Dining room redecorating

This entire white space is where the pictures originated and now I don't know how to get rid of it! As you can tell, I am not "blog savvy" yet!! Just keep scrolling down until you see something! There are pictures at the end as I've edited the post about my dining room re-do.

When Jim & I decided to start working on the dining room, it wasn't even 10 minutes and we were pissed off & fighting with each other. Normally, we work real well together but this was a unique situation. If you recall, we had the most hideous flowered wallpaper from floor to ceiling (even the cold-air return was meticulously covered!) in the dining room and we were unsure about whether to strip it or paint over it. I performed the test I learned on HGTV and held a wet rag on a seam for 10 minutes and it didn't buckle so I told Jim that we could paint over it. Well, as we were surveying the room that Saturday morning, I noticed a piece of the wallpaper sticking out by a seam so I pulled it just to see if it would come off easily. I had this unrealistic vision that I would peal the whole 4X8 panel off in one piece. No such luck! So Jim goes balistic and says now I ruined everything and we'd have to strip all the paper. I disagreed and told him that it would take forever and I wanted to get done in 2 weekends. I walked upstairs to change and by the time I got back down, he had ripped off some pieces around the door frame and by the light switch. That's when the real fighting began!

After we calmed down, I went to Home Depot and got some primer to paint over the wallpaper. Jim & I have a system. He uses the paintstick and I do the cutting in. It works real well but we usually have to be on opposite ends of the room so as not to get in each other's way. The primer is very messy as it's oil-based so we needed dropcloths all around. We only had one, so we used an old sheet, an old towel and Jim's old bathrobe (he got a new one for Christmas and heaven forbid if he'd throw anything away!).

My plan was to have Jim put up a chair rail, picture frame molding and some other trimwork so I painted the lower section of the walls aqua breeze and the upper walls rootbeer. I told Jim that I wanted to paint the interior flat part of the tray ceiling so it would stand out against the white crown molding. He disagreed and said he didn't want me to paint it because if I got any paint on the crown molding it would look terrible. So, I took his concerns into consideration and painted it aqua breeze.

The spots where we had pulled the wallpaper kept showing through even though we put a few coats of primer on them, some spackle and we sanded. So I went back to my favorite store to see what could be done. It just so happened that there was a lady giving a demonstration with Ralph Lauren's Bellagio faux paint. I talked to her and decided to use that on the rough wall because it would definitely cover anything. After I finished with the faux painting, I didn't like it. I guess I didn't do it right. So I repainted it over with rootbeer. Of course you could still see the rough spots. After a couple of days I repainted with the faux and it turned out a lot better and you can't see the rough spots. I hope not since that wall has 5 layers of paint now!

After several more trips to my favorite store to buy trim, molding, a nail gun (Jim got a new toy out of the deal!) and trim paint, we finished the project and it looks pretty good if I do have to say so myself. Jim gets big credit for the excellent job he did on the trimwork & molding. The furniture is being delivered and we're happy once again.

Old dining room---ugly paper!

New dining room set, chocolate brown upper, aqua mist lower with picture frame moulding. Barb was surprised that Jim could do such a great job! Even and all!

Faux painting on the wall that we screwed up with the wallpaper removal!

Cleanliness is next to Godliness?

Don't ask me what that means. All I know is I think Jim is trying his hardest to be clean - or shall I say to keep the house clean. Oh no, not by actually cleaning, but by trying to prevent dirt from getting in! I guess you could call it preventive maintenance.
I'm going to try to get you to envision the number of rugs we have in our garage. First off, the far wall of our garage consists of: 1) Jim's workbench, 2) the freezer, 3) the refrigerator and 4) the door into the laundry room. So in front of Jim's workbench is a 5X7 rug. In front of the freezer and refrigerator is an oval braded rug which overlaps the end of a 3X4 throw rug that are both underneath a 10X5 rug. In front of the door there is 1) a rubber tread-thing on the step, 2) a door mat that was left by the previous owners, 3) another door mat that overlaps the other, 4) a 3X4 throw rug, 5) another 3X4 throw rug overlapping the other. That's a total of 8 rugs!
So I came home from Home Depot yesterday where I had bought some paint & supplies to start working on the dining room (which is a whole 'nother story!) and as the garage door was opening I noticed some big pieces of cardboard (salvaged from the new television) scattered on the floor where I park. I decided not to pull in because I was going to be leaving. So as I'm walking into the garage, Jim starts pushing this big piece of cardboard in front of me and says, "I'm trying to keep the dust from getting in." Do you think it's because maybe he might have to sweep or vacuum? Or maybe he's trying to talk me out of the cleaning lady by showing me how clean the house is. Whatever, he's driving me crazy.

Television madness

When Patrick moved out I was able to unload some furniture that I wasn't particularly fond of. It's just a coincidence that it was Jim's sectional and Jim's dining room set. I don't really care what we replace the sectional with since it's in the basement but I've already picked out the dining room set I want. It's beautiful! I told Jim a few weeks ago that I found the set I wanted but he wasn't real eager to go see it. You see, he's been pricing televisions for over 6 months. He decided that we needed a bigger screen. He also decided (even though I very much objected) that we should have the TV installed over the fireplace. I personally think a fireplace mantel should be decorative and if you have a TV over it how can you have candlesticks, plants, clocks, etc. on it? So, here we go again - another battle I was going to lose. Much like the one where he mounted a 20-year old baseboard heater on the wall in the bedroom downstairs! It seems to me that he was much more agreeable and obedient before we got married!

So he went shopping a couple of weeks ago to get the best deal he could - going from one store to another until he felt he got the best bargain. It took him hours and he must've called me 5 times throughout the afternoon to update me on his progress. When he finally came home, he said he got the best deal, he requested to talk to the manager, etc. and got another $100 off. I think he must've taken lessons from Butch! Anyway, he also told me that the bracket to mount the TV on was $150 plus another $500 for installation! Can you believe that? What a rip-off! I continued to protest the inevitible TV over the fireplace and pointed out that the eyeball lights would be useless because we wouldn't be able to have them on with the TV there. I wasn't fighting real hard because Jim can be very stubborn and it's just not worth it.

Well it just so happened that Jim was home sick from work for 2-1/2 days last week so he had plenty of couch time. When I came home from work one night, he told me he decided that he didn't want to put the TV over the fireplace. He grudgingly admitted that I was right and he didn't want to have to move lights nor be unable to use them. Plus he wasn't thrilled with having to run wiring down the wall. So before he could change his mind we immediately went to Best Buy to take the mounting bracket back and cancel the installation. He got an amazing $684 back! I told him that would be more than enough for a TV cabinet that I would pick out! So we went to a few furniture stores, I found the perfect cabinet and everyone's happy now.

I know what's going to happen next. When I'm ready for the dining room set he's going to baulk because we (HE) just bought a new television...

Super Tuesday Birthday

Every year I brag to Jim about how many birthday cards I get compared to the number he receives on his birthday. I'm not very happy to report that I only received 3 in the mail this year and one was from our financial advisor. I also received 4 with gifts and one from my co-workers.

Here's the outcome of my birthday well-wishers:

Happy Birthday cards = 8
Happy Birthday e-mails = 10
Happy Birthday e-card = 1
Birthday presents = 6
Birthday presents outstanding = 2
Happy Birthday phone calls = 0 (but it's still early!)

Not a bad year, huh?

I guess this proves that although my age may be getting up there, I'm still a big baby.

One down, MORE to go....

Patrick has moved out! He bought a house about 10 miles away from us in O'Fallon. In the weeks leading up to the closing, I assured Jim that I would help with painting but I refused to do any cleaning. Considering all the times we had to harp on Patrick to clean the bathroom downstairs, there was no way I was going to voluntarily clean anything in his house. As it turned out, I wasn't able to help much because the JCI January Board meeting was taking place and I put in a lot of hours (teambuilding, of course) and wasn't available. I painted one night and planned on helping the next night, but lo & behold, someone died & I had to go to the funeral parlor instead. Then the following morning, I had my carpal tunnel surgery (January 18) and there you go - no more help from me! I would be off work for a week and I had a project I could work on. I bought two 5X7 photo albums and organized all my recipes (most I haven't even made) into the books. Barb, you'd be proud - it took me hours! When Monday morning came around, I confessed to Jim that I was feeling guilty because I really could go to work. I was feeling fine but the problem was that I could only type or use my mouse with my left hand because I had a cast on the right. It didn't take me long to get out of the guilt-ridden mode after I told Jim that although I couldn't paint or lift heavy things, I was more than happy to shop for items Patrick needed. I confronted Patrick to ask if he was planning on decorating or just leaving everything plain and boring. He said he'd probably decorate a little. So, I took over. I assured him that I wouldn't use any flowers or anything that might possibly be misconstrued as "gay". My "Barb" mode kicked in and I was practically in a frenzy going from Aldi's (yes, I got a nice shower curtain with matching rings for $10!) to Old Time Pottery to Target to Home Goods (you'd be surprised how easy it is to drive left-handed!). I also got a great deal on clearance pleated shades from Domestications in which he's getting 9 various size shades for $112! After spending another $300 on decorations & a few necessities, Patrick's house looks like a home. There's still more work for Jim & him to do, but it really is a nice house and I had a great week off.

I went to my hand surgeon last Friday and after he freaked me out by saying that the cast would have to stay on for another 6 weeks, he cut it off. The incision really looks awful and is longer than I imagined, with alot of bruising up my arm. I enjoy showing people & grossing them out!

So I went back to work Monday and told Pedro (JCI IT guy) that I was having problems with my laptop. I had brought it home with me and after only a couple of days the screen went blank. Pedro went right to work on trying to figure out the problem and then the electricity went off. No problem, he used the wireless and continued working on it. Turns out that when I received an e-mail from the IRS and tried to open the attachment, my computer got a virus. In my defense, it looked official with their logo and all and I was freaking out because it said they were going to audit JCI (not that we have anything to hide) and I've never been audited at anyplace I've worked. This is the first time I've gotten a virus on my computer and let me tell you that EVERYONE else at JCI has had at least one in the past. We have the privilege of receiving them from all over the world and passing them around the office! Pedro fixed my computer and then the electricity went out again. Needless to say, it was not a good first-day back!

I'm going back to the doctor to get the stitches out this Friday. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm healed all the way before I can start my next project - the dining room.....