It hit me that 5 years ago I started this blog as we were celebrating Amelia's 3rd birthday. She turns 8 today. I had not seen her for six whole months until Christmas, so there were lot's of "squeezing the stuffins" out of each other. We always plan an "art day" whenever we're together. Us girls spent a chilly day indoors cutting, pasting and painting. I chose to tackle Amelia's puppy looking up at her longingly. I have never painted fur and wasn't sure I could. I guess I could say I was tickled I tackled this twosome. Happy birthday my sweet girl.
I was able to make more progress on this painting of Amelia that I shared here. I am trying to work much faster; not sure that is working for me yet.
Remodeling has been coming along nicely and this place is actually starting to grow on me. I kinda promised a lot more than I delivered on my blog last year. Life takes over and I frankly think it's not all that interesting. I thought I could catch up on tutorials in the Fall but in October I received a surprise licensing contract request which I accepted. It took twice as long as I anticipated and I barely stepped away from my computer until Christmas. A total computer crash didn't help. No more art classes, Christmas parties, grocery shopping, sleeping....nada. Tim and I spent the entire Thanksgiving holiday alone in front of the computer...no turkey and mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie for us, whaaaa whaaaa. I guess Tim could have taken a photo of me dozing off with my head on my desk, but thank goodness he was too busy taking up the slack. But alas, I did skid in under the deadline with some exciting products which I can't share until Fall.
2013 already has lots of company lined up for us. Jenn, Joe and kids just left, our dear friends are flying in from Nashville in a couple days, then other friends from Indiana will be here before I go back home to spend time with the fam.. Maybe I can do some bloggets??
We bought this two-story with an ODD landing on the stairs. It's something like a plant shelf, but it's a whopping 34" deep by 7 feet long of useless space. One of the neighbors has a full size carousel horse sitting on hers, it's that spacious! I prefer function, especially when space and storage are at a premium. That ledge is too high up to store things and the deep inset on the bottom half is actually a nonfunctioning area on the exterior of the house. Unable to change the construction (remember HOA?) I just needed to at least not hate it so much. I am still not sure what I will put up there...maybe a mattress and dresser for my new Bed and Breakfast. This is a photo taken before we moved in that clearly looks like one of those typical sad "before" photos. It's all I could find that showed the $19.99 original light fixture. Besides, when I told Mini Mcgyver my thoughts he had the ladder out in 2.2, more excited than I was to make the change.
Here is the entry looking from the stairs, the hallway to the garage and another good after photo of the after. I used leftover Flor carpet tiles to make custom rugs. The painting in the entry is something I started and just hung it up unfinished until I can get back to it. There's a sneak peak of the bookcases that will be another reveal. My brilliant ideas combined with Tim's construction abilities, elbow grease and enthusiasm have proved once again that we are still a dynamic duo. While I am keenly aware of resale I'm not concerned at all about the bold stripes since the whole area would take less than a quart of paint to change. If by any chance you are holding back from going bold on a feature wall let me assure you this is the safest, least expensive move to make. Tell me your thoughts. 
