Thanksgiving preparation?

[rubidoux]

I was thinking a lot of us probably celebrate thanksgiving in our homes and might want to be thinking towards making things nice for thanksgiving or even the winter holidays.  So maybe we should start a holiday (of your choice) to do list thread.

We normally go to my BIL's for t'giving, but this year we're thinking of inviting some people over.  And we almost never have people over any more, mostly because the house is an embarrassment.  There are two problems with our house  --  the fact that it hasn't always been all that clean AND the fact that our stuff is mostly pretty crappy.  I've been working on both, but I think there's a lot left to do before I'll feel great about having people over.  (Part of this is actually working on coming to terms with the fact that our home does not have to look like everyone else's.  A lot of our friends are through Milo's school where everyone is apparently made of money.  lol  So, if I let myself compare, it leads to trouble.)  If we don't end up doing thanksgiving (ie, if the friends we'd like to have over have other plans) I'm thinking I'll still try to have a little get together later that weekend.  

So, anyway, I am going to start a to do list, but I will add to this as I go:

--  paint as much of the house as possible, but at least the living and dining areas

--  get a new dining table and chairs (dh and I are thinking we'll put our traveling money into this, since we won't be flying to the east coast this year)

--  WALL ART!  we have none as of now, other than some kid pics that could be done better (they were printed on our black and white printer, gah!)

--  figure out how to remove and redo caulking in kitchen and bathroom (it looks so TERRIBLE now, there's a long strip in the kitchen that has mold behind it and is sooooo ugly!)

--  curtains for living and dining room (I've collected a ton of batiks for this, but I'm waiting till we have some money to order some mustard colored linen I'm in love with which will be the main fabric)

--  throw pillows (our new couches came with a ton of nice cushy pillows that aren't really my style, so I'm going to make covers for them)

--  finish recovering IKEA chair, finally

Okay, well, that is a lot for not quite a month.  Thanksgiving is on the 24th this year, so that's like 26 days!  I'm am going to buy some paint the very minute dh gets paid!  :)

[Ruthiegirl]

I'll join you!  We are having Thanksgiving here and while the house is clean and mostly decluttered, it is rather shabby looking.  The walls look awful!  Smudges, nicks, scratches, dirt abound on the walls.  Everything needs a coat of paint.  

My list of things I'd like to to do:

paint dining room, trim and wall color

paint living room trim (badly nicked and ragged)

paint entry way, trim and wall color

hang wall art 

print photos to hang

I bought a mess of frames at the local charity shop -- .50 to a 1.00 per frame.  I painted them all black, so the frames match and have been slowly adding things to the frames -- a paper cutting that I made, a couple of nice pieces of kid art.  I'd like to print a couple of nice family photos to fill out the rest of the frames and then hang them once we are done painting.

I would love to paint the kitchen and bathroom as well, but that is a hefty to-do list.  

I started the trim in the living room this week and it is remarkable how much better it looks all ready.  A fresh coat of paint really does make a huge difference.  

26 days?!?  Yikes, I should be painting.  

[rubidoux]

Well, I've started working on my hand-sewn hexies for a pillow again.  lol  I'm about halfway done with the pillow top background.  So, if I kill myself I may have this one pillow done by thanksgiving.  But it'll be an awesome pillow I think.    I may have to move on to some simpler machine sewed designs.  

I'm going to have to start looking for thrift store/garage sale frames.  I love the idea of having different styles of frame all painted to match.  I'm also planning on having a hoop arrangement on one wall (something like this but my own embroidery/quilting/applique).  

And I'm adding to my list (okay, it's not all getting done by t'giving, lol, xmas maybe):

--  paint washing machine and utility sink robins egg blue (and if it looks as awesome irl as it does in my head, the fridge too!)

--  declutter buffet table in dining room

--  big plant for front porch 

[Ruthiegirl]

Oooo...a big plant sounds really nice.  I think I may add that to list as well.   I have no indoor plants and would really something green and lively.  

And I never thought to paint an appliance.  That is a great idea. Does it take a special kind of paint?  

I started washing the wood work in the dining room -- should be ready to do some painting tomorrow.  I have enough trim paint to finish the dining room, maybe the living room.  I made myself a promise that I would use up what I have and get as much done as possible before going to buy more paint.  I know when I get that fresh can of paint in the house, I will slow down on the tedious wood work painting.  

[rubidoux]

I just read about this a couple of weeks ago and I'm so excited.  They actually make a special paint for appliances.  I searched the web and didn't find a whole lot of people who had done it, but one idea I really liked was taking the handles off of the fridge doors and just leaving them off.  Ours have gotten grungy (and this fridge was here when we bought the house, I bet it's at least 15 yrs old) and I cannot get them clean.  I had been thinking I'd paint over them, but just getting rid of them will be nice I think.  I have a feeling the paint is kind of expensive, but even if it was a hundred bucks to paint the washer, sink, and fridge, I think it'll make a huge difference in the look of our kitchen/laundry area.

The other thing I ran across while looking for painted fridge pics was making your own chalkboard paint, which looks really easy.  The benefit of making it over buying it already mixed is that you can do it in any color if you do it yourself.  I don't know if I'll actually do anything in chalkboard paint, but it's on my mind as I go through the house thinking about what it needs.  

[rubidoux]

I as thinking this was a really huge list, but now that I look at it, it might not be so bad.  One of the items is just to BUY something, which I could do with my hands tied behind my back.    I'm reorganizing it into things I can do now and things that need to wait for money.  I don't expect to get it done before thanksgiving, but I'd like to be pretty far along.

--  throw pillows (our new couches came with a ton of nice cushy pillows that aren't really my style, so I'm going to make covers for them)

--  finish recovering IKEA chair, finally

--  WALL ART!  we have none as of now, other than some kid pics that could be done better (they were printed on our black and white printer, gah!)

• hoops
• paint chip mosaic on 3 12" x 12" pieces of wood
• framed kid pics

--  paint as much of the house as possible, but at least the living and dining areas

--  get a new dining table and chairs (dh and I are thinking we'll put our traveling money into this, since we won't be flying to the east coast this year)

--  curtains for living and dining room (I've collected a ton of batiks for this, but I'm waiting till we have some money to order some mustard colored linen I'm in love with which will be the main fabric)

So far all I have done is worked on one pillow (at a snail's pace, lol) and collected a bazillion gorgeous paint chips.

Edited by rubidoux - 11/2/11 at 11:06am

[Ruthiegirl]

My list doesn't seem that long either, but this pregnant belly is slowing me down so much right now.  I have washed all of the tomato sauce splatter off of the dining room and have started the wood work and now progress has stopped.  I think I need to call in re-enforcements.  Dh doesn't know it yet, but he might be in for some painting tonight.

I love your idea of recovering throw pillows.  I have a couple that came with the couch and they are just so ugly.  Recovering is a great idea.  

[rubidoux]

I'll let you know how that recovering works out!  lol  You are well into that uncomfortable stage.  With my first I was doing some serious nesting almost till the end, but with the second, I had stopped moving by the point you're at.  I hope your hubby enjoys painting.  

Here's some before pics.  This is the same album I'm posting over in the kitchen thread.

[Olma]

Originally Posted by rubidoux 

Here's some before pics.  This is the same album I'm posting over in the kitchen thread.

Hello again :) I commented on your kitchen in the kitchen thread. I can't help myself and I have more suggestions, for the living room and tksgiving...I hope you don't mind, feel free to ignore me.

You have some nice pieces of furniture. I don't think you need to go out and buy a table and chairs. Just use what you have. Look at what this gal did with a table similar to the one you have in your kitchen:

http://www.maillardvillemanor.com/2011/10/thanksgiving.html

For the living room I think the room would definately benefit from a lick of  paint and then a re-arangement of the furniture. I would place the sofas in L, with the longer one placed instead of the chairs, I would group the play kitchen and other toys where the long sofa is now, next to a chair. Depending on the space, I would angle the other chair in front of the sofas. Maybe you can get a cheap carpet remnant to place under the coffee table, that would bring some instant warmth to the space. For now because of the white walls and dark sofas it looks a bit cold. The batik fabric that you have, can you drape it around the windows somehow? Or maybe frame bits of fabric as art?

I would leave the pillows at the moment, or just wrap them in fabric and secure them with secure pins for now.

And, I just love your wall of family pics -- i'm going to steal that idea!  Could you bring those in the living room instead of other art?

Have fun!

[rubidoux]

Olma,  I don't mind at all.    I could use all the help I can get.  

We actually did have the couches arranged that way at first (we've only had them for about six weeks now), but the long one was really too long for that wall.  Right now, I like the way it works in here except that I feel like the couches are too far apart.  If it were up to me (alone!), I think I'd move the big one out from the wall so there's space behind it.  I don't know if you noticed in the pics but there's a door behind the couch that goes to the kids' room.  I love the idea of that door (if it were open you could walk through all the rooms in our house other than the master bedroom in one circle), but dh hates it and wants it closed.  IMO, these couches are really just too big for this room.  I really like them, but they are huge.  lol  

As for the white paint, I am stuck with the white paint.  Dh is completely dead set against anything else, even a slight off-white.  I would love to use some nice paint colors in here, but he would be miserable.I am going to paint our washing machine and utility sink and maybe fridge robins egg.  I may even get away with the bathroom (maybe RE on the bottom half of walls  --  bead board, maybe?  --  and white above).  

I may end up doing something along those lines for a thanksgiving table, depending on our money situation.  Ultimately, though, it'd be nice to have a good DR table for everyday dinner.  The one we have here now I got at a garage sale almost ten years ago and it has never closed quite right w/ the leaf out.  We also have NO chairs currently.  

And I have thought a lot about some kind of rug.  I haven't decided against it for sure.  I think it would look nice to have one and would be nice under our feet in the winter.  But I can't see adding one until I have the whole house deep cleaned first.  I have to spend time on this floor every day because the dogs shed like mad.  A rug would have to be vacuumed every day, I'm sure.  Plus, there's the problem of my poor incontinent sweetie who could make having a rug a nightmare.  Sigh...  

[rubidoux]

Well, it looks like I might be mostly giving up on this.    I am going to be studying a ton and I'll be lucky if I manage to keep the house to it's current level.  

[Olma]

Originally Posted by rubidoux 

Well, it looks like I might be mostly giving up on this.    I am going to be studying a ton and I'll be lucky if I manage to keep the house to it's current level.  

I was away and I just came back and see how the projects are going, sorry you had to stop.  Good luck with your studies!!!

[Ruthiegirl]

rubidoux -- good luck with your studies.  House projects can wait till you have more time.  

My list hasn't budged much, but I am slowly making progress.  I bought wall paint and started today.  I think I can finish it with the next 2 days, sooner if dh has time to pitch in.  The walls look so clean and wonderful.  I am very happy with it so far.  When I am done painting, I am going to look for a lovely green plant and pretty planter.  I have wall art that I have been working on and framing with my repainted, thrift store frames.  I would still like to get some of our favorite family photos printed and frame those as well and I think the room will look fresh and updated with minimal expense.  

My list of things I'd like to to do:

paint dining room, trim and wall color   making progress

paint living room trim (badly nicked and ragged)

paint entry way, trim and wall color

hang wall art 

print photos to hang

[mattemma04]

So how did things turn out for you????

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by mattemma04 

So how did things turn out for you????

Things went terrifically well!   Thanks for asking.  We got the dining room painted, washed the windows, made some lovely white curtains, set out a pot of green magnolia leaves and a some branches from a tree (kind of a rustic looking houseplant) and hung some art on the walls.  I need to post some pics. I didn't get it all done, but enough and the day went without a hitch.  

With the table set and some candles lit, my house looked cozy and lived in and happy.  

Next on my list is to give birth and relax for a few months.