Sunny Day…

I have no idea why the Sesame Street theme song is in my head.  It’s probably because it rained yesterday and the internet at work was spotty at best.  I spent much of yesterday removing the computer STD and putting on some passwords.  Hopefully, that will help keep my work computer more sunny as well. 

 

While I was playing with STDs, Paladin went down the street and bought a van from the neighbors.  I’ll try to get some pics of it up tomorrow, but it’s the quintessential van.  It’s a GMC Starquest circa 1996 and he got it for $1k because it needs a new radiator and is a gas guzzler.  That makes it a great deal for us since we’ll really use it only if we are taking the kids somewhere or are trying to move something bigger.  So now I can fulfill my lifelong dream of living in a van down by the river.  Sweet!

 

And finally, as promised, here are the pics of the nearly done living room:

 

 

The purple is Victorian Amethyst (Walmart brand Colorplace paint).  The rugs are my vain attempt at trying to cover up the masses of stains on the old carpet.  Yuck!  I’m trying to finagle new flooring but budget is an issue (Paladin likes to keep a couple of grand in the bank for peace of mind, but that’s probably not going to happen when you’re supporting 2 households and renovating one of them).  It still needs to be tweaked for sure.  The black table is a crappy tv stand that we had hanging around (it’s not staying there…Paladin stuck it there to fill up space) and the coffee table (and nearby matching end tables) is a Family Dollar store cheap-o set that is flimsy but liveable for the time being (coffee table and 2 end tables cost $40 altogether).  The accent chair is half of a pair of armless sectional chairs that I bought for $120 when I was in college; for being 15 yrs old, they still sit great, but they’re nasty underneath so I’m slipcovering them with that gold faux suede fabric which was in my fabric stash already (I think I was going to make a cape out of it at one point…oh well).  On the walls we have a $4 Walmart clock surrounded by Dollar Tree $1 frames filled with scrap fabric I already had.  In fact, I already had most of the decorative items and spent all of $50 on decortative stuff for the entire room.  The built-in tv stand cost us $6 not including paint (it is 2 shelves from a closet, some Ikea bed frame that we cut up, and shelf brackets).  The finish is…wait for it…Black Rose paint (Walmart Colorplace brand again…Colorplace paint is about $15 per gal, but we got this off the “oops paint” shelf as a returned item for only $8).  I am seriously IN LOVE with this paint!  It looks purple in the can and until it dries, but you streak it unevenly over a wood grain like this previously oak door 

and you get a dark espresso finish with no staining and almost no trouble at all.  I am in love, I tell ya!  I’ve already bought a can of it in the full-on gloss finish to do the kitchen cabinets (I don’t hate oak, but the finish on those is a bit naft in person).  I even painted it on this old dresser I found in the out-building:

 

 

Apparently, no one ever told Mull that taking the veneer off a piece of furniture to refinish it is a bad idea (here’s a hint: if the wood had been nice they wouldn’t have put a veneer on it in the first place).  She gave up part way through and left it bare with lots of glue all over it.  I just sanded it a little and painted over it.  I don’t mind the rough finish.  The wall art is the back side of some extra oak paneling with a temple rubbing of Angkor Wat (Tina picked it up at a Goodwill in Indiana for $2 a couple of years ago…she gave me a second one too and it will probably end up in the bedroom as it’s a lighter stone color) and I put some Polycrylic stain/polyurethane I had sitting around over the entire thing.  The decorative items on the table were found around my house and around here except for the blue candles which cost $8 to put together.  I am also in love with the curtain fabric.  It inspired the color scheme and is awesomely crazy! 

 

 

The gold tone in it matched the sofa perfectly.  It’s so very Craftsman, to me at least, and was a steal at (you guessed it) Walmart for $2 per yard (I picked up 7 yards…the rest of the bolt).  I’ve got enough to make some throw pillows, and I’ll probably have some left over. 

 

That brings the grand total (SO FAR) to about $130 for decor in this room, thus far.  Not bad, but I still have things to pick up like pillow stuffing and I’m keen on upgrading the tables.  Paladin’s computer desk on the other wall is about to be painted a very manly shade of dark purple.  heh heh  I’m guessing that in the end the room will top out at under $200 which ain’t so bad compared to the before pics.

 

I’m still in an inexplicably sunny mood.  Man, I hope it can withstand the relatives.  I have one more week of relative peace (heh…get it…relative…like you can’t be cheesy too :P ) before they arrive.  That’s a weekend filled with kids, a week at work, and another weekend with kids with the relatives arriving just before the kids leave.  And, Tina wants us to try to get an extra Friday with the kids so that we can all do the zoo and bowling as well.  I have the feeling that I’ll look like something out of the Blair Witch Project before its all over!  Hmmm…where did I put that hoodie and flashlight?

 

I’m afraid I actually have to *gasp* go do some work now.  But, I swear to try to get back online to visit ya’ll before the day is out!  Smooches! 

 

P.S.- Oh, and that little green bottle of flowers that doesn’t match anything?  That’s part of Paladin’s weekly supermarket bouquet.  I love that he gives me flowers, but I do need to break him from it.  The budget will be getting tighter with his retirement.  And, I don’t need flowers to know that he loves me.  Wow…that was sappy…but, true.