09 January 2013

. . . if you give a mouse a cookie . . .

. . . have you read 
that children's book? . . .

. . . if you give a mouse a cookie . . .
. . . he's going to ask 
for a glass of milk . . .
. . . when you give him the milk . . .
. . . he'll probably ask you 
for a straw . . .
. . . when he's finished, 
he'll ask for a napkin . . .

. . . and on and on and on . . . 
. . . it's an exercise 
in the domino effect . . .
. . . and i'm a pro 
at the domino effect . . . 
. . . the three rooms 
i was supposed to get done 
might have grown just a little . . .

. . . so . . . 
. . . the fumes are subsiding . . .
. . . and i'm still trying 
to clean up drywall dust . . .
{it's my favorite. and it does not discriminate. 
it goes every [freakin'] where}
. . . but i snapped 
a few after photos . . .
. . . here's a before ↓ . . .

{save your tears, mimi}

. . . suffice it to say that 
both the mary engelbreit room 
and the phoenix suns room 
now look like this ↓ . . .
. . . not terribly exciting, 
but clean and unwallpapered . . .
. . . which counts for a lot . . .


. . . sewing/laundry room 
before ↓ facing north . . .


. . . and after ↓ . . .
. . . cheto said to wait forty-eight hours
 before putting anything on those
 freshly coated countertops . . .
. . . i'm waiting at least a week . . .
. . . now, look through that doorway . . .
. . . notice anything different? . . .


. . . no more stripes . . .
{if you give a mouse a cookie!}


. . . and after pricing new light fixtures,
 i decided i'd rather 
spend seven dollars 
on a can of spray paint . . .
. . . formerly polished brass . . .
. . . now oil-rubbed bronze . . .
{i even did it myself}
. . . also ~ it's amazing 
how much improvement 
you can make 
by running the glass shades 
through the dishwasher! . . .
. . . good as new . . .


. . . laundry room before ↓ 
facing south . . .


. . . and after ↓ . . .
. . . i tried . . .
. . . i really tried 
to talk myself into a pretty 
pale aqua/blue/teal color . . .
. . . i just couldn't do it . . .
. . . i guess i'm just 
a green girl at heart . . .
. . . this shade is called 
calla lilly 
by dunn edwards . . .
. . . now ~ take a peek 
through that doorway . . .


. . . my favorite change of all . . .
{mouse ~ cookie}
. . . one more section 
of oak cabinetry gone . . .
. . . by the way ~ 
white lacquer is really smelly . . .


. . . but so so pretty . . .
. . . this is what my kitchen looks like 
in my dreams . . . 
. . . one of these days . . .
. . . new and fresh is a real nice color, isn't it? . . .


11 comments:

Jessalyn said...

It looks amazing! Cheto rocks.

chris+amber said...

Holy cow! Who needs Ty Pennington when you've got Cheto?! It looks fabulous and fresh! La-la-looooove!

Unknown said...

I WANT that bronze spray paint for my folks' 1980's decorated condo! Color and vendor please.

life in red shoes said...

Oh my my my! I had a home that was head to toe wallpaper myself, loved it for the time being. But then I woke up one day and said, IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!
We went with much lighter maple cabinets, white beadboard waiscoting, and a yummy color of paint, silver sage...loved it.
Moved to our current abode, dark oak cabinetry, el cheapo wallpaper borders, horrific valances.
Painted all the cabinets white, stripped those borders, went with the silver sage again, it's a Restoration Hardware color, they know what they're doing! Lots of white beadboard, red accents abound, it is now our happy place :)
Can't wait to see more.

manders said...

Love it all, Mom! It looks fabulous!

Sherri said...

Oh everything is just beautiful! What a perfect time of year to have it all new!

Nedra said...

wow Steph. You and your crew have worked your fingers to the bone. I am so impressed! It looks new and lovely! I may need to come over for a personal tour.

maccam said...

BEEEEEE-U-TI-FUL!!!!!

Lori Holt said...

Yes...fresh is a real nice color!
It all looks so awesome...I'll bet you just can't wait to get in there and start sewing:)

Nanette Merrill said...

Wow!! Amazing. I love the transformation. Isn't it funny how we were so happy with that look years ago. And now clean and fresh and not busy is so refreshing and wonderful. We've done similarly to our house. But the light fixture thing is still a problem. I may have to think about what you did to your fixtures....

Shellene said...

I'd like a gigantic bag of cheetos please!!!!!