happy endings

At the end of a rather long and harried day I was surprised today with two delightful and completely unexpected gifts: The first, a daffodil yellow Cuisinart hand mixer from my mother, and the second, two boxes of Cadbury eggs--one caramel and one creme--from my dear and thoughtful friend Linda J. (who had read a comment I made on Charlotte's post about craving said eggs).

Wow! That's just about all I can say, Wow! Well that, and Thanks!

the big reveal!

I had hoped to post my bathroom makeover photos yesterday, but a nasty migraine sent me to bed for the afternoon. I can't wait to show you what we accomplished during Susan's and Fred's brief visit!

We decided to paint right over the existing wallpaper--not always the best idea, but two of the bathroom's walls had already been painted over by the previous homeowner, and time was also a consideration, so we forged ahead. Susan painted the room while I worked downstairs sewing the window treatment from the beautiful silk remnant she brought. Look at this fabulous silk ball fringe to be used as trim!

Susan recommends always painting the ceiling the same color as the wall, and I have never been disappointed when doing so. (It also makes cutting in much easier!)

Once the base color was on the wall, we marked it for tone-on-tone striping with an ingenious tool Fred devised for doing so. This photo doesn't really show the tool, but it's a wooden template of sorts that marks 10" stripes on the wall (with the assistance of a level).

After marking the lines in light pencil it's time for the blue painter's tape to go up. We masked off the lines that were going to be painted in a slightly darker (and flat finish) shade. The base coat of paint is an eggshell finish.

The fun part is taking off the blue tape to reveal the crisp, straight stripes. We laughed at this huge gob of tape amassed in the garbage can.

No more blue tape!

I almost forgot to mention that we decided to paint--yes, I said paint--the floor. We put a coat of primer over the linoleum, then a lighter base coat of color. Next, Susan used a plastic bag to do a "faux finish" on the floor. We chose the color from the floor rug she brought, which ties the wall color with the floor. (Note our ingenious use of Glad Press 'n Seal wrap to cap off the exposed sink pipe!)

Thankfully, the blizzard lasted only one day and we were able to get out on Friday for a trip to one of our favorite stores: TJMaxx/HomeGoods. Here we found several great accessories, including a really cute glass-front chest to hang above the toilet. We weren't really looking for one, but when we saw it we knew it was the perfect thing.

This one's for you, Jill. I actually remembered to snap this SP after our successful HomeGoods run.

And now--drum roll, please--Ta Dum!

Now for the fun part--accessorizing! Once the new sink and vanity was installed and the mirror, valance, and chest hung, Susan began her finishing touches. She has such an eye for and attention to detail. She brought some new things and scavenged around the house for a few existing items to use. Here's a good look at the HomeGoods chest, filled with rolled aqua towels we found on the clearance aisle of the same store (the bottom shelf has rolls of toilet paper--who knew they could be so cute!):

One of my favorite things is this collection of framed prints that Fred gave me. They are photographs of old pressed botanical samples. Some of them date back to the 1800's! He did a beautiful job of photographing them--they look almost dimensional in their pressed glass frames, and I like how the wall shows through like a "mat."

I would never have thought to put cute things on the back of my toilet! Look at these monogrammed soaps in two different shapes in this cute cute glass apothecary jar.

Here's a closer look at the detail above the wall chest. She brought the cute round mirror from her store and pilfered the books and fleur de lis from my dining room bookcase. I still don't know how she managed to get all of this stuff in her suitcases on the way here!

New light fixture, made even better because it was only $26.99 at Home Depot. It sure beats the Texaco bathroom look of the old one.

A little of the old (reframed) to mix in with the new: a photo of Emily and I when she was a baby. I had it hanging in here before, only in a different frame.

No detail was left unattended to. Susan bought new switch plates, faucet, a new towel bar, hook, and toilet paper holder. She even brought a fragrance diffuser (from her store) that's not only in a cute square bottle, but also in one of my favorite scents--grapefruit. We found a cute china casserole lid among my things (a gift from Susan in the past) to hang above the towel hook.

The project took a little longer than we had anticipated (we worked until about 9 p.m. on Saturday night and they were scheduled to leave Sunday morning) but it sure was satisfying. What a wonderous gift of love to me! Their generosity is overwhelming--not just the money spent on the project, but their time, as well. That is probably the best part of the gift--having the entire project finished in such a relatively short time. It's really fun to work hard with people you love, and even more fun when the project is something you've been wanting to do since well, FOREVER.

The best part? Now I'm no longer embarrassed to let people use my powder bath--in fact, I might even encourage them to do so! This project has been such a morale boost to me, now I know why all those people on Extreme Makeover, Home Edition cry when they see the finished result. Thank you, thank you, thank you dear Susan and Fred. You're wonderful and I love you both!

"What the??" Part II

It's 9:30 p.m. and the trucks are still at work outside my front door, complete with that loud BEEP*BEEP whenever they back up, which seems so much louder in the dark than it does in the daytime.

Rewind: When I returned to the kitchen to finish up dinner after posting about the dirt pile earlier this afternoon, what do I find but two firetrucks--with all lights flashing--and a street full of firemen in full regalia.

Apparently, all that digging this afternoon did something to puncture a natural gas line. I was just about to call my parents to tell them they would have to park on another street (remember, I was unable to get my car out to go pick them up myself) when I saw a fireman approaching my front door. 'Oh no,' I thought. 'Are we going to be evacuated? That will surely ruin my dinner.' Then I realized he was carrying a box--a strangely familiar box--one of my mother's flat boxes from Costco in which she carries food. A young, rather attractive fireman in his full gear was delivering a box with my mother's part of the dinner in it to my front door! Apparently my parents had already arrived and been instructed to park a block or two away and the kind fireman who informed them of this volunteered to carry my mom's food box up the street. That's what I call a public servant!

Of course, the first thing I said to the cute fireman as I took the box from him was, "I really want a picture of this!" He just sort of did the Smile-and-Nod, and as I was rather distracted by everything that was going on, alas, I missed a great photo opp. My dad, shaking his head as he came in the house, remarked, "Well, at least when the explosion comes, they'll be ready to put out the fire." Always the optimist, my Dad.

When the missionaries arrived a few minutes later, also having had to walk a few blocks, they told us that a fireman started to approach them on their way up the street. Before they could explain that they were in fact not tracting, but rather coming for a dinner engagement, the fireman took off his gloves, extended his hand in greeting, and with a smile said he was a member of the Church, too (not as common an occurrence in Colorado as in say, Utah).

Anyway, it was quite an eventful night--still ongoing. The firemen are gone, however, replaced by the Public Service utility guys.

I just hope I can get my car out of the garage in the morning.

living in her wake

I often marvel at my good fortune in having Susan for my sister. How is that I, of all people, was chosen to share a common gene pool with her--only the most talented, generous, ingenious, and creative person I have ever known! Anything unusual, trendy, beautiful, or colorful in my house or wardrobe I can pretty much chalk up to her uncommon generosity and/or brilliantly creative mind.

She has her own interior design firm and retail store in Pennsylvania (well worth the trip, if you're ever near Yardley, PA) and occasionally does projects for out-of-state clients. In the past she has hired me to help out with projects in her home state, as well as in Charleston, SC, Nantucket, MA, and most recently my home town of Lakewood, CO.

Susan's visits, however, are not what you'd call relaxing for her. Last week we worked nearly 30 hours in three days, one night working late and then having a slumber party. Somehow, working with Susan doesn't seem so much like work--it's just fun to spend time together and learn from her (and she pays generously--or gets her clients to, anyway). Here's a sample of one of the rooms she's putting together for her client's daughter:

I want this polka-dotted rug for Emily's dorm room!

I'm always sad when it's time to part ways--even though I may be a little tired. Living in Susan's wake is one good place to be.