Company Is Coming …

This past week, we have been in a frenzy of preparation for a special visitor who arrived last night. Early in the year, our daughter asked if we could host a German student for a month. She chose a lovely, 16-year-old young lady, "V" as I will call her, and we have been so excited about her arrival. Both my children now have taken German at school as their foreign language, and my son is a freshman in college as a German major.

Well, "V" is just as darling as we hoped for, and we think she looks remarkably like Camille ("V" on the right). Though she had been up nearly 24 hours traveling over to America, "V" was able to keep up with our chatty and excited family, and we are so happy she is here.
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Of course, expecting company requires the next set of home improvement projects. We've been meaning to redecorate my son's room, which was never properly done when we moved to this house six years ago. At that time, I was recovering from herniated discs, and then we embarked upon a number of surgeries within the family over the next four years. So, now, we are getting to the redecorating we've always imagined for this home.



First to be done was the hall bath. Though still in really great shape, there was gold linoleum and awful 80s wallpaper. Well, a nice paint scheme and "peel and stick" tile, if you can believe, and it looks great.



At 88 cents a square foot, it cost about $30.00 to re-floor this bathroom! We found it at Lowe's, and it looks and feels just like 12-inch tile. For a color scheme of vintage blue, pink, and black, the wall color is Martha Stewart Flower Petal Pink, and the flooring is a chocolate color that is just perfect for the pink paint.



Next project was my son's room. Obviously, I had let it go for waaaaay toooo long. There was, again, an old 80s border, bare walls, etc. (This photo with the wallpaper border spackled over, then sanded, then primed.) However, I found the perfect vintage yellow I've been looking for, Jekyll Clubhouse Yellow, Valspar Lowe's 3006-6C. As a guest room, I am using white matelasse bedding and decorating with a vintage blue and florals for a sort of Texas Hill Country vintage look.



When my son is home from school, we can switch the bedding and curtains out to red and blue Americana stripes and checks in a more guy-friendly look. This is the first room in the hall, and, I tell you, it is a joy to look across from the family room into a lovely room rather than one requiring the door being shut! There is still art for the walls to be found, plans for a quilted tablerunner for the dresser, and a roll-top desk to be brought up, but at least the basics are down.



So, in preparation for "V's" arrival, some baking had to be done. I found another awesome and perfect chocolate cake recipe from The Farm Chicks. This chocolate cake with buttercream frosting turned out devine! Of course, just reading through the buttercream recipe, I thought it wouldn't be enough, so I doubled everything. It tastes perfect, and the consistency is just lush. Two drops of red food coloring, and I have this lovely shade of pink. Do try baking this one up. It's easy, quick, and seems foolproof as well. I think I need to go ahead and buy their new cookbook.