Spare Bedroom Extreme Makeover: An exercise in flexibility

So when I started off on our spare bedroom makeover, I decided to stray from my Martha Stewart/Pottery Barn neutral color scheme in our house and try something new and trendy... And with the bright yellow/black/white/charcoal graphic color scheme being so hot this year, I decided to take the dive. Here's an idea of what I was going for:



So I selected a bright, dramatic yellow color for the walls and after rolling it on, I immediately felt sick to my stomach. What was I doing? Why was it so different from the swatch? Did I made my first color snafu?

Three coats later and it still didn't look any better. I let it sit a week and kept pondering it. Finally Kirk and I pulled out the original yellow swatches and headed back to Home Depot, where Kirk actually picked out a delightful sunny yellow which we purchased in eggshell instead of satin (What was I thinking when I bought satin? God only knows.)

Second coat goes on and I'm in the midst of The Great Bedding Debacle of 2009. With Black/white being so popular this year, you'd think it would be easy to find a black and white bedding set (preferrably a white on black damask... but who's picky?) and after purchasing/returning no less than 3 bedding sets, I gave up. I started to load in my furniture and quickly realized that with the lighter wood pieces that I had and all of my aqua lamps, fabrics, and chair that something else was happening, so I decided to go with the flow.

I began thinking of my new room as "Maynan's Candy Shop" where chaos and color reigns supreme and I'm surrounded by all of my favorite things--bright colors and fabrics, big flowers, and my crafting supplies. I decided to not spend any money on anything and recycled things that I already owned in new ways, including a vintage chenille blanket that I'd given my sister a few years ago that she thought would look great in the room (which it does!)

So here's what happened. I hope you have your sunglasses handy!

Before:






Do you like my tissue paper balls? This was my first attempt at these and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They're a fabulous punch of color for $2. The rest of my sewing supplies, buttons and ribbons make pretty fun accents.


I had been pondering a wall of empty picture frames all painted the same way, but after adding an apron to my dress form, I thought to myself that it would be fun to come up with a way to display my apron collection (which I paired down recently and am already regretting... Ah, hindsight!


The only thing left to do is for Kirk to install the chandelier that I bought for the room and the candy shop will be complete. My apologies in advance to any houseguests at Casa de Olmstead who will have to try to actually fall asleep in this room. Best of luck on that one! ;-)

Sad news

I think most of you have heard by now, but last Saturday we had a beautiful, peaceful little girl named Jude who had Potters' Sequence, a fatal condition where the baby's renal system never develops. It's not genetic, and it can't be prevented nor treated. It affects approximately 1/4000 pregnancies and unfortunately it happened to us.

It's been a rough week and a half since we found out, but luckily we've been surrounded by friends and family who love us. We'll be okay and we're both feeling better every day.

I know I haven't been a consistent blogger lately, but I promise to try to get back into the swing of things soon.

xoxo

Rock the vote... Team pink or blue?

So... We find out what we're having next Wednesday! Holy crap, I can't believe we're 1/2 way there!

Care to guess what we're having? Take the poll on the right and leave a comment with your gut reaction. To be honest, I have no freaking clue. The old wives tales are split right down the middle and I have absolutely no motherly instinct on this one. Is that bad?

Anyway, I don't have any grand prizes up my sleeve for you guessing correctly, just my love and affection. ;-) Isn't that enough?

The King of Pop, in memoriam

It's very belated, but I'm finally chiming in with my MJ tribute post. Believe it or not, I've often wondered where I would be in my life when he passed and what it would be like.



(And for posterity, I'll record here that I was driving down Rt. 8 to meet Jennie Keller for dinner when she called me and told me (Howard Stern had already reported that a.m. that MJ had a heart attack, but no further word had come in) and I called Liz, Kirk and DearAdam to let them know. I was surprised that despite the fact the rumors hadn't been confirmed yet, local radio station WKDD was already running an MJ marathon and annoucing his death between songs.)

Anyway, since his passing, I've watched and rewatched YouTube videos of his performances, a most of his public memorial service on TV, and a minimal amount of news coverage (but really, how can one completely avoid it.)

Sure, it caused us all to pause and reflect on an incredibly talented performer with an interesting backstory--albeit filled with questions, inconsistencies, and seriously erratic (and quite possibly criminal) behavior. But the way it all went down and the way the news reacted allowed us to remember and celebrate the Michael Jackson we WANTED him to become, not the one who ultimately died. And for his family and his children's sake, I'm glad that's who we celebrated.

I don't know if we'll ever have access to the proper information to truly decipher who MJ had become, but if anyone is ever able to analyze all of that information and pull together a truthful narrative, I will be riveted.

I don't know if we have any basis of comparison for someone to be brought up in such a household of emotional and physical abuse, then thrown into the spotlight and treated like a god. How long can that go on before the person actually believes it, especially when they have no basis of comparison or grounding in reality available to them?

How sad would it be to live your entire life only feeling love when you're onstage performing your heart out in front of thousands of screaming, adoring fans, but yet no one to truly love and know the real you? You can't trust your family, nor business associates, nothing. While the money has a great amount of allure, I think all it was able to provide him was the financial backing to try to live like a child--since he was never able to pull himself out of his emotionally stunted rut.

Was he mentally ill? Possibly. Did he lack boundaries? Absolutely. Was he ever able to learn boundaries or were his so constantly violated that he was unable to comprehend them? That I can't say. Did he ever molest a child? I don't know either, but there had to be some boundary crossing that happened somewhere along the lines, otherwise why would he pay off lawsuits? Was he probably taken advantage of by some people who thought they could cash in? Probably.

So what do we have here? An amazing performer with a fascinatingly sad story. We have lawsuits, Neverland Ranch, and the gift of music. We have 3 children left behind by a man who loved them, now to be raised by a family with some serious dysfunctional issues (let's just hope the kids are put in therapy early in life as they try to struggle through this mess.)

But here's what I'll hold on to:


How did that much soul get stuffed into a 10 year old? (and where did it go?)


I've discussed Free to be You and Me before, but I just love Michael's participation in such a hippie, feel-good project.


Who can resist the evil of THE THRILLER???


I'd like to thank my Aunt Anne for taking us to Hands Across America all those years ago--what a cool thing to be a part of.



And as cliche as it may be, I enjoy this one probably most of all...

Two truths and a lie

1. I'm going to be the only blogger in the world not planning a Michael Jackson tribute post.
2. Spending my weekend cleaning out our basement... Whoohoo! FUN!
3. I'm pregnant.

So... Care to venture which 2 are the truth and which one is a lie?

Shall we start with some hints?

The basement cleaning is going well, but not photo-worthy at this point. We for realsies need to have a garage sale this summer, but the next couple of weekends are all booked up, so hopefully by the end of July/early August I'll be able to pull one off.

Next up...


First off, I wasn't planning on writing one, but after a lengthy discussion with Wendy Darling, I realized that it was a topic that could not be ignored... So as cliche as it may be at this point, stay tuned.

So guess what that leaves as my 2nd truth?

Yeppers, you guessed it. The Norwegian Pirate and I are expecting our first baby in January. I announced it on Facebook on Friday, so it's probably not a shock to most of you, but I figured I should still give fair warning that this blog is probably going to veer baby/pregnancy related soon.

Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just stick to my neverending love for Pottery Barn and New Kids on the Block.

xoxo

Walking on nails (literally)

So apparently I broke the plastic cap came off of my high heel today, so I’m literally walking around balanced precariously on the head of a nail.

One that makes a funny crunching noise when I walk on a hard surface.
One that is particularly slippery whilst making crunching noises on hard surfaces.
One that sticks in carpet.

And guess what? I just went to examine the bottom of my other heel and that was completely torn apart as well and falling off.

Even a jaunt to the restroom has become a precarious situation… Oy vey!

Kirk's (SURPRISE!) Office Makeover!

So we've been meaning to get to Kirk's office for awhile--it had become a sort of dumping ground and home for hand-me-down furniture, so it had gotten a little... shall we say? Cluttered and neglected?

Kirk's been trying to get to working on it for at least a month now--he had packed up all of his stuff and he's had the paint color selected for about two years, but just hadn't had the time nor effort to paint.

So this weekend, Kirk went to play with his friends to watch The Belmont race and generally have a "boy's weekend," so I called up my sister Liz and we went to town on his office--shopping and purchasing paint and accoutrements, a ceiling fan/light fixture, new shelving and a lovely area rug. 12 hours of running around and painting yesterday, plus a good 7 hours of assembling furniture today and we're exhausted, but the room looks incredible, if I do say so myself. The only thing that still needs to be installed is the ceiling fan because frankly? We didn't want to die.

Here's the only before picture I can find (yes, you may note that the room is painted the fabled "urine yellow."


And here it is after...






Do you think he was surprised? ;-)



So here's the part on "While you were out" when they would tell the person receiving the surprise makeover why we wanted to do it for them. Well, Kirky--you're the most amazing husband ever and I love you so much. I wanted you to finally have your creative space where you are free to do all of the things that you love, surrounded by your favorite things. I hope that you enjoy it and use it well!

xoxo,
Maynan

Wanna see what I've been up to?

It's been awhile since I've written (again!), but I promise that it's because I've been busy with things. Fun things. Like finding the blue dupioni silk that I coveted two years ago (but couldn't afford at $30/yard) for $4.50/yard. How, you ask? It's simple: Because I'm awesome.

But really, it's because I just happened to stop into a JoAnn Fabrics out in BFE while we were away last weekend in Vermilion and it was on sale for $9.95/yard and then all home fabrics were 1/2 off. WOOTNESS!

Anyway, I'll save you the suspense. Here is my dining room last year all set for spring with my crappy lace curtains that the former occupants left us:

And here it is now with my fabulous new curtains--and check out that hot new vintage linen courtesy of my mother-in-law and supreme linen expert, Karen:

So if you think that's lovely, wait until you see this next project! Holy cannoli!

We have this back hallway that leads to our basement, which was a total hot mess. Old 70's linoleum, the whole room was painted that awful urine yellow I abhor (even the ceiling!), old wood paneling with gaping holes in it... awful!

So one Saturday I get the bright idea that we should peel off the linoleum and lay new stick-on tile. Quick project, right?

Wrong! Under the awful 70s tile was 60's tile underneath that--but the good news is that under the rest of this mess was HARDWOOD!

Who in their right mind tiles over beautiful hardwood in good condition? Idiots! And when they did it, they put a cement product over half of the floor (not sure why not on all of it!) so we (and by "we," I mean Kirk!) had to sand, stain, and seal the whole thing. It drove me crazy because half of the landing was absolutely beautiful, but alas...

We saved a little money by reusing leftover paint from our living room, purchased some new wall shelving and hooks, and about two months later (an hour here, an hour there...) we have a lovely back hallway!

I reused baskets that I scored at Old Time Pottery for less than $5 each to house our winter woolies.

Didn't Kirk do such a good job on the floor?

The steps weren't the same kind of wood, so I gave them a painted finish.
The only thing I don't have photos of is the updated photo of the very first staircase that I showed you (with the bad paneling) because that isn't quite finished yet. We hung white wainscotting there, but we haven't rehung the handrail. And I was too lazy to walk all of the way downstairs for a photo when I realized that I forgot to take one.

Sue me.

xoxo

Why is it?

Why is it that the arrival of spring and the first days of being able to roll my car window down and drive home with my arm out of the window immediately transforms me back to being 15?

The irony of this, of course, is that I didn't have my driver's license. But for some reason, it makes me think of that carefree time when I could just taste summer and freedom.

You know how there are certain rituals people go through year after year to welcome in certain seasons and holidays? You know, like listening to Christmas music and putting up the tree or dancing naked in the moonlight for the summer solstice? ;-)

Well, my ritual to welcome spring is to listen to the entire "Become What You Are" album by The Julianna Hatfield Three. Sadly, I can't find my copy so I think I'm going to have to buy a new one. But for now--YouTube will have to suffice:



It makes me want to dance in the grass barefoot, wearing a broomstick skirt and a tank top, dizzying myself as I spin around.

Awesome.

I got carded

So last night Z and I headed to Chipotle after our first zumba class together (Counter productive? Yes! Delicious and deserved? Absolutely!) and I decided to order myself a beer since we were going to get to sit outside and eat.

The girl behind the counter promptly asked for my ID and as she read the date she said something to the effect of, "Holy crap, no way!" As she did a doubletake from my face to the ID, I asked her whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

She said, "It's a good thing. You certainly don't look..." as she trails off to try to do the math.

"I'm turning 30 this year," I replied, saving her from carrying the 1 or whatever this equation required.

"Yeah. Wow. I would have never guessed."

HINT: If anyone wants to get carded, go to Chipotle in Highland Square as a sweaty mess with your hair in a ponytail and wearing an old college sweatshirt. Normally being seen like that in public causes panic attacks, but in this case it was the source of a wonderful confidence booster.

It made the beer taste even better.