Saturday, June 27, 2015

Before and After


Great Room before:


Great Room after:
bookcase not completely filled back up yet!
Obviously, new flooring, but also . . . 
new curtains, fewer things around (i.e. less clutter!)
no valances


Looking at the photos, keep in mind that the tile continues to have a film from the grout.
I have been mopping it quite often, but it will take awhile for the grout gunk to be completely removed and for the tiles to shine and look as clean as they can.
I'll keep updating you on how long it takes!


Greg reassembled the Foosball table today!
Books were the first thing to get boxed up and stored in the garage, so
they'll be the last thing to be retrieved and put back where they belong!


 Coffee table:


Seating area by the sliding glass door:



I hung these two paintings on the pillar by the front door.
They are from my parents, who purchased them in Asia
when they were travelling there as very adventurous young people.
The gold frames and beautiful colors in the paintings fit in very well!


Entryway after:
New flooring, walls painted, new rug, "sheepskin" throw on bench,
different paintings, less clutter


Bedroom before:



Bedroom after:
New flooring, walls repaired and repainted, no curtains, less clutter.
Very soothing and calming! 

Cool, bright, light, and organized, while still being welcoming and comforting.



Guest Bedroom/My Office before:


Guest Bedroom/My Office after:


New flooring, less clutter, better organization of shelves,
no curtains/valances.
The desk area is a dumping zone right now - I'll share photos of that
once it's under control a bit!

 Kitchen before:



Kitchen after:
New flooring, less clutter, no valences,




Guest Bathroom before:



Guest Bathroom after:
New flooring (no more crack in the tile!), border removed (not peeling off any longer!),
all walls painted.

In the bathroom facing the other direction
(photos a little blurry, but you get the idea):
I hung the painting up-and-down instead of sideways
and put the little skunk my Mom painted in the corner.

So there you have it!  You have seen all the rooms in the house except Greg's office, which is still undergoing reassembly.  His closet needed to be painted on Tuesday, and work for him has been crazy and stressful, so he didn't have a chance to reorganize until today.  He's hard at work right now (in spite of not feeling that great today, poor boy).


We have been taking many loads of things to Goodwill
(and the consignment store!), and while I was dropping off a big batch of stuff this past week,
I saw this chair sitting there, waiting to be processed.
I grabbed it!
I considered it to be a fair trade for all the stuff I was dropping off.



I LOVE these bent-wood chairs, and I love rattan.
This one was even painted a gold-ish color at some point.
It's worn off in a very pretty way.



Look at the delicate back!
It reminds me of swans or a heart.


I have a similar bent-wood chair in our bedroom that I bought at a used-goods store for $5 many years back when we needed extra seating to host a Bible study.  No matter what I use it for, I love it.  Like how it looks, like how it feels to sit on, like how light it is, and like how easy it is to transport.  


Another of our little cacti is blooming!
Pretty spidery white flowers:


On such an itty-bitty little guy!


It's crazy that any living thing can survive when it gets so hot outside!





Claude has been enjoying the "sheepskin" blanket on the bench
by the window in the kitchen.


Look at this cute ittle baby pretending that the blankie is her Mommy!
Precious!



Juvy has been enjoying the bench and blankie, too
(the two girls don't enjoy it at the same time, though;
they don't like each other much).



Happy weekend!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

6 AM Walk + Living Room



Our great room is finally getting back in order!
Woo-hoo!
I have had quite a bit of energy and stamina over the past few weeks (thank You, Jesus!), so I've kept chugging along, slowly cleaning and sorting and reorganizing and putting things where I want them (nesting!)


Allistair would rather be asleep.


I mentioned that because I've been feeling so well, I now wake up at a normal time (6 AM or so) and go for an early-morning walk.  It's still in the 80s, with a UV index of 12 (!), so it's quite hot, but it's better than waiting or doing it in the evening (the coolest time is in the early morning).


This morning, it was partly cloudy.








Right now, all our plants are blooming - and it's colorful!

Bougainvillea (gorgeous, but horrible spikes!)


 Red Bird Of Paradise Bush:


Dwarf Palm Tree:


Pink Lantana:


Red Lantana:


 Yellow Lantana:



Most of today I have spent slowly getting the great room back in shape.
The last teeny little touch ups are going to done late in the afternoon today (hopefully).
There's a weird bit of wrong-colored paint in Greg's office closet and some grout by the dishwasher that isn't complete.


Here's what you would see if you walked in our front door right now.


If you sat on the couch and looked at the sliding glass door, you'd see this:



 Close-up of the seating area by the sliding glass door and the curtains:


Neat-o curtain pattern!
They let in a lot of lovely diffuse light!


Allistair already has taken to them.


Kitchen at the moment (bench under the window for cats to look out at bird feeder):
Still sort of empty looking.


Looking back at the entryway and dining room:


Looking at the "library" and Foosball area
(books are all still in boxes!):


Lots of work still to go, but it's looking homey and feeling cozy (yet cool!),
so it's happy work.



BONUS:

During my meditation time after yoga the other night, Juvy came over and laid on my tummy.
It was a great time of quiet and stillness with a purring cat on me!!!
Highly recommended; would purchase again!

Shelving & Fuzzies



We continue to slowly put things in order in our newly finished home.


Obviously, we're not finished yet!
But I'm having a friend over for dinner on Thursday, so that's a good motivator!


These three shelves from my office were in the dining room yesterday
until we moved them to my office again - yay!


Here's what they look like, all set up in my office.


Cozy and functional.





Reorganized bathroom:



We have left the baskets under the Foosball table and Juvy likes to sleep on the blankets in them
while she's inside escaping the hot afternoons.


This little hummingbird was sitting in the aloe vera plant with his little wings spread out to get as much cool breeze as possible.  The aloe vera plant is very close to our fountain, and every few minutes, the hummingbird would fly into the stream of the fountain to get some water. 


Because it was HOT!



The whole of last week was HOT.


Allistair doesn't know that it's hot outside;
he just knows that he wants to sleep with his belly up.



. . . unless he feels like sleeping in the tray on the coffee table.



Cute widdle nosey.




This is Greg's computer chair that he uses in his office, but Claude has kidnapped it.


And she's happy about it.


While the bed was still in the kitchen, Juvy liked to lie on it and watching the birdies.
Though she also likes to sleep with her belly up towards the sky!



Stephen is happy to be relaxed again and able to droop off the arms of the couch.







Last Friday I went to a conference.


The drive was beautiful.

The freeway is under construction, and the Saguaro that are going to be planted along that section of road were all lined up, supported by tripods of 2x4s.


The view of the mountains was beautiful.


And the hotel was the coolest ever!

It was a good conference, too - very interesting data.
I love learning new stuff, especially when it's helpful.


New dress by Emma & Michele.



Pretty summery colors!


And pink shoes!



As part of updating the house,
I reorganized the kitchen cabinets.
Pretty, isn't it?!


And I needed some glasses with no feet to minimize drippage during the hot summer,
and I found them for a great price at TJ Maxx!
Aren't they pretty?



Our sheets got a rip - oh no!


I decided (okay, Greg encouraged me) to sew it and fix it.


I did great!!!
It's an x-shaped zig-zag seam right where Stephen is sitting.


There was a little bitty rip up near the top of the sheet, and I sewed that, too.
I'm not the best sewer, but my work did the trick!


Happy, productive, energetic days here;
hope you are having similar ones!