Thursday, October 20, 2011

sick day equals progress upstairs


i had other plans today.
plans to hang out with a friend
and help her with a project.
but when tank wandered into my room at 4.30am
with a high fever i knew plans were a changin'.



after dropping spinner and bean at school and getting tank settled on the sofa with some blankets and cartoons
i decided to knock out one
of the 150 things on my to-do list.


the boys' room's have been under a slow over-haul
for a good month or more.
so far i have painted various walls in both rooms
and planked the hall landing at the
top of the stairs that connects their rooms.
today was all about planking a small bit of wall behind
bean's bed.



there is so little light upstairs (as it is nestled in the trees) so pics
are nearly impossible to take. what i'm saying is, forgive the grain!

before i started i realized i needed to slap some
dark paint on that wall because i wanted the
gaps between my wood to be large and
haphazard (and i didn't want butter yellow showing through).


i used 1 x 4's and 1 x 6's cut at varying lengths.
i layed it out on the patio as i cut so that
the seams were where i wanted them.



the rest was pretty easy. i just used my nail gun to put the
cut wood up, starting on the right side to make
sure the wood was flush with the wall's edge.

i did have to extend the outlet.


i use these little plastic doohickeys. they work
great and are super easy.


once extended i finished up and put on the new outlet cover.



like i said, i wanted it to look haphazard and piecemeal with
random gaps and spacing. this picture really shows the gray
wall  through the cracks put in the room the spaces just
look dark, which is what i was hoping for.


i'm pretty pleased with it. i love the natural color
and will just top it off with a coat or two of
wipe-on polyurethane.


now i need to find a swing arm, plug in, wall lamp to put
in the upper right quarter so my little guy can
read in bed.

next step for their rooms is beadboard for the rest of the half-walls.

fingers crossed i have this all done before thanksgiving.
and when i do, i'll give you the full reveal.

~ stacy ~

Friday, October 14, 2011

homemade laundry detergent


laundry detergent is expensive.
have you noticed? of course you have.
even with coupons and sales and combining the two.



no, that's not grated cheese

so, i made my own.
there are all sorts of homemade recipes out there
for liquid and powder detergents.

here's what i used:

2 cups borax ($3/box)
2 cups arm & hammer super washing soda ($3/box)
1 bar fels-naptha soap (less than a buck/bar)


mix the two powders and "grate" the soap. stir it all up
good then throw itin your food processor and mix until
the soad is so fine you just see pretty yellow specs
throughout the powder.



pour it into a suitable container, i used a glass
canister that has been sitting empty.

then make a pretty label and enjoy.


i use 1 tablespoon per load.
with three smelly/dirty little boys and one big
boy that runs and cycles and sweats like no one
i've ever met i knew this stuff was going to have to work hard.
after 3 weeks i am very pleased. everything is
clean and smell super fresh.

i doubled the recipe so i'd be set for a while and there is plenty
left in both boxes of powder for another batch!

happy laundering!


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

life and a yard sale




mornings are always a bit hectic around here.
school drop off is 7.00am.
we walk out of the door at 6.55am.

at 6.45am the hall bathroom looked something
like this.


the toilet lid was closed prior to the snapping of
this picture in order to protect your eyeballs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

while waiting on the plumber i got busy with sorting items for
our yard sale this saturday.



need some china? linens? vintage aprons?


home accessories? come on out. we'll have furniture
and lamps, too.


and ironstone. it's killing me but i'm thinning my collection
in order to maintain my simple living commitment.

if you're local holler and i'll give you directions.

~ stacy ~

Saturday, October 1, 2011

project updates: whitewash and boy rooms!


i did it.

i made a decision on the brick fireplace treatment.
it's not done yet but i have had a few people ask to see what i'd done so far,
so here ya go.

i used a 50/50 ratio of primer to water, grabbed a brush
and started applying.


the whitewash is on. it took about 1.5 hours and dried super
fast.

next step is to take a wire brush to it to rough it up just a bit and
expose a little more of the brick.


we love it! even without the roughing up.
pastor j has been wanting me to paint
it for a while so he is especially pleased with it which
makes me happy.

we also have a few things going on upstairs in the boys'
quarters. it involved this. . .


and some of this. . . 


and now we are here. . .



this is luke's corner. he styled the shelves himself. :)
next week beadboard will go up on the side walls, beneath
the pitched ceiling.

wil's corner is gonna be sweet, too.
and timmy? he's getting a splash of green in his room!