PAINTING HORIZONTAL STRIPES ON WALLS (DIY)

I love the look of stripes on walls.  Stripes can be horizontal or vertical, wide or narrow, soft and subtle or bright and bold.  Stripes can add something unexpected to an area making a small area appear larger, for example.  Vertical stripes can make a room look taller and horizontal stripes make a room look wider.  Stripes on walls has been around in the decorating world for some time, but it's a first for me.   Today I thought I'd share how I painted horizontal stripes in my back entry hallway.

SMALL BUDGET BUT BIG IMPACT {STAIRS MAKEOVER}

I've had so many projects going on in the house since we moved here in February.  I've been working hard at new projects every week, but the problem is that I don't want to share them with you until they're at least somewhat complete. I have been working so hard to meet the dead line I've set for myself.  You see, all our children and grandchildren along with other relatives are coming here in a few short weeks for our son's wedding.  I really want the house to look somewhat finished when they arrive.  Now you can understand why I haven't been posting a lot lately.  However, I have a finished project to share! Yah!!!

I really wanted to make over the stairway to our basement.  All the guest bedrooms are in the basement, so this area will be seen by everyone coming to stay at our home.   When we lived in this house previously, the entire stairway and basement was carpeted, but sometime between then and now the carpet has been removed leaving the stairway to look like this.

Not my favorite choice of style with speckled paint on the stairs (it looked like paint splashed all over the stairs and basement floor).

NEW WINDOWS

Life has been very busy at the Parsonage. Even though you haven't heard from me in a week, I've gotten a lot of things accomplished.  I finished my nursing continue ed course, attended a lot of graduations, done more painting and varnishing.

The best project to have completed is the windows.  Back at the end of February and first of April the construction began on the Parsonage.  The siding and windows were removed and replaced with new.  Since then this is how our windows have looked, no casing or trim.

Every evening we hung table clothes, sheets and drop cloths over the windows for privacy.

DO YOU USE GOOGLE READER?

The announcement came back in March that Google Reader will retire as of  July 1, 2013.

 I personally am sad to see it going away. It seems like when you've learned how to use something in blogshere, they take it away or change it.  I've been doing a little research since the announcement and found this article about some options to use in place of  Google Reader.

I have decided I'll be following my favorite blogs using Bloglovin, since I've followed a few fellow bloggers there already, and I'm already a little familiar with the site.  I just went to this page and did an import from my Google Reader account to Bloglovin.

If you currently follow Thrifty Parsonage Living 

via Google reader.

I hope you'll still follow along via Bloglovin or

 you can also follow me using Linky or another feed source. 

You can find my buttons over on the right side of this page, 

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 Have you found another way to follow along?  I'd love to hear from you. 

Have a great day!

                           Joy

PAINTING, PAINTING AND MORE PAINTING

Have you been wondering what I've been up to this past week?   I've told you that almost every room in the Parsonage is getting a makeover with paint.  This past week, I've been painting in one of the basement bedrooms.

Here's a little reminder of what the room looked like before we started priming all the walls.

A bright sun and clouds on the ceiling.

LIVING ROOM REVEAL

I know you've waited a long time to see what I've been up to in our new parsonage.  In my last post, I gave you a little peak into the living room when I showed you my diy bookcase makeover.  Today you get to see the whole room.  It's the only room in the whole house that I can say is finally finished. The room had a long list of to do projects, but thanks to the helping hands of church friends the room is finished.  While we were still in Washington I received a call from a member of the church.  She told me they would paint my husband's office and living room for us, and asked what colors we'd like the rooms to be.  She also told me they were installing all new lights in the parsonage (including pot lights in the living room), and updating the electrical outlets.  I remembered from living in the house 16 years ago, that the living room could be very dark because there were no lights in the ceiling.
 
After a lot of labor pealing off a wall paper boarder that had been painted over, the new paint color is on the walls and it looks wonderful!  It is a soft gray, (Portand by Valspar); and the ceiling is a bright white ceiling paint.  I love how it brightens up the room!

We took down the old curtains and put up new blinds. 

DIY BOOKCASE MAKEOVER

I know you haven't heard from me lately, but life in our new parsonage has been very busy.  Not only did we have to unpack all our household items, but we've had so many projects going on.  Almost every room in the house is getting repainted. The living room is finally coming together; and I'll be sharing the room reveal soon!

 Here's a to do list for the room.

Did you happen to notice the bookshelf on the right side of the picture?