paint, check. lighting, check.

After hemming and hawing over what shade of gray to paint the babe's room, I finally settled on a purple gray.  The choices were down to a gray pink, a gray purple and a gray gray.  hee hee.

I got my inspiration from the following pics:









These are from the nursery of one of the writers of one of my all time favorite blogs Material Girls.  I thought I wanted a purple gray color before I found these photos, but when I saw it paired with the white and gold accents, I knew it had to be...


I like how the chair on the right is almost the same shade as the wall color.  I stole that idea as well ;)  The white looks sophisticated against the gray and of course, you know I gotta squeeze an weensie bit of zebra in her room somehow...


This is my dream living room.  I don't know exactly what I'll take, if anything, from this photo, but it inspired the room in some way.

Today Drew and I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to clean and paint out the nursery.  It took us a couple of hours just to clear out the clutter.  The room had become {one of } the junk drawer of the house which collected golf clubs, random items to be sold on ebay, old electronics, papers to be filed and the random collection of baby items we've received to date. 

Here was the before in case you forgot:

This is the closet.  What's that gem in there being held together by one screw?  You know I get a little zealous on my dumpster dives and sometimes come home with pieces that really have no hope.  This is now by the side of the road if anyone else wants to try and make it a trash to treasure.  I just don't have the energy...


Lovely, eh?  That fan is one I've had forever and used to have to sleep with it on.  I've weened myself off of it, because it is completely heinous, but I kept it around in case I had a week moment.  It actually made it's way back into our bedroom somehow ;)  The sound of those rickety blades banging around is like music to my tired ears.  Lullaby. 


The nursery was also the perfect place for our vacuum.  We've since done a mini pre re-organization on our master closet so it has a permanent home. 

Whew.  So after we moved all of that jazz out, we got started painting.  I chose to go with Sherwin Williams Perfect Greige SW6073.  After we finished, Drew hung up my little light I found at Lowe's and here's the status as of today...


This is my favorite part.  I decided not to go with a chandelier like I originally wanted.  The ones in my dreams were no less than $2k and I just didn't want to scrimp on a tiny one, so I opted for this crystal flush mount.  It creates this sparkly pattern on the walls that I'm loving and won't compete if I decide to do a mobile. 


This is it with the lights off, so you can see the detail.  By by building standard boob fixture.  One down, three to go {master bedroom, guest room, and living room}. 


Yesterday on my all day shopping extravaganza in Orlando, I picked up this chair and ottoman I found on craigslist for $100!  How PERFECT!?  It's alot bigger than I thought, so I'll have to reconfigure my furniture arrangement, but for this chair...I would design my whole nursery around it.




I'm going to paint it {possibly white like the picture above} and recover it in this linen fabric:


tone on tone.


I spiffed up my free dresser with some Old English and once the drawer liners are in, I think this puppy is good to go.


That red piece is my other recent deal.  I picked it up for $25 at Salvation Army two weeks ago.  Oh...funny side note on that:

I'm checking out at Salvation Army and the middle aged man behind the counter goes "When are you due", "May 22nd"  "OH {eyes bugging out of his head staring at my belly}".  I just stare at him eyes half open like "what!?!?".  "You got a while to go", he says like I am going to need assistance being rolled out of the building.  "Yea, but I'm half way"  I say trying to smile and figure out where he's going with this.  "YOU'RE GOING TO BE HUGE" he says.  "Not in a bad way.  I mean, you look healthy and all, but that is one big baby in there".  I take a deep breath....my eyes dart back and forth and I can feel the sweat on my neck as I am trying to figure out if I can jam that pen he's writing with into his neck so he'll shut up.  I quickly wonder if I should say something like "you must not be married or have children" so he knows was a dumbass comment that was.  I decided against it.  I just narrow my eyes and flash the only smile I could muster up and mumble "what was my total".  The rest was a blur, but I made it out with a spiffy new red {possible} changing table and that man is still alive.

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaays,

Still contemplating what to paint my new piece, but it was worth the complete mortification I had to endure. 


Here's the closet "after".  I took down the wire shelving determined to make better use of that space.  It now only houses some of my goodies that need painting or mending. 

What a day!  I am still on the hunt for a crib and even though I originally wanted bookcases to flank the crib, I just don't think it will work now with my almost 4' wide chair and ottoman...which just saves me more money, so I'm OK with that.  Stay tuned for more ;)

I have to paint most of the pieces I got a while back, come up with window treatments, find a crib, bedding, art, accessories and I'll be ready for this little baby to come home :) 

Enjoy the last remaining hours of freedom before Monday
-jd

a little bit of THIS and a little BIT of that

After some very LONG hours we finally bought a couch (it was seriously worse than purchasing a car)  How many different ways can we tell you that we don't want the EXTRA protection plan PEOPLE!?!!?!!?!  We should be able to pick it up this Saturday.  It will be so nice to have something to sit on after two weeks of sitting on a pile of blankets. 

FYI...hardwoods are H A R D on your tushie no matter how many blankets you pile up! 

We also scored several pieces at the antique market.  [We love this antique market, if you are ever in the area you should check it out.  There are two buildings and the one across from the Home Depot is the good one! The other building is a bit like a museum, you can look but can't really touch that table for EIGHT grand...heheee] 

We finally got our beloved coffee table. 

LOVE it! 

 We got this one for a real deal! After being quoted six hundred for the first one we found; we scooped this one up for $185 at the booth right around the corner...That my dear is one of the joys of the antique market!  You can compare prices without ever leaving the building! 

Next up we have our lovely end table. 

This was hand made by Southbend Millworks.  We have been stalking admiring their stuff since we found them WAY back when we thought this was going to be our front door.  Since that didn't work out (and we are SO glad it didn't) we had to postpone our furniture buying!  We were so happy to finally make a purchase from them.  They are going to be doing a custom piece for us for the living room as well! More details on that to come.

The finds didn't stop there.  The dream daughter also found a few things she couldn't live without.  This chair is PERFECT for school

 and this will help put a dent in some of the thousands many bags laying on her bedroom floor! 

Plus this is the color scheme (minus the hideous blanket in the background) I would like to do in her room after I find her a vintage armoire and dresser!!

This weekend we will be attending another antique market.  We haven't been to this one in a while so we are stoked.  I am really hoping to score a very LARGE vintage sign for my living room wall.  Preferably metal, rusty and a little dirty.  Hopefully next week we can do a big reveal!

Party Time Favorites

So, since my last cooking extravaganza I kind of quit.  I mean, let's get serious...it's just not for me.  BUT, with that being said...I did want to share a couple of recipe's that I've used recently for parties that I've hosted and gone too.  All of them are simple and tasty.  Simple by my terms.  Rants and raves by all.

We're about to have a pack full of men at my house for a "football party"....whatever that means.  So, I whipped these up as well as some hotdogs and chips. 

CHEESE DIP

1 can of Rotel Tomatoes
The small block of Velvetta cheese
1 lb of Jimmy Dean Sausage

Brown the sausage in a pan.  Melt the cheese in the microwave.  Mix those with the tomatoes.  I put it in one of those teeny crock pots and serve with the dip style Tostitos.  YUM. 


APPLE DIP

8 oz Philly Cream Cheese (softened)
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cushed peanuts

Combine ingredients and refrigerate for an hour.  I serve with sliced Granny Smith Apples juiced with a tiny bit of lemon. 

That's it!  Our first guest just got here, so I guess I have to go sit in front of the TV and let my eyes glaze over while football plays....

-jd

drum roll PLEASE

Finally we have rid ourselves of our TYP furniture that is all matchy matchy.  I am super excited and can't wait to piece an entire living space together piece by piece!  We already have several things in mind but for now I just want to share my new living room...

Those blankets are from our picnic dinner tonight!

 I love the existing color and I already have fabric picked out for new panels for the windows.

On the wish list

• railroad cart table
• sectional
• random crate end tables
• lamps (industrial influence)
• pictures ON THE WALL (hello pictures where are you!)

So this is the next extreme makeover!  We are really wanting to create a nice comfy space for entertaining, hanging out, watching American Pickers (if you don't watch this you are seriously missing out).  What we don't want to end up with is another rooms to boredom space because we gave up on the hunt.  That will not happen this time...the hunt is under way my friends!  I will keep you posted along the way.

Before I go I want to share with you my one true love, the inspiration behind the entire living room, the piece I have searched my entire life for...not really but I really do love it!  It makes my heart feel super happy!

It's going on the mantel!

And when plan b comes to life this will be my work van...in PINK of course!

Extreme MakeOVER

SO for the first time ever, against my better judgement...I purchased something from ROSS.  I try to steer clear of any stores like this because I don't like the chaos.  I like for stores to look pretty and everything to be in it's place.  This so DOES NOT fall into either of those categories.  But apparently those things it lacks allow items to be CHEAP!  And seeing as how I am in PLAN B mode, CHEAP means more mullah for said plan!! YIPEEE!! 

SO at the above mentioned locale I was able to purchase a few things.  One is my new love, one is for organization and the final is for the dream daughter herself. 

I purchased this

because every dream daughter needs one of these for accessories (as if this is going to hold a fraction of her collection)

However, BLACK is not in her color vocab.  Hence the makeover...

Okay it wasn't extreme but we like to be dramatic.

But seriously some paint and a tutu later, it's the best thing to hit Davis Place in a hot minute! 

Next to my new love which deserves its own post (of course it doesn't need a make over), it is perfect just the way it is!
-fd

Christmas REVIEW

I haven't blogged very much about Christmas, but we had a fabulous time.  So I thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures from the HOLIDAYS!

2011 is looking to be a wonderful year!!

A look back...

With tomorrow being the 1st day of the new year Two Thousand and Eleven, I wanted to take a look back on the past year because what a year it has been.  In '09, I was living in this 1 bedroom, 800 square foot apartment with my "boyfriend", Drew.  We were happy, but had big dreams that were about to come true.

 On June 10th 2009, my boyfriend--best friend--love of my life proposed to me in the top level of the parking garage at work.  I said "hell yea" and was off to plan a wedding.

We decided to look for a home of our own.  We were able to save a little bit of money from living in our little apartment for over two years and felt the time was right.  After almost a year of searching, we finally signed a contract to built our very first home!

Which brings me to

2010!

We rung in the new year with construction on our lot!  We visited our lot weekly to check out the house progress.

Trying to plan a wedding and built a house all at the same time was a wee bit stressful, but I did it and we had a great time!

My grandmother held a wonderful couples bridal shower for us.

Mother's Day was awesome this year with both of our families together.  I sure am a lucky girl with the best in-laws.

Christy hosted our rehearsal dinner and so many of our friends and family were there.  Perfect!

On April 3rd, we got hitched!

Some other highlights of this year include:

- My baby sister graduating  high school and leaving for college {on a scholarship!}

-Drew and I both turned 28 years old

-I got a new car {RIP silver bullet}

-Last, but not least...

We conceived a child! 

Whew, what a year.  I am so thankful for everything and everyone in my life.  I am looking forward to a bigger and better 2011.  You've got some stiff competition New Year!

Go out and Celebrate tonight!

-jd