Catching up

Wow.  So much has happened since I last wrote.  Both on the jewelry front and on the home front.  In the past two weeks I have:
~Caught a BAD head cold.
~Had my parents and grandmother come for a week long visit.
~Fixed up my kitchen.

~Hung curtains in the livingroom.

~Worked on my final concert for my students at school.
~Been filling a large custom order for resin buttons.
~Been recruited to do a jewelry line for an online fashion website.
~Been asked to sew some quick curtains for a local community theater production.
~Helped my father sand, water seal and assemble a cedar bar for my dinning room.

Yep... that about sums it up.  It was a LOT.

Painting project: Room 1 complete!

Well, we finally finished all the walls, window trim, detail painting in the livingroom.  No more green walls.  Not that the green was a bad thing.  I rather liked it.  It was just time for a change and this is it. 

I decided to do the large picture window in two tones to bring out the architectural design of it.  I believe this window is nearly 100 years old and original to the house.  It's not exactly efficient but it's historical and I could not bear to replace it when the new windows when in.  I used a very deep, dark chocolate brown for the detail work on the top and outlined the rest in the same creamy shade as the rest of the trim in the room.  I still am finding little spots that need filling in with a paint brush but that isn't so much trouble.

I completely cleaned out the aquarium while we had it moved out from the wall.  It looks much better now and the fish seem more active.  Goldfish really aren't all that exciting but they may move outside to a water garden someday so who knows what will replace them in this tank.  And Lee's Frank Sinatra poster actually looks pretty good against the new wall color

We don't have all the wall art up yet.... we are still struggling with where to hang things. And we are currently on the hunt for curtains for all 4 of the windows. I'd like to not have to put the horrid blinds back up again. 

Now, painting project room #2..... the library.  Here's to hoping we have the energy and strength to start that venture this week.  Blech.

Giving my livingroom a face lift

So, my boyfriend of 2 years and I decided this year that we should live together.  So, since January we've been moving him into my house.  He's been living there since the 1st of the year but we haven't quite moved all of his things in yet.  His mother only lives on the other side of town and that was where he had been residing.  We are all working to cut back expenses and purge our respective homes of things we simply do not need. 

As well as all the cleaning, purging and simplifing of our households... we have been rearranging furniture, reclaiming rooms and have also decided to redecorate a few of them.

This past weekend we began a painting project. We have decided to tackle the livingroom first.  I had a livingroom that was a dep and bright shade of green and had black trim.  I liked it.  But honestly.... the paint was starting to fade and it had scuff marks and chips in it.  They no longer make that color either.  We both took our time finding a paint color we could both live with.  That took a long time.  I think men and women see colors differently. 
I had to drive 45 miles to the next city over to get the paint color we wanted.  None of the hardware stores in town carried Behr paint and that was the only color scheme we agreed on.  I drove the distance and went to Home Depot.  I had committed myself to purchase the much more expensive Behr paint that had the primer in it as well.  We had to cover a prety bold color. 
Yesterday we got the walls prepped in the morning and painted all afternoon and evening.  About 9:30 we stopped.  We have one coat of color on the trim (after two coats of primer) and two coats of paint on the walls.  We have not taped off the window trim yet so it's still green.... but it's a start anyways.