The diploma, eh? Here it is . . .in all its glory:
Mine is, of course, the bigger one. I didn’t mean for my frame to be quite a bit larger, but, when I brought it home from the store last night, it clearly was. I framed Bart’s last year, so it wasn’t exactly fresh in my mind. I’m very pleased that, less than 36 hours after it arrived in the mail, the long awaited diploma is framed and hung (hanging courtesy of Bart).
It’s not that I’m always so fast to get things done like that, but lately, I’ve been on a bit of a house kick, so I was already in the groove. Let me show you some of the recent improvements to the house. I know you want to see them.
Ah, yes. New curtains. The French doors have had the curtains that came with the house and MAN were they awful curtains. They were old ladyish, silky off-white, flowered curtains. The first time we took them down (when we repainted the room white), we realized how nice the doors really were and how much light they let in. Unfortunately, you can see right over the fence from the street, through those doors, into the hallway that runs between our bedroom and bathroom. So, clearly, leaving them curtainless wasn’t much of an option. So, the old lady curtains remained until Saturday, when we finally picked a color and bought some dang curtains. And lo, I love them.
Hello closet. Bart’s uncle recently mentioned that they were cleaning out all their closets and I decided it was very much time to do the same. Our closet is QUITE small, as you can see, and there isn’t much room for extraneous clothing, so I packed up all my winter clothes, filled an entire garbage bag for Goodwill (or rather, the little drop box .25 miles from our house, because I’m far too lazy to go all the way to Goodwill). Anyway, I’ve derived great satisfaction from walking into the closet this past week. Unfortunately, my illusions that, once I cleaned it, new fabulous clothing would appear spontaneously have been destroyed. Alas.
This is a map of the London Underground system. I love public transportation (as long as that doesn’t mean “bus”) and I love London. And I love this map. We bought it a few months ago, but just finally framed and hung it a few weeks ago.
Some kind friends gave us this vanity and I LOVE it. Not only does our room not look so empty anymore, there is also now a place to put my blowdryer. And my jewelry. And fold clothes. And dump more junk (whoops. . .I don’t love that part). Someday there will be a mirror above it and a chair (not above it), and I will not have to put on my makeup in the closet. Well, actually, I’ll probably keep putting it on in the closet, because I am physically incapable of putting makeup on if the mirror is more than five inches from my face. I cannot do makeup with a sink between me and the mirror.
This is my little herb garden in the kitchen. I originally planted these in January, but they all grew so big that I had to move them to a bigger pot. And then I planted more little herbs in the pots. I like not killing plants.
Front porch. The orange pot has all the herbs I planted in January. They are all leaning to the right, for some reason. It looks kind of stupid with the leaning.
But, much remains to be done. See the following pictures as evidence:
This picture above the fireplace. It is CLEARLY too small. There needs to be a mirror up there, but we have no such mirror. Whoops. Should work on that.
This is our bathroom wall. Look at the ugly paint color. Weep. Do nothing about it for months, even though you own the paint, brushes, tape, and pans to fix it. Also, there will, once it is painted, be a towel bar there. For now, blankness.
More painting that hasn’t been done! The trim in most of our house is still the original color (that color, I believe, is called “Ugly Neutral”). We haven’t painted it either. Again, the taping and painting just sound so much less appealing than watching three back-to-back episodes of Gilmore Girls.
The kitchen table. We got this for free (like nearly all our furniture, actually), and I’d like to paint it all black. But the sanding. . . yuck. The priming. More yuck. We may just eventually buy a new table and pass this one on to another family in need of a table, like we were when it was given to us.
I had grand plans of painting the bathroom and trim before my parents came tomorrow (tomorrow!), but it won’t happen. Unless I don’t go to bed tonight. And that definitely won’t happen. So, hopefully, despite the ugly bathroom, they’ll come visit again. Because the ugly bathroom is here to stay for at least a little while longer.
Miriam Higginson says
What a fun tour!
Jaime says
I found a mirror for $20 at Ross Dress for Less. It’s really cute too.
Ginger says
Enjoyed the tour. You don’t notice the diploma thing in the picture (until it’s pointed out). Where are all the nick-nacks, etc?
Lost A Sock says
Fun house tour! I love those curtains with the french doors.
chloe elizabeth says
I have yet to frame any of my diplomas/degrees. So sad.
Way to go with the housing projects. It seriously never ends! I so miss having a hous, but I definitely don’t miss the work.
heidikins says
Oooh! I love housing projects! Seriously, I go to consignment stores almost every weekend, ya know, just to see if they have anything new and irresistable. They sometimes do, sometimes not so much. But I love it just the same!
xox
ambrosia ananas says
Congratulations on being officially graduated.
I like the green curtains. They’re fun. And hooray for herbs. Basil is so tasty.
Merrick White says
Is that a blanket on the green chair? Or fabric you’re planning to recover with?
Merrick White says
p.s., I want to come visit. I loved the house tour!
Karen says
Janssen, It was just last week that George reminded me that we, too have some unfinished painting. The laundry room has been in a patched and partially primed condition for probaby 12-15 years now, and we have never given it a final coat. So you see, you can live with unfinished projects for a very long time. You can even forget that they are unfinished and just start to think that is how they are supposed to be. But maybe now that Andrew has started on the painting merit badge, the job will really get done (that is why George brought it up in the first place). So there is still hope.
One Smart Cookie says
You have such a beautiful house. And that wedding photo is gorgeous (from what I could see in the small-ish picture). Perhaps you would be inspired to post more wedding photos sometime?
The closet in our bedroom is probably about the size of the one you have… but I made Matt use the one in the guest bedroom so that I could have it all to myself!
Meleah says
Awesome! I love that you posted all of the pictures of your house! Love the Blog!
Chelsea says
You seem to have a natural flare for decorating. It’s all gorgeous! I wish I inherited that gene!
Karen MEG says
I love taking tours- I’m so nosy; thanks for sharing your lovely house. I love your use of green!
Ralphie says
Love the couches, as you well know. Seeing them just makes me happy. The white paint in the living room is lovely.
janet says
so cute! you’re making me REALLLLLLLLLLLLY want a house!
Terri B. says
Hi Janssen!
I’m leaving notes with anyone that I think might have my blog on a reader. I understand that at least one person who had me on Google Reader was re-directed to new posts at a “Tip of the Iceberg” blog from Iowa. It might have something to do with the fact that I set up a Feedburner acct. Not sure. You know, technology mystery. Anyway, the problem was resolved by having that person re-subscribe. I think she went to my blog and used the subscribe button located there. So just in case you went to a blog in Iowa and was wondering why it was green and why I was blogging about RAGBRAI… :o)