Hamilton House: Ongoing Projects

Hey guys! Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday. We woke up to snow this morning after three days of over 50 degree weather. Crazy. Anyhoo, I've been a busy little bee, lately, tackling tons of projects. So busy, actually, that I haven't had time to finish a few of them! I just wanted to give you guys a clue to what I have going on over here!

Remember when our bedroom looked like this?



Well, today, it looks like this!

First of all, it's clean!!! I made it a point to make the bed today. I actually attempt to make it everyday, but you know how that can go. Oh, don't mind the little blue tape squares on all of the dressers. There's a method to my madness, I promise. I've been looking for some hardware to add to the bad boys so the tape was kind of helping me visualize what it would look like.

I finally got around to that headboard situation...or the lack there of. I ordered about three yards of this fabric online and headed over to Home Depot to pick up a piece of plywood and a couple 1 x 4 pieces of lumber. For those of you that don't know, plywood comes in sheets and are usually 4' tall and 8' long. I just had them cut 8' long side of my sheet down to a little larger than the width of our queen sized mattress...about 62". I, then, headed to Walmart and picked up a twin-sized foam mattress pad (the egg carton looking kind) and some quilt batting. Once I got home, I rolled out my foam pad on top of my plywood and cut any excess off the ends. However, since it was for a twin sized bed, it didn't completely cover my 4' tall piece plywood. So, I just made sure my foam was completely square with the top of the board, and where ever the foam wasn't, it would just get covered up by the mattress once it was all in place. So once my foam was glued down (egg crate side down), I laid my fabric out face side down. You'll want to make sure you get rid of any wrinkles first (just iron it). Then, I laid out two layers of my batting on top of the fabric. I, then, centered the plywood on top, foam side down. Then I staple all of it to the back of the plywood, one layer at a time. One tip would be to start in the center of each side, just to make sure everything stays straight. And all of these words can be somewhat summed up in a couple pictures.

Once I got everything stapled down, I my 1 x 4 pieces that I had Home Depot cut down to about 36" each, and screwed them to the back of the plywood as legs.

All that's left is just putting it in place and pushing the bed up against it! Cool beans, right?

This wall got a little attention as well. The TV was looking like a big black whole in the wall, so I wanted to bring in some art work and create a mini gallery to kind of detract from that feeling. I just hung up some pieces we had hanging out in the junk room, but it definitely won't stay this way. The quote and naked lady may stay, but that flower and lady in the green dress will most likely get an "update" or even get replaced. 

I also hung up two cork boards that I wrapped in batting and burlap a long time ago. You may remember them from my old apartment. After they were up, I just used some "T" pins to hang all of my jewelry. I used a tray and a couple vases to corral my bracelets and stud earrings. 

Sorry for all of these horrible pics. I decided to forgo any editing this go 'round. But on to my unfinished projects. I'm currently working to get some curtains up in the room. Right now, I've got some canvas drop cloths cut to size and are hemming the raw edges with my Stitch Witchery.

I have some extra fabric left over from the headboard project and I'm thinking of adding some of it to the curtains. I haven't really thought that one through completely, so we'll see.

 We needed something in our bedroom, besides the bed, to sit on. We don't really have to room for a chair, so it was either going to be a couple ottomans or stools or some type of bench. And after scouring the Internet for a couple months (!!!), I finally, decided I didn't want to pay the moolah that companies were asking for these types of pieces. Soooo, with some scrap pieces I had left over from my console table that I put together for the living room, I whipped up a simple little bench! Luckily, my scrap pieces were the perfect sizes, especially since I don't have any means to cut them myself (I'm sure I'll be asking for a saw for Mother's Day 2012!!! hehe!).

The bench ended up being about 54" wide and 18.5" tall...perfect dimensions to slide our tiny storage ottomans underneath. And, as you can see, it's still unfinished. I still have it sand it down and paint it and figure out a way to make the top a little bit more soft and cushy. Maybe a long cushion. I'll figure it out.

So, there you have it. Now, you know what I'm up to over here. Of course, I'm no where near being done with this room. I still have lots to do, like add an accent color somewhere (I'm thing coral or a deep teal), get some new lamps (that actually work!), add some life with some fresh flowers or something. And you know I gotta add some romance! Don't know how I'm gonna do that yet, but you know the wheels are turning!

Any of you, out there, sprucing up your sleeping quarters? Do you even want to? Do you care? Let me know! I'd love to hear from you!!!

Uncommon Ground: Don't Knock the Box

Ok, people.  My other half has given you her spill about the Xbox, but what she failed to mention is the time she spends watching "Real Housewives of Atlanta" or HGTV or all those other shows that most men really could careless whether they aired or not. But, enough of my evening the score though; let me get to the real reason for this post. I have been told that women really make the statement that they would not be with a "Grown Man" who plays video games. If you are this woman, I want you to know that is the retardedest statement you can ever make. I know games take up a lot of time that WOMEN feel that we could use doing something proooooductive, but what you women have to understand is that what makes a happy man makes a happy woman; not the other way around. Let me explain before you go all "No He Didn't" on me. 

See for years and years people have been teaching young men and women that a happy wife makes a happy marriage..................B#%L$H!T. This saying derives from the assumption that if the wife is happy, then she will have sex with the husband on a regular basis and that sex is the only thing that makes a man happy. Well, as much as I love sexing my wife, it is not the only thing that makes me happy.  Furthermore, no matter how happy a man makes a woman, she still is not going to have sex with him when, where and how he wants on his command...so all the happy hard work would be for nothing. On the other hand, if a man is happy in his marriage, he will do whatever his wife ask him such as cut the grass, wash the car, wash the dishes, sweep the floor, etc.  How does this relate to the Xbox, you ask?  Well, here it is...so pay attention.

For guys like me, the Xbox is what we use to fill the competitive void that is left when we get married or involved in serious relationship. This ain't Twitter, but follow me on this one, OK?  From the time a man is born, he is in full competitive mode i.e. who's the fastest, who's the strongest, who's the tallest, who can piss the longest (yes this is an official sport look it up) who can get the most numbers at the 7th grade dance, who has the fastest car, who has the biggest rims, the list goes on and on ladies and the only thing that can validate these victories or defeats is the bragging rights that are earned and respected by the Real N!gg@ Record Book (yes it does exist look it up and white people are included)  When a guy gets married he has to give up most of his competitive ways I mean really we can't chase women anymore, we can't spend the "family money on cars and rims, we can't have pissing contest because youuuuu think it's embarrassing so what do we do, turn to video games.  It's the only thing we can do to continue to earn bragging rights over our peers that are responsible, respectable, and not perverse.  So ladies take this into consideration, when you leave your man with his friends and you know that all they do is play video games you have nothing at all to worry about because you know how much time we spend on the game and you know that we aren't doing anything else.  If you want a man who doesn't play video games let's go down the list of things he may be doing when you are not watching.  Texting or Facebooking the girl he met at the club, the club that he went to because he wasn't at home playing video games, maybe he is watching porn, maybe it's gay porn who knows what an idle mind wants, maybe he's at the strip club, maybe he's talking to his friend about the times he had with the females before you, maybe he is comparing Beyonce's ass to Rihanna's ass or maybe just looking at Nicki Minaj's ass (we men like ass), maybe he's flirting with the cashier at Wal-Mart (this list goes on and on as well) this is the moral right here. When a man doesn't play video games, he gets bored; when he gets bored, he goes to the club; when he goes to the club, he drinks liquor; when he drinks liquor, he gets aroused; when he gets aroused, he finds a jumpoff; when he finds a jumpoff, he ends up with a baby mama.  Do you want your man to end up with a baby mama?  Your Call.

Mr. Marcus