Done!

Sadly - not the house. Though I did - finally - finish all the painting. That's right folks . . . the painting is finally finished! I really wish we had kept track of how many gallons of paint we went through. Or saved all the empty cans for one impressive photo. Oh well.

So here's a corner of our bedroom. We still haven't decided what to paint on that corner piece so I guess the painting isn't totally done - if you want to get all technical. But this is just fancy finishing so it doesn't really count.
And here's Alan's office. His corner piece will say "write." We're still deciding on the font.Alan's been busy building temporary stair rails. I would dearly love to know how all the fancy homes you see in the decorating and architecture magazines pass inspection. Stairs with no risers are a big no-no (though they look fabulous and are in all the magazines) and if you want horizontal bars on your railing the gaps have to be no more than 4 inches. You know - so your cat doesn't accidentally slip through the side.
I'm convinced that most code requirements are designed to make homes as generic as possible. You should have seen the inspector when I asked about the possibility of not using sheetrock for the ceilings.
Inspector: What do you mean, not use sheetrock?
me: Well, the though of mudding and sanding over my head isn't so appealing, so I was thinking of using something else. Can I use some kind of panel - like homosote - wrapped in fabric and attached to the ceiling in a pattern, like a quilt?
Inspector: ????????????
me: Is that allowed?
Inspector: Well . . . you could use wood.
me: So our options are wood or sheetrock?
Inspector: Yes. (helpfully) You could do your fabric idea over top of the sheetrock. But you'd still have to mud the seams.
me: sigh

Wednesday is supposed to be more gorgeous weather (almost 70 degrees!) so Alan and I are planning some major progress. Updates to follow later this week.

And speaking of updates - here's the little project I did with Jo.
I have no idea when or where (or how) I acquired this pencil box with kissing babies on it. I've been using it as a portable sewing kit and I kind of shudder every time I pull it out.

A quick hit with some sandpaper, a coat of blue paint, and an image cut from a fun (but damaged) Powerpuff Girls book and I have a new and improved sewing kit. Ta daa!Jo is still working on her project. It involves lots of random images and she's not so good at finishing what she starts. Since step one of her project was dumping all of her hair accessories out of their plain white tin onto her bedroom floor, I hope I can get her to wrap it up soon. . .