From Blah to....Less Blah

It's summer, so there's not a ton happening on the home improvement front. Luckily, I have a few projects that are in a semi-finished state, so I can share them during the long, hot days ahead. This one was completed about a month ago, but I saved it for the dreariest day imaginable to try to take crappy cell-phone pictures in a room that already doesn't get a ton of light. I'm so smart and good at this!!

Our guest room has been the most transitional room thus far. We had planned on it being an office. It already had a massive desk in there left by the previous owners, so I originally styled it as an office and packed the closet with my obscene amount of craft supplies. And then we never used it. The only time I ever set foot in there was to fetch something from my craft closet.

Then a few months ago, I experienced a lengthy bout of insomnia. When that happens, I have two options- lay in bed, angry and awake, listening to my husband snoring while plotting his gruesome murder or go share the couch with the dog. Neither one of those was particularly appealing, and we had that whole room, just wasting away... A quick trip to Sam's for a twin mattress and box spring turned our unused office into a guest room/sanctuary from snoring.

It still lacked style, and paint. So once I had finished painting every other room in the house, it was time to tackle this one. But choosing a color was tough. I had originally thought a light periwinkle might be nice, but I was wrong. It was more of a lilac nightmare. A leftover can of light blue from the twins' room was a bit too nursery-like. I finally decided to use the same blue that I have in the kitchen and living room (SW Interesting Aqua). It's a grown-up blue that's not too dark, and since the guest room is filled with cast-offs from the living room (curtains, rug, lamps), I knew they would work together.

A couple of coats of paint later, we had a fun, eclectic room that has a lot of personality. It might be filled with cast-offs and art that doesn't work anywhere else, but it's all stuff that I love and couldn't bear to part with.  I have a place to store my collection of dollhouses (I'm a miniatures junkie- more on that later), and we finally have a place to display the concert flyers we've started collecting over the past couple of years.

(Sidenote- We are total concert junkies. I thought that made us kind of cool and fun, but then I started looking around at the audience at our last few shows. You know who goes to concerts? Middle-aged people trying to reclaim their misspent youth. We're not cool- we're a cliche'! But that's okay because we're cliches that have seen some kickass bands.)

As promised, here are those poorly-lit cell phone pictures. It may not be the showplace of our home, but I like it. And at least I have a refuge from snoring that might just save my husband's life!

 I loved this fun colorful quilt. 

The fact that it was $20 made me love it more.

The wall of music is still a work in progress!

These are only from the last year or two. 

Yes, that is a trailer dollhouse.

The inside is as awesome as the outside.

                                                                                

                                    Stuff I love, like this reclaimed wood chest from India,

my quarter scale dollhouse that I'm absurdly proud of,

and my chipmunk art studio that's just funny.

Make This for Dinner- Mushroom Ravioli Lasagna

It's summer- no one wants to cook anything complicated. In fact, I believe that the vast majority of summer foods should be eaten cold or grilled. But sometimes it's too hot and muggy to light the grill. Or maybe you don't feel like being carried off by bird-sized mosquitos while you cook dinner. For those nights, I'm giving you this ridiculously easy, fairly cheap, kid-approved dinner. This is just my variation- there are million similar recipes on hand, and you should feel free to customize it based on your family's tastes, and what you have in your pantry.

Ingredients:
2 bags mushroom ravioli (look in the refrigerated section of your grocery store)
1 jar marinara sauce
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
2 thinly sliced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped basil
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
salt and pepper

Now, try to keep up. This is a very complicated process that will take you approximately five whole minutes!!

In a glass baking dish (I used 8x8) spread a thin layer of marinara sauce, top with a layer of ravioli. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan on top (maybe a half cup of mozzarella? 3/4 of a cup? Enough to cover it, but not bury it. You'll need enough for 2 more layers.)
Top cheese layer with sliced mushrooms, then tomato slices (sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste), then the chopped basil.
Cover with another layer of mozzarella and parmesan.
Follow with a second layer of mushroom ravioli and another layer of marinara sauce.
Top with a final layer of mozzarella and parmesan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Y'all- this was SO GOOD. My entire family- including my pickiest kid- devoured it.This is all that was left:

 And you can make it ahead of time and pop it in the oven when you're ready. Spend all afternoon at the pool, because dinner will be a cinch!

Spray Paint- A How Not-to Guide

Today is our house-iversary!! One year ago today we closed on our beloved casa and began the process of making it our dream house. I had this whole post planned where I would have all these great pictures of all the changes we've made over the year, but it's summer and I have three boys, and upstairs looks like it's been taken over by squatters. I don't even go up there. Seriously- it's too horrifying. I just leave Boyland to them and I live on the clean first floor of the house. So yeah, maybe we'll get to those pictures sometime in the future.

In the meantime, I'm going to tell you a story about how stupid I am, but only if you promise not to tell my husband. I don't have to worry about him finding out here because he doesn't read my blog. He says, "I don't need to read it- I live it." So this little snafu needs to stay between us.

Yesterday I decided to paint a little metal bench that I had out in the yard. It was looking pretty tired, and what could possibly make it more cheerful than a coat of bright pink spray paint? There was a good chance of rain in the afternoon, so I decided to paint it in the garage. No big deal, I've done that before. But this time I decided not to bother moving my car. After all, I was several feet away- it would be fine, right? Well, it might have been fine if I didn't have a huge fan going to help with ventilation. But since I did, I got an unfortunate surprise when I was finished.

I stepped back to admire my cheerful pink bench,

Cute, right?? 

Then I looked around and noticed that everything around me had a fine, powdery coating of pink. I wondered if my car did, but it was hard to tell in the dim light. I ran my hand over the side and it felt powdery and came back vaguely pink. So I thought, "hmm, I'd better rinse this off before it sets."

When I backed it out in the driveway, it still didn't look too bad. Maybe it had a slight pinkish cast? Then I walked around it to find wherever the sun hit it, wherever the light caught it at an angle, it was a definite iridescent pink. I'm not going to lie, it was actually kind of cool, and I thought briefly about leaving it. But I figured that would not go over well with the aforementioned spouse, so I decided I'd better rinse it off. No big deal- except that when it dried, it was still pink....

I started to get a bit panicky at this point. I had twenty minutes until I had to leave to get to an appointment and I had a pink minivan. What the hell was I going to do???There was no time for a real car wash, so I had to give my car a frantic sponge bath in a desperate attempt to remove all evidence of stupidity. Thankfully it worked, and I headed off to my appointment with a sigh of relief.

That lasted until I got home and realized that the garage floor was sporting a delightful coat of pink mist. Hubs would probably not be thrilled about that either (though he'd be happier than he would if the car still looked like a rolling blob of cotton candy.) It swept out fairly easily, though there's still a pink patch where I actually painted it. But that's no big deal, because I paint in there frequently, and the floor is already a Rorschach test of previous projects. My secret is safe- as long as you guys don't tell him. And I have learned a valuable lesson- ALWAYS MOVE THE CAR!!!

I'll leave you with that good advice, and this picture to commemorate our very first house-iversary.