July is winding down with me surviving the dreaded first month of ungodly Florida heat and humidity. If it weren't for the rain we've had this past month, I think July would've been insufferable. August is predicted to be much hotter. The July rain was monsoon-like at times; but oh so refreshing.
Had the weather been beautiful the last thirty days, we would have been on the beach rather than remodeling guest bedroom #2. There's always a positive side to everything. The torrential rains allowed us to get the entire room covered with thin set, spaced and tiled in just a few days.
After twenty four hours Mi Miguel applied the grout. We then waited for several hours.
After the wait, we gently wiped over it with a slightly damp sponge to clean the worst of the "white wash" from the grout residue. You can tell the difference just wiping it with plain water. Now we just need to let it sit for a several more hours before actually giving it a good cleaning. We need solid grout before using any cleaners or excessive water on it. We
still have to get the baseboards back in place. For photo purposes I simply propped the baseboards against the wall.
About those baseboards. They were stained a
dark brown, think 1980's. Yep, that dark brown almost black stain that
went real well with those crisp white walls. A couple coats of shiny
white satin trim paint and the baseboards are easily updated, attractive and
most of all reused.
People are just starting to jump on the porcelain tile bandwagon. Porcelain is definitely a hot weather type of floor. It's always cool; almost cold. So far we have found that it is more durable than ceramic...it's true. Mi Miguel dropped one and it didn't crack or chip. Porcelain vs ceramic? We still don't have an opinion one way or the other though. We will get a better feel of it when we get the room put together.
The
walls, ceiling, lighting, flooring and baseboards were a challenge
physically. Now, to rack my brain with window treatment decisions. Or
wait, is it wrack my brain? Rack my brain or wrack my brain. Arrrrgh.
It's time to take those unsightly yellowed vertical blinds down. The windows are odd shaped and they don't even match each other. One of the windows measures: Width 59.5" x Height 37" and the other measures Width 51.5" x Height 50". Don't these opened blinds give off an imprisoning, cagey vibe?
My intent is to try to match up the size differences by creating an illusion by using asymmetrical valances. That way I can elongate the one for the wider window and yet throw the eye off with the angles of the valance.
Or, longer curtains that measures outside the more narrow window to create the illusion that is is wider. I like the look of the yellow panel with the off kilter valance. I would have to go with a different color and try to keep it from being too fancy. I'm going for a simple elegance that says, "relax".
I can lengthen the look of the windows by doing this style. The room will have to have pull down shades.
The bundt cake will be baked this evening. I'm going to attempt to make caramel icing for it. A sweet friend suggested not using chocolate. I'm going to take heed on her advice. Yes, I'm running behind on the office cake. We hit a point on the thin set with the tiling Tuesday evening and couldn't walk away from it. Once you mix the thin set, you have to use it or you lose it. It dries that quickly. So, the office will be getting this luscious cake baked tonight and served tomorrow.
Tomorrow night we hit the C restaurant. Mi Miguel will choose where we go because I'm so confused on trying to adapt to this late evening dining and the extreme differences in opinions on restaurants in this area.
Mi Miguel and I lived on the island of Crete for four years back in the 80's.
Every restaurant we visited served this as a Greek salad. Even on the mainland, this was and is a Greek salad. We were there again in 2012 for a few weeks. This is and was a Greek salad.
After ordering a few Greek salads in different Greek restaurants here in Florida, I'm quickly learning that this is considered a Greek salad. The Greek mainland and the islands are extremely dry for several months out of the year. Any type of greens are rarely seen growing and next to never seen in restaurants. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule. It is my understanding from the Greek restaurant owner I worked for on the island of Crete, if greens are grown they are usually bitter due to the minimal amount of rain.
Let's say I back down from my stance on the greens in Greek salad. I'm no authority on botany, geography, horticulture or the culinary arts. However, I would like to beg to differ on the Iceberg lettuce laden "Greek" salad being served on top of a big dollop of potato salad. I know nothing about Greek culture. But seriously, a "not" Greek salad served on top of POTATO SALAD. Seriously. I've never seen potato salad on an authentic Greek menu. But again, who am I?
As I slowly recover from the stress of the "not" Greek salad, it sets me back on my tension to comprehend what is considered a gyro. It has brown gravy and rice and no pita bread? I don't get it. I don't understand it. Brown gravy? The meat is a processed combo of lamb and beef. Beef? There are cows on the mainland of Greece?
We've ordered both the Greek salad and the gyro from Florida Greek restaurants serving authentic Greek food. Maybe it is authentic. I haven't been to all the Greek islands. Maybe they do have cows. Maybe they do grow Iceberg lettuce. There antiquities do show a cow motif on occasion. They are home of the minotaur. Again, I know nothing.
When It's a Greek salad and a gyro I'm craving. It's this I want.
Not this.
Nor that.
Enough on the Greek or "not" Greek cuisine. As for our sweet little home, since my last blog, I have caught up on everything I intended to get done. In spite of the hospital stay, the torrential rains and the ungodly heat, I accomplished everything I set out to do. Mi Miguel got all of his tasks accomplished and started the tiling in guest bedroom #2.
The flooring that we picked out scares me a bit but I love it. It's the trendy porcelain wood planks. I'm hoping it serves our Florida home well. I don't think it would be an option for bedrooms, living rooms and such in the Midwest. But, for here it should give us cool floors with a warm appearance. That's what I'm shooting for anyway.
The floors are down to the concrete. The walls and ceiling are painted.
All floors are vacuumed along the walls. Using a Swiffer with a wet rough cloth over it instead of the Swiffer cloths, I mopped over the entire floor. I vacuumed the window sills as well to make sure no debris from the ceiling mess would end up on the floor.
With a blank canvas, Mi Miguel plumbed a line and then started putting the glue down.
So far, we love the look of it. It has the spacers in it and still needs to be grouted. But, I think we are going to be happy with it overall.
In
case you're wondering about those numbers I put on the floor. I
realized they would be covered by the tile. Initially I put them on the
floor because I had to paint. I didn't want to get crazy with the roller
and paint over them. Now they are on the wall and waiting to be matched
with the baseboards.
Our
home is packed to the gills with our boxes, furniture and work in
progress gear. We're still trying to remain dedicated to our alphabet
restaurant adventure. We're re-doing the letter C, due to a little set
back with the restaurant hopping. Our next stop will be Casa Tina's in
Dunedin. I'll be posting about that on my Facebook page, Florida Restaurants A-Z.
Another routine that I like to fall into is baking a cake once a month for my husband's office. It all sounds a little too June Cleaver, but I don't care. I enjoy baking and it's calorie free if I send it away. My first cake will be a rich chocolate bundt cake. Let's see if it turns out as perfect as this one that I found on Google images.
Those who know me, know what a disaster I can make of a cake if I try to get too fancy and too overwhelmed. Keep it simple...that's my new cake baking rule.
The collapsed cake above started out real similar to this one that I found on Pinterest. But true to form I found a way to make a complete disaster of it. Mind you, when you make a tall cake have a transporting plan before you leave the house.
Until I blog again on Thursday, enjoy! If you have any suggestions on the bundt cake topping please let me know. Is it better with caramel icing, chocolate icing or sprinkled with powdered sugar?
I bought an unusual light for the guest bedroom. I liked the design but it was a dull silver and had a few rusty spots on it. It was on clearance so I was okay with the flaws. I posted several photos on the previous post of the spray painting job. It was tedious taping off all the "crystals" but I got it all done and we are thrilled with the look of it. The medallion and light are all the same silver and look great together.
This is the photo of the light on the box. It looked no where near that silver and it needed something a little extra. Many thanks to Mi Miguel for painstakingly taking the time to put it all together for me. I love it!
This has been my inspiration for Guest Bedroom #2. I used this print on the balcony of our house in Indiana. The colors are bold but comforting. I'm shooting for that romantic beach cottage look.
The first thing I do before painting on starting on a bedroom, look for a bedspread/comforter. It's easier to match paint to a bedspread than it is to try to find bedspread to match some unique paint color that you've chosen.
The ceiling and walls are painted. We are waiting to get our things out of the second storage so we can retrieve our tile cutter. Once the tile is down I have things ready to be moved into the room.
The twin beds were just typical oak wood from the 60's. I'm not finished with them yet. But the base coat is on and it matches the nightstand below. That's progress.
I found this table in the garage. It's a little banged up but pretty sturdy. So, I brought it inside and chalk painted it.
The finished table looks great and will serve as a nightstand between the twin beds.
I found this in the garage as well. I absolutely love it. I'm going to use it to store pillows and blankets for the guest bedroom. It needed a little something though.
I painted it bright red and soft cherry pink.
The lid and handles are so very cool on this old time hamper. I wanted it to really show up in the room. I think it will, don't you?
While throwing things in the dumpster from the storage shed, I stumbled across this vanity chair. It was very rusted underneath and had spray paint all over the seat.
I painted the frame silver and the seat pink. Once it's dried I'll make a bold red stripe across the pink and it will match the hamper and comforter.
The colors are all starting to come together. The two comforters may be a bit too stripey so I picked up these two fun throws to toss over the bottom 1/3 of the beds. The one on the left is actually turquoise like the ceiling and the other matches the beds and nightstand.
A little trip to the ER a few days ago led to an overnight hospital stay. I'm running a little behind because of the little glitch in our week. But I'm fit as a fiddle and ready to press on. All in all, I'd say we accomplished quite a bit this week, wouldn't you?
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