Entryway Update

* Disclaimer! The photos are all over the place on this post because I can't seem to beat my hubby to the mark. I always procrastinate and think "Oh, I will take pictures before we start", but when Mister is ready there is no waiting for photos!

We live in an antique colonial-cape. Upon entering my home you have a choice of three directions. You can close the door behind you and turn right, through the french door, into the living room,

Old photo, not these colors anymore.

turn left, through another french door, into the dining room,

Also doesn't look like this anymore...click here to see after.

or head straight upstairs to the office, bedrooms and only full bath.

When we moved in the stairs were covered in carpeting (no pictures) and ya know that had to go! The stairs, in keeping with the old house feel, are narrow and steep.....and boy, did they creak!

We painted it to look like this:

The bead board wainscoting and stairs were a raspberry-chocolaty color.  In keeping with the times, the walls had gotten a paint technique. First we painted the walls a warm yellow. Once dry, I went over with white paint that had an additive that extended the drying time. It allowed me to roll on a coat of white then I pulled a wallpaper brush through the wet paint to leave a stria effect with the yellow showing through.

Of course I couldn't leave it like that. Using my Donna Dewberry (remember her?) skills and stencils I painted two topiary on either side of the stairs. The floor was covered with an ugly piece of linoleum but neither of us were brave enough to want to try to tackle that at the time as it was securely glued down to the wood floor.

This was taken after we had already started the process, hence the big blob of white paint on my topiary.

But all that was over ten years ago and it didn't match where my home and style are now so what's a girl to do? Right.... Pinterest! First, I found pictures then...  pitched the idea to Mister. It took some time for him to get used to the idea but he is a good sport. When he does get the vision he is all in and I've already told you there is no waiting for my photos... First thing was to remove that linoleum! Underneath, the maple wood floors were in good condition, all things considered.

The stairs. Ugh. We first had to fix the squeaky steps so that took us to the basement door and a big mess of taking down the peel n' stick wallpaper, horse-hair plaster and lath. Yuck!

When we took down the plaster the only support was the dark piece of wood going down the center.

Once that was done we were amazed that we had not fallen through to the basement long before now! There was nothing supporting the stairs other than either end of each stair. No center support!

The center wood was not even notched into the stairs; just resting on the inside corner of each step!

Because these stairs were put in 150-200 years ago they were not done on uniform sets of stringers. Each step was individually cut thus the uneven stairs.

Mister put in a center support (1" thick plywood) then cut individual triangular-ish pieces to screw into that support in order to sure up each step. He went back up to the top side of the stairs and screwed right into the top of each step. That did the trick; not a squeak nor creak! Next, our favorite tool for an old house... caulking1 We used wood putty on the top side.

Now we (yup, Mister) could paint. Mister painted one side of the stairs first leaving us access to the upstairs while it dried and the next day he painted the other side. They ended up getting two coats as did the trim and doors upstairs. Ahhhh...clean. We used my go-to white, December Starlight, by Valspar.

The walls got a couple coats of this lovely gray, Ralph Lauren's Elgin Gray.

And............... bad idea............that was NOT going to work! The treads were going to be ugly within days. We decided that the risers would stay white but the treads would get a nice couple coats of blue; Behr's English Channel.

Sometimes you just have to put on your big girl pants and let go of the pretty dream. I will be much happier, long term, with the blue.

And this is the tiny entry way now. I still want to replace that light fixture as it does not go with my decorating style now but I have not found what I am looking for yet.

Now I am thinking I may need to paint the front door but don't know if I can bring myself to do that. What do you think?

Party Time!
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No Fuss Beach Decor

What happened to summer! It has been a busy one, this year. Summer started with a visit from my dad and my second oldest child graduating from high school.

There were trips to the Cape.

Nobska Lighthouse

I completed my first (I say that as if there will be more) remodeling job for someone other than myself. 

I did manage to get a few projects done around the house but I will save that for another time. There were more trips to the beach and sleep-overs and birthdays.

But before all of this I did some summer decorating. I got too busy doing stuff to ever get that post up on the blog and here it is now August 31st, the unofficial end of summer. All the bloggers I like to follow are posting autumn decor images, crafts and tutorials. Not me, no sir! Once again, I am clinging onto summer with every fiber of my being. It should be no surprise that my summer decorating revolves around all things beach. None of it is really fussy, just collected things from the beach like my beach glass, shells and rocks stuck in jars. 

Peonies from my June garden with a mixed bunch from our local florist.

Dried hydrangea from the garden, an old clock face under a cloche with a paper rose and twinkle lights to make it sparkle.

A card-catalog drawer painted and metal letters purchased from one of my favorite monthly markets. A Mary Engelbreit print from one of her old magazines framed up nicely.

My collection of heart stones found on the beach.

A pair of old corbels that came off our front porch when we had to do some repair work. They were covered due to lead paint. I cleaned them up and put on several coats of shellac. 

I have checked everything off of the summer to-do list:

I'm not ready to start thinking about decorating for autumn nor for facing the reality that it is almost time to get back to our home school routine-(like tomorrow) but time waits for no man- or procrastinating homeschooling, decorating, blogging mama. Hey, Labor Day is almost here. I bet I can get to the beach one more time!

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Stay Close

My desire for this blog is to use it to exercise the gifts God has given me and to glorify God while I do that. Sometimes, he just makes it so very easy.

One of the last beach days of the summer led me to contemplate the way creation ministers to our souls. As I walked along the beach, holding my husband's hand, I was enjoying the sunshine but took notice that the warmth was not as it had been just the week before. The temperature was not any less but the strength of the sun was not what it had been. It made me sad to realize that we were moving further away from the sun; ushering in an impending change of seasons.

I felt I did not have to reapply my sunscreen as often as I had the weeks before. I didn't need to put up my umbrella to shield myself from the rays that had me protectively covering up just a few weeks before. I wasn't worried that I would end up with a blistering sunburn and I didn't spend the day fussin' at my family about needing to cover-up or lotion-up. I had the sense that the sun was fairly benign and yet, I know that to not be true, the ability to burn or cause damage was still a serious factor but I was not worried.

Why was I disregarding the sun's strength and power? The sun was not burning any less hot. It is still burning at 10,000 degrees (that's just the surface).

It had not gotten any smaller. it is still 864,938 miles in diameter. The sun does not wax and wane in strength. It does not change. What changes? Our location in relation to the sun is what changes.

We are no longer of the mindset that the earth is the center of all the things. We know that the sun is the center and we revolve around it, (thank you Copernicus). We move, it does not. It is the center. As the earth moves we get filtered sunshine, slicing through layers of atmosphere, that break down the effectiveness of its rays.

That got me to thinking about Jesus. I find it a funny blessing that our word for that burning, light giving orb that we revolve around or would die without is named the sun and its homonym, Son, fits that description (albeit an incomplete and inadequate discription), also. Jesus is that life and light giving source that we revolve around. He does not wax or wane in strength or ability,. He does not change. Without him we would perish.

Hebrews 1:3b "and he upholds the universe by the word of his power."
John 8:12 "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”"
Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever".
John 3:16 tells us, "whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

And so, as I said good-bye to the beach that afternoon I was praising the Lord for this little nugget of truth he gave me to chew on. When I am spending time reading in my bible, seeking God and conversing with him in prayer on a regular basis, I am far more apt to be aware of his power. I run to him for everything from help getting a splinter out or finding my keys to praying for healing of someone chronically or terminally ill. Nothing is too big or too little for God.

But, I don't stay there. Sadly, I move. When I am not spending time with him regularly, when I get lazy or put other things before him I neglect to consider how powerful he is. I disregard that he sees everything. I fail to confess everything. I allow my exposure to Him be filtered through Christianese atmospheres like church or bible study attendance or doing "good works", ect.  I end up trying to fix things on my own and the spiral downward is ugly. I am left cold, naked like a leafless tree, and winter sets into my soul. But, it does not end there.

Praise the Lord, he does not leave me there. He loves me and is faithful to bring me to a place of repentance; a place where I sit in the light of the Son and grow.

 I, like Paul, long to be rid of this body of death that does nothing but wage war against my new identity.

As I left the beach that day I had a sentence running through my head.

My regard for the power of sun/Son is in direct correlation to my proximity to the sun/Son. 

It has blessed me and I pray it will bless you also as you contemplate the implications of it in your own life. Stay close.


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Old Girl, New Gig-Part 3, Bathroom Makeover Completed

If you have been following along with this bathroom face lift, the time has come to show you the finished project! The "how I got here" can be seen here and here.

I started with a bathroom that needed some TLC. The family's requirements in this rehab were as follows: gender and age neutral, match the rest of the house, functional, mom and daughter approved.

It didn't need anything major, just some prettying up. I was given a budget and went to work. You can read about it here and here.

The family/clients were on vacation for the week which made it super easy for me to come and go and work. By the time Friday rolled around I was ready to get this thing done but had to wait for the back splash installation. I had way-over-planned this thing out and just wanted to see progress!

Nothing can be done on top until that back splash is in.
Remember those old Avon bags? It was my mom's and I use it to carry my stuffs. 

Friday: The back splash was installed and the fun began! I brought the cabinet up and placed in on the counter.

My calculations had been off and the jog in the back did not sit high enough to clear the back splash. Mister had a half day at work and came riding in on his white horse, well um...black four-door. A little scoring with a utility knife and a little chiseling and ta-da! He's awesome!

This is what we used to attach the trim directly to the mirror.

He helped me cut the trim to fit and notch out the baseboard on the bottom. We measured and cut all the trim pieces for the mirrors and attached them with construction adhesive. One of my pieces was bowed and did not want to sit straight- ugh! After much stressing we got it where we could were happy and knew that caulking would do wonders. Frog tape held pieces in place until they set. Everything was left to dry overnight.

You can see the space at the top of the trim that gave me so much trouble.

Saturday: I arrived bright and early and to my surprise I found the majority of the family there! I had much to do but they were on their way out so I could focus. I pulled the tape off and finished caulking the mirror trim. I asked the owner what they thought so far and he answered that he was "not supposed to look yet, right?" Which really didn't answer the question and I still don't know if he looked or not.... I know somebody was in there but nobody is talking.

 I installed the towel hooks, toilet paper holder and towel rings. Here is where I have to take a minute to tell you how much I HATED those things! I liked the style and all but I hated the stupid set screws!

These stupid, stupid, stupid little screws (did I tell you they were stupid) that you have to install with the world's tiniest allen wrench were a major pain in my tookas! They took me so much time. I was praying, just knowing God was using these aggravating teeny-tiny pieces of metal to work something out of me. I installed 4 hooks, 1 toilet paper roll, and a towel ring with much prayer.  I was down to One.   More.  Towel.   Ring. Pleeeeeeeease Lord, (begging like a little child wanting something they know they can't have) just let me get through this without any more trouble.

And, God said "No".

I worked on that one silly thing for almost 30 minutes. The set screw would not go in. The receiving end had been machined wrong and it just would not go in. I had to let it go. God has to keep me humble some how! Perfection can be crippling and no matter what I did at that point it was not going to be perfect. I would have to let it sit until the owner can replace it. Grrrr.....

Onward and upward. It was time to dress the room!

That is The Towel Ring-Grr..... As long as nobody touches it we're good.

No more gap in the trim! Love, love, love caulking! 

The products you can find on my Pinterest page. I purchased the clock from Kohl's.

Tray-effect sink is nice and deep. 

Miss B. will be painting a series of three sea horses that will eventually hang, in black frames, over the toilet. She is a very talented artist and at only 16 years old I can't wait to see what she does as she becomes more skilled and comfortable with her art.

Yes, I should have ironed the curtain! 

Air register a little rusted before just needed some cleaning and a coat of paint.
The ceiling just needed a little cleaning.

The fan light and air duct both got a coat of high gloss white to freshen them up without having to replace them. 

The budget? Well, of course we went over what had originally been budgeted but if you remember I did talk to my friend about that before we started and agreed to bust it a bit. How did I do compared to my proposal? I estimated $2840 for everything. Now, we did not buy a new toilet and I got a really good price on the granite. I do not know how much it cost the owner to build the cabinet on top. All that being said I spent $2170. That is $670 under budget! ($470 not counting the toilet.) I know it didn't cost that much to buy the materials for the cabinet so I am thrilled. 

Lessons Learned:
1) I hate set screws that have to be put in with teeny-tiny allen wrenches.
2) " 'Perfect' is the enemy of 'good' ." A friend told me that recently and I have to say "Amen".
     It keeps you from ever being happy with 'good' .
3) A project always takes longer than you expected.
4) Budgets are hard-no matter whose money it is.
5) Next to Jesus Christ, my husband is my biggest asset, my sweetest blessing and a gift
    from God while I linger on this earth.

And there you have it. My first client, my first job-completed. I loved doing this but I did miss my family this week and I think they missed me. I never did make it into the pool but that's okay. The beach has been calling my name and I aim to answer....


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