Temporary Fix II

After days of painting, tile removal, cleaning, and more painting, we have a usable basement!

After removing carpet & tile:

 With cement stain....whose color was chosen on a whim....sigh.....I think I liked the black better.

with sealer......which made the floors look really blue.....

And finally........we have our basement back! One half contains our ping pong table, while the other is our new TV watching space.

Huzzah for free furniture! And for getting the TV out of our living room. Hopefully I won't watch it as often this way.

Nevermind

I went and talked to a flooring guy about our options and he said there is no way thin-set will stick to mastic. So tile is out. Because that stuff is NOT coming off. Did I mention the fireplace room floor is covered with this black mastic that we can't get off? No? Well, thank goodness it's there or we'd be buying tile right now.

Ugh

We are now thinking of tiling our fireplace room. It will be cold, and slick, and sterile. I am frustrated as I have become quite attached to the idea of acacia.

Baby Steps

With Eric working so much the past few weeks, I had to have something to do - so I painted the fireplace room! I think we're planning on ordering flooring some time next week; progress is being made!

Here's the finished color - it looks MUCH BETTER with the fireplace brick than the pinkish-white that was there previously. This has somewhat decreased my desire to paint the brick, but we'll see...

Valentine's Day

We had a really nice, low-key Valentine's Day. We ate our favorite meal at home and snuggled up on the couch for some great relaxation time. It was really pleasant. Even though Valentine's Day is just a "Hallmark Holiday," it's fun to have a break from the day-to-day - it's a good excuse to decorate, make heart-shaped cookies, and, most importantly, take a break from remodeling.

I hacked up my Target pharmacy bags (ha!) to make this heart-shaped garland...

folded dozens of these paper boxes...

...and made quite a few sugar cookies!

It was a lot of fun!

Wit & Whistle

I found a new blog that I'm a fan of - I usually just check the same three or four every day - I may have to add this one to my daily forays into the blog-o-sphere...

http://witandwhistle.com/blog/

Other blogs/tumblr feeds I check regularly:
http://www.designsponge.com/
http://modernhepburn.tumblr.com/
http://foxontherun.tumblr.com/
http://witanddelight.tumblr.com/
http://browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com/
http://www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com/

And my friends' blogs:
http://charmandwit.wordpress.com/
http://hannamades.blogspot.com/
http://www.brittlecrazyglass.com/
http://mollyssoupblog.com/

Finishing Furnishing

Well, we did it! Eric and I went back to Marketplace 3301 and got a couple of the many things I had fallen in love with! I haven't taken a single good picture of these guys yet, but hopefully you can get some idea of what they look like.

These chairs look just darling next to the fireplace. I will need to tighten/replace the seat webbing (help, Hanna?!), and I'd like to practice my upholstery skills on the cushions before I move on to my sofa (still terrified to rip into that).

These are the pieces that didn't follow us home:

This is the style of furniture I like and these were in AWESOME shape. AWESOME. I just couldn't quite get over the shiny veneer.....

When Chrissie and I had been there earlier in the day, we had a very nice, helpful salesman who was all about me buying every piece of furniture in sight. Until I asked if he'd want his wife to surprise him with that much furniture. When Eric and I returned that evening, we found this note on the dresser:

Marketplace 3301 Madness

Eric has been working some crazy hours because of the potential strike at Exxon, and, as a result, I've been a little lonely. Not today, though! Chrissie came over for a waffle this morning, then we spent the day scouring thrift stores before we ended up at Marketplace 3301. This place is huge! And it's packed with booth after booth of antiques, furniture, "collectibles," and, of course, a whole lotta junk. We wandered around for hours! Poor Chrisse, I'm pretty sure she was tired of me running from booth to booth squealing "Look at this! No, look at THIS!!!!" I think I may go back this evening to purchase a couple of things....? Eric willing, of course.....
Here are a few highlights....

Chrissie models this camera, which, including case and awesome flash, was 25$

 Two of these for 45$? Yes, please! (I may have to go back for them). They were in remarkably good shape.

Lovely old paper cutter. So tempting. But a bit small.

I like this...but it was veneer. No bueno.

One of these MAY come to live in our fireplace room. Maybe. They're both quite fabulous.

This piece....will also most likely end up in our house. Solid wood. For 75$, but they came down to 63$ (they are holding it for me right now). Pretty brilliant. Probably will add different pulls.

 There were also quite a few great rugs. And Chrissie bought a FABULOUS print; I wish I had a picture of it. Another thing that caught my eye (which I failed to take a picture of), was a dresser and high-boy set from the fifties. It's totally the style I like and in perfect condition. It's just that....it's veneer. Ridiculously good price. RIDICULOUS. Maybe I'll take a pic of it if I can convince Eric to come back there with me tonight. Fun day. Thanks, Chrissie! :)