A Long, Long Process

Most, if not all of the decisions have now been made for the garden center. From top to bottom there is now a final plan.  :D

Getting here has been a long, long process! How many times have I tried different roof ideas? How many times have I changed my mind? How many times have I painted the building?! This project has gone from a coffee shop to a garden center to a coffee shop and back again. 

I don't think I have a chance of finishing before the Creatin' Contest deadline on December 17th.  I'm going to try, but I know I have too much to do. I'm going to just relax and enjoy the process.

I also have two Christmas swap gifts to finish and mail. Kikka and Julia if you are reading this please email your address to me. Thanks Fabiola for organizing this swap and for all of your sweet comments here.

I really don't have anything to show you today but I feel good knowing I can now move ahead with some confidence. I may have some light fixtures to show you in a few days?

Hope you had a good weekend. Welcome to my new followers and all of my faithful friends! I appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks for following my blog. Even if there aren't any minis ❣

Loft Ceiling

It's time for me to make a decision about the ceiling of the coffee shop loft.  Both of these images were found at Boston Lofts, a very inspiring web site!

 I could stain the beams.  

Or I could paint them white.

    

I mixed up some glaze this morning using 3 parts glaze to one part of my custom paint color.  Don't tell anyone that sometimes I use my real tablespoons to mix paint! 

I tried this glaze to see if I liked it. 

Yep.  Decision made. That was easy!  Wish all decisions were so simple. 

But then again, maybe they are not so easy?  :D

Hope you have a great day! 

Decisive Moments

Photo from Trek Earth by Peter Stolonov

I now have three ideas for my Creatin' Contest Kit. One is light. One is dark. The third is a combination of both light and dark.

People I've talked with don't like my "dark" idea. They frown and say things like, "Mom, that's spooky!" "Who would want a house like that?"

When we discuss my "light" idea, comments are more positive. "Oh, that would be pretty!" "Do that!"

The light AND dark plan gets puzzled looks and remarks like, "That's just too weird."

It's decision time. LIGHT it is! This photo from Sunstream.com is a hint of things to come.

Of course this means a whole new set of ideas and things to do. I plan to make a design board to get my thoughts together. More on that later.

The beach house kitchen is finished! I will show you photos after the sun comes up! :D

This May be A Sign of Insanity?

Okay. So I've spent my entire weekend working on my staircase project. The landing is built and painted three times. First it was white, then green, now it is white again. The staircase is painted and the floor treads repaired. The trim is measured and painted. Once. White. It's not installed. Just painted.

I need to seal the "art" on the stair risers and put some finish on the stair treads. Spray sealer and clear satin varnish are sitting on my kitchen counter while paint dries.

I built another wall to close off the underneath part of the stairs. I measured and cut and stuck my head in the house to see if it was going to look alright. I think it will be fine.

I thought about maybe putting a desk and shelves under there? I thought about what to put on the side of the wall that faces the front door. I looked at mirrors, paintings, wallpaper and welcome signs. So far all I've done is paint the wall. Twice. Once green and then white again.

I've got baseboard and trim painted. I've tried several different ideas for the side of the landing. None of them seemed quite right. I tried wallpaper, paint and molding and wainscoting. Right now it is just painted. White. I stuck a plant next to it to see how that would look.

I thought about handrails, rope pilings and balusters. I tried weathering some wooden dowels. I painted some white. I dug through my wooden beads to see if I had something I could use. No balusters or handrails so far. Just a pile of ideas on my desk.

Then I remembered a staircase I liked that had cleat hitches to secure rope for the railings. I dug around in my bead findings and found some that would work. I couldn't figure out how to attach the rope so I searched for a video to help me.

This is the one I found:



If you get this, please come over and help me!

So you see nothing of my progress on the stairs this weekend. At least you know I've been thinking about it! I'm wondering if this will ever come together?! I'm thinking that it's making me crazy!

Hope you had a good weekend. I don't feel like I got anything accomplished!

Decisions Decisions

Now I'm really confused...
I looked at another house in the same neighborhood that's more expensive than the one in my previous post. It has beautiful hardwood floors, a really nice owner and is much larger. The price is higher but it's a much nicer place. I would still have a great craft room there too.

So how do YOU make big decisions? Do you allow money to lead your way or do you follow your heart?

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.
I don't much care where, said Alice.
Then it doesn't matter which way you go, said the Cat.

- Lewis Carroll "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Hope you have a lovely day!
Blessings,
Kathi