Holiday House Rules

Shut up and be happy about it.

So, I have reconfigured/rearranged the mudroom for some super maxed-out awesomeness. The pictures are taken...but still on the camera. So, soon...I swear. 

But, in the meantime I saw this:

(Better Homes and Gardens)

And, while I find the matching and playful placement of the dog food a bit twee, I like the vertical shelving on the right. An idea for my back entry? Hmmm. Or the wall next to the console table at the front door? Hmmm, again.

Never stop thinking about the next project...

 

Finding inspiration on the boob tube.

The TV, that is. 

The other day we were a little lazy and were watching football or something, eating guacamole and chips and apple pie for dinner...and this Home Depot commercial came on hailing us to get it going on with our projects. And, hello if they didn't show us one to get it on with. Painted stair risers. In Chevron, no less.

(Note that this picture is from the YouTube video, not the Home Depot How-To link at the end of the video - that one is too vertical a pattern. I aim for this in terms of proportion and angle.)

Now, you all know I am not a fan of the chev in general. It's done, I think. Over-used. But for a long skinny thing like a riser? The shape makes sense. And I have been lamenting the tired state of affairs that is our main stairs. So, it is ON. The paint and tape has been bought, the how-to video watched, the idea vetted by señor Holiday.

See the video here, and stay tuned here for details. Oh, and I might even go ahead and paint the closets (stripes) like I talked about a year ago.

 

 

This is what I have in mind.

(The Boo and the Boy)

It's a little messy for my taste, so it's not the overall room I like (oh, and I have a real thing against bunting of any kind...), it's the curtains. Of course it is. 

See, the Bun's room curtains are all wrong. Too short, too green, just, meh. I liked them when I got them but I should have ordered the 96" rather than the 80" and hemmed them to like 86" or something. But, when you move in to a house you get a little ahead of yourself sometimes. 

The ones I have, I will keep. I will get them cleaned and put them away for use some other time in some other house. They are nicely made and all that. But, I think the Bun's room needs a little curtain love. And the stripes above kind of won me over. I'm wondering if these, from Pottery Barn, might work:

(Pottery Barn)

Unfortunately, even on sale, they are $84 a panel, and I need 8 panels. Hmmm, maybe I will order two and see if I like it and then stalk the site for clearance sale? Once they go on super sale, it's all final sale/no returns. And who can buy curtains final sale? Not me. I need to see them in place, first. And, it seems, sometimes live with them for 4 years before I decide they are not quite right. Sigh.

You may have noticed.

If you are OCD, like me, you may have noticed that something else looked different in our tub.

The drain you see here is not the one I posed about here.

Why not? Because that repair that I crowed about was pretty short lived. It stuck for maybe 9 months. And then I shelled out my good hard-earned cash to Kohler for a whole new drain flap thingy. Yeah. And paid a plumber to install it. 

And then, in round 2 of our plumbing woes, see here and here, the guy just recommeneded we replace the entire, wonky, weird, clog-loving drain apparatus with the standard issue kind. I was so tired of plumbing issues I said "fine, just do it." And for like 60 bucks it was over. Just over. It's not all sleek and inset and such, but you know what? It holds water when closed! It drains water when open! These things are not to be underrated!