Why Is It So Hard To Find A Good Hot Pink Paint?

So you can tell from the post title that I've decided on pink for the desk.  Remember my inspiration picture?

I've searched high and low (or at Ben Moore and Sherwin Williams) for something in this vain and I've come to the conclusion that this color doesn't exist outside of this picture.  I took a hot pink sweatshirt that I own to try to color match it and they couldn't do that either.  All the pinks I've looked at are just not bright enough.  I'm wondering if I'm going to have to look at Krylon paints.  I'm not anxious to spray paint the desk but maybe they could color match from the can?  Frustrating, especially since the desk looks like this..

All primed and ready to go.  On a separate note, I finished the stencil..Hooray!!!!!  It really wasn't as bad as I feared.

Note the stain on the ceiling.  The humidifier in the attic leaked and went through the ceiling...awesome.  So add getting the ceiling patched and painted again to the list.

I think it's the lighting, but the color is actually a bit more intense than it looks in these pictures.  Anyway, so the next thing (besides finding the holy grail of hot pinks) is getting the floor refinished which is starting today.  That should be a big transformation.  So, things are rolling along.  Once the floor is done my husband will put in the baseboards and most likely some crown molding.  Unfortunately NOTHING is square in our house. The ceilings are not the same height from one end of the room to the other which makes the stencil look a bit wonky in spots so I think molding will lend a hand in that regard. The next thing on my radar is a light fixture.  I need major wattage with minimal height and price.  Eek!

Deciding On Colors And Fabric For The Craft Room

Thanks to everyone who commented about the stencil.  After reading your comments and taking some time to think about the road ahead, I decided to go for it and stencil the whole room.  It's not done but it's very close.  It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be and surprisingly it doesn't look as busy as I thought it might.  Plus, I have to remind myself that a lot of the walls will be covered with "things" i.e, shelving, art etc, so nothing to worry about.  Now that the stenciling is winding down I've got to start thinking about what the next step is...painting the desk.  I could pick any color and I think it would go with the yellow walls.  I'm leaning toward either hot pink (like my inspiration picture) or some shade of aqua though.

From Tobi Fairley

 I'll probably pull the color from the fabric I'm almost positive that I'm using in the room.

It's called Portobello Vase in the blossom colorway.  I think it will make pretty accent pillows and maybe curtain panels if I'm feeling ambitious.  So that's all that's going down at the domicile.  I should have the stencil done this week and hopefully the desk painted by the weekend.  And then the floors are getting refinished.  I'm super excited for the ugly brown painted wood to go away.  I'm fine with painted floors, but painting wood floors brown?  Not a fan.

Stenciling the "Office"

I did it.  I started the stencil.  God help me.

Ignore to the left of the door.  I need to touch that up # what a pain. Yes, I ended up going with yellow.  I couldn't help myself.  It's the color that epitomizes happiness to me.  And I think my secret goal is to have every color of the rainbow in the house.  It's slightly different than my inspiration picture since the colors are inverted.  My husband likes it better that way.  It was actually not on purpose, but a happy accident.  The fact that my husband not only likes, but loves, the stencil is a miracle in itself.  As for the rest of the colors in the room, I'm still not sure.  I'm doing things totally backwards from the way I usually do them.  Usually I pick a fabric first.  I think I'll have a lot of choices to pick from with this color though so I'm not too worried about it.  Now for what I'm not showing you...the rest of the room.

 So it's decision time.  To stencil or not to stencil the rest of the room?  The stenciled area is where the "office" portion of the room will be.  The stencil could be a way to designate that space.  Or I could stencil it all.  I'm concerned that it might look too busy though.  That and it's a pain in the butt to stencil, though I have to say not nearly as bad as the last one.  That's the real reason.  Thoughts?  If I don't stencil, I plan on putting punches of color in the rest of the room which will be the craft/painting area.  As per my usual, I couldn't help but buy the faintest hint of yellow.  My husband and daughter said they're sick of all the white in the house.  With the exception of the guest bathroom I guess I am kind of a saturated wall color chicken.  Baby steps.

The other thing we got to this weekend is working on the little storage nook.

My husband built the cabinet drawer in.  The only thing that's missing is a big piece of wood that will sit on top which will be upholstered by moi (and paint and a pull of some sort, and probably a pillow or two..that's it).

I'm pretty happy with the progress.  Still lots to do though...

-Stencil the rest of the room?
-Refinish the floors
-Baseboards
-Paint all the trim/windows
-Paint the desk
-Build/buy shelving/work areas
-Pick colors/buy fabrics
-ORGANIZE

That shouldn't take long, right? Heh.

The Future Craft Room/Office

The skim coat is done and we painted a coat of primer/sealer so here's how the room looks now.

This wall immediately to the left as you walk in the room is where the future "office" part of the room will be.

This craigslist desk is getting a makeover in the form of paint.  It was pretty cheap so I don't feel bad about it at all.

And here's the window seat that I was talking about.  Way too small for my bum.

This cabinet was left over from the kitchen so we're going to work this in to make a bigger sitting area (with storage!!). And yes, we're going to do something with the floors.  Probably refinish them since this is a craft room and it's likely to get a little messy.

It's a start.

So now what?  The wheels are starting to turn in my head.  Remember when I said I would never do a stencil again after the whole powder room thing? Well I've had a change of heart.  Kind of like having a baby.  You forget all the pain that was involved.  Anyway, I don't want to spend a ton on wallpaper so why not?  Besides, I may not do the whole room.  Or maybe I will.  I don't know, but a stencil is in this room's future.  Specifically this one.

Imperial Trellis-ish without the price. This is my inspiration picture.

From Better Homes and Gardens

You could totally do a high/low version of this room pretty easily by the way.  Stencil + craigslist desk + this fabric?

via fabric.com (Waverly)

Now to come up with the color pallette.  I really love everything about the one above and my room might end up looking like this, but I have a feeling my husband wouldn't be too happy about it.  He's sharing the "office" portion of the room.  So other contenders for the room are as follows (and they're not that masculine either...oopsy).

via coastalhomepillows.com

Better Homes and Gardens

Jonathan Adler via The Peak of Chic blog

Are you sensing a theme?  I'm not sure what combo I'll go with, but I know I want the room to feel bright and cheery.  I'm going to try to come to a decision so I can actually start next weekend.  No rush, but I feel like once this room comes together a lot of crap from the attic and basement will finally have a home.  It all goes back to my master plan...organization!

Project Organization-Let The Purge Begin

I told you I was getting things done this year.  Step 1:  Clear crap

Ok, good start.  Of course now this is the official home for all things destined to leave the house.  We'll try a garage sale but the rule is that none of it comes back in the house.

We also cleared out the decopauge room minus the pool table and another table.  It's getting there.

We're having a skim coat done to the walls, but first they have to be treated with some chemical that's supposed to remove the decades worth of magazine clippings that have been (dis)gracing these walls.  In exchange for some of the services they are going to take the pool table off of our hands.  It's a little bittersweet.  Part of me wants to keep it because maybe some day I really will have a hankering to play a game of pool.  You don't know!  Keep in mind my hoarding tendencies here.  Alas, we decided that it's time for it to go.  No harm no foul really.  This was something that was left in the house.  Anyway, I need room for my eventual craft room/office.  There is a small window seat to the left that will get beefed up a bit.  I'm fairly petite, but I'm still three dimensional and my three dimensional arse needs a bit more room for comfort.

We also got a good start on the sunroom and the big garage.  There is sooooooo much to do though. But, you know what they say.  You've got to crack a few eggs and baby steps and something else that's supposed to sound inspirational.  It's a start anyway.

Working On The Foyer

The foyer is probably the most embarrassing area of the house (I can usually hide the other areas by closing doors.  Shhhh.)  It's the first thing that anyone sees and p.s., it doesn't make a good first impression.  There has been some progress, like ripping off the 70's yellow shag.  Bu-Bye!

The stairs have been refinished but I still need to paint the risers a crisp white.

Now for the rest of it.  This is where the huge radiator used to be.  The panel molding is really pretty but it's in rough shape and will need to be touched up and probably wet sanded in places.

More mess. Ha!  

I plan on painting the molding and trim BM Decorators White and doing wallpaper above the molding.  I think my mind is set on this.

It's Thibaut Cantonese wallpaper in pearl  It's very pretty in person, but difficult to get a good picture of.  I think a bit of chinoiserie would look really nice in the foyer and going up the stairs.  It will probably be a little while before we get to the wallpapering though, so there's a good chance that I could change my mind, but right now this is the one.  Yup, we've got a lot of work to do.

2014 New Year's Resolution: Organize, Organize, Organize

2014 Woohoo!  A new year.   A fresh start.  Time for the annual resolution.  If you're anything like me your resolutions don't exactly stick.  Over the years my resolutions have gone from grand to absolute minimum.  It got to the point where I was promising myself to at least remember to rub cream on my heels everyday and I couldn't even keep up with that.  I have high hopes for this year's resolution though because, quite frankly, I can't take the mess anymore.  It didn't help matters when my brother came for a visit and  looked at some of the rooms and simply said, "Wow Tiff, you've got a lot of crap".  Noted.  I think when you live with something so long you start to get used to it in some weird way.  Having a fresh pair of eyes brought it back into the forefront.  Yep, we've got a lot of crap.  There is some stuff that hasn't even been unpacked yet among the stuff that we really don't want anymore and just need to get rid of.  Some of the rooms look like something you'd see on an episode of hoarders, minus the feces and dead animals.  I'm getting on a tangent here, but what is up with those people?  They must have completely lost their olfactory sense, right?  My husband watches that show sometimes and I get completely sucked in.  So irritating.  Anyway, here's my own personal episode of hoarders for your viewing pleasure.  I know I usually only show you my finished rooms, but this is reality people.  Please don't judge me too harshly.

 Sun porch.  A total mess.  I want to do a big built in bookcase in here and make this a nice reading room.  First step, get rid of all the crap.  Problem is most of this doesn't have a home yet.  It's either going to be sold or put in rooms that aren't finished yet.  And look at the windows.  I have to paint ALL of that.  Sigh.

Butler's pantry.  This is the room that is most used by anyone (including us) who paints or works on the  house.  That sink is a utility sink at this point.  Could it be neater?  Absolutely.  I hear you judging.  I agree with you though, trust me.

 Decoupage room.  We're going to have to do a skim coat on those walls to cover the decades worth of magazine clippings.  Really, who does that?  There was even a little porn section of clippings.  Bizarre. Obviously this is the woodworking room.  What?  Doesn't everyone have one of those?

This is the middle room on the third floor.  I'm saving this for the One Room Challenge which Linda, from Calling It Home, hosts.  I hope I get to participate this year.

Walk in attic.  This is supposed to be a little cluttered, right?  I mean, it is an attic.

Garages 1 and 2.  Disaster.

And then there is the mother of all organization projects.  The basement.  Dun dun dun.  I think we could build a whole other house with all of the stuff we have down here.  Can't find something?  Just buy another one.  That's what usually happens.  No wonder we keep running out of money.  Ridiculous.

So, I think I have enough to keep me very busy this year.  Now that it's out there for everyone to see, I'm completely in.  This. Is. Getting. Done. This. Year.  Mark my words.