Ask...

...and ye shall receive.

It was the Year of the Snuggie.

I might have mentioned that having one would be funny.

It is also possible that the word "leopard" somehow made its way into that conversation.

And maybe it was mentioned to more than one person.

Because we ended up with three of them....


Two for me. And one for the mister.

He wasn't overcome with joy. Especially since his said "Property of Snuggie" right on the front. I told him we could trade, but the monkey print didn't impress him either.....



Sir Chester got an outfit of his own too.....


And if you thought it couldn't get better than Snuggies and dog hoodies, well, it did.

How bout an iPod Touch.......


Or an original window from my great grandparents' home that they built way back when......


And all the time spent with family..........


Couldn't have asked for more!

Bah Humbug...

JUST KIDDING!

I swear I have not been a Scrooge this Christmas season.

But it has been impossible to decorate this disaster area for the holidays! With one room and an entry completely dismantled, you just can't get very festive. Even if you're dying to. Which you know I am.

I have tried to show my Christmas spirit in other ways, since my Christmas tree sits, undecorated, in the corner of my bedroom. Which means all my precious Shiny Brites are having to be displayed another way.......


The front door got dressed up.........

Compliments of my mom's lovely
neighbor, a real evergreen swag!!!

Also, for the whole two weeks my entry was decorated, it looked like this, until I had to move it elsewhere for the tile demolition...........

I have a very serious addiction to bottle brush trees.

Vintage or new.

Obsessed.

Bad.

And speaking of bottle brush trees, I almost passed out cold when I found this at Leola's........

Um, could anything be more perfect
for my bathroom at Christmastime?

I. Think. Not.

And while we're bringing up addictions, I might have one more.

For vintage linens. Aprons, tea towels, and tablecloths actually.

And if you have an addiction, you should be well-rounded in it. Like you should probably have holiday linens too, if you're gonna collect vintage linens anyway.....

Like cute tea towels, that aren't for using....

And maybe some aprons too....

All this apron talk invariably leads to cooking.

So I thought I'd get my baking on.......

Nothing says Christmas like my fave red velvet cookies!
Last year's batch was a little more fancy, but these
tasted just as good, elaborate sugar shapes or not!

After licking the dough from the beaters, I broke out the tape and scissors.........

23 books!

11 girl books on the right, and 12 boy books on the left.

Next, if you can't dress your house up, you should probably dress yourself up instead. I sort of like Christmas t-shirts...........


And if you're dressed for a festivus, you might as well drive by one.........


It's a yearly tradition that the mister obliges in. Against his will.

And lastly, also against the mister's will, I sent out photo Christmas cards. Once he saw them though, he couldn't resist them either.........


Remember that Shutterfly dealio? I decided to take advantage of it.

Against Sir Chester's will.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that's how I infused Christmas into my life
this year, since the house is in complete disarray.

I hope your holiday is lovely.

Merry Christmas!

Diary of a Living Room ~ 3rd Edition

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Day 8 ~ More progress

I came home to zero wallpaper in the living room! The mister had removed every last bit of it after getting home from work......


What a good mister!!!!

Then the doorbell rang at about 5:00 p.m. We were happy to see Bob standing on our porch. He got as far as the entry and then called it a night......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, December 17, 2010

Day 9

Absolutely nothing was accomplished.

By anyone involved.

I was so tired from work that I didn't even care. Plus Saturday was on its way.

I had high hopes for the weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Day 10 ~ Mission accomplished

If I had a dollar for every time I peeked out the window Saturday morning, I could finance the labor costs for the living room redo.

I was looking for Bob, of course.

Then I remembered that old saying, "A watched pot never boils."

And I quit looking out the window.

Then what do you know, Bob pulled up. And by the end of the day, we were in business.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which brings us to today. Sunday. The day after.

The living room isn't finished, and we can't move back in yet. We still have to paint. Then Bob will install new trim.

But the hard part is over. The floor is done, which is definite cause for celebration. Hardwoods were my first vision for this little fixer upper. I'm thrilled with the outcome. Another major project down. This little house is so close to being completely revamped!

We celebrated today by heading to St. Louis to watch the Chiefs beat the Rams.


I will not be hosting any Christmas shindigs. But there's always the Super Bowl....

Diary of a Living Room ~ Part Deux

Monday, December 13, 2010

Day 5 ~ A Christmas Miracle

The school day had just wrapped up. After loading the buses, I went to check my phone. The mister had sent a text, "They are at the house."

This could only mean one thing: Bob was working on the hardwoods.

I then felt very bad for my approximate 48 hour pity party.

I'm sorry.

Really.

When I got home, I was thrilled beyond belief. Only a few rows left to go.....


Sir Chester was happy too.

Day 5 was a very good day.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Day 6 ~ Indecision decided

No additional progress was made on the hardwoods Tuesday, but I was still mollified from Monday's miracle. However, Tuesday was busy with other living room redo endeavors. The mister took the day off to work on the room! How sweet!!!

One project involved making a major decision.

I really struggled with whether or not to put hardwoods in the entry. It would mean ripping up this.........


Dirty, old, and chipped. But funny and original to the house. Charming really. I loved that tile.

Good thing I asked the mister to try to salvage some for me before taking a hammer to it. I think I'll frame my scraps to memorialize the former entryway, because it was gone when I got home........


After busting up some tile, the mister got to work on the walls. He removed an entire section of 80's era floral loveliness......

Time for a short aside:

Thank you, previous home owner, for patching the
paneling grooves only partially. How were you to
know that the next homeowner was going to leave the
grooves alone to add some texture to the walls?

I forgive you.

Nothing a little chisel won't solve. I think......

As if THAT wasn't enough for one day, we went to Lowe's to choose paint for the room. I found exactly what my mind had conjured up.........

Please reserve your judgment of my paint color until AFTER you see it all done up. The awfulness of this photo is not lost on me. I understand how you're reeling with disgust right now. But WAIT! It think it'll flow well with the kitchen.....the counters, the tile........and with the new hardwood, which has a nice golden grain running through it.

And if that isn't enough to convince you, this will: my paint color is a "National Trust for Historic Preservation" color.

Yes, I know my 1967 bungalow is NOT on the National Historic Register, but doesn't that make you like the color a little more?

Maybe the name will: Homestead Resort Gold. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

You like it now, huh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Day 7

Nada, zip, zilch to report. It appears Bob took the day off.

And with Christmas running through the veins of my babies at school, my energy level is zapped. I think I'll do the same tonight.

Diary of a Living Room

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Day 1 ~ Carpet removal frenzy......

The carpet did NOT want to budge. It was glued to the linoleum. It took about an hour and a half to rip up about 270 square feet.

Must have been industrial strength glue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, December 10, 2010

Day 2 ~ Linoleum scraping festivus......

The linoleum gave us no trouble at all. It came up easily. The hardest part was the staple removal on the seams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Day 3 ~ Hardwood installation day......a freshly
stripped room awaits new floor flooring......

It started off with a bang! We were so excited. We came home from errands to find a portion complete.


But there was a problem.

The gauge of nail was splintering the tongue of the wood. Bob was going to have to stop and find the right gauge of nail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Day 4

Here's where we stand: No progress since yesterday around noon.

My weekend project isn't finished.

I'm pretty much in the depths of despair.

Breaking News

The hardwoods will be installed this weekend.

I repeat: The hardwoods will be installed this weekend.

Bob the builder is coming. He is installing the flooring. We are doing the prep work. Carpet and linoleum removal.

A transformation is near.

Goodbye skanky multicolored indoor/outdoor-esque living room carpet from the 1970's. I will not miss you. I will not shed a tear over your departure. I will rip you out with wild abandon.


And linoleum, under the carpet........you are no match for my mad scraping skills. I conquered you in the kitchen. I will triumph over you again.

But I still won't host Christmas dinner.

Maybe next year.

Craft Night 2010

I don't invite people over much.

Well, I didn't invite people over much.

Then I had the bathroom remodeled, and that changed everything. Now I'm not scared that my bathroom will cause folks to run for the hills.

So I can have visitors.

And visitors I had! It was Craft Night 2010 last night.

But actually not too much crafting happened. Hobby Lobby closes at 8:00. Dumb, dumb, dumb, I say. Even so, we were able to craft it up a little anyway. And we ate. I got all domestic again and made these to go with a really tasty pesto spread.............


But eating wasn't the goal for the evening. The goal for the night was to make the yarn wreaths. And a variation on yarn wreaths too. My eyes bulged, I starting hyperventilating, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this idea on that same blog that I love. This blog linked the tutorial. It was a spin on the yarn wreath. Ash (who already had her wreath form) decided to conquer it.......


And let me tell you. Not all garland is created equal.

Her garland from Target? Nice.

My garland from Dollar Tree? Not so nice.

Dollar Tree garland does not make a pretty wreath. Six dollar garland is much better than one dollar garland.

But like I said, we couldn't make wreaths anyway, because Hobby Lobby closed and Michael's was out of wreath forms. However, they weren't out of felt! So we practiced making our rosettes instead.....


These girls were lovely students. Easy to work with. They caught on to rosette making quickly.

Now if we just had a snow day to finish these babies. Orrrrr a lazy Sunday afternoon, whilst the mister is away at a Chiefs game!!!!!

Which leads me to confess that Dollar Tree redeemed itself today. What they lack in the way of garland, they make up for with their cheap wreath forms.......


Craft Night 2010 wouldn't be complete without a finished product, so today I was determined that if nothing else was accomplished, a wreath would be made. And the bathroom would get a little Christmas makeover.

How do you infuse a little holiday cheer into a blue bathroom???


You make a silver and white sparkly wreath, which complements all the brushed nickel fixtures.


I wonder what the mister will say......