Thursday, July 28, 2011

Living Room Reveal

First of all, two posts in one week?! Unheard of for me lately!!


I'm finally posting pictures of my *almost* finished living room! I really wanted to wait until everything was done to show it off, but who knows when that will be! And really, I'm sure only 2 of you are anxiously waiting for pictures :) Anyway, here's the first of the newness of our living room:

New tile!!! My kids and I traveled to Washington back in May, and while we were gone my super sneaky husband decided to put in new tile in our entryway!! I so wish I knew he was doing this so I could take a "before" picture! Let me just tell you, our old linoleum was a nasty brown/yellow/white blend and it was actually rounded into the carpet. Hard to explain, but this new tile is SO.MUCH.BETTER! My husband is amazing and such a handyman for doing everything all by himself!


Just a close-up view.
New pillows from Big Lots and new curtains from JCPenney's. I hate that the blinds are closed, but I was trying to get natural light in without using the flash, and well, it didn't work so great. You get the idea!
New lamp and little orange pear (both from Real Deals which is one of my favorite stores! Seriously, if you have one in your area go to it!) This is where I need some more decor or something! It's too blah for me. I am going to switch out the brown ribbon on the lamp and replace it with blue ribbon to add in some more color. And this picture doesn't do the lamp justice-it really is a cool looking lamp. You'll just have to come over and see it for yourself. :)
New pillows from Big Lots, painted (old) mirror, and new wall decor hangers on the wall from Pier 1. Again, I need some more stuff on the wall to the right of the mirror. I've been looking on pinterest (my new favorite site!!) and trying to get ideas. But I just don't know where to go or what to do. Should I do a bunch of picture frames in all shapes and sizes? Or mirrors in all shapes and sizes? Or one thing only? If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!
Just a different angle of the room...but check out the revamped ottoman!
The old cover of this ottoman was ripped and we were losing chunks of the material!! It was nasty. But, that's what happens when you have 2 kids running and jumping on it, shoes resting on it (which of course, is totally allowed!) But after 4 years, this little ottoman needed some TLC. I found this fabric at Hancock and LOVED it. I was searching for some cotton laminate that would hold up for a while and was wipe able and would look good AND match my new color scheme. So when I came across this, I was SOO excited! I think it's perfect and my husband once again was a handyman and recovered it while I observed.
This picture can be deceiving. The blue you see on the wall is actually on our ceiling!! Since our house was built in the '50s, we have some cool character traits that we love. One, being this little trim on our ceiling that is only in our living room. Once again, it's hard to explain, so just come over and take a look! But, what you're seeing in this photo is the top of our entertainment center. I need to find some pillars for the blue candles (from Target clearance), but I also need something else. What exactly? Not sure. Again, I will take any ideas you have! Another shout out to Real Deals-the frame and clock are from there! Love that place.
Just a closer view of the stuff. And my new lampshade from Lowe's! My mom found a lot of this stuff for me and bought it for me for my birthday. That woman sure knows her decorating stuff! She's really good at finding little and big things to add to a room (like the candles, and the wall hanger thingys, etc.) Thanks mom!!!!


And now for the hutch!!! It went from this (being sanded):



To THIS:


Seriously, a whole new hutch!! I'm in love with it. And I'm not just saying that to toot my own horn! Who knew some sanding, kilz, and 1 coat of paint would make such a difference?!! I love the blue color and it's exactly how I hoped it would be! The orange accent wall is quite fun too. Sometimes it's a little too orange-y for me and not as poppy, but alas, it's done and I'm not changing it! It's a fun color combo and I really do love all the finished products! The "Home" sign on the wall is also from Real Deals. Can you tell I had a gift card there from my birthday?! : ) Plus, their prices are great! And no, I'm not being paid for their advertising!


A close up of the fun knobs from World Market (thx Mom!) and the fabric for this beauty of a hutch! :) Since I already had the cotton laminate for the ottoman, I was having a hard time finding fabric to use for the hutch that would go with it. I know they aren't a perfect match. And I also didn't want a really bright, bold fabric for the hutch since the ottoman is bold with the new fabric. I also wanted a fabric that would be timeless as oppose to the bold, trendy fabric for the ottoman since I figure I could change the ottoman whenever I wanted if we ever change the room!! (Which we won't for a long time!!) Anyway, we (my mom and I!) found this fabric at Joann's in Washington-on that little trip we were on when AJ was busy laying tile! The fabric is actually just attached to the old school press board of the hutch with spray adhesive. So easy to do!! All this to say, I love how the hutch turned out!
Here is another Real Deals find! This vase needs more foliage too-it's too much orange on orange. But I was having a hard time finding the right shade of blue flowers. And sometimes I think blue flowers are old lady. Sorry to any of you that have blue flowers in your home!! I'm sure it looks great! :) Anyway, maybe I'll add some greenery or white flowers. Again, I'll take suggestions! I wish I took a before picture of this vase thing. The blue wasn't spot on and kind of clashed with the color of the hutch. So, I just sponged on some of the hutch paint and voila'! It matches great! Also, the little flower/vine decorations were a light tan color on a dark brown backdrop and I just didn't love it. So, I sponged on some of the orange paint and it looks so much better! By the way, totally have to give credit to my mom cause that sponge work was her idea. Thx Mom!


Anyway, that's my ne-to-me living room! Hope you enjoyed the tour and my long explanation of things! :)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

8 Years!

Today, we are celebrating 8 years of marriage!! I love this man more and more everyday and I'm SO thankful God brought us together!!





Happy Anniversary AJ! I love you SO much!!!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

This 'n That

Oops. It's been a month since I last blogged. My bad!!


We haven't been up to much lately, just the daily grind of life! We're staying busy playing in the sun, swimming in the kiddie pool in the backyard, going to parks, and hanging out! Here's some random pics of what we've been doing:


Lily has been into picking out Jameson's clothes lately. She will lay them on the floor of his room just like this, complete with socks and shoes! It looks as though the rapture happened!


My handy husband always has some crazy ideas. And this was one of them! He was tired of spending money on flowers every spring, so he decided to build a greenhouse! I'll admit, I totally made fun of him for this! I'm such a mean wife! But, he has proved me wrong! He planted the teeny, tiny seeds in egg cartons in March (which he now realizes was too late) and kept grow lights on them in the garage until it was warm enough to put them in the greenhouse outside! Crazy!


Here is his little set up. And the wooden shelf in the corner was filled with trays of plants, but he had already transplanted them into pots before I took this picture.


The pots on the ground in the picture are beans! AJ had fans set on timers and everything going on in this greenhouse. I was impressed. And the pots of flowers and veggies are even bigger now! I'll have to update with pictures of them soon!


I just loved Jameson's outfit that I had to take his picture! He isn't thrilled with the flip flops, but he'll still wear them!
Lily was waiting for Jameson to wake up from his nap and she ended up falling asleep on the floor! This is a rarity around here!
This picture melts my heart!! I was inside and when I looked out the window Lily was loving on Charlie. I had to try and take the picture without them knowing because once the dog saw me he would've ran over to me-which is why that silly bike is in the picture! Oh well. Isn't it so sweet? Charlie is a great dog with the kids. He'll be 9 this Christmas!
And a GIANT dog! A couple from our church started this little summer "game" of dropping off the dog on a door step with a riddle. We woke up one morning to find it on OUR doorstep! Freaked me out. The kids had a blast with it for a couple of days until we took it to someone else's house late at night. :)
I love matching outfits! I figure I can get away with this now until Lily realizes it's not cool to dress like her brother :) But aren't they cute? This was before church one morning. You can see that Jameson is saying "cheese" in the picture!
Jameson is into EVERYTHING!! It must be a boy thing because Lily was not like that at all! We were getting ready to go to my in-laws for dinner one night and I was with Lily helping her do something. I walk into the kitchen and find Jameson had pulled down some leftover berry pie I was going to take to dinner and he had a giant chunk of pie in his hand that he was munching on! I go in there and before I say anything he looks at me and says, "Num!" HA! I just had to laugh and grab my camera! I was amazed he could reach the counter where the pie plate was at and carefully pull it onto the floor and just peel back the foil a little bit to get into that pie! I definitely have to know where he is at all times!
Love these two! My mom had bought a Groupon a while back to Picture People to get like 100 pictures or something for super cheap! So we went a couple of weeks ago and it was not easy getting a good photo! Jameson is at that age where he just wants to run or walk everywhere. I mean, what almost 20 month old wants to sit still and smile for a stranger?! I don't blame him for not cooperating. And then Lily has this really cheesy, fake smile in most of the pictures! This was the only picture with a true smile! And when we walk into the studio room, they have props everywhere like little chairs, stuffed animals, a wagon, and BALLS. If you haven't been around my son much, you wouldn't know that he is OBSESSED with balls. Every time he sees a ball or something that resembles a ball he screams at the top of his lungs while pointing at it and says "BAAALL!" So when he walked into this studio he sees 3 different balls. I said out loud, "Looks like we'll be having a ball in our picture today!" I wasn't planning on that, but you gotta go with the flow. So, the picture above is the best we got. At least they look happy and you can only see a little bit of the ball Jameson is holding! : )

Well, that's the latest news with our family. We did just get back on the 4th from spending a week in Eagle Crest with AJ's side of the family. Did I bring my camera with me? Nope! I was so mad!! :( I took a few pictures with AJ's cell phone so one of these days I'll put those on here. But we had an amazing time relaxing, swimming every day, AJ playing golf with his dad and brother-in-law a few times, Andrea and I riding along in the golf carts one day with the boys, shopping, eating delicious food that I didn't have to cook, playing games, and having fun! And my updated living room is almost complete! Just need a few last minute touches and I'll do the reveal :)