Boudoir De Litte Sirs Before and After

I bet you have been on baited breath wondering what the Mistress of the Cottage has been up to this summer...just pretend along with me...

Well, other than basking in the chlorine relief known as The Pool, I have been busy finishing (after 2 years) the boys' room.

Before and After pics....lets start with the bathroom...

I'm sure you all remember the white carpet, pink toilet, and peeling wallpaper...

And now we have natural slate flooring, a white toilet, and hand painted stripes...

Who can forget this delightful vanity?  Some of my favorite features were 1) the faux wood countertop 2) the pink sink 3) the ultra useful cabinet doors...because everyone knows you store your stuff in a big cabinet instead of drawers...

And After....The ultra useful vanity was replaced with one with DRAWERS for people to put their stuff AWAY in.  Symmetrical so that each boy gets the EXACT same thing!  New lights, towel hangers (see Sir M's green towel and Sir E's blue) the granite counter top is an improvement for sure!

Before the renovation the only place for the sirs to hang their towels was over by the toilet???  On a towel bar no less.  Little boys do not fold towels on a towel bar.  Unless you live to go up to their room and re-fold their towels on a daily basis, I suggest...

Hooks!  Everyone can use a hook!  The boys each have their own side and since everything they have is color coded, no one can blame someone else for leaving wet towels on the floor.  If it is blue, it was Sir E!  Isn't that tidy and easy!

And Now for the grand boudoir reveal....

Just to refresh your memory...their room was navy and red plaid wallpaper...the entire room...

After a nightmare that included removing two (2) layers of wallpaper AND re-surfacing the ENTIRE room's dry walled surfaces...we have paint!  Miss Melanie is here for a final inspection...

Don't be fooled...under this peeling paper lies a layer of paper that was glued directly to the drywall with absolutely no prep work...

Rugby stripes.  These are pretty timeless.  I am not worried about the sirs outgrowing this...

There are not words...neither for the mess, nor the awfulness...

I did remember to put the vent cover back on after this pic...

And the matching drapes...that were rotting, in real life...

I do still need to add some sort of window treatments...but for now this is SO MUCH nicer!  This side of the room is green with horizontal stripes.  It helps break up the pattern and spaces.  The window a/c is because it was a devilishly hot summer (the hottest on record) and the upstairs needed a little boost in order to be bearable...

You can't really even tell what a cool shape their room has with all of the same wall covering...

Blasted sun...well, here you can clearly see the "nook" where their beds are and then the other "room" where the pattern and colors change...

Good Grief...

Same area, different angle...much better...

This is the entryway to their room.  Again you can see where the room turns into another area and the change of paint...

I just love the rugby stripes with their plaid bedding. 

 This was by far the biggest project we have done to date!  It took FOREVER!  I am so happy with the result, though.  They have a useable bathroom (if they could just keep it clean) and their bedroom really reflects them.  Now what????

Pictorials: Sirs' Water Closet Update and Madam Lu's Birthday

As you all know, I have been working on the striped masterpiece that is the Sirs' bathroom.  I showed you pics of the hand drawn stripes last time.  We also discussed Sir L's vehemence towards tape.  So, your Mistress spent HOURS hand striping the first color...Kensington Blue...I decided I would hand paint the colors and then go back and tape before the final coat of white...thus only taping once and ensuring the exact stripes I desire.  I am such a good little compromise-r!

Imagine my dismay, when returning home from an outing I found Sir L in said room with the TAPE...oh. my. fill-in-your-favorite-expletive-or-not.  He decided to "help" and realized that it was just too hard to paint stripes without tape.  I will tell you, dear friends, that I gaffawed.  Really?  Truly?  After the...lets call it a "heated" discussion in which tape usage was basically forbidden???  Really. Truly.

So, this is the wall behind the toilet.  It is not totally done, I still have to TAPE over the colored stripes to do the final coat of white and clean everything to my exact vision.  Still, you can see some progress.  I think it will be very boy-manish and hopefully they will not outgrow this look for a LONG time (as I never want to do stripes like this again!)

Dastardly Wallpaper Update: This is what I have left.  Sir was supposed to tear down the beds so I could complete the paper last week, but somehow ended up immersed in MY bathroom project. (having a hard time letting the tape thing go) 

You can see where I tore off the top layer of paper around this closet.  I can not remove the second layer without the paper-removing-potion, and do not want to soak their beds, so...um, hopefully Sir moves the beds this week? (obviously, I'm still feeling a bit irked)

Have you ever wondered what happens to a ceiling fan when a 6yr old plays Tarzan with it?  It becomes another project Sir could have worked on instead of using the forbidden TAPE. (still slightly irritated...) 

And now on to Madam Lu's birthday cake.  2 Rounds...I think mine are 10".  I found a pattern of sorts online.

Before you judge...I have no idea why I do this every year.  My only reasoning is that some day, the kids will be grown, sitting around a camp fire late into the night, cracking up about the horrid cakes "Mom made us for every birthday".  Thus we begin Madam Lu's foray into birthday cake humiliation...The globby, stripe things have a tiny striped texture and it is supposed to look like fuzzy fur...Madam Lu LOVES kitties...oh, heck, I'm not fooling anyone...it is pretty aweful!

What is that?

Opa, who made her amazing window cornice last year, made her a kitchen this year.

And it is AMAZING!

Grandma 'Beck got her a camp chair that is an exact miniature of mine!  The perfect throne to open gifts!

A classic pink Radio Flyer tricycle.

Oma found the feather boa laying around...Madam Lu felt it really completed the outfit!

At least she knew what the cake was supposed to be...she kept meowing at it.

I added two huge tubs of chopped fresh strawberries to the cake batter, so it was edible.  With determination, she blew out both candles and after cake did some dancing.  She was delightful and entertaining for the entire party!

Leeks and Greeks and Peeling Wallpaper Stinks!

I AM BACK!  Your mistress is back and alive and healthy after a long break.  My apologies!  So much to catch up on...

In my absence, the Cottage has had two birthdays.  Sir E turned 8 last week and Madam Lu is 2 today!

I cut off his long locks the night before his big day.  I really like this Sir with short spikey hair much better!

You may remember Sir M's Colonial Flag cake?  Well, Sir E got a more modern take on patriotism!  The cake was not that great, so I won't go into any more details on that.

We went to Takaoka of Japan to celebrate.  A darling friend watched Madam Lu for us because baby on a hibachi grill is not as tasty as fillet.

Today is Madam Lu's special day, but her party is not until Sunday, so to be continued on all of that...

That is the family update.  Now onto the remodeling....

Just to remind you of what we started with in the Sirs' room...

I would honestly say that just taking down those dark and dreary curtains made a huge difference, but tah-dah...the wall is all clean and ready to be filled and sanded....yippee!

Another before

And after the peel. 

A close-up of what I am dealing with.

Surprise!  After the layer of dark plaid is peeled, I am left with some seriously old lighter plaid. 

Which, even after scoring the heck out of, and dousing with paper remover stuff, still only comes off inch by inch.

I am left with the area where the Sirs' bunk beds are located to peel and then on to the wall repair.  I am thinking of painting their ceiling a light gray?


Their bathroom is looking splendid...the new floor is done, the new vanity and granite counter are installed.  I am working on my template for striping the room.

Right, I have no idea why this pic is turned, but actually the stripes are vertical.  They have also led to a bit of controversy here at the cottage.  Your Mistress wants to tape and stripe the whole bathroom in such a manner.  Sir L, however, has declared that he will not spend $900 on tape and I must make my stripes much, much bigger.  The B's will be blue and the G's will be green...the stripes not labeled are staying white.  I tried to compromise by limiting the spaces I will be striping, to no avail.  Yesterday I saw some free-handed striping in an AMAZING cottage and so now I am thinking of just free-handing them.  I do love the natural and organic look of free-handed stripes, but for some reason I was thinking more crisp and precise for this room.  Alas, I may need to give in on this one, friends.


So, I am wondering, have you tried Greek yogurt yet?  Well, it is lower in sodium than regular yogurt, so I gave it a try.  OH.MY.  It is gooooood.  Really.  Gooooooood.  I am not sure what makes it Greek, but I really enjoy imagining Brad Pitt playing Achilles in the movie Troy, eating it next to me!

Tonight I am making something with leeks.  I have not ever cooked with them before, but I love the way they look and they sound so earthy...I will let you know.....

With this I say goodbye, for now, but I will not be on break again for awhile, so expect to hear from me more regularly again!

Love, The Mistress of the Cottage