Monday, February 28, 2011

plank er up!



last friday was planking day.
finally!
all those planks that have been hanging
out in our bedroom have made 
their way home.

i am loving the results.
big time.
i am now happy to report that there are NO MORE
fleshy, pinky, underbelly-of-a-pig colored
walls in our home. 
woohoo!!




because it was a rainy morning (though you wouldn't
know it from the alien like light coming
in through the door and window!) we had to set up 
shop inside.


my dad was uber helpful and having him there gave me the
confidence i'll need to finish walls in two other rooms with the same treatment.


i finally got to break out my christmas present, a nail gun, and put
it to work. it was so easy and made all the difference in
how quickly we moved through getting the planks up.


after we  finished up the wall in the bedroom, and my parents left, i looked
at the clock and determined to make use of the time i had 
before the kids came home. 
and, i was on a roll.

so, i got started on our den.


this picture isn't all that clear but you can see where i started
to the right of the window. that exterior wall be planked
and then the window will get some drop cloth curtains.

so, a productive day on friday. 
which was a good thing.
because on saturday?
this happened:


our hot water heater died. and had apparently had a slow death
without our realizing. 

(this is after everything was  removed, including some of the flooring)

the closet where it's located (also our coat and "other storage" closet)
was flooded and mold had already started to form.

that was saturday morning.

tonight my house looks like this


and this


because we haven't had water since saturday at 9am.

the plumbers just left and will be back in the morning to finish installing our new
water heater, which is being re-routed so it can be OUTSIDE of the house! 

the good news is i will have more closet space!

so, to sum up:
1. bedroom wall is planked. hooray!
2. i can now move to the next phase of our master makeover. hooray!
3. planking has begun in our den and i will totally be able to finish
it on my own. hooray!
4. hot water heater. dead. boo.
5. floors in closet. ruined. boo.
6. water has been turned off since saturday and my boys
have become a little too comfortable using the backyard
as their outhouse. boo.
7. new hot water heater: bigger and more efficient and outside. hooray!
8. got rid of the nappy carpet that was in the closet. hooray!
9. opportunity to do something creative (and cheap) with the
floor in there. hooray!
10. opportunity to turn the closet into something
more functional, like a mini built in office. or a storage area
with great function and design. hooray!


so, while unexpected and a bit inconvenient, not horrible.

Monday, February 21, 2011

fresh flowers

i hosted a baby shower here
at quinby cottage over
the weekend.


it was the perfect opportunity to
bring in some fresh flowers.


and to find creative ways to display them.


dollar pails from target, blue ball jars, mason jars hung
with wire or twine, old white porcelain vase. . . 


no matter how they are displayed they sure brighten
up a room!


what's your favorite way to display fresh flowers?



the camellia's, by the way, are from my yard.
the tulip's and sunflower's are from
our local market. :)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

one thing leads to another


you know the old story about putting a rose in
a room? then you clean the table on which it is perched.
then you open the drapes. then you pick up the clutter and vacuum
and on and on until you have an 
easy on the eyes room.

make one small pretty change and it leads to more.

that happened to me this week.
and it started with painting my door red.


that led to completely rearranging the furniture
in our living room. which meant moving furniture out 
and into our bedroom. which meant moving furniture out
of our bedroom and into our den (pictured above).
which led to painting the moved furniture since
it had a new home. i'll show you that later.

it also led to finally hanging the big distressed mirror that 
i have hauled through three moves (always writing into the contract
that my mirror does not convey).


in our small space it adds a big punch, throwing light
and reflections around the room. i love it.


hanging the mirror also led me to do something on the opposite wall,
which to this point had yet to be treated. but having that wall in 
the mirror's reflection pushed me to get 
something up there. 


so i dug around in our shed (grabbing the empty frames)
and the storage closet and threw this 
up there. kind of haphazard but it works for now.


there was a mahogany secretary desk here but it got the
boot because it was just too chunky for this space.
my grandmother's old drop leaf table is now perched here. 
it's just the right depth allowing us to move the sofa and 
have a walkway between the back of the sofa and the wall.



see the wall to the right of the black door? that's where the 
drop leaf table was but we could never open the 
back door all the way. and my three little guys would
inevitably slam that table every time they swung the door open.
now the door opens all the way!
but now i need to do something with that wall.
don't like the picture there. 
with summer coming i anticipate lots of in and out over in that
corner so i may throw some kind of treatment on that wall
and put up some hooks.

and it all started with the red door.



now, back to my planned projects!

does this ever happen to you? please tell me i'm not the only one. :)

what i wore wednesday

linking up with lindsey again for

heading out to our favorite eatery
in asheville, nc.

tuxedo top and cardi, loft; jeans, lucky;
boots, luchesse; necklace, darlybird.


off to church


dress, mast general store (patagonia); tank and tights, target; cardi, loft;
darlybird necklace again; boots, miz mooz.

ciao

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

at long last

i love red doors.
on homes.
on churches.
on quirky old delapodated buildings.
love them.
always wanted one.

finally, after perusing photos of yellow homes
with red doors i decided to go for it.


i love how all the colors come together.
yellow house, red door, blue porch ceiling.
(i realize i took these photos at the worst time of day - shadows
and all - but i had to take advantage of my three free minutes!)


i didn't want to spend money on a new
door handle and lock (it was brass) so
i took it off and painted it.


the finish came out great.
first i spray primed it with kilz,
then sprayed three coats of rustoleum's
hammered bronze, then followed it
up with three coats of deft's spray
lacquer.


BEFORE



AFTER


now, we just need a little spring green to liven things up!

i'm linking up to coastal charm and domestically speaking.

Friday, February 11, 2011

bedroom update (don't get too excited) and some eye candy


as promised i have a master bedroom update for you.
what i didn't tell you is there's not much to
report. :)

sorry, didn't mean to tease you like
that. i do have a little eye candy for you
from some of my favorite
antique spots in asheville.

pastor j and i spent last weekend there compliments
of my parents. i know. awesome, right?


but first. . . our master.
the busyness of life stalled things after i painted
three of the walls. BUT i have done this. . .


collected all my planks! that's something right? they are only 1/4 in. thick
which i am happy about because hopefully that means i won't
have to take down the existing crown molding and baseboard.
fingers crossed.

i also got rid of the awful 1980's skinny blinds and put up
some dark bamboo roman shades. still looking for the
right fabric for panels.

my loose plan for the weekend is to begin putting up the planks.
i'll let you know how that goes!

okay, on to the fun stuff.





tobacco baskets
and
crates
o'plenty!








i loved the clock above!
wonder if i can recreate it??


and, oh, if i had the money i
would have stocked up on these
baskets for the boys'
suite makeover!




perfection!



old french shoe forms. these would look great hung on a wall
in a grouping!


love, love, love this empire chest! the color, the amount
of distressing, the curves. beautiful!




transit letters
and
chippy furniture
abound!










i exercised great self control and
walked away with only one item.
this rusty, pale yellow, rectangular basket.

a girl can never have too many rusty wire
baskets!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

bedrooms, bathroom, red door, and a speaking engagment

it's been quiet on the blog because it's been
busy at quinby cottage!

just wanted to pop in and say i'm still here
and will be back tomorrow to give a
cottage improvement update!

i have two big projects underway.
the master bedroom and the kids'
suite upstairs, which includes their bedrooms,
bathroom and a hall that joins the two.

and, as usual, i found myself diving into
an unplanned project in the midst
of those two things.


inspired by the above picture (source unknown) and this
i have decided to paint our front door red.
it's sanded and ready for some makeup.

pics to come when she's all prettied up!

but first pastor j and i have been asked to speak at
campus crusade for christ at the university of south carolina
tonight.

 the topic?
the boundaries of love

wish us luck!