January 10, 2014

A Comfy Place to Sit...

Well, I survived “the cleaning of the bathrooms” in my house. I found it to be a bit like “the running of the bulls” thing that they do in Spain. The chore made me just about as breathless as if a pack of bulls were chasing me down the street. I followed the advice that I found on the internet and started at the sink and worked around the room, spraying everything down before I started the actual cleaning process. What I didn't realize was that after you spray everything down, then the stuff starts to run…down the mirror, down the sides of the toilet, down the outside of the tub. I was feverishly whirling around the room (that I Love Lucy episode with in the chocolate factory had nothing on me) trying to wipe the spills before they reached the floor. I know, I know…it shouldn’t have mattered if the spills reached the floor as I was going to mop the floor anyway. What can I say? I’m just a teeny, tiny bit of a control freak. About half-way through the cleaning, as I was gasping for air, I realized that using the four different store-bought products for each cleaning chore was probably not the greatest idea. The combination of all these fumes in a small space is definitely not a good thing. I think I’m going to have to donate what’s left and use the natural stuff after all. (Oh, how I miss Linda, my cleaning lady!)

As I’ve mentioned before, Charming is doing some renovation in our kitchen. The layout and workflow will be much improved by the time he gets done. I’ve been happily planning the redecoration phase. The main colors for the kitchen will be black, white (called "honeysuckle" on the paint chip), and beige ("Irish Cream" on the paint chip). I know…a little on the blahhhh side, but I have very plain taste. The most basic colors are the ones that I seem to gravitate towards. I can’t seem to get enough beige into my life. However, I do have quilted wall hangings and throw pillows that add a little bit of color to the boring palate, but most of our stuff is basic brown, black or some variation of the two. I love wood furniture and all things rustic, so most people would say that my house resembles a semi-organized landfill. All in all, we find our dumpy little ranch house to be very cozy and comfortable.

For the past week, I’ve been working on replacing the seats of my kitchen chairs. The chairs originally came from a local fire department, where they were used in the fire hall for bingo games, weddings, parties, and other community functions. The fire hall was replacing their wooden chairs with metal chairs. Lucky me! They fit perfectly around the round wooden table that my younger brother made for me many years ago. The seats are done in a “shaker style” checker board pattern, using solid black for the weft (side to side) and a combination black/white for the warp (front to back).

Below are pictures of my progress on the chair seats. I’ve gotten two of them done and have two more to do. After that, I will move on to making a small braided rug for the kitchen with…you guessed it…blacks, browns, and possibly a pop of color in there somewhere.

I think they turned out nicely and, in the words of Goldilocks, they feel "just right" when I sit in them.