The Calm After the Storm

Here are the 'after' pictures of Chris' office. If I had more money, I would do the dining room next. Thank God I don't have any more money.

I didn't have enough funds to get him a new desk so I had to 'recreate' his current one. Since I wanted to place his desk in the middle of the room, and it was (is) an open front desk, I built a wooden 'skirt' to go around the two sides and back so that you dont see all of the ugly cords. To bring the cords to the desk, I bought a large area rug. I ran the cords between the area rug and the carpeting. I cut a 4 inch diameter circle out of the rug under the desk to bring the cords up. If the rug is ever to be used for another purpose in the future, the circle that I cut out of the rug can simply be duct-taped back into place from the back side.

I wanted to hang a big picture on this wall. I found a perfect one of Paris, France for 60 dollars. (we spent a few weeks there on our honeymoon, so it is sentimental as well as the black and white scheme that I was trying to follow)Chris likes to enjoy an occasional adult beverage in the evening. He used to keep this stuff in my kitchen pantry and cart it into his office. I figured, why not just make a spot for it in his office since it is locked anyway. I found the drink tray at Hobby Lobby. (Thanksgiving, half-price). It had a painted pumpkin design that needed to be covered so I cut a waterproof place mat to the exact size and placed it in the bottom of the tray. The dresser had to be built, but it was a cinch. The floating shelf was a snap also. I will eventually put a couple of small lights under the shelf that light the dresser.These shelves had to be built also. In addition to the four shelf units, I assembled two height extensions, added four doors, and four drawers. I still had room on this wall to hang his patent and college diploma. A floor plant will go by the window in the back corner.

Really, these curtains on his doors are only pinned up for now. I wasn't sure if he was going to like them so I didn't finish them until I got the "O.K." this step should only take a few minutes. The pictures above the doors are regular photos that I had made into black and white, then blown up to a 11x14 inch size. Ritz was able to print them in a matter of hours. I found the 16x20 inch frames with mats included at Michaels for 13 dollars each. The first night of my project I cleaned out his office and painted. The blue dot on the wall that you see is actually a piece of blue painters tape. I always go back and look over the walls when I am finished painting. If there is an area that needs touch-up, I place a little piece of blue tape there so that I don't forget where to go. Luckily, this is the only little spot that needs attention.

I screwed knobs into the wall; four on each side of each window so that I could hang decorative curtains without spending money on two rods. These shutter blinds swing open, so hanging functional curtains would have been more expensive and stupid.

I hope that I didn't bore you all to death with my project...but I figured someone may get some ideas from it. Now on to my quilting room!

The Calm Before the Storm

Here are a few "before" pictures of my husbands office. I will post the "after" pictures on the next post.

The Race of 50 Million

Does anyone else out there feel like they are constantly running towards a finish line, only to have the race coordinator tell you that you actually have a whole lot farther to go? I feel like I am in this race every day. There are fifty million other runners lapping me while I am going at life with a constant stitch in my side. Why is it that I can't reach my (not too far set) goals?Laundry is never "done". I mean it could be, but the whole house would have to go up in flames for me to see that. Dishes are not too much trouble, but I like to not have anything icky or sticky to look at in the morning so I try to tackle those as often as possible. The fridge has leftovers in it from the Clinton administration and my desk still is not cleared off...but duct tape is holding it all up like a charm! Making my bed in the morning is the only big sense of accomplishment that I normally have in a day. (I should take pictures since I really am proud of that one.) I have figured out that I love to plan and start things. A lot of things. I like to finish them too, but not as much as I like to start them. In quilting, my bindings are few and far between, but at least I set realistic goals with quilting. Maybe I should wash all of my socks today and call it quits on laundry; then wash only the forks for dishes. Hey, in a week I could have half of it done! More time for quilting. One of the most lofty goals that I have set recently is re-doing my husbands office. I decided to wait to do this job until he went out of town for a weekend (apparently, that is like...two days) so that he would be surprised when he came home. Well, long story short...I did it. I cannot believe I did it! There were a few minor loose ends that didn't get done in time; but for the most part it is done. I think that making this outrageous goal, then reaching it was exactly what I needed to start getting my second wind to sprint towards the finish line on my other goals. Before I know it, even my vacuum cleaner will come out of hiding. Kidding, Kidding. Let's not get too crazy.