The Cottage in Modern Cottage

If you haven't booked your trip to visit us yet. That's a good thing because we are not ready for you. But, we are getting closer.

This is what our guest room looked like 2 weeks ago.

This is what our guest room looked like 2 weeks ago after I got a bee in my bonnet and ripped up the carpet.

Not only did I think a new floor would be a good idea, I thought a panel wall would add some cute texture. We bought this paneling at HD for 16.00 total. It is kind of like the wood (if you can call it that) you would find on the back of a dresser. Since we were planning on painting it the price was exactly right.

So you don't tell your hubby everyday that he should consider himself lucky he didn't marry me, I will have you know that I single-handedly made an arrangement with our neighbor guy to help Henry hang our new panel wall...in exchange for Henry's help laying his entryway's subfloor! Chores are always more fun with a friend:)

Here is some proof that I don't just point fingers, shop on the internet and boss around the neighborhood- I posed for this picture, cute outfit and all!

I painted the room with one coat of primer that we had in the basement, then Dover White, which wasn't working with the white ceiling. Then I mixed two partial cans of white paints we had in the basement and gave the room another coat. After it dried I didn't think it jived with the white on the ceiling either..so I painted a 4th and final coat with...wait for it...White Primer. Is that legal? I love the crisp white and I love that I didn't spend a dime on paint.

 This is the cottage is our Modern Cottage Guest Room.

Eyes on the prize:

The Cold is Old

I am so over our cold and snowy weather! It is a whopping 21 degrees right now. This morning I said to one of my students, "last year at this time the temps were in the 70s, that is spray painting weather!" He said "like graffiti?" 

While I am hunkered down inside drinking tea and paging through Country Living Magazine these cuties can't get enough of the snowy fun. 

I took these pictures through the window.

 Thinking warm thoughts!

The Hardwood Discovery

Oscar was napping and Henry was organizing our basement. So, I thought it would be a good time to cut a little piece of carpet out of our guest bedroom's closet to see what was hiding underneath. I mean seriously, look at it. Clearly, the people that chose this carpet were also thrifty. I would put it in the indoor/outdoor category and it is really worn out.

I was able to grab a corner and peek underneath to discover that they GLUED this carpet down to hardwood floors. 

Can you stand it? It makes my stomach churn reliving the discovery while writing this post. Then, things got even more complicated when I ripped up the entire carpet. I am impulsive and I don't deny that.

Then I could hear Henry coming up the stairs. Eeek. I didn't regret my decision but I knew the more appropriate approach would have been to chat about whether or not we wanted to take on a project of this magnitude for the sake of our time and our hard earned pennies. So, I did what any mature adult would do...I hid behind the bed.

In my opinion the sticky hardwood looks better than the carpet, and I am sticking to it. 

Play Time in the Playroom

I finished the playroom, and I use the word finished loosely, as always. We don't need to win a stinking contest to get things done, even though it would be nice...I just get so tired.

Before

Believe me when I say, we moved the mess somewhere else.

We took off the doors and added some paint. I am happy to say we are eliminating the builders beige one room at a time. The little dude does not like being shut out.

After. This is the third and happy home for the gray rug.

Before

After.

Before.

After. The wire shelf did not magically grow, we had bigger-taller version in the basement.

and more afters.

A cozy little nook for the grown ups to drink coffee and read the paper. I sewed the cushion cover myself, so no close up photos allowed. Take my word for it, the fabric is ant maze. So cute. I had the cushion from our pew in the kitchen, their was a problem with the first one I ordered, so the co. let me keep it for free. whoop! whoop!

Lots of storage makes Momma Lovely happy.

All there is left to do is play.

The bright and sunny space has been working out perfectly for our bright and sunny boy. 

Little Kitchen Update

When I say little kitchen, I mean little kitchen.

I found this little kitchen at a church rummage sale. I think the church was going out of business. Does that happen? Lucky Oscar, I paid 20.00 for the range and the fridge. 

The linoleum top and guts (can you see it through the little oven window) and the color blocking paint job was not really my Oscar's speed, we were far more interested in the good bones.

So I made few upgrades. 

Henry cut a 6.00 new top with a hole for the 12.00 bowl sink. The knobs are .30 (a cool 1.50) wood wheels that spin around and the burners are 6 in. wood craft rings for 1.20 each (that's 4.80) that I sprayed black. For a total of 44.30, a bargain if I do say so myself.

I painted all the nooks and crannies and dug through the recycling bin to stock the pantry.

We made sure to pay special attention to a safe kitchen interior. I am willing to bet money that there will be a little boy that likes to crawl inside his kitchen in our future. We made sure nothing was poking around inside, including cutting off the faucet pipe and gorilla gluing it to the counter top. 

We hauled the kitchen upstairs from the basement while Oscar was sleeping and after breakfast he wandered in to the playroom to play trains, he saw the kitchen and gave a breathy "huh" with a little smirk on his face. Believe me, it was sweet. Bon Appetite!

P.S. We are not sure if the fridge will ever make an appearance, so if you are looking for one, it's in our basement.

A Room For Guests

We have a wonderfully perfect set up for guests. We stick them on Floor 3 with a bedroom and a cute little bathroom and let them come downstairs for meals. We love hosting our friends and family (for a couple days:) and have put our little guest corner to good use.

2.5 years of F and F rolling in and out and Lady Lovely has a plan for a fancy upgrade. Not so fancy that they will stay a long time, but fancy enough that they will feel like their short little stay is a real treat.

So excited, I got the ball rolling this weekend. A totally impulsive, should have consulted Mr. Lovely first, kind of decision, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Here is the plan.

If you would like to schedule a visit, you should submit dates now before I start renting this room out for money.

News about Junk

Things have been slow around the Lovely's. 2 weeks ago we all had strep throat and just when we start getting all spunky and ready to decorate we get sick, again! Our sweet little dude slimes us every night with daycare goo and the next thing we know we are vomiting in our neighbor's dining room, running to the toilet all night or spending the day in the ER with pneumonia. Plain and simple: we are a mess.

To make matters worse I didn't get picked as a contestant for my latest contest entry, ho hum! I am a little disappointed, but moving on...

I am going to do something I have really been wanting to do. It's a little scary but I am tag teaming with a girlfriend, a super junker girlfriend, and signing up to be a vendor at a junk sale!

Now I can junk and not have to wonder where I can stash it. There was a night a few weeks ago when Henry said to me, "Do I have to go and pick anything up from Craigslist tonight?" Seriously, you can't find that kind of treasure on the curb! 

I am happy to report that our garage is starting to look really junkilicious! I'll keep you posted.