First, I promised some photos....
Here is what used to be the mezzanine at the country house:
and here is the room my brother built for BB: 
Because it's a really tiny space, my super-clever brother followed some of my ideas and put some shutters that overlook the living room (and are exactly centered with the high A-frame living room window) AND he put another window across from it, to let some light into the staircase (and make the room feel less cramped). For now, she's still in a toddler bed there, so the room actually feels big. Eventually, we'll have to get her a single bed, but we'll get it with drawers underneath so she'll have room to put her stuff. For now, it's primed dark beige, left from the rest of the house. But as we speak, Super Uncle T is painting it..... something called Frothy Yellow! (she picked it herself from some pre-selected colors I showed her).
I really want to show you pictures of the white paint job, new fireplace and wallpaper at the house, but it just feels so wrong until the wallpaper is fixed. So instead, I will entertain you with a different before and After. Yesterday, my brother spent the day in my warehouse, building shelving up to 10 feet high to help us organize out-of-season stock. While he was there, I had him take a counter in my office space and lower it to desk height. This is what I was left with:
Pretty drab, right? It was even worse before he fixed the desk. Because it used to be so high, we also had an old white particle-board desk shoved on the left wall (where the shelving is in the pic) and the back wall was covered in standard store wall slats, which were full of paperwork. It was the most uninspiring place to work. It was always messy because the counter was so useless, and frankly, I hated spending time in there. (How can you re-order Pee & Poo in such a drab office? They are in stock BTW!!!!)
So today, I did a mini make-over. With 150$ dollars and 3.5 hours, I did this:
3 rolls of wallpaper (ironically also Graham & Brown, this one found at H*me D*pot) and a gallon of fuchsia paint. Once it's dry, I'll need to put up some shelving and a bulletin boards and other office things, but this time, everything will be pretty! I'm done with working in someone else's leftovers! BTW, Scary Russian Dudes take note: my paper is hung straight AND level. (and to answer Melissa, the reason I'm not doing the living room paper on my own is because of the amount of delicate cuts that need to be made around sconces, fireplace etc. Ironically, they did a good job on that, they just couldn't align the pattern!)
today, I also bought these: 
I have decided I'm going to start running. I am horribly out of shape. I used to have yoga/pilates sessions when I worked at the other store (it was in the same building) but I stopped when we went to China to get BB and since then, I have done nothing but couch-surf. My local paper is having a series on learning to run, which details a week by week plan. they are on week 4, but it took me this long to gt my head around the idea. Today, I bought the shoes. Tonight, I download the plan, tomorrow, I start.
Finally, I signed up for another photo class. It's not camera-specific this time, since I now feel comfortable finding all the settings on my camera. I just don't know what to do with them! I know I need to play with the f-stop, but I can never remember if I want to go higher or lower. So I'm taking another basics class. Lots and lots of new little beginnings.
PS: before you comment, *I KNOW* I need another coat or two of paint! I just slapped some on for the picture!
