Rooms Without Makeup

I confess that I love those "Stars Without Makeup" magazine spreads. The ones that make me think that I could walk right by an A-lister on the street and not even notice her. The ones that make me think that I, too, could light up a red carpet if I had a team of hair and makeup artists!

("Where is she going with this?" I hear you asking. Hang in there. It will make sense in a moment!)

The room is 99% finished, the guests are here and we are enjoying that limp, lazy, lounging "after-the-adrenaline-leaves" feeling - sort of meandering our way through this weekend doing small odds and ends and mostly just recovering from the crazy rush of the past week!

I know you all are waiting with bated breath (ok ... not really, but humor me here!) to see pictures of the new room. However, remember that 1% that is not done? The curtains and one dresser fall into that 1%. The curtains arrived the day AFTER the guests arrived and the dresser is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. Gotta love online ordering!

I promise that I'll post room pictures after those two items take up residence in the room. For now, I will offer a teaser photo of the bathroom which IS finished! I absolutely love it. It makes me want to rent a room at the Snow Goose!

Actually, it makes me want to start renovating OUR bathroom ... but I don't think I'd better bring that up right now. That is sort of like a guy telling his wife that he wants another baby because the one she JUST delivered is so beautiful!!

Here is what the bathroom looked like just a few short weeks ago:

Pale, colorless, drab ... it reminds me of one of those "caught without makeup" pictures except that this is just really how it looked even on a good day!

And here (insert wild, happy drumroll!) is how it looks today:

Ahhh ... that's much better!

Work and Play

Any of you who have embarked on a major renovation project will know that the last few days are .... stressfull! Especially if you have a deadline. Especially if you have a deadline with people coming. Especially if you have a deadline with people coming who are paying you to have the project DONE!

We have been working diligently ... evenings and weekends ... it's all a blur. But as I looked through my photos of the past two weeks, I realized that a lot of life has been squeezed into moments between coats of "poly" and hours spent on the computer ordering linens and "quick" (not so much when the store is an hour away) trips to pick up supplies.

Here's what's been happening - a dance between work and play:

WORK - Wayne carefully positions the new tile in the corner shower

PLAY - Sodie and her 4x100 relay team finish an undefeated season by winning the Section 7 championship! (They are truly speedy - I couldn't get a photo of all four on the winner stand because they hopped up and right back off!)

WORK - Wayne stains a beautiful slab wood countertop ... this made me nervous. But not nearly as nervous as I'm going to be when he starts cutting holes in it for the plumbing!

PLAY - Meanwhile, the hummingbirds are back in town, knocking on the door and demanding their feeders be filled NOW ... nevermind that I don't have time to run to the store for more food. This photo isn't the greatest, but it does depict a rare moment in hummingbird-dom ... two birds sharing the feeder peacefully!

WORK - At long last, the once-blue floor lies naked. Trust me, this photo represents a LOT of work!

PLAY - A whirlwind visit from Katie and Deinno featured a celebration of their engagement, wedding dress shopping (and success!), guest list making, venue scouting ... all in the midst of picking paint colors ... augh! As I think about it, this photo probably fits better under a "Work" label, but it was fun so it can stay in the "Play" category.

WORK - Those of you who know Wayne know that he turns into a pumpkin at 9pm. So you'll be duly impress to know that this photo was taken at almost midnight! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.... a lot these days!

PLAY - After a loooong day of work, we just had to get outside and enjoy a stunningly beautiful evening. We took a walk on a newly discovered trail and managed not to get too eaten by the bugs as dusk fell.

Speaking of BUGS .... you're going to love this story!

WORK - The story begins late one night as Wayne mixed his "brew" of stain colors to create just the right hue .... yes, on my kitchen counter!

He then began staining the floor making sure to leave the windows open for good ventilation.

He was about 3/4 done when ...

What to his horrified eyes did appear ....

Dozens of beetles! Swooping in the open windows that were now ACROSS the freshly stained floor. The beetles landed on the floor, got sticky, stainy, feet and wings ... then proceeded to fly drunkenly around the room crashing into the beautifully painted walls and trim. Leaving dozens of tiny stain marks ... it was a sad night!

MORE WORK - Wesley, bless his heart, fixed every single one of them the next day. Good friends are a blessing!

PLAY - After that story, some beauty is in order. My teeny, tiny tree (the name of which I've forgotten) surprised me with beautiful blossoms. They made me smile. Smiles are good when you're in the middle of the end of a renovation project.

WORK - This scene does not make me smile so much. This is the conglomeration of paint, stain, etc. that has accumulated along my kitchen wall. I'd put it all away, but then someone would need it again ... so it just stays ... for now. I try not to trip over it!

PLAY - We squeezed in a quick overnight trip to Roscoe, NY to see our friends the Engles and Pietrowskis. For some reason, Don is the only one I took a photo of, but the rest of them were looking good too.

WORK - In case you wonder what I've been doing (since all of the photos only show Wayne at work), I have spent countless hours shopping. A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do ... a LOT lately! This is only one pile of my loot. This makes me smile too!

PLAY - This photo shows CorrieAnne mere steps from winning the 100 meter dash with a time of 14.33. (Pretty good for an 11-year-old!) She will compete in the New York West State finals in two weeks. Following in her older sisters' footsteps!

WORK - At last, the walls are finished, the windows are finished, the floor is finished. The room is now a blank canvas waiting to be filled with furniture, curtains, rugs, lamps, pictures and memories.

In less than 48 hours, our guests will arrive ... here we go for the final push!!