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 ~

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!

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 ~

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!



to paint or not to paint?

* paint brick fireplace!

that's on my project to-do list.

it should have been checked off by now so that

it would be ready for use this winter.

it's not.

i'm generally not one to shy away from slapping

paint on anything but for some reason

i feel tentative about painting the brick.

does that mean i shouldn't do it?

after we moved in i immediately painted the shiny brass

fireplace insert black.

that was easy and greatly improved things.

but in the back of my mind i knew i'd eventually paint the brick.

in anticipation of painting it this summer i cleaned her

out really well in the spring and removed the big

honking insert.

this is how it sits now.

when i took the insert out i realized i'd done a rotten

prep job before painting it. note the black rim around the opening.

so, now, i have to paint the brick.

right?

i do like the warmth of brick. i think i'm afraid i'm going to want

it back and this is one paint job you just can't undo.

however, every time i see a painted brick fireplace, like this one from

younghouselove,

 i'm ready to pull out my brush!

i also love the brick treatment in this kitchen.

and this whitewash treatment is great.

source

what to do, what to do?

i'm leaning toward a whitewash so that some of the warmth

of the brick will come through.

any opinions? i'm wide open.

~stacy~

a shot of red

One year ago my family moved into Quinby Cottage.

Since then we have been busy trying to make this downsize

work for our family of five by creating a warm

and functional space.

We're getting there.

You can see a little of what we've done

here, here, and here (where she's all cleaned up for Christmas).

We've knocked out wall's, pulled out kitchen cabinetry, painted,

put up board and batten and horizontal planks, and changed out some lighting.

There is still so much more to be done and I've been in a bit of

a diy rut lately!

I knew that in order to get out of the rut I needed

to tackle a quick project that would provide instant

gratification. And it needed to be cheap.

So, I finally painted our front porch swing.

My mom and dad gave us this swing the week we moved in and it's

been on my long "project" list ever since. It was the perfect project

to get me going again.

I decided to paint it the same red as our front door, which I had on hand.

Nothing like an easy update that packs a punch to

get the diy juices flowing!



It's time to re-visit my project list and get busy!

Stay tuned!

linking up with The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday.

bringing in some color

i've been a bit sick lately. mostly with migraines. i have them

often. really often. last week i had one that

just about did me in and lasted almost a full five days.

my meds weren't touching it.

it's over now. normally i would just

move on and take advantage of the feel good days

before the next one hits but this one

kicked me in the tail in a good way.

in an effort to (possibly) help with my migraines

 and just feel better, more energetic, in general (which would in turn

help my mirgaines) i have given up caffeine and sugar. and more than

that am shifting my family toward a more

"whole foods" diet.

i know this isn't a food blog but i have decided that from

time to time i will document how i'm doing with this

lifestyle change, for my own sake.



i have been off caffiene and sugar for several days now

and today i woke up migraine free and feeling great!

so, after being nearly non-functional for the last week i was

ready to clean and spruce and brighten up the place.

i had some fabric i was going to use to make lamp shades

but decided it was just what i needed in the kitchen to replace my old

meshy, neutral curtains.

i liked how the above curtains let light in and felt very airy

but they were just a little to beige for our fairly neutral kitchen.

this floral fabric was just right. it was a quick transformation thanks to

stitch witchery!



I'm linking up with Donna and Funky Junk Interiors.