Stewart's Superpowers

This blog is quickly becoming more about the new dog than new decor.  This is not by choice but as it stands, Stewart is pretty much on a mission to undo what I've been working on during the last year.  Only kidding, sorta.  I was all ready to report how good Stewart was doing in his crate since coming home from the hospital on Saturday.  We had a couple of really good days.  He didn't protest his new position as Dog-In-The-Box and he was even taking his medicines (steroids and pain killers).  Then yesterday, I came home from work and he was there to greet me at the door.

He had escaped from his kennel.  He didn't figure out how to open the door.  No, instead he just bent metal and disassembled his house.  This is your dog on steroids.

Poor guy has some stomach related side effects that created a giant sense of urgency to get out of the crate.  It's hard to be to upset with him but it definitely was not fun cleaning up multiple accidents in various rooms, including several on my dining room rug.  All I could do was move it out back and hose it down.

Luckily you can't see much from this distance and this was after I'd hosed her down.  Thanks to my love of painting, I always have a spare tarp laying around.  It came in handy when I carried the rug back in the house.

I'm hoping the rug makes a semi-full recovery.  Can I tell you how heavy an 8 x 10 WET rug is?  In between cleaning bouts, I made it to the vet to pick up new presciptions for Stewart.  He's now also taking an anti-diarrheal and Valium.  Poor guy.  At this rate he'll be in rehab by September.  I reassembled his crate and put every zip tie in the house that I could find on its joints.

He seems to be okay.  The valium is making him appear drunk when he walks, tripping over his feet and running into walls.  He has some cuts and sores on his muzzle from his escape and his front nails are desperate for a manicure.

I'm telling you, his cute face is the only thing keeping me from completely losing it.  Well, that and the fact that he checks in to the Pet Hotel in 36 hours. 

Spork Art

Last Friday I stopped by Pier 1 on my way home from work to buy a couple more pillows for the living room.  While there I spotted this little puppies on sale and just couldn't resist.

They were so random but also a little fun.  I figured they would work in my cheery kitchen.  I hung them up Saturday morning under the watchful eye of Stewart.

Stewart's really taken to squeezing on to Pablo's bed when I'm messing around in the kitchen.  Luckily Pablo was in the other room.  My giant spoon and fork now amuse me when I walk in the kitchen.  They even work with my wrapping paper art on the opposite wall.  I have quite the utensil theme going on now. 

I also picked up a couple of pillows, since that's why I went to Pier 1 in the first place.  The two green ones are new.

It's a good thing I went ahead and grabbed two new pillows because Saturday night Stewart decided to take out my surviving green velvet feather pillow.  Again, he did seem remorseful, if not a little evil.

I'm hoping this is the end of his destruction.  I really don't need any more of his design input around the house.

One Year Anniversary

One year ago today I was heading to my closing and getting the keys to my new house.  I can't believe it has been a year already!  I still love my house more and more every day and haven't once regretted my purchase.  Here's a little before and after collection of what I've gotten done (and what I haven't) in the last 365 days.

 Slowly but surely my lawn it perking up.  It's still trial and error at this point but it's definitely in better shape than move in day.

 I love my bargain bench and throw pillows that welcome you in the house.  I have yet to just sit on the front porch and take in the scenery but it's nice to know I have the option.

 Getting rid of the random doorway curtains was such a relief.  Who does that?  I still need to move this furniture out but since I haven't found the pieces I want to go in the space, they just sit there.

 The dining room is getting so close.  Once that table gets painted, the rest will be quick and easy.

 Not much has gone on in my office.  It's pretty much become a storage room for now.  I have a feeling it will be one of the last rooms I get to but I'm ok with that.

 The guest room is good for now and has even had a few guests.  Some day those curtains will go and the walls will be painted.  Some day.

 I love the dining area of the kitchen!  It's just so fun.  Hopefully the countertops, backsplash and appliances will get some attention in the coming year.

The laundry room is cheerful as well.  Notice I have 3 dog leashes...but only one dog.  Hopefully this next year will see me adding one more dog to the house.  I already have his food dish set up below the laundry basket.

 The living room has probably gotten the most attention in the past year, but then again it is where I spend the most time (when not sleeping). 

I'm so relieved to finially have something hanging above my couch.  I don't have too much planned for this room anytime soon, except maybe getting Pablo a blanket that matches a little better than the Christmas colored one he's using now.

 My bedroom is coming together.  The 4th duvet finally won out.  I have art on the walls now but my room wasn't clean enough for more recent pictures.  Story of my life.

I'm toying which changing up this headboard somehow.  I built it about 8 years ago.  I'm thinking I'll either paint it or cover it with fabric.  Who knows.

 The bathroom is actually currently in the middle of a big change.  More on that next week.

 I'm really excited about how far my lawn has come, especially since I've never had a lawn before.  I look forward to expanding the landscaping in the coming year and really turning it into an enjoyable space.

It has been such a fun year.  I've learned so much and can't wait to see what the next year in the house has in store.  I predict many more Home Depot trips and a lot more elbow grease!

Air Plants

Back in December I bought a few Shane Power's glass bubbles from West Elm.  I gave a couple as a gift and then bought myself one.  They are open glass bubbles that you can grow air plants in.  It's like a terrarium minus the dirt.

Unfortunately I have never been able to locate the actual air plants that go in them.  I think I was out of season with my search.  This weekend I happen to swing by West Elm and they were actually selling air plants in the store!  I loaded up for my bubble and the two bubbles I gave my uncle Ken.  Here are my little plants.

They don't require dirt but you do need to water them and expose them to sunlight.  I'm very interested to see if I can keep these things alive.  I hung my bubble in the kitchen, tied to my curtain rod.

The plants just hang out.  I'm using a spray bottle to water them.

They are a little creepy looking or maybe just quirky, but I like having a little green in the kitchen.  I'm hoping I'm better at keeping air plants alive than I am at sustaining houseplants.  I've killed two of those since move-in day.

I would like to create some sort of succulent garden inside my house as well , but first I'll see how the air plants fair. 

Painting Update

When I'm not doing yard work, I'm back inside armed with my trusty paint brushes.  I finally finished the hall ceiling and once again swore off ceiling painting for a while.

After that wrapped up I decided that my laundry room needed a little color. 

I was planning to paint this room a grass green color, something fun and bright, but I had so much paint left over from my kitchen that I decided it was more economical to use that color.  It will work perfect since my laundry room is visable from the kitchen when I leave the door open.

Hopefully once painted I will keep the area a little neater than it is in the photo above.  You can actually see some of my green paint chips I was considering, stuck above my hooks.  I am still going to use a little green possibly as a stripe or stencil but I will only need to buy a small sample amount for that.  For now I'm just focusing on getting my aqua on the walls.

This room will also need the trim painted white and after close consideration...the ceiling needs help too.  Rats.  I think I will paint it blue though, since I am out of white ceiling paint and promised myself I wouldn't buy any for a while. 

Bread Box

I eyed this bread box when I first saw it on the shelves of Target and once my kitchen was painted I was finally positive that I needed it.

I had been using a random basket but this is much more fun!  Not much in it right now but plenty of space.

It looks super cute with my Jonathan Adler containers that are just hanging out.

I imagine it will look super cute some day down the line when I have my new countertops and tile back splash.  Someday...someday.

One Track Mind

I grabbed new nail polish at the grocery store last weekend.  I just grabbed a new fun color that was under $4 a bottle.  Last night I got around to painting my nails and that's when I noticed...

...I had painted my nails the same color as my kitchen.  I guess when I have a color on my mind it's all I can think about because this was totally unplanned.  I got to thinking about it and the past several weeks my nails had been varying shades of gray, just like the other rooms in my house.

I had been toying with painting my laundry room green.  Guess I better go ahead and do that soon so my nails are ready for St. Patrick's day.

Classy Trash

Now that I'm all grown up and in a big girl house, I figured it was time to upgrade my trash can.

This is what I had been using.  It was cheap and got the job done.  I used to keep my trash under the sink at my condo so I didn't really care what it looked like. Since I couldn't do that at the house (and since I don't have a pantry to hide it in) I had to find something that had a lid.  I snagged this one at Target the week I moved in. 

Last week while shopping for paint at Home Depot I saw a sale display of fancy cans right by the checkout.  Yes, I totally fell for the impulse buy bait.  But it was $29.99...and it came with a mini-friend!

It's by SimpleHuman and I think it looks pretty cute in my work-in-progress kitchen.

I haven't figured out to do with the mini can.  It's perfectly sized for Pablo so if I can just teach him to use the foot pedal, he may actually be able to start cleaning up after himself!

The Kitchen Paint it Done!

I knocked out my kitchen paint this weekend.  First I had to freshen up all my trim work and give it a new coat of white paint.

After I finished that chore I allowed myself to go pick up my wall color at Home Depot.  I finished all the cutting in on Saturday and then painted the main walls on Sunday.  I think it was really helpful to start with all the more annoying parts of painting first, and then finishing with the easy part.

Painting above the cabinets was a little bit of a beating and I discovered it's pretty dirty up there.  Note to self: Don't look up there again.  I still have a very tan ceiling that I'm probably going to have to paint.  I know I swore I'd never paint my own ceiling again but somehow the kitchen seems a little more managable.  Being able to walk on the countertops is a big help.

All in all I love the way the color turned out.  Thanks again, Mom!  Good call.  The kitchen now has a little bit of a retro vibe to it and my mod table makes a little more sense in the room.  It is also much brighter now.


Before





After

This was a pretty easy $25 facelift to tackle in a weekend.  Now I shall continue to save money for stainless appliances and new countertops and back splash.  This tile stuff I have now isn't going to cut it in my cute kitchen.