I'm back!!

I'm back from Montana and, yes, I managed to tackle almost all the items on my vacation crafting list.

A few of you may recall my den configuration dilemma (post here) - well I'm happy to report its well on its way to being solved thanks to the caned chairs I refinished and a chaise I picked up from CraigsList.

Note: curtains are from Ikea, I made the tie-backs with leftover fabric

from the chairs.  I also crafted the lumbar pillows.  The walls are Behr Gentle Rain.

The den still needs a few finishing touches, and Ed needs to mount speakers and hide wires and what-not, but at least we now have seating!

A "before" picture for good measure:

And a pic of the den when I did my first walk through of the cabin:

The best laid (painting) plans...

My friend Lis is the foremost expert on all things related to paint - having successfully painted the entire interior of her home.  Therefore, when I decided to paint a couple rooms in our new Montana cabin, I first consulted my painting guru on the best brand of paint to use.

After she gave the thumbs up to Benjamin Moore paint, I literally spent hours obsessing over their color palettes.  Who knew there were so many shades of grey?

Unfortunately, this past weekend I discovered that the Home Depot in Kalispell does not carry Benjamin Moore paint - so all my obsessing and planning was for not.  Sigh.

On a whim, I ended up going with:

Martha Stewart's Painters Chalk

"Before"

(downstairs bedroom)

"After"

Behr Gentle Rain

"Before"

(den/library)

"After"

(note: not quite finished)

Both brands offered decent coverage (note: I primed before using the MS paint), and were low VOC.