Weekend Outdoor Life

We spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend, even though it was 115 and fairly high humidity for the desert! We all enjoyed the pool, including Gordan. Saturday he jumped onto my raft from the side of the pool and thought he was going overboard. He was fine, but later in the day, he tried to jump off the raft he was sharing with me, onto the side of the pool deck. The problem was, we were a few feet away from the pool deck and he fell in!! He was under water for a few seconds before I could get to him and pull him up. Its hard to move quickly in the water! He coughed for awhile after that, but otherwise it didn't seem to bother him too much. Whew! That was scary! We got a life vest so he could float in the water with us, but he has to work very hard to keep his head above water. So I solved that by giving him a pool noodle for his front legs. He seemed to enjoy that....

We also bought a small Mexican Fan Palm and planted it ourselves. We struggled a little because it was pretty large for two people. And Todd dug the hole in 115 degrees :) But I'm in love with this little guy! Isn't he so cute?!

While Todd was digging the palm hole, I was pruning the Date Palms (we have two). Now they actually have trunks and are starting to look like real palm trees!

We also bought a couple more ice plants in yellow. These guys are great too... eventually I want to line most of the pool with them.

Close up of the ice plants we planted about a month ago, in purple. So pretty when they bloom during the day. The blooms close every night.

More Painting

Oh yeah, our 4th of July party forced me to finish painting the stairs and most of the upstairs. I went with a tuscan yellow and actually really like this one! It looks brighter in the pics than it does in person.

Herky is saying "hi" here!

The Pub Room

After three paint changes, the slow but precise process of building and staining a "bar," and waiting for a pool table to make it all the way from Iowa.... our pub room is (almost) done. It still needs window treatments, more art to complete the room, and a few more touches. But its well on its way and the most pertinent part of the room is up - the pool table!! Welcome to our pub room!!

The shelf

We did the trim.

And the staining.

Poly coat.

Shiny!

Hanging art.

Pool table up!

Our pub table, purchased off Craigslist.

Oh yeah, that martini art is from Craigslist too. $5!! I love CL!

Pub Room On Its Way

The saga of the pub room paint continued this weekend. Todd suggested Navy for the room and I wasn't sure. But in the shower one morning, a new thought came to me. I would be ok with a dark navy bottom, with subtle cream stripes on the top. My sister did a similar thing in her master with burgundy, and I love it.  However, I always wanted to try metallic paint, and specifically metallic paint stripes. So, I went to Lowe's and grabbed every one of their metallic paint samples. Todd actually picked out the navy color (I had picked up about 25 different navy colors). And then we pulled out the best options in metallic paint that would look good with the navy. I settled on "blue sateen."

The metallic paint has to begin with an undercoat in a specified color. Since I have a paint discount at Pittsburgh, I picked up the undercoat, "Freshwater," there. I painted the upper and lower half of the pub  room before getting the metallic paint. Then Saturday we went to Lowe's to get the paint, and the clear flat top coat that would provide the subtle stripes. However, all that was on the shelf was the clear coat in satin. Since the metallic paint is shiny, I knew satin wouldn't be the sheen needed for the stripes. I asked, and was told that Lowe's no longer carries the flat protector. WHAT? I based my whole room around this!! Needless to say, I was not happy, but thought I should try just painting stripes of metallic and alternate with the Freshwater that was already on the wall. I was assured I could return the paint if it didn't give me what I want. After all, their instructions told me to use a product that doesn't exist!

So started the long process of painting metallic stripes. I've never done vertical stripes, but it was surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be. It just took a lot of time and patience. So, here's the room so far. I'm not totally excited about the effect. I wanted the whole wall to be the metallic color, with very subtle stripes. The end result is not quite so subtle. I'm thinking that once we get art up on the wall, and our bar built, and the pool table in there, I will be happy with it. For the record: the metallic paint is so pretty and looks awesome! I would definitely use it again!

Failures... and one success

So, I wanted to make our front room a "pub room." Its the perfect size for a pool table, and we plan to have a bar in there someday. Pubs are usually dark, so I choose an olive green that I've loved for awhile. But it turned out to not be a good choice because our house is too dark. All our windows have sunscreens, which help keep our house about 10 degrees cooler than outside. Unfortunately, it also makes everything dark. I then picked out an orange, thinking it would be dark, but bright for the room. But that didn't turn out so well either. So this weekend I went and picked up paintable samples to get some ideas for the room. I like the terra cotta orange, but its still not the look I was going for. What I want is a color I saw at my salon in Iowa City. I called them today, and they knew the color, but it was made by an Iowa paint manufacturer. So I called the paint store, and they do not carry the color anymore. Furthermore, they didn't have the color on file from her account. Sigh.... will I ever get the color up I want?

The olive is the first color. Looks ok in the pics, but too dark in person.

The four stripes on the wall are colors we were thinking about.

Also tried an orange I really liked. Too bright, although I still like this color. Not the pub color I was hoping.

What to do....

Todd spent some time this weekend putting together a misting system for our patio. The misting system will keep us cooler outside in the summer. Todd tested it Sunday (after curing for 24 hours) and there were no leaks! Its ready to go. I just need to paint it to match the house!

Adding on a splitter from our hose spiket.

Going up the side of the patio.

With the misters on! They all work!

Dad always taught me to buy the right tools, the first time! We purchased this PVC cutter for $13 at Home Depot. Totally worth it! Cut the pipe perfectly and without any plastic saw chips to worry about getting in our pipes!

My Parents Condo

My parents recently bought a condo here in AZ, and have asked Vicki and I (mostly Vicki) to help decorate it, paint it, get it ready, etc. Vicki is really good at that sort of thing, I just follow her directions... =) We've spent the last two days doing some painting up there, and below are some before and after pics.

The hallway, white before.

The hallway, some green color after (Vicki would have to tell you the color name...)

Vicki, doing the edging.

The living room (new color, was white).

Living room, into kitchen. Was also white.

I don't have any good before pictures, but one wall in the living room was an awful color of pink that we painted over. We managed to get two walls in the living room with two coats, and painted half the kitchen and the hallway with one coat. We might have gotten more work done, but we ran into some difficulties running errands both yesterday and today, including a dead battery in Vicki's car today at Home Depot.

All in all, we did a lot of work, but have a lot left to do. I hope my parents appreciate it!!