Thursday, January 22, 2015

Time to Redecorate

Yippee! I'm doing a happy dance as the construction on the family room walls and ceiling is complete! It took a couple tries to get the touch up paint to match, but as of Tuesday afternoon I no longer have construction workers in my house. Now I can give it a thorough cleaning and think through how I want to re-decorate. My blogger friend Teri over at teri-gonewalkabout2.blogspot.com shared some links on her site for assessing your decorating style. Here are my results from the quizzes:

1.  From houzz.com:
Your style is:  Coastal!
Coastal: If you don’t already, you prefer to live at the beach. You like things light and breezy and use things you found washed up from the tide as decor. You like lots of light and sunshine, and wonder what season there is besides sunny and warm. You’re laid back, and you never worry about someone or something messing up your furniture.

This makes sense to me. My late husband loved nautical antiques so there are pictures, antiques, and ocean themed objects sprinkled through the room. I always figured I was more of a Country French kind of girl, but since I had to take everything out of the family room during the construction and pasteurization, I realize how much I miss those coastal touches! So the nautical will return to my room when I redecorate, but perhaps with a slightly more feminine twist.

2.  From bhg.com:
Your style is:  Country Cottage
The pretty, practical look and feel of country cottage style suits your casual attitude perfectly. You are drawn to colors, fabrics, and window treatments that are light and airy. Heavy, dark colors and textures are simply not your style.
Whether you're decorating a seaside retreat or your primary residence in the city or suburbs, your country cottage style calls for elements that are feminine but not overly fussy. Florals are an important motif and are likely to turn up in window fabrics, slipcovers, or wallpaper.
When it comes to furniture, you're a big fan of painted pieces that add warmth and character. In the kitchen, a farmhouse sink, bead board, and white or light-colored cabinetry are classic cottage features that appeal to you.
One of your favorite activities: Scouring flea markets for vintage fabrics and other special finds to add just the right touch of romance to your space.
I was actually 70% country cottage, 20% eclectic country, and 10% modern country. I'll stick with the country cottage, as it seems to fit better.
3.  From hgtv.com:
Your style is:  Crafted Simplicity
Simple shapes and strong lines. Fine craftsmanship mixes with natural materials. Arts & Crafts, Mission and Shaker work for me.

I do have an appreciation for Arts & Crafts styling, but don't see this as a true style for me.  
So decorating wise I'm all over the place, but plan to settle on a mix of Country French Cottage (which I already have going on) with coastal.  


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Ceiling Leak Revisited

My vocabulary has expanded in the last month. You may remember that I woke up one December day before Christmas to discover part of my ceiling had collapsed from a roof leak.  It has been almost three weeks now and I'm still in the process of getting this mess cleaned up and learning a great deal about my house.  In case you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, here is what has unfolded:

- The insurance company is paying for the interior damage, but not the roof repair itself.
- Mold grows within a matter of a a few days, so if you are not aware a leak is occurring, you could be in for an additional surprise, as I was:  the dreaded mold in the wall!
- The insurance company is paying for the mold remediation up to a certain dollar amount (my remediation is under that amount).
- Some wood rot was also discovered when the contractor took down the wet sheet rock -- the insurance company does not cover wood rot as it is considered an old issue.  So replacing the header boards in the corner was at my own expense and quite involved. (A second temporary wall had to be built to support the corner so the rotted section could be chipped out and fresh new 2X4's installed, then the temp wall was removed.)
- The mold remediation process takes patience!  First, the environmental (mold) specialist came out and took samples of the air in the corner of the room and outside on the deck.  The point was to determine which molds and fungi are in our Monterey air in general (which we can't control) compared to those that were in my house.  Some were present inside that were not present outside.  Others were present both inside and outside but to greater or lesser degrees in one place vs another.  It took two days to get the results.
- The contractor had to stop working while the mold remediation is happening.  So my family room is still torn up.
- The day before New Year's, the mold remediation company constructed a containment area with a zipper so that I didn't have to breathe the mold this past week.  It's still in my family room -- argh!
- A very noisy dehumidifier ran in the containment area from Dec. 31st until yesterday to remove the excess moisture in the walls and under the floor from water leaking inside from the roof leak.  Drove me crazy as it's in my TV room.  It was supposed to be pulled out on Monday, but the remediation guy came down with the flu.  Finally yesterday afternoon another person from the company came and pulled it out.
- Pasteurization is scheduled for this Friday.  Tonight I prepare -- removing photos and photo albums, DVDs and CDs, candles, and anything that could be damaged by high heat.  This process involves sectioning off the family room and kitchen which have been "exposed" to the mold spores, and bringing in ducts so that very hot (140 degree) air can be pumped into the family room to kill the mold!
- The mold inspector will be back out on Monday to retest to make sure the pasteurization really killed the mold.  Have to wait until Tuesday for the results, and then on Weds. my contractor can resume the ceiling and wall repairs, texturizing the walls, and painting which will take several days as things have to dry between steps.
- When all of that is done, I need to assess the damage to the Pergo flooring which sustained some damage.

This was not exactly how I intended to spend my two week Christmas vacation.  The countless phone calls and coordination are tiresome, but the end is in sight.

I wanted to join in on the 14 Week Challenge through A Bowl Full of Lemons, but I'll be a little behind schedule. Back at work this week, so my time is precious. Patience is required through this process.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

Wishing you



Vintage Card from: http://vintageholidaycrafts.com