Week 4: The Living Room: Intro

My living room is never to my satisfaction. I got close, very close, during the Spring Cure of 2008, but in less than a month the dog chewed his way through everything that could be chewed.



And I wanted a rug.

The goal this year was to lighten everything up. We finally finished the faux fireplace face-lift and painted the walls. There are no pillows, no blankets, no artwork on the walls, and the brown drapes need their annual dry cleaning.

(The unflinching, extremely embarrassing before:)



And I still want a rug.


To do list:

Errands:
Buy shade for "new" lamp base
Take broken mirror sconce in for fixing
Take Brown Drapes in for cleaning

Decisions:
Commit to either a warm or cool colour scheme
Decide on artwork/mirror for Mantel
Declutter books and videos

Actions:
Steam clean couch

Entryway Wrap Up

I like the rhythm of the Cure. One week for the projects is perfect. I got bogged down this week and didn't get as much done as I wanted: but there's been a major improvement just from the decluttering alone. I like the accountability, too. I really pushed to get everything done yesterday so I could post this in a timely fashion.

Before:





To Do List:
Ta Da's (done) in blue.

1a. Get new rug for front door.
1. Clean out cleaning closet
2. Clean out coat closet
3. Clean out dresser drawers
4. Clear off dresser top


5. Paint dresser top or replace dresser
6. Replace artwork in both parts of the hallway

Front:
(I'm thinking this is too small for the space, but I am enjoying looking at it after having it stored away for many, many years)

Back:



7. Solve mitten/hat/scarf storage problem
8. Fix boot storage problem (if possible)
9. Paint up closet door trim
10. Clear stairs.
Also done:

Removed wax blobs from floor
Washed walls and baseboards
Sorted old mail, pitched and filed all sorts of paper clutter.
Painted little alcove.



Bought and installed new knobs on cabinet.

First Repair.

It wasn't on the list.

I was quite happy about it, actually. Since the day we attached the original wood seat, I hated the brass fittings. What a mess!

So, yesterday, I spent a little extra and got a white wooden seat (I hadn't known you could get wood in something other than natural) with chrome fittings. My taps now match my toilet seat. Looking down at them while I wash my hands makes me smile.




Health update:
My daughter's fine, my husband has been diagnosed with Bronchitis--he took one sick day and then worked both of his days off this week for the over time, and my son is feeling miserable. We've misplaced the thermometer.

Week 2: Fall Back.

Taking Aurelia (not her real name) to the hospital Monday night messed with my already messed up circadian rhythms. I am now going to bed at 5 or 6 am and getting up at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Then, I make supper and we sit down and watch about 3 hours of House in the evening. And then, I get on the computer. We've one more season to go before we can't go any further and then, perhaps, life will calm down.

This is where things stand right now:



I did get this done:



It doesn't look quite "done," somehow. Any other ideas for this little space? It is a former "phone alcove" and it's right in the entryway. I'd like it to make me smile.

I am going to do my best to push through this afternoon and see what I can accomplish.

re comments: keep them coming! I like the idea of covering the metal spice "rack" with a lightweight paper, just to take the hard metal edge off the whole thing. Similiarly, I like the idea of putting down a cloth, or fabric, or again, paper on top of this dresser and then placing a piece of glass over it. I'll know whether it's feasible as soon as I price out a bit of glass. Thanks for the suggestions!

Week 2: The Entryway.

(I was with the daughter at Emergency last night for 3 1/2 hours only to be told they aren't testing for H1N1 unless the patient is having severe breathing problems or has "other" conditions as well. Fortunately she has neither. She'd been sick all day and we panicked when her fever spiked at 103.9 F at 1:00 am. She now has a free pass to drink ginger ale and watch TV for the rest of the week. Poor kid.)

The Hallway.

It is an "ell" shape, to the left. An upside down "L." It's just wide enough in both its legs to accept a piece of furniture and it's just narrow enough for that piece of furniture to make it feel crowded. I'd love to get rid of the cabinet in the first part of the hallway, but it is too useful.

Here's a tour.

This is the view of the hall as you come in the front door. The dining room/office is to the right and the living room to the left. The hall continues to the left behind it.



Standing at the stairs looking back to the door.



And this is as close a "close up" as you can get of the cabinet and wall arrangement I want to change.


I need dog resistant storage for boots and other consumables like hats, mittens and scarves. The basket in the cubby worked well until hubby made it "dog proof." Anything which replaces it also needs to store everything already there and be handy for the library books on their way out.

Turning the corner, we have two closets and a dresser and lots of doorways.


The closet you can see in this picture needs a serious cleaning out.

I took this shot in July, planning to do a thorough clean. I never got to it which is part of the reason why I'm doing the Cure, now.

The drawers of the dresser also need a serious cleaning out. I'd like to replace the dresser completely: the top is damaged, but it isn't in the budget. I can replace the art work, though, and that might help. This is the mail sorting center and an "overflow" grooming station from the bathroom behind it.



Also opposite the dresser (and beside the bathroom) is the coat closet. It's also the broom, mop, and vacuum closet as this is the only place to put them.



To Do List:

1a. Get new rug for front door.
1. Clean out cleaning closet
2. Clean out coat closet
3. Clean out dresser drawers
4. Clear off dresser top
5. Paint dresser top or replace dresser
6. Replace artwork in both parts of the hallway
7. Solve mitten/hat/scarf storage problem
8. Fix boot storage problem (if possible)
9. Paint up closet door trim
10. Clear stairs.

It'll be a challenge.

Kitchen Wrap Up.

It was a week.

Here is a collage of the befores, originally posted here


















And how much better it is.

It is hard to describe how I feel in this kitchen. I will be putting the map back up, but that's it. The long shelf that was above the stove isn't being replaced and the wall above the books will stay bare. The "white space" truly does feel like breathing room. Somehow, I really do feel freer. Maybe it's simple. Maybe it's because there isn't something vying for my attention at the corner of my eye. Oddly enough, I also feel like something has been removed from me: guilt, or shame, or something. I'm guessing...but this scrubbed and denuded kitchen feels fantastic.

First Cure Project

As most of you know, I cannot resist little projects as they come up during the Cure. This one was really very simple and because of that, kind of fun.

So, the steps to any project are:

1) Identify the problem:


Ugliness!

And, the "wall" behind the spice rack is actually our chimney flue. Thus, screws put into the "wall" (which is a piece of plasterboard, about 3/8" thick) aren't in there very deeply. So, I have an engineering problem as well as an aesthetic one.

2) Find a solution.

I considered actually trying to create a series of shelves from threaded rods, nuts, bolts and drilled wood and running it from ceiling to floor somehow, but it was just exhausting. In my search for "spice rack" however, google coughed up these:



3) Assemble the bits:

I found the spice jars at Wally World and the steel plate at Home Despot. Then, I found mirror mounting tape. (I had been going to use mirror clips but this is much, much better. It's what I used to call "foam squares" in my former scrapbooking days.) The package reassured me it would hold weight. (One inch of tape for every 1/8th of a pound. The jars and steel plate weighed 2 lbs altogether according to my food scale.) I "over-engineered" it.



And so here we are, the first project complete.


disclaimers: I'm not sure it entirely "goes with" my style statement of "classical whimsey" or whatever two word string I'm using this week. Now that it is done, I think it may be a tad "too industrial" for the quaint jar and shelf arrangement adjacent to it. But then maybe the juxtaposition is precisely "my style." I don't know. The husband really likes it. That's something.

(Another kitchen project is also complete. But as it involved verathaning the school book shelf, there aren't any exciting visuals.)

I'll have the "entryway "before" photos and the kitchen "after" post soon, I hope.