Round 2

Miss Paige would like to welcome you to ROUND 2. Her FAVORITE adjective is "WAY", she uses it with everything. "This is way good!" "This is way hard!" "It hurts way bad!" "I am way tired!" "I want some candy way bad!" So... in honor of her... I will warn you... this is WAY LONG.

I'm still wondering if I was under the influence of a controlled substance when I came up with this idea. Y'all are some noseholes. :) Just kidding... I asked for it, didn't I--but boy, y'all sure came up with a bunch of questions, and every time I turn around there's another one. We've had a great weekend... but I am suffering from 2 ailments: home dec sewing frustration & carpel tunnel. What?! Yes. I despise sewing home dec stuff {pillows, curtains, bedskirts, etc}. It makes me crazy. Both of these bathroom renovations are requiring curtains {of the pinch-pleated and roman variety}. Taking the fabric to a seamstress is out of the question so I'm "pressing on" {no pun intended}. As for the carpel tunnel... I've never had it and I'm not sure why I got it, or even if I have it... but my right wrist is killing me. No numbness... just aching to the point of keeping me awake at night! Just when I get the baby sleeping my wrist is waking me up. I think I'm rigged up ergonomically here but perhaps I'm not. Anyway, there's more below so I better save my words and my wrist!

I'm wondering where you got your rug in your living room? (The room with the tall, white bookcases).
I think she's refering to this one. Shades of Light:: in BEIGE.

And then someone else asked...

And I love your kilim rug...did it have any odor when you got it home? Sometimes I am hesitant to order rugs online because I've read they can be "smelly". Expecting a new baby soon and don't want any unnecessary odors around. Thanks so much!

I don't know why but this made me laugh. Justin and I (and Morgan, too) smell everything. In fact, Erika has even caught me on her camera phone smelling rugs... although she tried to tell her bloggers that I was breakdancing on it. The whole time I was down there on the floor smelling rugs I was thinking of my friend Shireen... who has spent many a day selling {not smelling} oriental rugs. The great thing about a kilim is that it is a woven rug and can be flipped over, as opposed to most orientals that have a cut pile {Shireen, please correct me if I'm wrong on that}. Ours has held up great and it gets a lot of wear & tear and spit up. I've had it professionally cleaned once and every little spot came out. Although, it has acquired a lot more little spots on it now and you really have to look hard to see them. It's definitely "family friendly". I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it... except the price tag. And if it did have any odor it must not have been too bad because I certainly don't remember one and it doesn't have one now. While we're talking about rugs... I can assure you if you spend the extra money and get a nice wool rug it will last forever and it will be worth the extra $. {In my opinion, they wear and look better.} Here I am getting my "rug smell" on, as for my face, I'm not sure what happened, I must have been in a hurry.

Speaking of things that go on the floor.... someone else asked...

Quick question: My husband and I just bought an older home and we will definitely be putting down hardwood floors in the near future - What is the brand/color/width of your hardwood floors?
I have mentioned this before... but this is a good time to mention it again. They came from Howell Flooring. It is a company owned by a family in our church... and they do ship nationwide. Ours are Pecan with "saddle stain" and 5" wide. They are beautiful and wear great... we are very pleased with them.

...what is the color of the walls in the girls' room?
Woodlawn Blue by Benjamin Moore.

Moving on to ... more paint questions {I LOVE PAINT! It alone can do wonders to an old house!} There were several questions about the kitchen but I think this one wraps them all into one:

I would also like to know about your kitchen cabinets. Did you paint them? What was the process? What did you paint them? I have kitchen cabinets that I would like to give a facelift to but I'm a little hesitant to take the plunge!

Yes, we certainly painted them and the panelling. See, they used to look like this:

And in the middle of the process...

We took down the wall/spindles and made the counter top longer along that wall for the bar. We had a carpenter build one cabinet {w/2 drawers} to the right of the stove to support the granite. It was an eat-in kitchen which we changed up by extending the counter top for stools and moved the fridge to where they had the "kitchen table". Here are some pics of after {that were taken last summer when my kitchen was nice and tidy}...

Can't paint work wonders? Besides adding the drawers we did nothing structural to the cabinets. I even left the inside of them that cheery yellow {well, not the open ones but the rest of them}. And honestly, if we hadn't extended the counter top for the barstools I would have left the yellow laminate. It really didn't bother me at all. As for painting these bad boys.... if you are refinishing a kitchen that has had a lot of food fried in it and there is a "tack" to every surface you will need to wipe the surface of your cabinets {and/or wall panelling} with a product like TSP {it cuts the grease off surfaces}. Then I would recommend you lightly sand. But really you don't HAVE to. If you are moving your cabinet hardware like we did {from the center of every door to the corner} you'll want to fill your holes and sand the spot where they used to be. We primed our cabinets and our walls with Kilz {the oil-based stinky kind}. The paint we used is a latex paint by Coronado called Rustscat. {I went to their site but it looked like it wasn't working right so I won't link}. You can talk to your paint people... just be sure you tell them you want a scrubable latex paint for cabinets {they almost all have a "kitchen & bath" variety}. They should be able to find you a good product. If I recall we brushed all the bases of the cabinets but had a painter spray the cabinet doors. If you don't have a sprayer I recommend you use a foam roller for the cabinet doors. Our cabinets and trim throughout our house is semi-gloss White Dove by Benjamin Moore. **side note** If you have Oak cabinets you may want to paint the inside of a door first because even if you paint Oak you will still see the grain through the paint.

How's Morgan progress on the thumb sucking? Has it been 30 days yet? Where do you get all your ideas for the crafts you do with the girls? AND...What's your favorite color?

She's doing great! Thanks for asking. We're still sleeping in bandaids but she's doing great and I can already tell her teeth are looking better. It hasn't been 30 days yet... I don't think! I need to check my calendar. We gave up on the stickers after a few weeks. She lost interest and I did too! As for the ideas for crafts. They come from all places. Sometimes my brain sometimes other people's brains. If I comes from someone else I usually will link to them or at least give them credit! :) My favorite color is green. My favorite paint color is Camoflage by Benjamin Moore.

Moving on to camera questions...

I too have the same camera..but i don't quiet know how to use it correctly. Sometimes, I get better pictures with my small P&S kodak camera, than my canon. So, please guide us on the different setting that you use. 2. i really want to remodel my kitchen cabinets to make them look like yours. Can you tell me the process- such as Did you really sand them completely down?? what kind of paint you use? etc...
I'm quite flattered that you all are asking me for camera/photography advice... but I honestly feel very incompetent to answer. I've only had my camera a few weeks but I will do my best to give you what I feel like is concise advice that has value. I fear any of you photographers out there will get a chuckle out of my advice.... so keep in mind you have asked advice from a novice.

1. Turn your flash off.
2. Learn & Shoot in your CREATIVE zones {in my camera that would be P, Tv, Av, M,& A-DEP}.
3. Learn how to change & select your AF {auto focus} point. Let's take for example my new favorite snack...

In this picture I told my camera to focus on the peanut butter and apple. And you scratch you head and say "how"... and I say grab your manual and research "adjusting your AF point".

To the peanut butter and apple you add...

{I told the camera to focus on those DRY ROASTED sunflower seeds.} DRY ROASTED! DRY ROASTED! I repeat... DRY ROASTED. Where have they been all my life? I could get sick on them. They're better than DRY ROASTED PEANUTS.

Then...

throw a little peanut butter on your apple and sprinkle some seeds on top! Then eat up.You'll thank me.

4. Learn how to shoot in Av {Aperture Priority mode}. Aperture is measured in F stops. In Av you select your aperture and the camera selects the shutter speed. Let's take Minnie for example {thank you children for letting me borrow her for a photoshoot}...

In this first picture I set the aperture {F2.8}. With a LOW F-stop {which is technically a HIGH aperture} the shutter speed is fairly fast.

So when I shot Minnie it sounded like "CLICK" and with a LOW F-stop the background will be blurred and foreground {or wherever you set your AF point} will be in focus.

Then I shot her with a HIGH F-stop {F22}, which is techincally a low aperture and results in a sharper foreground & background.

And the shutter speed sounded like this "CLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK" and there's no way on earth I could have gotten a clear picture if the camera hadn't been sitting on the counter. Moral, don't shoot in a HIGH F-stop unless your camera is attached to a tripod and there are no children within 100 feet.

So, a large aperture is a smaller f-stop. F 2.8 is bigger {in terms of aperture} than F 22. Make sense, doesn't to me either. So, let's just go with it. And don't tell the girls I shot Minnie. And I wish she'd take those fancy white gloves and get all those little crumbs off my counters.

5. Learn to shoot in manual M {not manual focus} and adjust or meter the exposure.
6. Shooting around noon will cast strong shadows on faces {like sweet little Tutty in the previous post}. Morning and late afternoon are better.

All of this can be found in your owner's manual. Yes, I read mine. And my sister shared some tips that Marla shared with her. So in a nutshell, read your manual. Also, it's a common misconception that shooting in any of the creative zones requires that you "manually focus"... this is not true. Your camera will always auto focus {where you tell it} as long as your lens is set to AF. Marla suggests a book called UNDERSTANDING EXPOSURE. So if you read your manual and still don't get it... maybe that will help. Also, YouTube is a wealth of knowledge... grab your camera, go sit and watch. You can learn great stuff on there.

I have more specifics on my camera {& lenses} info in this POST!

How much did you pay to have any of your chairs recovered?
This one was only $150... the others were more. Closer to $250 each.

I've been back to the same man with other pieces and his prices are drastically higher now. Oh well, I got one good deal out of him!

I noticed a while back in a photo of your outdoor furniture you had a piece of the same brown/white fabric on the outdoor table as you have on your chair in your living room. Did you put it under a piece of glass on the outdoor table? Did you cover it with clear vinyl? How'd you do that?? I dig it. Blog on, friend. :)

The fabric {navy & white} on the chair above is OUTDOOR fabric and I had just enough to cover our patio table. No vinyl, no glass... just fabric and I ran my pinking shears around the outside and stabbed a hole in the middle for my umbrella to fit through. It comes clean in the washing machine. I've been known to throw fabric on tables and "pink" the edges. It's so easy and fun! Try it!

I emailed yesterday to ask about your oversized Easter baskets?! Are they PBK? They look bigger than theirs -...?
Yes, I think. I did not buy them, my SIL gave them to us for Christmas but I'm 99% sure they Pottery Barn {but PBK 2+ years ago}.

Since I refuse to ask your sister design questions--any idea on where to get a comfy and very, very reasonably priced chair and ottoman? Furniture is soo overpriced (at least to my poor self)!

Amen, sister! In case y'all haven't priced furniture lately... a chair & ottoman cost more than a sofa. The only place I can think to find one for a good price is a thrift store. But be aware... by the time you get your fabric and have it reupholstered it will only be a couple hundred less than the new... so think it through. I think we should go on strike against CHAIR PEOPLE. I mean, seriously, why are they so expensive? And I love them. I'd rather have 4 chairs than 2 sofas any day. Sofas are awkward unless you're laying on them. And who has time to lay on a sofa?

I'm almost done... This post has been going on for days now. I'm ready for it to end.

My question is...where are your favorite places to find really good deals...how about a couple of tips on where you shop for furniture...homegoods and clothes for the family?...can't wait for the answer!!

This is a fun question! Homegoods: antique malls & thrift stores. And the curb on "curbside pick-up" trash day. For home accessories that can't be bought at thrift stores if you want them to match {like towels, etc} TJMaxx & Ross. Clothes for me: About 80% of the clothes that hang in my closet used to hang in Erika's closet. Those that didn't came from: Walmart {even jeans, yes, NoBo has cute jeans in lengths}, KMart, Forever 21, Ross, or the Old Navy clearance rack. The girls clothes: Most of their clothes come from their cousin Ava... unless it matches, then I probably got them at Walmart or Target. If what they are wearing is WHITE {which I really like on little children} it came from Dharma.

And my all time favorite purchase from KMart was this little table cloth from the clearance rack for $1.50. It makes me smile and I love that it matches the girls table & chairs.

I wasn't positive if the chairs Mom bought them had lead or not. I tested them and it was inconclusive because the chairs were painted red and if they had lead the swab turned red... wasn't sure if that was positive or the paint rubbing off. So to be safe I ordered some that are 100% lead free. The girls were so upset because their feet won't touch the floor in these... but I imagine it will only be a matter of months before their little feet are planted firmly on the ground.

I also scour clearance racks at all stores. I found these at Target last week. The tag reads $1.96. I bought 6 of them. I'll probably accompany them with a burp cloth and be done for lots of baby showers. They have chicks hatching but no reference to Easter so I think they'll be great for boys or girls year round. JM will be sportin' one too. *** To get clearance tags off {or any price tag for that matter} take a hot blow dryer to the tag for a minute... the glue will warm up and the tag will come RIGHT OFF, and no one will ever know you got their gift for $1.96... unless, that is, you post it on your blog! :)***

Do you like your coffee black or do you prefer a little coffee with your sugar and cream (like me?)
I like it with whole milk & Splenda! Mmm.

Is there any better place to practice the gift of hospitality than our homes?
No!

I'm going to try to convince Justin to do Round 3 for me!