Columbus

July 20th – 23rd

Mom and Auntie Gayle had decided I needed to re-do my office. When I am actually home, that is where I spend the majority of my time – and it is indeed dark & dreary.


This was going to be a $100 project.
Famous last words.

Because this was their idea and not mine, I had no ideas on colors or fabrics or anything.
Well, I knew I wanted to paint the wood paneling white and remove the wallpaper.

I had purchased a 8 x 12 map last year with the intentions of someday having my dad hang it for me in my office. Then I would put pins in all the cities I have worked in. Each year would be a different color.

Of course this map wall could not be an easy project! I wanted it mounted on some sort of foam core so I could easily stick in the pins. And I wanted to be able to take it with me if I ever moved. But those were dad’s problems!

On Monday morning we headed out for Lowe’s. I was completely overwhelmed with paint options!

After about an hour, I settled on lavender. Not sure why? Maybe because that was the color of my childhood bedrooms ?

Auntie Gayle had a blast ripping down the wallpaper!


When we finally got home and started painting, I didn’t like it.

That afternoon, mom and I headed to a fabric store to see if I could find a fabric for curtains that would inspire a color scheme for me.

Sure enough, I found something! Probably the most expensive fabric in the place - but who's counting?

So back to Lowe’s for new paint!!

Once I got a coat of the new paint on, I knew this was right.

Tuesday was spent with more painting. Mom worked on cleaning out the crawl space. Sorting and transferring the items into Rubbermaid bins. Many items were set aside for Goodwill as they had been there since I moved into the house in 1999.

On Wednesday – a little more paiting!

Thursday, I got up early and did some touch ups. Then we headed to Yellow Springs.
I had heard about it over the years as having some unique shops and places to grab lunch.

We leisurely strolled around town. Had some lunch and then checked out a few more shops. On the way home, we stopped at Young’s Dairy Farm for some ice cream – yummy!

Late Thursday night, my dad flew up.

On Friday morning, we went over the projects to be done, made a list and headed out to Lowe’s. Not only was he going to do the map wall now, he was also going to install a laundry tub in my laundry room, install a new dehumidifier in my basement and some other minor repairs.

So much for that $100 project!

Both Friday and Saturday were long days with tons of work being done by all.

Of course I kept my help well fed! Not to mention the fact they didn't go thirsty! There was even daily fresh made sangria!

Saturday night, Dave and Roger came over and joined us for the St. Margaret’s Festival. I was nice that mom and dad finally got to go after all these years.

Yes, we won plenty of baked goods for breakfast in the “cake walk”.

Sunday & Monday were busy as well with finalizing projects and of course, adding more to the list!

Everyone headed out on Tuesday morning and I had the place to myself!

Here’s a peak at the map wall


I can’t wait to start sticking pins into it!

More shots of the office… didn’t take long for the piles to return!

Well, I need to hang my diplomas.... but at least I have them framed, right?

This shelving unit is a lot of my childhood... photo albums... my early years of "TV" captured on VHS tape from "WildNews4 and WEVU News 4 Kids"...... my Wizard of Oz collection... Grade school & High School stuff... books... Chyron manuals - lots of manuals! (I did throw out the CMX editor manuals recently - that was hard to do!)