How do YOU decorate?

Do you just know what colors are right? Do you just have a vision of what a room should look like, and can just get it done? 

I am not a decorator.  I have no clue what is "right", I just know what I like.  And sometimes I only know what I like when I see it. 
I do know that I like:

clean straight lines;

contemporary feel, but not modern;

not a lot of "stuff", which makes finishing a room challenging;

colors, patterns, bright and cheery feel

wall decor that has meaning

And whatever goes in the house has to be kid, nerf battle, and wrestling match friendly. We place in this house. 

Making decisions for me takes a lot of time; I once had wall colors posted in my basement for well over a year, maybe longer.

So my decorating process looks like this:

dining room curtain choices



living room bolster pillow....LOVE this fabric!





dining room paint options....

So this is what my house looks like "in process"; look long enough, and you'll find fabric samples or paint samples lying around somewhere, or taped or a wall in a corner of a room.

What does your process look like?

Coming up this week: The "skinny on screws" and my massive to do list!

The Tree House Finale, Finally!

Honestly, I could not believe I had made it this far. I was exhausted, bruised and tired of climbing up and down the slope of our yard chasing errant nails, hammers and heavy lumber I had dropped.
What was left was important though: I had to make sure my dear boy wouldn't be doing a half-gainer off the platform 10 feet off the ground.
 
Yeah, I thought so too.

We're talking railings: secure and tight, close together slats, and something you would be able to lean against and not fall through.
This is one area my favorite tree house author confused me though, I'll admit.
We're talking toe-nailing.  And no, that has nothing to do with my (or your) toes.  Toe-nailing means hammering together two pieces of lumber at an angle.  One page of the Stiles book mentions toe-nailing; another talks about safety issues with toe-nailing.  I decided against it for a few reasons.
One: I couldn't get a clear picture of it's safety.
Two: I have a hard time driving a nail in straight, much less at a pre-determined angle.

So I did what I normally do: drive to Lowe's**, wander around, think and contemplate. And sometimes stalk a friendly looking construction type guy that looks like a: he's know his stuff, and b: would be willing to answer random questions from random woman wandering the aisles.  I've had really great luck with this technique, so don't laugh. It works.

So I ended up in the metal parts aisle. Who knew! So many parts!  There were straight parts, angled parts, weird little parts I didn't know about.  And I bought a few of a lot of them. And it worked!  Thanks random man at Lowe's!

So the heaviest parts (4x4's eight feet long are heavy) and railing pieces and random metal parts went home to build the last of the tree house.  Posts were cut in half and places on each corner, and I attached them with the metals L-shapes and straight pieces. Rails were 1x4's, screwed in for extra sturdiness.  We decided to keep the front edge open for now. 

We've played, lunched, snack and I've been known to haul a lawn chair and read my Kindle out there; it's quite the cozy spot already.

In time, the bushes in front will grow back over, and form a complete barrier to the house and forming a secret escape....crawl through the hedge tunnel, and enter your own little escape spot.

 
I.was.done.  Honestly, I was pretty darn proud of myself. I really lost sleep over this project. I didn't know if I would ever be able to finish it. But the view from here? Awesome.

  
The most important thing I want you to take from this? YOU can do things too!  Maybe you're not ready to jump outside and start on a tree house; but maybe you can pick up a screwdriver and start with some little projects around the house! 
 It takes one step at a time, some researching, great instructions (Thanks again David Stiles!) and the willingness to just jump in, ask questions, and then go for it.  
 

You never know what might happen!   

 

**I shop at Lowe's; it's what's in my town. 

Just Shoot it: Photos: Fall Dahlias, colored vases

On to my next project: Refinished hutch

I know, I know. I haven't finished my last project. I haven't finished posting about the treehouse. I have a few other projects in different stages of thought or process. This is just how I work. If this bothers you, you might have an issue with my blog. Just putting it out there! (As rantsfrommommyland.com puts it: 'this may not be the blog for you if...').

So today was mild, sunny and beautiful, which means get outside while you can. And if you can be outside while doing a project....score!

As I mentioned before, we moved my mom to a new home this summer, and a lot of furniture had to go. Some came home with me, and you'll see more of those later.

But today, since it was so pretty out, I pushed this

from the basement, through the garage, to almost outside. This hutch had been in our house growing up, then my mom's house, then my sisters, and now it's found a home here. Since the paint on it contains lead, I took precautions:

It's going to be quite a project. I'm using very course sandpaper at this point (60 grit) and it's still taking a lot of elbow grease. But so far, it's very interesting to see what's behind the painted finish:

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out what types of wood are in the doors, as there seems to be quite the variety so far!
I can't wait to have this in my dining room. It's such a fun piece, and has a hidden secret I hadn't seen before. Stay tuned!

Soooo.....half marathon update...

My unofficial "editor in chief" and great friend A and I had one of our marathon lunches yesterday. We can sit and talk about kids, house, paint colors, fabrics, projects to-do lists, back to kids and back around the circle again for hours.

So she asked me "Are you really going to run a half marathon?" Um that. And no, at least not right now.

As it turns out, my niece invited my husband to join them in a princess run at Disney. I now have flashes of my 6'3" ex-football playing husband in pink tights and a tutu running towards Cinderella's castle. And yes, if you know him, you know he would do it.

So the mid-winter Disney weekend escape is out, and so is my motivation to actually run that race so I could join them.

But .... that little cholesterol issue hasn't gone away, so I had to do something.

And so Friday I joined Weight Watchers online. And now that I know how much food I should be eating every day, I realize I was seriously over-eating all the time. It's not surprising that my cholesterol noticed and started screaming "You need to change your lifestyle...NOW!".

And I am, in baby steps. The weekend was hard; yesterday was better. I'm moving more, because WW gives you extra points for activity, and points covert into food. And I really like food. WW also gives you lots of ideas for healthy eating and snacking, including recipes, which I hope will be baby step #2.

Because this mom isn't getting younger: I'm 47, raising an 8 year old (yes: 47 - 8 = 39 at his birth, but technically I was 38; I didn't turn 39 until he was 2.5 hours old). So he should be my only motivation, but I needed an extra kick, so WW it is.

And today I did run. Farther than I ran yesterday. It's not far far, but it's farther. Yesterday I ran from this tree to that tree; today, I ran a few trees further.

And who knows: maybe by spring, I can run a whole marathon full of trees.

And be healthy.

The Treehouse saga, post #2:

So I had started. That was huge after a many-week-long mental delay wondering if I could finish what I had started; once I changed my outlook to a day-to-day "do what I could" type of mentality, I couldn't wait to wake up, get out there and get going.


I didn't plan in advance. I would process what the next step was (using my David Stiles book as my game plan), head to Lowe's, buy some lumber, come home, cut, hammer and nail. Step back; process; rest.


The rest part was huge: We live on a 45 degree slope, and mom-handling 2x6x8 pieces of lumber is not easy. I would do a few steps, then make myself go inside to rest. When you are using electric saws and are home alone, being rested and alert is key. So it took a long time, but I was making progress.





After securing the first two 2x6 pieces to the tree, I started laying the platform. Picture me sitting on a 2x6, pulling 2x4's into the tree trying to hold my balance...it was quite the sight I'm sure (although no one was there to watch!). I dropped many, many nails, and bit back many bad words when the hammer would drop. Crawl down the hill, pick up said hammer or nails, rest, climb back on. Sigh. You can also see from these pictures that I would get tired and take the daily photo around the same time!

Then rest again. Then the bus would come, and Carter would ask "Mom, is my tree house done yet?". No. Sleep, dream, wake up and worry, plan in my head at 3am, get up and repeat.

This picture shows two things: The next step, and the slope of the hill. The next step was one I really stressed over; it included the most important part (the support system) and the most difficult cuts. The best part was I got to buy a new "Mom with Nails" toy: a jig saw!

It was trial and error on the cuts, as I wasn't completely sure how to cut the angles to fit perfectly. Once I got one done though, I was able to make a paper template and get the rest done a lot quicker.

Then came the first big test: Get Brad to stand on it for me. If it could hold him, it could hold a number of 8 year old boys! Not that he's huge, but he is well over 6 feet tall, and a good test of the stability of my house so far...and....it stood! Then I joined him, then Carter...and I was thrilled!
I think the step phase was the most fun and most fulfilling: filling in the floor. It's also the point at which I had to admit it: I needed help. So I called out to my best helper handyman I know:





And soon enough, we had a platform!
Tomorrow: Roof, or no roof? Walls? Railings? So many more decisions...

Pinterest pumpkin parade post:

Are you pinning yet? Have you heard about Pinterest? Have you ever been in the possession of a large folder of ripped magazine pages of great ideas, photos, sayings, rooms you like, paint colors, pictures of cute cupcake recipes to try, design ideas...? Have you since lost that folder? Or found it, and it's a total mess? Yes?? Then you would love PINTEREST!


Pinterest is a website collection of ideas, photos, recipes, cute sayings, and more. You can search, find things you like, and "pin" them to your wall. Think of a virtual bulletin board where you can keep everything you like in one, easy to find, well organized space. PINTEREST! Create your own folders that match your interests: Mine include design, crafts, Halloween, Christmas, and organizing.


I should have started pinning earlier. I have found so many cute halloween pumpkin ideas, and so little time to follow through. This year at least. Like this:

From bhg.com

(From freshhomeideas.com)

How hilarious is this?:
(From imgfave.com)


Or my sons' pin, from marthastewart.com:



So my advice? Get Pinning! And get started early for all the cool Christmas ideas!

Happy Pinning!

Monday Reminder

My finest "Mom with Nails" Moment: DIY Treehouse!

"Mom, I want a tree house."


It started with one simple request. An eight year old boy wanted a tree house. We had the land, we had the trees, we just didn't have the know-how or ability. So we took the next obvious step: find a tree house builder, and get a quote. Easy-peasy, as they say, right?


Wrong. The quote came in at $3,000. If you are having trouble digesting that, it's three thousand dollars. Yep. and Nope.


So we still have trees, land and an 8 year old that still wants a tree house. Next logical step? Ignore it, and hope it's a phase we can just get over.


But if you've ever known an 8 hear old boy that wants a tree house, it isn't a phase, and it doesn't go away.

I started reading, googling and researching and kept coming up with one name over and over: David Stiles. David Stiles seems to be the guru on building your own tree house. Soon I was the owner of one of Stiles' books, and simply put, I was hooked.

And motivated.

And fired up and nervous and wondering "could I really do this?"

The honest answer was that I really didn't know. But I could start. This is how a lot of DIY or fixit projects start for me: What's the worse that can happen? If I fail, what would I do? Can I take step 1 and 2, and see what happens?

I probably stood outside at the tree Carter had picked out and stared at it for weeks. He kept asking when I was getting started, and I said I was.....just in my mind.

So I decided I could take step 1 and 2, had nothing to lose except a little cash, and if I failed, we were no worse off than we had been.

So I headed off and bought my first pieces of lumber, some nails suitable for outdoors, and just hammered them in. And had this:
...a nice level set of 2x4's. Yep, after all that planning and thinking, this is what I had after day one. But it was a start. And because the ground sloped off at a 45 degree angle, I needed all the support I could get before I tried to heft 2x6's, alone, up against the tree.
Again, I doubted, more than any other DIY project I've undertaken. I was awake at night; I processed and fretted over each step. But I had taken the first, and it was a start.
Stay tuned for the rest of the DIY tree house: A Mom with Nails finest moment!

And for the record, I think this is one of only one photos of me with the tree house:



Check out David Stiles website here:stilesdesigns and start dreaming of your treehouse project: Really, you can do it!

Bathroom update: Week.... three...?

Welcome! Open the door and come on in!
*Sigh* Who knew such tiny little space would take so long to do a little update? Yes, that is my bathroom door in my dining room, and it was there for about a week.













I still don't have it done, but the family is happy to have the door back on the hinges. Painting is done, mirror rehung, but I still have a bit to do.
See this? With all that beautiful white against the gray, old, off-yucky color switch plates reallystand out. Oops...hold on....

OK, I'm back. Momentary stop to yell "No you may not eat my Dansko's" to Nichole.

OK, so about the switch plates. I now have pretty new white ones, but they are still in the bag from the store, but I think will make a big impact, or at least minimize the yellowish old impact from the existing ones.
And this?
I know the decorating adage that "odd numbers are best", but I hung the two picture frames I had anyway. Nope. So I lucked into a great frame sale at Michaels and bought three smaller frames, some more great papers (in the scrapbooking aisle) and can't wait to cut them, frame and hang.
A little more white spray paint and I'll be almost done.

Seriously, for the smallest space in my house, this has turned out to be a big project.

And I wonder why I can't get more done?

Bake it: Yummy, Moist pumpkin Bread

I know the secret: I didn't know before, but I do now. The secret to moist, wonderful, yummy pumpkin bread is: Coconut milk. Seriously....can you see it hiding back there? Am I the only one that doesn't know this?
My son Carter loves pumpkin bread, and as getting a wide variety of (translation: almost any) veggies in him is challenging, I will take any way I can.
Last year I searched "moist pumpkin bread" and FOUND IT!
Its here, at my favorite recipe site: Allrecipes.com
yummy pumpkin bread

I'll post the steps for you so you don't have to read the whole thing:
1) Dump everything listed into a bowl

2) Stir
3) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, 15 minutes.
4) Lick spoon. (What I wouldn't give for some whipped cream right now)

I did substitute a few things: applesauce for the oil, and pumpkin pie spice for the nutmeg.

I hope you love it as much as we do.

DIY: Baseball Bat Holder

(I'm wondering if I should coin the term "MIY" Mom it yourself?)





As is often the case now, Carter will say that he wants something, or has an idea, and says "Mom, just make it for us". He's learned....I'm nothing if not stubborn, and I'll at least try. This is one such of those efforts I can't wait to repeat!
He wanted a rack to hold baseball bats. I looked online, saw prices, and immediately agreed that we could do this ourselves. I had some small pieces of lumber in the garage that would work, and about 1/2 later, we had a bat-rack.

It was really simple: I started with the top piece of 1X4(wood that is 1 inch by 4 inches thick) and drew around the thickest part of the bat at the handle. Then I marked inside of that line by about 1/4 inch or less, used the jigsaw, and cut. The cuts were so tight I had a little trouble with this, so I drilled holes around the line and cut between those. I realize now I really need a scroll saw (and it's good timing, right before Christmas, and my nephews love when they get my name!) Four cuts, we nailed it at a right angle to the bottom piece of wood, and attached it to the wall**. Voila--bat holder for FREE! This is definitely a rough version, but since I know how easy it is, I'm sure I'll make another one soon. A little paint, and we're done!
** The hardest part really, was attaching it to the wall. I have a new toy that will make that easier next time...I'll share later!))

"Fall" in love...

I'm a spring person. My birthday is in the spring, and growing up in Virginia, it was just a lovely time of year. From a very early age I would receive flowers, yes bedding plants, as a gift to start my garden each year. I still feel like I come to life in the spring, and can't wait to surf the garden centers and get my hands in the soil again.
So fall brings a melancholy; no more planting, no more flowers, and winter's coming. OK, so winter in Virginia isn't usually so bad (with exceptions), but it doesn't call to me like spring does. But after the summer we had of 90-100 degree temps and 95% humidity, I'm embracing the fall-ness we are finally enjoying.
Flowers that couldn't come out to play during the extreme summer are blooming again. The mums are out in full force. The trees are being tipped with color. The halloween decorations are in full force. So, I think I'm loving this.
Now if I could only say the same about my phone, I'd be making progress.

DIY Bucket List: Learn to Tile

For a while, learning to put up tile has been on my list of things I want to learn to do. I've brought home so many samples, held them up here and there, dreamed and priced, but enver actually done anything with it.

Until now.

I love this drum table I bought a few years ago from World Market (www.worldmarket.com)
It has this perfect little lip around the edge that is the exact height of this tile I bought last week from Lowes, although for a completely different idea!

These glass tiles are sold in sheets; the idea is that you install the entire sheet as a unit, making your project go fast. I started taking the tiles off one by one (I'm into my third sheet now, and placing them around the table.

This is my third attempt, and I'm starting to like it. The larger tiles were great on the outside rows, but got too large for the middle. I pulled out another samples I had of tinier tiles, starting tearing them off the sheets, and am really thinking this pattern will work.

I really am going to do this: I have the supplies to prove it!

I'll let you know how it turns out...I can't wait! And if it does, I already have my next tile/woodworking project in my head.

Only two questions remain: How do I get the pattern off and back on easily (I have an idea there); and how.... do I keep my assistant from eating the supplies?

Just shoot it: Gatlinburg

For the love of spray paint

Or otherwise titled:

Chair one of seven, and meet my Pop-pop.

I'll get to the chair....First of all, you need to meet my Pop-pop. My grandfather was an awesome person and very special. We lived in the sticks (country, boonies, , the other side of nowhere...), but Pop-pop lived in the city, the big city of Baltimore. Visiting him was a huge treat, and he took us on all kinds of adventures as kids when we visited; we went to Lexington Market, downtown Baltimore and over huge new bridges when they were built. Even a trip through the automated car wash was a treat!

Pop-pop was a successful businessman, even though he just had an 8th grade education. He put his mind to things and just did it. He told me that if someone before you did something, then you could do it too. If you could read, you could cook, and he was an amazing cook and baker. In his retirement, he was an amazing woodworker, and I loved to hang out with him in his basement shop. Pop-pop lived a long, amazing life, sharp and healthy until the very end when he passed in 2002. He was 96.

A few months before, he moved into assisted living. We cleaned out his house, and I inherited his dining room table and chairs. One table, six matching chairs, and one odd chair. I'm not sure why, and I'd love to ask him now about that odd chair!

So I'm finally in the process of redoing these chairs and part of the table to update it;

I used the first chair as a test: But for now, the big reveal:

Before, the finish is worn, different colors, and the blue vinyl cover had to go.

The after:

I used Krylon's "oil rubbed Bronze" and although I like dark finished, I think this will be a bit too dark for the entire table and chairs. You may recognize the fabric (a bit left over from some pillows...I love this fabric!) and was just enough to cover the chair.
And about the spray paint: Over the years I've learned that the new spray paints out there will cover almost everything when my friend Erika suggested that I spray my old brassy chandelier instead of replacing it. Wow...I didn't know!

Now I spray paint everything...more on that later, now back to the chair.

I do love this "mismatch" chair of Pop-pops, and it goes great in my living room.

Thanks Pop-pop! More memories to come. There are a lot, and they are all good.

Life, interrupted....

So I had big plans for Wednesday and Thursday: Paint, fabric, tile, and oh yeah, clean my house. There is always that when you are a full-time mom. But there was a little glitch: my sister got the call at 2am that my mom was taken to the hospital. By 11:30 I was in the car and headed to her apartment as she was being released, but couldn't be alone.

So instead of cleaning, painting, writing and blogging, I hung out at GG's "hotel" as Carter has named it. Sleeping on the sofa, reading magazines, eating nice meals in the dining room, and running errands and taking care of mom.

All in all, not a bad deal I was thinking!

Most important, she is OK; we were able to be there when she needed us; she was at her new apartment which has 24 hour emergency care and not home alone; she was close to the emergency pull cord in the bathroom and had help there in minutes.

So the blog and home life had to wait, but it's still here for me when I got home. For now, I will be there when she needs me, for as we all know, our parents won't always be around like laundry and errands and blogs and the other detritus of life.

All in all, it was a good 2 days.

I am not yet in love....

I had do it today: I had to turn it my trusty old phone that I knew well and get into the 21st century. Ok, I was partly into the century, but without date plans and all that, you know? But the superglue on the phone (not its fault, I dropped it) gave in and gave up, so it was time. And to get a regular phone that *gasp* just makes and receives calls is so last year. And no cheaper than getting a real phone with stuff on it. So we made the leap...the gigantic leap...to a real phone with date and whatever else those kinds of phones do.

OK, am I dating myself too much yet?, cause, you know, I was born well before the cell phone was even around...you know, I had one of those that stuck on the wall, and even had numbers around in a circle, and you had to wait a while if you dialed a number with a lot of nines! If you are totally unaware of what I am referring to, we just may not be able to be friends.

But I digress. I did make one call today. It took me a few tries. I received a few calls, but until my 8-year-old got home, couldn't answer. Hopefully he'll have a break in his homework schedule to help a girl out a bit tonight.

So I all hip and up to date; but you might want to email me for a few days if you really need to chat with me.

I'm not in love yet; I'm not even in like yet.

Photo fun: San Diego, Balboa Park, Cactus Garden

We didn't get to Balboa Park until late on our last day in San Diego...there was just too much to do! We could have spent an entire day there in the park. There are dozens of museums, and we did spend the evening at the 'childrens' science museum (Reuben H Fleet Science Center). I say childrens loosely, as it was as much fun and for the adults as for the child. We have visited many science museums, but this one was the best by far. We also learned so much about tornados and Egypt in the IMAX theatre.
Before the museum, we spent a ton of time in the cactus garden...it was fascinating, especially if you're from the east and haven't seen this type of landscape often. This was my favorite shot of the day!

Oh the possibilities!

We started with numerous choices of old (pre-digital) scrapbooking papers; 10 moms, 4 tiles each, modpodge and an enourmous amount of creativity.
We ended up with this....

So many beautiful coasters ready to be used! Well, almost ready. They still need to be sprayed with a few coats of water sealer and a bit of cork for the back, but then will be a lovely set of coasters.
I always love to see the outcome of different possibilities from the same set of supplies given to a group: 10 people, 10 different sets, so much fun!
This is also a fun project to do with kids: Use watered down glue and bits and pieces of tissue paper; use tiles, wooden letters of their initials and watch the creativity happen. It's like magic.
I love to see the possibilities!

*(Coming up next: Why my bathroom door is sitting in the middle of the dining room, and what's up with this...??)