Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Ryan's Bedroom Before & After

I am finally posting Ryan's Bedroom Re-Do. Click here for the original post. Here are the before pics again. The pictures are not that great, but basically it's the original paint, the room has not changed since we moved into the house 4 years ago.
BEFORE:


Drum Roll ....... I call it modern minimalist-cool chic.
AFTER:


I started out by clearing out the entire room. It is so much easier to work in the space if you clear everything out. Then we started taping. Because of Ed's back, I didn't get any help from him, but Ryan stepped up to the plate and he taped everything. He did an awesome job. Then there was some debate on whether to do the horizontal stripe around the room. That took about 1 day of thought (I do a lot of thinking, before actually doing it). I painted the room in Behr Premium Plus in Anonymous which is a gray. After it dried, I taped for the horizontal stripe. I bought a laser level because I thought it would help, but found it more frustrating than helpful.
I painted the horizontal stripe in Behr Premium Plus in Stealth which is on the same color card as the Anonymous. There were some mishaps with the stripe (we recovered). Half way through I was trying to justify in my head, how I could get away with just doing 2 walls and not go all the way around, but I prevailed. We really loved the way it turned out. I was concerned that it would be too dark, but it turned out great. I really like the contrast of the colors with the white mouldings.
We had already bought some other bedding, but I happened to be browsing at Wal-Mart and found this Microfiber bedding set which I thought would go so much better, so I had Ryan choose and he chose the Wal-Mart set. The picture frame above the bed is from IKEA. We were actually there to buy a different picture, then saw this one on clearance for under $30....AMAZING....the original picture I was going in there to buy was over $100. The pic is black and gray hues, with a red pop of color, just like the pillow on the bed. The smoke colored curtains are from IKEA , 2 panels for under $20!!! I swapped the dresser from Brennan's room for Ryan's old nightstand. I left space above the dresser for a future wall mounted TV...way down the road! I re-purposed some frames that I had in storage. I didn't want to put a night stand back in because it is a magnet for clutter. So I helped Ryan de-clutter, sort, organize and store and put in these floating shelves. Tah-dah! Now Brennan is jealous and wants a redo in his room. I need to recover from this one first.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Bonneville Salt Flats

Sunday after church we headed for the Bonneville Salt Flats and Speedway. Ryan had been wanting to go all Summer and do some photography and we just couldn't squeeze it in until last weekend. We packed a dinner and drove out there for the evening for some good photography lighting. We had great family time, which I think we don't get enough of. I love hanging with my boys and having them all to myself. I highly recommend the Flats, it's like you are on another planet. We got on the Speedway and Ed drove pretty fast, no land records were broken, but it was pretty exhilirating. Ryan practiced his photography and driving. Brennan and I walked around and did some reading.
On our way out from the Speedway, we stopped at the entrance to eat our dinner and ran across a biker couple with their "hogs" who were having some mechanical problems. Ed asked if they needed help and they said they were okay, but I encouraged Ed to wait and finish our dinner and make sure they got off okay because it was getting dark and the speedway had pretty much cleared out. After about 45 minutes, they couldn't get their bike started so we offered to push start. Because of Ed's back he couldn't help, but Ryan and I threw on our running shoes (Ed always throws in a pair of extra shoes for us) and we got the bike going. It feels so good to help people.
The Salt Flats are called the "Salt Flats" for a reason. It is Salty. Because Ryan was laying down on the ground for some of his shots, the ground is moist and he was soaked and salty. His clothes were hard when they dried. The inside of the car was packed with salt from our shoes. When we got a look at the car the next day the wheel wells of the car were packed with salt that looked like snow and outside of the car had a thick coating of salt. Needless to say, a serious car wash was in order Monday morning.





Thursday, September 2, 2010

He's Got Our Back

Ed has been having some major lower back issues over the past several months. His back pain is a major source of conversation in our household. The other morning, I woke up to find this on the floor outside my bedroom door.

Dad this can help you with your back!!!!!!!! $39.95 Call 1-800-617-6086

Apparently, Brennan had been up early that morning watching TV and saw a commercial for some kind of back remedy. We're still not sure what it is. But we thought it was so cute that he was thinking about Ed, wrote down all the information and didn't wake us up.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

First Day of School - 2010

The boys started school last week. Yahoo! I am not one of those parents that cries when their kids start school. I love it! I am so excited to have everyone back on a schedule, including myself! The only thing I don't like is homework, their homework means homework for me too!
Ryan - 9th Grade

Brennan - 2nd grade

Jake, Josh & Brennan
buddies at the bus stop