Can't leave well enough alone...

Or maybe I should have titled this post:

image from dreamstime.com

In April I blogged about the new, new house. I mentioned that there were a few things we didn't like about the new, new house. One of those was that in preparing the house for sale, the previous owner had all of the walls painted a "neutral" color. I actually like yellow, but enough is enough! I also thought that the powder room was really boring. It was boring in yellow, it would have been boring in beige (as it looks in the picture below) as well! So, I decided to do something about it. I'm not sure I picked the right path... but (see quote above!)

Although it looks beige... it is yellow. Trust me!
Nothing Done!

Mark placement with tape - Done!

Cut and install wood pieces - Done!

Paint upper wall and prime wood - Done!

Sand wood - Done!

Paint wood and space between - Done!

Sand wood - Done!

Repaint wood - Done!

Sand wood - Done!

Seriously... another coat on the wood?!
Done!

Install tile - Done!

Why, oh why, couldn't I have been satisfied with a simple coat of paint?!

Grout tile - Done!
Install towel holder - Done!
Order and install mirror - Done!
Replace light fixture - Done!

 Now I'm finished, right?

See title...

Get a new trash can - Done!

Get a toilet paper holder - Done!

Get a cutesy towel tray & paper hand towels for the back of the toilet - Done!

Now I'm finished, right?

See title....

Stop by a salvage shop and find a window shutter with character. Scrub it. Brush off flaking paint. Install it on the wall. 

Now... I am truly done*!

Perhaps!

And...

I think it is perfect!

* Forgive me, Sybil!
For years I worked with an amazing English teacher. She taught the 6th graders (and her colleagues) that potatoes are "done" and projects/papers/works of art/etc. are "finished". I do know the difference, but kept the improper usage in the spirit of the beginning quotation.

Eight Weeks

Our sweet granddaughter is 8 weeks old. This momentous occasion was not marked with much fanfare. No Birthday cake. No presents. Just us. I felt lucky to have the opportunity to visit the kids and hold their sweet little girl.

We ventured to San Francisco on Thursday, and spent the weekend tiling the kitchen backsplash. The kids will need to do the grouting, as the tile needed extra time to set. Awww, too bad. Gosh darn it... I love grouting......
(actually, I do!!)

The "Before" shot of the kitchen.

A "During" shot of the project, and a closeup of the not so fun to set tile.

Z tries her hand at putting mastic on the wall.
She's a whiz at it. It's in the genes.
Z's Grandfather and Great Grandfather were both masons!

The only way to get the tiles into the corner is...
 to get in the corner.
Our son is flexible enough to do this with ease!

Ta da!
The project is complete. (Well, almost!)
Let's have friends over for dinner!

In between setting tiles, and resetting those that decided not to stick, we had our share of time with sweet little baby. She is beginning to spend more awake time checking out her environment. She is just beginning to make some cooing sounds.

She waves her arms and legs, but hasn't quite figured out how to connect with or hold a toy.

And she spends some time fussing. OK, babies fuss. How else are they gonna tell us they are cold, or wet, or hot, or hungry, or just plain tired! Our little BaBa seems to kick up a fuss when she is trying oh, so, hard, not to fall asleep!

Going....

Going....

Gone!

One evening we even let her parents go out to dinner all by themselves! Our son provided us with detailed instructions....

Doesn't he get it? We were parents once upon a time!

We managed to take care of him just fine!

So....

We played with her.

And put her down to nap.

And picked her up when she cried.

And fed her.

 

We put her down to play.

We picked her up.

We bathed her.

And fed her again.

Mom and Dad walked in after having a nice meal, all by themselves.

All was quiet.

All was fine.

I'm not sure who enjoyed the evening more....

The Last Project: The Paradox Pattern

This past weekend Several weeks months ago we began to tackle the last major project on our house. That doesn't mean that we are finished with the project house. It means that at this moment I think we are finished, but I'm sure I'll realize something else that needs to be done sooner or.... Oh, I forgot about the basement - it is a huge project in itself! Oh, and I forgot that we still need to sand the porch floors and repaint them. Oh... and... OK, so maybe this won't be the 'last' project! Darn!

We visited a few homes that were showcased in the builder's tour of homes and fell in love with the tile floor in one of the homes. I took a picture of it. We visited a number of tile stores but none had anything like what we had seen. Finally we went to a wholesale supplier. I showed the receptionist the picture and she barely paused to think before saying, "It looks like the Paredon pattern to me." We looked at various colors of tile, picked what we liked and ordered it from a nearby retail tile showroom.

The tile arrived and we began to tile our foyer. It is 130 square feet. When we ordered the tile, that seemed like a small amount - well, maybe it felt that way until we paid for the tile! When we were half way through the work 130 sq. ft. seemed immense! I'm so glad the foyer isn't larger!!!

Here we are.... ready to begin.

This should be a piece of cake!

Are we done yet?

The tile pattern is a bear. They call in the Paredon pattern. I have begun referring to it as the paradox pattern... because it is all a puzzle to me! Each box of tile has a diagram on it, thankfully. But trying to figure out what comes next makes my head hurt.... even with the diagram!

When we have worked on tile jobs in the past, my hubby mixes the mortar and makes the cuts. I lay the tile. As we began this job I think hubby began to wonder why it was taking me so long to get going. He came to help hand me tiles... and then he began to realize how puzzling the pattern is.

Here's hubby with "the map" trying to figure out what goes where!

Isn't there some sort of saying about people talking to themselves being crazy? Well, this must be driving us crazy because we are both muttering things like, "OK, if this is an 8"X12" going this way, then next to it we need and 8"X 8" and over here we need a long skinny one. No, wait. That's not right. The long skinny one needs to go here."

When I finished tiling the bathroom floor I swore I would never again tile anything using 16"X16" tiles. Well, now let's add this to the list of 'never again'. No more Paradox pattern!

But.... Ta daaaaaaa! It's finished!

We're done!

Well, maybe not... we still have to put in the baseboards and paint them. Arggghhhhh!!

The Project - Week 6: Mother May I?

Do you remember playing the childhood game, "Mother May I?"  In this game one child was the "Mother" and would call on the other children, who were standing in a line some distance a way, one by one. The selected child would ask, "Mother, may I take 3 giant steps?" (or some other request for moving toward Mother) and the mother would decide whether or not the child could make those moves, or she could assign other steps. This week I asked "Mother" if we could take a giant step forward on the project. Mother responded, "No, but you may take one teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy step forward." Since I remembered to inquire, "Mother, may I?" I was allowed to move forward!

This week we:

• Installed sound board insulation around pipes in the living room ceiling - a total waste of time as far as I'm concerned!
• Looked at tile for the hall and the master bath. 
• Painted Intended to paint the upper half of the dining room walls - I was only able to cut in along the wainscoting and paint part way up the corners - other more pressing projects took me away from this task....maybe next week!
• Got a final estimate for sheet rock work.
• Looked at tile for the hall and the master bath.  
• Put cement backer board down in the half bath and installed tile. 
• Looked at tile for the hall and the master bath.  
• Painted the half bath.
• Put some nails and wire on roosting areas of the run-in portion of the barn to try to deter the pigeons (earlier this week hubby surprised a Harrier falcon having his lunch).

AND

• Had a fantastic ride on Pippin! 

Here is the half bath after a coat of paint and the installation of tile on the floor. We still need to grout, get baseboard (for every room in the downstairs and basement), paint the trim and reinstall the fixtures.