Random 5 for April 4, 2021 – Time, Easter, painting, contractors, discounts

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The black and white decoration is Sasha. She never misses a photo op.

Yikes! A quarter of the year is gone! How did that happen? Oh yes, we moved. That is guaranteed to make time disappear. I’ve finally taken some pictures of the new family room. There is more work to be done here to make it ours than we expected but I think that’s how it always goes.

Easter memories – Today is a day reminds me of my childhood. Easter was a sort of big deal in my family. New outfit, special foods and if we’re lucky spring weather. One year I got a corsage from a guy I was dating. Those old Easter outfits always came with a hat and gloves, all color coordinated. I can’t remember the last time I work a hat except a snow hat to keep my ears warm. Today we are having ham just like when I was a kid with potatoes and asparagus.

A week of painting! – The entire new house was painted a tan shade. Originally I thought that would work but it doesn’t. There is a pinky undertone that makes it look flesh colored in certain light. Not a fan of flesh colored walls so it’s all getting painted eventually. The upstairs is done. Here is a bit of wisdom. After you have put all the drop cloths down to protect the floor and moved both the ladder and your paint in place, you will notice one spot where the drop cloths do not overlap. It’s a tiny area. In a world of probabilities, you have as much chance of putting a drop of paint in the spot as you have of winning the lottery. You can be sure that you will drop paint there (and will not win the lottery) so remove the paint equipment and the ladder and redo the drop cloths or you will waste 15+ minutes cleaning up that one splotch of paint off the rug.

Where have all the workmen gone? – Getting contractors to do work for you is near impossible these days. They are the new cabbage patch dolls. Impossible to find and outrageously priced. We have gone through a list with mixed results. Several are booked into next year. A few spent time with us and we never heard from them again. We have some recommendations from friends and family that we will try as soon as we get the energy.

This is the table I like (not the chairs, just the table). It’s smaller and would fit better.

Sometimes it pays to wait – When I’m buying a big item, I’m not impulsive. I save that for shoes and a run to the farmers market where I have no restraint at all. I’ve been looking at a new table for the kitchen eating area for a few months. You have to order furniture sight unseen these days and that’s unnerving for me. It’s also made with woods I’ve never heard of – mangowood? Rubberwood? (Do mangoes come with the mangowood?) Big item, lots of money and I can’t see it first? We took a road trip to a store in a faraway land (about an hour away) to see it in person. I like it and I like the look but it’s very different from anything I’ve ever had. Will it work? Is it the right size? Back and forth. This week I got a package from the store as a “new neighbor.” (I didn’t know that’s a thing but I’m being offered discounts from a lot of places because I moved.) I have a 20% discount on anything which makes the table a lot less expensive. I have a few weeks to pull the trigger. I wish the store were closer so I could go fondle it again.

So how was your week? (Pictures have been especially hard to work today with WordPress. They are forcing me to the new editor which is much more difficult for pictures. I apologize for out of sequence.)

This is the current dining room furniture. Classic and formal.

89 thoughts on “Random 5 for April 4, 2021 – Time, Easter, painting, contractors, discounts”

  1. The windows always sell the house to me. (paint is often cringe worthy, but always before I was quite fearless saying “I’ll just repaint. No problem.” Not so sure now. But wall color has to feel right and comfortable. Laughted at the overlapping of drop cloths. Looks like your ruling class has settling in, so now staff can try to do the same HAHAHA

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  2. Funny, we have exactly the same table you show in your second picture. It’s in light oak. But the rest of our house is decorated in a light Scandinavian style with quite empty rooms.
    Thanks for sharing.
    All the best
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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      • It’s actually our writing desk and the place of Dina’s desktop computer. As we have each a paperless office nothing is lying around except one notebook and my favourite pencil at my place. That’s an old school desk that fits perfectly well in a bay window. My wife Hanne-Dina uses this oak table. Her table is quite empty as well, just a stand for her iPad and a keyboard. But I have to mention that to live that minimalistic and organised is not hard but rather natural for us.

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          • For us your rooms are amazingly full. It’s natural to have lots of free space for us.
            You see how different the aesthical needs of people are which has to do with socialisation, fashion and the zeitgeist in general.
            As long as you feel at home and well in your surroundigs it’s fine. Your surroundings are a mirror of your being, they are as individual as people are.
            Thanks and cheers
            The Fab Four of Cley
            🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  4. Your home is beautiful, Kate, and I’m impressed with the level of painting and decorating you’re involved with, sans contractors. I hope your Easter was indeed a lovely day. And I’m just a little bit miffed with you that you mentioned we are a quarter into the year. I hadn’t absolutely focused on that prior to your mention, and now I feel a little anxious! 🙂

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    • I’m so grateful our horrendous winter is passed that I don’t mind the passage of time. I have always done my own painting and wallpaper but this house has cathedral ceilings and I can’t do those. It’s been frustrating trying to get contractors so if I can do the room (it’s not a high ceiling) I’m doing it. Much cheaper and done in a few days. Still have to get someone to do the foyer.

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        • I started “helping” as a young child. I was about 6 when my Dad put a wallpapering tool in my hand and gave me my first lesson. I could have done it professionally. Painting is much easier. Just steady hands to cut in. I only use tape on the baseboard.

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  6. We’ve bought a few big ticket items sight unseen, had them delivered, and had wonderful experiences. BUT it is scary to spend so much $$$ when you haven’t touched/seen/sat on whatever it is you’re buying. Fingers crossed for you.

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  7. I’m impressed with your abilities dealing with that &#$%* Block editor. Take a bow, you deserve it. I hate, hate, hate it.

    You’re right, buying furniture is hard anyway, much more so with the panDAMNic. I’ve tried taping the floor with the dimensions so I can get a good idea of the scale. It helped. It only took me 4 years to find a dining room table. LOL

    The house looks lovely. I’m very jealous of those windows in the family room. Great light! Have a super week.

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  9. Oh God, I haven’t tried photos on the new WordPress editor yet. Ack. I don’t know why they have to “fix” things that aren’t broken. Not to mention, I’m noticing there are more steps/clicks to do things that only had one step/click before.
    Hope your Easter was nice. It was gorgeous weather here.

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    • Weather was warmer but windy. Hopefully this week will be spring-like. I tried inserting a picture in the middle of a block (my whole post was in one block) and I just couldn’t do it. I ended up putting a separate block at the end for the picture. I wasted a lot of time on it. I have to watch the videos but it’s been busy here.

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  10. I like the table. I think I could lounge nicely on it. Sasha looks just adorable, and is that Morgan crashing her photo shoot? Loving the new family room. I especially like the windows and all the sunlight it lets in. Very nice.

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    • Being able to see it multiple times and sit at it would be good but that’s a long drive. I’ve bought some furniture sight unseen through a local place with the caveat that if I don’t like it they’ll take it back and put it on their sales floor.

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  13. Happy Easter, Kate. I also have happy Easter memories from my childhood. My favorite basket/candy hunts were at our grandparents’ house. Our grandpa chose the trickiest hiding places, so hard to discover that the hunt left my sister in tears when she couldn’t find her basket. (It was hanging high above the stairs.)

    My mom, the seamstress, made us lovely dresses with matching spring coats (dusters, she called them). And hats, of course.

    Your house is looking good, and your speed is admirable.

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    • I remember matching dusters. Once in a while an egg would go unfound only to be found a month later when cleaning up the yard. Mostly our hunts were inside though because our weather isn’t dependable this time of year.

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    • At least it’s in place for the summer! I’m wondering if we should start investigating the work we want to do in the summer and fall. Clearly the spring work won’t be done before then.

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  17. I don’t think I could buy furniture without seeing it up close and personal first. I sold furniture for 23 years, and I learned a lot! Pictures aren’t necessarily a good representation of the item. You will get it right with some patience.
    Great that the cats are making themselves at home.
    I am getting ready to write Monday’s post…I am not good with some of the new improved stuff at WP. Seems they are leaning toward professionals and away from us just for fun bloggers.

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  19. I thought getting contractors to do work was a local issue for us. I guess I was wrong. I wonder why people advertise their services yet are non-responsive when you call or email. Do you have a kitchen table as well as the dining room table? If you don’t do a lot of entertaining, I don’t think I’d invest in a new table. We use our dining room table everyday, but for puzzling! 🙂 Love the light in your new home, Kate.

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  20. Love all those windows and beautiful light……lots of kitty sun puddles ! The house looks great and I’m sure you look forward to the day when you have everything “just so”. That usually takes a while but is do-able for sure. I have wonderful Easter memories – a couple of funny memories too like the Easter dress my mother made for me when I was in 5th grade that took her six months to make (she’d never sewn in her life and she bought a sewing machine that she didn’t know how to use) – AND it sort of fell apart on Easter when I was in Sunday School. OOPS. Easter baskets full of all kinds of little toys, yummy candy, stuffed animals…..Easter was a biggie. With just two of us I don’t make huge Easter dinners – sometimes I make a batch of fried chicken and potato salad. LOL

    Happy Easter!
    Hugs, Pam

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    • Food-wise Easter was more simple than other holidays with ham, potatoes and a vegetable. We would get a basket of food blessed on Saturday to break the fast from Good Friday and it would have ham and some interesting things like horseradish, egg cheese and potato salad with bacon dressing. Then there were the baskets. I was never a big candy eater so that wasn’t as exciting for me as for some kids so my mom compensated with something else nice like maybe a school outfit.

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  23. Happy Easter! It is amazing how the year is flying for sure. I was just thinking about how Easter was back when I was a kid too – sounds similar to yours. New outfit, church, special dinner (ham, hard-boiled eggs, etc). I kind of miss it! Your new house is really shaping up!

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  26. We looked at tables for a couple of years because I couldn’t find the right size, right finish, and right leg placement. I had almost given up when we were in a store that had an unfinished section. There I found a table that met all my needs. So we stained the top to match the cabinets and repainted our current chairs and the table legs to match. I love everything about it and was thrilled to check it off the to-do-list. Hope you have good luck. My Easter gift to you is not commenting on WP images. 🙂

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    • Yes, yes, yes. For the current table and chairs (which is a very good set) the chairs have to be angles to skooch in. It works better with a leaf but then it’s big. The new one is narrower and shorter but still has a leaf so I can comfortably sit 8. There was another table I loved too but the legs were chunky and if you sat 6 people, 4 people would have to straddle it. They really need to test table design before going into production. Bad words came out of my mouth this morning. It took about 20 minutes to craft the post and an hour and a half to fuss with the pictures. It was really only the last one that it kept rejecting. I will have to sit down and learn this new editor but I’m kicking and screaming all the way.

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  27. Flowers on an empty table! That shows so much progress. Wishing you and family (and that includes the kitties) a Happy Easter and Happy Spring. It is warmth and joy from here on in.

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  28. It’s amazing that we are 3 months in already.
    Your place looks so bright and filled with light ~> Love it!
    No ham for me. But please pass the asparagus and potatoes. YUM!

    We started the day with a French breakfast ~ croissant avec buerre et cafe au lait!
    We plan on soup and sandwiches for lunch on Toscano Pano (Italy!)
    And for dinner, we’re looking to Idaho for potatoes and Florida for green beans.

    Have a delicious day!

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  31. I can’t get over the gorgeous light you have there. I am guessing your creamy white looks beautiful and soothing upstairs. Your Easter dinner sounds perfect. I don’t have to tell you that it takes some time to get it all worked out again in a new house. We are in our sixth month here… warning!… do not buy a new lamp because you love it because you will have to buy all new furniture to go with the lamp… Hahaha!

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  33. Until you mentioned it just now, I had not realized a quarter of the year is gone. I agree with you how Easter reminds me of my childhood. It is a bit scary buying large items sight unseen. It is also interesting how sites are aware you have moved recently. I look forward to seeing your new table when you take the plunge, Kate.🙂

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