How does a new shower make a person so much happier???

I can tell you the answer to this question: it's the mold-freeness of it all.  We had all our showers (2) and our old tub (1) ripped out and they were replaced today.  Nothing fancy - just lovely and clean. Oh - and not caramel marble coloured.  The shower in our ensuite made me literally afraid before.  What the heck could make little spots of black just appear on the walls of the dang thing?  Mold - and it's gone gone gone!!

Seems to me the whole point of a bathroom is getting clean - and we're that much closer to fulfilling those obligations.  Thank you fiberglass insert.

Did I choose tile?  No.  Why?  Well, eventually tile grout gets creepy.  AND it seems to me that it gets creepy sooner rather than later.  Go ahead make the walls all pretty and fancy.  For instance, we spent a small fortune on vanities, and faucets (why so much for them I wonder???)....  But the actual bathing area is sparkly white and squeaky clean.

We also got a tub for the main bath that is oh-so-deep.  No jets.  Has anyone ever REALLY enjoyed the jet experience?  As far as I know - no, but I am willing to be corrected on that, just not in my own bathroom.  Ours will just be a lovely soaker.  I so call dibs on the first soak!

Love it, love it, love it.

Workmen - life is better than fiction...

The restoration company has finally arrived on our doorstep to begin making things much worse before they plan on making them better.  The first day the trucks were out front of our home and as I walked toward our front door I distinctly smelled skunk.  I should know, my sweet baby boy was sprayed with one - but that is another crushed-tomatoes-up-the-wall disaster story for another day; however, you can't mistake that smell.  Actually, you can.  Skunk, and it's close cousin skunk weed, while they have entirely different effects have entirely the same smell.  You can imagine Project Mama's surprise then when out of one of the vans rolls our new drywaller literally in a puff of smoke.  Awesome.  This weed man is going to piece my house together again?  


Well, I have since learned something new.  It seems as though weed doesn't affect a drywaller's ability to make a ceiling stunningly smooth, or put a room so that it looks better than ever before.  So Project Mama is happy.  What it does affect is the ability to have instructions actually register in the drywaller's brain.  For example we had a too-long discussion the other day on just what "trim" was: doors, heat registers, and window ledges.  Drywaller/Painter (turns out he's our painter too) nods when he hears instructions or answers to HIS OWN QUESTIONS but Project Mama really has no idea why since he certainly can't mean "I completely understand and will absolutely make sure it is done that way."


We now have not ivory trim on the heat registers but a rather dark "bluff" shade.  Make that dung brown.  Looks modern and cool on the walls.  Looks like dung on the registers.  Drywaller was a bit dazed when we discussed that, but I feel confident he will bounce back.  He says, "man" a lot.  Oddly, Project Mama has a soft spot for pot smoking drywaller/painter.  He has an old t-shirt he wears all the time that has been clumsily sewn back together in 2 spots.  It might make Project Mama's heart ache.

Project Mama lessons for the Christmas Season

I so love that it has been 20 days since my last post.  Ha!  Turns out a little bit of water in a house can really affect your lifestyle....

Anyway, we had that giant flood in our house and we have been all but turned upside down.  Project Mama is not all that pleased.  So now with one bathroom not functioning, one bathroom with only a toilet working and the other bathroom taken over by workmen - Project Mama is not feeling so festive.  However, I have learned a TON of interesting things that I feel need to be shared with other project rookies.

#1.  Get a Costco card.  My friends are all addicted to Costco - but here is why I remember my love affair with Costco.  I renewed my membership on the urging of my sister-in-law and a few darling friends.  The day I went in I should say that my youngest spent a good while lying flat out on the concrete floor (Project Mama had to use her kindest, most restrained voice...), but we survived as a family.  Anyway, as I was wandering in that special Costco haze, I found a single vanity for my destroyed ensuite.  Espresso wood, 3 drawers, and a granite counter top.  All I have to do is find the tap.  All that gorgeousness for $350!  I know this sounds high for my talented friends who could make the same thing out of egg cartons and wax candles - but this is a smokin' deal for the beginner who wants a good quality piece at a reasonable price.

#2.  Don't do any sort of project that requires outside help over the Christmas season.  Just don't.  No one is giving any love away over Christmas. Everyone is busy, and most people seem to be trying to get previously started work done in time for Christmas.  Every person has called me back (oh Merry Merry!), if only to tell me that they will get in touch with me in the New Year.  I am currently expecting about 15 calls on January 4th.

#3.  When you have a big disaster in your house and you know NOTHING about these kind of things, start asking questions.  Lots of them.  Ask your mom, your neighbour, your friend.  Mention your question at the grocery store.  So many people have very helpful things for you to consider - from the cost of flooring, types of paint, what to do with your stuff, even how to cook while your house is a disaster (barbecue).  It amazes me the amount that everyone else other than me seems to know about home restoration/renovation.  Really.  It's impressive and the resource shouldn't be ignored.

Well, I wish you all a Merry Christmas.  I am going down to throw some food in front of my children (playing the Wii) in the hopes that those little wild animals might smell it enough to throw some of it in their wee gullets.

Blessings to you.

Love,

Project Mama

Craig's List? Love it? Hate it?

I have to admit - Craig's list freaks me out.  Hubby and I once bought a new wall oven (well - new to us) that NEVER worked.  Never.  What did we do about it?  Well, we're Canadian.  We did nothing - of course.  Instead, we went out to Sears like we should have in the first place and bought what we really wanted and paid for it a year later.

ON THE FLIP SIDE....  I have recently been converted to being a seller on Craig's list.  It's super recent, but people will buy anything - and they shouldn't be faulted for doing so.  Here's why: there are people in the world who are way more talented than me.  They can take something that I will never use - like the coffee table that I am just about bloody well finished with and turn it into some shining piece of glory.  Honestly, I know that this aged wonder will be turned into a piece of art.

In the future - that will be me (of course....) - but until then, things that are grinding me down are destined for the Craig's list chopping block. 

Here's what I started with.  I got rid of a big bag of toy clutter.  I put up three old Leapfrog leap pads that were just festering in my house - and you know what - it was about 2 hours before someone wanted them.  2 of them ended up not really working, so I sold 1 and gave a questionable one away.  The one that is really fried will be discarded.  I might even see if I can recycle it - go green!  Yay!  It wasn't much, but it was my addictive start.

My kids are even on the bandwagon.  You should see one of my boys - now that he knows cash is involved - he's pretty excited to sell just about anything.

I was intimidated to set up the account - but it was just about the easiest thing I have ever done technology-wise. 

If if keeps stuff out of landfills, if it makes my home more clutter-free and peaceful, if it buys a few new cans of paint - then Project Mama likes.

If I can do it, you can too.

Project Mama

For the Bathroom: KITCHEN cabinets??

Here's something this rookie do-it-yourselfer did not know until this weekend. Having to shift gears slightly because of our toilet blow-out this weekend, we are now considering what to replace all of the damaged parts of our home with. We took a wee trip to Home Depot looking for a new vanity for the bathroom.

I have to say straight out that I was disappointed with the products that they had in stock; although they have some cute-ish items online. I asked in the store if they had anymore vanities that I could maybe chose from - something that could be ordered in and the associate I was speaking with didn't think so.

However! This is the fun new thing that I learned: you can just pick out a kitchen cabinet maker or style that you love and can afford and have the appropriate pieces ordered to go into your bathroom as a vanity! Who knew? Apart from making sure that the materials used can withstand the added moisture of a bathroom - the appearance of a vanity done this way seems to be of a higher quality standard (one of the ready-made vanities that we were looking at already was broken and you could see how thin the particle board was that the whole unit was resting on - not promising).

At this point the associate gave me not one or two brochures, but SIX to choose from mostly differing in quality and price from one another. How happy. Obviously, any other cabinet maker from any other store would very likely be able to do the same thing!

I am hoping that price doesn't kill this idea. I can't imagine a small bank of their pieces killing us price-wise, but you never know. I found a style that had that beaded board finish in the centre of each door. It really is so sharp-looking and I don't think it will date all that fast, although who would have ever thought that everyone's solid oak cabinetry from the 80s would look so,.... well - 80s??

Well, I am off to figure out what and how much, and when, and where to order this stuff from.

If I can do it, you can too.

Project Mama

Just when you think you're getting ahead...

Early morning hockey practice.  Kids up at 6am.  Trying to snug up hockey pants when I hear a splattering sound coming from our main bathroom.  I think that my littlest has left the tap on (God knows why I thought that - I have to berate my children to wash their hands....), so I ask hubby to go turn the tap off while I am snugging up said pants.  He doesn't hear what I say, so I head up stairs to find 3 inches of water standing in our main bathroom and drifting out onto the hallway carpet.  How does a room act like a wading pool?  I really have no idea - except to say that it actually doesn't. 

As it turns out, water has a way of following gravity and heading down.  My husband had to turn off the water, but it was WAY too late.  We put every single towel we own, which is a significant number, on this puddle, and then went downstairs to see if there was any coming through into the family room. 

Our family room has the only significant updates in our house.  Last year, we (not ourselves!) did the flooring, the walls, changed the door, and have been loving it.  Well, the room that we love now has gallons of water pouring through the ceiling onto the brand new bamboo flooring, the furniture (who cares), and of all things - through our light fixtures.  Really.  Our light fixtures? 

My six year old was running around with the equivalent of tissues trying to stop the deluge.  It's like putting a pebble in a leaky dam.  He kept saying that he just wanted to help his house. 

Meanwhile the ceiling is turning from white to grey as the water is slowing finding it's level. 

Clearly this is not a job for a do-it-yourselfer.  I called our insurance people (lovely), who told me all the things we needed to do (mostly not to get electricuted) and now we are waiting for the lovely emergency contractor to come over and dry 'er out.

I guess this is the "hold-on-to-it-lightly" blog today.  Admittedly, this sucks.  What a crazy mess.  Yet, really - our lives - where I can write and read blogs, watch movies, play with my kids, make nice dinners.  It's good. 

Now, I'm going to get changed so I don't frighten the nice man who is coming to the door to dry out the house.  It's the least I can do.

I'll be thinking about a little verse that encourages me, I hope it encourages you too:

Colossians 3:15


Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.


Project Mama

Encouragement for the weary do-it-yourselfer....

I was at the hockey rink with my little laddies yesterday talking to my dear friend about my do-it-yourselfer plans (which she is SO encouraging about) when I realized that perhaps I have not been altogether upfront about how hopeless I really am being a do-it-yourselfer. 

The entire point of my musings is to make even one person realize that if someone as unschooled as me can get going and create something amazing - then they can to! The fact that I talk about doing these things in my home is super important to me - what better place to add beauty and art than the place that our favorite people live?

So here are a few gorgeous failings of mine that will hopefully make you laugh and feel, well - hopeful!

Curtains.  We don't have curtains.  This is our second home.  We didn't have curtains in our first and we don't have them in our second.  I personally believe hubby has something against them.  Our first home was so bright that you couldn't actually be in the living room for about 4 hours of the day - especially in the winter when the sun was lower.  Now, hubby went off to work - and me and the children, like little worms, just kind of shrank away from the sun.  It was ridiculous until I ordered giant curtains from Sears.  The kind that we all grew up with - shiny, cream-coloured drapes: sharp hooks and all.

I seem to remember that hubby had ripped out the curtain rods in his renovating fury (all done while I was not present...), so that when I asked, with my most charming eyes, if he would put them up it was quite a grunting, sweating, swearing kind of affair.  The kind where the children have to be in bed - for a long time.

Now, in our second home, I have bought some kind of panels for our dining room windows which our beloved neighbours have to look straight into day after day.  It is also by far the brightest room in our house and can bump the temperature up through the roof in the summer.  They are brown.  They are bad.  My youngest has tugged on them so that the seam is now pulling apart, making them look (if you can believe it) - worse.  From the outside, the dark brown against our green house is atrocious.  So when they are shut it is actually an offense against our darling neighbours who we love.  Inside, they aren't - quite - big enough, so they look kind of gangly and weird.

My dear friend said yesterday - "Oh honey, can one of your projects be curtains???" 

I should say that she kindly offered just to make them for me - but she is semi-professional in my mind - so I feel guilty about taking her up on it - it seems to be cheating.  I have to decide if being a DIY-er means being smart enough to let someone more talented than you get 'er done.   (Probably)

Furniture.  All of our furniture with the exception of our kitchen table is a hand-me-down.  When hubby's grandfather died, we inherited his furniture.  Solid - but the pattern is disturbing.  The pattern reminds me of something anatomical that once you've kind of looked at it that way, never quite looks the same again.

That couch is in my living room.

The furniture in our family room is a sectional set that my friend's husband's mother gave to us.  It was her's from the time that we were all babies.  That's some serious time ago.  Just to give you a feel for how old this thing is - it came with a giant, round, padded, upholstered, circle that you could pull apart into 4 pie-shaped ottoman's that I think were once the right height for putting your feet up on - but over time as the springs in the rest of the couch sagged, seemed ridiculously high.  The circle went to the dump - but the couch still lives with us.

I say lives with us - because with the amount of people and creatures that have been on it - I think all of those particles have formed a new life.  Needless to say, that couch is destined for departure.

My dining room table came from my mom.  My boys have destroyed the table.  Thankfully, Project Mama's Mama is artsy by nature and holds on to things EXTREMELY lightly.  She doesn't give a fig.  One chair they pulled apart in about 5 minutes of knocking it over (not super sturdy evidently), so now we don't have all the chairs and the rest are on their last legs.

Our bedroom is a hodge podge of pieces.  We actually did buy the bed - a pine slatted frame and a mattress.  The rest is great furniture from Grandpa again - but does it match?  Do you need to ask?

The boys' bedrooms are furnished with hand-me-downs that are my age.  I'm sure that they are bomb proof, but is that always a good thing?  They were made before safety features were considered important.  So now the top bunk bed has a big, unfinished 2 X4 railing that my dear uncle put in place for me, and the captain's bed is backwards so that the edge board, that would normally go against the wall, keeps my son from falling out of bed.

Hmmm....



So you see -

If I can do it, you can too!

Project Mama