30 Years of Stripes

Years ago as a young housewife, I wanted desperately to do something with my kitchen walls. Wallpaper was all the rage, but there was just no money to do that. What's a girl to do?

Get creative of course!

Here I am painstakingly measuring and taping the walls...

Here is what it looked like when I was finished...

I was so proud of myself and my kitchen. I had a want and I figured out how to make myself happy without breaking the bank.

I was trying to think of other examples of when I used paint to add design to walls when I remembered my guest bath.

I have painted large 10 inch stripes on one wall in there. It works great. I found I couldn't hang a picture on that wall because the door opens into it, but when you looked in the mirror it was really crying for something. So once again a little tape and some paint and I am a happy girl.

I love how all the white pops in this room. For some reason my counter top looks like it has some pink in it. I assure you that it doesn't. The paint and the formica go together prefectly.

When you put the tape on, make sure you rub it down really good. You do not want to peel off the tape only to find that your paint had run under it causing a mess. Remember...it's only paint..so if this does happen get out a small paint brush and touch it up.

Also make sure you peel the tape off before your paint dries or you will be peeling paint off along with the tape. And of course....use blue painters tape instead of masking tape...I don't think they had invented that back when I did my kitchen.

If you have painted a design on your walls, please leave a link to the picture in the comments below...I would love to see it!

My Wood Floors

Image via Traditional Home.

I love wood floors. I knew when I built my house I wanted them even though in 1987 no one was putting wood floors in their houses in Florida. People told me that it couldn't be done, they wouldn't last...you name it, I heard it. I couldn't even find wood floors to put in my house. But since Mr. Amazing's number one job in life is to try to give me my hearts desire, he ordered some tongue and groove wood and proceeded to lay them in our new home.

People tried to talk me out of putting them in my kitchen. I'm glad I didn't listen. I love my floors.

They are pine...which once again people said was a bad idea. Pine wood is a softer wood and after 23 years I do have a few dents here and there, but nothing that doesn't add to the charm. Once when we moved the piano we got a pretty big dent in the floor, but I just got a damp rag, laid it on the dent and took my iron to it. Before long the dent came right out.

I love that my floors are real wood and if some kid scratches them, all I need to do is a little sanding and stain to fix it.

Many times we have moved the furniture out of our familyroom ..rolled up the rug ...and set it up like a big banquet hall or even a dance floor.

This is one thing, beyond a doubt , that will be going into my new home. I think the color of the floors in the picture from Traditional Home are prefect. Something that can be very formal or casual. My home right now has carpet in the bedrooms but I am thinking of the new house being all wood.

What do you think about wood floors?

Project People

Mr. Amazing and I have always been "project people". Even when we were dating, we recovered a leather chair for his dorm room, made a sail for his sailboat,and refinished furniture for my first apartment.

I'm not really sure where this love for re-doing things came from because neither of our parents are what I would call "project people". My mother had vision, and if she had been married to someone like my husband, she just might have gotten addicted to projects too.

And even though my father-in-law wasn't really a "project person" either, he did give his son the confidence that he could do anything he set his mind to. My father-in-law was a jack-of-all-trades and taught both of his sons to be also.

Our wedding was filled with projects. Mr. Amazing even made the kneeling bench and all the candelabra flanking the aisle. I always remind him that he knew what he was getting into from the very beginning.

One thing that I think really developed us into the project people that we are, is our first house. We bought our first house at the age of 21 and it was not our dream home. More like a nightmare. Other than the price, there wasn't one thing that we liked about the house. I'm not sure what we were thinking.

But for as bad as it was, what that first house taught us was worth a fortune. When you start with something as bad as it was, you aren't afraid that you are going to mess it up. We learned about load-bearing walls (oops), sub floors (and why you want one), and plugged septic tanks.

I also learned that living in a house while dry walling it is not something that I really ever want to do again.

Here are some before and after pictures from that house. Now remember this was 1980 when we did this, so you young people out there stop laughing at our redos...

The kitchen before...

Wow! Check out Mr. Amazing's hair...

The kitchen after!

The bathroom before:

The bathroom after!

By the way, I made this shower curtain out of a sheet. So if you are having trouble finding just the right shower curtain, go look in the sheet department.

Do you consider yourself a project person?