On the Playroom-Before & Almost After

The last, major (indoor) project was the playroom…
I don’t know if you remember what it looked like,
but when we bought the house it had a paper like wallboard
in an unfinished attic space. 
We framed and drywalled, 
put down a cork floor,
painted,
 and got this:

 Then the cabinet maker (HomeWorks of AR-Dwight Johnson)
worked his magic…

and…

You have to forgive my camera, it’s on it’s last legs!
I’m working on arranging things and touching up paint now.
The color on the walls is Urban Putty (Sherwin Williams) My go-to neutral.
 I plan on making a gallery with magnetic chalkboard paint
down the hall and will post pictures when I’m done!
 I don’t really like the way it looks in hall
area so probably going to change that color when I do the magnetic paint.
What color to do…

On Planning the Garden

One of the motivating factors for moving to this new house was the wonderful yard.
The plan is to have a little urban garden where we don’t have to buy produce (at least all summer and spring.)

Back Side Yard- Tree Fort is almost complete!

   

Planning is not easy.  We have 3 lots, which is just a hair shy of an acre! 

I keep changing my mind about what I want and where I want it and I believe I’m driving my husband crazy showing him pictures on Pinterest or yet another gardening book.

The kids and I went to the Splash Park last week and afterwards stopped at the Bernice Garden in the Quapaw district.  (Of course our main reason was to get some of Arkansas’ best ice cream at Loblolly Creamery…)

The gardens are so cute!
Beautiful sculptures and structures made from reclaimed and re-purposed materials,

There was a tiny baby Praying Mantis on her finger!

   Paths made from broken bottles,

Phone Pole & Chicken Wire Trellis for Clematis

More ideas.

So far I’ve planted two apple and two peach trees in the back.  I want to get about six more fruit trees for the front yard.   And the chickens are loving their new space…

I’m not sure our garden will have much yield this year if we even get the ground tilled, but next year? 

Side Yard- Spot forVeggie Garden

 

Spring Break (Part 1) or On Painting

Spring Break has come and gone…

Here is a breakdown of last week-

Part 1:
We tried to get old house packed out and ready to sell and paint living room and hall at our new house and hang pictures.  (Half accomplished anyway, still a lot to do!)
I’ve struggled with paint colors so much at this house- plaster makes everything look different when you get paint on the wall.
With lots of help I settled on:

Sage Tint by Benjamin Moore for living room 
(on walls it looks almost like a robin’s egg blue)

Amulet by Benjamin Moore for hallway/stairs
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

We managed to squeeze in a quick day trip to Bentonville to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at Crystal Bridges.  I have always been a Rockwell fan, and this was the exhibit to end all- I think all of my favorites were there.  Seeing the brushstrokes and sketches really makes you understand the complexity of the paintings.  It was absolutely amazing.

Maybe my favorite?
Or This?
Max’s fave

Artistic kids (My fave)

My mom brought my niece and nephews, and my aunt and grandpa met us there for a fun day.

Coming home we stopped in Eureka Springs for dinner at DeVito’s! 

What is your favorite Norman Rockwell painting? 
Not sure?  Go see the exhibit at Crystal Bridges and let me know! 🙂

Getting There

My accomplishment for the week:
 Kitchen tile DONE!
Stove Area

Sink area

Breakfast Nook
The countertops need to be re-sanded and oiled now though (I’m a messy grouter!)

We went with Cepac small subway tiles in Vintage Moss Green (I found them online for almost half of what I could get locally.)  The border is Cepac mosaic tiles in Abalone.  I did find them locally for a decent price, and it didn’t take much to do the border because they came in 12 x 12 squares that I cut into strips.  The beautiful handmade Celtic tiles I ordered from Earth Song Tiles.  They were so nice and I even sent them samples of my tiles first so they could tell me what colors would look best with them.   I think the hardest part of tiling is picking the tile! 

Hubby’s accomplishment:

Playroom floor DONE!

We ordered cork floor from Lumber Liquidators.  It was floating floor and honestly was harder to put in than we expected.  Took him two days.   It is beautiful though and the kids have already moved toys in even though there isn’t any furniture in there.  (Now for furniture…)

Now on to painting the hallway and living room! 

On the Rush

What a busy few weeks…
Nutcracker week and one more show to go!
If you are in LR make sure to come see the last show at 2:00 PM today!

My tiny cannon soldiers are the 3rd and 4th from left

Old Statehouse

Lights Downtown  
I have two cannon soldiers, an Arabian girl, and flower in the show this year! 
  Also downtown today is the AR Craft Guild’s show at the Statehouse convention center. 
Lots of great deals on beautiful things by Arkansas artists. 
 If you say you’re a FB fan they will give you a free ticket to get in the art show. 
Helping his dad with French Drains
 Off stage we are trying to get the house done so we can move in this week… 
Wish us luck!