Happy Labor Day

I have been really wanting to do some fix up around the house. A lot of the main floor hasn't had any maintenance or changes since we moved in eight years ago. The walls in the kitchen and family room area where we spend all our time were white, and the curtains were "Early American Blue" made by the previous owner. They were fine, but everything was looking pretty worn and dirty.

Enter Sherwin Williams 30% off paint sale!!!! I had found some paint samples last weekend when I was cleaning out my desk, and I really liked a couple of them for the kitchen and family room. So Saturday morning I made a trip to Sherwin Williams and got the paint - - - three gallons. The kitchen paint is called "Pale Brick". The color I got for the family room and hallway to the front door is a Martha Stewart color called "Hatband." I would call it a light taupe. Regardless, Greg helped me remove switch plates, take down the curtains, mask around the woodwork, and move the furniture out after lunch on Saturday. Then I proceeded to paint the kitchen. It turned out so great! The color really brings out the grain in the cabinets.

On Sunday we went to church and then went to our good friends' house to celebrate Bill's birthday. Susie made a killer meatloaf with all the trimmings. She also loves to decorate cakes. For Bill's birthday, she made him a Popcorn Cake . . . complete with Orville Reddenbocker's on the top. I took this photo with my cell phone; quality isn't good---but you get the idea!

Today I worked on the family room and finished all the actual painting by about 1 o'clock. Then it took Greg and I both a couple of hours to vacuum and remove the masking tape and put the room back together. Then we went off to Home Depot to get a new blind for the window. And by 8 this evening, the place looked like this! I'm pretty happy.

But now, I'm just going to go up and sit in my nice, fresh family room. Time to relax a bit before jumping back into the grind tomorrow.