What's in a Name?

...how about some scrapbook paper, a little Mod Podge, some discounted wooden letters, and a little help from Hobby Lobby?

After we got confirmation that we were in fact having another sweet little girl, I've wasted no time getting the nursery together.  It's coming along, a piece at a time, all getting piled up on the existing antique furniture in that room...more on that one day when we redo the guest bedroom.  While I'm sporting this second trimester energy, we're doing a lot of work on the house (hence the Paint Party posts seen here and here, to be continued once I get the living room pulled together).

But I did have time for a quick, easy, and fun project this week just for baby Riley.  Several years ago, I made these letters for Alli's room using cute patterned scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, and wooden letters from Hob Lob.

I knew I wanted to do something similar for Riley, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted it to look.  Did I just want to do a giant letter "R"?  Did I want to order something from my new favorite website Etsy?  But after some debate, I decided I wanted to style my own to a tee, and I wanted them to be pretty similar to Alli's.  So out I set for Hobby Lobby.

I used to go to this store three times a week when I was decorating our old house, but I got tired of the same ol' same ol', and they just weren't as modern and chic as I wanted when my style evolved.  Man, have things changed!  I was snapping inspiration left and right.

Clearly I need to spend more time and money in here!  So anyway, I found what I was looking for with the letters, but I could not decide on the paper to use.  I had five different patterns picked out, really similar to Alli's, but I just didn't like what I had.  I picked Alli's out after the rest of her room was done at the time, so it was easy to see which colors worked and which didn't.  Determined not to be deterred, I finally settled on a baby pink polka dot paper, and I decided to use the same paper on every letter.

The process is really easy - you trace the letter on the back of the paper and cut it out.  Then you apply a little Mod Podge to the letter itself using a small paintbrush and stick the paper on, smoothing as you go.  I used a pan scraper we have to help it get really smooth.  I let everything completely dry overnight, then applied several coats of Mod Podge on top the next day.

Here's a sneak peak at the results - you'll see the full thing in Riley's nursery reveal in a few weeks.

Paint Party - Office Official

One of my very favorite rooms in our new house is the office.  It's right off the living room, and it's pretty much a formal room for pretties.  The computer gets to live there (not on the kitchen table which makes my heart happy), we have bookshelves for books, awards, and glass animals, and it's a zen place to get away and do a little studying or blogging.  One day it's going to be an awesome homework room for the chillins too.

So in our quest to eliminate the builder boring paint color pre-baby Lowe's arrival, we tackled the office a few weekends ago.  I was anxious to get ahold of this formal room and paint it an actual color to make the beautiful moldings pop.  Here are a few shots of the room pre-paint:

Talk about blah, right?  After much consternation, debate and a few testers, we settled on Behr's Simply Sage for the top half and Dragonfly for the bottom half.  Simply Sage is (spoiler alert) going to be a major paint color in the house, but I wanted to make this room a little more special.  Ryan and I worked tirelessly on this space while Alli's room was drying.  We even enlisted a little child labor.

Once done, we stood back, admired our handiwork, and solemnly promised each other we'd never tackle two rooms at once again.

I wish I knew how to work my fancy new camera, but the top half looks nothing like the original wall color.  Maybe I'll capture better pictures of it in the daylight.

Of course, there's still a lot of work to do, like curtains, art, and getting my framed diploma on the wall. I'm also wondering if we can handle a big tall houseplant that is cat safe?  But those things are all a lot easier to do with a teensy weensy.  Painting - not so much.  I'm not quite sure what all is going to evolve in there, but I'm excited for the ride (Decorating is a process.  Deep breath.  I will enjoy the process.  Repeat to self).

Paint Party - Alli's Room

Well, it's week two of the new year and I'm already behind on one resolution - posting twice a week.  But I did make some pretty good headway on another goal - getting the house decorated!  Builder beige is just not my best color, so it was time to get a little color rolling up in here.  Two weeks ago, Ryan and I started in on our room and bedroom.  I'll post some pics of that later, but my focus here is the most important room in the house.  Once we finished our room, we immediately had to get rolling on Alli's.  With new baby on the way, we needed to get hers wrapped up first.  You can't exactly paint your second child's room before you start on the first one's, can you?

Here's where we started.

Cute little room, but pretty darn blah, huh?  Definitely not reflective of the huge personality who lays down her head there.  So after a week or so of considering paint chips, I decided on Behr's Seafoam Pearl.  It was a subtle blue, high on the color chip.  Enough to change the wall color, but not enough to blind you.  Alli had other ideas though.

She picked Mint Majesty.  I cajoled, but to no avail.  She was adamant.  So I, never one to squelch the wall hue dreams of a color lover (hello, teal living room and hot pink bathroom), did what any good mother would do and caved.  "Two gallons of mint majesty, please."  I mean, I may never have another little girl to paint for.  Who am I to deny teal walls?  When I opened the paint can, I was a little taken aback.  It glowed.  No kidding.  But Alli and I got to work.

Okay, I got to work.  Alli painted our entire family's names on the wall.  I'm pleased to report that Ryan has taken over cutting responsibilities (some new fangled tool he found that he loves), so your girl is back to rolling only.  With a Darth Vader mask, a fan on high, and getting asked four times a minute "Are you okay?  Don't overdo it!"  The joys of pregnancy.  At the end of the night, we ended up with this.

What a difference!  Doesn't it look more like a cheery little girl's room?  I love how a little paint makes the furniture and accessories pop!  We still have a ways to go - curtains, more art, a new dresser...but the walls are ready to rock.

Side note - who are you people who take pictures of your children's rooms where they look pristine without a toy in sight, save maybe an antique wooden rocking horse that's for looking only?  I declare this room as close to pristine as it'll ever be.  I'm just glad I remembered to put up her water glass before I snapped these shots.  Small victories, friends.

Garden Party

It's that time of year again!  We Lowes spent the bulk of the last weekend laboring in our yard.  Ryan remulched beds and did some pesticide application, and Alli and I replanted all of our annuals.  We added some tomato plants to the fold, and who knows?  Maybe they will make us gardeners.  I've always been interested in an herb garden.

Happy Spring, y'all!  Here's a look at our handiwork:

Gaudy Gold Gone

Last weekend, we did such an easy fix that I'm almost embarrassed.  Like, I should have done this two years ago when Ryan hung the screen door.  But I didn't, and I let the gaudy gold finishes dominate our entry for far too long.

Finally, my friend Sherry (yes, I called her my friend even though she has no idea who I am) over at Young House Love inspired me to make a change in my life with this post.

So I said, "Hey, I can do that!" and I did, for about $10 at Home Depot.  And maybe Sherry should teach me about taking "before" pictures, so the "after" is more dramatic.  But picture a really worn out and extremely dated looking gold before so that this after works for you.

For deets on how, hit up YHL.

Parental Punch List

I know you've been crying into your pillow every night because your fave bloggette has been a little slow this week, but we just haven't had much going on.  Fortunately, my parents came up this weekend and helped us complete a laundry list of home improvement items.  Aren't helpful parents the best?  Here's your rundown:

• The bamboo blinds arrived for the sliders.  I was especially happy that they arrived while my parents were up - Momsy and Daddykins have a great critical eye and will give me constructive advice on the house decor.  I love the mister to death, but a helpful critic on home decorating he is not.  So I was quite pleased to have some in-person opinions on what I considered a bit of a window treatment risk.  Verdict:  love.  Daddio was pleased with the function and Mamacita was pleased with the appearance - put those hands together and you have exactly what I was going for.  Happy dance.

Don't you just love the warmth and completeness it has verses this pic?  It brings a brown tone that we have  in baskets and our granite over to this half of the area.  And total cost for both shades?  $30 from Overstock.com.  Cha-ching.

•  Mom unclogged Alli's sink.  Gross, I know.  But Ryan and I had pulled the drain out and run $50 worth of Liquid Plumber down the thing trying to get it to drain at the right speed (or at all).  Enter Handywoman Stacie to go underneath the sink and show us how it's done.  It drains perfectly AND she fixed the stopper that we pulled out trying to fix it.  Gotta love her.
• After Mom unclogged the sink I walked in the kitchen and said "Now all I need is for Dad to install a light over my shower and I'm golden!"  I was joking.  I really was.  But shortly thereafter we made the trip to Home Depot (so happy I got to introduce the workers to my pops) and got the supplies.  And just about an hour after that....let there be light.

How about that?!  I had no idea this process was so easy!!  Ryan and Dad had it done in literally an hour.  This isn't a show-you-how-to-do-it blog, but Meredith at Welcome to Heardmont and her hubby followed a similar process that she detailed here, in case you need it.  Seriously, so easy.  Now I'm looking up and wondering where else I can put some...a girl can never have enough light.

Well, I'm off to wrap up the weekend by cleaning up, some spray painting, and a glass of wine.  You know, just trying to add to the cork collection.

Bitchin' Kitchen

Don't be a prude.  It totally rhymes.  And you know I have a bit of a potty mouth, and the "b" word is my second favorite behind the "s" word.  And what else rhymes with "kitchen??"  So go with it.  This isn't your grandma's blog.

So anyway, as you know, we repainted the kitchen this weekend.  And by "we" I mean me.  No cred for Mr. Lowe here.  All your girl.  The result was ah-maz-ing.  I certainly loved our purple kitchen, but the lighter brighter Lotus Leaf was a welcome change!  Let's dive right into pics, shall we?  Here's an idea of just where we were before.  Dark purple walls, dark accents, and (EGAD!) vertical blinds.

And here we are today:

Aw hells yeah.  How airy and bright is that??  What a difference!!  There's still plenty left to do.  I plan to add a window treatment to the window above the sink, replace the green rug with something a little more neutral and durable (maybe jute?), and replace the slipcovers on the chairs with some pretty new grey ones.  But how about no more vertical blinds?!  Woohoo!!!  I'm thinking I'm going to add some bamboo blinds above them a la my fave blog Young House Love, as seen here.  Something to fill in the wall between the trim and the curtain rod above the door.

And what about that spray painted mirror above my favorite piece of furniture in the whole house, the buffet? Definitely lightens up that area.  Mama likey.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend !!  I'm exhausted!!  And sometime in the next few weeks I'm hoping my good man allows me to repaint those kitchen cabinets to look a little more like our bathrooms.  Fingers crossed.