Finally nesting!

When it's sunny in Portland, you are absolutely not allowed to be inside.  This is not a good rule when you're trying to do indoor household tasks, like unpacking and painting.  And it's been gorgeous here!  But thanks to help from mama bird and a few rainy days, we are finally done with the living room.

The valuable lessons we learned while updating the bungalow's common area:

1.  Never ever buy Ikea furniture if you plan to paint it.  After the arduous tasks of sanding and painting (which take WEEKS longer than you expect), you have to put it together.  And adding just a centimeter of thickness in paint makes this nearly impossible.  I'm sure it was an interesting sight seeing the bloke and the bird sitting on a shelf to add weight while trying to screw in the last piece.

2.  If I (the bird) feel really passionate about a paint color and the bloke is on the fence, I just need to make sure it's named after a food or drink.  "But this darker brown is called 'Cup of Cocoa.'"  "Oh, well if it's called that, how can we not choose that one?"  The red furniture in the living room is called "Cherry Tart."  The bloke said as long as I make him whatever food the paint color is named after, he's good with it.  The day we got done painting, I picked up two mini cherry pies from Starbucks and a 3 Musketeers bar.  It was close enough for his sweet tooth.

3.  When using toggle bolts, if the first one falls off inside of the wall, the next two probably will as well.  Yes, it took us three tries before we realized our screws were too short.

Now, for the fun part - pictures!

The Ikea shelves that we painted cherry tart red.

The bird and mama bird made these using fabric scraps and old frames.

One of the bloke's lamps that the bird got a hold of and painted cherry tart red.

 The other cute cherry tart red lamp.

A 360 degree view of the living room - I clearly don't have a very steady hand.

The next room to be finished - the dining room!

Love,

the bird (and the bloke)