The bloggers lied.

One weekend not long ago Doug left town.  I thought I’d be so clever and have the spare bedroom cleaned and painted before he returned.  How hard could it be? Every person on HGTV or on home design blogs says that paint is the fastest, cheapest way to dress up a room.

Here’s the room before – a mix of storage and guest bedding.

Our plaster walls had suffered some serious damage.  (Have I mentioned how I hate plaster walls?)

The kind man at Home Depot led me to this product, which I puttied into the walls and let dry.

After sanding the holes flat, I moved onto painting the trim.  (I wanted to paint the ceiling first but decided I’d need Doug for that.)  I used frog tape to tape the trim.  I liked the frog tape but Doug said he couldn’t tell the difference.  (Don’t let that be a spoiler but, yeah, Doug had to help me finish out the project.)

I don’t know why I taped the trim so well because it took me forever.  Next time I’m going to paint the trim by hand and just tape the walls really nicely.  I over taped and wasted my time!

I used semi-gloss Ultra Pure White for the trim.

Look at the huge difference before and after.

Here’s the frog tape in action:

Oooooh.   Ahhhhhh.

See my taping disaster?  Not only did I over tape but I can’t tape straight!

While I was prepping the room I observed several paint samples in all the different kinds of light.

After Doug came home to a project half completed, he stepped in to save the day.  He really prepped the walls and helped me get in the swing of painting the ceiling.  Here he is applying the gray paint we chose.  (We used the Cashmere line at Sherwin Williams.  Loved it!)

Here is a sample of the color:

Next I’ll show you the finished furnished spare room.  Storage no more!

Summer, Summer, Summer Time

The weather in Salt Lake City may indicate otherwise, but summer is close.  As in I-can-almost-taste-it close.  To fulfill my fantasies of digging in the dirt and eating dinner on the patio, I created a summer-inspired board on Pinterest.  (Pinterest is a website where you can create “boards” and “pin” images from the internet that you want to remember. I waste the majority of my time there.)

When I stumbled upon this tricycle online I had to pin it.  And from that moment it just seems like it’s going to be an essential part of my summer.

Why a tricycle?  I got on my mom’s bike not long ago and it was not pretty.  I strongly believe that three wheels could solve all my problems!  Here it is in all its glory:

It’s for sale at Wal-Mart for $260.  But I just swoon online because that seems like so much money for a bicycle.

Imagine my surprise when Doug and I saw this baby on display on the side of the road today at a recycled bicycles store. A real tricycle!

Yes, that’s my finger up top.  It was too bright to see the screen.

It was fate!  There she was – a beautiful, gently-used Schwinn. There was no price tag but I was already fantasizing about driving around the neighborhood with Jack in the basket behind me.

The dealer crushed quickly burst that bubble when he told us it was $500.  I failed to hide my surprise and proceeded to tell him that I could buy a new one at Wal-Mart for $260.  He and his Schwinn seemed too uppity to care about my Wal-Mart taste.

I was so close to owning a tricycle.  Sigh.  It may have slipped through my fingers today but I will figure out how to make this happen!

In case you couldn’t catch the reference to the Prince of Bel-Air from my title, here is a happy little reminder:

Update:  The Wal-Mart tricycle is actually a Schwinn!  If only I knew that tidbit of information when the store guy bashed it.

Nesting Baskets

For Mother’s Day, I made these nesting baskets for my Grandma who volunteered her sewing machine for my learning curve.  I used this tutorial.

For this project I used fusible fleece for the first time.  I loved it!

Now just wish me luck to come up with something for Father’s Day. . .

Daffodil Days at Red Butte Gardens

This weekend we went to Red Butte Gardens to see the blooming Daffodils.  I’ve never really paid much attention to Daffodils before this weekend but now I really love them.

My twin nieces thought the flowers smelled so good!

We only have tulips planted – do you have any Daffodils in bloom?

P.S. All these photos were taken on my iPhone with the Camera+ App.  What do you think?

Street Corner Symphony

I’ve been looking for the perfect dining table ever since the DIY pros gave us advice on our living/dining room in DIY Magazine.  I’ve searched the classifieds on Craigslist and KSL.  I’ve almost caused car wrecks to slow down in front of garage sales.  I’ve frequented our local thrift stores.  In times of despair I’d even look at full-price tables in the Sunday ads. When I’d had enough I’d stop searching for a couple months and I’d serve dinner – tail between my legs – at the bar.

I know what you’re thinking and you’re right – I’m too picky. But I wanted to keep within the guidelines suggested by John and Sherry – first and foremost that it is a round table so that people can maneuver the tight space easier .  In addition, Doug requested that the table base be in the center of the table and not supported by four legs that get in the way of chairs.  I wanted chairs that weren’t ornate.  Oh, and did I mention I didn’t want to pay hardly anything?  You can see why I never found anything.

Then one day on the way home I saw it on a street corner  on display with some other furniture for sale just 3 blocks from our house.

It’s in rough shape.  It needs to be sanded and painted. The chairs some serious wood glue.  (If wood glue can glue something that may or may not be wood. . . )

A staple gun and some new fabric will cheer up these sad ole’ chair cushions.

I told Doug I would refuse to pay more than $50 for it.  So I didn’t have time to  process a potential negotiation when the seller requested $35.  Sold!

Anyone see the same potential?

How Much Wood Can Doug Chuck?

In November, part of the huge tree in our front yard collapsed during a windstorm.   (Maybe you remember how Doug wore his shorts while cleaning it up? If not you can see it here.)

Doug was able to saw off the lowest limbs but he couldn’t safely reach the tops.  He hired some folks with a tall truck to saw the limbs down.

But – Clever Doug – he chose to save some bucks by hauling the limbs out on his own.  It was quite a sight to watch him dragging them behind him to the backyard, where they withstood the winter.

This weekend Doug set out to clean up the limbs, armed with a chainsaw and a wood chipper. First he cut the biggest pieces into logs for fire wood.

Then he positioned the wood chipper so that the chips would propel into our future vegetable garden, where he believes they will fertilize the soil.

The sad part of this whole plan? That hole for the limbs to be chipped was about the size of a grapefruit.  Poor Doug stood there while he was pushing limb through limb through that hole.    But even that couldn’t keep a smile from his face . . .

Who uses wood chips for fertilizer?

April Showers Bring April Tulips

And now a short ode to one of our few tulips, which lost its blooms this week.

Cheers to May’s flowers!