about moi

I thought you might like to know a little about me. Maybe you don't. If not, you should stop reading now. You can still look at the pictures if you'd like. They're free for the lookin'.

I made some mistakes when we first started furnishing our home. When we married, my husband lived in this tinytinytiny house where just about everything touched. He had a long plaid sofa he'd inherited and an over sized chair-and-a-half with an ottoman. And a big entertainment center. We quickly pawned that entertainment center off on another family who needed one. We got a temporary solution (that lasted nearly four years!!!) and decided when we moved into our Mr. & Mrs. home that we'd not get temporary stuff.

Well, we went from that supercozy house to our happily ever after home and it.was.empty. That giant plaid stuff just floated in our giant roller rink feeling living room.

My house is just now recovering from the furniture stuffing we began. We knew all our friends' homes looked exactly the same and we didn't want that. But we weren't really sure of either of our tastes either. Hence the reason our home is just now starting to look like us. Ok, well, maybe like me.

This is the only thing of my husband's that we keep out for looks. He doesn't even plug his guitar in. But it's something that reminds me of him -- and maybe allows others to think he gets to have an opinion in our home. Don't get me wrong, I ask him all the time. But he has no opinion. And really, that's fine. I've learned when he does have an opinion, he likes flannel and plaid and leather and flannel and plaid. And white walls. So yeah. I'm ok with his lack of opinion.

These are some new curtains I made recently. Well, I hung them up. I haven't added fringe or decided just how long they should be. Right now there is a huge puddle of fabric on the floor my little son likes to play in. I'll tell you about the window wall in another post.

My grandmother had a few white milk glass bud vases when I was growing up and in college I decided I loved them. Good thing because then my mom and grandmother decided that's what I was getting for my birthdays and Christmas from then on out. I do have a nice collection. I had it all out and wasn't thrilled with it and packed it away. Now I'm working on something for my boudoir and the milk glass is making a big debut.

Again my love of milk glass. And fake greenery that doesn't look terribly fake. And these feather balls that my husband did have an opinion on. I didn't care for it. So I kept the balls and got rid of him. Just kidding. They're both still around.

My friend's mother gave me this tiny "cupcake stand" so that I could take someone special a cupcake. Everyone who's ever eaten one of my cupcakes knows that one is not enough. And if you're special enough to get that kind of presentation, you deserve more than one cupcake, right? Oh, and that darling little blue tealight holder? Yeah, it's from the dollar store. Crazy, right?

I love this shelf. It's maybe my favorite thing. It's a tiny little corner shelf that's been loved a lot. Or it looks like it. I picked it up {and a schoolbusyellow shelf, too!} on a shopping trip for next to nothing. We haggled with "the happy peddler" who was really kind of a weirdo peddler guy, but that's just semantics, right?

I think I showed you a sneak peek of this beauty ... which is still a work in progress around here. Sometimes I'm really motivated to do one million things and other times it takes me a while to really get going. But I'm going to. Because I love love love this and can't wait for it to be spectacular at Christmas time.

This is a little birdcage thingy I saw on someone's blog. She's selling them there for over three times what I actually paid for it. It has a little sister and I think they are going to hang out with the project above.

I love reindeer moss. And cloches/cheese domes/glass domes. And these super sweet tiny birdies. That thing behind it is a Christmas present, so don't tell anyone you saw it.

A few months ago I hung a plate wall. I've got lots of big big big huge long walls in this house. Plates were great to fix one. And so now I'm always looking for good ones. These might make an appearance in my bedroom project or in our bathroom. {Well, if I fix up our bedroom our bathroom will be jealous, don't you think?? Well, I think so. You just don't know our bathroom. There's a big rivalry there.}

the BIG reveal

I am super excited. Really excited. Really really super excited.

{Can you tell that I'm excited?}

I finally get to reveal to you the tragic death of bad bad leroy brown, and introduce to you my fabulous new house. Well, it's not really new. It's the same one. But it definitely looks {and feels} like a whole new place to me. And that's very exciting, in case you were wondering. Very.

Ok, so first I show you the before. {Brace yourself.} Enter Bad Bad Leroy Brown:

And now for a close up:

Eeek. The terror. Moving on. So I've been updating. Well, it took over three years of living here, but then I started updating. This stuff takes time. And moola. And good things come to those who wait. So hang on, and I'll get to the good-er stuff.

First thing to do is get rid of the sad pink brick. The picture looks a little better than it was in real life {shocker}. The brick was this "watercolor" pink and purpley yuckyness. It was awful. Combine that with the butter yellow trim and door, and you've got yourself some kind of sick, twisted, grown - up barbie palace knockoff. You know the kind. Like the ones at the dollar store called Farbie. Well, this Farbie Dreamhouse was more like nightmare to me. So I painted it. And I even gave you a sneak peek of the door and maybe a tiny bit more. Go on. If you want to refresh your memory or cheat, I'll wait. I understand. The pressure is intense.

Oh, good you're back. So I painted it. And it was looking better. See?

Progress. But it still needs more. Let's add some shutters. Fancy black raised panel shutters.

Isn't it fun how fast things go on blogs? And also how different that paint color looks? {Do you like that one sad plant that we saved?}

We're looking much prettier, but now we need to work on function. Our sidewalk is like a lake every time it rains four raindrops. So out with the old...

And in with a lovely new sidewalk with a gentle curve. Oh and one super cute baby. Then, it's time for my favoritestest part. The part I've been waiting for since the day we moved into the house. Are you ready? I'm excited to reveal to you ...

My fancy almost-new house!!!

So it's not completely finished. It needs a little rock in front of the sidewalk to look even. And I clearly need more photos of how amazing it is. And the grass needs to grow over the long trench we had to dig for drainage, but it's a great big amazing change for me. Now I smile every time I pull into the driveway. And now I won't be embarrassed to invite people over in the daytime. 'Cause I'm not sad that they have to see the outside of my house. Need one more visual? Ok, twist my arm.

Before:

After:

Yay!!! Oh, and since Bad Bad Leroy Brown is gone, she needs a fun and sassy spunky new name. Please feel free to make some suggestions! I'm linking up to every single party I can find because this is so very exciting!!!