American Foursquare Remodel 16 - Parlor Updated Pics

No stories to tell, just pictures to show. : ) These were taken on September 25, 2010.  Here is the earlier blog.

Losing the Constitution (March 15, 2008)

Losing the Constitution

The other day I heard something that chilled me: "The media has too much freedom." Those words solidified my uneasy suspicion that the implosion of the mainstream media is being accelerated and deliberately orchestrated by unseen powers behind the scenes to incite the public to anger, fear and ultimately, to lead us to willingly abridge or abolish another of our Constitutional rights.

The most effective strategy to completely destroying something is to do it from within; external attack only galvanizes defenses. But if the credibility and integrity of an institution - any institution - can be destroyed by what is perceived as its own arrogance and irresponsibility, people will abandon it scornfully, or at least view it with permanent skepticism and distrust.

We must view the media as unreliable, biased, seditious, even traitorous, to successfully destroy its power and relevance in society. IT’S WORKING! Can you imagine talk of limiting freedom of the press otherwise? Consider two recent, outrageous, and very successful examples of this deliberate plan to simultaneously manipulate public opinion and undermine the media: the set-up of Dan Rather and of Newsweek. Bad personal decisions by individuals notwithstanding, we all lost faith in the credibility of these two giants of mainstream media.

Now consider other ways we’re distracted but witnessing our Constitutional rights and values-based foundational institutions being destroyed from within:

* fear of gun crime has led to laws that really only restrict law-abiding citizens, while failing to prevent criminals from obtaining weapons;

* trust in true representative government is eroded by politicians’ corruption and scandal on local, state and national levels;

* fear of terrorism - real or manufactured - has led to unprecedented abdication of personal rights;

* illegal aliens and enemy combatants demand the same Constitutional rights as American citizens;

* American judges are subtly quoting "world law" in their decisions;

* our country is being called the "homeland" blurring national borders and national sovereignty;

* "global" citizenship - as remote a concept from the individual as you can get - replaces real connection with our flesh and blood neighbors next door.

Add to that, the ideals of marriage and family are attacked by subversives who have infiltrated legislatures and the judiciary nationwide; religion is disgraced by pedophile clergy.

Do you see a pattern here? The very pillars upon which this country - and even human civilization - was built are being laid to waste, one by one, successfully, from within. And in many cases, we unwittingly demand that it be done.

The only way the United States can fall in line with the New World Order of one global government is to destroy that which makes America strong, independent, and unique: our Constitution. Slowly. Quietly. Deliberately. And, most absurdly, through the outcry of the people themselves, who sincerely seek a "fix" to the distracting and absolutely orchestrated micro-menaces, but who fail to see the macro-consequences.

Don't say it can't happen. Too much of today's reality was unthinkable just 10 years ago. Do I sound paranoid? You may think so. But that doesn't mean I'm not right. Pay attention.

(Written March 15, 2008; Published June 18, 2010 8:44 p.m.; Re-published January 22, 2023)

(c)2008 Lucie Raposo - All rights reserved (republished 2023)

American Foursquare Remodel 15 - Spare Bedroom to a Sitting Room

I decided to make one of the bedrooms a sitting room - perfect for the TV that I don't watch. And maybe for the antique trundle Singer sewing machine I recently acquired, once it's refinished and refurbished.

Two matching love seats were left in the house. The colors and style are not my current taste, but the love seats are in good enough condition for now.

The walls started out as painted wallpaper. I remember the original paper in here - a dark juvenile print with galactic spaceships, astronauts, stars and planets. Cartoons, really. Awful.

So my parents painted it pale pink. Like the bathroom. Softer and more subdued for a bedroom, certainly, but not quite right for a sitting room.

 

The right way to do this room would be to strip the painted paper, of course. But it was in pretty good condition (visible wallpaper seams notwithstanding). So I decided to simply paint it. Brown, LOL. 

Actually it's called Cardamom. I first saw the swatch in Home Depot as a Behr paint, but decided after a friend's recommendation to take the swatch to Sherwin Williams, who matched it perfectly. Sherwin Williams has a fun online gadget - upload a photo of your room, and paint it virtually. Great tool, especially useful to avoid a $40-a-gallon mistake. *gasp* Not that Behr was that much cheaper in price. Anyway, I found the tool after picking the color, but I have had fun playing with it. 

I used Behr Premium Plus interior paint for the living room and den ceilings (Cream Silk) and living room walls (Caraway - you know from my photos that it's a deep green, whatever hue this swatch depicts), and have been quite happy with the paint quality. I have two more gallons - Premium Plus Ultra, which is supposed to have primer already in it - ready to go for the hallway and staircase, in Chianti (a burgundy red, although this site's swatch looks more icky rust on my monitor). Behr is available at Home Depot, whose hours are more convenient for me. But Sherwin Williams was suggested as a "better" paint, so I tried it.

I do like the plastic jug Sherwin Williams uses. Duration interior with a satin finish worked great... after three and in some places four coats. Really. That was disappointing. I expected for the price it would cover better. Maybe it's because I was applying it over painted wallpaper. Maybe it was the deep color. Whatever, I was not particularly impressed with the performance. But I do like the color.

Once again, I wanted a picture rail installed. I had it placed about 9-10 inches below the ceiling to accommodate a wallpaper border someday.

 

As I did in the parlor, I changed out the plastic outlet covers for wood ones, then painted them to match the walls.

 

These walls are screaming for pictures or something. That's the final step, yet to come. I have a collection of framed family photos that might make a great wall mural... 

 

The rug comes from a past Rhode Island PBS Spring Auction (and buy the way, the 2010 auction is online beginning April 1, and televised April 26 - 30. And yes, the misspelling of buy/by is intentional).

 

American Foursquare Remodel 14 - Parlor

The parlor was the first room painted - even though it's almost the last story told. There is so much that still needs to be done in this room and the whole house - the decorative details that makes a house a home - but it's getting there slowly. Very slowly it seems.

Here are the before pictures. The beautiful lincrusta frieze was hardly visible, painted the same color as the walls.

 

  

  

  

I can't rightly call these "after" pictures; more accurately, they are 'tweens, with more to follow as I unpack all those fragiles still safely boxed, and put the room together.

  

  A view of the picture window before the new wood trim.

  

The beautiful new trim that matches the original casings elsewhere in the house. An earlier blog discusses the trim work.

I replaced the outlet covers with wood ones, then painted them to match the walls.

 

A few decorative details added. I resist taking a full room view, though - still too many misplaced furniture pieces, boxes, ladders, tools around, ha!

This is a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. My parents brought it back with them from their visit to Fatima, Portugal, many years ago (I'd have to really strain to remember the year, it was that long ago). She always had a lot of religious meaning to my parents - Our Lady of Fatima, not the statue! And I was raised in that tradition. But more than that, it's a beautiful sculpture as well. At the time my parents died, neither my brother nor I had room for such a large piece. We were going to donate her to a church, but I never got around to doing that. 

Now that I'm in the house and living with her *smile*, I can't just give her away. I figure I've acquired and am willing to display lots of beautiful women statues (like the Guiseppe Armani on the mantel) without giving it any more thought than perfect placement. So why not this one, too? Because it's religious? Absurd. So this beautiful piece of Portuguese religious art has a special place on the window ledge in my new parlor. : )

Link to the latest pics (September 2010)

American Foursquare Remodel 13 - Main Bath Update

I finally got around to taking pictures of the lace curtains and wall decoration in the main bath on the second floor of my American Foursquare circa 1932.

Note the light fixture above the medicine cabinet - the one I don't like (gives off horrible lighting for make-up application) but don't hate enough to change now; it's on my target list for future replacement.

 

Here is the link for some "before" pictures.

American Foursquare Remodel 12 - The Den

The Den is done. Well, almost. (Is any home project really ever done?)

Here are some before and after photos of the same basic area of the Den. The wallpapering is all done now, but there is more rearranging and finishing touches to be done in the rest of the room (including re-hanging the double doors).

 

  

  

  

  

  

Here's the picture rail on duty - as well as a view of the new door casing, and a close-up of the swag border. :)

  

 

I have to admit it seems odd that that particular border was matched with that particular paper, but they were!

I bought this area rug from Overstock.com. I was a little hesitant about buying a rug by description only, without actually seeing the quality and - equally as important in this case - the colors. Was I ever delighted with this purchase! It complements the color scheme beautifully and its quality rivals much more expensive rugs. Great deal!

  

Lady Emily reclining on the chaise. She is such an alpha-female! (A little Aries... need I say more?)

  

This sculpture is called "Fanciulla Con Rosa" or "Rose" by Giuseppe Armani.

She's dated 1996 and is signed by the studio master artist. All Armani sculptures bear his signature and studio mark of authenticity imprinted on them, but in some cases, these hand-crafted pieces are also signed by the studio artist. Rose is one such piece. Her decoration matched the room's color scheme, so I put her on display.

 

 

I love the movement and celebration of beauty of each of Giuseppe Armani's sculptures. So much so, I collected more than 2 dozen pieces of various sizes on the secondary market (many of the sculptures were already retired and not available in retail stores). One of these days, I'll photograph all of them...

American Foursquare Remodel 11 - Main Bath

The main bathroom on the second floor has brownish-tan tile on the lower half and floor, and had pale pink painted wallpaper above. The shower is beautiful, with the surround tiled in matching style, and sliding glass doors (which could use a little rehab). In their later years, my parents put safety handles on two walls of the shower. I think the tub, toilet, and sink were supposed to be beige, but they look pale pink against the tile. The large vanity has a non-descript white laminate top, but two sets of nice deep drawers and a double-door cabinet between. There is also a deep, narrow linen closet in the room. All that adds up to adequate storage.

I don't care for the medicine cabinet and really dislike the light fixture above (it's terrible for applying make-up!), but I don't hate them enough to change them just yet.

 

  

  

 

At first, I was going to simply repaint the walls - to get rid of the pale pink, and just to get the room moved over to the "Done" list. I matched a dramatic dark brown Sherwin Williams paint to the color in the tile decoration. (Yes, in case you haven't already noticed: for better or worse, the entire house is moving from light colored neutrals to dramatic deep-base hues.) Before painting, I tried to fix the couple of small areas where the painted wallpaper was loose. When I did, I found the paper underneath was not well adhered; it came off the wall in one large sheet. The entire room was stripped in minutes! (Photos were taken on November 11, right after painted wallpaper was removed.)

That left me with a new dilemma. I had already bought the paint, but had not considered wallpaper at this point. However, removing residual paste would be a messy, stinky job of vinegar and hot water. I prefer wallpaper anyway. Plus, I already had the border I intended to apply, purchased 4 years ago to match the entire ensemble I bought at Kohl's when I moved into my Victorian apartment. (Now I'm glad I never got around to applying it to the apartment's bathroom!)

So, the search was on to find wallpaper to match the border as well as the tile...

My first stop was browsing online. Then - because color matching is essential - find someone locally who had the book. Have I mentioned that all my wallpaper choices to date happened to be from books that were discontinued?  Yeah, I thought so. Sherwin Williams in Attleboro had the book in the store, but I was warned the patterns could be unavailable when I took the book home...

Of course, I found the perfect match in that book. Not just the main colors, but the background of the wallpaper has that same multi-shade "diffuse clouds" look and color of the tiles. I had to have this paper, and convinced the distributors to sell me what they had.

When I measure for wallpaper, I measure wall height and width, and barely pay attention to doors, windows, and other subtractions. That ensures I always have enough paper - and often a roll left over - even if the pattern has a drop-match (which can wreak havoc on accurate calculations!) Limited stock meant I had to be far more accurate with the measurements - including account for the border - and had to prepare for little if any left-overs. No room for mistakes. I made it by the skin of my pasting brush.

The room still needs window treatments and I have some wall decor, but it's functional... and picture-ready. :)

 

  

  

  

 

More pictures are here in an update.