First Room Done (pretty much)

This room has actually been done for a few days.  My excuse is the same one, remembering to get pics at a good time of day.  I don't know that is a good excuse or not.  I guess if I was a great photographer, it wouldn't really matter what time of day.

First a reminder--

All woodwork in the music room was this color and this was the wall color, although, in these pics, it looks lighter than it was.  You can see why I have doors on the lower shelves ;) I tried to go back through some old photos to find a pic of the carpeting, but you are just going to have to take my word for the it, that it was BEIGE.

And now...

 So here is the first sign that I am a terrible photographer...shadows!  But you can see my white trim, the new gorgeous floor and the new rug (yes, it was too loud in here, so we had to have one!)

 Don't look to closely or you will see that we need quarter-round under the book case.  Haven't decided yet whether we will do the whole room with it, or just that spot.

 I purposely avoided including the boxes of books and frames pictures that are sitting in the room.  But they are there-- 3 of them!  Going to try to wait out the entire 30 days for my paint to cure before putting things back on the shelves.  Bad experiences in the past with things sticking.

Good shot of my wall color-- which btw, is Toll Booth from Valspar, if you were curious.

Hubs is hard at work on the next section of flooring.  I have actually completed my next portion of woodwork.  Next big decision-- are we (meaning him) painting the ceilings?

Blessings,

Ronda

Do You Resolve?

I know, I know, it several days into the new year and I am just now talking about resolutions.  But I have been thinking about what I was going to say when I finally got around to blogging.  Of course, when I start writing, things don't look nearly as profound as they did in my head!

For those of you curious about how all of our projects are going-- room number one is pretty much done, needs to have some things put back into it, furniture moved around.  Letting the bookshelves dry for a while longer so that the books don't stick to the paint.  I am quite anxious to get a pic up for all to see.  I am loving it!  Even my 22 yr old son says it looks great!

So, back to my question...did you make a New Year's resolution?  I gave it serious consideration.  Always at the forefront of my brain is losing weight.  The 10 extra pounds I have packed on over the last year are making my clothes uncomfortable and I know for sure that I don't want to go back to where I was 2 years ago.  But why make the New Year's resolution, only to break it the next day and then beat yourself up.  It will always be a daily struggle for me, and daily I will make a new resolution to eat better, exercise more and keep those pounds off.

What did you resolve?

Blessings,

Ronda

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2013 to one and all!  Starting the new year confined to my bedroom while a gaggle of girls celebrates downstairs!  No, not really, just 4 girls and they would be ok with it if we decided we wanted to be down there with them.

Most of you know we are celebrating the new year with home improvement projects.  Funny story, I was very excited tonight to find out the Miss Mustard Seed is putting in the exact same floor as we are! I actually squealed, "I am SO cool!" when I read that! LOL!



No, this is not our home, but this is the flooring that we are putting in throughout the first floor!  We have one room nearly complete. The floor is down, the woodwork is painted, it is just waiting on a fresh coat of paint.  Paint chips are taped to the wall, waiting to see if tomorrow is a sunny day.  I will most likely make a decision tomorrow, whether it is sunny or not.


Blessings,

Ronda

And So It Begins...

This was definitely not the season that I had planned to begin painting my woodwork, but never-the-less, it is happening now.  With DH starting to put down our new flooring, the baseboards all have to come up anyway, so it only makes sense to paint them.  When I started in on the windows I realized why I wanted to wait until summer.  So I could pull out the windows and leave them out until they dry.  That is SO not happening right now!  I think the temps were hovering around 30 today.

I am very excited to get it painted.  I have never liked the color of my woodwork.  Yes, I chose the color when we built the house, but it was just never right.  If I had chosen something darker with less orange to it, then I probably could live with it.  But right now, I am going to be happy to see all of it covered.  In the mean time... lots of work ahead!!

DH also started ripping up the carpet in this room tonight!  Yay!!

Blessings,

Ronda

Merry Christmas!

I am hoping that all of you had an awesome celebration of Christ's birth!  We have had a very quiet, relaxing day.  That on the heels of a few very hectic, noisy days! :) I have had all my little "chickies" here since Saturday.  Sadly, my oldest and his wife had to leave today about dinner time to try to avoid the incoming blizzard.  I am excited about the prospect of getting snowed in for a day or 2, but very sad that they had to leave early.

As our kids grow and leave, and we get closer and closer to having an empty nest, we are little by little putting new traditions into place, all while trying to hold on to some of the old ones.  We find ourselves in the position of moving our Christmas dinner to Christmas Eve and moving our traditional chili Christmas Eve meal to Christmas day.  Minor changes so far!

My DH bought me an absolutely awesome Christmas gift this year!  Actually, he bought me several very nice gifts.  This particular gift is one I had been eyeing for a few months now at one of my fav stores.  And some of you will find it very strange that for a person who enjoys refurbing furniture that I would prefer a store-bought piece.  But this was made with old barn oak and distressed to perfection! I had been on the look-out for a china hutch to re-do, but nothing was ever quite right.

So here is my lovely china cabinet:

When I took the pics there was nothing in it yet.  I have since moved all the things out of the top of my corner hutch.  My family didn't think it would all fit, and it didn't...quite.  I put a few things down below.  For example, my china plates don't fit at all.  Ah, well, they will have to be stored below.

 I just love the details that this furniture maker added, making it more than just your standard primitive piece.  They just make it really special.  And yes, the desk will be moved so that this piece gets to stand alone along this wall.

If you are in the Midwest, stay safe!  If not, sorry you can't be snowed in ;)

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Blessings, 

Ronda

Christmas Top 10

I know it is not new in any way, and probably not the least bit novel, but I thought I would give you my Top 10 Reasons That I Love Christmas!

10. Decorating my house for Christmas

9. Shopping!

8. White Christmas!

7. Christmas music 24/7! New fav- Francesca Battistelli Christmas! 

6. Baking loads and loads of Christmas cookies!

5. Giving lots of gifts

4. Eating loads and loads of Christmas cookies!

3. Traditions

2. Time with family

1.  The birth of my Lord and Savior!!

What are some of your Christmas time favorites?

Blessings,

Ronda

More Christmas!!

Hey all!  I thought I would add a few more pics of my Christmas decorating!  Just when I think my life is slowing down, something else comes up! (I think I am addicted to exclamation marks!!!) This morning I took a group of students to another nursing home to perform for the residents.  I really love doing this since I know many of these residents will have no one who even visits them during the holidays.  It is a great experience for the kids.  This time I didn't specifically tell them they had to shake hands with the residents, but when I went to do that, they all followed!  Yay for them! 

 Here is a close-up of my lovely sled.  My letters ended up being a little off, but I still love it! I need to come up with a better way of transferring the letters to my chosen surface if I am going to continue with painting stuff!

 One of the lanterns that my mom gave me for my birthday, planted amongst some Christmas greenery.

 One of many shelves in my house.  They all have greenery on them (yes, I love greenery and lights!), this one has a grouping of snowmen.

 One of my 2 nativity sets.  This is my Jim Shore set.

 Another shelf. This pic was taken at night so that you can see the lights that I love!

I hope you are taking the time to remember Jesus' birth during all the activities of the season!

Blessings,

Ronda


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