Captain's Bedroom

Yeah, finally a room is finished...well, for those of us who love to decorate, a room is really never finished, huh? I have already (after these pictures) changed a few things (that aren't in this view anyway...but I'll include them on the full remodel post eventually!). We are calling this the "Captain's bedroom" since its done in a Ralph Lauren Blue, a very dark blue that is hard to paint against a very shiny white! We hope that this room is a cozy retreat for friends and family to enjoy when they come visit us in our little cottage the sea.

Hi everyone!! Well, no entries for awhile...sorry! Its been a bit crazy for me. On July 18 I got dizzy and Tommy took me into the ER in Oxnard. From that I saw a Neurologist who determined that I was not getting enough sleep. OK, so shortly after that I started having bad neck pain, nothing helped (not the Chiropractor, not massages) so after awhile of that I went to my regular Dr. and then had an xray of my neck. Then, my Dr. sent me to an Orthopaedic/Rehabilitation/Pain Specialist Dr. He said my neck Xray was fine and wanted a Brain MRI done...yikes! So, got that done (not fun being claustrophobic...yes, it was an "open MRI" but when they are doing your brain you have to wear this horrible helmet...I just prayed for everyone I could think of...that's how I got through it..thank you Lord!). The Tech. said he did not see anything that jumped out at him and the Dr. office said they would call if there was something terribly wrong...so, no call...thank you God!! In the meantime they have given me some pain meds. and they are working pretty good...I see the Dr. Oct. 1...hope they can help me!

During all this I have been painting, lining cupboards, and going back and forth to Ridgecrest moving furniture..finally, we are moving furniture in!! We are still not done...we are doing the rest of the work ourselves and we are slow! However, the house is looking more like a home and less like a construction zone!! Its looking like the Cape Cod cottage I have wanted! I will post pictures soon...of the "Captain's" bedroom...its all finished! The other rooms are just not finished so I want to get them done before I post pictures! So stay tuned!!

Thanks for all the prayers too while I've gone through this!!

Hugs to you all,
Patti

What to color the walls above the Board and Batten treatment?

I need your help!! Help me figure out a paint color for the top of my bedroom walls.
Here's the plan!! The walls will be painted a creamy white (not sure about that color either???..any ideas?)...with "board and batten" about every 16 inches. (This is vertical boards, about 2 inches wide going up the wall and its capped off with a horizontal board that is a bit wider)..we'll be going up the wall with the boards about 65 inches up...that will leave a few feet of wall above the "board and batten".

My furniture colors are: a greenish blue bed and a matching TV Deck/Armour, a white dresser and an antique little dresser piece that I might paint in the creamy white???. I still need nightstands...white? antique? ???

Any ideas are welcomed!! First off I really need the color that is to go on the top of the walls (above board and batten)...thinking: chocolate or dark caramel color, or a sandy taupey color? Or?????

Thanks for any help!!!

Patti

Friends

FRIENDS!!! We had the pleasure of having breakfast and dinner with our best friends today. Breakfast was with Carol and Bob (after church)...friends since we all met working together in 1979. Well, Tommy knew them both long before I came along, to Ridgecrest, in 1979. Carol and I became friends pretty quickly but our friendship really grew when we were both not working and had time to do things together. We have walked, exercised, shopped, gone away for trips, scrapbooked, taken each other to dr. appts., and about 25 years of lunches out together!! Oh there's lots more...we've done so many things together! Carol also helped me (was my "cashier") for about 10 years when I had my Mary Kay Christmas Sales...so many memories!!

Tonight we had dinner with our other best friends Ronnie and Nancy. Ronnie is also our contractor..he redid our home in Ridgecrest and now he's fixing up our Port Hueneme house too! Tommy and Ronnie go to lunch at least once a week. Nancy is a dear friend too, she's even gone to Ireland with me 3 times! We've done lots of things together as well...lots of out of town trips to do fun things! We met Ronnie and Nancy at a bible study we had in our home back in 1997, we became fast friends. We have laughed and cried together many times.

Our moving is going to create holes in our hearts...we're going to miss our friends...terribly. I'm beginning to realize home much Ridgecrest has been home to us. Nothing is easy in life, is it? Nothing comes without stretching ourselves, experiencing pain. Change is not easy. What are we giving up to live by the sea?
What are we giving up to "have a new adventure?"....will it be worth it? Moving to where "Nobody knows your name". They have no history with me/us. There have been no laughs to share, no sadnesses shared...no tears shed together. These are the things that bond you together. Are we too old to even think we can find this kind of friendship again? Maybe. Maybe everyone has their friends already. Maybe they are too busy for us. It took time to invest in these relationships..maybe no one will want to invest in us. Who knows. The Lord knows. He knows our hearts. He knows that we love our Ridgecrest friends, all our friends really. He knows what we need before we even need it. The Lord will fill those holes in our hearts. We are not losing our friends, we're only moving a short distance, really...in the scope of things.
So, my prayer is that the Lord will guide us through this new life, but our friends will always be our friends.Our friends are the ones who know our faults and love us anyway. As I told Ronnie tonight...we're not just friends...we're family.

Hugs,
Patti

The dresser

Here's the dresser I bought...its still at the warehouse since we don't have our utility trailer yet (its being painted..don't want to show up to our new neighborhood looking like the Beverly Hillbillies!!). Its pretty plain but I just loved, loved, loved those dresser knobs!! They are the same knobs as the TV deck.
I don't like the look of "matchy matchy" but I do want the room to flow....so I'm thinking this dresser and the bed in white...the TV deck and the nightstands in the blueish green color...with the nightstand having louvered cabinet drawers. Just enough of cohesion but with some color variation.

With doing board and batten on the walls up to above the headboard I am thinking of painting the wall above that. What color? Blues? Browns? A very light color..off white??? Want the room to be like a beach side retreat...calming, relaxing, not fussy, beachy.

Help and thanks!!! Any other ideas are very, totally welcomed! Thank you in advance!

Hugs to all,
Patti

New furniture

The house is coming along..still lots to do but the end of the tunnel is almost in view!! In the meantime I got busy buying furniture! I have been eyeing....drooling over actually, a piece of Stanley Brand "Coastal Living" collection furniture to be exact. Made in America!! Unfortunately, that means mucho dinero!! So, I was thrilled to see the floor model on sale and then another price cut!! That baby was mine!!! Its a TV Deck Armour that is painted and the top had louvered doors...love it!! Its painted a blueish/greenish color...with the louvered doors and that color I fell in love with all its beachyness!!

I was on a furniture buying roll!!Things were on sale since it was the end of the Memorial Weekend. The next day I bought our bedroom dresser....its in white and has 11 drawers and the handles match the handles on the TV Deck/chest.

I am thinking of doing this: TV Deck/chest in the blueish/greenish color, Bed headboard in white, dresser in white and nightstands with the blueish/greenish color and louvered top cabinet (Stanley, Coastal Living).

I want to have the walls done in Board and Batten and painted white. Wondering what color to paint the upper walls?? A blueish/greenish color? How about a caramelish (I know..that is not a word!)brown color? Any other ideas?? What do you think of those colors???

I'd love any advice or ideas!!! I want to turn our plain, no architectural features bedroom into a beachy, relaxing retreat!

Thanks,
Patti

Gosh, April is almost gone!!

Yikes, I thought we'd be much further with our beach house renovations than we are now! Oh well...all in God's timing, right? Everthing seems to take longer than we thought and every nook and cranny needs "something". We were busy re-creating our guest bedroom that we have in Ridgecrest to our house in PH last weekend. We are painting the top of the walls in a Ralph Lauren blue (very dark, nautical) and the bottom of the walls are beadboard and painted a semi-gloss Whisper White...love the contrast. Painting the dark color is not easy!! We had it all done in Ridgecrest and in PH we are doing it ourselves. I will still have to go back and go over some areas where you can see some differences in coverage...ugh!!

On the bright side we sure love the beautiful weather in Port Hueneme! We still can't believe that we go around the block and there is the beach!!

We are also having fun trying out new restaurants...we tried a Thai Restaurant in PH called The Blue Elephant" and loved it and also had a nice pizza (fabulous whole wheat crust) at the California Pizza Kitchen at the Pacific View Mall (yeah, I'll actually have a Mall!!).

We are still going between our Ridgecrest house and our beach house in PH so we are not moved in yet...its giving us time to adjust to the whole idea of leaving Ridgecrest which will not be easy in many ways. However, this is all giving me new meaning to the saying "Life's a beach"

Here's a picture of the PH house in the Spring, taken the other day! And, roses from the backyard!

Patti

Decorating decisions!!!

Yikes!! Decorating decisions!! Fun, yes! Hard to make? Yes!! Don't get me wrong..I LOVE to decorate!! LOVE IT!! But, I just can't seem to decide on so many things!! For instance, in one of the guest rooms (we'll have two...hoping for lots of company!) I could not decide on what color to paint the walls...so, I finally went with my favorite white..."Whisper White" by Dunn Edwards. Whisper is a soft, warm white and I'm glad now that is what I did...it will be restful to the eyes and will allow other color into the room. OK, phew, another decision made. But so many others still to go.

Baseboards....I've been seeing them in magazines and other blogs that are more squared off, no fancy designs, just plain...they seem to go good with a beachy look but would love to hear from other people what they think of them...and, 3 inches is what we can find usually should we look for something higher like 4 inches?

Light plugs? Go with the ones we've always known and had with the little on/off switch...or, install the bigger kind that you press down on, that the switch is wider...these are more work to install. Will it really matter? Does it really make that much of a difference? Questions, questions!!

I need to get more pictures up and I will try to do take some this weekend...that way you can see what I am talking about.

Anyway, we are coming along with the remodeling...carpet is coming up next week and all the ceilings will be painted next week too. If you have any ideas on baseboards or light plugs, etc. bring 'em on!!

Pictures!!! coming soon!!

Thanks for reading!
Patti

Neighbors

One of my desert house neighbors is moving next week. We have lived down the street from each other for over 27 years...I know it will be hard to say goodby. However, at least she is moving to a town where we will be going through on our way to Texas to visit dh family, so we will see them again. However, it won't be the same. Another neighbor moved (everyone's retiring!!) recently too and we will be next. We will miss this neighborhood alot...in fact, we will probably never experience this again...we have keys to each others houses, watched dogs, picked up mail, saw kids grow up and move away, cooked meals when a family member passed away or when there was another need. We took care of what needed to be done many, many times. This is hard to find. All these years we have had an annual garage sale the Sat. before Memorial weekend...and, then that evening we had a block party at the end of the block and (in the early years when we were all younger), some of us would sit out late and talk...the last few years we were back in our houses by 9:00 or maybe 10:00pm!! At Christmas we have a "house to house Christmas party"...usually with 3 houses hosting, the last house being dessert. Its always been a nice way to catch up on what everyone is doing and what their plans for Christmas are, etc. Everyone has always enjoyed it. I am going to miss those things.

Cleaning Ladies!

Wednesday's (well, every other Wed.) is our cleaning ladies day! Its always a busy morning for me because, well, you know, I have to CLEAN before they get here...you understand, don't you? You never want people to see how you REALLY live...its much better to have people think you live a compeletely spotless life!! Ha!! So, I run around like a chicken with my head cut off and clean...well, mostly I "pick up"...pick up all my/our junk and move that junk to another spot...where it does not look so, um, junky!! Laundry is another big chore...there's always tons of that to do. How can that be with just 2 of us is beyond me...the other 2 living in this house at least don't wear clothes!! However, evidence of their very existence is scattered all around the house...othewise know as "pet hair"..lol. But, that's ok..they are worth it!!

I won't be having cleaning ladies at our new home...no, I will just "cowgirl up" (or will it be "surfer girl" up???) and clean the place myself!! Now let me say that I have had the same lady since the early 90's!! In fact, her mom was my original cleaning lady. Over the years almost everyone in her family has cleaned my house...it takes a village?? Yeah, even her grandfather used to come and he'd do the kitchen!! Her dad helped out once and I think her brother too?? What a family affair!! So, I will enjoy the luxury of having my floors swept and cleaned and dust taken care of...for awhile...until its time to go.

Tuesday is a busy day for me...the morning is Scrapbooking and the evening is Agility!! I am going to miss both when we move to the sea....I can do both elsewhere...but, the faces will be different!! Oh, not my doggie faces...those will be with me for a long, long time (please God!!)...the people's faces!! Can you tell, I am a "relational" person...relationships mean a lot to me! So, I am glad that both my money stealers...um, hobbies (haha) are on Tuesdays...so, when I come back to visit I can do both in one day.....I'll be asking my dear, lovely, wonderful Ridgecrest friends for a bed or couch or blow up mattress to lay my head on...and a warm place for my doggies too!! I am looking forward to returing the favor, and often, at my house by the sea....

Pictures will be up soon of scrapbooking and agility!!

Today, being Tuesday, is my Scrapbooking Day...I gather with several other ladies to scrapbook for a few hours...ok, I don't always get much done...its also a great time to share our lives and I do get alot of that done!! haha...I will miss this gathering very, very much when I move...we've been getting together for at least 7 years. I hope to make it up to Ridgecrest once a month and join my group to see everyone and catch up...and, maybe do some scrapbooking!!

Its Sunday and we thank God for a beautiful sunny day here in the Mojave Desert...thank you Lord for loving us and taking care of us!

We met with our dear friend and contractor today (over lunch after church) to go over the next projects on the beach house. Some of the projects are: making a very useless "linen closet" (which would not really hold in linens, even the previous owners did not use it for that) into a book case...I love books! Also, re-doing several door trims, adding beadboard to one guest room.

This blog is different from many that are about decorating, etc. in that we are not "DIY'ers"....we can paint though!! DH is handy but there is more work to be done that we have time for and our dear friend/contractor is much faster and is available!! Mind you, its a 3 hour drive from our desert home. So, its a good option for all of us. I do love decorating and know what I like but can't always come up with ideas...that is where other blogs have helped me tremendously!! We want our new "beach house" to be "ours"...a reflection of us...., a fun place for friends to come vist and feel comfortable...and a house that truly is a "HOME".

We hope you stay tuned to see our adventure unfold....
Patti

Here we are near where we live...well, we really do live in a real neighborhood but this is the terrain near us...this is actually at Burro Schmidt's Tunnel.