Rate my Room #2: Master Bedroom

This is the view when you open the door to our bedroom. (the curtains are not on fire, it just looks like it!) The king size bed fits comfortably in this position with the dresser just on the right outside the above picture. The walls are a chocolate brown, and though it's dark, the carpet is light, the ceiling is light, as is the bedding/window treatments. Below you can see the big dark wall. It is the one wall that has no windows/doors on it and it does seem blank. I have ideas of a large scale artwork piece that we may get around to, but I'm up for suggestions.


This picture shows the wall of mirrored closet doors. Nice, I know. I can sense your jealousy. One thing they do, is make the room feel bigger and lighter. The center cabinets provide nice storage, so I can't complain. Way back here, we had a queen bed positioned along the big blank wall. The dresser would have to be moved to a wall near the closets to fit, but would this look better? My vote is yes, Pat's vote is leave it alone! I don't blame him: this bed is huge and HEAVY! What do you think of this room?

"Rate My Space" sort-of

I've now experienced the phenomenon of pictures not being able to be moved. Never happened to me before. Fortunately, it doesn't matter too much on this post.

As you are aware, we are prepping our home for sale in the NEED LESS PROJECT. Sadly, this is the only room that I can even take a picture of that is almost finished! I want to know (I think) what you think. I may or may not take suggestions based on our time and money restraints.

This is our tiniest spare room in our loft/upstairs. It is extremely small, but I've tried to lay it out in a roomy way. We painted and removed the daybed frame, setting the bed on the frame on the floor. Just so you know, we are planning on replacing the window, and it's trim, so don't think we don't see it! I've thought of painting the dresser, but that is actually a lot of work and I don't want to do it. Yet, anyway. Suggest away and let me know what you think! (If you remember, this was the "for sell" picture earlier!)

Oregon Beauty

Seriously breathtaking.

Pat's trip to Oregon yielded him with some incredible sights. I have been remiss in sharing them with you sooner. My apologies!

In his immense consideration, Pat took these solely with me in mind! He knows I have a weakness for fascinating conifers and He didn't disappoint! I only wish I could have been there to see the weepers in person. Someday...!

Pat's eye for the uncommon is superb. I love his interest in how God creates the one-sided tree with the winds at just the right times.

The Oregon Coast seems to be a place of inspiration! I love how I can see his thoughts, even when I am not with him.

All I can think is, "GOONIES!"

The Oregon forests are dripping with greenery. It is so rich in diverse shades and textures. I can just smell the damp, rich earth and hear the the rush of the water through the rocks and over the falls. Someday...!

If you hadn't noticed, Pat's friend is at the base of one of these trees. It gives a bit of perspective, doesn't it? Below, this un-doctored photo shows an amazing glimpse of a chartreuse moss growing on the rocks. A wonderment!

Breathtaking.

Stealing Pictures!

So, since Pat has the camera and I won't see him for another day and a half, I have stolen these photo's from my SIL's blog! I was so glad she posted photos. I am all sappy and love to see pictures of my man! He was true to form and found a project to do while visiting family. He is a "gotta be busy" kind of guy. The fun thing, was he found a very willing little helper! It seems he and Kaylee made a utility rack for Jana & Josh's garage.

I'm a little surprised he didn't have her wearing any safety glasses: Safety is an Attitude!
As I knew he would, he won the girls' hearts. I think everyone just loves Uncle Pat! I know I do! Those are some beautiful girls. I also know they would have loved to have him longer, but I will be glad when he gets home!
Also true to form, my jovial husband was able to show the power of perspective! He often comments on the illusionary effects of hunting photos and felt the desire to demonstrate with his newest niece, Makenna! She certainly has grown! Thanks, Jana, for sharing! (For more, see Jana's blog!)

Valentines Day Gifts

For this Valentines Day, I thought I would dress up a little for Pat to go to church and actually do my hair, makeup, and I even gussied it up and wore my Grandma B's earrings! I guess it's been a while, 'cause I got a LOT of comments! I think it was the earrings, because seriously, my regrowth is becoming horrific. Unfortunately, in our NEED LESS PROJECT, touch up highlights are not on the docket. I digress. Grandma B's FABULOUS earrings:


When we got home from church and redressed in our casual clothes, Pat asked me to help him out in the shop. I thought I would continue my gifting spirit and give him a hand. He asked me to be a guinea pig and test some welding rod that he'd like to use in his upcoming welding lessons.
Oh, you didn't know? Yes, he has had the vision of giving kids an introduction to welding. He is very motivated and excited for this venture and has been working to make up a type of itinerary. He's got one boy on the list to get started this week.
I went out and let him teach me how to weld. I've never stick-welded, so this was a new one for me.

As usual, he was a great teacher! He taught me to strike an arc, how to push the rod into the weld, and coached me to take my time and make sure I penetrated both pieces of metal with the weld. He makes it look easy, and it's a little tricky, but I began to get the feel for it and didn't do too bad!
I think this actually made the better dress-up gift!

My Own Narnia Woods

OK, maybe it's not exactly Narnia, but wouldn't it be cool if it was? Or maybe I'd be able to walk out of my sister's closet?

These are the thoughts I have when I walk through the woods. Especially when I "discover" new areas to me. This is what I've dubbed "the back swamp" way back in the woods. There is a thick row of spruce before it opens up. I was a bit nervous before I made the trek through the proverbial wall of spruce. Well, it's not really proverbial, but I was a little anxious. You never know what you'll find out here. Primarily you'll find houses, but still...you never know.
This back swamp has these humongous tussocks that are now covered in snow making these funny bumps! They are fascinating, but really hard to walk through as you can't tell where the depth actually is. Makes for a funny viewing, I'm sure, but fortunately Pat hasn't gone with me carrying the camera with which to capture those moments. Shucks.
Just wanted to point out the red sided garage with the white trim that matches the house. If I remember correctly, I was returning from a snowshoe walk with the dogs and had to stop and catch my breath before my hip-flexor exploded and noticed how lovely our home looked in the fresh snow. You can hardly even see the targets!

Bumper Magic

If you haven't heard the big story, Pat was called out to a job across the inlet that was supposed to last through spring. I had worked myself up to be able to handle his absence and even went through the toughest days without him and then he called and came home after a couple nights! So much for all that drama.

On a bright note, through all that, he got a little job building a bumper for an x-ray truck! It's a trial run and he may do more, but that one bumper has been an interesting project for the last week. In case you were wondering, the x-ray truck is a mobile dark room that processes x-rays taken of pipe welds. It's fascinating, really!

Since I know you are dying to see the photos, I've got some smashing ones of the Man working in his shop! (we've decided the garage is no longer. it is now a shop.)

Simple does not always equal easy. When it's done right, it looks easy.
Perfection. The bumper looks good, too!
Rough finish. All it needs now is the step and paint!

The step is a pretty ingenious idea of...um...ask Pat about it. It's really great, I just can't explain it well. It's got to do with bolts and threads, and it was really cool to see, but don't ask me to explain it. Just believe me, it was very smart.
Painted and the step is flipped up! This is necessary to allow the step to swing while driving. It's even equipped with the license plate tag.
Installed! Yep, that's me in the green coat. I was an extraordinary helper. Actually I had no idea what to do, but I tried. I don't think I was fired, though. Now that I think about it, I may have some traits that put me on the "keeper" list! Seriously, people, it turned out really nice.

NEED LESS PROJECT Underway!

This week began in earnest our, what will heretofore be called, NEED LESS PROJECT! We have worked all last week on painting and siding our garage. Yes, it's cold here, so that is why we are painting inside and hanging the painted siding outside. It does present some issues that will have to be addressed later such as painting all the scratches and nails. It still looks better than Tyvek! It's also much easier to paint horizontally as opposed to vertically!

Oh yes! I have been pushed into the realm of power tool usage. It's a little daunting to use something that can saw my leg off, but I'm fortunate to have a very safety minded teacher. As you can tell below, we have opted to forgo the "ladder of death" in favor of a slightly better option of a real extension ladder. It's still scary to me, but my fearless leader is undaunted.

In case you were wondering, this is our garage "loft" that happens to have a 12/12 pitch. That's really really really steep. We still have to put on the soffits, but all in good time!
On an inside note, we have also been working on redoing our spare bedroom. It's a tiny little room that just fits a bed and a dresser. It really needed some work. Talk about selling to motivate one to fix things up! We figure if we don't sell, we'll have an incredibly nice place!

Seriously. People post signs like this up here. We can't quite figure out if 1st grade exists or if the meth use just eliminates that year from people's brains. Don't make fun. You have these people in your neck of the woods, too!

Artist at Work

We've been fortunate during this time of less formal employment to have picked up some projects that have provided well for us! Pat had a project of a handrail to build for some friends of ours. This particular handrail was for a spiral staircase, but needed to go on the inside curve along the wood post on which the stairs stood. After much thought and figuring, he came up with a beautiful design and asked me to help! Oh dear.

Yep, that's me! I thought I really looked like I knew what I was doing here. Actually, I had a very good teacher who set me up to not fail! He's good like that.
I thought he was pretty genius in the design and execution. I'm not biased or anything.
He took it in and installed it soon after it was completed. It turned out gorgeous and fits the home's rustic but craftsman feel!

Puppy Lovin'

While we contemplate our lifestyle change (that sounds wrong, somehow...!), we are engulfing ourselves with puppy therapy. They are quite the little playful critters now with most of their teeth very clearly in use. One might say that your fingers are left out at your own risk. Though they play hard, they crash hard! It's when they snuggle up and fall asleep that we just fall in love!

We laugh at their silly positions chosen for sleeping. They seem to like to dig into the couch cushions, but in your arms, limp they go! (Focus on the puppy, not the bed-hedded, bath-robed woman in the shot.)