Only now it’s not the guest room, it’s my son’s room. My fifteen-year-old son is coming to live with us and go to school here. Having him in the big city was not the best environment, so we talked him into coming out here and giving small town a try. He’ll be here at least a year, I’m hoping he’ll be here through high school.
So anyway… here is what I started with:
And this is what we have now (complete with cat approval):
What a difference! I really like the room. Even the mats/frames on the pictures match the walls, and that was completely unintentional. I still need to do a few more things, like refinish the bed frame and get a proper nightstand, but it’s looking very cozy. The cats love it, I haven’t been able to get Shiva off the bed since I set it up.
Oh, in case you’re wondering about Alley Cat’s back, we had to shave her mats off. She was VERY grumpy, and she feels a lot better now.
So, I have two walls finished. We have family coming over this weekend to help me finish, because I’m NOT going to be done before my son comes out to visit. Have I mentioned I love my husband’s family? They’re awesome.
In case you’re wondering, this is very close to the actual colors of the paint.
Well, here it is, May 20th, two full months after I started this project. I’ve only been feeling well enough the last few days to take another stab at it. The “circus wall” has been covered with one coat of paint, and the room no longer offends my eyes. The trick is going to be finishing before my son gets here for the summer… in one month. Yikes!
Here are the progress photos:
The window, blue wall, and the carpet have all been masked off. Isn’t that wall lovely? (Blech)
Ozzy is helping. He loves the masking paper.
Here I’ve painted all the edges with a paintbrush. I really wish I could have masked the ceiling, but it has that “popcorn” finish and tape just refuses to stay attached. I also attacked the wall in a few places where I’d patched holes to make sure they were filled in completely. It looks like someone came and played with mud all over the wall now.
The first coat is complete! You can still see some of the striping under the paint (though you can’t really see it in this picture), so I will be adding another coat in a few hours… or maybe tomorrow. I hurt like hell already from doing this much, I don’t know how much I want to push myself today. I overdid it yesterday and am paying for it today. I’d really like to be able to get out of bed in the morning.
So, I have made progress. My goal is to have the bedroom complete by the end of the second week of June. By complete, I mean painted, furniture in, linens on the bed, and curtains hung. I should probably put the blinds back up, too. I could probably buy cheaper curtains if I have blinds on the window. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this room is going to turn out. Hopefully it looks as good in reality as it does in my imagination.
My answer to the Plinky question of the day/week/whatever:
I like to de-stress by listening to music. What’s my favorite? Eighties metal. Hard driving guitar rock with great lyrics, soaring vocals, and a great beat. I know that’s not your usual “relax” type music, but I still love it. It just makes me feel good, y’know? Crank up the radio and sing along, and all your cares melt away.
If I’m not listening to music, I’m surfing the web (or, like right now, doing both). I’ve been on Last.fm for quite some time now, and I’ve just discovered Pandora thanks to my brother-in-law. I love what the internet has done for music!!
Just one of the search terms people have used to find my blog. I haven’t linked any, but I do have several on my DevantArt page. If you’re interested, here is what I have so far:
Fun! If you go to the linked pages, there will be a “Download” link on the left side of the page to download the full size wallpaper. If you like these, and would like me to make more, just leave a note in the comments and I’d be happy to do that.
A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, ”I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. So naturally… I assumed you had stolen the car.”
Really looking forward to the new movie. I have a friend who got to see a sneak preview, and he loved it. I’ve got tickets for the 7:00 show, and I’m dragging Brian along with me (not that he’s protesting). I’ve been a huge Trek fan for years… my dad used to watch the original series in syndication, and I got hooked. I’ve seen every episode of the original series, every episode of The Next Generation, and a lot of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Enterprise really didn’t thrill me, so I’ve only seen a few episodes of that one. I’ve also seen most of the movies on opening day/sneak preview. Yes, I’m a Trekkie. Shamelessly.
The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and spring is finally here. I’d love to go out and do some yardwork, but that is currently on hold. I did manage to make it out to spray some Roundup on the weeds, however. My biggest challenge is trying to figure out how to Make the Sunflowers Not Grow. When we bought the house, the yard was overgrown with sunflowers, and I didn’t get them out before they totally went to seed. Unfortunately. Now I have a bazillion baby sunflowers coming up, and I’m not physically up to going out and pulling them all up. I’m waiting to see if the Roundup has any effect on them. If so, it’s herbicide, baby.
On the plus side, I have some lovely tulips coming up, and my lilacs are in full bloom. The late frost didn’t kill off all the blooms on the peach trees, and it looks like I’ll have a nice crop of peaches for the fall.
My overgrown front yard, with my lilac in full bloom
Pretty, yes?
On a fun note, I just discovered the new and updated photo feature in my Wordpress. Yay for updates! This will make it much easier for me to post random photos from Picasa or from my Photobucket page.
For those of you following my illness, here is an update: no news. My doctor still has no idea what’s causing the pain, and has officially given up and referred me to a rheumatologist. He thinks it may be some type of auto-immune disorder. I’m just hoping we find out what it is and hopefully make it go away.
I’ve not been feeling well, so instead of being productive and doing stuff like painting or cleaning, I’ve been playing with Photoshop and creating wallpapers. I really need to learn Photoshop, and I figured the best way to do it would be to make something I wanted that was very simple. So, wallpapers for my minimalist desktop. I don’t like “busy” wallpaper, I like it to be simple and dark. So, here are a few for you to see.
Hopefully more painting later this week. I do have the second coat on the blue, and I’m ready for the rest of the paint. Just need some sandpaper and need to clean the walls. Go me!
