Living Room Lowedown

Nope, I didn't float away.  But I bet you were worried.  We've had some serious rainfall here in the past few weeks, and all Mrs. Lowe wants to do when it rains is zzzzz.....  It's pouring right now, lightning flashing, thunder rolling, and I can barely keep my eyes open.  I'll try to get through this thriller of a post, but no promises.  You only get so many good rainy nights to snooze to.

What a great weekend we Lowes had!  Despite the rain, we managed to attend 2 birthday parties for Alli's classmates, have the cute little twins who are exactly Alli's age over for the afternoon, go see Rio, and shop until we dropped!  The last part is probably the most interesting - I got some finishing touches for the living room and I'm ready to reveal the whole room!  Get crunk.

We've repainted the walls a few....thousand times.  Ok, this is just the third paint job, I promise.  And they've all been blue, I've just had to tweak the shade.  I'm so in love with this color, I continued it down the hallway and into the kitchen, as you saw here.  I'm not super great with the angles, but here's a few shots of the progress:

Yes, I have little doggie followers who creep in my pictures.  You can see I've tried to mainly stick to blues, creams, and browns for the big pieces with fun pops of color like the hot pink table and frames or the green storage ottomans.  I'm really loving it!

Sorry for the severe lack of your usual wit, humor, and joy...but I warned you.  It's raining.  G'night.

Master Bathroom Bliss

Let's say you just finished a very strenuous fall and winter.  You traveled a ton, both professionally and personally, you had a houseful of beloved and boisterous family nearly every weekend, and even though you owned it, Christmas exhausted you.  What do you do on your very first weekend at home with no visitors and nowhere to be?

Well, if you're me, you get a project.  There's something so satisfying about finally being able to focus on the house again.  I love this little abode and I love improving it every chance I get.  It didn't exactly scream anything but "builder-grade new construction!" when we moved in, so I love tweaking it and making it personal.

Tuesday night I went to Jo Ann's and picked out some awesome fabric for new pillows.  My friend Lindsey is quite the sewer, and she so generously agreed to make me some pillows for our previously bachelor pad-like couches.  I realize you haven't seen much but glimpses of the new living room, and I have to apologize.  I'm in the process of tweaking it still and I think you deserve only the best.  So you'll have to wait a little longer for the tour.  But feast your eyes on my new pillows!

Aren't those fabulous?  I am so lucky to have such a talented and willing best friend!  And yes, all pillows must pass the "pet snuggle test."  Don't tell Ryan that Landry was on the couch.  I can't wait to show you guys the living room once it all comes together.

But is that ever enough for me?  No, of course not.  I always need another project  Lindsey turned me on to another blog called Centsational Girl and I stumbled across this post.  What a dramatic makeover!  And if you remember anything about the bathrooms at my house, you'll remember I have builder-grade fake oak looking cabinets with nooooo hardware.  That doesn't exactly scream zen spa does it?

I sent said link to the mister and much to my surprise, he was on board.  We spent a lunch at Home Depot (heaven) armed with Kate's instructions, but then we stumbled across this kit by my friends at Rustoleum.  See, I trust Rustoleum.  They are makers of my right hand man, spray paint.  So we read about it, discussed with our paint professional, and took home this kit big enough to do our bathroom and Alli's if we so desired (and we do).  All we had to do was select dark or light (dark for us) and then pick the color we wanted off of the 20 or so on the box (we chose Espresso).  We grabbed some simple, chic hardware, and waited impatiently to get home and give this kit a try.

I was extremely nervous, but Ryan figured hey, what could make those cabinets look worse?  I love him.  He jumped right in with....

     Step 1:  Remove Cabinet Doors/Drawers and De-Gloss

Using the provided liquid gel and brilo-like pads, Ryan scrubbed our cabinet doors, drawers, and frames down.  Then you let it sit for 1 hour (or 10 hours if it's Friday night and you fall asleep on the couch).

     Step 2:  Apply Tint Base (2 coats, 2-3 hours between coats)

Enter yours truly with the painting expertise.  All you have to do is paint with the grain of the "wood."  It was as simple as it sounds, thanks to the instructional DVD included in the kit.  We're still on step 2 - I have two coats on the frames, drawers, and backs of the doors, so I still have to do the front of the doors before we move on to optional (but we are doing it!) Step 3: Glaze and mandatory Step 4: Top Coat.  But  I really think it is looking good and I can't wait to see the finished result.  Stay tuned.  And for interested parties, that is my organized sink on the right.

No Hogs in Town = Weekend Warriors

Because the Razorbacks were in South Carolina playing the ol' ball coach this weekend (and our awesome Hogs won by a landslide, FYI), we had no guests and nowhere to be.  This is one of the 4 weekends I have off from the Piggies between Labor Day and Thanksgiving weekend.  You'll remember what happened on one of those weekend here.  And no, I never did get off the couch.  I decided to make this one count, so here's the rundown so far:

1. Got my hair did.  Went a little darker for the fall and cut a few inches off.  Don't panic, I'm still blonde.  Just a "it's fall" blonde instead of "I just got off the beach" blonde.  I'll be back, beach blonde.



Apologies for the fuzziness, pjs, and rabid dogs.  This is my life.

2. Painted the hallway - a project that has been waiting for several months.  It's the final repainting I plan on doing for a while...although the kitchen is screaming for a new color.  Ryan might kill me though.  We decided to paint the hallway the same color as the new living room, Behr Surfer.



Behr Surfer down the hallway.  Do not try to peek into the updated living room!!

3. Had a few super exciting shopping trips/deliveries for the new living room.  It's really coming together!!  I can't wait to reveal it, but it still needs a few finishing touches.  So until I can, I'll let Lola give you a sneak peak (yes, she really is that gorgeous, no need to adjust your monitor):



Gorgeous Lola lounging on her new nap spot - apple green Target ottomans for just $16 a piece!

4. Updated a few pieces already in the living room that needed some tweaking, like painting this cute little (formerly black) table I scored at Hob Lob like, 2 years ago for $20.  It's now a punchy watermelon color, tying in with some other living room accents.



Hot pink side table - get excited for the living room reveal in a few weeks!!

5. Bought buckets of new ornaments and swag for our "done" Christmas tree.  Hostessing a Christmas bridal shower at my house in a few weeks has me rethinking all things Christmas around Lowe Land, and I've decided to have a decorated, non-childhood ornaments tree.  Here are the bags of goodies on my closet floor (Don't worry, they've already been moved.  I hate clutter.):



YAYYY for Christmas swag!!

6. Put away Halloween decorations and made the proper adjustments for my personal favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.  Check out the decor on our side table in the "dining room" ("dining room" = breakfast nook off the kitchen since we don't have a formal dining room):

So that's the rundown of the weekend so far!  The house is also clean, no thanks to us - love you house cleaner!!  Left to do today: 

• Take Alli to see MegaMind - we are so excited to see this animated movie with Will Ferrell
• Pick up my niece and neph-dogs from Dog Party (awwww)
  
• Drop by my FAVORITE craft store (and client) Jo-Ann's for a living room project
• Swing to Home Depot for an awesome quick fix that is going to look amazing - deets later, if it works
• Watch the Cowboys, if I can stomach it

Watch the ol' blogosphere for a master bedroom reveal tonight, assuming the Cowboys start getting tromped.

The Hizzle Dizzle

Drumroll, please!  The master bathroom is officially painted!  Oh, sure, I have a touchup or two to do on the ceiling.  And yes, I need to order new artwork.  Just three pieces though.  And I eternally question what one is to do with a tiny frosted window next to a toilet.  But maybe, just maybe, by the end of this week, I will declare it officially done.

Aren't you proud of me?  Just a few days after I griped about myself, I semi-finished a project!  And I made Ryan patch the wall where he put a hole in it hanging new cabinets in our laundry room, so as soon as he sands that, I can paint it too.  AND I painted over the stripes of sample paint in the living room and the guest bedroom.  I have a love-hate relationship with our living room color.  It's a spectacular teal with red and gold accents.

So I go back and forth with repainting this room a more toned down version of the teal about every other month or so, but then realize that I love it as is as soon as I try to pick out a new color.  Also, I regularly toy with changing up our master bedroom.  I find it to be a bit masculine and dark for me.

So I think that will be the next project - a complete overhaul.  I don't even know what I am considering in that room.  Sometimes, I think baby blue and deep purple, and others I think a more green and blue scheme.  I think I'll have to wait for that right inspiration to hit me.  Also, we're planning to darken the guest bedroom as soon as I find the right green.  The last green I tested turned a putrid puke color in the sunlight, so back to the drawing board.  Here it is right now (that's Ginger on the bed, it's her favorite spot):

I think that's the room that looks the most incomplete.  It needs curtains, another lamp, and some more wall art.  And could probably use a bigger nicer bed, but who wants to spend money on a guest bed?  So we'll probably darken the whole thing, once I find the right green, get some curtains, and call it a day.

So those are my current musings on my house.  By the time I get it just about perfect, I think it will probably be time to move again.  Oh well...that's the fun, right?