um... YES!

i have been on the hunt for the right lighting for my guest room for a LOOOOONG time now. it's the only room left with one of those boob lamps that were *everywhere* in the house. and, my dear readers, all of you know how much i love a sassy light fixture!

here's what the guest bedroom looks like now. i love it, except for that ding-dang light!

so yesterday, as i was surfing some of my favorite site and following all kinds of links, i found this.
nichole at parlor: you. complete. me. (see more of her lovely dining room and this project here.)

i think a big, fluffy cloud is just what the guest bedroom needs. so, off to pier 1 i go for a paper lantern and then safeway for 1000 coffee filters... (yes, i DO love to torture myself.)

and here's one of my favorite tracks from my college days to celebrate. wheeeee!

so... good news and bad news on the kitchen update.

i've made a TEENY bit of progress (i'm attacking the work a section at a time so i don't get overwhelmed) and it's clear that this is a great product.

however, it's also clear that it's going to take 4-5 coats of paint (not including top coat) to cover the dark cabinets.

so it's going to be a little while before i can show you how this turns out. but in the meantime i will try to post some photos of the updates to the dining room, family room and office.

keeping busy!

oh, cr*p.

so, while there are many, many, MANY projects still on my list for this here ol' house, for the most part i do like it in it's current state.

the only real exception is the kitchen. while we are extremely lucky that it had been upgraded for modern-day life, it is clear that it was done without any thought about how it would integrate with the rest of the house.

remember, our house was built sometime around 1865-1880, so THIS (seen here on one of our walk-throughs in 2009) is not what i would have chosen to do with the kitchen.



so, now, i'm finally going to go for it. cabinet transformations in "pure white" and vintage hardware are at the ready - and i am steeling myself for several weeks of painting and frustration. i'll tell you later if it was actually worth the effort!

wish me luck!

candy girl.

anyone who knows me well also knows that i am a FIEND for cotton candy. (in fact, a good friend even gave me a cotton candy machine for my birthday this year! *squee*)

i was surfing retronaut the other day and found these FANTASTIC photos by nina leen, one of life magazine's first female photojournalists.

i am most definitely going to have to print the whole series and put it up in the house somewhere.


















and here's one bonus picture for you. AMAZING, right?

paul mccartney and stella mccartney eating cotton candy at the
barnum & bailey circus at madison square garden, 1974.

wishing all of my readers lots of cotton candy fun today!