I've been going to a deep, dark place...

It's down here...

It's got floors like this -- EWWW!:

There's usually a lot of this going on:

Hide your eyes...

it's scary...

this is the worst part:

AHHHHHH!!!!! I know!!!

God Bless blogging...but it has created a bloggy butt on this Chick. Seriously...I say I've gained ten pounds in the past year...

But really. It's only been since, maybe October, when I really got into the blogging stuff. That's what, FIVE MONTHS?

Sick, I tell you. So this is how I spend 20 30 35 (!!!) minutes most nights now.

It's time to get my butt back.

Baby Toddler monitor?

Check.

Remote?

Check.

Phone?

Check.

Ipod playing NKOTB?

Check.

Next week, I start on this monster again:

I'm sceeeeered!!!

P.S. Your comments on my last post made ME all weepy. So sweet!!

P.P.S. I met one of my bloggy friends today! I can't wait to tell you about it. I also picked up an Easter/springy craft I will show you this weekend.

In this chair.

Before my son was born, my best friend told me she had something special she was going to give me after he arrived.

It was the book Love You Forever. She wanted to wait till after his birth because she knew it would have even more meaning then. She knew. I would hold his teeny tiny body in this chair, reading it to him, tears running down my face.

It's about a Momma who picks up her baby while he sleeps, and rocks him back and forth,

back and forth

back and forth

And she would sing,

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,

my baby you'll be.

I don't even know when I started doing it, but it's been a long time. It's a special treat just for me. I don't even know if my husband knows I do it.

I'll pick up my sleeping boy, sit in this chair, and rock him back and forth,

back and forth

back and forth

Last night I realized how hard it is getting to get sleeping two-year-old out of his crib. He still bends his arms behind his head and arches his back and stretches, just like a baby. Do you know that stretch? He still does it. And then we settle into the chair and I rock him back and forth.

I stare at him in the dark, and every single time I do it, I remember sitting in this chair when he was days, weeks, months old, staring at that same face in the dark. I sit and stare and time just stops.

Once in a while, his eyes will barely open, a huge smile will come across his face and he'll say clear as day whatever he's dreaming about -- usually Dadda, choo choos or Ho Ho Ho (Santa). I'll laugh so hard and he'll keep smiling and then he'll fall back to sleep.

I sit and wish I could have him back as a baby, just for one day, one hour, one minute. Just to remember. All the while, I'm in the moment, memorizing his face, the weight of his body, his smell. So I don't forget.

But I know in two years, when I'm sitting and rocking my four-year-old, I will think back to when he was two, and I will have forgotten. Don't you wish you could bottle it up?

So I'll just continue my ritual, grabbing my sleeping boy, sitting in this chair, and rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my baby you'll be.

Where I write witty, brilliant things...

HA! Stop laughing! My friend Ellie Mae tagged me to show where I blog...well, I usually blog on the laptop, which is all over the house. But I do a lot of looking at blogs in our office, does that count?

I painted the office last weekend. I was going for a rust color the first time I painted it and for about three years, I walked in every.day. and HATED the color. It wasn't right -- too orange, not enough rust. I took advantage of the Behr sale to break my neck break my back paint the whole room again -- ceiling included. Oooooh yeah, I said ceiling. I redid it in a darker, brick color that I think I love. (It wasn't sunny out today so the walls look a little orangy in this light):

Drapes are half widths of fabric, hemmed with hemming tape. Custom, long and EASY!:
I got rid of the $20 office chair I bought years back and found this parson's chair at Kirkland's for $60 last year. LOOOOVE it! And it's comfy!:

We have a lot of pieces from our travels in here. These my hubby got for me while in Japan:

The kitties mean good luck:

The top art piece has our favorite place to eat in NYC in it, the middle is a poster I framed of the skyline, and the bottom is a pic I took at Ground Zero just a few months after 9-11:

Told you I painted the ceiling! :) More about that later. The print up high is a picture of the Statue of Liberty in the dock in Paris, getting ready to come over to the U.S. Such a cool picture:

I'm a freak about Kleenex boxes. They have to match and I about squealed when I saw this one. Problem much?:

Ya'll know I love cigar boxes for storage in here, and my sweet friend Bella sent me this one to add to my collection! It's perfect!:
I moved most of my son's toys to our loft and LOVE IT. There are still a few toys in here, of course. :) The two larger bins were $5 (total!!) at the consignment shop -- on sale and with my credit. Whoohoo! The basket was white-washed and I painted it black:

ACK! Look at those cords!! Hidden behind the trash can at least. Bleh:

My son wanted Bear to be in a picture:
See those little hands, waiting so patiently....
Not so much. He would reach for him RIGHT as I took the picture EVERY TIME. He is so sweet, I could eat him UP. He finally just held him there...so he wouldn't have take his hands off of him. He loves that bear, just a little. :)

OK, no more office pics for a while, I'm sure you are officed-out.

OH! I'm so excited! I answered the rest of your questions, but I started a separate blog just for Q & A. Here is the link.

http://tdcquestionsandanswers.blogspot.com/

When I get good questions, I'll post them there! Enjoy!

Ten minutes to a room you'll love...

with fabric! The Nester is having a party that I almost completely missed. ME, miss a party? No way Joe-se.

So thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show you all a few more of the quick, cheap updates I've made to our office.

Earlier this week, I showed you the difference fabric made to the bookcase: STILL can't find more of that fabric. Grrrr....I know they can order more, but I don't have the number for it? What do I do?? Anyway, I have used fabric a few other places in this room too. Ya'll know my hatred for cords. I mean....uck, splooey, spit, scrunched-up-disgusted-face, HATE THEM.

I fell in love with this desk years ago (I miss you Bombay Company! Sniff.) and love it, but it also shows everything, including the nasty cords:That box is one everyone needs -- I throw every single random thing in that when people come over. And it serves as my foot rest. :) So I got $5 of fabric, squeezed my bootay back in the corner and hot glued the fabric to the back:

Awwwwwww yeah baby. Buh bye cords:

A few weeks ago I spoke to a local Moms Time Out group. (Hellooooo ladies!) They were so fun and were way too kind and sent me gift cards to two of my favorite places -- Hob Lob and Joann's. They know me, they do. So I got this little storage chest/ottoman at the Lob but hated the fabric.

I mean, grody:

Well, I guess if you had it in the right room...it might be OK...

Nope. GRODY.

So I covered it with my gorg floral fabric, OH that's right, IT'S GONE. I covered it with my cheap olive fabric I found: The goldfish are the added bonus you get when you bribe your two-year-old with them so you can finish this ten minute project. (This one really does take ten minutes!)

Viola! Perfect as a side table, ottoman, and to house big toy trucks:

Won't it look awesome with that floral fabric? Sniff.

Finally, what do you do when you repaint the whole room and the cushion you bought to match the old room doesn't work anymore?:

Huh. In the picture it matches perfect. Imagine that. Anyway...you buy fabric and wrap it around the cushion till you get it sewn!:
There you go, each project took less than ten minutes, and what a difference they have made! This weekend I'll show you the entire room...I'm waiting on one more project to dry. :)

OK, so if you asked me a question last weekend, here I go with some of the answers:

Sav: YES, shelving sounds like a great option! If you have a more modern space, try the floating shelves. If it's more traditional, try the molding shelves. Try layering some framed pics on all of them, it will be a nice distraction from the TV! (Just don't make it too busy.)

Jen: Ohhh, that fabric for my roman shades was from the shop I work for. We have two shops as well as the decorating end of it, and the owner gets A-mazing fabric "short ends" that are a steal. I found the fabric in one of the fabric books once and it was something like $160 a yard or something crazy like that. I can't even remember the brand of fabric now! Sorry!!

Anonymous: You are freakin' kidding me with this, because your exact question is my next project!! Shannon over at Bless our Nest posted the same project she did just as I was thinking about doing it -- she hung the fabric very high and it looks great. YES, I would do it, even with a shorter shower, go for it. I bet hubby will be wrong-O! :) I hope to finish mine this weekend.

Knittingknirvana: Good question! First of all, you have to live in your house while you are in it. Your husband's comment is not the first time I've heard it. But you can't live in your home like you're about to sell it...unless you are about to sell it!! It will take two gallons of paint and a few hours to cover up chocolate walls when you do move someday. I disagree with that notion about resale anyway. Someone may walk in and fall in LOVE with your chocolate bathroom!! My husband loves what I do 99 percent of the time. If he doesn't like it, I don't do it, because it's so rare that he has the opposite view as me. :) I think it would be hard if you both have strong opinions -- just tell him I'm the tie-breaker!!

I'll answer the rest soon, have a great weekend!

Twenty minutes and ten bucks!

I finished off the XOXO! Just in time to pack them up for next year! :)

So...did you get some paint? Huh? Did ya? Yeah, I know, flat paint sucks. I have my own theory on flat paint I'll talk to you about soon. I did buy some paint to repaint our den -- one gallon of flat for the ceiling and another in eggshell for the walls. I have a growing obsession with painting ceilings and I'll show you that soon too!

I hope your Valentine's Day was GREAT! Hubby was out of town, but sent me these:
Awwwwww! I know! The problem with roses, plants...any live, green, growing things in our house is this guy:
The little poop. I swear he was supposed to be a bunny. He can't get enough of leaves. And lettuce. I can't have a plant in this whole house because of him. Good thing he's cute. He also likes to eat these:
This cat has about 35 lives instead of the regular nine, I swear to you. He loves to eat ribbons and hair ties. Gah.

Since hubby was out of town, I had to spend the evening with my other man -- my Bub. He took me to McDonald's and Babies R Us. Never been on a date quite like it. He made me pay and drive, but I'm still keeping him. :)

I did a quick project in our den over the weekend, in between breaking my neck painting the ceiling and destroying my back painting the room. I recently moved most of my son's toys to another room in the house, and I'm thrilled with the change. (I'll show you that soon too!) Since I am enjoying having our office back so much, I've been trying to think of easy ways to update what we already have in there, and my first project was these shelves:

I bought foam core board at the dollar store and measured the backs of each shelf. I marked them off and then cut them out using my level as a straight edge and my exacto knife:

Then cut my fabric and wrapped them like a present, using hot glue to secure the fabric:

Just popped them into the back of the shelves and voila!:

Ack! That fabric! I could just DIE. I. love. it. I have gone back to Joann's TWICE and it's GONE!!!!!!!!!! Who out there took it?? Who? I will find you. I must have more.

The foam board was three bucks for three boards, the fabric was about $5 for a yard of the fabric. Try it on your shelves or built ins! I love to make the back of built ins pop by painting them, but I think I may like this fabric idea even more!

P.S. Actually, the title of the post is a little misleading. It will probably take about 40 minutes. But "Forty minutes and ten bucks!" doesn't sound nearly as good.

P.P.S. Ah! I haven't forgotten about the questions! I'll answer them this week, I swear!

Paint!

My scheduled post is on hold because my sweet Bub has run off with the camera.

I'm starting to get a little freaked because usually I can find it in about two minutes, but it's been about ten this time. And still nothing. I'm sure he'll lead me right to it when he wakes from his nap. Yeah, that happens.

Anyhoo, I had to tell you the great news!! Home Depot is having a FANTASTIC paint sale this weekend!

Are you as excited as I am?!?! NO? Get excited, this is GOOD:

Through tomorrow you can get a gallon of flat paint for $12 after rebate! What what? No way Joe-se! All other finishes are $5 off a gallon using the rebate.

I loooooove Behr paint. This is the perfect opportunity to tackle those white walls. Or those awful, disgusting walls that you got when you moved in.

And even if the sweet, sweet paint guy who gives your son a sticker because he is so sweet tells you that all finishes are $17, plus another $5 off with the rebate, don't believe him. :) It's just flat paint. But the others are only $18 after rebate.

A steal I tell you! GO!

I'll be back soon, with pictures, I hope. Closeups of my son's nose, eyes and feet most likely...

Questions for little ‘ol ME??

A few days weeks months ago my new friend Giorgina over at Décor Medley asked me to do an interview. This sweet woman put up with me and waited about three months for me to get back to her…I really hope it was worth it! Check out my interview here to find out more about me!

So you may have noticed if you’ve asked me a question about one of my posts that I suck royally at getting back to you. I mean…ROYALLY. I see the question in the comments and then it’s gone…flitters out of my head like a little butterfly flying into the sunset…

Ahhh…butterflies…sunsets...I need to watch the sunset tomorrow -- it really is beautiful. I wonder if butterflies hibernate or if they just die before winter? What should I make for dinner tomorrow night? I wonder if it’s going to be warm again tomorrow. Should I wear my coat or just a jacket again?

SEE?? It’s GONE I tell you! So I just wanted to let you all know I’ll start answering you in the comments of each post. So if you ask something, go back and check out the comments, look for my face, and you should get your answer. If you don’t, or if you’ve asked me something I haven’t gotten back to you on, please e-mail me (see the left) and I will get back to you that way!
While we are on the topic of questions, I thought I would share a few I’ve gotten that would be good to share with the group:
***

Crystal asked: I have been looking for short rods like in your dining room, but haven't found them yet. Where did you find those?

Me: I actually cut my own, because I couldn't find any either. If you want wood poles, go get a four or six foot drapery pole (at Target, Lowe’s, wherever) and cut it in half (I use my hand saw) and then drill a new hole in the new end so that the finial can go in. Most of the time Lowes or Home Depot will cut them for you. If you have a metal pole, there's a handheld tool you can buy to cut them yourself. I think mine was less than $10 and it's really easy!

***

Amy asked: I've always wanted to put all sorts of moldings in our house but had no idea how to go about it. My house was built in the 80's and all the walls are textured. I'm no design expert but it seems once I paint it all out white, the texture will make it look terrible. Is it a mistake to do moldings/chair rail at all on these walls?

Me: This is a good question. I've never tried it with textured walls. If you are just doing a chair rail or crown molding, it will be fine. It should look great. If you want to do the wainscoting look, with the squares, then yes, I think it will look off. You are right. It will add a bit more work, but what you could do is put pieces of smooth plywood or MDF on the wall first, to give it a smooth texture, then put the squares on that, and the chair rail above it. (That's actually how some of the professionals do it.) It would need to be really thin, and you want to make sure the cuts are done well, so they all go together along the wall seamlessly. It sounds like a lot more work, but it really wouldn't be that bad. The only bad part would be you may have to remove your baseboards, put the wood on the wall, then reinstall your baseboards. If the board is thin enough, you won't need to do that.

***

Andrea asked: I just bought my first set of three apothecary jars. I want them to be more decorative than functional and they will probably be in my kitchen, atop my fridge or on top of my china hutch. What are some ideas to put in them? Help! I'm stuck.

Me: Oh fun!! OK, for the kitchen, try fake lemons, limes, apples, pears or artichokes. For the bathroom, I put in bath salts, soap, cotton balls. For other areas, try decorative balls (like mossy balls, etc.) or rocks, or I thought about just putting moss in some too...In our dining hutch I'm going to put wine corks in some and maybe some fake grapes.
***
Stacy asked: I love all of your molding projects, you have inspired me to take on one of my own...I have columns similar to yours that already have nice molding on the top and bottom, but I want to add some trim work. Do you know if I am supposed to nail in the thin pieces of if I can just use some type of glue? I want to do the tall rectangles on the columns like yours.

Me: YES you can use glue on the molding, in fact, before I got a nail gun, I used glue for all of my skinny molding like that on the columns. Make sure you have a level...and some painters tape. If you get good glue, you shouldn't need it but I always taped them just in case after I hung them. I got the big caulk gun and the glue that fits in those. Be sure to put a VERY thin line of glue on the molding or it will squish out. I have many spots where you can see glue in our dining room. :)

And there you go – a few questions answered!

So to continue this, I thought we’d mix it up a little bit…since I’m in the middle of about 31 projects right now, I thought for this weekend, you could ask me something…anything!

Welllll, just about anything! Let’s be real here folks. So if you have a (fairly quick) question for me – whether it be decorating-related or personal -- leave it in the comments. I’ll answer them next week. Fun, yes?

P.S. If you have paid for a consultation, and I have not gotten back to you yet, PLEASE e-mail me again! Gmail has eaten a few e-mails and I want to make sure I get back to everyone!

Ahhh...butterflies…

Don't buy another thing!

Until you declutter your house.

Last year when I went through the whole house I realized the massive amount of money I had been WASTING. I kept buying new things I already had because the originals were buried in piles and piles of crap:

I found four of these:

Don't you know you need one on every floor of the house, plus an extra? What?! You don't?

I found three of these:

At least ten of these (sanding blocks):

About twenty of these:

Does a nonsmoking household really need twenty lighters? I guess so, cause I also found about 40 of these:

And tonight, I found eight -- yes, EIGHT -- of these:

Ummmm OKAAAAAY...

What have you found?
Cause I know you've been decluttering!! (Good thing I don't live near you, right?)