, only now are flippers and single white collar folks moving in with the money and interest to replace floors... and I haven’t. At some point, the living room was carpeted, you can see they left a clear spot by the door (now a window) and the old gas