Updates (Downstairs) - pictures & details to follow!

Front Entry
- Got a rug (HomeDecorators.com)
- Got a new light (Ballard Designs)
- Got a table (Craigslist - $35)
- Got some art (by friends)
- Made some curtains (I did it)

Dining Room
- Got rid of the table & chairs (sold on Craigslist)
- Got a hutch/china cabinet (Ballard Designs)

Hallway
- Got rugs (West Elm)
- Got art (frame gallery fm Target, others custom framed)

Office
- Painted (mixed a few random colors together)
- Built desk & shelf (I did it)
- Built in corkboard (I did it)

Back Entry
- Replaced light (from front entry)
- Got a vase... (that empty area was killing me - Neiman Marcus)

Family Room
- Got a TV (& surround sound - thanks lightning storm - Jeff Lynch)
- Got some art (custom framed & donated by Grandma)
- Got tables (Rug & Home)
- Got couches (Hand me downs, sold the others on Craigslist)
- Got lamp (local antique store)
- Got pillows (Pottery Barn)

Kitchen
- Curtains (shower curtain from Pottery Barn, spray painted rod from West Elm)
- Art (spray painted EAT from Hobby Lobby, frames from Pottery Barn)
- Under cabinet storage (Lowe's)
- iPad mount (gift from brother & sister-in-law)
- Barstools (hand-me-downs)
- Rug (Pottery Barn)
- Trash Can (Bed, Bath & Beyond)
- Added spice rack to lower cabinet (Lowe's)

Pantry
- New shelving configuration (I did it)

Master Bedroom
- Quilt (Pottery Barn)
- New Dog Bed (I did it)
- New buffet (Local antique store refinished by me)
- Bedskirt (Pottery Barn)
- Art (by me)
- New TV (Best Buy Black Friday purchase)
- Bedside lamps (Pottery Barn)

Master Bathroom
- New rugs (Pottery Barn)
- New towels (Belk)
- Updated gallery wall (by me)
- Reconfigured Tim's Closet (by me)
- Reconfigured My Closet (by me)
- New toilet plunger (ooh fancy... - Lowe's)

Half (Guest) Bath
- Storage Cabinet (Pottery Barn)

Laundry Room
- Air Register (Lowe's)
- Art (Ballard Designs)
- Drying Rack (Ballard Designs)
- Rug (Ballard Designs)

Updated Hallway

As promised, I'm back with some updates...

I've been desperate to get one room in our house finished. I never realized just how expensive & time consuming decorating a house would be. For us its been a combination of lack of funds & lack of time that have really kept our house from becoming what I want it to be. Thanks to my Uncle Sam savings plan (aka paying more into taxes than I should just so I can get a fat little check once a year - I know, not the best idea ever) I finally have (almost) finished up a room - all that is lacking now are the pictures & crown molding (moulding?).

So in case you've forgotten, here is what the hallway looked like originally as well as what my plans were. A family gallery wall may be something we work on later but for now it's gotten the kibosh. Instead I decided to combine a few of my ideas from around the house into this area. I've been looking for a runner everywhere I go for this space but a 2.5'x14' runner is not an easy find (FYI- when building a house make sure you look at what size rugs will fit in each room & make sure standard sizes fit. Trust me on this one). I finally found one I liked at West Elm, unfortunately it was exactly half the length of what I needed.

Lucky for me, inspiration hit. Why wouldn't this look just fine lying next to another with the patterns butting up against one another? I ordered 2 during their 20% off rug sale and waited for delivery. I rolled them out the second I got home & got lucky that my plan worked pretty well. Its been a few weeks and they are still settling a bit but so far rug pads seem to be holding them pretty steady although I think I may use some carpet seam tape to make sure they are really secure. They've also held up pretty well for being so close to the entrance and with a puppy and husband who come in the house with who knows what on their feet.

That same weekend I went to an event called Artisphere where lots of local artists have tents and sell their creations. I found one painter whom I loved and he happened to have a framed painting he was selling of the area where Tim & I took our mini-honeymoon called the Cullasaja Gorge. It (obviously) holds a special place in my heart so although I walked away at first I came back and snatched it up. Lucky for me, it fit perfectly next to our office door.

I've also been obsessing about having a map with pins in it showing places Tim & I have visited together. For our anniversary I found a vintage map of the US and had it mounted to foam core then framed with a linen frame inset within a wooden one and opted to leave it without glass. I bought some gold-headed map pins off of Amazon and dipped them into wood glue before placing them on my map (look for the little sparkly dots on the map picture). That piece finished out the office door side of the hallway & it was time to dive into the big blank wall.

For the large blank wall I went with my second plan of 16x20 photos of gates on the wall. Just bear with me for this one. I bought 5 16x20 frames matted down to 11x14 pictures from Target & went to work figuring out the spacing, then I threw all of that out. I found the middle of the wall, figured out the height of my middle piece and hung it. Then I went to the side of the wall with the light switch & hung that one. Based on how far away from the edge that was I hung my far left piece. From there I measured from nail to nail, split that number in half & placed the last two on those measurements. Clear as mud? Oh & I used a laser level to make sure they were all at the same height based upon the first center piece I hung. Basically it was a good deal of guesstimating & hoping which luckily worked out perfectly to give me this beauty.

Now I have to take the pictures that go in these, I have a few "for sures" so far but still trying to figure it out. I know I want the pictures to be of gates that have some significance to Tim & myself but still working on the finer points of that. Anyways, here is the final space with my lackluster camera skills.

No Excuses

There've been quite a few changes in my life recently not limited to a new job, raising almost $15,000 for cancer research, dealing with multiple different courses of treatment for Tim (and about to start a new one), trying to keep a house together, trying to keep my sanity & trying to keep up a social life, but honestly I just got bored of blogging for awhile (pbly bc I've been keeping up with Tim's blog so much). Still probably won't be back full time but thought I'd catch everyone up on what I've been up to lately!

So here are a few posts you can look forward to reading sometime (hopefully soon):

A new dog bed - constructed by me (& my dad)
My latest obsession - Accupuncture!
Dehydrating Food - aka what not to do
Refinishing a buffet - still can't believe I did it
Some things I'm dreaming about right now
Hanging a flatscreen/hiding the cables
New kitchen rug, trash can (& soon curtains)
New hallway runner(s) & art
New bedroom art
Restructuring the bathroom gallery wall
Curtains for the front door
New art for the den & new (to us) couches
San Francisco Trip
Refresh of the pantry
Little landscaping refresh
Garage Clean-out/Basement Organization

And here are some (hopefully) upcoming projects that will be happening at the hizzay sooner than later:

Cabinets in the laundry room
Replace transom in the laundry room (seriously dad...lets finish this one! :))
Staining/sealing the back deck (yep 2 1/2 years later we still haven't done this)
More landscaping...
Master Bedroom curtains
Hallway Art Project
Master Bedroom Art Project(s)
Front/Back Hall Light Replacements (might as well do it at the same time)
Front Hall Rug

....told you I've been busy.

How about another hallway? Some more doors?

That's what we've got for you today...I'm kind of going easy because I recently decided I want start trying to crochet again...we will see how long this new hobby lasts. I'm notorious for starting things, getting into them 150% and them completely dropping them right before I finish. I'd like to thank my dad for this lovely habit of mine. There was a portion of a beautifully carved stool in our garage for a very long time. Apparently he started it when I was born due to my mom having these visions of me standing on it to brush my teeth...I think he finally threw out the 1 piece he made about a year ago. He's promised to help build my built-ins as soon as he finishes redoing all of my mom's kitchen cabinets. I'm thinking I might as well start saving up to hire someone to take care of it for me as I'd like to have those done before I retire.

So here is the hallway at the top of the stairs also know as the 2nd hallway of doors.

I know, its stunning...I mean how couldn't you like all of that neutral and all of those doors. Don't be jealous of our $5 Target night light...ok so to be honest its kind of bland. There really isn't much that needs to be done, or to do but here we go!

Things we have left to do here:


1. Put up some art -  Ok, really this is all we need to do. I've seen a great DIY project in which you take an older map, some push pins and a frame and make a travel map out of it where you can mark the places you've been. Tim & I both love to travel so I think this could be a really neat project for us to have. With this hallway being a little more narrow I may actually use a shadow box so pins don't get knocked out.


...and thats about it...I'm going to get back to my cross-stitching now.

UPDATE: Hallway...well because its easy

As I said in my last post I'm letting the stairs steal the decor from the hallway but no worries I have an even better idea. Errr, if I can actually pull it off that is. So here is my original description of our hallway: Hallway...well because its easy. To be perfectly honest I'm kind of working on taking the easy way out again.

CONFESSION: My house is not nearly as clean as it appears to be in all of these photos. In fact as of right now its a hot mess and I'm not really feeling the whole cleaning thing just this second. So day off of the picture taking and I'll be back at it again tomorrow. For clarification "back at it" means hiding the mess behind any crevice that will not show in the picture itself.

Somehow I was thinking about gates the other day (yes its incredibly random and I can't tell you how I got there). Irregardless, I started thinking about how neat iron gates are and how well that dark iron used to show up in the images I would process in the darkroom back in school. FYI: I minored in photography, my dad told me to do something off the wall that I enjoyed so I did. I was not the best (by far) but I loved it.

From there I started thinking about some neat gates I've seen and came to the realization that I believe there may be a gate at every important place for Tim & I.

There is a pretty gate where we both went to college but there are a few options in that same area to choose from.

Although Tim & I "officially" met after college, we did initially meet one another in high school. Long story short: he and friend tried to corrupt some friends & myself with Mike's Hard Lemonade, he decided to hang out with one of my friends (much to my disappointment), his friend attempted to stalk me (I kid - he is a VERY sweet guy who played a large role in our wedding) and down the road his friend completely called me out at our rehearsal dinner in front of a lot of our friends and both of our families. I digress again, the point being that we still kid each other about that initial meeting and hold it dear. There is a great little iron gate at the pool that would work well within this ensemble.

After college Tim coached at a smaller university that my grandfather once taught at, my parents attended and I grew up as a big fan. A friend talked me into going to meet him one night and the rest really is history. I wanted to get married in the chapel there but for some reason our wedding date was incredible popular around here and another bridezilla got to it before this one could. I can certainly see why, that campus is renowned for how absolutely breathtaking the beauty of it is. It also has an assortment of gates, big ones, little ones, pretty ones but the one I want is of the entrance to that baseball field. That one is undoubtedly one of the ugliest but it holds so much significance as that is where I met the hubs.

I'm convinced that there HAS to be a gate somewhere around where we got engaged. I think I may have found one by googling (best. invention. ever.) but still need to go check it out. I mean I guess it counts if its in the same vicinity right?

A few years ago my church created a remembrance garden which is really peaceful and beautiful. We did the majority of our wedding pictures out in that area and it has a most excellent gate. I actually really wish that Tim & I had met up with each other before the ceremony in that garden as well. Looking back I would have loved some pics of us checking each other out over this gate...oh well...the gate will look pretty on my wall. You can get a glimpse of it from this wedding photo. Also, take a moment to check out those fabulous blue shoes (may they rest in peace - my poor toes will never be the same again).

So now that you've gotten a peek at some of these gates just imagine them photographed & lined up in 16x20 frames across that wall. I was so excited about the idea that I almost went out to start taking the pictures that day, but it was night and raining. I've already checked out some great frames they've got over at HomeGoods and am just waiting on that next paycheck to go pick those bad boys up!

Hallway...well because its easy

As you can tell from my not so creative post title I'm taking the easy way out tonight...our entry hallway. I just figured out that for some reason the posts for the last 2 days didn't go up in their entirety so I've spent the night recreating those but my goal for these first few weeks of blogging was to stick with it every night M-F until I've reviewed all the rooms of our home and we get started on the good stuff...the projects. That leaves me at 11:30 at night, after a long workday and 30 minutes to get a blog posted and myself into bed, this will be a short one.

SO...here we go, not much to it, its a hallway. Long, narrow, moves you in a coordinated fashion from one point to another and that's about it for the description. I mean what else can you say about the thing?

Below is a reference picture:

Basically we have an upgraded shotgun house, you can open the front & back doors and get a clear shot straight on through. Other than that it has the same issues as the entry, its all neutral.

Things we have left to do here:


1. The one, the only -  I want to create a "family wall" somewhere in the house. I haven't decided if this is the place I want to do it or if I want to have it going up the stairs. This situation seems a lot easier to get under control rather than having to work on the placement along with getting everything working its way up stairs. Regardless I came to this conclusion after seeing this entry on the blog House*Tweaking (bear with me this is my first blog linking). I loved Dana's family wall project and plan to do one of my own...somewhere...someday...

Well thats it for today, like I said it's short and I'm off to bed with 17 minutes left until midnight...doesn't get much better (actually a 10PM bedtime would've been nice!).