Weekend Warriors

Oh my chapped, aching hands, we did it! We finished Olivia's bedroom, cleaned the entire flipping house and pulled off a rather succesful-I-must-say-Chinese New Year party, all in the course of 24 hours. (!!!!!) We didn't intend to have so much to do right before a gathering, but with dry times, Alex on two business trips and just the busyness of unschooling, we faced a deadline of Saturday, 5pm. For two weeks, Olivia had been camping out in the studio on the roll-a-way bed, her mattress and boxspring were in the hall, along with bags of her books and belongings, to say nothing of the boxes and boxes of flat-packed items awaiting a new home in her new bedroom. And though we always make every effort to keep things tidy, it was pretty much a losing battle, especially upstairs, what with all the dust, sheetrock and painting supplies, tools, ladder, cat hair dust bunnies...you know, the usual. Downstairs was being barely maintained and I only managed to get half the Chinese New Year decorating done by the end of last week, and we had shopping to do? meals to make? homework to check? egads! We did have a nice surprise when the kids were invited to spend Friday overnight with some of their homeschool classmates in Bristol, which allowed us to work into the wee hours without affecting their sleep (sleep? What's that?) So the kids packed up their stuff, got all their homework together and Alex dropped them at class early on Friday morning and we wouldn't see them again until the party.

So, Friday morning, and this is where I was at: 1am bedtime the morning before, filthy house, tons of things to load into Olivia's room, furniture to assemble, oh, and did I mention, I still had a wall and some trim to finish as of 11am? Oh yeah, that.




By about 4pm, I have all the painting done, which means we can now clean the room and then begin loading it. We first moved her wardrobe into place and assembled her desk. The bookshelf came next and while I made sense of all the books, papers, art supplies, cds and assorted belongings, Alex built the bed.

6pm


11pm


The next couple of hours we spent moving things back into her room, hanging art and making the bed. We finally called it a night/morning around 2am, having eaten nothing since lunch and feeling like decorating zombies. We set the alarm clock for 6am as we still had the entire house to clean when we got up.

around midnight



Sarturday morning and afternoon, as I cleaned the upstairs, I snapped some photos of Olivia's room. I was so excited for her to return home and see it for herself. When she had left for class, remember, I was still painting. That afternoon, feeling dog-tired and okay, a bit weepy, I stood in her bedroom with only the company of Max the cat and took in all our work. I was, am, so pleased with how it came out. I was so hopeful Olivia would be too(she is).

7am Saturday





around 2pm Saturday




3pm Saturday




One of the things I wanted to feature in Olivia's room was her photography, which was the underlying inspiration for her room design. I'm really happy with how this came out.





With the party at 5pm, I have no time to spare when I hop in the shower at 3pm--but hey, the whole house is clean (Alex did the entire downstairs while I did the upstairs) and Alex heads to the store to pick up some odds and ends for the party. Whew! By this point I feel as though I've been in labor for the past 24 hours (and consequently, we'll do this again, like paint the livingroom, great idea!, because we will have forgotten the pain and work involved).

about 5pm Saturday


By 5pm, we're greeting friends, preparing food, shuffling dishes, and in walk our kids, delivered from their sleepover, safe and sound, looking tired but happy. Olivia disappears with friends up to her room, so I don't get to see the look on her face then, but I see it later. She's pleased. We've been getting lots of extra hugs. That is what makes it all worth it--her happy, feeling like she has a space that is true to her and shows off her interests, that's what matters. So yes, we'll do it again, without a second thought.

Oh, the party. Yes, we had a great turnout, lots of good company, babies, littles under the table with sticky Chinese jellies, just about everyone crammed without a care in our tiny kitchen, eating yummy food and belly laughing.



We were so tired by midnight on Saturday, having done a second cleaning after the party, that each step up the stairs caused sobbing. Not really, but you know, that's how we felt.

All day Sunday we drank leftover nada coladas, Shirley Temples, ate homemede sushi and more Chinese jellies (do not eat alone if you are an elder, it says so on the package), while enjoying the squeaky clean house and pretty decorations and flowers. Then we simply snuggled together around the fire and watched movies all day. It was bliss.




In other news, happy Bench Monday, and oh, by the way, where's our snow? It's February, it's Maine, we need snow. Oh, but there's no such thing as global warming, correct? Yeah. Enjoy your snow, Baltimore.

Bench Monday :: Gong Xi Fa Chai!

I started pulling out the Chinese New Year decorations today, now that it's February already, and we have our potluck gathering coming up at the end of the week. And though we're not Chinese, we connect with the traditions that honor the coming spring and we share the desire to spruce up our home and invite family and friends to share a meal and wish them luck in the new year. In our own spiritual tradition of Imbolg, we too celebrate the quickening of the earth, all things red, spring cleaning and the rituals of calling forth prosperity and lighting the fires of creativity within us.

There's something extra special about all these paper decorations in brilliant cherry reds and orchid pinks contrasting against the icy winter.





During the first winter in this house (2003), I was inspired by these pages (Febrary/March 2003 issue) in the now defunct Mary Englebreit's Home Companion magazine.







We had our first Chinese New Year gathering that year. We do it potluck style and everyone brings something Asian to share. We've had everything from Indian curries, lychees and French vanilla ice cream to pad thai and homemade egg rolls for dinner. We aren't too picky, it's all meant to be fun and it's always delicious. Though not specifically Chinese, Alex always rolls his own California sushi, as well as his always popular and kid-friendly peanut butter and cucumber combo. We've collected a few fabulous Chinese folk song cds (have a listen) and we continue to gather more decorations as the years fly by.

If you are local, be sure to check out this always wonderful Chinese New Year event. Oh, and here's a local artist providing more amazing inspiration. I love this celebration, for it's color and sounds, good food and beautiful rituals and traditions, that we all find so important this time of year when it can sometimes be challenging to wait for spring. Chinese New Year reminds us that spring is coming and soon enough we won't need to hang paper lanterns for that hint of warmth and color, because it will be just outside our doors.

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Bench Monday :: the bedroom redo

We began major work on Olivia's bedroom redo this weekend. This project is going to be a bit more than just putting some paint on the walls, which she needs, because even though I painted the room just a few years ago, I painted it as the then guest bedroom, not her room. So she's ready for a personal, almost-teenager-that-she-is bedroom redo. Even though it's not a large room, it's still requiring a fair amount of work and a small amount of remodeling and demolition. In this old house, our bedroom shares a wall with Olivia's bedroom, which isn't a problem normally, but this wall happens to be made up of double doors, which aren't very conducive to privacy or functional as a wall.

Like this, her room before:



Rather than take the doors out completely (we may want them there again someday) and to lessen the impact on the house's architectural charm, we are insulating the wall on both sides with rigid foam and batting, then sheetrocking her entire side and a portion of our side. All of it can be dismantled easily enough, if we decide one day we want to use her space differently. Oh, and you may notice our sheetrock pieces are well, in pieces.



Yeah. In this old house, we deal with long, narrow hallways, a staircase and lots of twists and turns--so there was no getting 4x8 foot long section of sheetrock into her room in one piece.

Long and wind-y hallways, like this:



Additionally, there's the problem of her existing closet.



I may have mentioned that ours is an old house (wink) and thus, one of the two original closets in the house is basically functionless by today's standards-- standards which apparently require the use of actual coat hangers.



Once we tear out her functionless closet, she'll have a new corner that will allow for a tiny bit more space and a different room arrangement.

Olivia already has some pieces for her room, one of which is her large Mandal wardrobe.



And her Jorun duvet cover she got last year and still loves.



Last week we returned to our beloved Ikea and we picked up some additional pieces for her bedroom.

She opted for the queen Heimdal bed because it provides a headboard but is free of a footboard which allows for better sight-lines in her small space, plus it's easier to sit on the end of the bed.



(Olivia has a fairly sophisticated, clean and simple taste--she'll be 13 in March--and just to give you an idea, she thought this bed was too frou-frou.)

We found this Vanna piece, which will be great for one of her narrow walls and provide her with just that much more storage.



Additional pieces include a Billy bookcase,



a desk (but with silver legs)



and chair



and a lamp.



She wants simple white curtains, which I will sew, but we found this beautiful fabric that I will use to cover some pillows.



After we finish the sheetrocking and tearing out the closet, it will be time to paint. She chose the Gray Flannel (Olympic D45-5) for the walls and Delicate White (Olympic D40-1) for the trim. Let's just say I can't wait to get to the painting portion, and naturally the loading of her room will be tremendously fun.



This is probably the third or fourth bedroom redo I've done for Olivia, and it's possible it will be the last I do for her (in this house, anyway--I confess to visions of being asked to lend a decorating hand when the kids are out on their own--that's a normal fantasy, right?) so while this is all very exciting, it's bittersweet for this mama to a nearly-teen, too. The good news is, pulling items together and talking about color and form with her has been loads of fun. I can't wait to reveal the finished room!

Bench Monday :: A Snowy Day

We have at least a foot of snow here, today, and more coming down still. It's lovely and perfectly wintery.


We're working on Olivia's bedroom project (okay, we're getting a slow start, but mostly because we had to solve some design problems first). Olivia did choose her paint last night and it's a gorgeous charcol gray. It's going to be beautiful in her room.

Meanwhile, we're keeping cozy, measuring, planning, baking and reading--lots of reading and listening to good music, of course. And this morning Olivia is making me laugh--hard and out loud--over at her blog. Happy Monday!