Update

Hale Navy

No.

Midnight Blue

Yes!

 I brought the Hale Navy home and I knew it would be too light.

So I asked Noodle what she thought and she agreed: we needed to go darker.

 I've got the first coat of Midnight Blue on the vanity and I think I LOVE IT!!!! 

Also, painting the medicine cabinet white has almost made the lightbulbs recede and become less noticeable.

Now I'm starting to rethink my shower curtain choice.  I wonder if white is a bad choice...will I have to wash Zuddy's filthy filthy man paw prints off of it all of the time?

Will it bug me?

Should I go for something like this instead?

pottery barn

The shower curtain I have now is kind of loud, so I'm ready for a change and didn't really want to go with a print.  

What do you think? 

Bathroom Plans

Yep... I'm going to ALMOST finish the bathroom this week.  Well, most of the painting, that is.  The vanity and the mirror will be done.

But the door.  Oh, the door.

I mean, who really wants to take the bathroom door off?  It's just so...ewwww.  Bathrooms need a door.  It's just how it is, you know?  I have a curtain I can put up with a tension rod.....but, I've been really avoiding this.  PLUS, the door needs to be sanded.  Outside.  And we are getting another snowstorm overnight, so outdoor sanding may not be happening anytime soon.  I'll talk to the Zudster and see how he feels about sanding a door today.  I'm thinking since it's his only day off he'll nix it.

Anyhoo.....I will be priming tomorrow and Tuesday and then Wednesday I will pick up a quart of paint.  I still haven't decided yet.  I've been looking at peacock blue, but I can't seem to find one that floats my boat, man.  So I'm going to pick up a sample of Hale Navy (Benjamin Moore) and see if that's the color I want:

Here are a couple of photos I found on Google of things and rooms painted Hale Navy:

via Amy's Casablanca

via Apartment Therapy

via Houzz.com

Here's the blind I will get:

via Lowes

 And the shower curtain:

via Pottery Barn

Also, I need new knobs and other bathroom hardware.  Here are some examples of things I like:

 

knobs from Anthropologie

via Pottery Barn

Here's a reminder of how the room looks right now:

Boy, I sure wish we could replace that medicine cabinet, but we're afraid it would open a can of worms that we want to stay closed :) I'm hoping painting it will take away from some of it's "eightiness".....kind of high hopes, but hopefully, it will do for now.

The wall color will be Valspar's Sesame, just like the hallway and all of the woodwork will be painted Swiss Coffee by Behr: 

Here's something else I'd like to mention:  Who cares about home rehab when little kids are in pain?  Please go to Sarah's blog and send little Molly some love.  My heart is breaking for her.  She is a beautiful, strong little girl who is enduring way too much right now.  I'm praying for her speedy recovery from her pain and some much needed relief.

Shades

Aaaahhhhh.  There's nothing like Sunday nights....watching Downton and blogging :)  Are you watching Downton Abbey?

Okay, so I haven't been able to work on the bathroom....but here's a photo of the shades I bought from Lowe's for the kitchen:

  

I know the photo kind of blows, but I had to take it with the Noodle's phone.

One thing I should have mentioned: the width is customizable, but the length is not.  Well, I should say: Lowe's won't alter the length for you, but it's easy to do yourself!  I did it under the watchful eye of my Mom, and if I can do it, so can you!  Maybe I'll do a little tutorial when I buy the shade for the bathroom.  All you need is a scissors, some Gorilla Glue and a couple of little clamps.

Anyway, I really like these shades.  I'm probably going to get some for other rooms in the house. I got a them with a liner, but you can get them with or without one.

Have a great week!  I'm working a lot these days (a good thing!), but I need to get my act together because I need to get going on my garden planning and winter seed sowing!

Onward.....

To the bathroom!

I didn't take true before photos because I'm a bad blogger.

BUT?  Here is a photo after a coat of primer is on the trim.

Helloooooo 1989!

There used to be a wood blind with black ladder tape. I think that was one of mine and Zuddy's many early marital disagreements because I spent $200 on a bathroom blind and that was a lot of money for us back then.....actually, it still kind of is.  But I know better now.  I'm going to go to Lowe's and get some bamboo shades this time.  I got some for the kitchen and I love them! Plus, did you know that you can get them cut to order?  That saves a lot of money for us because all of our windows are special-order sizes. 

A word about this room....we are dying to gut it, but we don't have another bathroom and neither of us can imagine having it under construction without a backup bathroom.  And given our track record of finishing our home projects.......let's just say it:  we aren't Young House Love over here. So.....facelift it is.  But it's kind of like putting lipstick on a pig because of the walls.  You see, the previous owner did a DIY stucco job.  We once had a drywall guy working on our attic bedroom and he very accurately said that it looked like he gave his 5 year old a quarter to stucco our bathroom for us.  Here's a photo where you can kind of see it:

So this is my latest project. I started it in October and then had to start my part time job, so It's waiting for me to finish it.  Here's what I have left to do: 

• Prime and paint the vanity (deep Navy blue, I think).
• Prime and paint the medicine cabinet (Behr Swiss Coffee, like the trim)
• Paint the walls (Valspar Sesame, like the walls in the hallway)
• New bamboo roman shades.
• New cabinet hardware (not sure what yet)
• New shower curtain....something plain.
• More plain white towels....I've been getting them at Sam's Club.

I think the hardest part of this job is the fact that I need a pretty large chunk of time to get the vanity and medicine cabinet painted.  Plus?  I need to take it apart and put it back together after a couple of hours of drying because we use it daily.  It's going to take a bit of time.  I'm going to buy a new can of primer tomorrow and get to it!  Wish me luck!    

Pintastic!

I know I've been missing, but I've had a rough month.

First of all, I got a "little" part time retail job for the Holiday season because I haven't been working much at my big-girl job. I've been working there a lot and I really like it!  Want to know where?  Here's a hint:  It's a store that sells containers.  Lots of 'em :)

Then? Our house got broken into and our iPad got stolen along with some money and our camera. You know what I've been using to take photos for the blog?  Why, the iPad and the camera, of course! So, that's a bummer.

Then?  Noodle and I got the flu just in time for Christmas!

So that's my story. Also, my computer's power cord has been broken and I finally got a new one, so here I am!  I'm finally back on line.
   
Did you have a nice Holiday?  It didn't seem very Holiday-like for me this year, but Noodle got an awesome HUGE gummy worm for Christmas: 

Nothing says Holiday more than 3 feet of gummy goodness!  I don't mind saying that we've already eaten half of it and it's DELICIOUS :)

So, today I've got the day off and I'm trying to plan our dinners for the week.  I hopped on Pinterest and saw this recipe:
 

Source: marthastewart.com via Martha on Pinterest

It's basically just doctored up Ramen Noodles....You drain off most of the liquid after cooking the noodles in water with the seasoning packet.  Then you add soy sauce, peanut butter, Sriracha and sliced green onion.  I added one more ingredient, which I HIGHLY recommend: sesame oil.  I just drizzled a little bit into the noodles and stirred it in, and it rounded out the flavor and made it a bit more complex.  It's definitely salty, but I'm not afraid of excessive amounts of salt :)

This is a great little lunch if you want something quick, love Thai food and have everything on hand...which I did.  I think next time I make it I will add some cooked chicken and cilantro leaves...YUM!!

Hallway

Hey!  Look at me!  I'm following through!  Here are my photos for the freshly painted hallway:

Can you even tell the difference with in the paint colors?

I'm still working on painting doors.

I'm thinking about changing the light fixture....you can't see it in these photos, but the fixture is very plain with a round cracked glass globe.  It's fine, but I've always wanted one of these: 

And maybe a fun runner, like this:

Or this:

What do you think?
 

Antelope!

Well, I'm not at all opposed to jumping on a bandwagon.....and if I were working more, this is the one I'd hop right on: 

Karastan  Aberdale Antelope Carpeting

 I would kill for rug made out of this.  Wouldn't it look great in my soon to be painted living room?  

I could get some fun pillows for the sofa.......pillows that would surely end up in a heap on the floor, but still.  I need to figure out some new window treatments, too.  I don't want to spend much because who knows how long I'll be able to stand them?

Anyhoo, I digress...the rug.  I saw on My Favorite and My Best 
that it costs $5.85/sq. foot.  Ouch. I guess its better than what the Stark Antelope carpeting costs.  Someone commented on this post that they thought the Stark would cost at least $100/sq. foot. 

What the WHAT?!?

via google imagaes

Well, now I'm just sad.  That would be about 10k for an 8x10 rug (but you'd have to buy and 8x12 piece).  By the way, the wall color in the photo above is pretty much exactly what I'm planning on for my living room...dang, that's a cute room, isn't it?

Okay, then.  I've started painting the bathroom woodwork and I've been really slacking on painting the doors.  BUT?  I've painted the walls in the hallway, which I will show you later this week.  

Or sooner.  

Or later.