Shades of Green & Blue

Remember last Monday's post? Remember our beautiful pool, "the green lagoon"? Well....

One week later and Dave has the pool looking AMAZING! It went from murky and green to clear and blue. I must admit that if we didn't want to swim in it I would have wanted the pool to stay green. It was actually a very beautiful color for admiring from a distance.

Dave cleaned it up like a mad scientist.  He added chemicals, swept it, vacuumed it and back flushed it. Just in time for warmer weather. It's suppose to get into the 80's this week. I told Dave he did such an awesome job vacuuming the pool I thought he should vacuum the house from now on!

Flor Carpet Tiles

My big weekend accomplishment was a little entry hallway redo/touch up/enhancement. We got Flor carpet tiles for the entry a few weeks ago. It should have been an easy process but like every single project in this house it turned into a bigger job. Let me first explain that I loathe the moulding in this house.  Yes! Can you believe moulding in a Mid Century Modern? Who puts curvy traditional looking moulding in a modern house?  Anyway, with that said let me continue. 

My first thought was to have the carpet tiles go right up to the wall on the left.  Problem was the floor board on that wall only ran half way down. A floor board was in the way so what do you think I did?  Yes, I pulled it off! It felt so good but that one board prompted more moulding to come out.  I pulled the panels that framed the closet and bathroom doors.  I also started to pull off the stuff that frames the entry door but quickly realized it was mistake. 15 minutes after starting the carpet tile project I found myself with a bigger project at hand. I was going to have to patch, sand and paint before I could lay the Flor tiles down.  I was also going to have to come up with an explanation to give Dave before he came home.

 

That was two weeks ago. Fortunately, Dave is a patient man with my insanity.  After looking at my initial layout I decided it was best to give the tiles some negative space on both sides.  The moulding didn't actually have to come out. Now that it's all said and done I'm glad I did it.  The entry way looks cleaner, simpler, more Mid Century.  I can breathe.

This weekend I fixed not just what I destroyed but I also repainted a few walls and doors in the house.  The entire entry hallway got a fresh coat of paint as did the other hallway and another prominent wall in the house.  The closet doors in the entry way had never been painted so I gave them a couple coats. And the baseboards had never been painted either so they got a much needed coat of paint.  

I have a theory that after three years a house starts to need upkeep, specially if you have kids.  Even though I do touch ups on our white walls every 3-4 months both hallways were in need of a paint job.  P's room needs to be repainted very soon. It has scuff marks in the areas where she most plays.  Our bedroom could use a couple runs of the roller.  Our guest bathroom needs a paint job DESPERATELY, but that's another story and of course another project!

Oh, I almost forgot! I put up three orange hooks next to our mirror.  I love our small and simple hooks under the mirror. They're perfect for hats, scarfs and P's coats but they aren't very useful for hanging large adult coats.  I found these hooks on this site and love their multi-functionality. You can hang coats and/or place mail on them. 

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning looked pretty much like this. The rain and cooler weather makes us all just want to stay in bed.  After breakfast Dave and P got back under the covers with the ipad. They played a train game for a good long while.  

Watching the two of them together, in our large white bed, with all the pillows, and our one bright red wool blanket made me happy.  Our bedroom has a ways to go but the feel of the room is definitely coming together.  I'm loving it's simplicity and cleanliness.  There's a lot of white in here. I like it.

Although I wanted to be in our cozy nest reading the paper I had a project to do...

Rain, Rain and more Rain!

We've been getting pounded by several storms this past weekend and will continue to do so over the week. Yesterday, Dave and I pumped 6" of water out of our pool before it started overflowing. Fortunate for us it doesn't overflow into our house. Unfortunately, for our neighbor next door, our pool water, our other neighbor's pool water and all the run off from both properties end up in their back yard and often inside their house.

Our entire block runs downhill from our house, at the south end, to the last house on the north end. You can see this run off on a daily basis even with no rain as that last house always has pooled water in their street gutter. I suspect when these properties were built all of them had mostly grass in the front and back. When it rained heavily all the water percolated into the ground. Over the years most back yards have had large portions cemented. This in turn has caused a cascading effect of water working it's way downhill.

Right about now I'm glad we live at the high end of the block. And fortunately for all the homes who have drainage issues these storms usually only come once a year or every few years.

Even if we are "on higher ground" Dave and I still had to go out in the cold rain and pump 3" out of the pool only to have it fill up again within an hour and a half. The only reason we did it was to be kind neighbors. As I said, it doesn't affect our house at all. As we stood there like wet, stray dogs we looked at each other and both knew what the other was thinking: we miss our old high rise on the west side. It would take a lot of water to rise up 22 floors!

Oh and in case your wondering why the pool water is green. Well, we had the cover on while we went away on a ski trip. A few days of hot weather was all it took for our semi-maintained winter pool to grow algae like a science experiment. My mantra right now is "I love our pool in the summer".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Kid's Bedding Part 2

I wrote about my issues with the lack of well-priced, good quality kids bedding back in June.  I have some good news. I'm going to tell you about my happy find... at Target no less!

I mentioned that P's first bedding set was from Dwell, the "real" stuff not the Target line.  It wore terribly. In the end I was glad it was a gift.  I would have been very disappointed to have spent so much for so little quality.  

So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself so happy over Dwell's Target line.  A few months ago I bought two Target Dwell fitted crib sheets for P's bed .  I've loved them both very much.  The designs are fantastic! They are getting a lot of wear and washes and holding up remarkably.  They are also incredibly soft. I'm loving the quality of the material. And best of all they are easy to put on.  The pockets are deep and the elastic is great.  Anyone who has had to change sheets at 3am can tell you what a HUGE bonus this is! 

Get a load of the design above! I love it for P!  It's pink without being infantile.  I made the duvet from a fabric panel I bought at Target 3 years ago. I think the sheet goes beautifully with it. Don't you think? It was this design that suckered me into trying Target Dwell and I'm really glad I did.

P is still using her Ikea crib that converted to a toddler bed.  I'm holding out as long as possible to buy a regular size bed because I'd like to get P this Room and Board bunk.  It's pricey but it will transition well into the teen years.  I can only imagine the rest of Dwell's Target line is just as good. I hope so because they'll be my first choice for doing a twin bunk bed. 

39

I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a busy few months and I really haven't moved forward with any home projects worth sharing.  I turned 39 on Friday and I remembered that I wanted to document my birthday wish lists so I'm vowing to start up again beginning with this year's wishes.

I looked at last year's  list and realized that over the year I acquired 6 out of the 10 things. Not bad right? Item #9, the Flor carpet tiles were my gift for this birthday.  Like every other project in this house it spurred another project which I'll talk about later.  Who knew just simply putting carpet tiles down could cause more home destruction?

So, this year, this is what I want:

1. Gravel for front yard landscaping
2. More plants for front yard landscaping
3. Steel edging
4. Galvanized tank (smallish) for an outdoor water fountain and fish tank.
5. Two more sculptural trees (can't think of their names but Dave calls them Dr. Seuss trees)
6. Paid labor to help me tear out the front lawn
7. Acapulco chairs for our back patio
8. Time with a power washer
9. Newly painted house
10. Time with a table saw

For me personally, there's only one thing I want: a baby.  Last July I posted that I was pregnant. I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks.  I never wrote about it because that was the third and last miscarriage of the year. We decided to take a break after the loss. It affected us all quite heavily and I just didn't feel like writing on the subject.  We're trying again but I'm also starting to accept what God and the universe have given me. I have a daughter whose quite amazing; not just by my standards (of course) but by every teacher, doctor, friend and stranger who meet her.  I'm starting to think of all the benefits of having just one child. More money for home projects. More travel. Better wardrobe, better everything.  However, in my heart of hearts I'd like one more; for me, for my daughter and for my husband.  

I use to think women who tried to have children at 40 were nuts.  Well, I have two months before I end up delivering at 40 and I'll have to eat my words. I should have known better.  Never say never.