1.29.2011

friday night

We took the Elise, her friend Reese, Lila and Bennett to watch my high school's basketball games last night. They LOVED it.





Only drawback was that the boys' game didn't start until around 7, and so as much fun as B was having he was also having trouble keeping his eyes open! So, we only stayed for one quarter of the boys....But, the band, the cheerleaders, and all of the excitment was tons of fun for the kids, and for us! I think we'll do this again!

1.26.2011

a pretty little flower to start your day....



She's got the "I'm sweet and innocent" look down pat, doesn't she?

1.24.2011

first and last







Lila and Bennett took their first (and last) bath in our new tub this weekend.....Lots of fun, lots of laughing, and lots of splashing water out of the tub.....

1.18.2011

renovate

The bathroom.



ALMOST done...getting there. Thought I would show our progress. No "styling" in these pics. Nothing hanging on walls yet. But, still a big change.

We used to enter our bathroom from the far left of the room, and when you entered, this is what you saw:








Now the {much larger} doorway is centered on the wall, and the view is:





Just a little better, don't ya think??

The tub is now the focal point, and the subway tile shower the backdrop. It still has an open feel, but there is much more privacy in the shower. I am about as modest as you can get, so I am MUCH more comfortable in this shower! :)

For now, we have no door. This is taking a little getting used to, but it is just a temporary situation until we find the perfect doors to mount. It just gets a little cold when bathing, but luckily we have now have a working heater/vent light and so I just crank that up! We plan on mounting old reclaimed doors on a sliding barn track on the walls of our bedroom. I feel like they will not only be a unique way to enter the bathroom, but will also be the "art" for our bedroom. Here are some pictures that I love of what we plan on doing...




The above doors are actually used to cover a window, but I love the doors...the bathroom is quite fancy though!



LOVE these blue ones...


So perfectly pretty (at least to me!)....


So, you get the idea...
Our vanity used to look like this...before David happily took a sledge hammer to it...(you can also see the little doorway to the right)...

Now our two vanities are on either side of the much bigger doorway, which lets in a lot more light...
Our original plan was to continue the hardwood into our bedroom, which we still plan to do at some point, but for now in order to stay somewhat within our budget we had to scrap that plan.

And I just love, love, the buffets we used as vanities....they are a distressed "ocean" (bluish, greenish, grayish) color, with wooden tops. I put three coats of a matte finish heavy duty poly on the top to protect them from occasional splashes. My plumber cut small holes in the top to mount the sinks and a hole in the back for the drain and they work perfectly! I also love the wall mounted faucets. I was worried about wall-mounted looking too contemporary for our house, but {I think} these are a good mix of classic and contemporary...

Not the greatest picture, but you can see I also choose very tall trumeau mirrors which go all of the way to the ceiling mounted right above the white subway tile backsplashes. I love the mirrors, and really (fingers crossed) think that, once the sconces are in place on either side, the scale will seem right. Now I do admit that the mirrors appear a little skinny in relation to the vanities, but I think the sconces I am holding out for will fix all of that...
Meet "percival". I love him so and think he will one day be the perfect addition to our bathroom....



The next pic is of our original linen closet, which took up alot of space, without giving a lot of storage, and just wasn't so pretty to look at. We (ok, David) ripped the whole thing out and replaced it with my friend Leon.



I love Leon. Right now he just has wire in his doors, but I think at some point those will get backed with linen, grasscloth, or antiqued mirrors in order to completely obscure what is inside (at this moment my slightly large shoe collection). Would love to add some baskets, old bottles, etc on top for some texture as well.
Everything in time....
Hard to see in the pic, but to the left of Leon there is now a private room for the toilet, which we love. Before our whole bathroom was off limits if someone needed to "potty", but having those doors has been great.
My vanity area under the window is really non-existent at this point, but as soon as something develops in that area I will update. Still trying to decide what is the most cost effective thing to do in that area that will look the best.



I decided my smoke bell lantern, which I love, would look even better in my bathroom than in it's current home in the breakfast room so David moved it for me. I am really happy with it. I have a pretty detailed chandelier in the bedroom, so I thought its simplicity was nice with that...and it will also go well with the percival sconces. David laughs, because while "saving" by not having to buy a fixture for over the tub, I have now created the need to buy a new fixture for the breakfast room! :)
So, I guess that is about it. Really thankful for all we have been able to do...and I know the room will continue to evolve over time as we add some accessories, rugs, photos, etc...

Overall it has been a relatively painless process. As everyone said it would, it took longer than we thought and cost more than we thought, but we are both still grateful we were able to do the project and are really enjoying the results. There were a few hiccups along the way, but I think we knew those would have to come at some point. For the first time we made changes to a house not because we thought it is what would help it sell in the future, but because it was what we liked. I didn't worry that someone else might not like that I used chrome faucetry but antique bronze lighting; or that wood floors would not be everyone's choice in a bathroom; or that is has a lot of white in it, or that not everyoone likes distressed, old furniture- we do, so we went with it! It has been an absolute blast for me picking out everything, and I am so thankful that David pretty much lets me pick whatever I want and either really likes it or just acts like he does. And we are still talking after being kicked out of our bathroom for 2 1/2 months! I think that is one of the most impressive things!!!
Thanks to all of my friends for listening to me talk about this forever....I am sure that got old, but you never let on.....:)
Now on to the next project......
(That was just for David's benefit as I am sure he is now passed out on the floor of his office.)

new year's news

So, 2011 has already been a big year.....especially for our oldest Elise! On Sunday, David took the training wheels off of her bike and she did great!!!!!!!!!!! We still have some work to do on starting and stopping, but we know she'll have it down in no time. David got quite the laugh at me trying to hold back tears while holding the video camera....don't know...she just looked so grown up riding that bike! I hope to have some video soon!

On another note, our renovation project is almost complete and I plan to post some pics later today. There are no finishing touches yet, and still a few things left undone, but overall it is QUITE the dramatic transformation...if I do say so myself...
It is even kind of hard for us to remember how it used to look in there!

David and I have quite the surprise lined up for the kids...and can't wait until March for the big reveal! We are SO SO SO excited and thankful for a wonderful opportunity we have, which we hope will create lots of awesome memories for our family.....:)

Happy 2011....

1.11.2011

sweet treat




Nothing like a new haircut (for Bennett) and a trip to Cafe du Monde to make a Tuesday special!

1.06.2011

1.05.2011

well wishes




Here is a little get well balloon that we would like to send to two special people....Pop, who has been in the hospital since December 27th with pneumonia, and Grandpa Ray, who is recovering from a fall after Christmas. We love you both and hope you feel better very, very soon so we can visit some more!

1.02.2011

Year End Interviews

I absolutely loved this idea that Lissa had and so I am straight up copying her....Thrilled with the idea of having this to look back at in our "scrapbook".... I couldn't wait to see what they would answer...and I did my best to hold my tongue, unless an answer made completely no sense I didn't prompt them at all...I also made them answer alone so they wouldn't copy each other....
Here it goes:




Elise


age: 5
height: 43 inches
weight: 37 lbs
favorite color: turquoise (this is new- apparently pink is babyish now)
favorite food: bacon sandwich
favorite drink: water
favorite dessert: king cake
favorite book: Goldilicious
favorite activity book: The Girls Doodle Book
favorite show: Fresh Beat Band (Kiki is her favorite)
favorite movie: Princess and the Frog
favorite character: Tiana
favorite friends: Reese, Ella, Constance, Talia
favorite trip: the beach
most exciting thing this year: Christmas
favorite animal: peacock (because they are so pretty)
favorite songs: Go Tell it on the Mountain, Mean (Taylor Swift), and The Angels told Mary
favorite game: Disney Bingo
want to be when I grow up: Artist and cheerleader
favorite activity: soccer
favorite toy: American Girl Doll and pillow pet
place I want to visit: beach
favorite place: Mo and Phillip's house, Emmy and Pop's house, SuSu and G's house, Jared and Erinn's house
favorite outfit: dress from Erinn and Jared's wedding
if I had one wish, it would be: to have more brothers and sisters, and a tv in my room (poor Elise- neither one likely to ever happen!)
best thing about being 5: that I get to stay with my Mommy and Daddy










Lila


age: 3
height: 40 inches
weight: 38 pounds
favorite color: pink
favorite food: hot dog
favorite drink: milk
favorite dessert: king cake
favorite book: Ariel's Adventures
favorite activity book: a notebook
favorite show: Dora
favorite movie: Toy Story
favorite character: Ariel and Jessie (Toy Story)
favorite friends: little Camille, Aubry (?), Jack Ramsey, Jacob, Myrt
favorite trip: Emmy and Pop's house
most exciting thing this year: that "I'm on her nice list"
favorite animal: baby jaguar
favorite song: You Belong with Me (Taylor Swift)
favorite game: bingo
want to be when I grow up: Jessie
favorite activity: school
favorite toy: Leapster
place I want to visit: Emmy and Pop's house
favorite place: our house
favorite outfit: white dress like Taylor Swift doll
if I had one wish, it would be: to meet Sleeping Beauty
best thing about being 3: "I'm a kid"







Bennett


age: 3
height: 41.5 inches
weight: 40 lbs
favorite color: red
favorite food: salad, bananas
favorite drink: milk
favorite dessert: brownies
favorite book: Toy Story
favorite activity book: Look and Find Toy Story
favorite show: Wonder Pets
favorite movie: Toy Story
favorite character: Buzz
favorite friends: Hudson, Joy, Jacob
favorite trip: beach
most exciting thing this year: see Buzz at Disneyworld (this didn't happen...)
favorite animal: giraffe
favorite song: Our Song (Taylor Swift)
favorite game: Toy Story
want to be when I grow up: Buzz
favorite activity: computer
favorite toy: Buzz
place I want to visit: Emmy and Pop's
favorite place: home
favorite outfit: "what?"
if I had one wish, it would be: "I would wish on a star for a Buzz that talks"
best thing about being 3: "turning 4 next!"