Game Day

Last night I made the call to take down the blinds my parents used to cover the double sliding glass door. The blinds have been there for about 20 years and boy do they have the scars to prove it. I know my parents like them because they can control the amount of sun/privacy they let into the house, but I figured the were old and wouldn't match the new look at all, so David and I took them down. He patched the holes, and I picked out a few curtain options for my parents to choose from. I know they're not blinds, but my budget was wayyyy over spent to begin with. Personally, I prefer the option on the left because the blue in the border matches with all their existing blue decorations.

(sorry about the terrible photo quality)

You can see better detail of the curtains here and here.

But that was last night, and today was game day. My parents were driving home and the room still needed like three coats of paint. I started early by myself taping and cutting in, but by the early afternoon I had a troop of helpers (Dave, Twig and David). Together we managed to get all the paint down, fix some touch-ups where it got sloppy, put down fancy liners and reorganize the pantry (I forgot to take "after" pictures), and even take a lunch/the office break. Not bad.

the helpers at work

And, drum-roll please....... the final product!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to hang the curtain rod because the paint was still damp when my parents got back, but I think they were pretty pleased with the results anyway.

Just to remind you, here is a before and after comparison:

before

after

 Boom. Doesn't it look so clean, fresh, crisp, etc? I think so.



And finally, a few lessons from this project:

• If you think you might need to prime, you do. Twice.
• Buying paint samples might feel like a waste, but unless you're really confident in your color choice it's worth it. What originally felt like a waste of $6 ended up saving me a lot in wasted paint, time, energy, and ugly.
• Similarly, bring your inspiration pictures to the store with you.
• Buy the gallon. Because this room is basically only two walls and I only painted half of each with each color I went cheap and bought a quart. In the end I had to go back and get a gallon anyway, so I could have saved the price of the quart and the extra trip to the store if I had just gone with the gallon originally. 
• Projects are always more work that you think they will be. They will also take about twice as long as you expect. And cost three times as much.
• Parents like it when you do nice things.

What did I get myself into???

Step one: Prime! Guys, I really wanted to skip this step. I've painted plenty of rooms in my day and have never needed to prime before. This time, though, I'm going from blue to white, so I figured I'd better man up and prime. Good thing I did, because after primer coat #1 it was clear I needed to do a second coat. Bummerrrrr. 

Primer coat #1

Primer coat #2

I know you can't tell from these pictures, but there really is a big difference in the amount of blue poking through.

Did you notice the paint tests next to the window? When I went to the store to purchase the paint I had a pretty good idea in mind of how I wanted the final product. Then, when I saw the millions upon billions of shades of beige, I lost it. It was totally overwhelming and I didn't know how things would look in their space with their lighting and did I want "toasted mushroom" or "sandy something or other." Ultimately I bought (!!) two sample shades and threw them up on the wall. They looked terrible. In my brother's words, smeared diarrhea. I offer them for your judgement:

yuck.

So back to the store I went, this time with my Pinterest picture in hand, and came back with about ten paint chips. The one you see in the bottom left corner (Baja by Behr) was the winner. Much better.

My brother is in town for his annual summer visit so I enlisted his help in my project. He is still a college kid, though, which means I'm on my own til after he has his breakfast around noon or so. Because of this I assigned him the task to sprucing up the pantry. After I removed and washed all the shelving he sanded them down and gave them a fresh coat of paint.

 
aaand the room after paint coat #1:

lookin better already

Now that I'm getting some real work done I'm getting nervous. Will they hate it? What if it doesn't look nice? Will I finish in time? What did I get myself into?!?!$?!?!

While you were out...

I've been unemployed for about a month now, which means I've spent a lot of time watching HGTV. And perusing Pinterest. And reading DIY blogs. Unsurprisingly it gave me an itch to do a diy project of my own. The only problem with this is that I live in an apartment where I'm not allowed to change much, so I knew I'd have to get my fix elsewhere. Luckily for me, my parent are out of town.

My parent's house is a bit of a sore subject. They bought it as a fixer-upper when I was a kid, but thanks to having job and kids and expenses, many of the projects my parents envisioned never came to fruition. My parents hate the house, I hate the house, and, besides many serious projects that need to be undertaken by experts, it's generally an eye sore. So why not scratch my diy itch while doing something nice for my parents? Brilliant.

I decided to paint the dining room. It's a room that takes some heavy wear and tear, especially from our two big dogs who use it to access the backyard.

Almost ten years ago my dad installed a chair rail and molding and painted it in several shades of blue. The blue is now seriously dated and the room looks like some sort of schizophrenic country style room. The pantry is also over-stuffed, disorganized, and filthy. You can see what I mean here:

the dingy, dated dining room

poorly shaped, dirty, disorganized pantry (shelves removed)

pile of shelves, needing some serious love

niiiiice

My idea was inspired by this room, found on Pinterest:

Now here is the challenge: my parents aren't great at dealing with change. Also, today is Thursday. They can home on Saturday. Think I can get it done in time AND that they'll like it? We'll find out Saturday, but for now it's time to get to work!

berries for breakfast

yummy yummy swiss chard

When I originally planted my garden Dave really wanted some swiss chard. I'd had it before and not liked it at all, so I said no way josé. That was until I realized I didn't really know what I wanted to plant, so I figured what the hay and gave it a shot. 

It's been doin' it's thing for about two months, and last night there was finally enough ready to eat. We chopped it up into small bites and braised it with garlic and onions, then tossed it with pasta, olive oil, capers, and parmigiano-reggiano cheese and let me tell you - it was bangin'. We practically licked the bowl clean.

In summation, swiss chard is good, and you should plant it. I can't wait for the rest to finish growing so I can eat it again and again and again and again and... the end.

strawberries! herbs! tomatoes!

Everything is starting to grow!

beautiful berries

tasty parsley and pathetic cilantro. also a garden gnome.

oregano, lavender

cherry tomatoes

cherry tomatoes obstructing the growth of bell peppers

raspberries

my tomatoes grow like bushes. weird.

tomato bush

I should find some way to sell this local, organic, non-GMO stuff to some hipsters and make BANK. hand picked in small batches! if you pay double what it's worth it makes it even cooler!