Basket Overkill

If you think of me at all you may have been wondering lately if I’m dead.  Nope.  Not yet!  Just been super busy doing crazy things like staring at all my ceilings.  And seeing how many baskets I can fit on a shelf.

There is method to my madness in this particular case.  The above picture shows part of our newly spruced up back entrance.  The colour is ‘coconut milk’ and in natural light it looks lovely and creamy.  Indoor light makes it look more yellow and I love it either way.  The shelf on the way downstairs has always been a catch-all for piles of junk, (mostly belonging to and placed there by W) so this is my solution to having to look at three different Armoral bottles, weed killer spray, car wax and random tools on my way to do the laundry.

So far it’s working very well.  Mostly because W is not here.  But since there is no shelf space anywhere on which to set things down, hopefully when he returns he will use the baskets, or carry his shit off to some other location so it looks like we might have storage space somewhere out of sight like normal people.

Work in progress at the bottom of the stairs.

Paris pictures! More baskets! Such an awkward little space to photograph!

We are painting all the baseboards and window frames and wooden doors white.  We started with one door to see how it looked and I can’t believe what a difference it makes, so now we’re committed.   The front and back doors are done, as well as the door to the kitchen, the pantry door and the linen closet door.  Inside the pantry and linen closet have also been painted white, and cupboard and closet interiors are in progress.

It’s a slow (but very satisfying) process.  I’m trying not to think about the six doors and dozen window frames and bazillion baseboards to go.  Or all the crap that still has to be hauled out to the garage for the sale that may never happen.

My daughter is doing the ceilings. I’m way out of my comfort zone with those, except for staring at them and being amazed that I’ve been able to ignore their condition for so long.  The kitchen ceiling is done.  Gone are the gray water stains around the fluorescent light, the mystery discoloured splotches above the stove, and the random little red dots above the kitchen table caused by a freak accident involving an exploding ketchup packet in the 1980’s.

The old light is replaced too, along with updated fixtures in the hallways and the most awesome one of all in the art room.  I can’t take a picture of that yet until the ceiling looks less like crap.  These are not just stipple they are some kind of popcorn design stuff, impossible to clean or remove without a huge mess.  Thus the reason the ketchup stains were studiously ignored and allowed to slowly fade on their own.

In other more interesting news, today is my birthday.  I am very old.  I love that every so often the thirteenth of May falls on a Friday again just like it did on the day I was born.  Next sister was born on a Thursday the 12th, leading me to believe our mother drove around on bumpy roads and ran up and down the stairs a lot to get that one delivered under the wire.

The Fort McMurray wildfires are far to the north of us here, but people all over the province (and the country) have pulled together with aid and support.  Puts all my messing about with my house in to perspective when you think about so many homes lost and so many people left with nothing.  But no lives lost!  That’s pretty amazing.

Okay!  It’s art room window frame and sill painting day!  I started yesterday but had to take down the blind and sand the wall and patch some holes and clean the windows inside and out and tape everything and then I was too exhausted to pry the paint can open.  Told you I was old.  Hope I live long enough to finish this.