the living room list

Hey, guys. I'm hot stuff this week - two whole posts! Look out, world! And I'm feeling chatty again, too. And like sharing pictures :)

Do you remember back in the fall when I said I was going to work on the living room? Do the items on that little sheet of paper? This one?



Well, I got started painting the living room right away. Nothing earth-shattering. The same white as the trim - Benjamin Moore White Dove. Then, I got to the part of the list about painting the bookcase. And, truly, it's all kind of a foggy, painful memory now, but somehow I decided to try to paint the bookcase a gray color with a bluish, greenish undertone. Try to pick up some of those colors in the rug. As I recall, those were my intentions. However, I did not want to paint the shelves. I didn't want to paint them because I knew they'd get trashed. This is a bookcase for children's books and it gets used many, many times a day. Painted shelves would be wasted in a matter of days, if not hours. So, I wanted to leave them as is. Or, as was. I stayed up late priming and painting. I got the stupid thing done and... long story short...

I hated it.

Great. Great! Like I have all the time in world to paint furniture just to ruin it. It might not look bad here, but all I could think was that it reminded me of the freshman year desk my sister had from Big Lots. It looked dated and nasty. I sank into a big, big funk. My list. My poor list :( My poor bookcase.

Do you ever just get unreasonably funky, even though you know it's ridiculous to get so grumpy over something so... well... unreasonable? That's how I felt. I knew it was silly to get discouraged about it. What good was that going to do anyone? But there was a big, ugly bookcase in my living room. The very living room I was trying to make prettier.

A funk ensued. Go ahead. Watch.

Untitled from homeforthebetter on Vimeo.

Ha ha. How immature is that? I got over it, of course. Making fun of myself helped. By the time I was done shooting that little video, I was laughing about it. I decided to try to paint it white and see how that went. It looked better at least. It was white on the outside and a kind of gray inside. You can see it a little in the background of these photos from Christmas.





It looked okay white, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I left it alone until this afternoon.



Can you believe that?



It just peeled right off.

I had read on a number of different blogs (which shall remain nameless) that you could skip the sanding step if you used Gripper primer. Well, I skipped the sanding step and I used Gripper primer. Aren't you impressed with how well it held up? But, really, it's a good thing. Because I could just peel off the paint I didn't like! :)

So, it's about 2/3 peeled now. There are little nooks and crannies that are giving me some grief. I'll pick at them here and there tomorrow. Now I know. And now the bookcase will be brown, again. But, technically, I finished the list.



I made the blankie early on. Love it.



It's chenille on one side...



And Michael Miller's Ta Dot in "Stone" on the other :)



I didn't tie it or quilt it or anything. It's just the two pieces of fabric sewn together and flipped right side out. It has a nice weight from the chenille, and it lays almost like a duvet since the fabrics are loose.

Very cozy. Very cheerful.



That wall behind the sofa is still yellow. We left it unpainted because we have other plans for it. Later :)

As I was looking for photos of the blankie, I found a couple more of painting the room...





... and that bookcase. ha.

I bought fabric to make Christmas pillow covers, but I never got them made. So, instead, I ordered some from Etsy to help with my post-Christmas doldrums. They're GREEN. Because outside it's BROWN. I'll take a few photos of them when we get some sunshine for a decent shot. Oh, and when the last one arrives. I'm still waiting on one little pillow.

So, that's all I'm doing to the living room for now. And I'm not really planning on choosing another little paper right away. I'm in a crafty, let's-make-the-house-look-like-a-kindergarten-classroom type mood these days, so I have a few others projects in mind. Tonight, for instance, I'm priming and painting this...



... to house a Lego population explosion. I promised the children I'd get their Lego cabinet done before I started what I really want to work on. This came in the mail today! Even the grayest, coldest January doesn't stand a chance against the sheer HAPPINESS of this fabric :)



Thanks so much for sticking with me, guys :) Have a great day!