I am almost entirely recovered! (Yay!) I’m taking the weekend to really rest and then I am gonna get to work on all the projects that I have been lusting after while I was too weak to do anything else. Since I am not quite ready to get back into BEAST MODE, I have been pinteresting and youtubeing up a storm to pacify my want for action.
Pinterest is also a pretty good personification of the natural ADHD mind when you think about it. All these pretty pictures that take you off on a tangent, that leads to another tangent, that leads to you wanting to bleach your own highlights? What? What just happened?
So I am at least trying to stay on target. The target is mostly my house. Because I haven’t been able to clean, and my son is actually diagnosed with Whirling Dervish Syndrome, it’s a total madhouse.
His favorite thing to do is to pick up something that is interesting from a sensory point of view, so like multiple copies of the same cutlery (usually spoons) takes them, runs away with them, and relocates them to the bathroom or his bedroom. Today it’s been hangers, specifically the hangers from my closet. But over the last few weeks he has relocated- every DVD and blue ray that we own, all his toys, the balls from his ball pit, the clean laundry, the dirty laundry, the files from my husband’s briefcase, the books from my library, almost everything within reach in my bathroom, unidentifiable power cords, weight plates from my husband’s dumbbells, the cable- right out of the wall, rubber dish gloves, spatulas- most of these have been transplanted to my bedroom so that it looks like I have some kind of kitchen supplies sex fantasy- ALL THE BELTS, and the can opener.
So, obviously, the first thing I am going to have to do is put things away. BUT THIS… IS BORING. No, I want to focus on the fun things that I want to do to my house. So I present to you… (Drumroll, please)…
MY PINTEREST FUTURE!
First of all, if you want to skip the rest of this darling little post that I have going on… you can just head over to the special pinterest page I’ve started for HollyLovesJohn, you can also find my personal page by searching “Holly Beardsley”. (The personal one just has a lot more boring reference material links that I actually use, instead of just dream about.)
OK, what’s first? Well, I really, really want to paint my fireplace. Here’s a shot of it from when we first bought the house:
That’s obviously a just moved-in picture, I was still figuring out the curtain situation, those are actually drop clothes on rings up there, a totally solid option for anyone who needs curtains stat with no budget. The art has changed on the walls, the books are organized and I moved some of the wooden blinds from the rest of the house to cover this VERY BRIGHT picture window. I also changed the furniture layout to make for a more secluded office area for myself. Jokes on me! My son can climb right over the couch!
What, you might ask, does Pinterest have to offer in the way of inspiration?
I found this beautiful blue fireplace on a blog called The Suburban Experiment. I love blue! Part of me worries about resale value and all that boring stuff, but honestly, it’s a 1950’s brick fireplace, with some iffy mortar work. It’s not a beautiful bit of masonry or anything. No matter what I am gonna paint the very stained inside of the fireplace black. I know that will have to be some kind of special paint, but that’s research for another day! Only fun research is allowed!
I also like this pink one that I found on A Subtle Revelry. Just look at the rest of that living room too. Wooh! So fun!
I might also just go with white or some kind of buff. That’s a little safer. Plus, my mom had a white painted fireplace when I was growing up, so it’s got some familiarity to it.
My office area needs some work too. It’s that little area in the upper left hand corner of the living room.. I’m pretty particular about my shelf designs, and I have to modify a lot when it comes to living with a four year old dervish. But I thought these were cute:
Ohhh! With just a few little differences, this is pretty much it. We don’t have a traditional fireplace like that, ours is much more 50’s brick and concrete. But i like the trunk under the shelves. I’ve got a foot locker that might do? Of course, I’d prefer something vintage and beautiful. But the foot locker is in my son’s closet… right now. And he keeps trying to break his neck by climbing on it. So two birds?
My dining room could use some work too. It actually serves as my art studio and my son’s toy room as well, so it’s quite the multi purpose area.
You can’t see it but there is also the saddest screened-in porch outside that picture window. We live in a particularly windy area of the midwest so the screens are constantly ripping, giving it this haunted house vibe. Also, two years ago there was an infestation of crickets- CRICKETS! I swear, I was about to bring in a dozen frogs and let them go for it. Instead I put the hose on them. (Which lead to an unfortunate moment where my husband accidentally ripped the handle off the spigot like the hulk. We had to turn it off with a wrench. We still use that wrench to operate it. Like hillbillies.) I’ll probably need to clean and repair that soon… but that’s no fun! Let’s look at art studios!
And for the fun of it- let’s look at that screen porch. Even though I know I don’t have the funds to redo that the way I want to…
So, what do I dream up for this white box of broken screens and spider webs? This one I found really speaks to the era of the house AND to my husband’s love of privacy. Although if done wrong, it could just look like I’m boarding up the house for looters…
I will actually probably end up going for the white lattice fence. It appeals to my inner Steel Magnolias for some reason…
Honestly, there is one very good thing about this porch. In the spring, this happens…
The reality is that for the porch and the house itself, I’ve just got to clean it up. Which is so much less fun… uhhhgggg. But honestly, I’m getting a little pumped for that too. I just want to be up and moving. No more laying in bed, ready for action, eye of the tiger, swiffer on the floor!
For real? It’s something I can control. That’s why I am pumped. So, tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I’ll be busting out a zombie audiobook and tackling the toys and the dishes… the spiderwebs on the porch will probably have to wait.
holly loves john 