Lately...

Well, we've been up to a lot lately! First, I can say that we've bought/acquired/ordered ALL of the furniture for Mary Corinne's room. Yea! Mom and Dad were generous enough to pass along a dresser from my Grandmother Clara that Brooke sanded and painted white. It looks great and will be perfect as a dresser and then changing table on top. I've ordered green glass pulls to go on the dresser (they're in, but not on the dresser). Next, we had to finish painting the hallway and stairway upstairs. So, that was a big project of spraying and painting. Since, Brooke has pulled up the carpet down the hallway up there and as he refinishes the hardwoods in Mary Corinne's room, he'll also refinish the hardwoods in the hall. We will eventually, in probably the fairly near future, also pull up the carpet going down the stairs and refinish those. The wood is beautiful, so that's great! Finally, Brooke painted the nursery. We first painted it all white and then did a diamond pattern "treatment" on the wall where the crib will go. It really looks great and will echo the pattern on the draperies. The color we painted is Pale Vista by Benjamin Moore. It looks darker in these photos than it really is---it's very pale. Also, we made a trip down to Scott's Antiques this weekend and picked up an armoire. GREAT deal! We got it from a place called Barnyard Antiques. If you ever need a dresser, table or armoire---go there! Amazing wholesale prices. There is one small problem with the armoire---it's black. It was our favorite style, so we bought it and Brooke is going to either strip it and leave it a light wood color or we'll paint it (just depends on how much work is involved!). I also ordered the glider from Wiggle Worm in a celery stripe. At least some progress is being made!!








As you can see, it was a process---I'm glad Brooke is good at math! We all know that I'm NOT! We painted everything white first, let it dry and then he started the taping...

The finished product!



This is the bumper bedding---aqua and celery with peacocks!

Started with a nice dresser than needed some TLC...



A bit of cleaning...



Some repair work...



Sanding...



And then done! I know this is not the best pic, but it looks great---you'll see it when it's in the room with the new pulls...

Yes, he is this goofy! :) I posted this mainly because I wanted to show the ridiculous scaffolding that he made---2 ladders, one upside down in order to reach the top of the stairs. Glad it didn't all come tumbling down! :)



And, the armoire we found at Scott's. Like I said, it will not stay black, we just loved the classic shape of this one (not to mention it was a STEAL!). This will offer some more space for hanging clothes, folding blankets and even toy storage.

Oh my, it's been a while!

Yes, I know, I know...it's only been 5 months since I last posted! Oops! I'm sure people have stopped checking in. Lots of news since December, though! Most of you know that Brooke and I are expecting our first baby, a little girl! She's due September 3rd and after much discussion, we've decided on her name, Mary Corinne. We've painted the office since my last post, Ashley Gray. Brooke also refinished the floors in there and they look great. But, none of that is as exciting as the nursery post, so I'll get that up first and then move on to the office. Oh, and yes, the stairway and hallway to our room and the nursery is now the same half strength peanut shell as in the downstairs hallway. SO much better!

On we go with the nursery! Of course, most of you know I couldn't be completely normal with the colors. But, I didn't want to go too wild. At this point I suppose the colors are pretty typical of the rest of our house...coral, aqua/turquoise, and celery green. I found a bumper that I LOVED at Serena and Lily that inspired everything. And, then I found some coral fabric that I couldn't part with, so I ordered that too. Then, it was just trying to decide how to tie it all together. So, I've posted some photos below that will hopefully help! We'll be using a dresser from my Grandmother Clara's house and repainting that for a dresser and changing table. Going to Scott's in Atlanta in June to look for an armoire and we'll be ordering a glider that's celery and white stripe. And then there's still the rug and wall decor. Whew, I'm tired!

Oh, and one thing I forgot to include...the link to the lamp that I want for next to the glider (in celery and white stripe):

http://www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=60&f=5196

So, here are the swatches. The top left is the white crib sheet with aqua and celery polka dots. The middle stripe sample is the bed skirt. The bed skirt will be straight with 3 pleats and an inch and a half coral ribbon running across the bottom. The far right swatch is the crib bumper:

http://www.serenaandlily.com/Baby-Girl-Natasha

The paint samples are what we'll be painting the walls in there...we'll go for the lighter celery color. And, finally, the background fabric (the coral diamond) will be the drapery panels.
So, I've started gathering objects. This little bench is from Southside Galleries and it doesn't look like much, but the aqua color is an exact color match. We're ordering the glider in a celery and white stripe and I thought this would be perfect in front of that. I might even cover it...
The room in it's current, pitiful state! JUNK room! Anyone want to buy a red desk and chair? :)
Again, looking towards the small closet (we're planning on buying an armoire to add more storage to the room).
And, looking from the hallway into the room. The crib will go to the far left wall. The glider will go to the right of the window.

Style of drapery panels (the drapes will be in the coral diamond pattern with aqua and celery grosgrain ribbon running down the sides and across the bottom).

The crib!

Funky pendant light for overhead!

It's Christmastime!

I was traveling for work all week so we've stayed home all weekend getting the house decorated. I can't believe Christmas is only a few weeks away. Where did this year go?!

I bought the gold metal wreath that I hung over the mirror at Sophie's Christmas open house. Love it! I'm planning on using it year round. Also, it's hard to see but I bought little wooden birds at Sophie's that I clipped on the branches. Cute! I've had the glittered numbers for a while, but just pulled them out to hang on the tree.

And, the tree and mantle. I have a few more things to put on the mantle, but it's mostly done.

And, this year, I bought a live wreath and sprayed a light dusting of gold spray paint over the wreath. I also put a few gold feathers in for an added punch!

I bought some prelit garland at Ace. I've always loved Christmas lights but didn't want to go overboard (although, I must say, if it's not my house, the tackier, the better!), so this is a little something to add sparkle.

And, I did the manger scene again in my rice bowl. I just love how it looks. Wish I could leave it out year round. Come to think of it, why not?!

dresser

Yes, it's quite embarassing, but after 6 years of a marriage, we thought it time to buy a dresser that we could both use. We've each had our own for years now and decided to combine clothes and purchase one for our bedroom! This photo doesn't really do our new dresser justice. It's 80 inches long and almost 4 feet tall. Solid mahogony wood and really a gorgeous piece. I'd been looking for quite some time, online, the major catalogs, and in furniture stores. We needed one large enough for the room (and our clothes!). And wanted something quality. The Pottery Barn versions are only 66 inches long and almost $3,000! We stumbled upon a furniture clearance store here in Chattanooga. We got this dresser for 75% off! As soon as we saw it, Brooke stood by, holding tight while I found sometime to help us put a "sold" tag on it. Exactly what we wanted and at a steal!

Rooster lamp

One of my favorite websites is Design Sponge. GREAT ideas. One day I found this photo (above) of a blue and white room with blue and white plates and a rooster lamp. Their rooster lamp is a few hundred dollars, but I realized that I had a $20 version from Target, only it wasn't white. So, I painted it!

Rooster lamp before...

And rooster lamp now (forgive the terrible photo!). I painted it with high gloss white spray paint. It look quite a few coats but eventually covers and looks great with the blue and white in the room. And, a fraction of the cost of the "designer" room!

NYC!

It's been a while! Sorry for my delayed posts. Our computer is acting a little crazy so it takes twice the time to download photos. No excuse, I know! Brooke and I spent a long weekend in NYC to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We tried to cram it all in...Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Natural History Museum, 5th Ave. shopping, Soho, and of course food from fancy to pizza and hot dog stands! It was a great trip with beautiful weather. I posted a few of our photos below.

A view from behind the statue, looking towards the city.

My absolute favorite movie is Mary Poppins. Brooke was REALLY sweet and took me to see the Broadway production. He might kill me for posting it, but he actually really enjoyed the show, too. It was just wonderful! Here I am with the playbill, program, and yes red wine from a sippie cup!

Gorgeous day in Cenral Park with a jazz band. Lots of fun!

Our anniversary dinner at the 21 Club. It was truly classic New York and we enjoyed every minute and every bite!

Master bedroom paint!

Because it's been raining here for about 2 weeks, last weekend we decided to begin a pretty simple project, painting our bedroom. Fortunately, our bedroom is sheetrocked, so it didn't require a lot of painting between grooves like we have to do with the paneling. The room is a nice sized room, has a pretty large closet for the house (which one day we'll make bigger by taking over the attic), and our bathroom is right outside the bedroom door (and, one day we'll make that bigger as well by taking over part of the attic and old closet). It's been painted a nice yellow, mostly that I didn't mind, it just needed touching up and we decided to go with a blue/green/grey that would match our bedding. The color is Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. Great color!

Before (standing in the nook where Boone sleeps)...

Looking towards Boone's nook (one day I'd like to put a vanity there), and to the left in this shot is the closet door.

The first coat of the new blue.

And, the finished product! I put a new arrangement over our bed. I found the antique french mirror (reproduction and 40% off!) at Southside Galleries in Chattanooga, one of my favorite places. And, the botanicals I've had. The other two floral paintings I picked up at the Ballard Designs Outlet in Alpharetta several months ago. I never knew what I'd do with them, I just liked them. And, the starfish came from Perdido Key. Brooke is still questioning this arrangement, but I like it! :)

View going the other way...

Finally, the finished product!

It's taken me a while to get the finished house paint pix up, but here they are! It's hard for me to see how far we've come with the house because I live in it every day. But, then I take a look back at the house the way it was the day we bought it and I remember...quickly! And, then I think, why did we do this again?! :) But, I thought the comparision was better looking back 2 years and then the photos of the outside of the house today.

Outside of the house when we bought it (no landscaping, old wrought iron poles on carport and front porch, old door and old paint).

And, another shot the day we bought the house.

And, today!

Front shot of the house with finished paint.

And, closer up shot of the house.

Lantern

I've disliked our outdoor lighting since we moved in and have been waiting until we painted the house to replace the old lantern that was always much too small, dingy, and old. FINALLY! New lighting...and it makes such a huge difference!

The old, tarnished lantern.

Too small!

With really scary wiring!

Ahh...SO much better!

It makes a huge difference on the front porch!