Mudroom, Interrupted

I have written (complained) before about the complete and utter lack of storage space in the Big Yellow House. Which, in a 3,000 sq. ft. house seems slightly ridiculous. Supposedly, the lack of storage is due to the fact that back in the day, say 1897, people didn't generally own 1,200 outfits and 500 pairs of shoes. Not that I do (although my husband will tell you otherwise). It just seems like I do - comparatively speaking.

The little mudroom off the kitchen was a part of the house that really sold me on the place. Not only is it conveniently located, but it's not too big and I've always liked the idea of using a back door entrance. Now, with two little boys who, I swear, secrete dirt from their pores, I like the idea even more.

Mike has created a really great plan for the mudroom, complete with custom Mike-made, bench, cubbies and coat hooks. I have been waiting with bated breath to have full access to and use of our new mudroom. Til then, we have coats on chairs, coats on doors, coats on coats. Seriously. They. Are. Everywhere. We need this mudroom like Gary Busey needs rehab.

We were full steam ahead on the project for the last couple of weeks, painting the room the ever-popular Monroe Bisque and hanging a (nice looking!) drop ceiling. We begrudgingly decided to go with a drop ceiling in the mudroom, as the second floor laundry will be directly above this space. You know, just in case. Mike got enough done for me to get these "sneak preview" pics in:

The true paint color kind of got lost in the rainy-day-8:00 AM light. In person, it looks nice and warm. We think the bead board is original to the house and Mike did a really great job patching it. And I have to admit, even I, the World's Biggest Drop Ceiling Hater, actually like the ceiling. Yep, things were lookin' pretty good!

Unfortunately, Mike has recently deemed himself "burnt out." He says he doesn't know why. Hmm, might have something to do with the renovating an entire house while working a full-time job while watching two dirt-secreting kids 32 hours a week. But I'm not a doctor.

Obviously, the important thing here is for Mike to rest and relax til he feels up to getting back to work. He doesn't seem to consider this an option and I gotta say, I get worried sometimes. Maybe some of you can talk some "take care of yourself!" sense into him?

Surely I can live in coat hell for another couple of weeks. It's a lot nicer than asbestos hell and lead paint hell.

Project of the Moment - Update

I finally decided on a paint color for the craigslist bureau. After testing many, many different shades of what a normal person would call off-white, I settled on Benjamin Moore's Monterey White...

Obviously I had a little "help" with the paint testing :) Big mistake. For DAYS now Cullen has been walking around saying "I pain," "I pain."

I'm also going to try painting the casters before deciding whether or not to replace them. So, we'll see how that goes this weekend. Unfortunately, the pulls I picked out are on back-order for two weeks...

I really like them and it was very difficult to find the right style in a size bigger than 2", so they're worth waiting for. Will (hopefully) post the finished product in another week or two.

Uncovering the Past

A few weeks ago, when my husband was working on the foyer, he had to rip out some pipes (old gas lines?) that had been in the house for a long, long time. These pipes were exposed (not walled in) and were just tucked into a corner of the foyer. Rather than dealing with them, previous owners had simply painted them to match their wall color.

The back sides of the pipes, which had not been visible until they were cut down, showed the vestiges of several different layers of paint. Much to my satisfaction, the order of these colors matched those that I had found in several other places throughout the house.

Soooo, I am now fairly certain that we know the original wall color of the house, as it looked in 1897...

This mauve-ish color looks to be the original paint. This color, together with all the natural woodwork (before it was painted many, many times) must've looked really beautiful.

I am a regular Nancy Drew.

The Second-Guessing Game

Whenever I hear people talk about how hard it is to pick paint colors I only kind of understand. I mean, I guess I've had trouble picking between two or three shades of what is virtually the same color, but as far as getting started, I ALWAYS know what I want and where I want it. I'm pretty sure I knew what color every room in my house was gonna be the day after we bought it (the house, not the paint). And I've been pretty happy with those choices - until now.

First, I have to admit that I am an absolute SUCKER for any kind of white-on-white, white-on-cream, cream-on-cream, combo. This is my absolute favorite look, bar none. So, why then is there not ONE SINGLE ROOM in my house done in these colors? Well, the obvious answer would be my two wonderful, little renovators-in-training. They're good kids but they're also, shall we say, active. Active with crayons. Active with food. Active with dirt. The Magic Eraser has saved my sanity more than once. So, it would seem that I've mentally nixed the idea of using my favorite paint colors before even giving them a chance. Not very fair.

The other day, while cleaning before a party, I found myself scrubbing the hallway walls with - you guessed it - a Magic Eraser, when I thought to myself, "Okay, I'm washing the walls anyway...what would it matter if they were off-white instead of light grey?" I knew I was embarking on a dangerous train of thought and should've stopped right there. But the slope was slippery and before I knew it I was ordering white linen swatches from a furniture company and seriously contemplating asking my poor husband to repaint 3 or 4 rooms in the house. Luckily I came to my senses before said husband got wind of my maniacal daydreaming. Still, though, I cannot shake the feeling that I won't be totally happy until I have my white room. Someone talk me down from this ledge, please... or otherwise tell me why I should NOT want a room that looks like this:

or this:
or this:


and, of course, the requisite Somethings Gotta Give eye candy:



As I was typing this post I received an email from a certain furniture company which explained that my swatches would be arriving soon. I meant to mention that the swatches are for slipcovered furniture. I am going to justify my way to this white room if it kills me.