Progress in the Living Room

This weekend Gary and I finished up the bookshelves for the office and made a couple for the living room too. We're trying to fill out that huge empty wall so you don't just see a TV when you walk into our house.

Before. And messy...no, actually this looks pretty good for our house these days.

And now! Over the weekend Gary built the two bookshelves (I primed/painted) and hung the floating shelves. More storage = awesome. We're loving that the wall finally looks more finished with the new furniture and my next job is to tweak the styling. And also finish putting the room back together. And clean. Also the new flooring is going into this room in the next couple of weeks. Yeesh.

If you have any ideas/thoughts/suggestions for what should go on the shelves PLEASE feel free to offer your suggestions! The shelves are fairly sturdy, but I don't want to load them down (literally or visually) with books, especially because most of them are going into the office anyway BUT, I also don't want to cover them with knick knacks. Our dvds are all in the dresser so we don't need to put those up either...decisions, decisions....

Office Inspiration

We've been hard at work all weekend building, sanding and painting bookshelves for the great room and the office. Progress in the office is on hold until the paint cures on the shelving, but I did get two of the four pieces of art up on the wall and there are navy paint chips up (not for the walls, but I'll go in to that more on another post!) Until we can get more done in that room I'll share a little of my inspiration for the space. We're going to leave the current wall colors (medium and suuuuuper light greys) with nice white trim, while working in navy, white, gold and possibly chrome. I think the right shade of navy paired with gold is so so luxe so I'm crossing my fingers that this will translate to our little grey room. 

traditional living room design by portland interior designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

***Love the wall color, chrome table legs, and warm worn leather*** 

 via apartment therapy

Painting a chair could be a great way to bring in the navy without having to paint the walls.

via pinterest

I cannot get over how beautiful that glossy finish is on the wall. I'm also digging the warm wood tones, the octopus art and the curtains (I would LOVE to find something similar if you've seen them around!)

This room has is all: dark floors, wood tones, white floor-length curtains, light rug tempering all of the dark, antique brass light fixture. Yes. Yes please.

We also have to address seating in the room since both Gary and I will need our own chairs. I'm hoping to find something upholstered and crossing my fingers that Gary will agree to something other than the gross rolling, faux leather monstrosity he has now (though in its defense it is super comfy) and here are the two I'm considering:

via pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a tutorial for hand painting an ikat style design onto ikea slipcovers. If I could find this chair on craigslist then this is totally the way I would go for Gary's chair. 

via target

This chair is perfection BUT it's out of my price range...my price range being free to very very cheap. Sigh. 

So that is more or less what we're aiming for in our little office space. It's definitely more stylish than the rest of the house (or at least more polished and less...eclectic?) but I'm hoping it's something we can live with. Or not. I don't exactly mind redecorating, you know?

Floored Part Deux

I'm back with more flooring progress. We actually put the flooring in C's room a while ago but I don't feel like going in her room and turning on lights to take pictures...plus I don't think she would appreciate being so rudely awakened at 12:30 at night.

Instead I'm going to give you all a little sneaky-peek into what we're doing with the former-guest-room-turned-dumping-ground-for-all-our-random-crap-turned-new-office-space. You still with me? I should probably start by showing you what we started with and how we got to where we are now so that you can appreciate the "sexy bling room" that is now unfolding (I kid you not, this is how Gary described the room when I showed him my inspiration for the room's new direction. I died laughing.)

Before: Beige. Boxy. Boring.

Guest Room: I didn't hate this incarnation, but we only had guests stay here once. For like a day. Then my niece decided to get all allergic to our dog's saliva and her face ballooned up and she looked like Sloth from Goonies. The cutest Sloth you've ever seen, but still.... So this room ended up being a catch-all for every random item that came into the house.

Flooring in, just need to add the new base trim.

Flooring and base in! Now to figure out furniture placement...

Looking toward the door. You can see some of my fabric in the closet. One side is for my craft/sewing junk and the other is food storage.

Temporary desk. This is what we had going on in the other room: a hollow core door (I think we paid 5 bucks for it at the Restore) on ikea sawhorse-style legs. Not a bad set up, but it's not going to work for what I have planned in here.

Need new window treatments. We're definitely ditching the nasty cheapo plastic blinds for the faux-wood style we put in the nursery, and I think I will try and re-use the white drapes but add some trim or print block a design on them.

The plan: One shelf is built already, the other just needs to be sanded and painted. We will load them up with office supplies nicely hidden in coordinating storage boxes. The large frame on the left is an old print in a big frame that I picked up from Savers 2 or 3 years ago for like, $8. It's rad. The other 3 are things I'm working on and will show you later. Have to give you a reason to come back you know.

So the general plan is to paint up that bookshelf and get it into the room this weekend. Gary has two more bookshelves just like these he is making for the living room and then he is making two tall thin shelves for either side of the office desk (this is where we will put my gabillion books.) So the to-do list for the office is:

* paint and bring in low bookshelf

* buy storage boxes from ikea

* finish hanging wall art

* build two tall shelves (and prime/paint them)

* figure out the office desk situation (reclaimed/pallet top with chrome legs)

* figure out/build my roll-out desk (more on that on another post)

* window treatments (trim vs painted print?)

* new blinds

* buy and install ceiling fan with light (ugly by necessary here in the desert)

* find and purchase a rug

* find a slipper chair for a decent price (craigslist maybe? hopefully?)

It's quite a list, and not one we expect to finish any time in the next 4 months...or next 4 years. Kidding. I hope. I'll throw up a post later this weekend with my color scheme inspiration for this "sexy bling room" (ha!) and a few more in-progress shots.

Fathers Day Recap

I know this is like, a month late. And that it is going to be 90% pictures. I know that 5 out of 7 of you probably don't care about stuff like this. I know. It's okay. I promise I'll be back later with something non-family related though, and then you will like me again, right?

On Mother's Day I was all "hey wake up early and make me breakfast and buy me flowers and watch the baby so I can sleep in til like 10 and then we have to do EVERYTHING THAT I WANT TO DO. ALL DAY. And also give me little gifts all day and maybe we will go out to dinner and buy me some shoes too." Then on Father's Day I was like "hey, can you get up and we'll get breakfast burritos because I don't want to make breakfast and then you can watch the kid while I sleep in til 10 because it is father's day and you should spend it acting like the father that you are. And later I will give you a card and a gift and that is all."

Yeah, I'm a good wife.

But I did give him a good gift that he was totally excited about. Or so he says. Photographic evidence to follow:

C loves her cousins, and Mitch is so sweet with her!

Gramma Reid's face = priceless. Trying to keep C from falling off the step...I think.

Grandpa Reid

Gary either looks like a loving father or some kind of super pedophile here.

Uncle Jason

C is adorable. All of the time. Also, I think Gary has partaken of some kind of crazy fountain of youth, because homeslice looks straight up 19 here. Crazy.

I think it is hilarious that anytime someone is opening a gift all of the kids swarm around them to get the first look.

Cute little (almost) family!

See? Cute all of the time, just like I said.

This is the best shot of Gary's gift that I have. Lame of me. It is an art print of Scotland and I had it framed up all nice. We're trying to do more meaningful gifts and I personally would like to collect more original (and limited printing) art pieces. I'll have to try and get a shot of this hanging in it's new location.

Oh yeah, I was there too. Not that you would ever know that I am at ANYTHING since I'm the one taking all the pictures. I think the solution is to adopt a professional photographer as my grown-child and then make them do the dirty work. That or a tripod. I'm still trying to decide.

When it rains, it pours,

I think the thrifting fates must have known this is my Birthday Week (what? Don't you spend a whole week celebrating your birthday?) because for the first time in a looooong time, thrifting wasn't a total bust. In fact, when I stopped at my favorite Goodwill yesterday I found a TON of stuff that wanted to come home with me! Unfortunately I have about a hundred projects waiting to be done already so I had to pass on about 4 mcm desks, a handful of mirrors that just needed a lick of paint on the frames, and three armchairs that were just begging for a spot in my house. What I couldn't bear to leave behind were a blue velvet armchair with matching ottoman (pictures coming soon), an end table that was a bit of a gamble and is going to need some light refinishing and an old school desk. Of the three I am definitely most excited about the armchair but I have high hopes that the little desk is going to end up as a sweet little showpiece in the house.

 But I'm not going to lie, there is a chance that it will be one of those projects that I finish half-way and then abandon because this thing is so. so. gross. As in, I almost don't want to tell you how gross because then you won't want to come over or be friends anymore.

Aside from the dirt and grime, the peeling-laminate top covered with faded contact paper and the rusted little feet...there was definitely pee on this thing. Aaah! I can't believe I told you that! You guys, it was soooo nasty! I tried bathing this thing with 409 but when that wasn't strong enough I used straight-up bleach to get the stuff off. It was harrowing and I am scarred for life. True story. But now that it is more or less clean, I'm ready to tackle the gross, chippy-but-not-in-a-cute-way paint...here's hoping I can get down to the metal and make this sister shine. Cross your fingers for me!

Dear C

Dear C,

Where has the time gone?! A couple weeks ago you turned 9 months old and I'm still trying to figure out how that happened. You are still the happiest baby I have ever known. You love everyone and everyone loves you...I never get tired of people stopping to talk to you or compliment your beautiful red hair and cute chunky legs. Already I can see that you have a special soul, an inner light that cheers all who meet you.

Your red hair is perfection.

 
You love to talk to and flirt with people at church and at the store. In fact you talk almost non-stop! It cracks me up! You still love your grammy and Aunt Carly, Auntie Abbie and April (who we call Aunty Apey). You are finally warming up to Grandma and Grandpa Reid.

You still love to see other children and babies, although you aren't usually sure what you are supposed to do with them when playing. I need to find someone with a baby close to your age so you can have play dates...if you weren't so naturally social I would worry that you weren't getting enough socialization!

You aren't walking yet, and even though I thought at one time that you would definitely be walking by ten months, now I'm not so sure. You can stand on your own for at least 8 seconds, but you don't like taking steps unless we are holding your hands. That is really okay with me because you already zip around pretty darn fast while you crawl, and you are an old pro at walking along furniture. You also really enjoy your walker, but you have a knack for ramming it into my ankles (ouch!). You especially like to walk to the back door to look for the "dah" or "dahdee" (dog and doggy), and while I'm cooking you like to stand behind me and wave to the baby you see in the reflection of the dishwasher (this cracks me up every. single. time.)

Memorial Day at the Sheens...you were most excited about the doggies!

Trying to get a good look at Char.

Your tooth is just adorable!

Your favorite things are applejuice, going for walks in your stroller, Pokey and your "datd" (daddy). You love to sit under the piano at Grammy's house while Uncle Logan plays. You like when Auntie Abbie chases you and you love to chase Aunt Carly's cats while you are in your walker. You love to eat you solids and get frustrated with the bottle because you want to hurry and finish so you can sit back up and look around.

You love your Daddy!

At your 9 months checkup you weighed in at 22 pounds (75th percentile) and 31 inches (97th percentile still!) so I think you are going through a growth spurt! This is the first checkup where you were in a lower weight percentile than your height percentile. You are a tall, tall girl though. You are growing out of 18 month sizes and you're into 24 month clothes, and you even have a couple pairs of 2T shorts! You also have two teeth that have popped through on the bottom in the last 4 weeks. Grammy thinks you have another making its way through on top but I can't see or feel them yet.

I'm so excited to see what the next month brings. You are growing up so fast and you are looking less and less like my baby and more like my little girl every day. Happy 9 months C!

Love,
Mommy

Floored

Over this past weekend (Sunday morning through Tuesday morning for us) we finally took the plunge and started laying our laminate flooring. And we. were. stoked.

And then we started laying the floors and it became almost immediately apparent that what we thought would be a super-easy home improvement project was considerably more tricky than we anticipated. I distinctly remember the phrase "we should be able to knock this out in a two or three hours max!" being uttered. Hah. Famous last words, right?

61 boxes equaling just over 1200 square feet. Yeesh.

Yeah, and he's alllll mine.

Before. So very very gross.

Getting rid of the gross.

Lucky us, in the interim this is what our living room looks like. So chic, right?

And done! All installed, floors swept and cleaned and GORGEOUS!

We only put the laminate down in the master bedroom and closet for now and it gave us a chance to work out the kinks and establish a good system for getting this stuff down. Mostly our system consisted of Gary laying the floor while I directed. Shocker, right? Although to be fair I did do a lot of the "demo" while Gary was off making room in the garage for the carpet to sit. 

Now that the floor is in we have new baseboard to install, the walls to paint (yeah...should have done that first) and furniture to move in. And because I don't have enough on our to-do list I decided to tweak our bed and add on a proper headboard. And then paint it. And then we have to put the flooring down in the rest of the house. But at least we don't have school starting again next week.

Oh wait....