Audrey, the Roomba

I wish I had something exciting to post, but everything has been pretty quiet around here lately. Garry has been working long hours, I've been working on not feeling like crap and cleaning.

We did buy a new Roomba in an effort to keep up with all of the dog/cat/people hair in the house (I would have to spend an hour vacuuming every day when I got home from work and that was NOT pleasant) and so far it has worked well.

We named her "Audrey" after the "Little Shop of Horrors" plant because it gobbled up the tumbleweeds of dog hair fairly well.

She's definitely quieter than our regular upright vacuum, but not so quiet that I could run it while I sleep. Typically I'll run it when I get home from work for the day and I can do a few other chores while it's running. She does miss a few clumps of hair here and there, but overall it's better than me having to spend the time vacuuming.

It didn't come cheap - $350 for one of these on Amazon, but we decided that with 2 cats, a labrador and two people, it was worth the cost to not have to spend the time vacuuming every day. Our upright vacuum is on it's last legs anyway - we mostly just use it for upholstery.

Overall I'm pleased with it - as it does save me the time/energy of vacuuming and keeps my floors relatively clean. Now - only if I can convince Garry that we need a Scooba (the mop version) we'd be all set!

New carpet and a dose of color

I've realized that I've been playing it too safe.

As much as I love my textured neutrals, it was just getting... boring. Sure the house felt calm and relaxing, but it didn't really feel "fun" either. I've been feeling like I'm lacking my creative edge. I love color, but I don't want to be overwhelmed by it - I'd love to see a nice balance in the house.

A while ago, Garry and I got rid of our very neutral striped shag carpet. I really loved it. I thought it was the perfect carpet for our space. Well, that is, until I realized that when you have a dog, people over, and a clumsy me and a messy husband - shag carpets aren't the best idea. So out it went.

For a while now I've been looking for a new rug. I was really in love with the woven/braided rugs and thought maybe I could make one myself. I *did* make some t-shirt yarn out of some worn past-their-prime jersey sheets we have, but considering my hands aren't what they used to be it would take close to forever to DIY a rug the size I needed (at least 5x8) so it was back to the drawing board.

As much as I love to order things online, I didn't think ordering a rug would be a good plan. The colors can sometimes be WAY off, and I didn't want to have to deal with return shipping. This left the only option of just going to stores and looking.

First off... area rugs are expensive! If you want something nicer than just a plain low-pile cheapie rug it's going to be... well, an investment. Since I wanted a woven rug, that helped on the cost a little, but it was still more than $40.

I made a stop after work on Friday to Home Goods. They always have such nice things and every time I go in I say to myself, "I could easily spend thousands of dollars in here - if given the opportunity." I completely forgot that Home Goods carries rugs and I browsed through them thinking that I wasn't going to be wowed by anything or if I did, it would be way out of my price range.

I found two rugs that I loved - one was a lime-y green and natural jute 5x7 rug. It was essentially what I was looking for, but the more I thought about it - the more color variance I wanted in my living room. I wanted a rug that I could pull multiple colors from so I kept looking.

And then I found my rug!

It was a similar design to the previous green and jute rug, but with a little more of a "tribal" style to it and about a billion more colors. While I tend to gravitate toward cool colors, this rug had a good amount of warmth to it that would look nice against our floor without it looking too "hot."

While Home Goods has a great return policy (45 days) I was very honest with them and told them that I had pets and needed to know if I laid it down, didn't like it, and brought it back (the next day) if that wouldn't work because of the pet hair. I was told that because it's a textile that I could still bring it back, but they wouldn't be able to sell it. So I had to decide if I loved it enough to take it home knowing I couldn't bring it back. (At worst case, I'd end up putting it in the sunroom or in our future master suite - I told myself).

Thankfully I loved it when I put it down (Auron was a little scared of it) and Garry loved it as well because it wasn't "girly."

This also gives me a reason to dig into my fabric bin and make some pillow covers - and to test out my Indian block stamp.

I also have the first coat of primer finished on the bottom table. I realized that with the turned legs, painting with a brush is not going to be a good plan. So - at this point I will need to sand the legs really well and get some spray primer to do the second coat. This also means I will need to find a color of spray paint I like or find a way to get custom spray paint.

Now that I'm adding more color to the room, I'm starting to re-think my color choice for the piece. Once it's completely primed, I'm going to bring it in the house and let it *live* in the space until I finish priming the hutch and hopefully I will be a little more decisive about color at that point. I still want to add the gold metallic banding in certain spots - I'm just not sure if I want to go with a bold color (like, say, peacock blue or emerald green) or something more neutral like white or grey. It's a substantial piece - and no matter what color we paint it - it will end up a substantial color in the room.

Thoughts?

Running into a snag - ahh... real-life rears it's head

It looks like our bathroom project is going to be put on hold for just a little while.

Garry's cat, Cid, has some pretty nasty gum disease and needs some dental work done. Which, as any of you with pets know, is crazy expensive.

$500 later he *should* be all set, I hope.

We still haven't heard back from the electrician to finish all of the work up there, so that's kind of a bummer. We should still be able to get that much of it all done before the end of summer. However, I don't think the drywall is going to happen if we decide to route the plumbing first. (Maybe there's a way to drywall the rest of the room except for where the plumbing is going?)

Oh well, we're not in a huge hurry to get the room up and running. I'd like to be able to move us up there by the end of the year (bathroom doesn't have to be finished though) and it's likely we'll still be working on some projects up there too - like the his and hers closet built-ins.

Flooring is another kind of expensive issue that we'll need to tackle. We're planning on carpeting to add as a sound barrier.

We still haven't actually *finished* the arbor either. Part of the problem lies in that Garry works second shift and I have terrible balance. It's basically up to him to help me finish painting it. I'm hoping that maybe sometime soon I can get it finished so I can plant the rose bushes I want either next spring or this fall - along with plotting out the rest of our front garden.

Speaking of - a few of my gladiolus have bloomed! :D They are orange (not my favorite color) but they are still really pretty. I realized that I planted them... awkwardly. I really think next year I need a better plan than just "Let's just put them in the ground." Generally that's what happens.

Kitchen plans

It's been a little while since we've done anything in the kitchen.

Actually - I have a Rustoleum cabinet transformation kit in pure white just WAITING to be used, but until I either have a: time, and b: help, I won't be able to get around to it. I also have a bunch of half-started projects that need to be addressed before starting a huge undertaking like painting cabinets.

But - painting has been on my mind - more in the way of the long, boring wall in my dining area. I've had a hard time figuring out artwork (I do have a few pieces up) and even though we have a tiny little chalkboard wall area, I'd like it to be bigger.

So - I'm thinking of painting that ENTIRE wall in chalkboard paint.

Thankfully chalkboard paint doesn't have to be black.

Leave it to Martha to come up with a recipe to make something creative...

Chalkboard paint recipe

I'm thinking of doing something like this:

Find the original picture here

Okay, without the barn door pantry (as awesome as that would be), because we don't have enough space to do that in the wall (the staircases to the attic/basement are behind that). 

I also want to move my current shelves and add some more to make a pot rack and a place for my tea collection. 

I'm also hoping when we *do* get around to painting the cabinets that we can take the doors off of the uppers to brighten the space up. Worst case is that we don't like it an put the doors back on... easy peasy. :)

What's new in the garden

It is still fairly obvious that I'm an amateur gardener. Most gardeners would remember what plants they planted - or if they planted a lot - would hold onto the seed packets so they could say "Oh, yes, I planted *that* there." No suck luck for me. 

Anyway, the bearded iris are finished flowering for the season and are hopefully gearing up for a fall show. While I was worried that I'd end up with a garden bed full of shriveled up spring plants - the annuals Garry and I planted started flowering. 

For the life of me, I can't remember what these are. Garry picked them out because he LOVES blue flowers, almost as much as I do. 

Anyone else want to take a stab at it? It's silly, I should know what they are. But, they are really cute little flowers and I'm enjoying them as I walk in the door every day. 

There are still a few rogue hosta lurking in my garden bed. Luckily they're in a spot where I don't really mind them being - so they can live... for now. 

The light purple trumpeted flowers are pretty and so long as they don't get out of control (the bed was full of them and a host of other plants that we didn't care for when we bought the house) I'm okay with a few standing their ground. 

They almost are overpowered by the foliage from the bearded iris (seriously, those things are huge!) so they might get transplanted to somewhere else where they can be appreciated in the fall. 

I was really worried that the Alyssum I planted wasn't going to flower, or be incredibly spotty.

Doesn't look like I have to worry too much about that! :) 

I'm still learning a lot about planting annuals. This was our first go at it and we did.... okay. The annuals we planted in the planter bed (the ones pictured) grew and bloomed. The ones we planted in elsewhere didn't make it. :-/ I'm going to try starting seedlings inside over the winter and then planting them. The biggest problem is where to put them where they will get enough light. 

I am having a lot of success with my bulbs and shrubs this year. 

This is my white Rose of Sharon shrub and my gladioli planted around it. They are HUGE! I'm hoping the glads will be able to lean against the shrub for support, but I think I will eventually have to stake them as we get closer to their blooming season (which for both plants is not that far away!). 

Each year we add a little more to the garden. There's not so much to do this summer except tearing out the myrtle growing on the small side yard, tackle the dreaded back corner in the backyard, and *hopefully* plant my rose bushes next to my arbor. 

This fall I'm hoping to divide my bearded iris along with planting another variety in the planter bed. (The divided ones I'm going to move up near the arbor) Since I have to dig up the gladioli bulbs anyway - I'm going to apply a strategy for plants to bloom all spring/summer and dig up all of my bulbs and replant the hardy ones along with some new ones. There may or may not be charts involved.... where's my graph paper!

Shutters, tables, and quest for the master bath

Yes, it's been a while. Maybe I'm not so great at this blogging stuff. My little tablet at home for some reason can't handle what I need it to do and Garry is usually playing around on the desktop - so... that equals little time to write out all my thoughts and photos.

I finished the shutter project (finally!). It was probably one of the easier projects I've done in a while - just spray some clear coat, screw in a few hinges and Ta-Da!

Looks pretty nice! But, it does look a lot better in person. :)

I'm wondering what else needs to be in that corner. I'm thinking a white/tan floor vase. I have *tons* of filler that needs to find a home... soon.

I'm also considering buying this guy. I think he would look lovely behind my couch - and thankfully it's the right length/height. It would be nice to have a little more surface/storage space. I would love to have a basket under the sofa that had some craft stuff (like my embroidery and drawing) so when I'm having a not-so-great day when there's little else to do except something with my hands and watch tv, well, I have something right there. Most of those items are packed away somewhere in my craft room (which is still a pretty crazy, unorganized mess) and I honestly don't want to search through all my drawers and containers to find whatever little project I want to work on. Once one is finished, I can put a different project in there to work on. I'm hoping Garry will agree that this is a good idea.

Our flea market find table/hutch is coming along. I managed to get a coat of primer on the top part of the table/desk. I also scrubbed two of the legs down.

I read on the primer that the paint didn't need to be stripped in order for it to work, so since the current paint on the legs is in relatively good shape, I'm going to just clean it well and prime over it and see what happens. Once I get the first coat of primer finished on the whole piece, I'm going to sand it lightly and add another coat and then (you guessed it) sand lightly again. I don't want to take any chances that the bright yellow will bleed through.

BTW, the primer I'm using is Zinsser. It's oil-based and hopefully will be more durable than a water-based primer would be.

So far, I'd have to say I'm really liking this primer. It went on relatively smooth for a first coat and seems rather durable. The pictures above are with only one coat. Even though it *looks* completely white, the primer is uneven and you can still see some of the yellow through it.

Why yes, I *did* scrape a bunch of the old paint with a stripping solvent. Guess what? It stained the wood yellow because the person who painted this didn't prime it first. Oh well. I was going to have to prime it anyway...

As far as paint color for the final coats go - I'm thinking of painting the body grey with some white, gold, and soft aqua/turquoise accents. There are so many curves and details on this piece and I'd like to use some different colors to highlight them. The previous owner apparently felt that way too, only decided to use neon orange and bright green... on top of yellow. Luckily we have some tiny brushes and painter's tape I can use for this process.

That process will take quite some time and I'm more than likely going to do it after I bring it in the house.

As far as the seemingly never-ending project that is the master suite...

We're still working on getting the walls for the master bath ready.

I'm not sure yet what I want to do with this wall. I'd love something with texture and fun. I'm also thinking of making it a gallery wall.

The wall extends out a little further than I originally planned in order to have a regular door. We contemplated having bi-fold doors as the door to the bathroom from the bedroom area, but decided regular doors would be better. It also creates a little nook area (once we get the staircase walled in with a half-wall) where we can either do a built-in dresser, or do something else for storage.

I also want some long-ish pendant lighting to hang over the stairwell. I'd *love* to have Moroccan lanterns.

We do have a *slight* problem that we're running into. The heating element runs along the entire back wall of our attic. In order to build the wall separating the bedroom area from the bathroom, we need to cut the element and create two separate units. Easy enough to do - for someone who works in the industry that is.

So - in order to get the electric finished, we're going to build *most* of that wall - save for the last stud and anchor - so the electrician can finish his job. When the plumber comes in and does all of the rough-in, we'll have him cut the element so we can finish the last section of the wall.

And then.... there will be drywall.

I'm seriously thinking of hiring someone to take care of the drywall. Garry is working a lot this summer and I think it would be nice to just have someone come in and do it and have it done in a few days - rather than have the stress of doing it a little at a time and doing it right. Sure, it will probably cost more, but I think at the end of the day, we'll be happier than if we decided to do it ourselves.

Ideally, I'd like the master suite to feel like I'm staying in some bohemian hotel away from the world. There's not a whole lot of light (yet) and I'd like to keep the color palette light as I have a hard time relaxing with a lot of vibrant colors around me.

Also, there needs to be a place for Auron. I'd like a spot upstairs where he can have his den and it doesn't look just "thrown" in the room. I want him to feel comfortable too!

More garden pictures

We don't have much going on right now - still working on a bunch of my projects, Garry started his summer job, and - that's really about it. We're just plugging away.

I'm sure you're happy to know that my fuchsia hanging basket is still alive and it looks gorgeous. The little flowers on the end look like little candies and I just love them. I'm hoping it will bloom all summer long. 

My bearded iris finally started blooming as well. Both plants are HUGE and more than likely will need to be divided this year. I have two varieties:

"Mother Earth"

And honestly, I can't remember what variety this is, if anyone could enlighten me that would be great.

Here they are, peacefully coexisting together. They are gorgeous plants. I'd love to get another variety because we have a big space in the middle of the planter that just needs... something. 

My dwarf iris is chugging right along. These are the ones I rescued from my back yard. I don't know what variety these are, but I believe they are "Cinnamon Stick." That's my best guess.

I really do get the best photos of my Japanese maple. If you look through the leaves on a sunny day, it looks like the tree is on fire. It's just gorgeous. The seeds are really colorful as well. 

I have no idea what kind of flower this is, but it's growing in my back yard. Anyone? Bueller? 

Speaking of the back yard, Auron has had a good time running around like it's a doggy race-track. 

This is mid-loop

Okay, we can stop just for a second so mommy can take a picture. 

He's my sweet 85 lb. moose-baby. He thinks he's the same size as the cats and tries to crawl all over us just like them. He's 16 months old and is still very puppy-like, but he has moments of showing the "wisdom beyond years" - usually it's when I let him outside and he runs to the edge of the slope of our back yard and he sits and stares off into the distance. There's nothing there, no sounds, but he just "takes it in."