A trip into the closet.....

I don't like closets. I don't like the messes they contain. And no, I am not talking about my sexual orientation.... nothing quite so titillating, I'm afraid.

 I am talking the literal, dark, disastrous cupboards that we all have in our homes. The catch all. The place where we can cram our junk and close the door. Those closets. Well, I've had enough and  I decided to do something about a couple of mine.

My craft room, to start.....

It started out as one of those doors that one dared not to open for fear of immediate death by crushing. At some point it morphed into a undecipherable pile and the door could no longer even BE closed. Plus, the damn open door takes up too much room and blocks my bookcase......

Something HAD to be DONE........

Firstly, I pulled off the door and pulled out the organizer (read "organizer" with intense derision that such a contraption should dare to call itself so). Rather than paint, I decided to make the closet a bit of a focal point with a dramatic wallpaper. The result (although, further organization in the form of pretty baskets is required) is such an improvement that I can't wait to start on the next closet on my list......

I LOVE this wallpaper! Unfortunately, it has been discontinued

No skeletons here......

I Win

Warning! Do not allow, 6-15 year old, video-game-obsessed,  boys or girls look at this post (a few adult men and women might want to avoid it as well*).

*I am currently not accepting applications for new children and/or room mates (unless you cook, clean and pick up dog poo, then I might reconsider).... Decorating advice is always free.

We recently had our entire house painted (main living areas). The basement was in the worst shape. The previous owners did an amazing job when they finished the basement, but I suspect they used a paint/primer combination directly on the fresh, dry wall, because.... Oh Man, did that paint fleck the frack off!  The basement looked like it had reverse chicken-pox.

Here are a few before pictures. The colour of the walls was a dark, reddish brown (It's washed out in the pictures, but you can see the damage). Too dark for a basement.

Blurry picture of what it sort of looked like... from a couple of years ago.
Eli is playing full size "Angry Birds" that he constructed out of a tent making kit.

And NOW..... 

The right side of the room will have instruments set up.

A place to display lego & video game collectibles

Yes, those are Super Mario decals. They go around that side of the room

And, THAT is why I win....... Totally.

Dad got this for us and it's been in storage ever since.
It was too large to fit anywhere, but we finally decided to cut it down and install it.
It is 6ft tall and 7ft wide. We are lucky to have something so cool. 

I love it down there now. It's bright, cheery and fun! Too bad it smells like pre-adolescent boys........

Ta-Freakin'-Da!

Holy Snickerdoodles (sorry, for the foul language.... LOL)! I actually have something to post about! Actually, I have several posts to get out in the next few days/weeks, perhaps the winter silence is finally coming to an end?

I, probably, should post an update about our Easter Extravaganza, but that is going to have to wait for another day because, guess what?! I have a new pattern to show you! 

I was asked to design a bathing suit coverup out of a specific type of yarn and I accepted the challenge with alacrity. Who doesn't need a cute, easy to wear, swimsuit coverup? My original plan was to revamp a design that I had worked on last year, but that I wasn't super happy with (just needed some tweaking and it would be perfect), but while I was thinking about it, the design began to morph in my head to something completely different. I thought that a swimsuit coverup was a wonderful idea, but perhaps a lot of work for something that may not be worn very often, particularly when knit from a lace-weight yarn. How about a swimsuit coverup that you could wear as a light-weight tunic? Perfection, eh? This is what I, ultimately, designed. A lightweight, lace and stockinette striped, dress that has a double row of eyelets along each side seam, through which a ribbon is woven and used to cinch up the sides, shortening the dress into a tunic that can be worn with a tank-top underneath. Genius (in my modest *cough, choke* opinion)!

Here it is: "Jump into Summer" (ravelry link)

If you'd like to purchase you can always

This was my first time hiring a tech editor (someone who checks for spelling, punctuation and math errors) and I must say.... awesome! She totally removed a huge pile of stress surrounding pattern writing. I hope that more patterns will be coming soon.