I kept a little brown rocking chair from our House #2's attic.  Do you remember this?  Although there is no picture, the attic had a little brown chair, that was in pretty good shape although it was hideous.  So I spray painted it green, the accent color for the living room, and here it sits:

Sorry about the photography.  I don't have a proper camera at the moment and also only remember to document my blog projects at 6:30 am before leaving for work :(  I'll work on that!

Once I get some new curtains, this room is really going to start coming together!
Here are some new options for the curtains in the Living Room.  Would it be too much to ask for some updated curtain choices, stores?  I've looked online at Kohls, JC Penney, World Market, Ikea, and Walmart and hate all of those options.  So far this is the only one I've seen that looks close to what I'm going for.  But I'm afraid the color is wrong.  It actually would work really well in the master bedroom....hmmmm.  I also found the starry one, and they are light blockers, but everyone used them for the kid's bedroom.  Would it look too weird in a living room?

Target - $19.99 per 84" panel

Overstock - $54.79 for 84" pair (today's sale only), I'd get either Beige or Navy...these are thermal blockers

Overstock - $44.99 per pair for 96" curtain

I also like the curtains above, because they are not solid, but have a small print. 

Overstock - $34.64 for panel pair of 84" curtain

 These have a set of horizontal stripes at the top, which I love.  I'm drawn to geometric shapes.  I'd probably buy Navy curtains if I got these.

Which one do you like?  I also cannot remember if I'm supposed to get 84" or 96" curtains.  I'm 75% sure it is 84".  We don't have tall ceilings.

Do you know someone having a baby soon?  I know about 20!  And this is for them, not for me.  No, I'm not secretly pregnant!  I whipped this up quickly, but it is sure to keep the bigger sibling busy wherever they are, be it at grandma and grandpa's or in the hospital with you, visiting their new shiny sibling.

Here is what I decided to include:

I sewed a handmade back with ribbon handles and 2 pockets on the outside.  I included a Minnie Mouse toy, a handmade cloud softie with a cool graphic print on the back (his smile looks mischievous to me), a star wand, a Crayola color markers book (the markers only make color on the included booklet), a little pouch with crayons and a stack of paper, some fun moustache stickers, and a little book with a tiny squeaker toy about opposites.

This works for a 2-3 year old, perhaps even a 4 year old would like it.  Just something special to get them excited.  I know a lot of people give it to the big sibling "from the baby", but it would be great to make it for the parent so they don't have to worry about it.

Another great idea would be a disposable digital camera so an older child could take pictures of what they wish.

I used to wonder why people found painting a ceiling necessary.  After all, white is white.  And since I'm not a fan of a colored ceiling, except in specific situations, then all of the ceilings I am used to are white, so isn't one white ceiling the same as the next?  The answer is an emphatic NO.  Take this ceiling for instance.  You have wondered why I have painting this ceiling on my to-do list.  Well here is the proof that I am not glutton for punishment (or a martyr as my husband says).

Before:  White right?  WRONG.

 Here is one of the air conditioning registers.  Can you tell, aside from the actual stains, that the paint is very dingy?  This is actually an area that isn't that bad....it gets worse.

 Oh, peachy, orangey, nicotine-infused ceiling of mine...this is why I decided to paint you today........

 After break #2:

 AFTER: (See the little orange stripe in the top left hand corner??  That isn't photoshop people!)

 I forgot how hard it was to paint a ceiling so I didn't make it as far as I'd like...but it is a big room, and my arm hasn't gotten used to it yet. 

I'll let you know when I truly finish this item on my list! 

Well, I did some minor improvements to our recently painted living room (it was wooden paneling I painted).  Here is what we had at ground zero:

And then during Thanksgiving break I painted the paneling a nice cream/tan and blue:

I added a floating shelf where the old huge shelves were right outside the door to the garage (see in the picture below).

It has a few of my favorite things, a painting I got during a trip to New Orleans recently, a little ceramic bird from Goodwill, a glass chicken my husband bought me, a Silhouette I made for homemade Christmas presents, and a nice yellow bowl.  Down below is a painting of birds I got during college at a craft fair.  I still love those.

We have very few knick knacks, but for the ones we have, I do really like them.

I just recently bought this to go in this room, since the accent to the deep blue walls is a nice green, which is best seen in the large green flower below.

And that is all I've done so far.  My list of to-dos?  Here they are:

• Test out whether I can stand the TV being attached on the wall that is shared with the master bedroom, or not.  I go to bed earlier than my husband which means I hope I cannot hear the TV when I'm in bed, or else we'll have to figure out another plan.
• Paint the ceiling white.
• Hang the new light fixture I got (see below).
• Hang a new modern floating shelf as a place to catch keys and small tidbits when we walk in the door.  Perhaps also a mail station on the wall would help with the in/out mail.
• Figure out whether or not I can dye the curtain in this room.  I priced fabric (21 yards worth) in the style I love and it was $375 just for fabric, and then I would be left to sew it myself.  Whew, I really don't like sewing straight lines that much.  I also priced buying pinched pleated drapes and sewing them together to make the length we need, but that was closer to $600.  Too much money.  I'm still hoping dying the fabric would work.  

I do want to look for a great place to put mail and items that I need to remember to bring to work or daycare with me, and not have that on the kitchen counters.  

Well, since TV is so lame these days, I used my energy to get some work done.  I'm back in action.  We have wallpaper in 2 bathrooms, the kitchen, the foyer, and one wall in the living room.  I have my work cut out for me.  BUT, I have the BEST wallpaper removal tool in the world.  Wallwik and water!  It seriously is amazing. (I'm not sponsored by anyone and we've had this product at least eight years..we also don't score as they recommend in the information.)

Before:

Ugh.  Did you know that bathroom wallpaper has a different type of finish, that resists water?  I had no idea.  But I found out because normally the wallpaper absorbs the water when you apply a sheet of WallWik, which is how the glue loosens and let you pull down the strips of wallpaper.

 All you do is soak some sheets of WallWik in water...

 Then lay them flat on the wallpaper you are removing, with as much water still on the WallWik as possible.  The wallpaper normally, like I said, absorbs the water and makes the glue soft.  You can just pull the wallpaper off in sheets.  Except this time, only the top layer of the wallpaper pulled off.

 I was still left with a layer of paper on the walls.

 Keeping it real, people.  This is what you get when you don't tile far enough away from a shower stall with pretty good water pressure.  I'll have to treat this spot before painting the room.  And this means we have mold inside the shower because it wasn't grouted properly.

The best part about WallWik is that it helps keep the sheets together, you don't poke holes in the paper so you don't have to pick at tiny pieces on the wall.  It isn't magic, it really works.

 See, it comes off in really nice full sheets.

 

But again, it left behind the paper.  All I needed to get the paper off was to dab the paper with the wallwik, I didn't even have to lay it flat on the paper.  This was real paper and it also came off in full sheets after I got it wet momentarily.

It always gets worse before it gets better, and I still have to remove the wallpaper on the outside of this door, but I'm so glad I did this all in about an hour and a half.

I love making homemade gifts for the holidays and so I organized an Advent Workshop at our church to make some crafts and get into the holiday spirit.  We actually had 11 crafts and plenty of people attended (75 to be exact)!  Here are some of the great ideas, I got most of these from pinterest but I also had some very craft people help who came up with their own ideas.

Up first we have Christmas finger puppets.

Finger Puppets from coin wrappers

These were a huge hit for the older elementary and tween ages because it takes some time to design the little bits of character for a finger puppet.  It can be as basic as the reindeer or as complicated as Santa.  And everywhere in between.  They came out great:

A great idea for gifts for mom, aunts, or grandmas is a Bird's Nest Necklace.  I got the beads, wire, and necklace chains from Oriental Trading.  Click the links to find what to buy.

Bird's Nest Necklaces

These were also a huge hit, but for the older girls and women of the group.  Larger diameter wire makes the nest look more nesty (haha!), but it was neat to see how different each person's was. 

For younger children, a Christmas nativity is a fairly easy ornament that will travel and store very well.

Nativity Ornament

We had even preschoolers paint their sticks white, orange, blue, and brown, and used some yarn as "hay" for the little manger.

Finding gold pipe cleaner is difficult, but makes this project worth it.  I got mine at Amazon.

We also had the skiing pinecone snowman from pinterest, which was very easy for young children to make.  It didn't hold the interest of older kids because there aren't too many things to do to it, before you are done. 

Skiing Pinecone Snowman

I brought a bunch of different plaid fabrics for the kids to pick their favorite.  They also turned out really great, and show each child's personality.

One of my favorite crafts was an Ornament Wreath, which is pretty popular right now.  The great thing about it is that ANYONE at ANY AGE can make it.  BUT, you need a TON of ornaments.

Ornament Wreath

 Estimate on 60-80 ornaments per wreath.  We made about 16 wreaths with 800-900 ornaments.  AND you do have to hot glue all the little metal clips on the top of each ball so they won't fall off when you string them on the wire.  We broke a few ornaments during construction, but it was a fantastic craft and everyone really enjoyed it.  Here is an action shot:

We also had four other craft stations: Melted Crayon Ornaments, Gingerbread Houses, Fingerprint Reindeer Christmas Cards, Bell Necklaces, and Handpainted Ball Ornaments.

Fingerprint Reindeer and Bell Necklace

Fingerprint Reindeer

Painted Ball Ornaments hanging on a tree

Gingerbread House

Finally, our church's woodworking group came and gave out wooden ornaments made for the children that came to Advent Workshop.

Have you done any of these crafts?  What are your favorite homemade gifts?

Well, I used two vacation days during Thanksgiving to paint our wooden paneling and it turned out great.  I don't have many in-progress pictures, because I did the work myself and it really isn't very interesting.  I do have before and afters, some lessons learned, and what is next for the room.

Before:

During:

These pictures are after just one coat of Bonding Primer.  I used Valspar's Bonding Primer, against all the evidence on Young House Love to the contrary, because the guy at Lowe's said it really would stick to the paneling and not let any stains through.  AND it worked!!

After:

 The color that is darker in the above picture is more realistic to the color, I couldn't get the camera to show the true color very well.  I love it.  The trim is crisp, the doors don't even look a bit like the dark brown from earlier, and I've even switched out the outlets and switches (& covers) to white, which goes with the trim.

Here you can see the tan/taupe color that leads into the kitchen.  Very neutral but off-white enough to bring out the trim color.

Colors are:
Blue - Behr No-VOC Seven Seas in Satin
Tan - Behr No-VOC Wheat Bread in Satin
Trim - Behr No-VOC True White (no tint) in Semi Gloss

Lessons learned:

• You really have to just keep painting coats of paint until it looks solid.  If you think, "Oh, that will cover it," and it looks splotchy, then you'll hate it in two days.  Do yourself a favor and make the extra two hour time commitment so you love the room for years to come.
• Paneling may require caulking gaps in the crown molding above.  I'm not worried about it right now, because we can fix it when I paint the ceiling.  Yup, the ceiling has to be painted.
•  It is very hard to fill in holes in paneling and make them look like they never existed.  I did try though....see below.

I still would like this room to be the family room with the TV.  Remember that we are changing the floor plan of the house, little by little, from this.

 To this:

The room I painted is dark brown in the first footprint.  It is white in the second, and leads straight into the kitchen by way of the huge island.  The kitchen peninsula is still there for now, but it won't be later.  Which is why I would like the room I painted to have the TV...I can see what is going on when I'm in the kitchen or when people are at the island. 

To do's:

• Test out whether I can stand the TV being attached on the wall that is shared with the master bedroom, or not.  I go to bed earlier than my husband which means I hope I cannot hear the TV when I'm in bed, or else we'll have to figure out another plan.
• Paint the ceiling white.
• Hang the new light fixture I got (see below).
• Hang a new modern floating shelf as a place to catch keys and small tidbits when we walk in the door.  Perhaps also a mail station on the wall would help with the in/out mail.
• Figure out whether or not I can dye the curtain in this room.  I priced fabric (21 yards worth) in the style I love and it was $375 just for fabric, and then I would be left to sew it myself.  Whew, I really don't like sewing straight lines that much.  I also priced buying pinched pleated drapes and sewing them together to make the length we need, but that was closer to $600.  Too much money.  I'm still hoping dying the fabric would work. 

I did get the light fixture up!  This is the only picture I have of the old one.  It matched the paneling.  Blah!

 

 The bulbs were always burning out.

 You can also tell that we really need to paint the ceiling.  Smoking definitely went on in this house before.

 And here it is with the new bulbs.  The base is plastic, which makes it light, and there is no light leaks from the top, which I love.  It also has a linen type siding, which is hard to see in this picture, but it fits into the nautical idea.  It's a huge improvement from before.