Works in Progress

We had some friends come over yesterday to help us clear out the backyard and remove vines from several of our trees. Then we burned everything! We had been hoping that the few weeks of rain we've been having would lift the burn ban in Austin so we could burn all the brush and dead plants that Nick tore down last week as well as some things like pallets that have been just sitting in the trash pile waiting to be trashed. At its highest the trash pile was about 6 feet tall and the fire was about 20!

Aside from all the "pruning" outside we also started painting the living room! FINALLY! I didn't pay too close attention to the edges of the door trim because the person who painted last actually got white paint all over the edges, but I was careful enough to make it so we could sand it down and try to keep it a wood color if we decide that's what we want. Since I'm pretty sure this trim is just one step up from particle board I don't know if we really want to keep it wood or paint it white, but for now we're leaving it alone until we have the rest of the room painted. We chose Sherwin Williams Satin Escape Gray.

When we removed the frame from around the mirror, we found that (surprise!) the wall had been retextured since the frame had been installed. Rather than the current Santa Fe texture, the texture underneath was a darker tan color, in a Stomp-Knockdown texture. Luckily, the Santa Fe was applied somewhat liberally to get good coverage over the old texture, so some Spackle with a flat scraper was able to cover it with no problem. I really like the Spackle we've been using that goes on pink and dries white! You can see in this first photo the huge difference it makes already, and that's without even being sanded yet. The second photo shows the edge of the mirror that has been done already; can you tell that it used to be different? I'm hoping not! And you can see some of our gray paint in the reflection.

Another project we started and have so far not finished is the hallway cabinets. They were pretty bland before, just white with cheap brass-finish handles and rusty brass hinges. We haven't decided on new handles yet or if we're going to leave the door fronts white or paint them a fun color, but yesterday Angela started painting the side of the cabinet with magnetic primer! The reviews are mixed on how well it works, but we intend to use the entire quart on this one surface so that we can hopefully get it to where we can at least keep our poetry magnets there.

Before

Two coats down

We are now considering whether we should leave it black (which wouldn't be bad since I intend to paint the hallway sides of the doors glossy black), paint it a fun color, or paint it with chalkboard paint! At this point I'm thinking chalkboard paint will win, but we'll have to decide based on whether we think the magnetism will be strong enough through extra coats of paint.

Chim-Chim-i-ney

We got our fireplace swept yesterday (so we can use it while we can since we only get about a month cumulatively per year) and while I was somewhat disappointed that a hipster showed up instead of a sooty charmer it did get me thinking more about covering up this ugly painted-stone behemoth with something I actually want to look at.

In looking at all of the options at Lowe's when we chose our floor tiles we both really gravitated toward this natural stone tile:

With some 18"x18" slate tiles on the hearth and a fancy wrought iron grate it will be perfect! And the Escape Gray paint we picked out for the living room will tie it all in perfectly. I'm not sure what we'll do about the gigantic blocky mantel (that someone painted white for a reason that is beyond me) but I am so excited about having an awesome fireplace!