Man, my weekends have been so busy lately!

First of all, we rented Capote this weekend. Despite my love for Joaquin, I have to say that Philip Seymour Hoffman did deserve to win that Oscar. His performance was outstanding. The movie itself was slow, though. My mind began to wander about halfway through it.

We also rented Mr. and Mrs. Smith and watched it last night. It was entertaining, but definitely required too much suspension of disbelief. I still believe I am the only woman in North America who just doesn't find Brad Pitt attractive. At all. Yes, you can pick your jaws up off the floor now. And The Huz and I agreed that Angelina's boobs are totally fake.

We did some more work on the house this weekend. Since we're getting new carpeting throughout the second floor of the house next week, we decided to do as much painting as possible beforehand. Last weekend, we painted both guest bedrooms. On Saturday, we painted the hallway and the stairwell, which was a challenge. Fortunately, we have a really cool store nearby called Rental World, and we rented a 16-foot painter's plank so that we could paint the high walls above the stairs. The best part was that it only cost $7.50 to rent for the day! Our friend Joe came over and the three of us knocked out two coats of paint in about four hours.

I also picked up a Decora timer switch for our outdoor lamppost and installed it all by myself. This thing is SO cool...it can be set to go on and off according to the sunset and sunrise, or it can be programmed either by individual days, weeknights, and weekends. It only cost $20 at Home Depot and took me about 20 minutes to install. So easy! And now I don't have to worry about turning the outside light on and off. It will always be on as soon as it gets dark outside. Love it!!

(Sad what gets me excited these days, isn't it?!?)

Yesterday I went shopping with my mom for the first time in over a month. Brian and I have been so busy with house projects that I haven't had the chance to get out with her. We went to Kohl's, Homegoods (my favorite!), Bed Bath and Beyond, and had lunch at Panera. It was a nice day. I always have fun with my mom.

On the way home, I stopped at a store called The Dump. It's a warehouse that sells off-price and overstocked furniture, area rugs, and mattresses. I've been there several times in the past and never found anything I really wanted or needed. They have a lot of unusual stuff; think of that scene in The Birdcage where Robin Williams and Nathan Lane redecorate their condo before the senator comes to visit. Yeah...the Dump sells a lot of very austere and monastery-like furniture. But yesterday I picked up two burgundy Italian leather cube ottomans for $88 a piece, which I thought was a pretty good deal. I'm going to use them as a coffee table base for the basement seating area. They are the perfect size and height for it, and I've seen it done before on a few decorating shows. Now I just have to get a couple of wooden trays to put on top of the ottomans to create a "tabletop." I found unfinished square wooden trays online at Jo-Ann Fabrics for $16. I think I'll buy them and stain them dark cherry. The sofa and chair we ordered are being delivered next Saturday, and the fabric we picked out is a dark rusty red chenille with coordinating pillows. Hopefully it will all work together.

Anyway, that brings us to my question about decorating our basement. We still have a lot of work to do down there. Currently, the walls are two different cringe-inducing shades of sky blue, with a cartoon Noah's Ark border in the center of the walls. It used to be a kid's playroom, I guess. We removed most of the border already, but still have major patching to do before we can paint. We're aiming for a dark, intimate, pub-like decor, much to The Huz's excitement, because we plan to eventually build a small bar down there. I would like to put up a chair rail, and paint the bottom half of the walls a dark color...green, perhaps. But then I'm thinking of hanging a patterned wallpaper above the chair rail. Something very subtle and on the masculine side. Maybe a diamond or stripe pattern.

How hard is it to hang wallpaper? I've never done it before and I'm a little intimidated. I'm not usually a wallpaper type of girl, but I feel like it would be a good choice in this instance.

Any pointers or tips are much appreciated, as always!

Labels: celebrities, home improvement, movies, shopping, weekends