If you give a mouse a cookie...

This morning I thought I'd put some of my clothes away and get the blue room organized, since my current method of getting dressed involves fishing through the gigantic pile of clothes on the floor and employing my sense of smell.  I'll say no more on that... other than it's one of the less convenient ways I've stored clothes over the years.  Anyway, with the green dresser painted and situated, I carted a few loads of clothes and clutter over to our house from Todd's parents', and started putting things away, naively thinking I'd be done by lunch.  

I then ran smack into what I'll call the "Sweater Phenomenon," also acceptably referred to as the "snowball effect," which seems to plague everything I try to do some days.  ("Sweater" comes from that Weezer song "If You Want to Destroy My Sweater" -- it's funny, you should check it out.)  The Sweater Phenomenon occurs when you want to accomplish one thing, for our purposes, putting away clothes.  In order to put away the clothes, you have to find the hangers, sort the clothes, and open the overhead built-in cabinets to store the summer clothes.  Since they're pretty high up, you go find the step ladder.  Upon opening said cabinets, you discover at least 30 years of dirt and cobwebs and other grot, the composition of which you are not interested in, but greatly relieved that you don't have to touch.  You go fetch the shop vac, and vacuum up the cobwebs.  Then, you go find the Fantastik, and a sponge, and a bucket of warm water, and wipe out the cabinets.  After all this, they still look dirty, so you stand on the step ladder and agonize for 10 minutes about whether to paint them, or just do it later, which is risky because it may never get done.  While standing and agonizing, you look out the window, which is still quite filthy because you still haven't razored the outside of the glass.  In order to do that, you have to trim back the bushes so you can get to the window.  Also, it's supposed to rain this afternoon, so forget outdoor jobs.  And so on.  Then, after you nearly fall off the step ladder, you decide to go have M&M's (and a salad) for lunch, and whine about the Sweater Phenomenon.

Maybe this afternoon will be better.  I'm not exactly optimistic, though.  This house is like one giant sweater.

SUCCESS!

I spent the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday listening to obnoxious country music and putting the kitchen together. Since our appliances came and that obscene pink monstrosity is gone, I can tolerate being in the kitchen. Unpacking is a lot like Christmas, except that since I know what I packed to begin with, I know I'll like it. Shockingly, with our stuff settled in, I don't mind the kitchen that much. Don't get me wrong, I've been tirelessly plotting the remodeling plans, but I think it'll be okay for a few months. After things came together, this is how it looked:



I also think bathroom plans might be coming together (cross your fingers). I found a tub that wasn't in stock, according to Home Depot's website, but the store begged to differ. I think we're going to go with a deeper soaking tub (not a whirlpool), and I'm pretty sure that it will be the Kohler Devonshire in white. I though about the Archer, which was $20 cheaper, but they don't tell you that you have to use the $100 Kohler drain thingy, which made it a lot more. Sneaky. We also were considering an Aqua Glass because they make a soaker that costs half of what the Devonshire does, but then I read they crack.  So here's my review of the Aqua Glass Eleganza: given that pretty much the only purpose of a tub is to HOLD WATER, that sort of disqualifies it.



I met with a custom cabinet guy yesterday to duplicate this vanity for the bathroom. I was hoping to go with a lacquered white finish, but he said it would be significantly more expensive and take a lot more time than just staining it, so...maybe I'll get white cabinets in the kitchen.



I think we're going to go with this faucet. Kind of a fun style, huh? Another Home Depot find, knocking off the Pottery Barn. (Really, where do they get off charging $300 for a faucet? It's a FAUCET. It either works, or it doesn't. There aren't really features...)

The only thing that's presenting some trouble is flooring. I'd love Carrara marble (see pic) except that I don't want the whole bathroom to look like a cold tomb. Travertine looks warmer, but I don't want it to clash with the marble, since the marble's a gray tone, and the travertine (in ivory) would be more of a warm off-white. Porcelain is also an option; the ones I looked at looked so much like stone that I couldn't tell the difference till the guy told me.