Window Dressing

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.