More Packing, Bundtness and Tile Cleaning

Neither Mi Miguel or I have had a chance to touch a computer much lately. My phone has been so neglected that it has forgotten it's own phone number. We've taken a hiatus from social media, phones and television to get the house in order. 

We were in a bit of a rush this past week with company coming earlier than expected. But we got the room visitor ready. In a previous post I showed the floor in guest bedroom #2. It had this variegated carpet and really dark baseboards. Here's what we've been working on this past week. 

Grouting the tile left a mess on the floor. I googled Bob Villa's advice on cleaning porcelain tile. I mixed white vinegar and water as directed by Mr. Villa and voila the floor suddenly looked a lot better. See the difference? We couldn't be happier with the floor. This type of tile isn't for everyone. For us and being in Florida, the color, the coolness of the porcelain and the durability turned out to be a good choice.

Originally I chose this color palette for GB#2.

This dull green and college dorm looking comforter were heading me in the wrong interior design direction. The inspiration just wasn't there with those color choices. So, I dug through my pictures that we just got out of storage the weekend before. 

Ahhhh yes, this moody but earthy tree picture. I love the deeper turquoise in the picture, it looks much better with the ceiling. I also love the richer greens and the hint of red. This is the one.

The cream bed-skirts and quilts don't steal the show but still look nice. The richer green on the headboards and table look much better. The rug we had in our Indiana home looks fitting for this comfy beach cottage theme. Oh yes, about those vertical blinds.

I found this fabric at a really great price. I don't know if any of you sew. But if you do, you know that fabric will take half of your pay check just to make a set of curtains. Fabric isn't cheap. At five dollars a yard for this home decor fabric, I felt like I had hit the jackpot.

That green fabric will hopefully become this "cutest thing I've ever seen" valance. I don't care for the blinds or curtains for GB#2; I do like the asymmetrical cut and will go with a different pull down shade and then no curtains at all.

The picture above shows a small dividing wall between the closet doors.

This panel here should look really nice as a curtain between those two doorways. I'm hoping it will pull the closet together giving an illusion of one big doorway rather than two small doorways. I'm also hoping this will subtly bring the blue/green colors to that end of the bedroom. It measures a little too short and that's okay. With the fabric left over from the valances, I plan to add it to the length of this panel.

GB#2 isn't quite ready. We were fine with early guests because we were anxious for the room to be put to the test. The room got raving reviews. The beds are comfortable and the room is quiet and not too dark or too bright. We still need to hang a few more pictures, make a valance, make a pull down shade, get a nightstand lamp and install a few phalanges for a closet clothes hanging pole. This photo that I found online captures the "relax" ambiance that we are looking for with GB#2.

While I worked diligently inside, my MIL and FIL were working diligently outside. They've come several times now to help clear out the over grown plants and trees. Yes they are in their seventies and yes they can work circles around me in this heat. Be jealous, because I sure am. 

You can see that they cleared out a lot of foliage and the big tree. They arrived at the crack of dawn and worked into the heat of the day. Not only did they clear out the front yard but the back yard is cleared out as well. I'm not sure how they are capable of doing that but I hope to be a teachable grasshopper and learn.

A few months ago for Father's Day I bought Mi Miguel a lemon tree and a lime tree. The lime tree turned yellow and lost all of it's leaves. The lemon tree...

is growing like a weed. The torrential rains we had for the last 25 days didn't phase this little guy. He grew and grew in spite of it all. Now that all of the old citrus trees in the back yard have been removed, we can plant this hardy tree.

Not only has Mi Miguel been busy growing a single tree orchard, tiling, working his job, packing up the things in the fixer-upper and putting up with me, he's also been busting out walls and removing fixtures that we don't want.

Notice anything missing in this before and after foyer photo?

With all the carpeting, padding, garage screening, trees, walls and other unwanted things the dumpster was filled in two and half weeks rather than the full three. Yesterday, we had it removed. We now have our driveway back. I can't believe we filled an enormous dumpster that quickly.

Remember the Bundt cake? I found time during the past week to give it a go. I couldn't find my mixer in all the hundred boxes that are stored in our living room. So, I had to use the one that was here with the house. The retro mixer still mixes just as well today as it did thirty years ago. I made it and it wasn't perfect which is par for the course for me. I always have to make everything a second time to get it right. So here is the practice one.

Once I turned the cake onto the cooling rack, it looked much more attractive. I'm ready to give it a second shot and see if it is office ready. Those hundred boxes in our living? Because we had such wonderful help over the weekend, those boxes have been moved and organized until we can get to them.

We found time last Friday evening to re-do the C restaurant. We had great success. You can read all about it on my Facebook Page: Florida Restaurants A-Z.