95% done!

I worked all weekend on the studio and I am almost done! The only items left are to install a return air grille, trim the window, install the new lights, and make curtains for the window.

I managed to find a little time to clean up the laundry utility room too. Remember what it looked like?

Here is what it looks like now.

Maybe this week I can get back to sewing!

Great progress on the studio!

I got the last five pieces of wallpaper on the third upper wall last evening. I then dumped the leftover white I had in a bucket and threw in some of the paint I used for the wainscoting to tint the white paint a lighter shade for painting the paintable wallpaper. I did some of the edging, but it was getting late and I needed to get more paint on the wall since I mixed up more than a gallon and I only had one empty gallon can to store the leftover paint. Here you can see the edging I still need to paint.

This room is a mess! There is stuff everywhere and it is starting to make me crazy.

I did go to the home improvement store and buy furniture movers to put under the legs of my big sewing table. It was a pain trying to scoot that table around and now it glides so much easier!

Tonight I will put the second coat on the wallpaper and then I can finally move the furniture back into place. This weekend is all about working on the last wall in the room where my design wall with my ocean quilt on it. Prime, paint, wallpaper, paint etc.

Look at this mess! I have just jammed stuff into the utility/laundry room to get it out of the way. While the paint is drying I will be attacking this mess.

Maybe with cleaning up the utility/laundry room I will find the two pieces of trim I need for the studio.

I went out to check my zinnias this morning and saw these deer footprints

The deer apparently don't like zinnias because the zinnias did not show any sign of the deer chomping on them

The deer did eat most of the leaves off of these young cora bells. I will have to make a cover of some kind so they can recover

Here are the older plants and the deer didn't touch them

How have I been keeping my energy up with all the remodeling, etc? It hasn't been easy. Part of it is mental, just moving even if I am tired, and first thing in the morning I drink one of these before I take a shower. Usually by the time I am done I feel better. They don't give me a buzz or make me jumpy. They just take the edge of the tiredness.

Have a great weekend!

Still wallpapering

I got 16 pieces of wallpaper installed last evening - six were small pieces and didn't take long at all to do. I have 5 or 6 more to go and I will have made it all the way around the room up to my 8' design wall.

I put together a schedule of what is left to do to see when I could possibly be done. I am anxious to get back to sewing. It looks like I will have the furniture put back in place on Saturday, but I won't be done with the room until early next week.

Plugging away

Last evening was installing the paintable wallpaper. I put the paste on the paper upstairs in the kitchen then go downstairs to the studio to hang it. I had to have made close to 30 trips up and down the stairs; add in up and down the ladder and I got my workout in while hanging the paper! I will paint the paper after I get it installed, but look at the difference - no more stripes! I didn't realize how much I dislike that butt ugly striped wallpaper until I got some of it covered up.

I was up at 5:20 this morning because the garbage truck woke me up. I needed to take my bin out to the curb so after I did that I had some extra time to cut more wallpaper for tonight's session. Now that I have a rhythm going, I should be able to hang even more paper tonight.

Should I admit I got a package in the mail and that I have again bought Halloween fabric? What is wrong with me? I am still obsessed with Halloween fabric ever since I made that quilt for my brother! These are all Moda fabrics and I couldn't resist because they are great prints!

Fabric I love

I have been collecting Halloween fabric for two quilts for months. One needs to be made with purple and pink and the other orange and green. Let's just say there is not much pink Halloween fabric, but then I found Alexander Henry Ghastlies fabric in mauve! I found some on ebay and bought half yard pieces. The shop I bought it from made a mistake and sent me the far right piece in white instead of mauve. She put the correct piece in the mail yesterday so it should arrive tomorrow.

There is another piece in an etsy shop that the lady is putting a custom listing together so I only have to buy a half yard instead of a whole yard. After all I only need a FQ so I already will have leftovers.

Now the fabric I love is the Alexander Henry spiderweb fabric. I bought the natural, mauve, and light gray. If had more money than I knew what to do with I would buy at bolt of each color (it also comes in white and smoke)just so I would have it to look at.

I spent last evening watching the Tony awards that I had taped, cut the paintable wallpaper into pieces for the studio walls

moved my spices to a different cupboard and filled and labeled the new bottles I bought with spices that were in containers from the bulk food store

and did a few household tasks that I didn't do this past weekend because I was too busy painting. Tonight I am going to start installing the wallpaper. I looked around my studio and there is no reason I shouldn't be able to get the majority of this room finished next weekend. That will be a fast room redo for me! It usually take me weeks and weeks!

Studio redo

5 hours Friday night, 6 hours Saturday, 8 hours Sunday - that is the time I spent this weekend cleaning, priming, and painting the studio. I would have worked more on Saturday, but I went to visit family so I didn't get started in the studio until about 4:30 p.m.

I will give you a sneak peak at what I am doing. I kind of want to wait until I am done for the big before and after reveal.

I now have a nice white ceiling. I hate painting ceilings! Here you can see the difference! The ceiling was yellow from cigarette smoke from the previous owner.

Nice and white!

I have been going around the room priming the over the wallpaper and wainscoting in sections so I don't have to move the furniture so many times. Here is the wainscoting with the primer showing and the finish color of gray. I bought a quart of black paint so I could tint the leftover beige paint I had. I will mix some of this gray with white and use it for the top section of the walls.

I can still see the strips thru the primer - ugh! I just don't ever want to see those stripes again! I now have 3 out of the 4 walls to the point where I can start installing the wallpaper. The 4th wall is my main design wall and since I didn't get the ocean quilt top all sewn together I covered it up with an old sheet to protect it from paint splashes.

Next I will work on removing, priming, and painting the trim around the window so I can install the extension jambs. Since this window is 6 feet wide it is hard to install the trim around the outside edge of the window by myself I want to get the painting done so my brother can help me when he comes over. I also will get started on the wallpaper - but first I have to do the dishes and clean off the counter in the kitchen as this is the only surface I have in the house where it is a smooth cleanable surface for pasting wallpaper.

All of this just for getting new ceiling lights installed!

Prepping for a busy weekend

I went on a road trip this morning to the Home Depot and Lowes for stuff I needed for the weekend and when my brother comes over to help. I needed primer - I only had a half a gallon. I bought two gallons to make sure I didn't run out. My goal this weekend is to get the studio primed - ceiling and walls.

Last evening about 8:15 I saw a deer in the backyard. I haven't seen many this spring. I startled it and she was looking at me with her ears perked up. She eventually wandered away. She was in the backyard again this morning taking a nap.

Have a great weekend!