Puttsing...

I've slowly but surely been puttsing away on this house. I feel like I have quite a few things in the 'pipeline' at the moment. Things that are in process but not quite finished, things that I've ordered but haven't arrived and/or things I've scheduled but the work has not been completed yet. Let me fill you in: 1) For about 2 years now, I've been on the hunt for new wall sconces for our upstairs bath. To refresh your memory, the ones that were there were $3.99 fixtures from Home Depot that the previous owner installed. Picture chrome bulb holders with etched glass grapes. Yikes, they were pretty awful. However, I don't blame her for installing them since the space is really difficult to work with. With the slope of the ceiling and the height of the mirror, finding a squaty enough fixture was tricky. I was reaching my throw-my-hands-in-the-air point in my search when I looked up and noticed the wall sconces that have been residing in our family room. They were the finish I was looking for (black), had a shade (which I thought would fit nicely in there) and very stout indeed. I had Jeff un-wire one and try it out in the bathroom and wouldn't you know it was a perfect fit! So, he moved the other one and we called that little project done. The finish on the fixtures is oil-rubbed bronze and feels verrrrrrry traditional in the bathroom. I'm thinking down the line maybe I would paint them to give them a chic-er feel...maybe a high gloss black or maybe something completely different. For now, they work, so I'll just leave them be. 2) Next up came the task of filling the now two gaping holes in the wall of our family room where the previous fixtures lay. This was absolutely NO problem however since I've been dying to find a place for these puppies in my home. I have been in love with them forever as they've certainly circled the blogosphere a time or two. I ordered them in brass as well as a nice compliment to the dining room fixture, stairway gold gallery frames and few other accents of gold in the house. Can't WAIT to get them! 3) I am also still waiting on my pair of pink lamps I ordered for our family room. One will reside on the laptop desk to the right of the couch (where I am currently residing myself;-) and the other on the black end table to the left of the couch. But UGH! I ordered them in JANUARY. Supposedly they ship next week - I'm keeping my entire body crossed. One concern I had with the previous wall sconces was the fact that there would be a shaded sconce right above a lamp - 2 shaded sconces + 2 shaded lamps equaled a whole lotta shades on one little wall. I feel like the less fabric shaded look of the new sconces next to the shaded lamps will be a nicer combination. Here's an old pic from when I 'tried out' the lamps...see what I mean? 4) The new 'den' upstairs is about to take super shape. The chaise/sofa we ordered for up there is scheduled to be delivered around 5/5 (seen here but not in this fabric): I also ordered a rug for that room since I finally found an inspiration image for how I wanted the room to feel. Here it is: So I ordered an over-dyed rose colored rug that is slightly larger than the current rug that's in there. Here's a glamor shot of it... I'm also considering the pendant pictured in the inspiration image (which is surprisingly cheap but INTERNATIONAL and we know the kind of luck I've had with that;-) or this one that I've long been in love with. Have a preference? I still need to figure out a top for the floating wall of cabinets we did - I was originally thinking stained wood, but am kind of feeling like going glossy white with it like the inspiration image. Hmmmm... 4) I have been working on a little arrangement of frames for the bare wall in our dining room. I had the kids silhouettes updated by the same artist I originally had do them (found through Etsy). I'm waiting on those so I can update the girls and have the matte cut for Henry's. Then I have one other print that I ordered from one of my favorite print shops #SSPrintShop, and then I can finally start putting the frames up on the wall. Aside from the painting going over the fireplace (scheduled to be here before 5/11), there really isn't much left to do in this room (here's a preview of my painting...eek!). At some point, I would consider a large rug to make the room feel intimate and a little more comfortable - but I'm not in a rush considering Henry is in the peek (I hope) of his food-throwing phase;-) Have considered a mirror between the windows and would also someday like to get a table runner or placemats or cloth napkins...I own none of any which I became painfully aware of when setting my Easter table with paper towels for napkins;-) 5) My windows are about to go black. All of my common area windows will be removed from their sashes and sprayed satin-y black next weekend. I had the estimate done long ago, but was held up by this blasted Sprinter. You can believe that when I saw the forecast for this weekend, I got straight on the horn with my painter. Of course each year around this time I get a fire lit under me to wrap. up. some. tasks. It's birthday season in our house which is really and truly the one time of the year we have our families over. Our house is far too small for hosting our two large families, but we do it anyway because Jeff and I both enjoy entertaining and because Gloria asked that her party be at her "homsey home." She so loves being here and begs to go home when I take her out - so her little palace shall serve as the home of her and her brothers little 'beach party' (as chosen by the birthday girl). Even with it just family, the guest list tops 48 people, so a 'party' it will be! But this little ball of sorts is good motivation to get all these dibble dabbles of projects tied up in one big birthday bow:-)

Pictures.

Just a quick moment to check-in. Our house was photographed by our architect to use for different materials/media. I caught a glimpse of these beautiful shots and thought I would share them with you. You can see our project by going to their Facebook page LNA Architecture & Design - or their website www.lnaarch.com. Hurrah!

Alone Space.

After a lengthy discussion of how different my husband and I grew up, we decided to redo our office. You see, my husband, youngest of 4 active, adrenaline loving boys grew up in a 'loud' home and I grew up in a home where no words were spoken in a single day. In other words, quiet. I like to tell Jeff that our kids take after him, in other words, loud;-) And being a stay at home mom who is 'on-the-job' 24/7 means I often crave a little peace and quiet. After talking with Jeff in length, we decided to make our office over into a den of sorts - in other words, a quiet place. This new quiet place will encompass a few objectives. 1) It will be a place to hang out (ie: there will be a TV in there). We currently only have one tv in our home and at times, although not that often, it would be nice to have another. 2) It will house all of our files, office supplies, books, crafting supplies, etc as it currently does. 3) It will be a spot to read with the kids at night. Ever since getting the girls bunk beds, it's been tough finding the perfect spot we can all settle in for a handful of stories at night. This will be that spot. 4) It will function as a hangout room, reading nook, office area - in other words, a multi-functional room. It's a tiny room. It used to house a large Pottery Barn desk I bought nearly 10 years ago. I sold the desk on Craigslist (in a day and had about a billion inquiries on it) which has opened up the possibilities and budget a bit. To fulfill the need of seating, I have narrowed my search to a chaise/sofa/daybed of sorts. A spot to snuggle, lounge, read, sit, work, play, etc. Here are my 3 top picks: Pay no attention to the fabrics they are shown in. We are more looking at the size/style of the pieces. SO - do you have a favorite? I'll be back to share the other side of the room with you soon - off to finalize that tomorrow. Looking forward to having a quiet place we can enjoy and another functional room in the house.

A Painting.

I won't spend much time dwelling on the fact that I haven't updated my blog in ages. I'll just jump right to the news worthy of visiting this old blog friend of mine. For a LONG time now, I have been on the hunt for something to put above our dining room fireplace. I sort of knixed the idea of a mirror as I already have a mirror hanging in our entry and powder bath, both which are in earshot of the dining room. I wanted something feminine in color (since my fav color is pink), but also added a glamorous layer to the rather tone on tone esthetic of the room. I found an artist via Instagram that I was keeping a very close eye on. As soon as I saw one of her pieces I knew she would be a perfect fit. Because I was looking for a unique size and color scheme, I knew it would be likely I would need to have something commissioned. I decided to hold off and just keep an eye on her new pieces should anything catch my eye. Then one day she posted that one of her pieces had been pinned by HGTV designer Emily Henderson. I sort of freaked out and told Jeff I had better pull the trigger before she got any more popular and her prices went through the roof. And so began my commission. The process involves a brief survey requesting more information about likes/dislike/wants/wishes, etc. What room will it be in? What colors do you want to see? What do the surrounding rooms look like? Photos of the room, house, etc. I told her I wanted pink and a lot of it. I also wanted gold, bits of black and a little blue since the color has definitely managed its way into my home despite my dislike of it (I'll have you know it's growing on me!) The process is pretty lengthy, probably 6 weeks or so - but the lamps I am adding to my living room will be arriving right about the same time, so it will be fun to pull it all together. Here's a shot of the lamps: So the first step from my artist is to receive a sketch of the painting. Basically a good gist of what the painting will look like, the color palette, overall feel she is going for. I received this last night and was speechless. It's beautiful! The only problem? It's portrait orientation and I had envisioned landscape. So, she's working to revise it as we failed to communicate on that front in the beginning. Here's a close up of it: I really do love it. I feel that if I saw it in a shop, I would snatch it up instantly. The glitter is for real too - actual fine gold glitter applied to the painting. There is an extensive sealing process that goes on afterwards to make the painting last a literal lifetime, so I love the idea even more knowing it won't be making its way all over my house. Anyway, the next layer I'll be adding to my dining room right around painting time is black windows. That's right, I'm painting all of my 'common area' windows black (basically no bedrooms or basement). Here's a few inspiration images: So you'll notice the trim stays white and only the window panes themselves are black. I've already had my painters out to give me an estimate. Because I want them sprayed and not brushed, I have to wait until it's 50 degrees out. So likely looking into April before this little project gets underway. But - I'm excited at the thought of it - especially with the bits of black in the painting.