2011 November »

For the last several years John and I have taken a few “small” get away vacations to the beach and then a large vacation. The large vacations have all been either to WDW or on a cruise and while we have had a wonderful time on each and every trip I have been thinking more and more lately that maybe it is time to relook at our travel bucket list and start planning something different.

My/Our Travel Bucket list includes:

West Coast Tour – ( San Diego, LA, San Francisco) – This is the vacation we were going to do this year for my 50^th but I chose not to do it as one of the places I want to see (Disneyland) is under construction currently. I also want to be able to take 10-22 days there so we don’t feel rushed so I wanted to wait till I earned that next week of vacation at work. 2013 may be the year.

The West Driving Tour – I want to fly out west, Arizona maybe, rent a car for a week to 10 days and just explore. I want to see all the State Parks and their offerings, but I also just want to see the landscape, the people, the mountains and valleys. This could also be a 2013 possibility.

Scotland – This is really the only place in Europe that I would love, love, love to see. Other places I would not turn down but this country just looks so inviting and beautiful with so much charm and history. One day I will get here I hope.

Nashville – Granted this is more John’s than mine but I would certainly be happy to go and see the sights, listen to the music and get some great southern cooking. We actually have looked into going a few times but we have never pulled the trigger.. Soon I hope.

New Orleans – I have always wanted to see New Orleans, the music, the nightlife, the traditions. Katrina took it off the radar for several years but I hear the city is back and better than ever and that now is a great time to visit.

A few weekend (4 day) quick get-aways I would love to do include Savannah, Charleston, New York City (I’ve been but always for work, never for enough days to really see the city as it should be seen), Chicago (I hear it is just the best city) and for specifically for John Atlanta because he really wants to see World of Coke haha.

There are many other places but these are the highlighted places we would like to visit and explore. Now to figure out when and how to pay for them all.

Do you have a travel bucket list?

Several months ago, just after purchasing a new King sized mattress I started searching around on different websites for a new headboard layout that would work for the vision I had for our master bedroom. This is the one room in our house that we have never done anything with except paint the walls. How sad is that, the place you go to relax and revitalize yourself and it had no décor of any kind in it. I had promised myself that this would be the year to fix that oversight. In my search I came across this picture on Pinterest and just knew it had possibilities.

http://pinterest.com/pin/41658365272660515/

I sent John the link and then explained to him that I wanted a look like this with the headboard shelves, I definitely wanted wainscoting as a focal trim (I have always wanted wainscoting in a bedroom) but wanted the shelves to more stylish and I wanted a bridge to connect the two cabinets across the top. He didn’t really understand what I wanted in shelves and cabinets so I headed back to Pinterest and found exactly what I wanted:

http://pinterest.com/pin/41658365272660321/

Oh and I wanted it all painted white, every inch of it. Surprise anyone? Didn’t think so.

John is a skilled carpenter so he took out his tape measure, pencil and paper and started sketching out his blueprint and we headed to Home Depot so that I could pick out the trim, wainscoting, paint textures and he could price it out, he always wants to do that for some reason haha..

I do want to go on record that I also told John that I knew this would not be a one week project as I was asking him tackle this in the middle of baseball season and with him working a FT job he just couldn’t dedicate hours on end all at one time. I even promised him I would not bitch for 6 weeks, but after that if it wasn’t done it bitching was far game as he couldn’t drag it out forever.

So here is what our room looked like before (Gibson says hi):

Pitiful is it not?

And here it is half way framed out.

Dad’s helpers: Tough work but someone has to oversee the cutting and nailing going on.

It was at about this point in the construction that I realized the room was going to look unfinished if we didn’t go one more step and someone I convinced John we needed to wainscot and chair rail the two walls that come out from the back wall. He had a few choice thoughts about this idea I am sure, but never voiced them, and after actually taking a piece of wainscoting and placing it where I meant he saw my vision and agreed to work make it happen. I didn’t extend my no bitching deadline though.

See what I mean about the sidewall connecting to cabinets:

Needed help did it not?

I am not sure exactly how long the entire project took to complete start to finish but I did not have to start bitching about it and it did turn out AMAZING and everyone who has seen it in person is shocked that we didn’t get this from Pottery Barn or another store like that and get this… It is totally portable — it (the back wall) is not attached in anyway to the studs or drywall so we can take it apart and bring it with us if we ever do move.

Some finished photos:

Didn’t I tell you it turned out great?

This definitely is being marked as a Pinterest win as I was able to visually show John what I wanted using the two Pinterest pins and he built me exactly what I wanted.

Hmm, now to get him into a good mood so I can show him this, also from Pinterest for the front hall.