project romance :: blurry vision

I have several paint samples on the wall. Paint in the bedroom, paint in the bathroom. Paint coming out my ears. Guess what. I can't decide. I had a clear winner, and then I saw it in different light (how does the light change so much in three days?!) and then didn't like it anymore.  So I went and purchased some Benjamin Moore paint that I saw in the PB catalog. Darn that PB. It's like crack sometimes. One day I'm going to be on the street begging people for their old catalogs, sniffing them and shooting them up. Well, not exactly shooting them up, because they are precious and I want to keep them all. But I don't. Just so you know.

no light on in dark corner -- daytime

light on -- daytime

bathroom craziness.

It started innocently enough. I'm really digging the white on white on white rooms lately. Well, not exactly that much white. Not like you're living in a bleach commercial or anything. But white on cream on ivory on faded blue and tan and I think by now you get my drift. And for the bathroom, I was thinking some smokey gray blue that was rich and deep and faded. But I also like fun. And frisky. And a little sassy. {If we're being honest. And while we're being honest, I believe those were three adjectives about me in a forward last week. Maybe I'm really self-obsessed?}

glass block makes cool shadows that I never even noticed before.

The problem is that the bathroom has a GIANT glass block window. It's great because that room is almost always full of natural light. The giant window is facing an even GIANTER mirror. {Gianter is a word.} So that room is blinding right now with those fun and frisky colors. So guess where I'm headed again today? Back to Sherwin Williams for yet another sample pot. {This makes about five trips this week.} Even though they are five bucks and some change each, I think I'd rather pay the five bucks then buy another gallon of paint. I made that mistake once before. With the gold that's in there now. It started out looking like a room full of macaroni and cheese. Which is great if you're a three year old and want to swim in mac n cheese. Not especially great for anything else.

Hopefully this afternoon I will be back with some progress!

{Remember, the big issue is a big fiesta at our house this weekend with lots of family. So everyone will be touring the house -- against my hubband's wishes -- and things need to be finished by then!}

bird explosion

Once upon a time my sweet friend Misty bought me a little birdy.

She likes birds. I liked the birdy she gave me. Every time I saw a birdy, I thought of her. So then I was seeing birdies all the time. And she was seeing them all the time and thinking of me. Before we knew it, we were both all about birdies.

Then I was introduced to the world of blogging. Well, partial truth. I knew about blogging. I'd spent countless millions of hours on adoption blogs when we were researching adoption. But I didn't know there were housey blogs. The first housey blog anyone told me about was The Nester, which is a great place to start. It's also the best place to waste hundreds of hours when you should be vacuuming doghair tumbleweeds or folding laundry or finding one piece of clothing that doesn't have baby spit on it. Anyway. The Nester is also way into birdies. Cool. We should be buddies, me and that Nester.

I've been noticing birdies and their gaining popularity.

Other blogs. Other stores. Etsy. Pillows. Shirts. Baby clothes. Baby bedding.

Enter the new Pottery Barn Catalog. Oh.My.Goodness.

Bird Explosion.

Twenty three different birdy items.

Look! They are here:

And here:

Hark! A lark!

And apparently, there are even birdies for you birdy-haters.

You can light them* on fire:

Birdy Sightings on pillows, bedding, prints, plates, napkins, placemats, tapestries, a diffuser and more!

Man, I am such a trend-setter.

 *Absolutely no birdies were harmed in the making of this post. 

sold!

Great news. My hubband's bachelor pad bedroom furniture sold on Craig's List -- for my asking price!

Yesterday the buyer came by to check it out ... and is coming first thing in the morning to pick it up!

Before bed tonight we cleaned out our nightstands and the dresser. He's not sure what he's going to do without a nightstand. He wants me to go and get one tomorrow. And a bed frame. Must have one of those.

You'd think after all this daydreaming about our "new" bedroom that I would know exactly what I want. But that's domestic indecision for ya!

Goodbye red furniture!!!

Oh, and I'm heading out to get my paint samples tomorrow afternoon. {And someone please remind me why I decided to do this the week of Christmas?!}

Christmas Decorations

So, I had big plans this year.

After Christmas each year I get all these ideas and make all these decisions and hopes for the following holidays. And last year was no exception. I wanted a fireplace. {How do I build a fireplace?} I wanted fancy table decor. {Do I need a fancy table for that?} Big plans.

Then there's the baby.

And my new desire to spend all my time with him giggling and watching him throw oatmeal on the floor. And the result of wanting to simplify everything because these moments will never come back and the laundry will always be there, as will the dishes, and the dust bunnies, and the dog hair tumbleweeds. I mean, have you seen this precious face?

Yeah. I knew you'd understand.

But I did decorate. I put up our giant tree, as well as two other three foot trees, a branchy tree, and one that I think was meant for our porch. The nativity is out. Two of them. And I have a new fireplace -- well, without the fire ... or a permanent place. But it's still exciting. And I decorated it. And I made yummy cookies. We had a birthday party for Jesus. And I feel simply celebrated.

In the back of my mind, I keep thinking I'll finish that wreath I started on, I'll find that garland I made last year, and next year will be even better. But then I look at that face again, and hear his cute cute cute little laugh ... and I figure, I've got twelve whole months to prepare!

I'm linking up to

  

project romance :: part two

This is part 2 in my master bedroom revamp. You can see all about my bedroom boredom in this post here, and I'll recap just a little. The room feels happy and warm and welcoming. Those are great, but not exactly what I want in my bedroom.

 

I did a little sprucing earlier this year with the duvet cover and curtains from Ikea. They are cheap and they brightened things up a bit. Before the yellow and white stripes there were chocolate brown silk curtains which looked fancy, but the room just felt really dark. Cave like. Probably the way my hubband preferred it. Oh well. As long as there's a bed and it's cold, he's fine. I took these pillows from another room and rescued the fun vintage lamp from my mother's office.  I got the white quilt with a gift card and  hubband already had all the furniture.

I'm officially renaming this :: project romance. Just FYI.

Things that must stay:

-- fancy mattress

-- white wood blinds

-- carpet {it needs to be replaced, but that is way down low on the list}

Things that must go:

-- all the furniture {I have permission to sell it and get new stuff, if the costs work out right}

-- the wall colors {warm rusty red on the bed wall and a fairly deep tan on the other three}

Things that can go either way:

-- this little shelf {It will need another paint job. I know it looks bright now, but you should have seen it when I found it!}

-- this antique sewing table

-- a simple {but Queen Anne style} standing mirror from my adolescence. It also needs a paint job, but I haven't painted it since I don't know what color yet.

-- white quilt

Things I'm considering:

-- a new furniture orientation

-- new furniture!!

-- what to hang on the walls

-- just how high to hang those curtains...

I'm up for any suggestions you have, so feel free to make some.

Are there any tips you have for a bedroom overhaul on a budget?

Do you have some good places to hunt for inspiration?

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!!!