Sneaky Sneaky

I've been not-so-silently hating my living room color.


If you remember, it was a pretty green that worked with all the other colors in the house. On paper. In real life it was kinda sickly looking, and made me sick when it came time to thinking of curtains and accessories. I wanted to accent with green, not have a green room!


When ever I expressed this opinion to my other half, Mike would give a response similar to his feelings about me painting the kitchen. A big fat "No". He couldn't fathom repainting a room when it was just painted, not weeks before. So what is a girl to do? Wait until her man is away on a golf trip for the weekend and paint the dang thing herself!

I decided to paint it the same color we used in the guest room, mostly because I love the color, and also because we already had almost a full gallon left over sitting in the basement. I figured this would alleviate some of Mike's concerns over my covert redo.


So I made up my mind on a Thursday, one day before Mike was to leave, and enlisted my original partner in crime, my sister, to help with the operation. As Mike and the guys pulled out of the driveway Friday afternoon, Michelle was pulling into the neighborhood from the opposite direction. She helped me move all the furniture into the center of the room, (something that made me appreciate painting the house while it was empty), and gave me the moral support to pull off my secret mission.

As I was painting I noticed, well pretty little actually. The colors are so similar, that the gray almost blended into the green. This was actually very welcoming. I only needed one and a half coats to cover, and it was such a subtle difference that I knew Mike couldn't be too upset with my sneakiness. I actually laughed at how similar the colors were.


In the light it's a huge difference, but in the in the evening when there's little natural light, it's actually very similar.  


Come Sunday afternoon, after carefully removing all evidence and placing the furniture precisely back to it's original location, I sat nervously on the couch while Mike pulled into the drive. After what seemed like ages before he said goodbye to the guys and got his luggage and clubs out of the truck he finally came in and immediately fell on the couch in a heap of exhaustion, (54 rounds of golf in a weekend will do that to you). I gave him about 30 seconds before I asked if he noticed anything different. "Nope", was all he said. As I reigned in the storm clouds that were beginning to form over my head, I very politely pointed out I painted the room. He said he did kind of smell paint fumes, and laid back down. I then went into the steps of my deception, how it only took me 5 hours start to finish, cost only $20, and how I knew I was going to do it before he left. All he said was, "You're crazy". Which is pretty much the response I always get when I start discussing my decorating plans.

I Heart You

While cruising my regular blogs I came across a paper artist, sarah and bendrix, and instantly fell in love.


"fresh new heart"


 "large heart"

"little vintage hearts"

How I would love to have an original piece of artwork like this in my home. I pondered for a long time but couldn't get over the price tag and expected postage from England, especially when I knew I could make something similar myself.

I chose the red "Large Heart" knowing it would look amazing next to the blue in the master bedroom. As far as supplies go, I already had most of what I figured I needed and simply bought red paper (about 4-12"x12" sheets) and a heart paper punch from Hobby Lobby. Total project cost, with a frame, about $30.

I punched out hearts from 3 full sheets, then scored and folded each in half.



With the last sheet of paper, I used the trusty Cricut to cut a heart at the largest size to fit 12"x12". I then cut a section out of the side to mimic the section that's spilling out in the original. I then started gluing the little hearts to the larger one, in a random and overlapping fashion.



I glued and I glued until it was completely filled, then pinned the heart into a black shadow box frame I spray painted white. I then glued three hearts directly onto the backing, then hung it up and swooned.


Garage Build Twenty-Ten | Part One

As I mentioned in my last post, we've officially begun our largest (not to mention, most expensive) home improvement project. From the first moment we saw our home-to-be, we knew we would be building a new garage. You may remember what the old one looked like. It would not cut it here at Casa Rogers/Danks. Mr. Danks alone could fill a three car garage, an off-site storage unit, and a pole barn, and still not have enough room. I may never understand the man/garage relationship. It must be like girls and their closets. Now there's something I could write a few posts about, oh wait, I have.

But, I digress, back to the man cave. After laying out the measurements, Mike rented his equipment, took a personal day from work, and got busy. He also picked up some "payment" in the form of beer for the suckers who came over to help. They started by digging the footer, which is filled with concrete and what the block sits on for all you non-construction savvy readers, (pretty much anyone coming from my neck of the blogging woods).



After the footer was dug and inspected, (passing with flying colors I might add), the concrete truck backed down my suddenly very small and narrow driveway and fill'd her up.



Yes, that's my honey standing in the concrete with jeans and regular work boots on, that night he had the caustic burns to prove it too.

After 12 hours to let the concrete set, it was one block at a time until the foundation was complete. The guys started out a little slow, but quickly found their stride and became a regular masonry crew and completed the whole foundation in two days!


Come back later for Part Two to see some "dirty" details as we complete the earthwork.