48. Ottoman slipcover

So Leo drew on the library ottoman in sharpie marker. Dang it. Plus the thing was a bit on the dingy side--things spill, I clean them up, but it's never really the same as before. The couch itself is still in good shape, but not the ottoman. On the surface, I mean--the furniture itself is solid as a rock. The ottoman opens up for cedar-lined storage and the couch opens up to a twin sized hide-a-bed. I love this thing.

So this year, you know, I'm trying to get my life in better order all over the place. So I took one of those faux Mexican woven blankets (it's made to look hand-done but it's not) and I cut it and sewed it together with French seams, by hand, and attached an elastic band at the bottom. Slipped it right over the top. Washable if need be, free project made of things lying around the guest room/craft room, and completely serviceable without changing the aesthetic in the room. Well, a bit, considering it's rainbow colored, but the couch was denim to begin with. Still a comfortable unfussy place.

Sorry about the smudge on the lens. Didn't notice it until after I'd taken the pictures and I liked the one with the cat enough I was too lazy (sigh, the ottoman in question is right behind me) to go back and take them again with a clean lens. I blame Billy. Of course.

40. Dining Room Painting

The first coat of primer went up but it was obvious we'd need more. I did the beginning of the second coat last night, but found that the walls sucked the paint in just as fast as the first coat--Jake said I wasn't rolling it on thick enough, as well, which was frustrating because it took so much paint. It's 2 gallons of white on the walls right now and I'm going to have to invest in at least one more gallon of white to do the ceiling and to finish the second coat. Bah.

It's a no-VOC paint, by Bioshield, and I'm covering up dark dark red. So I'm not surprise at the coverage problems. When I order the gray, I'll order 3 gallons. Hoping that will be enough--I think it will, since I'll be covering white, not burgundy.

It smells like play dough. So strange. It goes on, with the roller, leaving a bit of a texture that I like. Our walls are plaster, at one time probably smooth as glass but that changes with 106 years of settling and use and abuse. Jake mudded and sanded for me but the bit of texture is helpful.

The white walls, after 12 years of red, are jarring. The room is HUGE. I moved the church pew and sorted through the board games we store underneath. I cleaned out the hearth (more still to do) and considered what might be next....it's good to be working on a project again.

36. In process

Bevin is coming over this afternoon to help paint the dining room, or even just play katamari damacy on the PS3 while I paint. Either is fine. We're using Bioshield, a no VOC brand of paint, in white first because we have to prime this room (the current color is a deep burgundy red). After the white is on, I'm going to order a nice medium gray. I hang so many pictures in that room I just want a nice simple background.

We got rid of the vestment cabinet and as today progresses we will move furniture into the spots where I want it for good.

I almost bought a surplus table at a Borders that was going out of business. It was exactly what I was looking for in style, very very sturdy, but as I cleared books off the top, I realized the top was just a very well finished plywood. Nothing wrong with that, except I don't want just plywood. It was the perfect height and length but not quite as nice as I would want in the end. Eventually I want to convince my father to build me a refectory table (aka monastery table). Of course.

The basement is so much nicer. I'm waiting for the dumpster to be emptied Friday before I continue.

Tiny plants are coming up in the garden. So excited.

The girls' room is laughably messy right now. I'm going on a girl scout field trip Saturday, though, so that will have to wait until I'm home. Later.

I did a bunch of mending while I watched Sherlock on DVD (yummy).

I read about chickens again, sighed, and moved on. It is not my time for chickens. It may never be, in fact. But I still read up.

22. Pew

I have two church pews. Part of the 90% of the furniture in my house that has been scrounged--either given to me by friends or relatives, or picked up used and cheaply, or in the case of one my church pews, carried out of my parish church.

I did have permission.

One church pew is protestant--there is a shelf underneath the seat for a hymnal but no evidence of a kneeler. It sits in my front hall and is the catch-all for everything that walks in the door: groceries, mail, bookbags, dance and tae kwon do paraphernalia, mittens, coats, baby shoes, anything and everything. It is the girls' job, but usually this girl does it, to clean it off every evening. It fits perfectly in front of the landing of my stairs, right as you come in.

The other church pew is from my parish, like I said. It is longer, although it is one of the short pews from church, a side one that ends in a pillar, so there's a little curve out of the seat to account for the location. It wound up taken out a decade or more ago, when the parish opened up the back of church as a greeting area (and because we didn't have enough people to really need them). Many of these extra pews wound up in the basement lining the walls. I know one wound up on Joey's front porch where it weathered badly and I hated her for that--she also had a house of old furniture but it was all purchased from auctions and high end antique shops and so her church pew wasn't anything she cared about. I love mine. Eye of the beholder.

The parish one is in my dining room. I would love for it to fit in my front hall but it doesn't. There is no other logical place for it, unless I moved it to the attic to take up space there. I just don't have enough walls in this house, designed for air flow between high-ceiling rooms. This isn't a big deal right now--it sits in front of the old fireplace in the dining room, which has no hearth or mantel. Mighty beat up, you might call it. It is extra seating for parties and girl scout meetings. It does fine.

But in a few years, or sooner if we can swing it, Jake and I would like to put a wood burning stove in the dining room--for heat as well as just simply that I've always wanted one. St. Louis has improved its electric grid but I really want a back up plan in case of bad weather in the wintertime. I watched Astrid freeze out of her house 4 years ago and I don't want to wind up in that position. This will involve lining the chimney, which is pricey and can't be done ourselves. That's the hold up--after we do that, in goes the stove.

And out will go the pew. I look around the room and I can't see what to do, unless I get rid of the bulky unattractive vestment cabinet from SLU and put the pew along that wall (opposite the fireplace wall). The piano could stay on the north wall, the table in the middle, the cabinet I swear I will finish this spring in the same corner where it is. That could work.

And that vestment cabinet, while well-designed with wide, shallow drawers, is really not a good fit in my dining room. Maybe the time is coming, soon, to empty it and move it on to a new home. Because even though it is impractical in many ways, the church pew wins.