Kitchen Demo Day 1

Cabinets and counters are removed!! Some groovy wallpaper was uncovered too...two layers no less!

Kitchen destruction

Tomorrow my kitchen will be demolished. I am excited and nervous, and can't wait for it to be finished! I can't think of anything I will be sad to see go. The white tile with dingy grout, the melamine cabinets with cracks and warped shelves, the dishwasher that doesn't work...including the mouse eaten hose. Yep, farewell 1978 kitchen.

It's time for a higher ceiling, slate floors, cabinets with handles, granite countertops, sink, a faucet with a single lever for hot and cold, pot lights, and appliances. Can't wait to meet my new kitchen in 4-6 weeks.


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Living Room

I got the living room sorted about as much as it can this weekend. It's been a long road getting unpacked, but boy is it a dramatic transformation when you look at it from when I first moved it. I love my place, and now I'm ready for the chaos that will be a kitchen remodel!


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Know your knits skirt

I took a 4 hour class on sewing with knit fabric tonight at my favorite place, Stitch Lab. I just want to live there. I love that place.

I learned a lot about working knits, and other than a fiddly start with my machine, it was pretty easy and not as intimidating as I thought it would be. I'm so surprised I finished it...complete with hem and everything. So now I have a sassy, tomato red skirt to wear. :-D

Make stuff room

The make stuff room is finally put together. I still need to go through things and cull some more, but it all fits, and I have a Miami Vice style room to be creative in! :-D The green is called Gleeful, and it does make me happy every time I see it. Hoping to make some cafe curtains and ditch the blinds.

More pictures of the condo progress available. :-D


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2012 Reading Update

I read 150 books in 2012! I made it through 23 countries in my Around the World in 52 Books reading challenge.

For 2013 I hope to read 150 books again, and I'd like to read everything on my to-read list, which is currently at 103!!

Here's a map of all the countries I "traveled" to this year.

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Living room

I've been busy nesting in my new condo. I've painted the living room and make stuff room. This past weekend I did the living room. I used the textured fresco technique from Sherwin Williams. I was going to do a faux Venetian plaster look, but decided I liked the textured fresco just as well and it would be easier. The unfortunate thing was I didn't like any of the colors in the premixed options at S-W.

At the store, the clerk told me to just pick whatever colors I wanted. So I just jumped in and did. All the premixed options were on the same color cards, just different values. So I picked what I thought would get me close to the Venetian plaster look that I liked from Behr. Just blindly jumped!!


So the technique is to paint a coat of dimensional basecoat on. It's the consistency of meringue. You roll it on with a sponge roller and then just a trowel to knock down the texture a bit. The S-W sales clerk said this should be fine on heavily textured walls. He was wrong. My walls are almost like popcorn ceilings, except on the walls. The dimensional basecoat wasn't really thick enough to cover up the popcorn effect. I should have done a little more research, but it all runs together when you look at a bunch of techniques. If I had to do it all again, I'd use joint compound, and take the time to do as many coats to completely cover the popcorn texture. But, I was able to get the dimensional basecoat on and was satisfied with the result.
Two coats of a basecoat were up next. I was going for a golden color, so I picked a light yellow and one darker. The light yellow looked a lot like mac 'n cheese. It did dry a bit darker and I felt like I was on the right track.

Last up was a glaze coat. I mixed up the darker yellow/gold to two parts glaze. I just wiped it on with a sponge and wound up with a warm lovely color!

I love that once again I trusted my instincts and wound up with a wonderful color.

I finished off the room with an olive on the bottom. I plan to add a chair rail. The living room was a dark sage/olive color. It didn't seem terrible, but there was a lot of grey to it, and it was a lot darker than I liked. I couldn't believe how grey it was when the olive was next to it. Color is so fascinating.

All in all I've wound up with a color palette I really like. I can hardly wait to get the chair rail up! And I clearly picked a color palette that complements my current decor. :-D