Too much time on my hands...

Are any of you victims to "The Internet" (Instagram, Pinterest, Houzz) basically  any website that makes you crazy!? I typically tell myself "I can do that"...But then ...when I get started.... it doesn't exactly go as planned? 
Well, lets be honest, it starts off going well, then turns terribly wrong.

Well, I found this amazing wall/painting on an awesome instagram account the other day. 
And before I share anything beyond that, let me tell you, it took 2 days - no joke, to prep myself for attempting the challenge. 

I measured, I cut out squares, I measured more, then I just made a GIANT square, and folded it some, and well...here's what happened...

I used (in all) 3 rolls of green tape. Three. I assumed I'd use one, maybe one and a half. Nope 3.

So I measured. And had my squares just about perfect...or so I thought... And measured precisely to get what I thought would be the perfect Buffalo Check wall, anyone had ever seen!

And, after painting the first "section" I realized, this won't work. I knew it wouldn't work. And yet, what did I do? I kept going - why? because I'd spent HOURS taping that wall.

 But... Like I said, I kept painting anyway. And, what you see below, is day 1 (of painting) day 3 of project. I could see MY WALL. It was coming to life! (you can see it right? just ignore that green tape).

 So yes, pulled back the tape, and exactly as I suspected - TAPE Lines. See below - this is NOT what I planned. I didn't tape inside my squares -and long story short, I knew from the start, I would be working on this for eternity.  So... I did what any rational person would do, I taped the wall AGAIN. 

I would not give in to just painting the wall back to its original white/or grey and starting all over. (which would have saved me days and hours) .... No, I'm crazy like that, and thought, I've already screwed up once, what's painting a little more, and learning from my mistake. 

BUT this time, I was well aware, I'd have MORE issues, because I'd have to paint 2-3 more times, to fix the problem. I was determined to make the wall right. And - the hardest way possible.

By the way, this is probably day 6 or 7, BUT that's because we had a weekend in the mix, and friends here and there to see/visit, = you know, Life happened.

So right when I think, I'm nearly done with the wall.... Shit hit the fan. I got a call that our house was being shown (Thank Goodness) The next day. Our house has been on the market, over a month and no one has called in a while - PANIC Mode set in Big Time.

So what was a girl to do? I was faced with, staying up ALL night to finish "my wall" - the wall I'd labored and slaved over - tediously painting for over a week...OR just sucking up defeat, and painting it white. 

Well, I ultimately went for white. I had a friend who needed me, as her husband and mine were out of town for business...and spending countless hours on that wall, making it "perfect" just wasn't in the cards - with less than 24 hours away from a showing. SO...see below.

 Bathroom looks good- and clean... picture below, was the previous wall -Russian Navy ... I have to admit, I'm happy with the white wall (for now), but the idea of the buffalo check wall, I so dreamed of being in my guest bathroom...its haunting me!

As my husband would say, I had apparently too much time on my hands for those two weeks this project stretched out.... Looks like its back to daydreaming and prowling instagram! 

A Urinal?

That's right. The ONLY thing Brian requested when we bought our house -- he wanted a Urinal. He WANTED it in our Master Bathroom - I quickly nixed that idea.

Here's the 'bathroom' before

I'm not entirely sure it was the best idea to remove the shower, because it would have given us another "Full" bath - BUT I think the "after" was worth it, not only for Brian, but to complement the Man Cave.

When I started this project, all I could think was "I do not want urine on my walls" == AND I wanted this bathroom to be a surprise for Brian. Tile was NOT in my design. I saw this metal one day (either at home, or near a barn, somewhere outside) and thought - This is it! I'll bring metal into the room. It would be 1. easy to clean, and 2. "Man-ly"

WE have NO idea where this duck came from. We think it was a wedding gift. The Red arrow was a hobby lobby find - and perfect for that subtle 'reminder' of flush here.

The rest, artwork we've accumulated - One from an Art Center event, another from Toadies Concert!

But the best of all, is the one of Matilda. Our good friend Lauren (at the time, she did not know Brian, or Matilda) but she snapped a pic of Matilda that landed the front of SYNC. The article title "Bathrooms, Hair of the Dog"

Making Changes

Lets face it, some of us love change, some of us hate it.
I find myself with a happy mixture of both. I don't enjoy LIFE changes, but I do enjoy STYLE and home updates, and Remodel changes. 

I have hated our fireplaces since day one. Finally!!!! I'm making a few updates, and while they're still NOT finished, I can see the light... I can see what I think I want to happen. 

Also, on a REALLY funny note, the guys (working here) are yelling at each other right now. I SO enjoy people working in our house all the time - (sarcasm)

Fireplace Original: 

Fireplace 1: thanks to remodel #1

Fireplace 2: thanks to remodel #2

Fireplace 2.1: updated/revamped! (in the works)

What you guys don't realize (for those who have not been in our house before) we have 2 fireplaces. One in the living room, and one in the dining room. They back up to each other, but unfortunately do not connect. So giant pain when working around them! 

Ok enough about fireplaces - those are boring. 

I know, know one will be shocked when I say this- but we had a little mishap with the house.  - Not worth talking about, but the updates surrounding it - ARE!

And - I guess, even tough it's money we didn't want to spend - we are finally getting our closet doors fixed! We've always had these pocket doors - mine sticks ALL the time. My solution has just been keep our bedroom door open! But, all that is being fixed (see new door 1 of 2 below).

 

Which means, if you're guessing - yep, painting this bedroom again.   

It's been  Dark, Darker, Light (for 2 days) then dark again. 

I think, I'm going light.

Here are a few attempts at this bedroom. Let me know what you think.

First room color: RH Slate

Second room color: RH graphite (which is also our exterior) and is the LAST picture shown.

Third color: SW Big Chill (I believe) I HATED it!!!!  It lasted on the walls 2 days. Even after I did maybe 8 swatches, it did Not grow on me. 

and I went back to RH Graphite which is how the room has been for the last year.

BUT like I said, we had a little issue - so the walls are being re-finished.

NOW - I'm thinking I want a white room--- But I'm really scared. This FURNITURE --- Its SO Heavy and DARK!  I refuse to paint it white. and I Cannot give it away. I doubt I could sell it. ...So I'm stuck.  But white? Seems very hospital? I don't know. I have until tomorrow to figure this out. 

Which, let's face it- is not a lot of time. 

And the trouble is NO ONE on blogs or instagram, (that I follow) has BLACK Heavy furniture. SO I see ZERO inspiration!!! Heavy Sigh. Serious First World problems, right?

What would you do???

And last but not least.  FINALLY

This guy is OUT,

and This guy --- Is (about to be) IN!

Whats wrong you ask? Well, the first door --its an interior door - the second door, it's an exterior door!  ---do you really wanna know how that even happened? Start at blog post #1. (I giggle).

And this concludes our little catching up on the blog. Life changes happening around the house, over the last week or two

Ps. we did this -- 

Cleared about an acre behind our house! I got poison ivy, that's lasted for 3 weeks! But that's another story, for another day.

We Finally Listed Our House!

This post will be photos Only... Just wanted to share what the amazing Little Rock Real Estate Photographer (Michael Baxley)was able to capture last week. These are what I posted to the MLS.
Someone buy our house - or buy it, and build 4 on our lots :)

Unfortunately during the spring, you don't see as much of the river from these angles... So here's one more....