{Post 1,086} Christmas Quilt in Place

This morning when hubby and I made the bed, I remembered that he wanted to put our Christmas quilt on November first.  Happy November!

Gonna hafta do something about those pillow shams.  The red behind them are our regular pillow cases.  Even if they were the right size, I am not liking the dark cream.  It's one of my favorite Thimbleberries creams, but it just looks weird.  Maybe something green would be better?  That's my plan!

~Joan

{Post 1,085} Light Fixture Painted

The brass towel rings are next!  Bwahaha...I feel like a villain with a can of spray paint.  It's empowering.  Here's a pic of the newly-painted light fixture:

When the lights are ON, it's so bright that the fixture looks lighter than it really is.  It looks better and darker in person.  The finish perfectly matches the mirrored cabinet frames.  

Here is light off:

One good thing about taking it down was seeing how it was put up.  it just has one hole in the center for wiring.  The downside is that when I went to Lowe's yesterday for ceiling paint, I looked at light fixtures.  I think the one I liked was $90...and we need two!  I also looked at ORB towel racks.  Not for $22 each, thank you very much.  I'll just spray paint our rings and see how that goes first.

The quilt isn't necessarily staying.  I just didn't want to put the lightning bolt back up there ;)

~Joan

{Post 1,084} Where, O Where Did theBrass Light Fixture Go?

Where o where did the light fixture go?  O where, o where could it be?  In the garage, drying after being spray painted oil-rubbed bronze to match the mirror frames!  I put a space  heater next to it and am rotating it, so it's nearly dry!  Yippee!

Please note the burn marks on the ceiling from the 8 light bulbs in the fixture.  They will soon be gone...maybe even today!  But most likely before the weekend.  I have been reading horror stories about painting on an old popcorn ceiling (which is what this is), but I'm going to put paintbrush in hand and hope for the best!

~Joan

{Post 1,083} A Little Quilt?

{Post 1,082} Grapevine Lightning Bolt

Purely for your amusement, I am sharing the picture of my grapevine lightning bolt in our newly updated (somewhat) bathroom.  I wanted a random shape that was not round.  This usually hangs above the robe/PJ bar to the left of my sink.  Hahahahaha:

I hung it with an easily removable Command hook that was very tiny.  It's too much brown and not enough substance.  I still like it in the long, thin space above the hanging bar though.  Back it will go.  I like the things I've collected/bought, so I like to "shop my own house" when I'm looking for a decoration.

FWIW, I'm also going to paint the light fixture with oil-rubbed bronze paint.  We will probably put in other light fixtures above each mirrored cabinet at some point, but to make it less BRIGHT BRASS, I am going to paint it.  The thing is, it got soooo cold yesterday that I think it's too cold to paint in the garage.  I am going to give it a try anyway, and use a space heater until it's dry.  I'd like to do that tomorrow, but we'll see.  Time will tell!  I will paint the hinges on the cabinet below the sinks at the same time.  The knobs are a combination of very little brushed brass and ORB finish, so I'm going to leave them as is.

~Joan

{Post 1,081} Bathroom Finished But Needs Decor

Our bathroom is finished for now, but is in need of some decor for between the mirrors.  I thought a wreath would be lovely, but since the mirrors are oval, that would be repeating the shape too much.  Any suggestions?  I love dried flowers, grapevine wreaths, quilts (haha--who would've guessed?), etc.

I might move our two wedding pics in there with some wall words or something.  These are above the headboard of our bed, but might look nice in the bathroom:

You can see on the right side of the bathroom pic a little of my new valance (in the reflection in the right mirror, too).

~Joan

{Post 1,080} Master Bathroom Face Lift

My husband is just THE best.  I have been asking him if we could take down a big, flat mirror in our bathroom (behind the double sinks) and put up some mirrored cabinets (for storage, you know).  He asked me if I wanted to go look at them (again) last night.  I had resigned myself to not getting them for at least a month (we are acting our wage, incidentally).  To my great surprise, we brought two new mirrored medicine cabinets home last night.

Another great surprise was the answer to the burning question..."did I paint behind the big, flat mirror when we moved in here, or did I go the easy route and leave it green?"  Wes (being the eager beaver that he is) took down the mirror while I was taking Rachel to the flea market to peddle her biscuits and coffee.  That explains why my "before" picture does not have the ugly, flat, too-small mirror in it.  Yes!  I HAD painted behind the mirror.

ANOTHER great surprise was that we had nearly a gallon of our original wall paint in the garage.  I had it re-shaken at Walmart while I was out this AM, and we were ready to go.

Here are before and after shots of "the wall":

The smoke signal in the middle is where I burned a candle and had it set too close to the back wall.  The smoke will not scrub off.  I tried every cleaner I had plus an extra-large dose of elbow grease, and no change.

Here is the after:

My sweetums also fixed a drawer in our bathroom that up until today never closed.  See second picture, second drawer down.  That's nearly 7 years of not closing.  

Instead of just standing around and waiting for the paint to dry (ha ha), I scrubbed the white window blinds that are to the right of the counter above.  One spot of cleanliness does surely lead to others.  

Future plans include painting the countertop and backsplash (yes, I am giving it a try), recaulking the sinks, and painting the cabinets in there.  Very ambitious, but I am loving the improvements already.

If I get my new red valances lined with light-blocking fabric today (and that's the plan), I am putting up my new valance and Christmas shower curtain today.  It will be our reward for working so hard on the bathroom!

~Joan