Freeing up space by wall mounting the TVs - all of them!

Ok, the projects have been mapped out and we have a plan.  I figure mapping out the plan is half the battle.  Ha!  Well, at least it gives me something to shoot for.  We decided to upgrade and wall mount the TVs - which doesn't sound like a big deal, until you times it by 5!  The tv-mounting-wizard came yesterday to start moving all the electrical outlets and cable hookups up the walls, so that we don't have wires hanging all over the place.  Did I mention we have 5 to do? oh yeh, I did.  Well he was there for what seemed like forever.  Two TVs are actually mounted to the walls, 3 to go, but I want to paint the walls in those rooms first.  The good news is that paint colors are picked out.  See I told you I had a plan.

The wall in the family room also had to have drywall work done before we could get that TV up.  What I thought would be easy: bang out the arch, patch the wall and paint - naturally turned into more work than I thought it would be.  That seemed to take forever too.  So I started feeling like this was an OMG this will take forever project and for good reason, it has!

Started with this:

I know, I know, it was God awful looking.  Makes me happy that we are transforming the "guy's place" when I see how sad this room looked.  Thus the reason for "the plan" for most of the house. Room by room it will slowly but surely end up eventually looking better (I hope!).  My plan for this wall in the family room was as follows. Take down that arch over the fireplace and remove that ugly mirror.  Get rid of the monster TV and ugly stand in the corner.  Remove everything from the bookshelves on the right, so that they can be styled with something a bit more lovely, etc.  It sounds easy enough, but let's start with that ugly arch.  It was a bugger. 

 



I give you the shot of the during - while we hit Best Buy and proceeded to spend a bloody fortune on upgrading a few TVs.  Throw in the mounts, installers, things like a new Blue Ray, cables and yep - it adds up to a small fortune.  In fact we might have been able to buy a small island for the amount we spent at Best Buy.  Ok, maybe not.

So finally, we have the FR TV actually mounted.  Actually done twice (mo money, mo money) because the 1st guy that installed it, had wires coming down through the mantle.  The 2nd team came in and did a much better job.  Wires now all tidy and hidden - just requires another little patch job.  After all this, I am sitting here thinking....does a family really need 5 TVs????  oddly enough, ours does.  Quite sure this says something twisted about us.  As does what's on the screen - my favorite guilty pleasure, Bravo, where watching Jeff Lewis makes me feel much more normal.

Why pitch it just because it's ugly?

I know it's not yet February, so I am doing more than 1 post this month.  Wow - that's huge for me.  Especially, since I am known as the woman without 1 room in the entire house finished.  Everything is in the state of oh let's see....maybe 50% done.  It will be cocktail time when I finally get 1 flippin room actually to 100%.  It might even be champagne time.

Since I am feeling like any sort of real progress is really not taking place (despite the fact we are actually making slow progress), I decided to repurpose an ugly.  I am slowly but surely removing every ugly thing in the house that the ex-wife left.  Perhaps I should have more politely said every thing that's not my cup of tea, but let's be real - these were ugly:

So, I find some cool Ralph Lauren plates at HomeGoods on the clearance shelf for $6.50 each.  Come home, take the frames apart, spray the frame and paint the matt and background and I come up with this:

There are 2 of them, so it has a "twin", because everyone knows I like twins :)  I often think about how thankful I am that my twins weren't triplets.  Just can't imagine throwing another 10 year old into the mix.

So, as the room is pulled together and if it's EVER finished, you just may see these twins in a future post.  For $13. (I had the paint) they make me happy.  Some things should just not be hauled off to Goodwill.  I figure with just a little bit of work, I can put my own little mark on them and be pleased to have them more look like "me".  And yes, I am still into that pop of orange, although I fully understand that's last year's color and everyone is now into green.  I'm sticking with my orange groove.  Here's a newsflash - I did that green a really long time ago, so for me it's old news.

2013: The Year of the Big Merge

So I have spent the last week trying to recover from the entire holiday season.  I have also spent some time reading what I should say are some the very inspiring blogs, listing the zillion things they plan to accomplish in 2013.  The truth is, several made me think that many bloggers try a bit too hard to make their lives look perfect.  Really? My world is so far from that, it makes me laugh.  There are a few who keep it real and that I feel like I can relate to - mentioning panic attacks, kid's meltdowns, mommy meltdowns (smile), work/life balance, drinking a few glasses of wine or a few margaritas AND trying to work in DIY projects.  Yep, those are the bloggers I relate to and most enjoy.

While I do have a list for 2013 and it may be every bit as long as many others, I feel no need to stick my neck out there and commit to getting it all done.  In fact, when I woke up the 1st day of the year - miraculously without a hangover from the vodka martinis the night before - my first thought for 2013 was simply to be happy and make this "the year of the big merge".  Merging 2 households, some would think far too many children between us (we can't send them back now!) and 2 worlds.  That sounds like enough of a challenge to me. 

Stay tuned.  I'll do my best to keep you posted and try to get something accomplished to actually post....like maybe a room that's actually finished or finding the time to make my blog a bit more lovely. :)