#1,243 All The Signs + Bathroom + Gatsby.

The last 2 big big Ben banners are up! They just photograph so well.

 

And finally… I finished painting the trim in the new half bathroom, hung some art and took some photos to share with y’all. This used to be a big closet under the stairs in our office/den, but it was so long and narrow it wasn’t very useable if you put anything at the back that you wanted to get out again someday. Ben used super inexpensive tongue-in-groove pine planks to cover the old plaster walls and ceiling and built a small shelf mimicking the original one from when it was a closet.

There’s the old free sink we found in dirt beneath my family’s farm out in the county. My grandfather new what was worth keeping.

Kindly ignore the trash in the can!


Ben wants this room to be an ode to manliness. My favorite is the friendly old sea captain found at the antique mall downtown. Also, a watercolor print of The Red Lion Inn. He’s going to hang the old .22 rifle his daddy gave him above the door because 1) it’s manly 2) it’s actually a good spot to hide your gun.

Found a little schoolhouse light at Lowe’s and a matching 2 light fixture for over the sink at Destination Lighting. He shortened the room and put up a little wall with shelving where the slant of the stairs gets steep behind the toilet.

The hand mirrors came from At West End in Jackson. I think my favorite thing about the room is the pretty custom vent system Ben made. They’re not just decorative, they actually pull air outside and down through the floor.

There are 3 paint colors in our house, Java (Eddie Bauer) in the entryway, Nantucket Gray (Benjamin Moore) in the room at the bottom of the stairs, and Dover White (Sherwin Williams) throughout the rest of the house. Big surprise, we painted the walls Dover White, but this time in super high gloss. The ceiling is Nantucket Gray and people don’t even notice. It’s the most perfect shade of grey.

And then… And THEN. I noticed on Fandango while daydreaming about how it’s only one more day until I can finally see The Great Gatsby… Very quietly listed, I saw that our tiny 5 screen cinema would be showing Gatsby at 10 pm tonight in 3D. Holy cow.

I bought our tickets right then and showed up at the theatre at 9:15 to be sure we could get a seat. But no one was there. Just us and 5 ladies having a girls’ night. We had the biggest theatre to ourselves, and I saw my first 3D movie. And not just any movie. It was so incredible. My heart caught in my chest several times. The music was so unexpected but seamless with the story. It was colorful and beautiful and tragic and gave the story the deep, emotional heart the book never had. Hot tears were in my eyes when Gatsby’s climbing out of the swimming pool because Daisy finally called. Because I knew what was coming and couldn’t bear it. That’s the best I’ve got to describe it.