Under a Blue Moon

I am nearing the 75% mark of my time off from work.  I have accomplished exactly nothing.  I had high hopes of getting started on our new ‘built-in" shelves and cabinets in the living room but, alas,  it just isn’t meant to be. 

This is the before shot and I’m hoping by posting here, publicly, that it will shame me into getting started on it. 

So let me explain.  I own two bookcases that until now, because of their knotty pineness, have lived out in the garage where they held assorted B-list cookbooks (the ones not quite in favor at the moment), decorating books, old school books and the like.  Oh, and lots of cds.   

I also have, courtesy of a husband in the kitchen design field, a rejected cabinet with two shelves, three doors and three drawers.  I also have four bun feet.   Gosh I love those picky customers that insist that a ding here or there necessitates the ordering of new cabinetry.  Guess who gets the rejects?

I feel like I need to back up a little bit.  Our house has a large living room, a separate dining room, a big kitchen with an equally big eating area, three bedrooms, three baths – but no family room.   The living room is actually called a ‘great room’ and is a good size (about 20×30 feet I think). 

Here’s a crappy picture so you get the idea.  Disclaimer:  The place is still in a disarray due do the flooring in front of the sliding glass door on the left being replaced.  Normally you wouldn’t see the vacuum cleaner, pictures leaning up against walls and towels draped everywhere:

There are two seating areas; one in front of the large picture windows.  It consists of a large couch that faces the window, two bergere chairs and some tables.  The other seating area is by the fireplace and it consists of two identical loveseats that face each other and a coffee table.  It’s very cozy. 

Here’s a picture taken looking the opposite direction.  Again, nothing is in place because of the flooring project.

Normally I don’t care for televisions in the living room but we don’t have a lot of options.   At the moment the television is housed in that 80’s oak monstrosity you see in the first picture (I really shouldn’t be so disparaging – just as soon as I hit post someone is going to email me and tell me they have the exact same entertainment unit).  We bought that  unit in 1988 and it has served us well.  It just doesn’t go exactly. 

I’ve toyed with the idea of painting it white but when the free cabinet showed up in my life a new plan was hatched.  Rick is going to put the bun feet on the cabinet and I’m going to paint it, and the two bookcases my favorite creamy white.  The three pieces will butt right up to each other and, hopefully, the end result will look more cohesive and sort of built-in. 

This is kind of the look I am going for (only in white):

This is from Pottery Barn.  And I realize my bookcases don’t have drawers and my cabinet will be a bit higher and have feet but I’m hoping the overall feel is the same.

Stay tuned.  Let’s see if I can get it done before Thanksgiving.

You know how the day after Christmas you are just so totally OVER it.  I feel the same way about Halloween after we have our party.  It’s a shame, too – since Halloween hasn’t actually occurred yet.

So I’m not much in the mood to blog about it.  It was a spectacular party with lots of fun, food and great costumes.  Each year I am amazed at the ingenuity and effort that goes into all the costumes. 

This is my cousin Joe, the Rocket Scientist (in real life, not his costume.  Obviously).  He called me during the week to see if there was a sewing machine he could borrow and I directed him to my sister Kate who graciously lent him her four billion dollar Bernina.   He sewed all those strips together. 

We had muses (or were they sirens, I’m not sure), grim reaper, Speed Racer & Trixie, the milkman and his very pregnant customer, a corpse bride, two witches, a flapper, a sheriff, a nanny, a mime, a See’s candy lady, Princess Fiona, a penguin, two graduates, an 80’s Miami Vice type, a lion tamer and his lion, two Indian maidens, a doll, Medusa, Buffy and her slain vampire, a gold digger, a homeless person/anthropology major, a surfer dude, a kitty cat, Fred Flintstone, a deranged escaped convict, a sumo wrestler, a tourist, a dumpster and house undergoing remodeling (the next door neighbors in a sheepish, apologetic nod to the construction that has been going on at their house for the past four months).  I’m sure I’m leaving some out.

If you haven’t already,  check out Sara and Nicki’s blogs for more pictures.

Now let’s turn our attention to Thanksgiving which is EARLY this year.  November 22nd.  I love when Thanksgiving is early because it makes the whole Christmas season seem longer.