tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34270815395935605772024-02-02T13:34:03.262-08:00The Perfectly Imperfect LifeDiane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-88359800155624676052014-09-16T13:58:00.001-07:002014-09-16T13:58:00.090-07:00Food WarsWARNING: There are no pictures in this post to protect the innocent…and the guilty…well, to protect me.  It’s mostly to protect me…   When I woke this morning, I was feeling good: Fall is on its way, it was looking like we’d be having some beautiful weather and I was feeling all nest-y (what?!  Is too a word).  I got up and decided I was going to GET STUFF DONE today!  Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-50865821488356633202014-05-30T09:41:00.001-07:002014-05-30T09:41:31.340-07:00Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets MonthIt’s true: May really was paint your kitchen cabinets month.  I hope you all got on that and are enjoying your “brand new” kitchens. After several weeks of my girls asking when I was going to paint the cabinets, I finally got on that – with a little help from my new (and totally awesome!) paint sprayer!  I must admit, I was a little trepidatious about using, but my friend brought over Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-46754306617983540832014-05-09T11:49:00.001-07:002014-05-09T11:49:29.457-07:00Let There Be White!It’s been almost three months since my last post, seems like I’m right on track for another update! Sometime in March, I decided that, since the bathroom was starting to look better, I really needed to get the ugly window and door trim taken care of.  Whenever I sat on my bed (which looks directly into my bathroom), I’d feel so frustrated that just around the corner were some vast Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-73946198034388562242014-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:002014-02-22T10:00:03.467-08:00Bathroom Update–Part 2When last we met, I showed you the new paint and stained cabinets in my master bathroom.  Today, I wanted to show you the rest of the work I’ve done to get me to a point where I’m mostly happy and can wait it out until we make some more awesome improvements.  (How’s that for a ringing endorsement?)  In my “ToDo” post, I listed several items for short-term improvements and here’s Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-36284048873681658852014-02-21T11:28:00.004-08:002014-02-21T11:32:09.355-08:00Bathroom Update – Part 1I haven’t posted in a while. Seems like I say that a lot on this blog, but that’s the way I roll. I have such a love hate relationship with this blog…
I’ve been jumping all over the place painting pretty much everything and updating window and door trim when I can. I’m dying to buy the rest of the molding to finish the doors and windows upstairs, but I’m trying to keep to a Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-79679170398774020972013-11-22T13:16:00.001-08:002013-11-22T13:16:22.454-08:00Making Progress: New Window TrimMy last update on the girls’ rooms showed them  freshly painted and no longer sporting primary colors.  The new paint was a BIG improvement, but the skinny, 80s wood trim just wasn’t doing it for me.  I knew I wanted something more interesting and way beefier (just like I like my men – oh come on! you know you were thinking it to!). Although I knew exactly what I wanted to do, it Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-21766599004346597442013-11-18T20:45:00.001-08:002013-11-18T20:45:52.254-08:00Whole Wheat Pizza and CalzonesThis evening,  Thing 1 made us calzones for dinner.  As she read the recipes that I use for dough and pizza sauce, we both noticed how often I said something like, “yeah, but I don’t do it that way”.  After the third or fourth time, we decided that I needed to type up my modified versions of these recipes and put them somewhere accessible.  I told my daughter I’d put them on Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-72232842142271825032013-10-31T20:23:00.001-07:002013-10-31T20:32:35.830-07:00Taming the BlueHappy Halloween. everyone!  Hope you all got lots of Trick-or-Treaters at your door, but still have plenty of candy left to hoard in that top cabinet where no one else will find it!  What?!  You know you do that too! ***** First order of business on the new house definitely had to be the girls’ rooms.  They were part of the upstairs that hadn’t yet been updated and I think Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-3379107743122164692013-10-28T19:16:00.001-07:002013-10-28T19:16:20.789-07:00What TODO, What TODO?!In my last post we toured the new house.  In this post, we’ll walk through and make a list of what I hope to do in each room.  This house is mostly great as is, but it doesn’t really look like our home, so we’ll be making lots of changes (and using lots of paint!) to make this home feel more like us. The Foyer Paint a new (more-me) color Change out the light fixture Get Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-23402803151796899772013-10-25T07:42:00.001-07:002013-10-25T07:42:34.030-07:00New House TourWelcome to our new home!  I thought I’d start with a tour of the new home before I jump into my first projects.   My husband was smart enough to snap a bunch of pictures with his camera just minutes before the movers came in with the first of the boxes and furniture.  I’m so grateful he had his head on straight that morning! Let’s start at the front door – seems like a very Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-2863422652094063362013-10-22T15:14:00.001-07:002013-10-22T15:34:18.326-07:00Another Year, Another House WARNING: This post is decidedly short on pictures.  Read on for a brief-ish re-cap of my summer and stay tuned for more pictures in coming days…  ****** It’s been well over a year since my last post and it was a year between it and the previous post.  Clearly I’m ambivalent about this blogging thing. When I last wrote, we had just had hardwood floors installed throughout our Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-50385164722465160602012-07-25T21:35:00.001-07:002012-07-25T21:35:35.418-07:00Breaking Radio SilenceTap tap.  Is this thing on?  Is anyone there? Over a year ago, I decided that blogging just wasn’t for me.  I really didn’t feel like I had anything new to add to the blogosphere and blogging was putting too much pressure on me to keep doing more projects.  I’d walk around my house looking around for something else to do and it left me feeling dissatisfied with my home – a Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-52459429205039136582011-02-20T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-20T07:00:13.932-08:00Hardwood Here We Come!I told you all about our recent experience with water damage and how we ended up doing most of the repair work ourselves because we were afraid insurance wouldn’t be covering it.  What I’ve neglected to mention is that, while our insurance didn’t cover the roof repair because it was a defect in the roof, they did cover the water damage restoration – they even paid US for the work we did Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-13568714045056829852011-02-18T09:17:00.001-08:002011-02-25T13:09:48.630-08:00I Know What Kids WantA few days ago, my friend Becca over at Home Is Where My Story Begins told me about an amusing conversation she had had with her 6 year old daughter. It seems her daughter wanted to know why they didn’t have a play room like at Diane’s house.  Becca explained that, in order to have a play room, my daughters share a bedroom and that they would have to do the same at their house:  her Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-38594191801672103992011-02-13T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-13T07:00:07.954-08:00Mudding and Taping DrywallWelcome back to the next installment of our drywall repair project! At this point, we’d added insulation and hung the drywall pieces.  The next step was mudding and taping the joints and finishing the corners.  The corners were an unknown quantity for us since they’re rounded.  Our entire house has round corners, which I dislike (I understand I may be the only one).  My Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-71048214720590907932011-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-11T07:00:00.780-08:00How to Repair Drywall (and take as long as possible to do it)When we last left, my husband and I were preparing ourselves for an epic drywall repair project…one week before Christmas. Since the restoration guys cut out part of the outside wall and ceiling, the first order of business was to add some insulation.  Insulation is nasty stuff to work with.  It’s made from tiny, tiny pieces of fiber glass which will get on your skin and make you itchyDiane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-80025636832025320862011-02-09T07:00:00.000-08:002011-02-09T07:00:08.273-08:00Rain, Rain Go Away!Every December, we go out to a fancy dinner with our long time friends and then stay the night in a hotel.  We’ve been doing this for years as a Christmas gift to all of us.  It’s always great fun and it’s nice to have a night away. This year (or I guess I should now say: last year) we had a lovely time and returned home the next day (Sunday) to this: That’s paint!  Melting Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-37652492765424461102011-02-07T07:00:00.001-08:002011-02-07T20:08:58.851-08:00Refinishing the Dining Table – Part 2In my last post, I had suddenly decided that my dining table needed to be sanded down and re-stained RIGHT NOW (which seems to be how most of my projects come about).  The sanding went so well and I was so pleased with the results.  It was now time to pick the stain! In case you missed it, here’s what the table looked like before:   I knew I wanted a much darker stain that Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-4396735884026932872011-02-05T08:14:00.001-08:002011-02-05T21:05:33.347-08:00Refinishing the Dining Table – Part 1She’s baaaaack.  Maybe.  :-)  I’ve been avoiding my blog lately because I just couldn’t decide what I wanted it to be or how much effort I wanted to put into it, so I had basically decided that I wasn’t going to blog anymore.  I’d even stopped READING other blogs, if you can believe that.  I couldn’t quite bring myself to just pull it down, though.  Then, yesterday, Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-60043428185805684132010-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:002010-12-12T08:00:03.944-08:00Coffee Cozy from Goodwill SweaterA few weeks ago, I was sitting at home, feeling sorry for myself (thankfully, I can’t even remember why now).  I was surfing the Web, trying to find something that would make me smile when I came across a new blog: A Little Junk in My Trunk.  This blog is awesome for so many reasons, but what really got me jumping up and running out the door to Goodwill on that day was this coffee cozy Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-35582024360936893002010-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:002010-12-11T08:00:02.646-08:00Kitchen FeatureMy kitchen was featured yesterday at Envy My Cooking!  You can check it out here.    Check out the rest of the site too!  There’s are tons of great recipes and many more kitchens featured. Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-12884197172071735942010-12-10T12:07:00.001-08:002010-12-10T12:07:50.134-08:00Christmas ArtHave you all seen the great Christmas art that people are posting all over blogland for FREE?  Perhaps you have (I’m really behind in my blog reading, so everything seems new and different to me!),  but just in case you haven’t, I thought I’d share a few with you. eighteen25 has a very cute Christmas subway art download that I just had to print out immediately!  (eighteen25) Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-23890358173621097492010-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:002010-12-09T08:00:03.545-08:00Old School Tissue Paper CraftMy girls have been REALLY into art projects lately.  Seems that’s all they ever do.  They don’t play with their toys much anymore, but reading or art projects keep them happy for hours. We were at Michael’s the other day and I wanted to buy them some supplies that would be new and exciting.  We walked by a huge pack of tissue paper and I remembered a craft that I had done many Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-20597279488845822010-12-07T08:40:00.000-08:002010-12-07T08:40:20.517-08:00Possession – Part 2A few days ago, I shared with you how my kids had suddenly become possessed by little beings that loved to purge and clean.  This was a little bit scary for me – I mean, what if they became dangerous? – but I made the best of it and got a clean play room for my troubles. I decided to press my luck and suggest making some changes to their bedroom.  These new little creatures Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3427081539593560577.post-40114833522834143622010-12-05T20:30:00.000-08:002010-12-05T20:30:58.877-08:00My Kids Were Possessed – So I Made the Best of It!A few weeks ago my girls and I all had the day off.  Thing 2 had recently been making noises about wanting to purge her toys.  This scared me a bit, so whenever she said something like that, I would slowly back away so as not to let whatever was possessing her know I was on to it. Anyway, on this particular Friday, I decided to make the most of Thing 2’s sickness and I suggested we Diane at Perfectly Imperfect Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00028268946199140690noreply@blogger.com4