The Big Reveal
Do you ever watch those home makeover shows, like Clean Sweep or While You Were Out, where they fix up the entire house under cover of secrecy? I confess I kinda like 'em. Especially the ones where they throw out all the mess and make a calm & tidy oasis in the home. You know how they keep the project secret from some of the participants or viewers until the Big Reveal at the end?
Well that's what I've been doing over here -- working undercover until my projects were finished and ready to share. Most of my knitting is in gift mode right now, so that was all under wraps. At the same time, as my floors and other household updates got closer & closer to finished, I started wanting to keep the photos offline until the Whole Thing was ready. And now I am ready to Reveal a gift baby sweater and my new living room.
Sweater first, of course. I started the Baby Bear Poncho out of Interweave Knits on October 13th, with yarn bought at the Purlescence opening night party. This cute little poncho in Rowan Cashsoft was presented to Miss Mel & hubby at a shower last Saturday. Baby will arrive at the end of January.
The sweater was super cute all by itself, but when I added the golden Koigu "rouleau" string tie (a new vocabulary word I learned this week for i-cord!), the poncho magically turned it into a Robin Hood outfit. Feathery hat and green tights will be required, I think. Bring us a pint, Marian, there's a girl.
OK, and now for part two of the Reveal - my floors are done! And I have new paint! Check out my living room floors, and paint job in "Spanish Sand"Honestly, I didn't know I was planning to paint this fall. When we finished the warm, inviting wood floor project around the 27th of October, we discovered we had made a clean spot in the house and suddenly the paint job was not up to snuff. So we got color chips & brochures & pondered a bit. The idea of putting colors on the walls was both attractive and intimidating. We finally got hooked up with a painter who gave us some great advice about colors we are really enjoying. And helped install new baseboards. And repaired a very narsty spot in the kitchen ceiling.
I love the new sand colored living room -- and also the family room in "Lemongrass" and "Sunbaked Earth" In both cases, the end result is rather darker than it was before, but very enveloping and cozy. It feels homey.
We're still working on a photo of the "Full Sun" kitchen, which doesn't have much wall surface to photograph, but despite that might have made the biggest transformation with just paint. The dark brown cabinets which have *loomed* at us in their curmudgeonly darkness for year have warmed up & taken their rightful place in the background now that they are surrounded by warm yellow walls. I'll post a photo as soon as we are able to get one which shows the yellow nicely.
I'm hugely relieved to be done with this effort. Bill and I are not used to such a sustained output of energy -- it was a month from start of project to finish and involved moving stuff in and out of the garage multiple times, as well as packing and unpacking many boxes of stuff. Not to mention moving US to San Mateo for a week to avoid dust and fumes. Phew! Too much, too much. I'm just really glad to be ramping down to more quiet evenings at home without big maintenance tasks. And I will have much more time for knitting and socializing now that the floors are finished. Which is why I'm off to Wisconsin tomorrow to visit my granny, aunt & mama. Can't wait to catch up with my knitting buddies when I get back!
Well that's what I've been doing over here -- working undercover until my projects were finished and ready to share. Most of my knitting is in gift mode right now, so that was all under wraps. At the same time, as my floors and other household updates got closer & closer to finished, I started wanting to keep the photos offline until the Whole Thing was ready. And now I am ready to Reveal a gift baby sweater and my new living room.
Sweater first, of course. I started the Baby Bear Poncho out of Interweave Knits on October 13th, with yarn bought at the Purlescence opening night party. This cute little poncho in Rowan Cashsoft was presented to Miss Mel & hubby at a shower last Saturday. Baby will arrive at the end of January.
The sweater was super cute all by itself, but when I added the golden Koigu "rouleau" string tie (a new vocabulary word I learned this week for i-cord!), the poncho magically turned it into a Robin Hood outfit. Feathery hat and green tights will be required, I think. Bring us a pint, Marian, there's a girl.
OK, and now for part two of the Reveal - my floors are done! And I have new paint! Check out my living room floors, and paint job in "Spanish Sand"Honestly, I didn't know I was planning to paint this fall. When we finished the warm, inviting wood floor project around the 27th of October, we discovered we had made a clean spot in the house and suddenly the paint job was not up to snuff. So we got color chips & brochures & pondered a bit. The idea of putting colors on the walls was both attractive and intimidating. We finally got hooked up with a painter who gave us some great advice about colors we are really enjoying. And helped install new baseboards. And repaired a very narsty spot in the kitchen ceiling.
I love the new sand colored living room -- and also the family room in "Lemongrass" and "Sunbaked Earth" In both cases, the end result is rather darker than it was before, but very enveloping and cozy. It feels homey.
We're still working on a photo of the "Full Sun" kitchen, which doesn't have much wall surface to photograph, but despite that might have made the biggest transformation with just paint. The dark brown cabinets which have *loomed* at us in their curmudgeonly darkness for year have warmed up & taken their rightful place in the background now that they are surrounded by warm yellow walls. I'll post a photo as soon as we are able to get one which shows the yellow nicely.
I'm hugely relieved to be done with this effort. Bill and I are not used to such a sustained output of energy -- it was a month from start of project to finish and involved moving stuff in and out of the garage multiple times, as well as packing and unpacking many boxes of stuff. Not to mention moving US to San Mateo for a week to avoid dust and fumes. Phew! Too much, too much. I'm just really glad to be ramping down to more quiet evenings at home without big maintenance tasks. And I will have much more time for knitting and socializing now that the floors are finished. Which is why I'm off to Wisconsin tomorrow to visit my granny, aunt & mama. Can't wait to catch up with my knitting buddies when I get back!
posted by spinnity at 11/08/2006 08:58:00 PM
6 Comments:
I think the yarn color for the Mel baby sweater looks even more awesome all knit up into that beautiful sweater.
And the wall colors! Very nice! Can't wait to see it in person.
Have a great time in WI. Wave to my parents in MN, will ya?
The rooms look great - worth all the upheaval, no?
I can't thank you guys enough for the fabulous shower and adorable sweater! :D Your house turned out stunning. It's so warm and cozy and inviting. You rock!
Nice to see it all on-line (although the photos can't really do it justice.) Cutie sweater!
Lovely sweater, floors and walls!
Have a good trip. :)
I bought yarn to make that sweater at Purlescence too? Your remodel looks great.
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