Staying in S(tile)

Pardon my pun... But I couldnt resist.

I just got back from my tile guy's show room. He's an old friend of my Mom so we have to keep things in the family. Know what I mean!?

He gave me a great deal on this porcelain tile. I snapped a shot while I was there.

This is an Italian tile called Ascot - color: Almond. It has more of a grayish/ beige-ish color. And the texture is creamy and smooth to the touch. It feels rich. Classy. Definitely better than ceramic. And especially since I got 25% off (smile). I got a beige/ taupe grout color to coordinate (its called Mushroom 135).

And one more thing: the cherry on top is that they will go to the warehouse TODAY to pick up my 11 boxes. I could conceivably go back this evening for the tile. But I will have my contractor retrieve them for me tomorrow. Life is wonderful when you have connections!

In other news, the work is coming along well. The crown molding is up and painted in the dining room and kitchen. My contractor also started priming and painting. Can you guess what color I've chosen for my ceiling?

Enlighten Me

I also got a new lamp this weekend to place in my upper hallway. It replaces one that I claimed out of my Mom's garage - with a mismatched lampshade that was 2 sizes too big. This one is much better and much more grown up looking don't you think?

I got it on sale at Bloomie's as well. Original price? $190. Guess how much I paid...

Fifty bucks! $49 to be exact.

I was admiring it the other night and then I started to wonder: What do the symbols mean that adorn the front and back of the vessel base? I hope there's no bad reason why this beautiful lamp was being sold for such a discount.

Reading is Fundamental

So, here will be your first taste of the before and after transformations in the house. At the top of this page you will see (tiny) "before" shots of the office/ library, and below you will see an "after" shot showing the new shelving. I spent the day Saturday pulling my boxes of books out of the storage closet and arranging tchotchkes on the shelf (photo not shown). I organized my books into categories... Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, etc. And I was a bit overwrought at the voluminous size of my Self-Help section (no laughing). Oh. Well. I can say that if I'm a freak then at least I'm neat :)

We are really enjoying the use of this new room. But I am having trouble sticking to one name for it. It has lots of nick names: Den, Office, Study, Library, Reading Room, Meditation Room, Chill-out Room...

I will take more pics tonight so you can get a 3D feel for the space (and see the porcelain vessel I've added to the shelf. I picked it up from Bloomies - off of the clearance table!!)

Orion Says...

Check out part of my horoscope for today

It would probably be better not to work on any home improvement project, since it is not a positive day for it for you.

I'm not sure how to take this... Possibly this means that I shouldn't take lunch to go to my flooring guy's showroom today.

Nevertheless, things are going well at the house. I will post pictures of the work completed yesterday in the kitchen and library. Since we have nice bookshelves now, roommate and I were eager to have reading time last night. We decided that it will be our new chill-out room. (pics to be posted soon)

Snag #1

I was going to entitle this post simply "Snag" but I figure that there will be more than one unexpected issue to come up during this project. (Yes, I know, that is not optimistic. But let me just be realistic for once!)

I have this banging wall paper for my kitchen. Its really fresh looking. The old wall covering had to be removed before re-papering; and when my contractor stripped the wall paper he found... [dungeon music] ... MOLD. Gross.

So now we have to demo the drywall since a moldy, damp wall is basically garbage. As shown above, he started the demo work, but then there was another snag. The CMU behind the wall (which is an exterior wall) is also damp and moldy. We will have to replace the insulation and treat the mold at the outside wall now before moving ahead.

I was afraid of what I would see when I got home last night. But its not that bad. I was expecting bulbous, pusing creatures behind the drywall. I think my contractor took care of most of the icky stuff and trashed it. I took a picture for my scrap book! (thats the exterior wall - its acually below grade which explains the seeping and dampness.)

Now that Im looking at it... How cool would it be to leave the CMU exposed!? Not gonna happen... and I dont think it goes with my scheme anyway.

It Takes a Village

... for me to get all of these door pulls for $1.78. That's 10 cents each (plus tax). They will go nicely in my new (er... gently used) kitchen.

Thanks, Community Forklift!

(I am working on posting my before and after pics of my new habby.)

*habby= habitat a.k.a. hubby a.k.a. Morty (short for Mortgage - but he goes by Mort, Morty or Mort-gage! LOL)