Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hosting Book Club = Motivation

When we bought this house 2 years ago we went crazy painting almost the entire house, stripping wallpaper, getting new carpet put in, putting up brand new light fixtures and fans. By the time we got to the 1/2 bath on our main level we were just burnt out. I had started taking down the wallpaper border but just kind of forgot about it. Funny how things like that can become invisible because you get used to them.

Fast forward to the present.

This month I hosted book club at our home. We read The Emperor of Ocean Park. It was very long, but I liked it & I really love our book club. Anyone is welcome to come & we always have a good time.
I'm not sure why but knowing I was going to be hosting this month seemed to motivate me to get some unfinished projects completed. Which is kind of strange because we have had many people in our home in the past two years.

So, feeling thus inspired I headed to Lowe's in the pouring rain and bought some supplies and FINALLY painted my main level fireplace doors.
They had a gold trim with gold handles that really bothered me. They are now black. Check that off my list. I think it took me 10 minutes, including taping newspaper all around the hearth. 10 minutes vs. 2 years...I think I might have some issues, OR maybe I'm just a busy mother to 3 little boys. I like that reasoning better.

Next on my list the GOLD mirror and GOLD light fixture in the aforementioned 1/2 bath. I spray painted those bad boys silver. I also bought new glass fixtures to update it a little. It now matches my sink. This house seems to have a lot of silver fixtures mixed with gold, & the mix for some reason bothers my brain.
The most time consuming task was stripping the lovely wallpaper border that the previous owner had plastered right onto the drywall. It was basically triple the workload with all the peeling, scraping and re-scraping that needed to be done.

Next painting and then putting it all back together. Since I had to work around kids' sleep schedules the entire project took me about a week to finish. It's very simple, but I think it looks a lot better.
Oh & guess the total number of women that needed to use my newly refurbished bathroom that night?
ZERO! I should have listened to Matt and served a LOT of water.
Now my question is what motivates you?

10 comments:

Carie said...

Your house looked famtastic! THe bathroom looks brand new. And, the food was delicious, you know how to host a party sister.

I'm with you visitors = me getting my hiney into gear and cleaning my house. That and I live in constant fear that Nancy could drop by since she is now in the country.

Norris Fam said...

I think the border was LOVELY and you should have left it up :) It sorta reminds me of the wallpaper borders at Coral Ridge Apts...don't you use the previous owner used the peel-away ones that you used there!

Nice job- you should host a TV show!

Sariahfied said...

Love it!!! It looks awesome!!! I would have used it just for fun! So mom is coming this afternoon and I have had all week to get ready, but have I? No!!! So today I am frantically doing laundry, packing, cleaning, and going to the grocery store. I guess it is in our blood. So Lisa finally got hold of me, she was so nice and didnt mention anything about the whole polital thing. She looked at those houses and loved them. Guess how much her hoa is. $575 a month, now that is one huge hoa!

Sariahfied said...

I know I cant spell, sorry:) But you get the picture

heidi said...

guests, visitors, and entertaining are what force me to clean and organize and finish a project.
i am planning on drinking a gallon of water next tuesday morning before carpool so that i can use your new bathroom. be ready for me.

Brenna said...

A little paint and ouala!(sp?)...brand new fixture and bathroom. Love it! It all looks fantastic.
I get on those get 'er done kicks and no one can stop me... Maybe a kid or two...which frustrates me because once I start I want to finish... and they slow the project down. Wow, that sounded kinda mean. I really do love my kiddos dearly!
Simply the feeling that comes from cleanliness and organization is what motivates me. (Having people over helps too).

Suzi said...

Just think...now you're totally done and don't have to worry about it anymore!! SWEETNESS!!

Stefanie Stephenson said...

Well done with the bathroom but come on, you didn't love that old floral print wallpaper. It's so...authentic! :)
So I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate those quotes from the boys. We live to read them. Please keep them coming, maybe they'll help me stay sain here in China.
Give everyone a hug and kiss from us! We love you guys!

Michelle said...

Oh my gosh! I am the same way! I've been wanting to paint our front living room & entry for about 4 or 5 years, but I have just kept putting it off. Me and Ben finally did it a few weeks ago and it looks so much better!! Also, our master bathroom has been painted white since we moved in 6 years ago and I was going to paint it right away and we just did that too! Why did we wait so long is the question! I'm thinking the nesting thing is kicking in and finally making me do something.

Megan said...

Nice job! I am laughing because I have done the same thing many times: get motivated when I am having company. Everytime someone is coming to see our new home, I suddenly get motivated to get some things done. Case in point: the former owners of our house took the hand rail down and it has been in the storage room downstairs for the past 4 months. Will told me some old friends of ours are coming over for family night in a week or so, and we get with the program and put it back on the wall. Project took us 5 minutes, max! LOL! Anyway, you did a great job! I'd love to see the rest of your house! :)