Christmas Cleanup and Making More Messes

The studio got painted this past weekend, and all I can say is PINK.  I love it and can't wait to show it off in The Everygirl shoot in March.  What I don't love about painting an entire room is all the work that goes into it.  You can't just slap some paint on the walls and call it a day.  No. Even with only painting 3 out of the 4 walls (one wall is my main living room wall, so it was to keep it's same color), everything had to be moved out of this 100 square foot space and taken off the walls.  And, to move everything means that all of the junk that has accumulated in drawers and cabinets must come out as well.  Needless to say, the Poop Cleanup of 2014 evolved into the Studio Explosion of 2014.  Everything is everywhere and in much need of reorganization.  I guess that's the glass half full way of looking at this: mandatory purging.

First Blush by Behr for the studio.  It's a pink palace.

So all this being said, I am behind on much of my life, but that's no big surprise.  Rather than further postponing a project to share, or worse yet, saving it till the end of the year, I'm going to pull it out now.  Maybe some of you are just as behind as I am.

You know all those Christmas cards you get (yes, I said Christmas)?  I personally like to keep some  cards to see how people change over time or to make a note of who has actually sent me a card (naughty/nice list kind of thing;).  Maybe it's a hoarder tendency, but it's pretty harmless for now…especially if it leads to a craft.  In the midst of reorganizing everything, I found that it was finally time to put these cards away…without taking up a bunch of my time.  Easy peasy.

Supplies: Hole punch, ribbon and cards

I like to punch a whole in the corner of the card that doesn't have someone's face in it…unless they are on the naughty list.

String them all on your ribbon and voila, a neat stack of cards stored together.

I'm thinking ahead now for this year…maybe for the 2014 cards I'll make a booklet and put the year on the cover.  Wouldn't that be cute for a coffee table!?  Something you could bring out every year. Ok, everyone send me your Christmas cards now so I can get ahead of the game.  Much appreciated.

Giving Lamps a New Light

It has been project central around this 800 square foot space of mine.  In an effort to give my space a mini facelift for the new year, The Everygirl feature and my own sanity, I've added quite a few things to my plate.  Consequently, I have a bunch of things to share with you!

With all of my projects, my focus has been keeping costs down and trying to reuse items I already have.  For instance, my sister got me these lamps years ago, and though I like them, they needed a little umph.

I got myself some silver acrylic craft paint and decided to change the material behind the wrought iron.  Talent is not needed for this project, and neatness can be kept to a minimal since I wound up having to clean every individual bar piece no matter how hard I tried not to get paint on it.  I applied quite a few coats of paint to get the desired opaque feel too (I noticed my paint job would look fine with the light off, but once they were switched on, everything was too streaky for my liking….thus multiple coats of paint).

Cute, right!?  Now they will go perfectly with my charcoal gray walls and fireplace.  Ah ah ah, saving that for the full reveal.  Up this weekend is painting my studio.  My color choice: First Blush.  It's on the pink side, so fingers crossed it doesn't end up looking like a cheesy baby girl's room.

Making Shit Happen

I had some very deliberate intentions of writing a couple of blog posts last week with the updates I've been making to my place for The Everygirl photo shoot, plans for the new year and other projects I have in my back pocket, but Tuesday morning, bright and early at 7am, the shit hit the fan.  No, literally, it kind of did.  Due to the extreme cold weather temps we experienced here in Chicago, the pipes below me froze in my condo and since I am the last unit before you hit the garage, I got the back up.  There's nothing like the sweet sound of waking up to a waterfall and thinking you are in a cabana in South America and your handsome masseuse is on his way to…well, you catch my drift.  Instead, reality hits you like the 2 inches of sewer water you plunge your feet into to turn off your water and watch as your scale drowns right in front of your eyes (there's a new year's resolution slap in the face).  Luckily, (yes, there is a bright side) I was repainting a few of my walls (see, another update) and had drop cloths down to which I pushed aside and piled to blockade my bathroom door and contain the nasties that continued to come up my toilet for several hours.

So, instead of going to work on the mural project I had scheduled (and again, wanted to share last week), I spent the day bailing poopy water into my bathtub.  My how life can throw you a curve ball.  The rest of my week was consumed by cleaning and finishing said murals in time for a two year old's birthday party on Saturday.  My body ached by the bending and bailing and painting and ladder climbing and standing for longer than I'm used to, but through all this, I kept reminding myself of one of my words for 2014: Perspective.  Yes, I didn't have any usable facilities for a day and a half, but I did and do have a fantastic neighbor that let me come and go as I needed and let me shower at 10 o'clock at night in the most cleansing shower of my life.
Yes, I've never felt so helpless with the ringing question, "What do I do?" resounding in my head, but I had a mom that came over right away to help me with the dirty job and disinfected my place like it was a part of her Reenie Rose resume.
Yes, I put in an almost 13 hour day of mural painting that involved ladder climbing and reaching and movements that my muscles were screaming at me for, but how awesome is it that I can grow a tree in someone's house.  Really, these are the things I am trying to focus on this year….perspective.  I have a couple other words and phrases I'm trying to focus on, but I think I'm going to put them into my studio makeover somehow and show them off to you later.

So, for now, let me share with you the light at the end of last week's tunnel and all the beauty I was able to create out of a very poopy start to my week.

Before

During

After

Chalked in tree

Looking back to last week, things can only go up from there!  Happy Tuesday!

New Year Facelift

Happy New Year from Reenie Rose!!
It's my first post of the new year which will be followed up by the first weekend of 2014.  I feel like having all of the holidays during the week has kind of messed up the flow of the past few weeks….I thought yesterday was Monday!  Maybe it's ok.  We can regroup this weekend and dive into next week with more clarity and focus on starting the year off the way we want it to.
I am personally looking forward to a fresher start to 2014.  I've lived in my condo for over 7 years now, and though I love it, it needs a bit of a facelift.  Luckily, I only need to go as far as a couple of cans of paint and a few diy projects to get me feeling like I am in a newer space.

Another kick in the butt for this room-redo, is that my apartment has been chosen to be featured on the Chicago based blog, The Everygirl.  If you haven't checked out this blog yet, put it on your 2014 list of things to do.  It is chalk full of inspiration…my favorite articles are the career interviews and home tours.  My dear friend and photographer Jennifer Gaudreau (Jennifer Kathryn Photography) is going to come out and re-shoot my space for the new story.  In the meantime, here are a few of the "before" shots that were submitted to be considered for this feature.

All photos courtesy of Jennifer Kathryn Photography

I'll keep you updated on all of my makeover projects.  Haven't decided yet, but this weekend will either involve some charcoal gray or silver paint.  Hope your weekend is productive!!