It’s spring and you are on a tear to clean out your inspiration file. You have a vague idea about writing something about four cute images but you can’t get your head together to write anything.
WHAT’S A BLOGGER TO DO?
Well, kids, may I suggest that you put together a post about the stories that you couldn’t figure out how to write, add the cute images– and call it a Tuesday.
NO STORY HERE… just something fun that you, too, might want to do if you’re curious about how much you remember about baseball in the TV shows you watched as a kid.
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Two
This is the color that Zen-Den painted our home office walls– and ceiling.
NO STORY HERE… other than to say that this a lovely warm gray color that when natural light reflects off the golden oak floor the walls look gray with a slight aqua cast to them. Me likey.
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Three
I did a screen save of the emojis that I use the most.
NO STORY HERE… except that it seems like there should be a story here in which my inner-most self is revealed through my use of emojis. But, alas and alack, my inner-most self remains a mystery.
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Four
This is a tweet in which I shared how to kill a scorpion.
NO STORY HERE… because I’ve only seen a scorpion in the zoo– and even though the zoo sells alcoholic beverages, those zoo people are fussy about visitors not murdering the zoo residents. Go figure.
Spoiler Alert: There is no calamity in this post. For longtime readers this will be shocking because usually when I get involved in buying furniture something goes wrong.
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IF YOU’VE BEEN AROUND THIS BLOG for a while you may remember that last fall Zen-Den & I spent a Saturday away from home because our electricity was inexplicable off in the house.
Well, what I didn’t tell you was that as we sat in the chicken joint’s bar, eating our sandwiches, dawdling over beer, watching a college football game that we had no interest in, we both noticed that the swivel bar stools that we were sitting on were comfortable.
Darned comfortable.
They weren’t like the awkward ancient curvy wrought iron bar stools that we had at our kitchen counter in our home.
So while in the bar Z-D turned over one of the stools hoping to find the manufacturer’s name on the bottom of the seat, but there was no name.
Naturally this didn’t slow us down in the least. When we want to know something we are intrepid. Blame it on our love of mystery novels and TV police procedurals. We find the answer.
Thus it came to be that, using a smart phone, we snapped a few pics of these stools, and googled them once we got home.
We found the manufacturer’s website and discovered that they make about a gazillion and seventy-two bar stools: different styles, different heights, different metals, different wood seats, different fabric seats.
All lovely. Somewhat pricey.
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Look at who’s peeking over the top of the kitchen counter!
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THE STORY WOULD HAVE ENDED THEREexcept for the fact that in early January I received a coupon in the snail mail from Wayfair. The coupon said that as a first-time buyer I could get 10% off anything I ordered plus free shipping.
On a whim, motivated by the coupon, I went online to see what Wayfair had to offer… and just for the fun of it, I looked to see if they had counter height bar stools.
Well, the angels sang…
Come to find out Wayfair offered one basic style of the above-mentioned company’s bar stools available in a size, and in a metal + wooden seat color combo, that worked in our kitchen. Plus, using my precious coupon, *even better* these bar stools were the right price.
[Some assembly required.]
So lickety-split we ordered these bar stools from Wayfair. They arrived without incident, and over the weekend Z-D put together our new bronze metal with dark cherry-stained maple seat counter height swivel bar stools.
Life is good when you’re sitting pretty– and comfy!
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Feast your eyes on this svelte beauty! I dare ‘ya.
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[Hello FTC! Please note that I’m sharing what happened while buying this furniture. There was no monetary &/or other compensation involved while shopping and purchasing this furniture. But you already knew that, right? However, to be clear, I just wanted to add this disclaimer.]
CLUTTERING: Here’s a true confession. While I’m too frugal to ever overdo Christmas decorations around Chez Bean, I do, deep down, consider all of them, ours and yours, to be a sophisticated form of clutter.
I mean, we just get a room decorated in a pleasing and soothing way, then *WHAM* there I am putting red and green stuff, willy-nilly, around a beautifully color-coordinated room that is not visually enhanced by said stuff.
Is that not the very definition of clutter? Hmmm…?
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MUTTERING: I realize that sending holiday cards is no longer the done thing. Most of the cards that we get are from companies we do business with. Only a few friends and family still exchange cards with us.
I like cards, I like newsletters, and I appreciate receiving them. But… [and this is the muttering part]… if you send a Christmas | Hanukkah | New Years card that is a photo of your family, then please include the names of the people on the card.
Kids grow. Kids marry. Kids have kids. And I’ll be doggone if I can figure out who is who on these multi-generational family photo cards. I need a cheat sheet to identify your progeny.
Please include one. For me.
~ • 🎄• 🎄 •🎄 •~
BUTTERING: I’m not all that enamored of butter. It has nothing to do with how healthy it is. No, it’s a taste issue. I eat it, but not often and always in small dabs.
So you can imagine how oddly difficult it is for me to become excited about Christmas cookies, that are everywhere this time of year. Cookies that seem to me to be 98% butter– with some flour and sugar thrown in for the fun of it.
My point here is that if I don’t eat any of your homemade cookies made from Great Aunt Maude Winifred’s heirloom recipe that’s been in your family since Great Uncle Jeremiah “Pappy” Alexander decided that the family should move to the New World, I’m not dissing you or Great Aunt Maude Winifred– or Great Uncle Jeremiah “Pappy” Alexander’s decision to emigrate here.
Yep, that’s how long it took from our first meeting in early March with the remodeling company planner guy to the last day in late August with the finisher guys making it all look perfect.
Kind of makes you think that HGTV shows might not be telling you the truth about how remodeling projects in the real world get done, doesn’t it?
But I digress…
Here are some photos* of how everything [finally] looks now that we have a new master bathroom, laundry room, and updated TV room fireplace. We love the results, and couldn’t be happier that we took this wild ride– despite all the difficulties and absurdities along the way.
Fancy decorative tile, lost then found in route from California, here at last.
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Double vanity with lots of drawers, meaning no more storing towels in buckets in the tub for us.
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New tub, very sleek, and no longer in my parking place in the garage where it’s spent the last two months.
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Shower doors installed on second custom frame, because why do things right the first time?
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In the laundry room, pretty decorative tiles + a small granite counter created from a slab found on the remnant pile.
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Stackable washer and dryer, effective, but seem large after years of using small side-by-side ones.
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Shiny natural granite with a simple white mantle against a wall painted the correct neutral color.
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* I warned you, my gentle readers, in my first post about this remodeling wild ride that I’ve never learned how to take good interior design photos. These pics don’t do our projects justice, but they’re the best I can do.
Decorative tile, laying on the floor, that’ll be the accent in the shower and by the sinks.
Well, kids, not everything runs smoothly during a remodel. You see, there’s been a kerfuffle here about the wall tile that goes in the shower stall. Not the little decorative stuff*, but the large tiles that cover the walls.
The problem, quite simply, has been that the tile company sent the correct decorative and floor tiles over to the house– but filled our wall tile order incorrectly. They sent packages of tile with the same name + code number, but these packages of tile weren’t from the same “dye lots” so they weren’t the exact same color.
Which they are supposed to be.
Example of the tile in question.
Thus began what turned out to be 3 weeks of discussions among unhappy me, lawyerly Zen-Den, our patient project manager, the perturbed remodeling company design staff, the conscientious tile installer– and the confused [sneaky?] tile company.
Much was said, politely— but with a great deal of emphasis on MAKE THIS RIGHT.
No pithy conclusion to this post. I’m just happy to report that the correct wall tile finally arrived on Tuesday and that each package has the same batch number.
Even more exciting than getting the tile is knowing that the tile guy is now in the process of installing the tile on the walls in the shower– and that the walls coordinate beautifully with the shower floor.
As planned.
Tile on the floor of the shower stall, installed and looking lovely.
* I wrote this post yesterday mid-afternoon. As the tile guy left late yesterday afternoon he told me that the tile company had shorted us on the decorative tile that is to go on the wall behind the sinks. This is not as big of a problem as the wall tile kerfuffle, but it’s a problem that will have to be solved nonetheless. *le sigh*
Oddly enough off the top of my head I don’t have a specific answer for this question. I just get on with things regardless of the rain, I guess. Could I take a rain check and get back with you? 😁
• List at least five favorite treats. (They do not have to be sugary).
Zagnut Candy Bar, when I can find one
Fritos Corn Chips, the original ones, please
Lemon Meringue Pie, from a local speciality grocery store
Little Powdered Sugar Donuts, any brand
Fried Green Bean Appetizer, with spicy dipping sauce
• Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-town guests?
If they aren’t insanely uptight people, I like to take out-of-town guests to eat at a unique Tex-Mex restaurant that’s in a haunted former speakeasy, and is known for its pork chops.
[If the out-of-town guests are insanely uptight people then I don’t have to worry about where to take them because they’ll tell me where they want to go.]
• You are trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?
Michelle Obama
• Optional Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week’s gratitude award goes to Pottery Barn’s entertaining + informative online quiz, FIND YOUR STYLE. According to Potter Barn I “have a cool, spirited sensibility” with an “eclectic, bold, and well-worn” decorating style. Sounds about right to me– especially that well-worn part. 😧
This week’s looking forward to something goes to nothing in particular. This is a slow time of year around here, too hot and humid to do much of anything. I’m not complaining, but for me it’s best to stay inside out of the sun, waiting for autumn– when there’s something fun to do all the time.
We’re in the middle of the remodel now. It has been four weeks since we began.
In that time 7 holes have been cut in ceilings to either accommodate new lights and fans that will be placed overhead– or to double-check second floor water pipes from below in the kitchen.
What I’ve learned about myself during these past weeks is that I find holes in the ceiling a bit unnerving. Walls torn out don’t concern me so much, but those… holes… up… there… bother… me.
Go figure.
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• The LAUNDRY ROOM has new cabinets in it and the water pipes + dryer duct have been re-routed to accommodate the new washer and dryer– which are to be delivered here later this week.
Last Friday I picked the tile for the backsplash and the wall color with the interior designer, so all that’s left for me to do is to go to the granite store on the day that they cut the counter to decide what part of the slab will be our counter.
• The MASTER BATHROOM wiring and plumbing have been reconfigured, the dry wall crew has been here and gone– meaning that we’re all about tile now. We decided on the tile weeks ago and are currently sitting back, watching some of the tile come together, while the rest of it seems to be lost somewhere. Somehow.
• The FAMILY ROOM is changing from tile around the fireplace to granite– and there’s to be a new mantle. None of this is anywhere to be seen yet, but the crew has prepped the wall and floor for what is to come. Hence, we wait.
I have no idea what color the walls will be in there, other than to say “good-bye purple.” The granite, once installed, will show us how it looks with our furniture so that we’ll have a better idea about wall color, but ultimately I’m leaving that decision up to the interior designer.
• The KITCHEN tweaks are seemingly a forgotten part of this remodel. I have delegated the whole microwave kerfuffle to Zen-Den because I don’t care what the solution to the problem is… as long as I get a microwave.
As for the other little details in the kitchen they are: 1) a new door and handle on the trash bin cabinet; and 2) re-doing the juncture where the counter meets the tile. I’m on top of these details because I want them done before all of this remodeling is over. Which is to say sometime this month, “God willing and the creek don’t rise.”
