Getting things done-cleaning

My motto has always been "get your work done and then you can play", but the COVID19 whatever it has done to life has made me a little stray from that mantra.  I used to get up early and have a couple loads of laundry done, dishes washed, and maybe a bed made before 7am. Oh but that world has changed. Monday I start working at the office for the first time since March 19, so I have to do better.  I have not strayed from my laundry schedule so I am doing well there, but I am going to have to get a cleaning schedule going again.  I am going to go back to my old schedule and see if it works in this new house.  You see, we lived in this house for only 2 weeks before the "lockdown" started so I never got to implement that schedule at the new place.  Our new place is double the size of the old place so I expect some modifications will have to be made.  Here is what I am going to start with, do you have any tips to share? 

 

Michelle's Musings Library

Every book reader longs to have a space they can sit with a book, or six and just relax.  I have always longed for a room where I could create this environment for reading, writing, organizing or simply logging my books read.  When we first talked about moving, we didn't think I would even have room for the books I had because we were leaving behind 3 floor to ceiling bookcases that I had custom built in the living room.  We also were thinking we would find a much smaller home.  Well, that was not meant to be.  We not only got a larger home, but I was able to purchase a few book cases.  I still didn't have the floor to ceiling cases I used to have, but I am really trying to only get books I will read again, are autographed or have a special meaning for me.  That is much easier to achieve these days since I am primarily a digital reader, but sometimes you just need a book in your hands!!!!

I still have a couple of things I would like to add to this room, like either a large chair for reading, a true reading bench window seat or a chaise lounge. I am not sure which it will be until I find what I want. I do look at the FB marketplace every day so expect to see some changes when I find that dream piece of furniture. In the meantime, here are the way things stand on July 22, 2020.

The "stained" glass window

I have always wanted a stained glass window, but they are pricey and where was I even going to put one?  Not, one was never on my radar for those reasons.  Fast forward to when we moved into this house.  We now live in the city limits, so houses are closer together.  We have this lovely jacuzzi tub, and it has this window over it.  We are very close to our neighbors, I mean they are great and all but do they really want to see us naked coming out of our tub? No! I didn't want to do curtains, why?  Because I wanted a beach theme, the curtains are expensive and don't really fit a beach.  So I looked at this as my chance to finally have that stained glass window that I had always wanted.  I got some supplies together and made some sketches.  First of all, I took painter's tape and taped off a 1-inch area around the edge of the window all around, this part would remain real glass so you could look out just a sliver.

I then took Aleene's acrylic spray and sprayed the window fora good adhesive surface.  It also made it look like the clear stained glass, kind of opaque cloudy.  This stuff is a great thing to have in your craft room so you may already have this or a similar product.  

 I decided to use puffy paint for my "lead" lines.  Why?  I thought if I ever did want to get rid of this I wanted to be able to scrape it off.  So I want it to stay up until I want it to come down.  I drew my sketch onto the window then I went over the lines again to make sure I had a good "lead" line.  I let that dry.  TIP*** you could tape a drawing to the outside of the window and trace those lines, but I wanted to freehand mine. I found lots of free and paid patterns on the internet if you choose to go that route, or you could even use a coloring page.  

Then it was time to make the color parts of the glass. I used regular acrylic paint (because I have tons of this) and mixed it with a little clear Elmer's glue and dabbed it on the window within the lines designated for that color.  TIP*** use a brush you don't love as you dab on the window you will ruin your brush.  

It looks like the rippled part of stained glass as you are filling in the lines.  I love the look!  It looks just as cute from the outside of the house too.  I did spray it again with the Aleene's after it was all dry. I just felt that would help make it more durable.  This is a very forgiving artwork to make.  I don't think you could really screw it up.  

TIP*** if you screw up on the design or painting, a razor blade will scratch off the incorrect part.  Just scrape it off and then let the areas around it dry.  Take the Aleene's and spray over the "messed" up area, it will be just like it was when you started after the Aleene's dries.  

We now have some privacy and a very unique piece of art.  

The backsplash of my new kitchen

So my kitchen is a little outdated, I do love the cabinets, but not so much the flooring or backsplash.  We don't have it in the budget to fix up the kitchen (there is a priority list), so I had to do what I could for t

he "right now".  I saw this white wall as a blank canvas to try something cool/new. I decided that the glass blocks were out of the budget, but I could paint anything so why not paint "glass" blocks?  First of all,I cleaned the wall and let me dry overnight.  Then I woke up and measured off 1-inch tall blocks on the whole wall.  This took forever, but it was worth it.  I used a level constantly to make sure my lines were straight and even. Once I got all the lines up there I taped it off with 1/4 inch wide painters tape. Again, I took my time and used the level to make sure my lines did not move.  All of this took about 4 hours, but once this is done it is time for the fun part.  I looked at the flooring and decided to mix and get colors from my wall of paint that would match the floor because it isn't going anywhere for a long time.  I then started randomly painting the blocks with the colors.  I did 3 coats on each block.  Then pulled the tape off after I added that last coat and WOW!!! what a difference.  My advice, take your time taping off. You may not need to draw the lines before you tape, you may tape as you measure, but I wanted that extra step to make sure I got it right.  

Look at the difference. I love it! It is like a Brady Bunch kitchen wall and fits the current scheme perfectly.  I actually don't mind the outdated look right now. I feel like I am living in a sitcom.  

Paducah, if you wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka

There is a wall in the dining room that is huge, behind the cabinets and SCREAMS for a mural.  John told me one of our first nights here that he could see me doing artwork up there, so yeah, the challenge was made, I had to think of ideas.

I wanted something unique, something that people would say "WOW" and something no one expected.

I thought about old-timey signs, a whole bunch of them painted all over the wall to look like the wall was covered in signs.  Good idea, but not what I needed.  Then I thought about a diner scene, but I decided that needed to be in colors like pink, and neon and I wanted more earthy tones.  I decided that I love the Paducah song, I have always loved the Paducah song, and I needed Carmen Miranda in my everyday life.  I went with the vintage Paducah Postcard look, modernizing it into the things that we loved and not something everyone else thinks about. I started with the basic vintage look and in the letters added things WE LOVE about Paducah.  Of course the first thing added was Carmen (if you haven't seen The Gang's All Here, please do).  Next was the Atomic City. I really like how the city was toted as The Atomic City when all this space-age stuff was new and hip.  The "U" is full of things we love (mostly to eat), and I left room for a couple more things.  I had to include Wacinton, The American Queen, Coke Plant, and The Columbia too!  The "H" is full of things we like in the surrounding area and a little bit of Alben Barkley, who really needed a letter all to himself, but I just couldn't find a way to get it done.  Lastly, I added the Quilt City because we are the capital of all the quilts these days. 

I am absolutely in love with the way it turned out.  Next up, is another mural and a window so stay tuned. 

The mountains are calling and I must go

Anyone that knows me knows that I would rather be near the mountains than anything in this world.  That my soul longs to live amongest the snow capped peaks of a mountain range.  I have come to realize that I will visit them many times, but I will never be able to live there so when we moved and got this extra space I decided I had to make a room that would be called "The mountains are calling and I must go" from my favorite John Muir quote.  I thought about doing all 4 walls of an 8x8 room but decided I had better go with just two walls with the possibility of adding on in the future.  The focal point would be Denali and it would also serve as the headboard in this guest room.  You would make your way around the room to the left of Denali would be the National Park area.  To the right of Denali you would travel through Fairbanks and then down to the Stephen's Passage, to Glacier Bay National Park & Reserve, my absolute favorite place on the whole planet.  I worked on this room after work for about 2 weeks and I think, even though it is the smallest room in the house, it is my favorite.  I go in there every single day, even for just a few minutes.  I wish it was large enough to add a chair so I could read in there, but for now, I just sit on the bed and play with the cats.  The cats think this is their napping room and the bed is covered in cat hair (black comforter, white cat). 

The little places near Wasilla, I saw a flag there in a yard of a shopping plaza, no shopping plaza will be on the wall, but I put in the flag.  There is a surprise in the sky, a close up will be provided below.

Glacier Bay National Park and a tidewater glacier.  I did Michelle's version of the Muir, which is shrinking terribly.

Denali over the bed with the Northern Lights

My version of the Ruth Glacier Denali National Park

the flag in Wasilla

A surprise over Glacier Bay

Stephens Passage has a surprise on the tree

A surprise over Wasilla

My version of the Grand Pacific Glacier