Booth 50…or SO

So….you are looking at the before shots of Booth 50 in the Downtown Antique Mall in Nashville.  I’m dipping my toe into a little retail.

It’s an antique dive…just the way I like ’em…dusty, dingy and obnoxiously loud when the trains roll by 4 feet from the building.  It’s packed with treasures.  I’ve only lived here a year and a half, but in my wanderings thus far, this place has the best vintage modern selection in town.  Pre to Post Modern ties for grooviness of merchandise, but it’s tiny with a very limited selection.  Yes, I’m biased, but that’s why I wanted these guys to let me play with them…I figured I’d fit in best there.

This week I will put some lipstick on her and fill her up.  Formerly a 40’s-50’s kitchen booth, that teal and yellow must go.  I get great natural light in this little wedge which is pretty rare, given what a dark warehouse it is overall.  I’m pretty lucky.

Thing Two will certainly think I’m Booth # SO.  Poi-fect.

I’m very excited to get going...so much to do…

booth 50

built in shelves

strips for shelving

The Color of Dirt

The first coat of stucco went on…and my heart sank.  It looked pinkish brown…way too much red pigment, so I talked to them about mixing in a bag of black for the second coat….MUCH better. My goal is to match the color of the soil as much as possible so that the wall recedes into the hillside.  When that first coat went on…all I could think about was how many hours I would have to spend staining it to tone down the color….very relieved I won’t have to do that now.

Santa Fe Red!

looking very Santa Fe scary to me here…..

WAY too red

First Coat Stucco

Then the second batch of mortar mix…..

second coat-new mix

new mix color

You can see the difference between the 2 colors below….

contrast 2 coats

When will it end?  Soon..we hope.  Weather has been cooperating so MAYBE by the beginning of next week we’ll be done with all this mess….6 weeks and counting….

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

I can’t believe Sesame Street is 40 today!  I found this photo when digging around recently so it seemed like a good day to share it….my Sesame Street puppet collection was quite a treasure…here I am with one of my favorites…Roosevelt Franklin, at my Grandmother’s house.  Link at the bottom is the ABC song I was CONSTANTLY singing with said puppet…..

me and RF 2 scratch dust

Roosevelt Franklin’s ABCs Video

Staycation Results

cracker jack

It’s only taken weeks for me to be able to post this…everything takes longer than it used to..and photographing it is a serious challenge since it only stays perfectly clean once a week for about 15 minutes after the completion of chore-time…just enough time for me to vacuum, then, it’s back to general chaos.  I finally gave up and picked a semi-neat day that wasn’t raining.  Still too cluttered for my taste, but I guess playrooms are meant to be played in, not photographed for Mommy’s annoying blog.

The “reveal” to The Minors was quite a thrill.  Thing One stood there mouth agape and Thing Two immediately ran over to start fondling the newly organized Lego and Playmobil.

For those concerned about the fate of CC’s staycation plans…have no fear…he ticked some things off his list as well AND we got all the materials for the attic support project…so there.

Since there’s only the one small window in this room…I had to be conservative with the color….I put a bright white on both the window wall and the opposing wall, and put Martha Stewart for Valspar’s “Blue Agave” on the other opposing walls.  Seems to make the room feel longer…and certainly brighter, which was the main goal after all.

The couch/chair former sectional was a $200 Craigslist find…has this kinda 80’s thing going, but I’m pretending it’s 60’s cool Pierre Paulin….denial ain’t just a river in Egypt…

I needed a desk/work area that would accommodate both of them since the Burke set is ALWAYS covered in Lego projects.  My intention for that set was to be a family game table, well…you can see how that worked out.  I went the cheapo route and bought another set of sawhorses (my yellow ones were too wide for this project) for $38 at Urban Outfitters and a solid door for $54.  Rubbed some linseed oil on the door and called it a day.

Now that we have the coffee table, we don’t have to drag all the bean bags into the living room anymore for game time, so that’s been a big improvement.  I still have some more organizing etc.. to do in here…but that’s what winter is for…it’s been too nice out to be in much.

Here’s the previous homeowner’s “before”

Previous Owners Playroom/Office 2

Then it became our defacto attic while we cleared the tree rats out of the real attic.

Last year, when it was also the attic.

As the Minors left it…..

As it looked the day the minors left

3 days of painting started….

patch job from NES debacle paint going on

Ahhh..fresh paint.

playroom after

playroom after

Lego Assembly Table

playroom after

costume wall

Six Dollars

For Halloween, Day of the Dead, or just Tuesday…This $6 purchase won’t disappoint the wee ones in your life.

The sheer joy and wonder that a bag of dry ice can bring never ceases to amaze me.  Every corner our house was eerily smoking through the evening.  We even played “Earth’s atmosphere” with the world map placemat.

Now that’s what I call a bargain.

smoke and candles

spider in the mist

stair rats

earth's atmosphere/cloud cover