working wednesday: surprise house makeover

Since the three-wheeled bike is on hold until the wheels come in, I am going ahead with another huge project. See, my Mom is in Hawaii for a couple weeks, and I figured now was a good time to get some home improvement type things done. Why now? Mostly because my Mom is the kind of person who, well, dithers. I don't. Hence, conflict (mostly silent and passive-aggressive) occurs. She's been talking about painting over the (very, very dark burgundy) kitchen/dining/family area for a long, long time, and it needs to happen so they can sell the house. Also, so I don't go crazy, because the dark walls just make the room SO dark, and the light so weird and the clutter so overwhelming that I literally could not stand it anymore. I wound up popping the boys into the stroller and walking down to buy the paint myself. secretly. because I am a ninja. Also, she was out of town for a week.

begone, dark walls! please ignore the mess.

Then I was looking at the brick fireplace and thought to myself "wow, that is really ugly brick." ( I mean, look at it! ug-ly, yeah?) So I told my Dad I had decided to paint the brick white. He was really happy. I remembered halfway through that they may have had several conversations about how much he hates that brick and how much she wants to "no, don't take it, I, um, want it." (Not like, just want, no one knows why.) Oh well! Too late now!

Then, as I am painting away, I thought that perhaps painting the hearth would be a bad idea? Due to flammability? So I was thinking, hey, I could use some of my leftover engine enamel, but then I would have to mask off, well, the entire room. THEN I remembered all the leftover tile from redoing the bathrooms and, eureka! Here is my idea for the layout.

hello, little car! why were you in the fireplace?

Here it is right now, with the tiles in front waiting to be put in place. (also, all the walls have been painted over except behind the fridge and the stove, and I am leaving that wall above the fireplace as an 'accent wall' for now. We'll see.)

mad thinset skillz. maybe.

I've applied the first layer of thinset, I'm going to apply the second layer and tile this evening after the boys are abed, and then I can grout tomorrow. I hope we have grout. hmmm. Oh well, we are visiting friends in Santa Cruz tomorrow, so the worrying can wait! What was it I said last time about planning ahead? oh well!

Some of the best parts of this project have been the using of 'leftovers': a can of paint, a can of primer, and the tiles. awesome! (heehee, the boys are watching Shaun the Sheep on netflix, enthralled. I think I'll join them.)

happily,
nava