Thursday, October 14, 2010

Painting, painting, painting...

Okay.  So in the middle of August I decided I really wanted to paint the walls in our house.

 
I have lived in this house for 3 1/2 years and have wanted to paint the flat, off white walls since before I moved in, but just haven't had the time.  The walls picked up every bump and scuff from roommates moving in and out so the walls looked very beat up. 

Well, you would think we would decide to paint in the beginning of the summer.  It's not like Isaac didn't just have 3 months out of school and even though he was working and volunteering, we still had plenty of time to paint.  No, no.  I decide NOW is the time to paint, right as Isaac starts back to school.  No worries.  I will just do it while he is at school.  Ha!  It took me an entire week of painting ALL DAY to finish the living room, two bedrooms (which we use as offices), and the downstairs hall.  It was fun trying to cook dinner during this week.


Really painting the walls was not that bad.  But this house was built in 1981 and very much had a deep woods feel with all the dark wood trim.  Before I bought this house the kitchen cabinets and downstairs trim were painted white.  It definitely updated the home as well as brightened it up.  So I have been wanting to tackle the upstairs for quite some time.  Boy, was it a task.  But alas... here is our adventure.

The night before the first day of painting Isaac prepped the walls by filling in holes.

He's so helpful :)

So the first day I painted the ceiling and walls in the living room and the hall.
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We even found a great rug we love and finally decided on some green pillows!  The room definitely needed some accent colors.  We are still working on finding a few more :)


Then on day two I painted the walls in my office downstairs and Isaac's office upstairs.  Since it was Saturday and Isaac was home, he painted the ceilings in these two rooms.  It was nice having some help.
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Okay, so my office is still not finished being organized so I will have to take the after photograph later.  Hopefully I can actually accomplish that, one day :)

Isaac's office, hmm, how is it he ended up with the larger office...  I'm going to need to have a word with management.
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Wow!  The walls look nice.  But it sure looks like a mess in there...

So then it took a couple days for me to get to the trim up here, and it was a task.  We weren't able to move the bookshelves and desk very far away from the walls so maneuvering behind them while painting was interesting.  Let's just say, I had to repaint a few places from bumping into the walls.  It was also very messy having to move the drop cloth around the room to put it under the trim so I didn't get any on the carpet.  This carpet seriously need to be replaced, but that will be a later project.


I really like how these doors looked with primer.  They would be an awesome backdrop in my studio.
I really like this wall color in our offices. 
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Okay, so I still need to paint that little door to the air handler. ;-)

Then the next day I tackled the upstairs hall trim.  I knew we would be painting the hall and stairwell walls at some point but I wanted to get the trim done and out of the way.
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It really brightened up the upstairs by painting the doors and trim white.  Oh, now how I look forward to one day getting new carpet :)

So after all of this...I said to Isaac, "You let me know when you would like to paint and we will finish our room and the hall."  I was beat after all that painting.

Now that it is October, Isaac had a few days off from school for fall break.  So he says, "We should paint."  Okay buddy, you want to paint, let's do it.  So we tackled our bedroom and the stairway.  You really can't tell the difference in color in the stairway.  The paint is a better quality though so we shouldn't get scuffs all over it. 
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And now...My favorite room in the house!  I love this room because it is on the east side of the house and it is so bright and cheery in the morning when the sun comes up.  I love the morning!
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 Wow, look at that amazing taping!

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 We can't wait to figure out what to hang on the wall.

All done!  It is so nice to have all the painting finished.  It was fun and lots of hard work.  Stay tuned for our next project...in at least a year :)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Apple Chicken and Rice



1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon butter, divided
1 packages (6 ounces) chicken flavored rice mix (Rice-a-Roni)
1-1/4 cups water
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup apple juice
1 medium apple, chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup dried cranberries

In a large skillet, brown chicken in 1 tablespoon butter until juices run clear; remove and keep warm.  Set seasoning packet from rice mix aside.  In the same skillet, saute rice mix in remaining butter for 5 minutes or until golden brown.  Add water, broth, apple juice, apple, mushrooms, onion, cranberries, and contents of rice seasoning packet; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20  minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.  Return chicken to the pan; heat through.  Yields 4 servings.  Enjoy!