color kick...

I had such a fantastic day today! From the moment I opened the windows and felt that breeze I knew it was going to be a good one. {I've already had it with humidity and we've barely dipped our toe into June so I'm thrilled to be able to keep the windows open and let the curtains fly!}

Anyway, today was a "free" day for me. Free meaning that I didn't have much that NEEDED to be done and my mom was taking Scarlett for the day. I planned out a few errands a couple of fun projects. First up was a trip to the store to buy Stephen King's latest, Joyland.

Come 9 pm I will be engrossed.

I'm big into COLOR lately and I've been updating areas in the home to reflect my phase. I'll give you a peek of a few small changes I've made.

Here is a ten minute update that I made over the weekend...

That delightful wooden tree used to be plain old brown. During the winter I painted it bright pink and orange on a whim. I didn't LOVE it but it made me feel a little cheerier than the brown did. This past weekend I decided that I had spent too long not loving it and needed it to be blue and yellow immediately. I've been adoring it ever since. I love that I can paint it any color I want whenever I feel like it and I even left the backside brown in case I want to switch it up.

My friend Kim is having a birthday party for her youngest son and I offered to make the cupcake toppers. The theme is Super Mario Brothers and while I'm not used to using primary colors I think they came out pretty cute!

For Mother's Day I received one of those hand print cards from Scarlett... (thanks Dada). I've been wanting to do something with it but wasn't sure what. Well, after scoring two super-bright colored picture frames at Kohl's for zip my next move was clear ...

Cute, right?

When I bought my book today I also picked up some bright yellow spray paint. There's a hanging tea-light candle holder in my dining room that I've been itching to spruce up and I decided today was the day...

however...

Yeah, I am NOT feelin' the yellow. (Although I love the yellow picture frame on the table - the second of the two free frames from Kohl's). The candle holder just looks weird. You can't really even see it! It needs to be red... or orange. But I have to admit I didn't love spray painting it... it was kind of a huge pain in the ass. Haha.

So, there you have it - my little projects. I really, really enjoyed my day today. Nobody pissed me off. People in stores were friendly. I found sales. I returned things I knew I wouldn't wear. I listened to awesome music all day. The house is filled with fresh air ... actually Scarlett and Daddy just got home and Scarlett just filled the dining room with the scent of I just crapped sooooo ... there goes that! Gotta put the Mama hat back on. I hope you all enjoy your night and I'll be sure to let you know if Brody is mysteriously bright aqua tomorrow.

P.S. Daddy just went to change the diaper!! He's a peach.

japanese fern, ayyyy???

Yeah so ... As you probably haven't noticed, I haven't been too busy blogging my head off lately. I have been preoccupied with the aforementioned beautiful wedding and painting my stinkin' dining room and kitchen. Now, I must say, I move QUICK. And I do a pretty decent job. A few of my friends have requested photos... here you go, my darlings ...

yikes!!!

Boy have I been busy! Can't believe I haven't written in such a while. I thought of it last night and actually felt "out of the loop". I'll catch up quickly...

Months ago Gregg and I decided that we really missed our old apartment's apple green kitchen. Our accessories went so well with it and it was such a nice, crisp color. Well, we made the change last week. I started on Wednesday at noon and finished last night at 8 p.m. Spending 5-7 hours a day painting was actually way more enjoyable then I had imagined. I dreaded getting started but once I had everything laid out on the table there was no stoppin' me! I realized quickly that it would be completely impossible for me to paint anything without blasting 80's music. (Told ya I was on a bender... you think I was kidding??) The backache and quad soreness went away before noon everyday and so I started up again by 1 o'clock. One coat of primer and about three coats of paint took our Orange Inferno to Japanese Fern. We are thrilled with the outcome. It's so hard to choose the color that you have in your head when staring at 40 shades in that family. At the paint counter in Home Depot we were settled on a color and all of a sudden I ran back to the swatches and picked another - thankfully I did because it looks great. While we loved our old orange dining room - we welcome the green phase.

Old: 

New:

I am sure a lot of people will enjoy the "old" better as the "new" may be too vibrant. But we love it!

Next week I will green up the kitchen!!

paint THIS ...

Paneling Shmaneling.

My mother's house. AKA The ranch that I grew up in. There haven't been too many renovations over the years. A few cosmetic changes here and there but nothing earth-shattering. Every now and then it's nice to give a face-lift to a room that is screaming for attention but draped in 'blah'. A couple of years ago Gregg and I painted my parents' living room from a dull "eggshell" to a light mushroomy color on 3 walls and a weird sort of cranberry on the other. It made all the difference in the world. Today's task = paint the paneling in the hallway along with the trim. My mother took the liberty of sanding the paneling and priming the "grooves" yesterday so that this morning I could waltz in and wreck that bitch. (The paneling, not my mom. She's actually a very sweet woman).

I arrived around 10 am - medium Dunkin' Dark iced coffee in hand ... and oddly enough two sandwiches in my pocketbook. Don't judge me. I have to eat every 3 hours or the clouds will fall straight out of the sky. My ipod was set to the "random 80's junk" playlist on a sweet ass shuffle, sneakers on, hair tied back, step stool (naturally) in place, wet rags, brushes, rollers, trays, newspaper, towels, every light turned on, doors and windows open - ready, set ... do it.

I started out strong ... priming can be fun when you don't have to be NEAT. I was sloppin' that stuff on like mad. Slathering, if you will.

Ahhh yes ... it is apparent that I had found my groove here ---->

... and that groove was clearly

George Michael's "Monkey".

I had a moment of smugness when I started putting the color on the walls. "This will be done in no time" I chuckled to myself. Yeah. Keep chuckling, Sheri.







After 2 coats of paint (cutting in and rolling) that wall was looking fierce. And uneven. I shook my fist at it as it dried funny. Rotten joke paint.






But just six and a half short hours later ... the finished product was clearly phenomenal. Well, no it wasn't either but the key thing is that we didn't HATE it. Hey, I didn't pick the color. Truth is you could smear buffalo blood on the wall and it would still look better than paneling. Light or dark, that stuff is for the birds.

Conclusion - paint on the forehead (so cliché - I actually hate myself for having that stereotypical mishap) ... my nails are a hot mess and I feel like a 97 year old woman who just rode a bicycle 64 miles through an ocean of tsunamis. 

And I'd do it all again ... D.I.Y. muthaf$&#@!