Saved the Best for Last

We painted so many rooms, pretty much, upon moving in that we were beat (3 out of 4 bedrooms, upstairs hall, foyer, dining room, living room and Nick's office) and tired of inhaling paint fumes. The last time we painted anything was last September with the third bedroom, foyer and upstairs hall. After a four month hiatus, in January we attempted to prep the room for color by sanding and priming the room. Now after over two months we have finally done it. We had to re-sand the walls a bit to rid it of the bits of raised paint still showing up and then painted another coat of white to ensure good coverage of the the old color. Then we slapped up two coats of Benjamin Moore Hawthorne Yellow (a Pottery Barn color).

To refresh your memory of what the room used to look like (picture from when we first saw the house)...

In the painting process we found a leak. There was a small wet spot on the ceiling along the outside wall and we would touch it up put the stain would come back. Then we realized that the drywall was still wet and had to find the source. Nick went up to the attic but couldn't find anything so we called my father-in-law. Turns out that it was in the spot where the house meets the chimney. It's apparently a general weak spot for water damage and due to the storm and our damaged bricks around the chimney we've got a little leak and some water damage. A family friend who does commercial roofing sent his foreman out to take a look and since it was raining he did his best to caulk it for the time being. He'll come be back in better weather to redo the flashing and tar in that spot. But we've got to find a mason to redo all the bricks, basically rebuild our chimney. Since we've had more rain the leak's gotten worse but we'll deal with it.

Anyhow, back to the room. Here it is painted in several stages.

And with the furniture and rug in.

 It's nowhere near complete but this is what we have so far and I already love the room. I may move the bed around a few times before I am convinced where it should go.

Eeek!

I opened the medicine cabinet and it was just sitting there lurking... staring at me from the top of the medicine cabinet.

 I have no idea what it is....some kind of beetle or something but creepy as heck.

We threw him out of the window along with the others and the ladybugs that have been getting in too.

The Green Room

The green bedroom is making me insane. I can't seem to find the right bedding to go in the room. The room is painted Benjamin Moore Stem Green (as circled in the color palette below) but depending on your monitor it may look more like the greens circled to the left, Lime Green or Margarita. Trust me, it is a nice kinda bright ass green.

At first I was thinking about doing the room in the green with pretty much everything else in black and white, then I realized that my office is red, black and white. I can't let the madness continue. Must break habits. Because of habit breaking I am having a hard time with the bedding and until I find the right bedding I won't be able to decide on what finish to choose for the curtain rod.

I bought this bedding from Target, it came last Thursday, I laid it out and didn't love it. The coloration was drabber than it seemed on the Target website and there two greens (none of which match), so it goes back.

Then I found some new stuff from Liberty of London that just came out (going to order it) and lastly this other Target bedding set. The orange and pink flowers is the Liberty of London Sixty Duvet set, the blue/green Paisley is Paisley. Then there's a return to the original thought of black and white and green and that bring us to set #3 from Target the Dwell Studio Prakesh.

I have think I have doubts about like the pink and orange set because of the coloring and the flowers. I don't want to the room to be too frou frou.

Bensi Restaurant

There's been a slew of new shopping centers by us called "the Shoppes at ...." ours is at North Brunswick. They are all similar but not exactly the same. Mine has Anthropologie, Loft, Banana Republic, Yankee Candle, etc. Bensi is the big restaurant there. They serve Italian cuisine and so far we like it.
This insane tower is an eggplant and mozzarella cheese appetizer drizzled with a reduced balsamic and pesto sauce. It was amazing. We also had the mushroom ravioli, Chilean Sea Bass encrusted in crab meat and the volcanic dessert. Yum.

The Census is Wasteful

Don't judge until you read the post!

You probably got one of these in the mail recently...
We were excited to complete the census and knowing it was only ten questions were ready for it. Then we opened the envelope and it was a letter sent to tell use we'd be getting the census in about a week! Just give me the census, why do I need a warning that they spent bulk rate postage on?

I get that they are probably helping to keep the U.S. Postal Service in business and hold on to Saturday deliveries for a little while longer but seriously, what it must cost in paper and postage to send this piece of paper. I understand the ad campaigns and the outreach programs to communities who would be "afraid" to take the census and the follow-up physical visits... I just don't get this.

 

 

Cupcake Obsession

I don't know why it took me so long, my whole life, to realize that cupcakes are the way to go. I am not a big sweets person but I can definitely inhale a cupcake (especially the mini sized ones) and really enjoy it.

I think I would lurve (goofy love) cupcakes if they were in these pretty little cups. I would have once cupcake in each of the designs (my OCD kicking in). 

Even better, it's a whole cupcake kit! You buy it at Fred Flare for less than $20!

Maybe I should start with making the red velvet mix I have in the pantry.