good goods: mini remodel

 

 

 I'd had this idea in my head for over a year and finally all the stars aligned.

I found the wallpaper I liked at a price I liked.  I found some time.  But most of all, I found someone experienced and excited willing to help me.

(There will be a later post about the shrine I erected to Debbie....)

 

So, here is how it went down.  Saturday night, my husband helped me move all the furniture from the project wall to the other side of the room.

 

  I then prepared to mix the wall sizing.  I had to call the hubs at home to find out how many cups in 16 pints because, of course, this is not in my brain's readily available information banks.  Thirty two cups.  Now, what do I have at the store that looks like it's a cup???  Got it.  And this spare trash can is a good bucket to mix it all up in. 

So, now I dump the powdered sizing into the water and read the directions.  Opps.  Sprinkle the powder....uh oh.  When you dump this powder in, it immediately forms a gelatinous wad of glue at the bottom of your water.  Instead of stirring "until dissolved", you massage this gunk until it (pretty much) is dissolved. 

Then because of all the lumps floating around, it would be best to strain this mixture.  Well, surely I have a sieve around this place.  Wait!!  The tulle I use in some displays will work perfectly! Yahoo!! 

 Except the tulle is currently worked into a display.  Behind all the furniture that has been moved to the opposite side of the room.  No problem.  Grab the step ladder, climb up on this piece of furniture, snag the tulle and gently, gently pull it closer without upsetting the bunnies standing on top of it.  Then cut off a couple feet and, voila!  Strain that sizing, put it in your paint tray and go to town.
 

 

This is what a wall looks like after wallpaper sizing is painted on.  Yep.  It was pretty much almost exactly like painting with invisible paint.

Time to go home for the night.

Right at 11o'clock sharp on Sunday morning, Debbie shows up prepared with tools for the job.  Now me, on the other hand, announce that I have forgotten the wallpaper and have to run home to get it.  I saw the hesitation in Debbie's eyes and then the realization that she had blown her chance to back out of this project.  What a sport.  Thankfully, the round trip to my house only takes about eight minutes.

(and now that I think about it, enough time for Debbie to take a half dozen Valium.)

That's it.  We are ready to wallpaper!!  Only, I don't have a water tray to wet the paper in.  Again, a hunt around the store for a substitute.  And there it is.  An antique copper boiler is the perfect width and depth!  Fill that up with water and we're ready to start!!!  Let's wallpaper!

It is amazing how much water can pour out of a microscopic pin hole in an antique copper boiler......do you see the dark "wetness" surrounding the teeny towel I used to try to stop the flow??  Yea.  Not really working.  Oh heck, we're working near the front door, we'll just stick the water outside in the 40 degree weather.  Let's wallpaper!!!!

And there she is.  Our first strip is done about an hour and a half from our starting time!

 

And a half hour after that.....our second strip!  We are cruising now!

 

At around 7 pm that night.....the wall is done.  And so are we.  We could barely make it over to the counter.....

 

 

...and reward ourselves for a job well done!!

 

My Secret Garden. Fini!

I think it was almost a year ago that I told you in this post about my grandiose plans for the ugly corner of my backyard.  If you have similar plans for a project somewhere around your house my advice is:  Stop!!  Plant a bush instead.

Seriously.  I knew this would be a fair amount of work.  It was only 10 x10 though.

Nothing major. 

(and I wanted to do it myself.  Bragging rights, you know.)

So I am now able to present you with the finished product!!  But first, I am going to make let you look at "in progress" pictures so you can be amazed be forewarned about the work these things take!!

When I started this, I swore it would be finished with recycled, low cost products.  Ok, no one was getting rid of extra gravel or sand on Craiglist and I wanted to get cracking on this before we started having 100 degree temperatures and I would have to hide in my house.  I'll break down this one time and call International Stone.  And maybe have them deliver it too...... wise move.

No big deal.  Shovel it into your wheelbarrow, push said wheelbarrow through the garage, out onto the side yard, through the storage shed...yes, don't ask, and dump it into your cleared out plot.

Let me digress a bit here.  I dug out all the sod last year and that was as far as I got. (too hot, then dang--winter came)

My "raring to go" sister showed up in April and she, my daughter and her boyfriend finished leveling everything out. (I was there!  I was going to help just as soon as I got back from picking up the "let's do yard projects" cocktails.  Let me tell you--those folks were fast!!)

 

Then my husband explained that I would have to create a border-and that it would be best if it was "square".  If at all possible avoid anything that must be "square"......

So all the gravel and sand is down (only about 24 trips through the...you know) and the fun begins!! Woot!!

Laying bricks.  They too had to be hauled from the garage, through the side yard etc, etc, etc and then dumped but finally I was getting to what I had looked forward too!!  The fun part!!

Hmmm.  Something isn't quite right.  Plus, my dear husband now says I must not only make things "square" but "level".  And "level" in one direction and slightly sloped in the other direction.  HA!

After a few false starts, I think I am getting the hang of this!!  Look at that.  Even the cats are loving it!  (well, I think they loved all the sand in their new giant litter box more but they were sports about it)  And then:

               You have got to be kidding me....ok, alright.  I admit it.  I bought these
        bricks off Craigslist and just had my fingers crossed that there would be enough.
                                                   

And I have this guy screaming chirping at me constantly to stay away from his nest.

In my neighbors yard!  But I love nature, so I pause to photograph him....

                               He looked like his life had been kind of rough....

Let me take a break and work on a project that I can actually finish, here.  Flowerpots.  I'm good (and fast) at flower pots.

So, although I've said this would be cheap and recycled, I broke down and headed to Home Depot for 90 more bricks.  And if that wasn't enough, well then I'd steal them from our friend Rob's yard....ok, forget that plan.  Had to go again and get 30 more the next day.  I kept thinking that this would be like when you are doing that puzzle and you think "My gosh!  There are not enough pieces to finish this thing" and then, what do you know!!  All the pieces were there after all.  Well, not with this puzzle........

I should also admit that my "trellis" project was a bust...literally.  The frame I had, collapsed under the weight of the branches I'd attached!!  And the wind and weather didn't help as it was waiting to be finished...

So here you have it:

And I didn't break a single nail.