First Fire of the Season!

That's right! This is our first fire of the season! Actually, it's the first fire we've ever had since we bought this house—EIGHT YEARS AGO!

That's my kitty, Smokey, checking out the fire. He's not sure what to think of this as he's never seen a fire!

You may have noticed that my mantle decor looks a little different. My little one and I dragged out some Halloween decorations yesterday to help celebrate the season! 

She especially loves this tin haunted house I found a few years ago! She thinks we ought to find a few more and have a "haunted neighborhood" on our mantle!

How cute is this ceramic skeleton? He's assembled with wire and can be gently posed. Love him!

I got this witch smoker doll when I lived in Germany. She's even got a wart on her face by her nose!

Hope you're having fun celebrating the season as much as we are!

The Red Door

Here's my front door. It could use some freshening up! Wonder how it would look in red?

Oh, how nice!**

Macy is SO unimpressed...

**UPDATE! I went through hell getting this door painted. The paint chip I found that I liked best was by Glidden—a paint I've never used before. Decided to give it a try—HUGE mistake!! The paint didn't cover worth a darn and sagged like CRAZY. It looked absolutely dreadful. Ended up having to sand it all down again and start from scratch. Went with my tried and true Behr paint and ended up with results I should have had in the first place! Never using Glidden again!

More Painting Finished Up...

WOOF! I'm Macy. I'm a good dog and I like to watch my mom paint. Take a look at what she did today!

The remaining purple paint got primed over (Note... mama was too lazy to take down the drapes! Lucky for her she didn't screw up and drip any paint on them!). This will look so much better once the door and trim are painted white!

Looking good, don't you think? (That's my girl watching SpongeBob!)

Now You See It ...Now You Don't!

Besides my goofy step-stool, is there anything in particular that stands out to you in this picture?? For me, the LAMP CORD is VERY noticeable and looks TERRIBLE! If there's one thing I hate, it's unsightly electrical cords!

Hard to ignore that unsightly cord!

The cord that came with the lamp was brown and distinctly noticeable against my white and cream paint in addition to being too short to reach the outlet. So today I rectified both of these undesirable situations. I bought a 15-ft long white extension cord, lopped off the end of it, and rewired my mantle's lamp. The long cord easily reaches my outlet now! I also installed a 4-ft long white cord cover to run along the edge of my fireplace and wall to further mask the cord.

Ahh... much better!

And... VOILA! The cord is now virtually invisible! What do you think?

One Door Down...

Today I wrapped up my finish coat on the door and baseboards in this little corner of the room. The white doesn't look as vibrant on the door as it does on the fireplace because of the camera's flash and the way it illuminated the scene (hitting the fireplace first), but it's the same paint. Will work on the closet door and trim to the right of this door next!

I'm thinking I'll take off the hinges and hit them with some "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

Fireplace and side porch door finished!

Attention! P.I.P.!

That's right, "Priming In Progress"! After many weeks of contemplation, I decided to go ahead and paint the doors white. Having them white will help make them blend into the background so that room furnishings can "be the star", as well as help make the room less confining. Plus, having white doors will help make there be less visual competition, which sounds more calming if you ask me!

Kilz primer applied to the door.

So, it's getting there! I'm hoping to prime the woodwork surrounding the door tomorrow—might even get to some finish coat!

Goodbye, Beloved Purple!

In this household, we are all big fans of purple. We especially like how the purple walls help make the living room feel more cozy at night when watching TV and winding down before bed. But it's been that way for at least six years now, and I'm ready for a change!

So today I painted over more of the purple paint in the living room to make room for more of the cream.

Here the walls are in the process of being covered with Kilz primer. Kilz is a great paint for sealing dark colors, stains, and smells.

Here the cream finish coat has been applied to the walls. That white trim sure does pop!

While I was at it, I decided to mount the satellite speakers of our surround sound system to the walls; the speakers had been mounted to speaker stands that flanked the TV, but sometimes my golden retriever would wag her tail on one, causing it to sway and threaten to fall. They're not the most beautiful looking things; maybe next spring I'll spray paint them white and hang them higher?


I'm slowly making progress around the room! More to come!