Popcorn Ceilings (and Wallpaper): Enemy #1

The only thing left to de-popcorn at our new house is three closets and the high-ceilinged room next to the living room. I don't think I'll be able to tackle the high-ceiling room and I honestly don't care about those closets. I'm tired of that crap. I'm tired of removing it, getting it in my hair, mouth and eyes. However, if a friend needed help with the removal I would assist. It's actually not a difficult process. You just need the right tools and lots of time set aside. Each room I did took a minimum of two hours, minimum, even the small bathrooms. We didn't have any furniture to move or cover but you still want to cover your floors and anything you don't want plastered with popcorn droppings (fuse box, cabinets, sinks, fireplace, etc.). Covering takes longer than you think depending on what you use to cover everything.

I do have to tell you, no matter how well you cover everything you will still have a horrific mess that will need to be swept, vacuumed and washed off. This goes for your body as well. Some days I wore shoes and socks and a hazmat suit that covered my feet and I still had a fine white powder all over my toes. When the hazmat suit bit the dust (pun intended) I just had shoes and socks to protect me.

After you cover everything you need to soak the ceiling. I used my father-in-law's garden sprayer which was great but a little temperamental. Then you wait at least fifteen minutes and then start scrapping. My folks also bought me some great equipment: a 10-inch scrapper, work bench, and stool. Jeff got me a helmet visor.

For the wallpaper removal we rented a steamer for $25. Best $25 we've ever spent.

I also think the previous owners used quality wallpaper that was applied properly. This stuff came off in thick sheets, hardly any tearing and nothing was left on the wall that we couldn't just peel off with our fingers.

The scrapper was there if we needed but it was never needed. There was a small section of wallpaper in the half-bath that was really old and cheap and took lots of steam and lots of scrapping. If the master bath was full of that stuff I might have had to kill someone. One thing I can say is I lost a little weight during this process. It was all water weight but I'll take any victory I can at this point. We don't have the air running which makes it pretty miserable over there. Add being stuck in a small room with a hot steamer into the mix and you've got sweat rivulets all over.  When I carried this pile of wallpaper to the trash it felt like I was holding a trophy.

I hated doing both popcorn and wallpaper removal but I think we saved ourselves some money (God, I hope so), I burned some calories, and I can take pride in my efforts. I've never removed popcorn or wallpaper before so I'm also learning new things. This house will be nothing but new experiences and learning new skills. I cannot wait to move in, it is literally killing me.

Noteworthy

It's been a while since I've done a noteworthy post. For shame! This will cover more than one week of noteworthy items.

• I finally saw Maleficent. 

I enjoyed the film very much, it was different than the original Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. I guess you would call it a retelling. I sure wish they were serving these at the movie though:

• I lurve this green front door!

And I love the house but the door color is more attainable. I would like to repaint our shutters black and have a nice pop of color for the front door. This color certainly pops!

• I found this funny cartoon on the Pinterest Geek page.

This makes me laugh for a couple reasons. The first is the play on Captain Picard's catch phrase "Make it so, number one". The second reason this makes me laugh is because this is how I am when I actually sew and then want Jeff to fix my sewing machine. It's occasionally an operator error and Jeff can't fix that. Have you ever visited the Pinterest Geek page? It has lots of great stuff about Supernatural, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Avengers and dozens of other shows, books, movies, etc. I mostly view it for the Supernatural stuff. 

• Sam Smith is THE man! Love his songs and he is all over the radio right now. I love Latch and Stay with Me. He also has a very soulful version of Whitney Houston's How Will I Know. 

I don't love the video for Latch and I'm not at all familiar with the group Disclosure but I still love the song.

• I'm reading Looking for Alaska by John Green.

John Green is uber hot right now. He wrote The Fault in Our Stars which I'm not at all interested in reading or seeing. I did read An Abundance of Katherines last year and loved it. He's a fantastic writer and I love his humor. That's all for this week. I'll be removing wallpaper and hopefully sanding kitchen cabinets this weekend. 

Pinterest Pledge {craft}

I am on a roll! Two recipes and a craft in one month. It's like I'm done with school or something. Oh, wait. I already posted about my art picks on Minted but I didn't include this one:

This one is called Something Borrowed. Isn't that clever? I don't read the New Yorker but I can certainly appreciate library art. I decided to make my own and personalize it. This is how our labels look in our books:

I blurred out the names but you get the idea. Our sleeves are much longer and now we just throw away any old circulation cards. I kind of combined the Minted idea with what we actually have and created this:

Publisher is an artistically-challenged person's best friend. I used an actual book title (one I thought was fitting because we live on Cambridge and we're making a lot of changes to the house) and our closing date as our "check out" date. Jeff and I will sign it when we actually move in. Here it is in an Ikea frame:

I don't love the frame so I'll be on the lookout for something different--or maybe just remove the frame mat. It looks sterile rather than whimsical. I may also make the top edges straight rather than curved but I was mimicking the curve of the Something Borrowed artwork. Anyway, I'm happy with the result so far but I can also make it over with a more subtle sleeve color if I desire.

Pinterest Pledge {recipe}

I made guacamole! Correction, I made good guacamole! My only other attempt involved an overripe avocado and some jarred salsa. The result was an insult to the name guacamole. I bought three avocados on Monday, not sure why, and bought one more and the rest of the ingredients on Wednesday after work. I went with this recipe and found it to be very easy.

It's from the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything and she has the cutest little logo.

Anyway, I scooped out the avocado goods, chopped them up and then chopped everything else up and mixed it around. I used pre-minced garlic and jarred pickled jalapenos rather than fresh but everything else was very fresh.

I added a half teaspoon more garlic than the recipe called for and a good helping of salt, but no pepper--that seemed weird. I may have over mixed a little because it was creamier than I like. You can see the different in chunkiness in the two pictures.

I like to use Tostitos cantina tortilla chips for all my tortilla chip needs. The guacamole was really good and refreshing and I made sure I stored it well so that I won't have any yucky brown guacamole for later in the week. I'll keep this recipe to use every summer.

It's Over, Again

I took my final Wednesday after work. I made at A and an A on my paper. That means I have a 4.0 for my Media Specialist certification. Oh, it also means that I'm done. I should probably be careful saying that because I thought I was done before and then the gruesome reality was revealed. My paperwork still needs to be submitted to the certification board and until I get that certificate in hand I'll be waiting for the worst. The class wasn't horrible and I did learn a lot, plus it only took 5 weeks. I survived and thrived but now I'm ready to move onto bigger and better things.

Cultivating Art

A while back I talked about the mystery of cultivating an art collection. I don't really like generic art (sorry Kirklands), I prefer art that means something to me or influences a certain kind of ambiance. The problem is I have no style and the things I like, as far as art is concerned, are not consistent. It's the same reason why I can't decide on wall colors for the new house. I know how I want the rooms to feel but I don't know what paint colors will help create that feeling. We don't have many art galleries locally and they usually only have things that tourists would want. The blogs I follow have actually exposed me to lots of different places to buy art online. Etsy is always fun to browse if you have something specific in mind. Minted is another website I learned about this week. I know I've heard of it before but I never visited until this week. I pinned a few pieces to consider for purchase or to try and replicate. Here are some of my selections:

This one is called Under the Microscope and depending on the size you select and framing option it cost $25 to $285. I like the circular shape, the navy color (there are 3 color options), and this is the only way I would appreciate bugs. 

I'm not really sure why I like this one, called Striped Suit, but the nod to the 20s is fun as is the black and white scheme. I think it would be nice hanging in a bathroom. It's price ranges from $20 to $278.

 

These two are very similar and I like them equally. The first one, called Quiver, is more colorful and the cost is $20 to $228. The second one, called Feathered Arrows, is more plain but you could pick any frame to dress it up. It costs the same as the first one. 

Geometrics aren't normally my thing but Hexagon II is fun and I like the colors (there are also 3 color choices with this one). It's price is $25 to $285.

I have always liked paintings of trees so at least I'm consistent in that choice. Birch Woods in Winter has three color choices and I love them all. It's $20 to $228. 

Here are a couple I like on Etsy:

I don't love the color but I love the simple, architectural style. Myrtle Beach will always be special to me and The Grand Strand captures some of the fun and heat I associate with my many visits. It's $20. 

Isn't this beautiful? I don't really understand my obsession interest with moose but I just love them. This watercolor is $87.41 (odd amount) so it's on the pricey side.  

I actually bought this yesterday. I'm hoping it will be sans-watermark. The name of our street (at the new house) is Cambridge and I thought this would be a nice namesake item to have on the walls. The colors are subtle enough to go with most decor choices and the artist lived in Cambridge, England for a year and this is one of her sketches. It was $15 and is already matted. I do love landscape photography and there are lots of family photos that I would like to enlarge and try to enhance with software. I'm excited to hang my Pinterest pledge crafts at the new house but we are so far from that point it's ridiculous. 

Pinterest Pledge {recipe}

I haven't been cooking lately and I certainly haven't been keeping up with my Pinterest Pledge. I think it's been a least a couple months since I've done anything with Pinterest recipes or crafts. For the past two weeks we've been living off sandwiches because they're quick and easy and I don't have to cook anything. Last night I got a bug to try something different so I printed a summer-y pasta dish recipe, bought the ingredients, started chopping and cooking as soon as I walked in the door and Voila!

The picture on Pinterest was taken premixing so it looks totally different. Plus, I used a different pasta; I went with my current favorite campanelle.

I couldn't find the little mozzarella balls so I just bought a pack of the regular fresh mozzarella and cut it into bite size pieces. I also added some chopped roasted chicken that we had leftover. I thought it would be a good way to use it up and add some protein. I just tore the basil leaves into large pieces rather than chop them. We did not have white wine vinegar so I used regular vinegar. The tomatoes were easy to roast and smelled yummy all by themselves. I will say that there was too much pasta. I think 10oz would have been enough as apposed to an entire pound. It's a tasty dish, warm or cold, but I don't think it makes a good entree. I made it to divide for my lunches this week (and I'll still have plenty leftover) and it is filling but I think it's better as a side dish.

What Other People Are Thinking

My feelings about our new house change hourly. If you skip to second 52 in this movie trailer clip you'll understand how I feel right now.

"Did you really buy this house?" Yes, yes I did.

Gross, Gross, Silly

I tested some paint samples at the new house on Sunday. While I was waiting for the first layers to dry I walked around to take random pictures. It turned into a game. Some things were gross and some things were silly; some things were both. So, here it goes.

Gross: The guest bathroom toilet.

Gross: Carpet in one of the guest bedrooms.

Silly: This is a one-and-only baseball themed ceiling fan.

Gross: Damaged wall in the living room.

Gross: Disgusting carpet in the living room.

Silly and Gross: This is the guest bathroom tub. It has a helpful handle which serves no purpose other than to possibly balance yourself as you step out of the tub. And the odd square above the faucet handles is where the previous owners cut a hole in the tub insert to fix the plumbing and slapped a ridiculous cover on top.

Gross: Master bathroom (stupid half bath) toilet. It's also leaking, that's why there's a bag at the bottom. It's full of water.

Gross: This is part of the wall in the master half bath.

Silly: This is the pantry. It has a pencil sharpener. 

Gross: Here's more of the living room carpet.

Gross: I'm not certain, but I think that's a band-aid behind that plug. 

Silly: This is the fan in the Florida room. Obviously it's not designed to withstand high temperatures. We have tons of before pictures to take but we are in the early, early stages of getting things done. I have a huge paper due on Friday so I spent the majority of my weekend working on that (I got it finished!!). I'm in my fourth week of class which means I only have one week to go. After that, it will be Mission: Impossible House all day everyday. 

Noteworthy

Why do short work weeks always seem so long? I have been able to get a lot done and it's good to feel productive. I've been able to run before work which always makes me happy. The humidity is unbearable and it's only going to get worse. Noteworthy items this week include:

• I finally watched American Hustle

I didn't care for it. I thought it was supposed to be a comedy. I only laughed a couple times and it was more of a snort then an audible laugh. I really don't like Amy Pig-Face Adams but everyone did give a good performance--I just don't think it was a good film. 

• I enjoyed this cool Sheldon artwork

The artist did several celebrities but this one was my favorite.

• Jeff loves Chili's. He would eat there every day if we could afford it. He loves their chips and salsa. But I tried this recently and I'll go to Chili's whenever Jeff wants to now.

It's their new tableside guacamole and it's so freaking good. Can't get it out of my head. 

• I've been enjoying this new song

I'm not very familiar with Rita Ora's music but I like this song, it's kind of peppy. 

• I really want these three necklaces from Stella & Dot

I'll have to hold off on personal splurging for a little while though. Paint, and all the other bajillion things I have to buy/do at the house, cost money. 

That's all for this past week. Nothing much happened, mostly just waiting to close on the house and school work.