John ventured into the world of electricity last night by installing the chandelier in the guest room. THEN, he took the light we replaced and replaced the master closet light with it (which was outdated and also accidentally painted on...). Granted, it took him much longer than expected, but it's just one more step to being my handyman. Here is a picture story:

Well, there you have it. The highly anticipated Guest Room. I still need curtains for the windows - the ones I like at Cost Plus are sold out, so we'll see... Also need to find the bedskirt. Overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I'm learning so much along the way!

John's books are very funny. Some that I included are titled: "When a Man's  A Man," "Marriage and Morals," and "Obstetrics for Nurses." Silly John.

Next to decorate: Master Bedroom
Next to Paint: Craft Room (I just primed it)

Thanks for reading!

So I downloaded a trial version of the Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5. Man is it cool. Also hard to figure out at times, but I'm really getting the hang of it. Too bad it's like $600 to buy. Oh well, I think I'm going to get a cheaper, probably less cool version eventually. Anyway, I'm ready to reveal my best ever design board, both aesthetically and technologically. Here it is with a product breakdown below:

Silver Lamp Bases - Walmart $25
Lamp Shades - Amazon.com $20
Pintuck Duvet Cover in Sea Spray - West Elm $120
White Windows Headboard - West Elm $300
Polished Chrome and Glass Side Tables - CB2 $120
Creme Shag Rug - Home Depot $120
White Picture Frames - Ikea $20
Custom Sentimental Pictures (see below) - Cost of printing (0.13 each)
Space Needle Metal Sculpture - Chiasso, $28
Flower Candle Holders - Z Gallerie $6.50
White Leaning Mirror - Ikea $99
Drum Lamp - Amazon.com $111
Vases - Online (haven't found the right ones yet)
Creme Accent Chair - Target $130
Dresser - Refinished by Yours Truly 2009 - Free
Total = ~$1600 (my dad MAY make the nightstands... we'll see!)

Isn't it awesome how well I can crop things with Photoshop!??! It's so much sleeker and easier to visualize. A lot of this stuff, especially the paint color, was taken from the original MB design board made by Michelle (see earlier post).


So the other cool thing I am doing with Paintshop is editing the sentimental pictures I'd like to frame to make them a little fancier and professional looking. I'd like to frame a picture of where we met, a picture of where we got engaged, and a picture from our wedding. Here's what I've done so far:

I need to take a new picture of the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA so I can edit it similarly (because I am anal they all need to be black and white with a pop of color). That's where we got engaged (read about it HERE).
I'm pretty stoked about this program and hope to come up with some more project ideas (like a new banner for my blog!) before my trial runs out!!!

Today I went to the Scrapbook Expo with my Mom and Sister and it was pretty inspiring - some very cute ideas for crafts. And it was nice to have some girlie family time. Then I met up with some of the science teachers from Sylvester and we (they) brainstormed up some pretty progressive grading ideas, as well as some very unique science notebooking strategies. These are very intelligent (and lovely, humorous) people. My hope is that I can ease my way into the curriculum at my new school, then slowly rock the boat with these mind-boggling approaches. I am excited to go into my 2nd year of teaching with a much more confident view of my teaching abilities and how I want to teach my students. Very exciting! Related: My classroom is really getting there, thanks to the school die-cut machine and some fabric - can't wait to post pictures. It is SO organized and colorful. Label Makers are as great as I had imagined them to be!

I just have a little ways to go to be done painting for the day, but I just can't bring myself to do it! I've spent most of the day on the computer looking at fun stuff and planning what my rooms would look like if I had unlimited money...

Note: I am working on a killer design board for our master bedroom, but I don't want to reveal it until it's totally polished!! ...and John has to approve of it... We'll see if I can wait.

In the mean time, look what I created on Wordle! I made 4 little "word clouds" that I will frame nicely and hang above 4 hampers in our still-not-done closet on the short wall that the door is on. Stylish and organized. Hopefully we can figure out this whole closet system thing and get the ball rolling now that painting is (will be) done!!

Someday we will get going on our dining room, then most of our downstairs will be complete *enough*. Until then, I'm just looking at some inspiration photos to get an idea of what to do. Not sure yet on the curtains, but a dusty purple, or pastel color could be good (another white??). I also found this picture of the BEAUTIFUL home owned by Young House Love bloggers Sherry and John. They created sort of a "gallery wall" in their dining area by mounting three long white floating shelves from ikea then just leaning pictures and placing little mementos on them. I thought this would look GREAT below the 2 high windows we have in the dining area. Here is where they would go:

Here is the inspiration photo:

What would I put on them to make them my own? Well, here are some ideas I have mulling around:

- What few hardcover cookbooks we have
- Pictures from vacations we've taken
- Mason jars, hurricanes, or cylinder vases - 1 for each vacation we've been to, filled with mementos from each (ticket stubs, shells, etc...) -- Another idea from Young House Love
- Mismatch of decorative/vintage plates throughout, a la:

Well, another beautiful Wednesday in the Radiance community. I have gone through yet another gallon of paint and have yet another unfinished room. Who would have thought that it would take MORE than a gallon to do 2 closets (granted, our master closet is nearly the size of my childhood bedroom, but the point still remains)??

Regardless, I am enjoying my day. My quest to have the most organized classroom of the 2010-2011 school year is well underway and has motivated me to attempt to organize our home as well. I added a weekly whiteboard calendar below our monthly calendar in the office and divided it into 2 sections - cleaning chores and meals. Shall we rename this board "Lindsay's 2 Least Favorite Things to Do"? Perhaps. However, one of my MOST favorite things to do is check things of a list. So, it makes chores and cooking more enjoyable. For now. Also, it's already helped to totally get rid of the following conversation we have many nights:

John: "What are you cooking for dinner?"
Lindsay: "I don't know. I hate cooking."
John: "Want me to pick something up on the way home?" OR "Want to make that frozen pizza we have?"
Lindsay: "Yes."

Thus, saving us money.

I really have to thank my MOM for reminding me that "Now is the time to get into a cleaning routine" and "No, you can't just wash all your clothes together." She also had the genius idea to buy an industrial-sized dust mop for the hardwood floor, and now that I have a two-footer it takes me only a few minutes to sweep up the downstairs!

I ran across a beautiful blog the other day, Second Street East, made by a young woman named Michelle. She isn't one of those professional bloggers but has super cute style and mentioned that she is considering going into interior design. She was offering to make free design boards for practice and feedback, so I hit her up, told her about my style, and showed her my ghetto board. She created this, which I think is lovely and much more polished than what I create:

She included a price/website breakdown as well. AND, I need to mention that she did this all in a matter of hours. This is a great place for me to start. Some of the pieces are a bit too expensive (ahem, buying a sofa for $500 when our living room sectional was $750), but I love her style and will definitely keep this feel to it.

I think I feel a need to paint all the walls a dramatic, dark color because you can get away with it here without it being too dark, and because I lived my whole life in a White Wonderland. However, colors like she suggested are beautiful and noticeable enough to really change the room. We will see!


Well, that's all for now. I will do the big Guest Room Reveal once John figures out how to install a new light fixture... :)

I know you are on pins and needles to see all the fun things I talked about in the last post. So now you can relax. Yesterday mom and I picked up 2 nightstands (which I'm a little nervous about), a headboard, and a fun typewriter table that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet... craft room? My vanity is also coming along nicely. Here are all my finds in pictures...

Well, what do you think? Is it going to all turn out okay or will it be a mess?? We shall see... I forgot to take a picture of the headboard, but perhaps I'll wait until the finished product.

Yesterday and today I went shopping and picked up a... few... more things for the guest bedroom. And now it's all coming together and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Granted, I still have to paint the ceiling after I snapped my extension pole, but... that shouldn't take too long.

Can I NOT recommend Dutch Boy Refresh paint, please? I realize that most people would stick up their nose to paint that isn't Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore, but I'd had good luck with regular old hardware store paint. However, it took me 2 gallons just to paint the walls of the guest bedroom (an average sized room). It only covered about a 2 foot x 2 foot area at most before I had to refill my roller. Perhaps I was doing something wrong, but I've painted before, and this was tough stuff! Oh well, lesson learned....

John and I went to IKEA yesterday and ended up with a throw blanket, chandelier (which I promptly spray-painted yellow today), and stool for the vanity. Good buys. John was such a patient man. Today I hit up Ross, Goodwill, and Lowe's and got the following:

- silver old car (just a kitchy thing, looks like a giant monopoly piece)
- 7 frames from goodwill that I painted white
- scrapbook paper for inside the frames
- milk glass candle holder
- yellow bird candle holder
- light medallion for above chandelier
- paint for vanity

Pictures to come. I don't want to give anything away!! Tomorrow I'm going back to a few good antique stores my mom and I found to pick up a few other things.

Also, I think I am going to order knobs for the vanity from Anthropologie, since these are SUPER cute. The vanity is being painted all white with a clear satin varnish, but I'm wondering if I should paint a little yellow on it... there are carved out circles around where the knobs go and other little accents and painting that part yellow could either be super cute or look like a sunny-side-up egg. We will see...