Renovation reality... Part 3.

The room is almost complete. I'm working hard now to organize things. We lived in the basement family room for over 4 months... Sleeping on a pull out sofa bed, with clothes in boxes and garment racks. Now I have to decide what goes in dressers or underbed boxes or closets, although our new room closet is still not completed. Yep, I'm used to things in disarray.  The term helter-skelter comes to mind. 

That's how it goes... Welcome to my world 

Haha. 

Ok, I'll bet you are just crazy with anticipation about how the finished (well, mostly finished) product (room) looks, right??  I thought so. Let's start here with a corner picture to highlight the room colors.  The paint we used was from Lowe's, Valspar Signature in satin finish... 'warm cider' #2003-1C on the walls and 'bay waves' #4008-1A on the ceiling.  We are loving the combination. 

Next step after the walls was the floor. We have oak hardwood, original to the house, so naturally I didn't want to cover them, but I didn't want them to look super fancy either. First we had to sand, so we rented a floor sander. I was surprised that the sanding went pretty quickly.  Jim did most of it, but I helped!!  After dusting and cleaning, it was time for stain. We choose a very dark water based stain (ebony, custom mixed with some gray) from Sherwin Williams. The great thing about it was there were virtually no fumes from the stain! Of course I had to get the perfect shading, so I ended up on my hands and knees wiping the stain to get the effect I had envisioned.  "Ouch!" said my knees. Why must I have these 'visions'??  

Here are some process pics...

We ( and the drywall dudes) had really made a mess of the floors

Cleaned up nicely, don't you think?!

  

The finish used was an oil-modified, water based polyurethane.  I know, it's a mouthful. It was also from Sherwin Williams. Btw, the salesperson there was very helpful and knowledgable. Jim just rolled it on, and lightly sanded between coats (3 coats, total). The final effect is not as shiny as the photo above, but it has a nice sheen, and the smell ( which wasn't bad for a finish ) went away after a few days. We thankfully ended up with the rustic look I was going for. 

That's what's been getting done around here lately! Next time, I'm going to show you some groovy projects I've been creating to bring this bohemian dream room to life. Lol, I just named it 'bohemian dream room'!!  

See ya next blog

Pat

My Day as a Caterer!

Oops, this should have posted in August... I don't know why it didn't!?  Here it is now, 5 months later...

We all know I'm not really a caterer, however I truly felt like one yesterday.  My daughter, Colleen curated an art exhibition for her Masters program.  This exhibition included the works of nine artists including Colleen and my husband, Jim.  Here's a photo including the sign in the gallery with the artist's names and several pieces from the collection. 

Ok, can't resist bragging, these next 2 pics are the family artists themselves, each with one of their creations...

The exhibition opening party needed to include food, so I kinda nominated my self to take charge of that aspect. We thought it would be best to have finger foods (aka fancy hors d'oeuvres), so I created a menu that the boss (Colleen) approved of...

antipasto kabobs

-- olive, marinated mozzarella or cojack cheese, hard salami, cherry tomato

hummus cucumber 'cups'

-- hollow out the middle of thick cucumber slices, fill with hummus, sprinkle with oregano

stuffed celery 

-- celery pieces stuffed with herbed cream cheese (soft cream cheese with added dried herbs)

bruchetta

-- mini toasted italian bread slices ( olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder- 375* oven) topped with 

    bruchetta mixture... Chopped Roma tomatoes, zucchini, red onion, fresh basil and garlic. Add salt,

     pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The crowning touch is shredded Parmesan cheese!

watermelon-feta kabobs 

-- watermelon cubes and cubes of feta cheese, drizzled with a balsamic reduction. 

mini veggie cups 

-- 2 oz restaurant take out portion cups (from GFS Gordon Food Service) fill bottom with your favorite veggie dip, and then put into it small pieces of fresh veggies. I used carrot chips, celery, green pepper, cucumber and zucchini. Btw... The grand kids loved veggies this way.  Lily wanted a     

    whole cup with all zucchini sticks!  I didn't even know she liked zucchini.

meat roll-ups
-- this is a party mainstay, just thin packaged deli meat (I like pastrami and corned beef best for this)

    rolled up with cream cheese and pickle slices. Cut into thirds and stick a toothpick in each. Yum!

As you can imagine a lot of work went into the preparation of these easy to eat items!  Luckily, my sister, Cathy, was my sous chef for the day!!  She managed to live through this ordeal (working with a chef who has a hard time giving up control can't be easy). 

See some of the yummies for yourself...

In addition to the above deliciousness there were stuffed grape leaves (Cathy picked those up from the local Mediterranean market), and the sweets offered were Jessica's famous chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites, and mini cream puffs.

All in all, the opening party was a huge success, with the icing on the cake being that Colleen sold 2 of her works of art!!  All the hard work was worth it, and I have a new appreciation for caterers.  I do like being in control of a menu, but I'm not giving up the idea of party potlucks just yet!!  Although, if someone pays me enough to cater their party!!??  Just sayin'

Renovation Reality - part 2

Sooo, progress has been made over the past several months, albeit slow progress.  It took a long time to get our door installed, but as soon as that was done, we got to work on the finishing. 

        The door from the outside after installation. I love it!

Most of the work up to painting, I admit, was done by Jim... And with great help from our brother in law Rick in the 'electricity department'... Thanks Rick!  Jas' muscle came in handy for putting in the sister joists Jim insisted we needed in the ceiling. Haha, my husband is 'all about that insulation' and he wanted it very heavy duty near the roof. 

Here are some progress pics...

Just looks like walls and insulation right?  I know, but seeing the process will make the final product so much more amazing I think. By the way, we paid for the drywall to be installed and finished. Just couldn't imagine all the stress and strain of doing it ourselves this time. So glad we had it done, even though we think they could've done a better job, at least we didn't have to do it.  

We even had a new roof put on during the process. It had to be done, as there were a few leaks we discovered in this room! 

        The paint colors going on. Notice light gray ceiling color! 

      Getting ready to roll on the orange. 

 So we are finally getting to the finishing touches. I'm so excited to share my decorating projects with you all. I've already posted some bits to intrigue on facebook, and more blog posts will be coming soon.  The color looks fabulous and my curtains have been ordered. 

Next, the floor. Hopefully all goes as planned and sanding and finishing goes smooth. We will see...

Stayed tuned for more issues of my Renovation Realities!!  

Be back soon,

Pat