Besotted Cottage

Ginger's Nightstand

2011-11-17T11:42:00.006-06:00

I scoured craigslist for a nightstand for Ginger's room. It had to be as tall as her desk (placed on the other side of her bed) so that the lamps on top of each would be symmetrical, without taking up much floor space in her rapidly crowding room. I never found what I was looking for, but I did find this "telephone table."

It was much too short for my plans, but I lucked out with these furniture feet from Lowes.

The table legs already had a hole for me to screw into, it just wasn't quite deep enough. I deepened the hole with the drill and screwed the feet in. So easy! I love it when my plans work out.

Here's the table after construction.

Then I wiped it with liquid deglosser and sprayed it with about ten coats of paint and clear coat. There really is a trick to spray painting, I think. If you paint too quickly, you get millions of tiny spots of paint which ends up looking matte, which is great if that's what you want, but I wanted it GLOSSY. If you paint too slowly, you get drips and pools. But at just the right speed there's enough wet paint in one place that it oozes together to make a uniform layer, and I think that's when the evenest, shiniest finish happens.

Lastly, I glued a seashell we brought back from the coast onto the drawer pull. It suits her.

The World's Largest Clothespin

2011-10-07T15:03:00.006-05:00

Big things are fun! Including these giant clothespins I found at Jo-anns (half off, woo-hoo!). What were they intended for? Paperweights? Gag gifts? I don't know. But I found the perfect use for them in my would-be artist daughter's room. I hope now to never again find her paintings Scotch taped to the walls.

I just predrilled a hole in the back, marking carefully so all the holes would be in the same place, lovely uniformity. Then slid a screw through a washer (screw head slightly too small) and screwed the clothes pins to the wall. I only happened to hit a stud once, so for most of them I screwed into a drywall screw pre-installed.

"Ginger. You. Are. My. Sunshine(Picture of sun shining)". Later realized, could also be read: "Ginger, you are my sun." Which sounds a lot more confusing than it looks.

Watch Where You Park That Thing

2011-08-15T14:17:00.012-05:00

Note to self: The next time you set up a painting operation on your husband's side of the garage, you should probably mention it to him. Particularly when it's low to the ground. It's no big deal, just get the word out. Otherwise he might run his car over the thing your trying to paint.

Twice.

Good thing that Play-Doh was there to cushion the blow!

Fortunately, since this bedframe is made out of something akin to tin-foil, it was easy to bend it back into shape. Both times. (Sorry, hon!)

I also painted over the gorgeous dark wood on Ginger's mirror, to help it blend in with the theme of her room. I was a little sad to do it, but I like it now that the room is coming together.

On both projects I first wiped the surface down with liquid deglosser. Or you could use liquid sandpaper. I think its the same thing. It helps the new paint bind to the old finish so you can skip the sanding/stripping and just get to the fun part! I didn't know if it would have any effect on the metal headboard, but I did it anyway. If nothing else it cleaned it up a bit, but I haven't had any problems with the paint coming off of that (I have tried to be gentle and not run any cars over it since its been painted).

Reversible Pillows - Why Not?

2011-07-28T20:12:00.012-05:00

If you've already spent three dog years making a reversible quilt (which if you do the math is one quilt for the price of two), you might as well keep going and make reversible pillows as well. I swear it will be a lot more fun.

First I started with the euro sham pillow covers for Ginger's bed in her all-new totally redesigned room. 2.0! I've never made mitered corners on a pillow before. I figured a fabric mitered corner would be way easier than a wood trim mitered corner. Hey, maybe there would be some ease? Or if all else failed I'd just iron out my mistakes? I tried to take advantage of both those cheats, but then realized that with fabric you also have to put the pieces together blindly. While they're inside out.

I was also working from a pattern for a 16" square pillow and trying to make it into a 20" square. I was never 100% sure of the algebra. Plus I enlarged the mitered border from 2 inches to 3. It was pretty tricky. So imagine my surprise, when the fidgety, amorphous blob I had been fighting with suddenly righted itself and became a pillow sham! Phew.

So THEN, I treated myself with a completely pattern-free, stream of conciousness kind of pillow that I had been dreaming of during Exhibit A{21st century forms of torture} up there. Using all the gorgeous fabrics I had left over from the quilt, and my favorite shape the rectangle, I made this pillow. It's strait-laced and sort of preppy on one side, and a rainbowed volume meter on the other. All wrapped up with jewelry-style beaded trim. My favorite part of her room so far.

And now, when Ginger makes her bed in the morning, she has some pretty fancy choices to make.

Finished!

2011-07-08T07:18:00.003-05:00

Ginger's quilt is finally done! My first and only (probably) quilt! Huu raa! And what's the first thing she wanted to do with it? Get snuggled! I love that girl. Initially the idea was to finish all of the individual pieces for her room in secret and then surprise the heck out of her with a giant reveal at the end. But come on, how can you work on a quilt for three months without having piles of work-in-progress laying around? I couldn't. So she's seen every inch of this thing progressing, and I think it's been exciting for her. "Look how big my quilt is now!"-kind of a thing. She was right there with me, cheering, as I hand-stitched the last few inches of binding. I don't think she could believe that it was actually, finally, all the way done.

There's one mistake, erm, what I mean to say is, of the many mistakes I made on this quilt, there's one pretty obvious one. If you enjoy Where's Waldo sorts of things, you might like trying to find the broken line where I accidentaly put Fabric A instead of B.

Halfway There

2011-03-08T13:03:00.003-06:00

Ginger's quilt (back) is halfway done. This is the "guest" or "grown-up" side that we can flip to when we have visitors staying in her room or when she acquires a taste for things less girly. She's not crazy about it. I love it, though. I wish it were destined for a little more playing time. The pattern is "Twisted" by Carolina Patchworks and the green fabric is Robert Kaufman Leaf from Night and Day 3.

The Past Two Months in Pictures

2011-03-06T10:32:00.006-06:00

Emergency Essentials has gotten a sweet lot of free ad space on this blog for the past two months. Let's see if I can finally get some new pictures up today.

This is what we've been up to:

Fancy hair-dos:

Encouraging sisterly affection:

Having our pictures taken:

Sewing a fancy coat:

Playing Ball:

Dressing-up and coordinating our outfits:

Fashioning a home-made projector of dubious quality:

And sewing my first big quilt...

Top

and bottom.

Pantry Shelf Riser

2010-11-16T13:49:00.013-06:00

Feeling overwhelmed has been my main project since we've been here. There's just so MUCH. So many blessings, such a great house, but also so much to DO. So much empty space I want to fill. So many things that need tweaking. Where can I possibly start? My mind is dreaming up floor plans, coming up with the perfect color palette for a bedroom, designing the ideal product to dispense canned goods from a cupboard and preparing to it whittle out of wood if nobody sells such a thing, while my hands are looking up and saying, "Cool it. I have enough to do down here."

But there is one thing that always gets me focused and on with it already, and that's Luke. All he has to say is, "What are we going to do about the pantry?" and then I've got a mission and someone I love who really wants this problem solved.

That's what happened here. The problem was that our big buckets for flour, sugar and rice didn't fit under the shelves in our new pantry. Which left us with a lot of wasted space under the shelf and not a lot of floor space anywhere else.

My solution was to stack trim pieces on top of the shelf supports, making a riser and giving the buckets the extra inch or so of clearance to slide under. That sentence was all you needed, right? You know exactly how to accomplish this project. Still, I know you're gonna LOVE the next 20 pictures...

For starters I had to take out the shelf. I thought when it didn't come out at the first tug that it might be nailed down. Fortunately it wasn't and the pry bar popped it right out. I didn't want to mess around picking out nails. Children will only nap for so long.

Then I needed to measure the length for the first piece of wood, the one that was going to sit along the back of the wall. You've heard the phrase, "Measure twice, cut once." But the best carpentry advice I've ever heard is, "Don't measure unless you have to." That's why I laid my wood alongside the shelf (which I know is the right size, because it already fits) and used it to make my cut line.

Whoa. Hold on. Before you make that cut, maybe you should vacuum out the miter saw. It's filthy.

Here's my first cut. By the way, this wood is poplar. All the home-improvement shows always say you should use poplar and the Home Depot here actually had some! I can see why they like it, it's strong and light and sands great. Not that I was doing a lot of sanding on this project. Unless you count rubbing your finger across a cut end to knock off the splinters.

Then I measured for the first side piece. I used that piece to mark for the next side piece.

It's already time to install my riser! Boy, that was quick. I marked my nail holes using the nail holes I could see in the existing shelf supports as my guide. I pre-drilled my nail holes part way because, hey, I don't know, I had some time to kill and I definitely didn't want this wood to split.

Since my side pieces were so small, there wasn't a stud here for me to nail into. Instead I toe-nailed it into the wood below. Why toe-nail, I wonder? When I associate that with a hammer, I get a very painful mental image.

All set! So then I put the shelf back in and spent the rest of my children's naps lounging carelessly on the couch with my Real Simple, right?

Except the second bin, on the side I never measured, got stuck. I guess I shouldn't have assumed that the shelf, the floor, or even God's Green Earth were level. A serious carpenter would never have made that mistake. But good thing I'm not a serious carpenter, because then I'd have been truckin' back to Home Depot for more wood.

Instead, I just hiked it up with scraps. Shims I cut as small and as uniformly as possible. I arranged the little cuties along the low side of my riser, and when a nail split the first one, I started gluing them in place. With Elmer's School Glue.

Then I finally put the shelf back in and slide the buckets under, for real this time.

And then the baby woke up. But look, even after all that finagling, my new shelf is kinda almost level.

Home Tour, 100% Furniture Free!

2010-10-27T19:27:00.007-05:00

The Kitchen. I love the big wrap-around bar where the girls eat their breakfast and where you can make a couple pizzas without getting (all the) flour on the floor. One side of the sink is humongous--it's perfect for soaking big casserole dishes and babies. But not at the same time. The pantry-esque thing in the middle is very cool, but quite deep. I'm trying to think of some creative ways to store cans in there so I don't have to try to reach all the way to the back.

Next to the kitchen is the breakfast nook. This is a very kid-friendly room. Maybe not so much kid-friendly as anti-adult. We don't have a table for this room yet and the light fixture is constantly threatening to bang heads. It makes a good skating rink when combined with socks.

Family Room. Ha! Just another room we walk through to get to more important places. This is about how much furniture it has. Someday we hope to (cough, buy a couch) mount the tv over the fireplace, thereby freeing up the living room to become the office. But until that day, the new frieze carpet super soft and comfortable. It's a great place for cartwheels.

The Dining Room. The swinging door to the kitchen reminds me of a restaurant. I really love that we can fit our WHOLE dining room table in it, with the leaf, enough to seat our family, my brother's family, and my dad on one occasion (with a few folding chairs and benches pulled up).

The Living Room. Currently being used as the TV room. It's in the front so when people come over, it's like, "Welcome to our home, would you care to watch some TV?" It's just right there.

The Master Bedroom. It has another window on the left wall that would be great as a reading nook with an armchair and an ottoman. Look for that Spring 2015!

The Master Bath. Huu raa! I love this room. It is so pretty. And it has a skylight! (So when I'm putting on my make-up, I can actually see what it looks like! Imagine that. I used to find out from my visor mirror (too late) that I had on way too much) One thing about this bathroom is that it doesn't have a tub. It's unusual but I'm okay with it, why do I want to sit there stewin' in my own filth? No offense, bath people. I'm glad the previous owners chose more important things to use square footage on, like closet space. Speaking of which, through the bathroom is the closet, where what I've always suspected became blindingly apparent. My husband has more clothes than me. Not just a little. Three times!

The Bonus Room/Play Room/Office/Sewing Room. With this room and the kitchen, we're set. This is where we spend all our time. And then when it's all a mess, we close the door. Another plus, the second staircase leads from this room down to the kitchen. Which means we can adjourn there for snacks without tromping through the hallway and waking up the baby.

Deck. We would love to someday have a covered deck or screened porch out here. We got used to that in Austin as the place you do all your finger painting and where you can grill even when its raining.

The Backyard. It's not huge, but it's private and has lots of soft grass for running around. Sadly, it doesn't look like my dream garden is going to happen here. I am planning to plant a peach tree in the front and do whatever I can in containers. Maybe I'll look into a community garden, too.

And there you have it! That's our new house and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

New Laundry Room

2010-10-08T19:58:00.002-05:00

Today was the day! We officially have a house! So far my favorite room is this one: the Laundry Room. I know you can't really tell what's going on in this picture, but I'm standing in the hallway looking at two doorways. One's for the laundry room and the other is for the backless closet next-door to the laundry room. My girls are in the laundry room peeking out through what I affectionately dubbed "The Laundry Store." Can't you just see those shelves filled with warm, freshly folded laundry. And a little bell. "Order up!"

Oh, and also there's a sink in there. And a great tile floor. And counter space. And a window! Laundry is going from worst to first for me!

Besotted Cottage is (finally) Moving!

2010-09-11T09:55:00.004-05:00

We have a contract! What a whirlwind! After selling house, finding a new house, losing that house because the seller's decided not to sell, moving to NC, offering on one house, offering on a second house, and offering again on the first house, all to no avail (and while living with very kind and patient relatives), we found this beauty. Four bedrooms plus bonus, new kitchen, 2 1/2 baths (all with granite countertops, what?), and an unfinished walk-up attic (project!). 2.9 miles from said relatives, in the most gorgeous town EVER. It's still another month until we close but it feels like finally we can start the countdown.

Sold!

2010-07-29T11:42:00.001-05:00

We're outta here! (Anybody want to watch my kids between now and next Saturday?)

Why You Shouldn't Take Your Kids to the Fabric Store

2010-07-11T21:46:00.002-05:00

Because you will end up sewing something with the words, "POSH POOCH" on it.

And something in a swirling pink concoction of hearts and butterflies.

Whether you like it or not.

Dishwasher

2010-05-16T20:44:00.005-05:00

Our lovely Besotted Cottage was built in 1983. My parents could have given it to me for my first birthday. I'm sure I asked for a house, but they probably purposely ignored me, assuming I'd get bored with it. Be that as it may, the point is, the house is old. I'm not. But it is.

As old as it is, I think the dishwasher's even older. It's like the guy who built it ran out of money and bought his grandfather's appliances.

Let's take a closer look: Do you like the helpful reminder to watch what you eat?--CALORIC. Right there in front. Every time you wash a dish. But by then it's too late. They should put it on the fridge.

Or how about the missing stoppers on the drawers? Or the rusty tines. Or the soap dispenser that doesn't dispense? Or here's one: the fact that it doesn't clean anything.

But the happy day has come at last, and we are now the proud owners of a new dishwasher. One that's sleek and stainless and that washes dishes! As I type, I'm listening to it cheerfully swish. Hooray! And hooray for the husband that put things in it and switched it on!

What's So Funny?

2010-04-11T11:30:00.004-05:00

I just love this picture.

Babymoon: Bathroom Shelf

2010-03-28T20:58:00.004-05:00

This project has been in the planning stages for a long time. When I framed the bathroom mirror more than a year ago and had leftover trim, I thought it would be great for making a shelf. But it wasn't until last month when Luke (whom I love because he is awesome and also because he folds the laundry) said something like "Where am I supposed to put all these towels!", that I was motivated to move things along.

Like I said, I already had the trim pieces for the shelf support, I got that at Home Depot, but last time I checked they didn't carry in anymore. The shelf itself is a stair tread. I wanted the edge of the shelf to be rounded, but I don't have a router or any way to do that myself, so I was glad I found it. It was about three feet long but I cut it down with my miter saw. I wish it was deeper, though. The back doesn't quite reach all the way to the wall. So I just caulked the gap. Caulk is my best friend.

Babymoon: Changing Table Storage

2010-03-21T20:44:00.005-05:00

What I've gathered from watching sit-coms is that the "babymoon" is a special trip a couple takes before the birth of their child--before all heck breaks loose--to celebrate and solidify their marriage against the coming storm. It's a good idea since for the next two months you won't actually have a marriage, just a contract with a co-worker to take turns sleepwalking while not breaking the baby. In any case, I've never had one. But I think there's a different, lesser, kind of babymoon we can talk about. This babymoon is the period when your infant is old enough to have a respectable sleep schedule and young enough that she is still sleeping almost all the time, in short Free Time. As in, "Ivy's cutting teeth; the babymoon is over."

Although I haven't been blogging much, I've been busy during this fabulous Babymoon of mine. First up, creating some extra storage in Ivy's dresser/media dresser/changing table.

I found some kind of ultra-thin (1/8th inch) plywood sheets at Home Depot, cut them to size, and fashioned them into fabric covered drawers to fill the spaces intended for DVD players in this dresser:

I wrapped the boards in fabric and left all the edges raw. Later I bound them with bias tape (that's what that's called, right?)

I ran out of fabric for the back.

All done!

Sweet girl!

Ivy's Here!

2010-01-03T14:13:00.005-06:00

Luke and I just got home from a super-fun getaway while Grandma watched the kids. We headed down to the Seton Southwest Resort and Spa at 1826 and 71. I present to you:

5 Reasons to take a Three-Day Vacation to the Hospital

5. The people at the hospital are so cheerful and confident, it will start to rub off on you, too! They'll tell you something momentous and life-altering will happen by noon, and by golly you'll believe them. And when it hasn't come by four, but still they doggedly confirm that yes! something truly special is just about to happen, you will still believe them. They're just that confident. When this miracle of miracles does in fact happen around six-ish, they'll smile so confidently in a way that shows they knew it all along.

4. If at some point your blood pressure drops abnormally they'll give you a neat-o drug called Ephedrine. It's just like having "six cups of coffee"! For someone who's never had one cup of coffee, its also like sticking two wet butter knives into an electrical socket.

3. Unlimited snacks! Sure, there's Gatorade and cookies, hot chocolate and jello, but don't forget why you came: Prune juice and sugar-free chocolate pudding. Speaking of food, there are more cheerful, confident people there who will bring you trays and trays of food labelled "High Fiber." Of course, you didn't even have to ask to be brought these. They just know this is exactly the kind of spinachy-beany-brown ricey food that you will love. Mmmm.

2. At the hospital they're are fun little machines and monitors with colored, flashing buttons. You'll be excited to explore, so go ahead, push some of those buttons. Just see what happens next! Maybe you'll find the button called "Nurse Call." You might find out that this single button does nothing at all. This might lead to a fun game for your husband where he gets to run out into the hall yelling "Nurse!" and then lots of people run after him and the first one to catch a baby wins!

And finally, the best reason to take a three-day vacation to the hospital:
1. They'll let you take one of these home as a souvenir!

Welcome Ivy Rose!

8 lbs, 11 oz

Black hair and dimples!

The Mermaids

2009-11-03T14:01:00.004-06:00

These costumes have been on my list for a while. Last Halloween, oh wait, sorry, TWO HALLOWEENS AGO I saw this blog post at Heather Bailey's site. I thought her interpretation of the Mermaid costume was genius: modest (read: no seashells), and a full skirt that doesn't impede movement. Of course, she just whipped hers out of her head. I had to ransack my pattern bins (oh, all you poor sweet dresses that will never be made) and schlep together something out of these two:

Plus a lot of ruffles around the arms and waist when it still seemed like they were hardly covered ("See girls, it's like you're swimming in the water."). I also added a bracelet to help hold up the tail, but when the little one wouldn't wear hers I whipped on an extra hook and wrapped her tail behind her. Around the time I finished the first bodice, I realized Ariel had ditched Prince Eric and was now pursuing a career as a majorette/figure skater/flamenco dancer ("so there is such a thing as too many sequins"). But hey, at least she's pretty.

And for the finishing touch, Seashell Bags for all the loot! Happy Halloween and whew!

Birthday Present

2009-10-19T20:55:00.003-05:00

It was a great birthday today! And what a surprise, I got a gift and a letter from none other than best-selling author of the Twilight series: Stephenie Meyer! I bet you guys didn't know I was friends with her. It was a little strange that the letter wasn't stamped or addressed (maybe she's in town?) and the handwriting looked exactly like my husband's...

Luke likes to write me messages from famous people on special occasions (I've had them from the casts of Lost and Alias and many personal notes from Santa over the years). It just shows you what an odd and sweet kind of guy he is. Here's what I got this time:

Dear Katie,
I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your loyalty as a fan. I understand that you are not only devoted to my work but also closely follow my recommendations! Your husband tells me that you are even entertained at times by my praise for other books, as with The Hunger Games. What an honor!

(Luke is teasing me here because I told him twice in one night about her review of Hunger Games: "I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished. I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it..." I only meant to compare how I also get quite anti-social for the sake of books, but he apparently thought I was just being redundant.)

I understand that it is your 27th birthday today. I hope you enjoy it! Perhaps you could celebrate by going to the movies to view New Moon! I know that you were critical of the 1st cinematic installment (to my chagrin), but I think you will be more pleased with this one. Please give it a shot – no need to invite your husband.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! You always look great in my opinion, but I know it’s always nice to have some extra clothes. Please accept the enclosed donation to that end. It may not seem like much coming from a multi-millionaire, but I hope that it will bring a little extra joy to your day.

Sincerely,
Stephenie Meyer

Silhouettes

2009-09-18T07:29:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to do this project for a while. I bought these frames with this in mind two years ago (which makes me think I must already have an "eternal perspective", at least when it comes to the urgency/non-urgency of getting things done). When I first starting doing silhouettes I would trace photos by hand, scan that into the computer, clean up the image in Paint, and then print. This time I downloaded a free trial of Adobe Illustrator, imported my images to that program and did the whole thing on the computer. Then I printed my silhouettes on scrapbooking paper. Illustrator is the program I used all through college. It's good but infuriatingly non-user friendly, or at least it feels that way for the girl who's forgotten everything she ever knew about it. There were two nights of banging my head on the screen, but eventually I re-learned the "pen tool."

12 Pairs

2009-09-09T11:56:00.003-05:00

Well, Halloween is coming and I'm excited to make some fabulous costumes this year! But first I had to make room in the closet for more fabric. I went a little flannel-happy last year at the day after Thanksgiving sales. I made 8 pairs out of what I bought then...and there was still a huge toppling mountain left over. And in addition to the flannel, I had some summer weight fabric in my stash (I was supposed to make summer play dresses, but I guess that ship has sailed) so I added that to the mix, and I ended up with 12 PAIRS OF PAJAMA PANTS!

And another girl on the way.

Am I going to be making 18 pairs next year?

My Kitchen!

2009-08-24T14:11:00.007-05:00

Here's what I've been working on for the last month or so. A kitchen overhaul, or maybe underhaul since it was really just paint and tile, but in any case Improvement.

Here's where we are now. I'm still thinking about adding hardware, and hey maybe I should paint the walls, but you get the picture. And I love it. Really, my life is so much better these days.

Here's where it all began. Sigh.

Step 1 along the way.

I decided to add some decorative trim (the lighter wood) to our sad, honey oak, plain-Jane cabinets. I'm so glad I did. I love the way it turned out. Plus, it was great practice with my miter saw. I think I'm in a much better position to do crown molding now. My precision has definitely improved.

But ugh! Why are there so many?! Seriously, our kitchen is the size of a lot of my friends' closets, but with every step of this process there seemed to be more cabinet doors. I've never been so glad to live in a tiny house than when it was 4 a.m. (and yet still 95 degrees in the garage) and I was just barely putting on the last piece of trim to the 18th cabinet door. More is not always better, believe me.

Oh yeah, there were these, too.

KILZ is the best primer in the world. I love it. The way it can cover up water stains, oil stains, whatever! is amazing. I think with careful planning and a lot of patience you could probably make a boat out of this stuff.

I love this little shelf I got at Pottery Barn. So simple, but so perfect in the way it puts salt and pepper exactly where a 5'4'' person can reach them.

The tile is Crema Marfil (3x6) and I got it at The Tile Guy here in Austin. It was a great store, big selection, and decent prices. But come on! Couldn't someone there have told me to seal the tile before I grouted it? They asked me twelve times if I was installing it myself! I didn't know it was an issue, but the tiles just sucked up that grout like a sponge. It wouldn't wash off! It took Luke and I three hours, two sanding sponges, and a chisel to get the grout off the face of the tile. A lot of the tile got stained, but oh well, it just looks "distressed" now.

I rented this wet saw from Sunbelt Rentals. Really nice people. The saw cut through my tiles like warm butter. Plus, the water splashing from the basin had a lovely cooling effect.

This was a fantastic tip from my mother-in-law. If you use a little wood glue and toothpicks, you can reuse the same screw holes when you're all done. That means no marking or measuring when you reinstall the cabinet doors. When the glue is dry you break off the toothpick and sand it down flat. Thank you, thank you. This was such a time-saver.

And here's another look. Thank you Luke for taking the kids down to Houston for the week so I could get this done!

Pop-Up Princesses

2009-07-29T20:14:00.006-05:00

I saw this project over at Ikat Bag and I thought it would be perfect for my girls. The princesses pop out of the castle whenever it's time to play, or when a suitable prince shows up. The peek-a-boo factor was a big hit with my youngest and the overall fanciness of this make-believe was great for my oldest.

But my girls were a little young for this. It turned into a lot of them sitting around eating crackers, and occasionally making important decisions as to hair/dress/castle colors, and then me scurrying off to execute those decisions before the little one had a total meltdown. It would have been great to have another pair of hands that were competant with scissors and glue. If we do it again I'll pre-cut everything.

We made a few modifications from the instructions I found. We used wooden heads and dowels instead of straws and foam cut-outs. Good thing since the pricesses were quickly cast as wicked stepsisters and knocked around in deserved punishment.

The fairy godmother I made went skirt-side out, upside-down and was recast as a feather duster. I wasn't gonna complain about that.

I found the instructions and great photos for this project here.

Luke's LOST Birthday Party

2009-05-06T20:17:00.010-05:00

My husband is a big LOST fan. He counts down the days to the season premieres starting at 9 pm the evening of the season finales. He doesn't know what he's going to do at the end of next season when the show retires for good. He quotes LOST blogs to me. But after planning and researching for his (what else?) LOST themed birthday party, I wouldn't say now that he's one of the biggest fans. He probably isn't even in the 95th percentile. There are some TRULY dedicated LOSTites out there, as you can see here, here and here.

We welcomed Luke to the island Dharma Initiative style. We were a little suspicious of him at first when his name wasn't on the manifests, but Juliette cleared that all up. His aptitude tests qualified him to work in security and he was issued a jumpsuit (t-shirt) to suit. We held a barbecue in honor of the new recruits. There was plenty of Dharma food.

My Dharma labels were all modified from labels I found online for other Dharma things, like beer, tuna chunks, and wheat crisps. I just did a little pasting in Word. You can see that our Dharma soda is a "barley flavored beverage" (on the back "may contain alcohol"). Also that our Dharma pickles are an "emulsified condiment". Dharma cereal is "fully hydrogenated." Those Dharma folks sure know how to make food sound good.

**On the other hand, Smitten Kitchen does a great job making food that sounds and taste great. I got all the recipes for the cake (vanilla buttermilk), filling (raspberry and white chocolate ganache), and cream cheese frosting off her blog.

Happy Birthday, Honey! You're the best thing on this island!

Small Victories (and Failures): Horseshoe Pit

2009-05-02T13:09:00.005-05:00

Two years ago around DH's birthday, my mom was here for a visit. For his gift, she made an awesome horseshoe pit in our backyard. I thought it had everything a perfect present should have. It was thoughtful, useful, personal, and homemade. We both really appreciated it.

But I was assisting on this project, and I didn't really think through the concrete process. So, after a lot of use that summer, and because of my misjudgment as to the concrete/water ratio(really, though, I blame the directions on the Quickrete bag--completely useless!) the concrete cracked and the pole fell out. Since then, it's still been a great sandbox for the girls, but that doesn't help DH much. Finally this spring, we got it back together again.

The first problem (after finding that darn pole that fell out 2 years ago) was the rust. I read somewhere that salt and lemons would get rust off, and it sort of worked. Maybe if I had kept at it more would have come off. Felicity was helping (and tasting and helping and tasting--you'd think once would be enough) and we did our best and then sprayed Rustoleum on it.

After learning from the mistakes of the previous pole installation, I decided we needed something to brace the pole and keep it in place, besides just concrete. So I drilled a hole in this plywood board:

Then we mixed the concrete. Ginger helped (and acted sous-photographer). Instead of looking for directions, I just mixed it like we did for tile mortar. I just stirred and added water until it was a thick paste that wouldn't drip off the end of a spoon. I put half in the hole, then the pole and the board, then more concrete to seal it up.

The other boards are holding the pole in position while it dries overnight. Interestingly, a competetive horseshoe pit's pole is not vertical. It's actually 3 inches off of vertical, pointing towards the thrower. Apparently this makes for more ringers, though not in my case. But oh well, if I can't make the ringer, at least I can make the horseshoe pit.

New Granite Countertops

2009-05-01T22:38:00.010-05:00

Here are some pictures from this week's Granite Countertops adventure. This is how our new countertop arrived.

This is where we started from. Goodbye, ugly old laminate. Won't miss ya.

Uh-oh. We ran into a problem trying to level the bar. Who knew there was a big old pipe in there, right where we were trying to cut down the drywall? A plumber came ASAP and told us it was just ventilation pipe. He cut it out and replaced it with a ventilation cap...hmmm. Are we really sure water isn't just going to come spurting out of that? Seriously? My fingers are crossed.

They cut the sink hole in the driveway. Right after I took this picture, it started pouring. I felt so bad for them in the rain. I almost thought it was going to shut down the whole project for the day, but they kept at it.

Here they are bring it in vee-eery carefully. They drilled the holes for the faucet after they installed it.

The new undermount sink. It's cavernous compared to the basin we had before. It's held in place with epoxy and silicone caulk. I was like, "are you kidding me? You're just gonna glue my sink in?" But that's how they do it.

All done! I was really impressed with Austin Granite Direct. The whole process was easy and fast and we love the way it turned out.

Visit to the Slab Yard

2009-04-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

We had a great time this morning at Architectural Granite & Marble (AG&M) picking out a slab…because…Besotted Cottage is getting granite countertops! Ooh, she's gonna be gorgeous. We spent last week getting estimates, and we decided to go with Austin Granite Direct. They have a lot of great reviews online, plus they lowered their price when we got a competing offer. So far they've been great to work with. But the slab yard was amazing. You can hardly believe something with so many crazy colors and patterns is just sitting down there underground. They all have these stickers on them, like "Made in Brazil" that made me laugh. Umm…I don't think anybody but God made these, but kudos for digging 'em up.

Here's Ginger in the slab yard. She's looking at this gigantic crane that's starting to come over our heads to pick up a slab so we can get a better look. I wish I had a picture of it. If any of you have boys who are into heavy machinery, this is something you've gotta see. It's wider than the entire yard, like an enormous rolling staple with a hook in the middle. It's operated by a guy with what must be the world's most powerful (surprisingly small) remote control.

We weren't in the market for any of the exotics, as beautiful as they were. But we found a great New Venetian Gold with a lot of whites and browns, and not so orangey as a lot of the others. I love it. Here she is:

Afterwards we had fun checking out the showroom. This place was fan-cy (by appointment only, thank you very much). You can see that we respect the rules of such an establishment:

Here are some other pictures from the showroom. I'm in love with the teeny tiny blue-green mosaic tiles and the 1'' travertine. Both of which got a thumbs down from DH. (If you want to pick the backsplash then you can learn how to tile, ha-HA.)

If you want to see more from AG&M, you can visit their website here.

Small Victories (and Failures): Attic Opening

2009-04-11T16:23:00.004-05:00

This is the opening that leads to our attic crawl space. We had a cover on it before, but it was too small. It left a 4 inch gap, and in the summer, I think it was letting a lot of heat get up there. Also, one of the trim pieces surrounding the hole was missing.

I found some replacement trim on the sidewalk because my neighbor was throwing hers out. Nice, huh? DH wants to move to a nicer neighborhood, yet we are the ones picking everyone else's junk (ahem, some trim, a rug, an end table, and a couch) off the curb and bringing it into our home. I'm not sure we belong in a nicer neighborhood.

It was great to use my compound miter saw again on the trim to make the 45 degree angles. The plywood cover was a simple couple of cuts with my Skil saw. Except that once I dropped the cut piece on my foot.

Now that the cover is bigger and fits right, it's harder to manoeuvre. I might add some handles to make it easier.

Small Victories (and Failures): Back Door

2009-04-11T16:04:00.005-05:00

This is the back door that leads out to the deck. There's a gap more than half an inch under the door, above the threshold. That gap is mostly covered by a rubber flap at the bottom of the door, but bugs and water sometimes get in. I thought I could build up a ridge of caulk along the threshold to fill the gap, but it didn't really work.

I ran a bead of caulk back and forth, on top of itself 5 or 6 times, but its a liquid so it just flattened and oozed all over. I should have taped it off. I should have let it cure between passes, but come on, it takes three days to cure. This is the door (with a deadbolt) that leads to the backyard (where I banish my kids). It's really annoying when I can't open it for that long.

It would be great if I could just find some kind of super-sticky weather-stripping. The kinds I've tried don't stay put. I don't know if I'm going to step up and fix this mess or just move along with my life. But I know which one I'm leaning towards.

Small Victories (and Failures): Under Sink

2009-04-11T15:55:00.003-05:00

This one was so gross. There must have been some old water damage before we came here, which caused the floor at the bottom of this cabinet to be sunken and unstable. Then the previous owners covered that damage with glued down linoleum squares. Then we had our own water damage, several times over the past three years. It is well within the realm of possibility that the stuff we found growing under that linoleum had been there for a decade. It was black, fuzzy and nasty.

When my daughters saw what I was doing (haphazardly pounding a hammer under the kitchen sink, apparently trying to destroy something), they were eager to help me out.

After we cleared out the mess, it wasn't hard to cut the plywood for a new floor. The old floor was very thin and fit snugly into grooves around the perimeter of the cabinet. My plywood was thick and wouldn't fit into the grooves, so I cut two pieces to act as supports along the sides. One large piece wouldn't have fit through the doors, so I sliced it in half to install it.

Small Victories (and Failures): Baseboard

2009-04-11T15:48:00.003-05:00

Wow. I can't believe how long this stinkin' baseboard took me. 2 and a half years. That's right.

The original baseboard was damaged when we moved in and we ripped it out. The wall stayed like that, devoid of a baseboard, for a year until my mom came to visit. She took matters into her own hands and got us a new one at Lowe's. It was the perfect length and even mitered at one end, exactly right. Soon after she left I attempted to nail it in place and found a stud literally 2 out of 20 times. I couldn't figure out why none of my nails ever seemed to make contact; so I gave up. And there it remained, a pock-marked and dinged up symbol of my failure, until last month. I yanked it out, removed the nails, filled the holes, painted it, bought 3'' nails (vs my previous 2 1/2 ''), and tried again. Success at last.

Small Victories (and Failures): Nursery Blowout

2009-04-11T15:43:00.006-05:00

This isn't about the typical "nursery blowout" that has been experienced in my home before. The parents will know what I mean.

In our house we have el cheapo hollow core doors. They're paper-thin and you can pretty much hear anything on the other side of the door as a result. What I was trying to do was fill the inside of the door with something to help soundproof my baby's room.

I considered a lot of fill options: sawdust, shredded paper, Styrofoam beads. I needed something both light and dense and that would fit through a small opening. Finally, I remembered Great Stuff spray foam. I love this stuff. It's been the solution to several problems at Besotted Cottage, and, like this project, none of those were recommended uses. It starts as a liquid, you spray it and it becomes a foam, then it expands and hardens. When its cured you can cut it, sand it, paint it, and its waterproof. It's great for insulating and filling gaps.

The only problem is that its difficult to know how big the foam is going to grow. I knew going in that if I used too much the door was going split its seams.

I drilled little holes on the inside edge and top and sprayed Great Stuff through the straw and into the door. I really had no idea how full it was getting so I just kept going until it seemed foolish to continue. Ah, too late. After a couple hours I returned and found I could look inside the door and see it full of all the (now hardened) foam because the inside panel was busted wide open. (I discovered this as I was proudly showing DH how I had not exploded the baby's door. Oh wait, I did.)

DH sighed and said, "I guess you have to take the good with the bad."

Not so bad as it turned out. To fix this blunder, I used a bread knife to hack out all the superfluous foam. Then I clamped and glued it shut. The duct tape was because I only had three clamps and I could have used about five. I wish I had a picture of the door busted open, it was pretty funny.

In retrospect, I should have used less foam, obviously. I was trying to distribute the foam evenly by spraying into all four holes that I drilled. But I should have left the top ones clear to allow the air to escape.

Small Victories (and Failures): Deck Fence

2009-04-11T15:35:00.004-05:00

Last year about this time we had a backyard visitor of the four-legged, marsupial kind; a possum, I think. And he wasn't the only one. The underside of our deck is cool, dark and dry. It's practically a wildlife refuge. Considering all the crumbs that get dropped between the cracks, its like a soup kitchen, too. We have rat poison out there, but I guess the dead ones aren't telling their friends because something keeps eating more, every month. And our pests bring their own pests: the jumping, blood-sucking, flea-ish kind. So here we have possums, rats, fleas...next stop Bubonic Plague. I had to do something about it.

I decided to put a fence around the bottom of the deck to keep out all these critters and their friends. My first thought was to use chicken wire, but I found this Hardware Cloth at Home Depot and liked that the openings were so much smaller. It's also lighter and easier to work with, but it seemed a little too flimsy on its own so I added the rocks around the bottom to hold it in place. I attached with with staples, then deck screws when I ran out, anything I had on hand.

On a related note, I never seem to run out of large stones in my yard. Last year I bordered a big flower bed with them and thought, "Well, that's the last of them." Then I started looking for a few for this project and obviously there were plenty. I found enough to do the entire perimeter. Now it really seems like all the rocks are gone, but I'm sure by next summer they will have multiplied again.

Dining Room Chairs

2009-02-17T19:30:00.003-06:00

We received some hand-me-down chairs from our in-laws which were a huge step up from our former combination of mismatched folding chairs and rickety antiques. I just got around to recovering them to match our house this week. Hooray!

I love this funky green paisley that I found on clearance at Joann's. The seat unscrews from the chair so all I had to do was staple the new fabric over the old. So easy. But I couldn't just leave things there, could I? No, I decided to add a cushion on top of the padded seat. Why? Because I saw it in a magazine and it looked cute, that's why. And also because I'm 5'4'' with the torso of an 8 year old. When I sit down to the table, I could bump my chin. I need a little extra height.

I had to make my own pattern. It was pretty straightforward except for the Velcro back. I wanted to make sure the cushion covers were removable (washable) so I added a little flap in the back to sew Velcro on. Once I figured that out (and went back to Joann's 3 times for more piping materials - how am I so bad at measuring?) it wasn't too bad. Now they're done, Scotch-guarded and ready for dinner.

The Hair-do That Nobody's Ever Seen Before

2009-02-17T19:19:00.002-06:00

I saw this random hair-do on one of my favorite blogs (HELLOmynameisHeather) and bribed Ginger to sit still for it. Pigtails and braids are great, but they can only take you so far--this 'do is made of knots. Which is her hair's natural state. You're supposed to use Trash Ties, which I don't have, but I'm really excited to get some. I think it turned out pretty cute and silly. Not your usual pig-tails.

Build and Grow Workshop

2009-02-15T12:18:00.003-06:00

I'm starting Ginger out right. With a teeny tiny hammer.

We went to the Valentine's Build and Grow workshop at Lowe's over the weekend. It was our first and it was AWESOME! And free! Ginger built a cute jewelry box and hammered all the nails herself; without hitting my fingers once. They gave us the materials, tools, candy, and a patch for completing the project. If we go next time we'll get an apron to sew the patch onto. What a sweet deal and a great hour spent with my daughter.

Unfortunately for Lowe's, Ginger told everyone she saw afterwards that she had made a jewelry box at Home Depot. I think its okay, though; this workshop was really popular. We got there on time and all the chairs were already taken. People started sitting on the floor, which is where we ended up. Thanks Lowe's! It was a lot of fun!

Garage Door Springs Repair

2009-02-12T19:20:00.005-06:00

Well, there's nothing pretty about this one. What happened was this: The girls and I came home and parked in the garage. As soon as I closed the door and started unloading them from the car I heard an enormous crash. It was so loud I thought Luke had come home and crashed his car into

the other side of the garage.

The true story was that one of the garage door springs broke. There are two springs per door and they help the motor lift it. The sound that I heard was the sound of the broken spring swinging down and hitting the inside of the garage door. Metal on metal.

We found out quickly that without springs, garage doors are REALLY heavy. We were running late for a party when this happened and the car was trapped. Luke had to hold the door up (and hold his breath) while I drove out.

We found out from the friendly folks at Home Depot that you should never replace just one spring (will cause a ratcheting effect when the door lifts) and that you must know how much your door weighs in order to buy new springs (if you get the wrong weight spring for the door, you'll burn out your motor). But finding out how much the garage door weighs is surprisingly easy: just put your bathroom scale under it. Wa-hoo. Ours weighed 100 lbs, and we needed to be within 15 pounds. The closest spring weight was 110 lbs. so that's what we got.

(The old springs. The one on the left is the broken one. You can see it doesn't have its loopy end anymore)

We made some mistakes while we tried to replace the springs, and now the right things to do seem really obvious. For instance, these are springs we're dealing with. When the door is down, the spring is stretched and taut and dangerous (if they break, or come unhooked). When the door is up the spring is relaxed, it's easy to work with (wait, wait, Physical Science 110 is coming back to me...something about kinetic, no potential? energy...maybe not).

We started removing the other spring, like they told us to, when the door was down. Luke's job was loosening the bolt that attached; my job was to hold on the spring to slow it down and keep it from flying across the garage. I'm standing there holding this stretched out spring, thinking "What is going to happen? This thing is gonna kill me when it goes!" Then I realized, "Hold on, I don't have to die, we could just lift the door up (thus shrinking the spring back to its relaxed state)." Whew!

So we opened the door, but we had to find something to prop it open with while we worked. Like a box spring. And the case for an electric sander. Hey, we're not picky.

New springs nowadays come with a safety cable that runs through the center of the spring; so if it breaks again, the spring won't come crashing down. The cable will catch it instead. It was hard to figure out where I was supposed to attach the cable, but I think we achieved at least a reasonable facsimile of correctness. And the door opens now!

Funny story: At one point we had our old car inside the garage on the broken garage door's side. Normally it lives on the other side, but we switched them because we needed to be able to get the good car in and out easily. But the old car died, inside the garage, while the door was broken. It was a Catch-22. We couldn't fix the garage door unless we got the car out of the way, and we couldn't get the car out of the way unless we fixed the garage door. Eventually we used the propping method while I steered and Luke pushed the car out onto the driveway. It was a pretty sketchy plan (considering the likelihood of the car knocking down the prop on its way out and crashing down on my husband) but it got the job done.

(Two new springs installed. You can see the safety cables running out of them in to the left)

2009-01-27T21:20:00.005-06:00

The girls and I just got back from Ohio. We went out there for two and a half weeks to help out my parents with a few projects--mostly flooring. We brought back stomach flu, but that's another story.

My main purpose, I thought, was to lay tile in the entryway. There was a pipe that burst near there a few years ago and some flooding. They ripped up the carpet and its been sporting some very retro linoleum while my mom decided what she wanted to put there. Finally it's time had come. But then, the day before I arrived, she called and said, "Well, I've got all the carpet ripped up in the dining room and living room, too!" So you see this Project Monster phenomenon is not just me. Others people's projects multiply until they seem to consume the entire house, too. So there. And, hurrah!, it meant I got to learn how to put down a floating floor.

We bought this Kahrs flooring from a tiny little local store there in Enon, OH (pop. 3000). It's an engineered hardwood that interlocks without any glue or nails. I was skeptical of the store and wanted to go somewhere more established, like Lowes or Home Depot, thinking we could get something similar for a better price. I could not have been more wrong. The floor we got was mid-range price, nothing extravagant, and it was far superior to more expensive options at either Lowes or HD. Twice as thick, with wider and longer planks. It was really beautiful and easy to work with.

Plus, the owner of this little store, Stacy's Flooring, was amazingly helpful. He answered questions over the phone, came by the house and personally measured all of the transition strips we would need, let us borrow his wet saw when it came time for tile, gave us discounts, and threw in a free bucket of grout. I think he was really intrigued that these two ladies were attempting all these projects. Maybe he thought he'd better stand by in case we needed rescuing, but in any case he was our hero.

All in all, we laid 850 sq feet of wood floor, 70 sq feet of tile, ripped out all the baseboards (sanded, repaired, repainted) and put them back again, took out three light fixtures and replaced two (third one arrived broken...but we didn't know until after we had hooked it up-argh!) and went through 6 gallons of paint. All during naptime and after the kids went to bed!

Before.

Can you see that awesome linoleum?

We put the table saw and the wet saw in the garage where it was only slightly warmer than the outside 6 degrees. We had to put a space heater out there just to keep the water in the reservoir from freezing. I wished it had kept us warm, too. We did all these projects with parkas ON. January is not the best month for remodeling.

100 sq ft of hallway took longer than 750 sq feet of living and dining room. So many crazy corners.

Dad got us this Paslode Cordless 16 Gauge Angled Finish Nailer for the trim. No cords, no hoses, no compressor. It has a gas canister as well as a battery and it makes a tiny explosion inside to drive the nail. So cool.

All in all it was a great trip. We got a lot done, I learned a lot of new things and the girls had a blast in a place with "actual winter." Thanks for having us, Mom!

Compound Miter Saw for Christmas

2009-01-26T20:07:00.008-06:00

I got the best Christmas present ever this year: a compound miter saw! Thank you, DH! This is me making my very first cut and I'm terrified. Compound miter saws are great for finish work like cutting crown molding because they can cut angles in a vertical plane (bevel) and a horizontal plane (miter). We're debating whether or not I'm allowed to put up crown molding.

(As an aside, when we first bought the house, I presented DH with a 3-page list of all the things I thought needed to be done to it. He was frustratingly non-committal. Pressing him, I said, "Are we on the same page here?" And then he zinged me with one of his Top 3 Best Lines of All Time: "We're in the same book."

Soon after, for his birthday, I gave him a coupon for a Line Item Veto. It gives him the right to veto one house project without any debate from me whatsoever. But only one. And when it's gone, it's gone. So now he's always holding it over me whenever I start talking about crown molding or hardwood floors. But, of course, then I remind him about some other thing he might wished he had saved it for. Like an addition...)

But the first thing I've done with the saw is make a frame for the mirror in the hall bathroom. It was pretty simple, just a bunch of 45 degree miter cuts, and it looks so much better in there.

I stuck the frame on with Gorilla Glue. I'd never used it before. It expands 200-400% percent as it cures. And it takes 2 hours until it sets. So I was sort of frantic after I put the pieces up and they're sliding around and glue is seeping out and hardening everywhere. I had no way to brace it! You can see I had to get creative with tape and Church manuals and a rolling pin (what was that for, I wonder?) ...

Ta-Da! Just waiting on paint.

Evolution of my Walls

2009-01-25T21:04:00.003-06:00

The hall bathroom project is nearing completion, and as I looked around for the pictures I had taken along the way, I realized this project has taken WAY too long. I had to sift through 8 months of photos before I found the "before" ones. Can that be right? Sheesh. But here they are, my walls, tamed from sticky-outy and make you bleed-able to slick and smooth:

Before. First, I scraped off the high points with a putty knife, then sanded the walls with my electric sander. Very dusty.

Sanding only took me half-way so I covered all the walls with joint compound, sanded them with sanding mesh and then again with a damp rag.

Touch-up and priming.

I glued this outside corner piece on because joint compound is not the strongest stuff-I didn't want it to get dinged up.

After. Finally, I painted (Glidden "Goodnight, Moon"), caulked the shower side and installed the hook. Hurrah! (I'm thinking about putting a second hook lower down for the girls to use. Will that just look weird and get in the way? Any thoughts?)

Does This Count for Anything?

2008-10-31T11:19:00.004-05:00

The kiddos have been sick this week and with all the vomit, I didn't think we needed to add pumpkin goop to the mix. This may be the first year in my life I have not carved a jack-o-lantern. Oh well. But here's a nice photo that captures true Austin life: green tomatoes on Halloween. I got nothing, NOTHING, from these plants all summer, but here it is, October 31st and these little guys are just starting out. Is that a trick or a treat?

Master Bedroom Painting Project

2008-10-10T16:15:00.006-05:00

DH was a dear last weekend and took the girls down to Houston so I could have some serious Project Time all to myself. I decided to paint our bedroom. It has been waiting SO long. You can see the original color here and the vestiges of the popcorn ceiling removal project.

I armed myself with books on cd: Pride and Prejudice, Each Little Bird That Sings, and Heidi--you know, so'd I'd be all pumped up.

First I sanded and scraped off old paint drips from the trim. I used a utility knife to scrape off some kind of caulk that was in there and I used a nail set to hammer back in some protruding nails. I love this picture because you can actually see the color the wall is, the color the trim is, the color the wall used to be, and the color the trim used to be. Yikes.

Probably you people are much smarter than me, but I used to be very daunted about painting baseboard trim when the floor is carpeted. I thought it couldn't be done without getting paint on the carpet. But I learned a little trick using some kind of rubber scraper thingy. I don't even know what the tool is supposed to be for, but it's perfect for this project because you can hammer the tape way down into the seam without ripping the tape. When you get the tape that far down, even if it does leak through, you'll never see it. Plus, when you pull the tape up, all kinds of dust and old bits of things comes along with it and you'll feel very tidy afterwards.

After I painted the trim I had to tape it off so I could paint the walls. And now let me get a show of hands: has anyone out there ever, EVER gotten through a painting project without some paint leaking through their blue painter's tape and some highly visible place? That always happens to me, so I love, love, love this trick I learned about the last time I painted a room. It's totally fool-proof. Here's what you do: after you tape off what you're trying to not get paint on (in my case the trim), you paint a line on top of the tape in the same color as what you're trying to protect (in my case white, the same paint I used on the trim). This completely seals off the area and if any paint from that small line seeps through, hey it matches and you'll never see it. I've never gotten such a crisp finish as I have by doing this. And I noticed during this project that the glossier the paint, the better it can seal out the other paint.

And then I primed and painted the walls. And ran out of paint--like always. I think a gallon will be what I need, no matter the size of the room. Its always a gallon. So I mixed some water into the bottom of the can and sort of glazed on the final bits.

And here it is. Somehow, with all my planning and looking at swatches, I managed to paint my room THE SAME COLOR. What?

I mean, I know, I KNOW, I'm supposed to get a sample and paint a small test area. Are you kidding me? Have I ever done that? Have I ever not regretted it? But hello, am I really going to increase the cost of the project 25% just to be sure I'll like the color when its done? Guess not. But seriously, the color's fine, and now at least I can't also see the past three colors the room has been.

Light Fixture Break-up

2008-09-28T21:09:00.007-05:00

I got dumped.

I'd been thinking about ending it for months--planning it actually. It's clear we're all wrong for each other-our styles are so different. Even though we're the same age, its like we're generations apart. I knew it was wrong to keep stringing it along, but it was easy to ignore the problems, especially since I didn't have a replacement.

I'm talking about the light fixture in the bathroom. The very light fixture that heard all these rumblings and goings-on for the last two and a half years and decided, quite suddenly, it had had enough. AND EXPLODED. It literally blew itself to smithereens. Revenged itself all over the counter, the floor, the bath mat, into unnumerable crevices and seams of hair brushes and toothbrushes and soap dispensers. Better to dump than be be dumped.

Fortunately, no one was in there at the time so no one got hurt. But lessons learned are these:

#1 Don't talk about how you're going to replace that disgusting, embarrassing, and ill-conceived item in your house within earshot of said item, and not until you're really prepared to do something about it.

#2 Maybe, MAYBE, decided to heed the warnings on those light fixtures about how the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM WATTAGE WITHOUT DAMAGE TO LIFE, LIMB, AND PROPERTY IS ACTUALLY, REALLY 60 WATTS, and don't put a 100 watter in there. Even if it makes the room look like the inside of a fastidious museum where too much light may damage the artifacts. That's okay, I'm like an artifact. And remember, this is the light in my bathroom, and too much light there may also damage my self-esteem.

Can you see how very fancy it was?

And here's the new guy:

Thank You, Jamie!

2008-09-10T15:16:00.003-05:00

DH and I started the monstrous ordeal of clearing out all the weeds in the front flower bed and laying down new mulch. But everything's bigger in Texas, including the weeds. They have roots like giant redwoods. I had to literally dig out and remove a whole rosebush just to get at the crafty little sucker braided amongst its roots. So it got dark and we didn't quite finish.

And then today my friend called, and wanted to get together, and I was like, "Okay, let's spread some mulch!" And she was all, "Sounds great!" 'Cause that's just the kind of cool chica she is. The babies played in the shade and slept, the older ones poked dead bugs in the garage and we got it done! Thank you, Jamie!

I should mention it was more than just spreading mulch. There were some weeds still hanging on, new flowers we planted, lots of lifting of heavy mulch bags, plus we dug up and back filled under all those border stones. Jamie's quote of the day "I think we're good at this." Check out Before and After:

New Bibs For Soggy Baby!

2008-08-27T11:17:00.004-05:00

Finally! A use for all the little stray singleton buttons I've been keeping around. Its not as though the extra one that comes with the sweater will EVER been in the same place in space and time as I am when I need it. So I might as well use these while I know where they are, and considering my baby has stuff coming out of every facial orifice right now, I thought this was a good option.

It was also a good way to use up all the old bits of thread left on the bobbin when I'm finished sewing. 'Cause I never take that stuff off. I just put new thread on. Then I refill it every five minutes or so...

But the BEST part was that fact that it occured to me one day, and then two days later it was done! And it was free, maybe that was the best part.

Spray Painting a Light Fixture

2008-08-11T16:24:00.006-05:00

I spray painted a light fixture. It seemed wrong, somehow. Either sacrilegious, or cheating, or extremely uncouth. But I'm trying to get a clean, bright look (for cheap) into a bathroom without a window. It seemed like a good idea to paint the dark, bronzey pendant. But now...I don't know. I'm not sure paint was enough. I can't decide if this project actually accomplished anything, but here are the pics anyhow. During and After:

"Self, Great Day."

2008-07-31T15:37:00.005-05:00

About a month ago our dear three-year-old broke off one of the doors on our TV stand. I casually tried to reattach the door using only fists, and failing, and declared it a total loss. Her little accident was the tipping point for a new TV, entertainment center, and our introduction to the world of HD. Thank you, daughter!

We thought acquiring these new things would be fun and easy. Home-Improvement By Credit Card! Nothing easier than that. But this is how it went down:

First, we bought entertainment center #1. Store told us it would be delivered in 2 weeks.

We went home and bought TV #1 online. It was delivered a few days later, no problems, and by a quirky UPS guy who had an uncommon interest in the thing.

Two days before scheduled delivery of entertainment center #1, store calls to tell us it will be another 4 weeks, making 6 weeks total since we bought it. We mull it over for a day and decide to cancel. Store is happy to oblige.

DH finds better deal for a larger TV online and returns TV#1 to purchase TV #2. TV #2 is delivered by the same guy, who remembers us, and the other TV, and asks all manner of questions regarding the TVs, why we got two, their sizes and quality and the merits of the store they were purchased at.

We go back to the orginal store and purchase entertainment center #2. This model is shown online but not in the store. I am concerned about its quality, given the price. Salesman states, "All of our furniture is exactly the same quality." I actually laugh at him when he says this but I buy it anyway, since it is in stock. Delivery is scheduled for two days later.

Entertainment center #2 is delivered without fail by two very nice, very careful men. They set up the unit but find there is a visible gap on one side that they can't fix. Awkwardly, I tell them I have to refuse delivery. We give them cupcakes for their trouble.

Then we go out to buy entertainment center #3. At a different store. Right off the bat we find a beautiful discounted floor model. We decide to take it! It is missing some hardware so they discount it further. (We found replacements at the awesome Austin store Breed & Co.)

Later that day, DH gets on the phone with the other furniture store to confirm our cancellation of entertainment center #2, only to be told that it falls under their "80/20" policy and they will only refund 80% of the money. Usually slow to anger, DH becomes furious. A manager calls him back and eventually agrees with our side. Entertainment center #2 is fully refunded.

Whew. So three entertainment centers and two TVs later, here it is! Before and After:

P.S. After all this, since we're keeping the old TV stand in another part of the house, I made a real effort to get the door back on. It took about 10 seconds.

It's Snowing in My House

2008-07-25T22:30:00.004-05:00

I didn't want to post this project until it was finished.

Right.

Some sweet day the projects I undertake will be simple, cheap, non-invasive, and tidy; just like I tell my husband they will be. Why do all the things I start seem to snowball? Like, "If I'm replacing the caulk, I really should be painting the ceiling while I'm at it."

That's the kind of talk that got me from HERE:

To HERE:

All I wanted was to fix two loose tiles in the shower, yet here I am sanding the ceiling. (and thrilled about it; I was actually smiling under all that.) Someday, SOMEDAY, there is going to be a sweet After photo to post. For my grandchildren.

At Last...

2008-07-05T20:08:00.003-05:00

At last I can use my dining room table again.

At last I can put away the sewing machine.

At last I can have a clear kitchen counter-top.

At last I can spend my evenings doing something else.

In short, after 6 months, at last The Dress is done.

I could not believe how many things went wrong in the making of this dress. Darn you, Vogue pattern #7435! I did 90% of the steps twice; some of them thrice. That's a conservative estimate. I should have two dresses. And look at the duct tape now holding my sewing machine together (thank you, dear sweet child).

Nevertheless, it is finally finished. I may not let her wear it. I'll bronze it instead, a monument to the months of hard work and a tribute to my humongous ego which see's the word "ADVANCED" and says "Not bloody likely!"

Eewww

2008-07-03T14:09:00.004-05:00

Look closely and check out what I found on my tomato plant.
The Incredible Hulk of caterpillars. He picked the poor thing clean. We relocated him to some weeds in the yard.

NC-17 Popcorn Ceiling Removal

2008-06-30T10:40:00.005-05:00

DH really is the best. Last weekend he took the kids, all by himself, down to Houston to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He does this a couple times a year in the name of Home Improvement. I stay home and get to turn up the music and power through some dusty, messy, inconvenient projects.

And what could be dustier or messier than removing your old popcorn ceiling and putting up a new (flat) one? Nothing, believe me.

We started removing the popcorn two years ago and got pretty burned out after many, many failed attempts at getting a smooth ceiling and putting up joint tape. But we improved a lot as we went along, so this final stage (Master Bedroom and Bath) turned out great.

Here's how it goes for us:
1. Scrape off the old texture. We found a good method using a spray bottle and a joint knife. Spray a section (maybe 4'x4') and let it soak in for a good 5 minutes. Then spray it again and start scraping. If it doesn't come off easily, it needs more water. You want to soak the popcorn without soaking the drywall above it. Sometimes when you've got it right it comes off in one huge, lacey piece. And THAT is a good feeling... (Check to make sure you don't have asbestos in there first)

2. Sand the ceiling. I don't think a lot of people would recommend this step because it creates a lot of potentially dangerous dust and it may be unnecessary depending on how well Step 1 went. But I think it really speeds up the steps to follow. I use sanding mesh attached to a pole sander.

3. Wet sand the ceiling. Just run a damp rag over the ceiling. Without this, anything you try to put on the ceiling next (joint compound or paint--don't know about spray texture) won't stick.

4. Re-texture the ceiling. I've seen a lot of sites that say you just need to touch up the ceiling with joint compound at this point. Maybe the drywall guys who worked on their houses did a much better job, in fact that is pretty much certain, because there is no way a touch-up is ever going to cut it at Besotted Cottage. Our ceilings are much like the surrounding geography: Hilly. So I put on a wall to wall swathe of joint compound, sand it with sanding mesh again, wet sand it again, and then touch-up.

5. Prime and Paint! Huu raa! This step is SO much easier than every step prior. You'll probably need more paint than you think. The joint compound absorbs a lot.

I think the worst part is scraping the ceiling. It is just so messy. It gets everywhere and because of the water it sticks everywhere, too. I was listening to Delilah while I was doing that part, maybe I was a little slap-happy, but I decided to call in to the show. She kept saying "The lines are open! Its Girls' Night!" And I thought "Hey, I have a pretty good story here: all alone, missing my family, working on the house--I might get on the show." So I dialed the number. I heard some music and that seemed right, but imagine my surprise when I heard a woman ask, "Are you a hot guy who wants to talk to a h---- girl?" Yikes! Needless to say, I didn't get on the show.

Magic House

2008-06-11T15:28:00.007-05:00

I don't want to make anybody jealous, but I live in a magic house.

Besotted Cottage is the House that Heals Itself.

I'm not kidding.

First of all, the day we bought the house, I noticed a sizable scorch mark on the kitchen counter-top. But where is it now? It has Disappeared.

Also, soon after we moved in, the toilet in the hall bathroom started running. But then, while we were trying to figure out how to fix it ourselves, as if by magic, it stopped.

Then there's the doors. Sometimes they stick, but they always stop sticking all on their own.

And finally, two days ago, the air-conditioning broke. We are in Texas. In June. It is 100 degrees. But guess what? Immediately after I hung up with the repair-man, it started working again. When he came out to the house, he said it was working perfectly; nothing to fix. Spooky, right?

But seriously, whether its magic, or miracles, or just residential ADD, we were sure glad not to have to shell out $1500 bucks to replace the A/C coil on our Trane unit (which is "super old," according to said repairman, and whose installation is "crappy"). He said its on it last breath and its just a matter of time until it goes out completely, so we should try to make it until the off-season when it gets a little cheaper to fix.

You can probably guess that this repairman was a bit of a character. But he had some good information. For instance, a lot of a/c companies around here try to get you into a bi-annual maintenance program. According to him, it's a total scam. "Its a closed system, either it works or it doesn't. That's just a way for them to rip people off," he said. Guess what was #42 on my New Year's Resolution List of Things to Do? HVAC Check-up. I guess that's done now.

So the award for Best Air-Conditioning Company in Austin goes to Texas Air Conditioning Specialists (not to be confused with Air Conditioning Specialist, because I did make that mistake) They're honest, just don't be offended if they call you crappy and super-old.

And the Razzie goes to Trane. You know, "It's hard to stop a Trane." They should change their slogan to "It's hard to stop a Trane. Completely."

New Arrival

2008-06-10T16:28:00.003-05:00

Just got my new Restoration Hardward baby+child catalog today. Wishes really do come true.

Procrastination As a Genetic Trait

2008-06-01T20:27:00.008-05:00

This week we paid off our car. Huu raa! The downside is now the only projects I can do now are the ones that are free. Suprisingly, there are a lot of projects that don't require money. IF you happen to be someone like me who plans projects, buys materials for projects, starts projects and then...just moves on to something else. I probably have a dozen projects I could do today without effecting the budget at all. But will I? Honey, don't get your hopes up.

Case in point: five months ago I decided we needed to get the garage organized. "We have to use the vertical space!" I ranted. So I went out and got hooks and bins and such. And they sat there, judgmentally, until last weekend when I took 15 minutes and got the darn things up.

Or consider the rain gutter over the back porch, which has been separating from the roof for the past two years, and only needed two screws and some pruning seal to get it back in working order. Did that last week. Check.

Or there's the grout in the kitchen, which is so universally stained that it has become a new color. I bought the special cleaner for it two months ago and finally got around to it on Wednesday. (Special cleaner, however, didn't do jack. This project is still pending. Oh well. Two months to get something done would be way below average. It would totally blow the curve.)

My tendency to procrastinate and lose interest in something I'm working on really isn't my fault though. I come from a long line of Project Starters. My great-grandfather passed away with all of the supplies and materials to make a grandfather clock, all the wood for a hardwood floor, and a kit for an organ. That's gonna be me. But in the meantime, I'm chipping away at the cheap stuff.

Hit The Deck!

2008-05-20T20:22:00.012-05:00

Here's the After photo.

Before. About a month (two months) ago we started the big deck project. It's a great deck that we use a lot, and we want to continue to do so.

The wonderful thing about a deck project it that it's outside, out of sight, and out of everybody's hair. I read once in This Old House magazine that every sane renovation needs a Germany (where you store all the equipment) and a Switzerland (where no tools/messy project stuff is allowed). It nice when the house where you live is all Switzerland and you don't have to visit Germany until you really want to.

DH pretty much gave me carte-blanche on this one because I can paint a bleak picture when I want to, and didn't leave out any of the calamaties that could befall if we did not Save The Deck. But I didn't go crazy. I want that blank check for the kitchen...

First, we had to address the safety issue. The rails in the railing were about 10 inches apart, easy for the three-year old to get through and super easy for the curious crawler to fall through. I used pre-cut rails or "readys" at Lowe's, cut them down to size, and put one between all the existing rails.

I used pressure-treated outdoor screws (not nails) to fasten, thinking they would last longer, but I ended up splitting a lot of my wood. Here's a hint: The dark parts of the grain are hard, and the light parts are soft. If you plant a screw right on the border, it's probably going to crack. After a while I got smart and started pre-drilling the holes.

Next, we had to clean the deck. There was a lot of green stuff. Mold? Algae? Leftover popsicle? It had to go. I toyed around with renting a pressure washer. (Sure it would get it clean, but would there been any deck left afterwards?) Also bleach, but it seemed like a little too much elbow grease was required. In the end I decided to Ask the Builder. I used Tim Carter's Stain Solver and it ROCKED. He's a straight shooter; you can believe the hype. You have to follow the directions precisely, but that stuff isn't kidding around. I could see dirty water just running off the deck as soon as I applied it. And not only did it clean the deck, it also brightened it from weather-beaten gray to pretty close to the original color. Will you marry me, Tim Carter?

After the deck was clean we had to sand it. After a long day I told DH we needed a sander and I must have said it in a Certain Tone, because 15 minutes later we were packed up and on our way to the Home Depot. Here's a picture of our newest addition: DH proved himself to be a great sander. He perfected the aptly titled Scoot Method of sanding the floor.

We had to wait a week to stain and paint the deck, so there was another round of touch-up cleaning on Saturday, then we stained the rails in the morning and painted the floor in the afternoon. Then I shopped for a sealer, but they all told me to wait a week after sealing to apply stain. So I grabbed two cans of spray varnish, slapped that on, and called it good.

Let's take another look, shall we?

One minor problem: Glossy paint is more durable, they say, but it is so darn slippery! I definitely should have used satin instead. I'll let you know when I break a hip.

Furry Friend

2008-04-11T20:15:00.005-05:00

The last thing Mike said after he came by to measure the area that needed a new carpet pad was, "We'll probably talk a couple more times." He should have added, "when you call me" since I haven't heard from him in a week. But I guess it doesn't really matter, since we're paying for it ourselves. So lets leave off this Mysterious Puddle Mess.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to make headway on our New Year's Resolution: A list of things to fix around the house entitled Works Great in 2008. Every week this list gets longer, but I naively think it's still conceivably possible to finish it. This week I FINALLY replaced the light bulbs on our exterior spotlights. It's hard to believe that replacing light bulbs could be a new year's resolution, but if it requires a ladder and a screwdriver, then yes, it qualifies as a real project.

Plus, we've been hosting a certain unwelcome visitor. A little more light is useful if you've got one of these lurking around at night:

In looking for replacement bulbs, I found some interesting information on halogen lighting and how it's different from regular incandescents. Besides being much more expensive (read: $12 for one stinkin' light).

Carpet

2008-04-05T08:39:00.003-05:00

I guess the puddle isn't that mysterious anymore. Mike came back to take some measurements and tell me that there's no way we're going to make it to our deductible on this one, so we'll be paying for the damages ourselves. "But that's a good thing!" he keeps telling me.

But I learned something I never knew. I always thought, since the carpet looks so seamless, that it was one gigantic piece. Now I'm feeling pretty stupid; how could that ever work? I was worried that we were going to have to rip up all the carpet starting from one end of the house just to get to the spot where the water is. Mike showed me that there are actually places where the carpet stops and starts again, they just do a great job of hiding them. I found what looks like a good article on laying carpet, including carpet padding here, if anyone is facing a similar problem.

Mysterious Puddle - Part 2

2008-04-02T17:01:00.003-05:00

Last night after I hung up with the insurance, DH brought me back to listen to a drip, drip, dripping inside the wall behind the shower faucet we just replaced. By morning it wasn't dripping, it was pouring. I tried, and failed, to shut the water off myself and called the city to come do it for me.

Today I met our insurance agent, Mike. He is as smooth-talking, Texas-drawling as they come. He is convinced that the water that I can hear spewing inside the wall is not causing the spot on the carpet. He squints, he examines, he gets down on his hands and knees and says, "Now, this is starting to make sense." His theory: the mysterious puddle is caused by a crack in the foundation, "which, I'll tell you straight isn't covered." But where could all this water be going if its not going into my carpet? I wonder. "Down." he answers, "Just away. It could be going anywhere."

"But," he continues,"I've been wrong before."

Mike arranges for a plumber to come assess the situation. He is sure to remind me on several occasions that HE will be paying for this service, saving me hundreds of dollars. He hangs up with the plumbers with a "Talk to you next time."

Mike's plumbers are very prompt. I let them in warily, but they're shy guys who seem a bit wary of me, too. I wonder if I can possibly trust anything they say.

Within 30 seconds they have diagnosed the problem: a shoddy connection by the last plumber has burst; it is NOT a crack in the foundation. "But," I ask, doubtful of my good fortune, "would the water go HERE, to this spot on the carpet?" "Yes! It would go EVERYWHERE." Hmmm...maybe Mike should get himself some new plumbers.

Mysterious Puddle - Part 1

2008-04-01T14:24:00.005-05:00

I'm sure someday this will be funny.

I'm trying to keep that in mind because I have discovered, er stepped in, a slowly-growing-mildew-smelling wet spot on the carpet in the hallway.

Shoot.

So all morning I've been swirling theories to explain the damp circle around in my head. For instance, maybe DH got out of the shower this morning and decided to drip-dry at this exact spot. Or maybe this is just what you get when you have a toddler in the house: mysterious puddles, and I should just be glad I don't know what it is. Nothing's really wrong, and even if it is, it'll work itself out, right?

This is called Denial. The first stage of grief. I hear there are 5 stages of grief when you discover something really awful is wrong with your house. Denial, Acceptance, Bickering with Insurance, Resolution, and Dinner Party Humor. Its important to remember that you will get to Stage 5. Eventually.

By this afternoon I had made it to Acceptance ("Gasp! Maybe its a crack in the foundation!"), so I made a claim with our home insurance. I've never done this before. It took me a hour to find our policy number. Which isn't really too bad, it could have taken longer but I opened the file cabinet and found a folder labelled in my husband's writing "Home Insurance." So now you're wondering why it still took an hour, aren't you? Well, have YOU ever tried to read your policy? Oh, you have. Well then you know.

Our policy seems to say that anything may or may not be covered, depending upon how many other claims we have made, how long we have been insured, if we are inside the "claims window," and whether or not God wants our house to be damaged in that specific way. But, to their credit, I was speaking with an agent this evening and arranging to meet tomorrow. Which means its time for Stage 3...

Dear DH

2008-03-26T19:52:00.005-05:00

Yesterday at dinner DH said to me, "So, what's our next project going to be?"

I calmly rattled off a list of possibilities: stain the deck, fix the ceiling, wash the windows...but what I thought was,

"I love this man."

I think the sixth Love Language is Home Improvement.

If he knew what those words could do, I don't think he would bring them up in casual conversation. If he realized that I could power this house for a year on the amount of energy that sentence could produce in me; the staggering amount of tasks, and lists, and proposals that would result from him getting excited about this stuff, I think he would be wary. He might regret it. In the long run, he'd probally be glad that we turned our Besotted Cottage into the Palace at Versailles, but then again, we might not be married anymore, either. So I'm playing it cool. I'm holding back the D.I.Y. flood waters so as not to overwhelm him.

And by the way, pass the butter.

Drip Drop Stop!

2008-03-18T20:55:00.004-05:00

Listen.

Can you hear it?

That's called silence.

Besotted Cottage is drip free, finally. It's been at least a year since the household-variety water torture began. Lately I've been able to sit and hear 5 different faucets drip, drip, dripping to their own rhythms. But no more! Huzzah! Allstate Plumbing has saved the day!

Say what you will about plumbers. They track in mud and charge too much. But can you put a price on mental health? MY mental health? No, you can't.

I keep forgetting to take/refusing to document the "before" photos. But here's some "after" pictures. Close your eyes and imagine something awful. And now, open!

Just Grow, Will Ya?

2008-03-18T10:44:00.003-05:00

As a gardener, I'm in the trial and error phase. One might argue that gardeners never get out of that phase, but my mother's gardens seem to have very few errors. I'm still trying to figure out what grows down here in the heat and clay and whether or not I can remember to water the hydrangea every day (I can't). But last year one thing did grow, despite my inattention. We had beautiful impatiens in the front. So this year I planted some more in the back next to the also-Katie-proof irises. Here's hoping!

In the front there is a begonia. I violated every recommendation on the card that came with it when I planted it, yet still I have this unwavering faith that its will to live can overcome my clumsy attempts to kill, no LOVE, it.

Caulk Block

2008-03-11T16:00:00.002-05:00

Not that you asked, but I know a few things about caulk. It took me 4 tubes to finally get the cap off. I couldn't figure it out. Its like the caulk company tested their product on the lid ("It IS impervious to all life!"). So I'd always have to cut the whole top off, which leaves with you with a bead the size of your arm. But last time I got it right and I'm here to tell you, with enough concentration and brawn, that cap will come off. Good luck.

Have it on my desk by Monday. Honey.

2008-03-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

After months, sorry years, of waiting, the Master Bathroom Project is finally underway. All it took was a little compromise:

Me: The toilet paper holder just fell off the wall. Add that to leaky faucets, grimy caulk, stained grout and two holes in the wall that are literally covered up with duct tape and that brings us to The Last Straw. We're redoing the bathroom.

DH: Hmmm.

One week later.

DH: Draw up a proposal and have it on my desk by Monday.

Me: (grumbling under my breath) You don't even have a desk.

But I took him at his word and did the darn proposal and guess what! He's on board! So long duct tape (see photo)! And while I'm on the subject, may I say a word about sponge painting? It has never made a wall look better. Ever. Painting over that piece of hud will probably be the most satisfying part.

**In DH's defense, I must say the proposal was extremely helpful. Its surprising how quickly little things like baseboard and towel rods add up in a project like this. He may convince me to make one for all my projects.