The Guest Room!

With the season 1 wrap party days away I took another look at my back bedroom. I am expecting company for the holidays and well, that back bedroom is like my brother's entire collection of barchelor apartments....fake! A move set! Looks great, just don't sit on anything! I have no sheets under my quilt, and it looks great during the day, but at night, I have no light! I only had a cheap black lamp that emits poor light! I took off the ceiling fan and have not found one I really like, so there is no overhead lighting. I have a cheap sheer thrusted in a gaping hole in the wall to serve as a window treatment.





All I really wanted was the sheets! Just a top and bottom sheet, OH and a bedskirt. That way, the room is ready for guests! So off to wally world I go! I chose crisp white sheets, and a whimsical white bedskirt with a small floral pattern.



Upon returning to the cottage I think,
"You know, it sure would be nice to have 2 pillowcases that matched the sheets!"
Now mind you, these are plain white sheets, but they add a clean crispness to the room.



Tearing down the aisles at walmart to get the pillowcases, I "accidentally" stumbled on the window treatment aisle, and found these adorable cafe curtains!



They have a small red floral print, and are perfect because I wanted something that was more scale appropriate for the room, and would add character and let lots of sunshine through. I love the fact that part of the window is always exposed, but the bottom is tall enough for privacy. And what luck, right behind me was a cafe curtain rod with "crystal" ends!




Precious! The "crystal" is like the glass in my antique doors! But what would all this be without a light to see them with? Hmmmmm,..... Hey there are the lamps! And look at this one with the antiqued finish and mirrored sides to reflect even more light!
"You're coming with me!" (snatch!)
I already had the perfect lampshade at home with little beads to add character and brilliance!



On my way out I saw a small trashcan that had the same diamond leaded glass pattern as the doors! Yup, didn't even break my stride as that puppy landed in my bracket!
Poised with my electric drill and new hardware in hand I thought,
"I am doing so much so fast, maybe I should -WHIRRRRRRL grind grind!"
"Awwwww, so much for that!"
ADORABLE!! So adorable in fact, I just stood in the doorway of my newly lit guest room LOVING it, and realized I could use a bit more fluff on the bed!

Assuming my previous position of barreling down wallmart aisles at 3:00 in the morning, I found the cutest throw pillows with the right color, pattern, price, and as tired as I was, felt good to lye on in the middle of the floor. I'll take 2!



I plopped those babies on the bed, PERFECT!

You know that glass is so barren, I really need to put something there, but what? Dried flowers are un-fung shui, and I don't want to remove the glass, OMG! What about script? What about G.U.E.S.T., it's symmetrical! Maybe I could paint them red, and trim them up with a white border! I could use my puffy double sided sticky tape to attatch to the glass, and that would bring up color to the stark glass and balance the room much better! God i'm good!
No, I did not go back to walmart, but I went the next day, and voila!



I hung up my his and hers towel racks and my room started coming together!



More beans?

Wallpaper Washout!

It's been along time my good friends, and we have a lot to catch up on! In the history of this blog, there have been set backs and bumps in the road, but there really has never been a tragedy! Well, we've got ourselves a tragedy.

As you have all read, I planned on wallpapering the kitchen and my good friend Lia "The Wallpaper Wonder" was going to lend her expertise. Unfortunately she has fallen ill and will no longer be helping with the Country Cottage , but I thank her very much for all the work she did! With her sudden absence I was forced to hire someone to hang the wallpaper, and the first person I thought of was Esteban my wonderful painter. I called and asked him if he hung wallpaper or knew someone who did, and he advised he did and would come out the next day! I was so excited to finish the kitchen! He showed up and said it would cost me $200! I thought this was high, have you seen my kitchen? Tiny! Scroll down, ....go on,..... yea, tiny! But I really wanted it to be over, and I trusted his work, so I gave the ok. He sent us to Sherwin Williams for some paste and that set me back an additional $25! He got to work and I noticed he was not hanging it the way I always saw on HGTV, but whatever he needed to do to get the job done was fine with me! After about 4 hours he only had 2 pieces up, and I had to go to work. He said he tore some pieces and would be back the next day. I came back from work excited to check out the work so far and I noticed THE PATTERN DID NOT MATCH! I couldn't believe my eyes! How do you say you know how to hang wallpaper, and pattern is not lined up! That is why there is a repeat pattern and measurement, so you can MATCH IT!





The next day I told him that it did not match, and that I was not going to buy more wallpaper because of what he wasted, AND I needed it done in the next 2 days so I could get in my kitchen for Sugar & Spice orders. Remember...tiny! He told me he has never been asked to line up wallpaper before! He then said he was not comfortable finishing the job and offered to refund the $50 my Dad gave him up front. So there I was with a botched wallpaper job, just days before my season 1 wrap pary, where my interior design friends will be to check out my work! There was only one name in the yellow pages, Jerry Strong. I called him up and he came out the next day to assess the damage. It was bad. Real bad. He said Esteban was just cutting pieces to fit the wall, and he even put the paper up SIDEWAYS! He wasted about a double roll playing Tetris with my $60 wallpaper! The glue he sent me to get? The wrong kind, and would not even hold to vinyl wallpaper anyway! He gave it a tug, and sure enough it peeled right off! How much to fix this mess? $200! AHHHGGGUUUUHHHH!!! I also did not have enough wallpaper for the job, I needed 3 double rolls total! Esteban "Ruiner of Dreams" wasted one, I had another, so I had to purchase 2 more for the job! I can't turn back now, my kitchen is half done with paint from the ceiling all over the old paper because I knew I was going to paper over it!
I thought I was going to be out of pocket $120 for the kitchen total! That was the price for 2 rolls of wallpaper, and I thought THAT was high! Now I have the original $120 for paper, another $120 for more paper, $25 for glue, and $200 for the install! Yea $515!

Let's not mention the tear stained pillows, shirts, car seats, desks, phones, cats, and floors that went with that. Now I know why people sue for pain and suffering! We're just getting warmed up kids! You might want intermission here........

So I have to order the wallpaper ASAP, and they ran out of the run #! That mean the exact same wallpaper. Manufacturers will continue to make it, but they usually have slight variances in tone, shade and color. I blew my nose and called Jerry who advised the difference is usually slight, sometimes undetectable, so I ordered it, but we will have to see when it gets in. IF everything comes through for me, the wallpaper will be up Friday! Jerry came by today to do all the priming, taping and sanding.



I called "Dream Killer" to get the refund of $50 to help with the cost to repair his damage, and wanted to know what his cut was for the work he did!!! Are you kidding me? Seriously! I almost hyperventilated over the phone! Well, when I was done telling him what he could do with his cut, obviously I was not getting that $50 back!

Total.....$565!

The worst thing? This guy doesn't even think he did anything wrong, he thinks I was asking too much! So kids, a lesson to you all, it's just business, ask all the question you need! Like to a wallpaper installer,
"Do you line up the pattern?"
"Do you use paste?"
Sure they look at you with sympathy for the obvious accident that befell you in your youth, but that look, and that stomach nawing of not wanting to be that hovering , questioning, scene causing customer unfortunately is necessary if you want your job done right! You may have done my floors, walls, and ceiling, but if you are now doing my windows, it's like I don't even know you, man! This lesson has cost me a LOT of money!

"SOMEBODY GET ME A TISSUE!"

You guys should have seen Dad "Rainbows and Lollypops" Garcia while I was breaking down. ALL smiles! There I was in a puddle of snot and tears and he's all,
"Mija, all education costs, and you learned a lesson, what did you learn?"
"How will this influence your future decisions?"
Look, I am all about the silver lining, but I gotta let the rain past first, you dig? Dad told me he would leave me in my stew to keep warm and trots off to spread sunshine and good cheer for all the world. I went to class puffy and moist and unleashed on Michelle and Andrea and they gave me the proper responses.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Seriously!"
There were occasional bastards, and a sprinkles of jerks, with a few poor things, THEN I felt better! Thanks guys!
So I had planned to horde all the final pics for a surprise, but this is just too juicy! Enjoy your trauma beans! (twitch-twitch)