Jinx

If any of you are animal lovers like me, take some time to visit the below link and consider helping out.

My cousin Stella's cat, Jinx, was attacked by a dog over New Years. As a result, she has had severe, irreparable damage to her back left leg. Stella recently found out that Jinx's leg needs to be amputated and today is the day. The vet bills are $1,800.

My cousin is an avid animal lover and works at the Philadelphia SPCA devoting her days to helping other animals. She rescued Jinx from a high-kill shelter and loves her so much. I want to do what I can to help her out.

http://jinxslegamputation.chipin.com/jinxs-surgery

Anything you can do will help.

Thank you!


EDIT: Jinx's surgery has been moved to tomorrow. Also, Stella will be accepting donations even after the surgery, so tomorrow isn't a deadline. Thanks again!

Guest Room: Primed and Ready to Paint

I'm so excited to say that the guest room renovations are underway!

Just as a refresher, here is how the guest room has looked for the past 2+ years.

I took yesterday off from work to get a little done around the house without having to worry about Lucy around paint fumes and smelly stain. She went with my mom for her usual Monday with Nana so I was able to get to work pretty early.

We don't have cable in the guest room, just a DVD player,

so I stocked up on some goodies to watch and got to work around 9am.

Now that we have Lucy, I'm a little more conscious of the products we are using in the house. For that reason, I chose this Kilz Clean Start primer with zero VOC (volatile organic compounds) and low odor.

After about 3 hours cooped up in the guest room, the primer is complete and the deep, dark green has been covered.

Although there is still much more work to be done before the walls are finished, it feels good to at least have the green gone and see the room a bit brighter. It looks kind of awkward and bland with the just primer, but I know once the walls are completely painted, the room is going to look so much bigger. I'm also anxious to get started on the decor elements in the room, but I've told myself I need to get all of the painting done before I can do the 'fun' stuff. 

Even the mess that was leftover from the curtain rod(s) that the previous owners installed is gone with no trace of any damage on the walls. 

Still left for the guest room painting:

- purchase Martha Stewart 'Lamb' paint and paint the walls

- touch up trim and doors

- prime and paint inside of closet (seen below)

Once the paint is complete I have a few projects I plan to work on for the room:

- refinishing (and possibly paint) a shipping pallet as a wall storage unit

- stain and refashion the wine crate into a rustic storage bin

- lighting, lighting, lighting! (possibly DIYing a chandelier-esque light fixture to hang above the bed.) 

- Gallery wall of gold frames

- lots of fun, DIY decor

Photo of the Day: 1.30.12

Posting will be slow today. 

Busy priming the guest room. 

Photos and updates tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Photo of the Day: 1.29.12

Happy Sunday!

Guest Room: Prep Work

Slowly but surely, progress is being made in the guest room.

I purchased primer last weekend, but before any painting could be done I needed to do a little prep work. The wooden curtain rod in the below picture needed to go. It was installed by the previous homeowners and just doesn't go with the decor I'm planning. In addition, the installation was very loose and it seemed that any bit of weight would cause the right side would rip out of the wall.

Jordan worked late last night so once Lucy was in bed I had some time to get started on some prep work in the guest room. After taking down the curtain rod, I was left with this mess around the window.

The outer damage is from the wooden curtain rod. As you can see on the right side, the damage was pretty nasty and left a large hole to be repaired. The inner, square spot was leftover from a previous curtain rod installation that the was never removed when they installed the new one. I have no clue what the tiny holes right around the window are from.

A few minutes of spackling and the wall around the window is on it's way to being patched and prepped for paint. I let the spackle dry over night and will sand and scope out the progress later this evening. Because of the large holes left by the curtain rod, I will most likely need to do a little more spackle work until the wall is completely patched and smooth.

Here is all the crap (read: hardware) that was removed from the wooden curtain rod, the previous curtain rod that was never removed, and from the blinds that were installed inside the window.

That was really the only prep work that needed to be done before paint. Normally I would also prep the room and use painter's tape to tape off the trim, but since I'm using white primer and white paint I decided to save myself the hour of taping the room. I can freehand around the trim and because the room is white, if I smudge a little it won't be noticeable. Plus the trim will need a fresh coat of paint at the end anyway.

I took a vacation day from work on Monday and I'm treating myself to a three day weekend. My mom is still going to watch LJ for us on Monday so I can get to work painting the walls and hopefully knocking out another "smelly" project I have for the guest room. I'm predicting a very productive weekend.

My canvas is finished and I just need to do a few touch ups on the paint and find a home.

I'll share with you next week my tutorial to create your own chevron design.

Happy Friday!!