It's Getting There!

I worked on my pathetic piano area today!

Before:

pbbttt!!!!

After:

it's getting there

Yes, there is still much to be done. But I am already so pleased with the little changes.

Getting rid of the plastic play kitchen and red rug were a huge improvement. Putting the floor lamp away and bringing in the chair from my bedroom were huge. I remembered I had a few pillow forms from Ikea stashed away, so I wrapped the fabric around one - I like it! And I added a side table that really had no purpose in the den. I'm too chicken to hang art quite yet, so I just tossed a few accesories on top of the piano and called it good enough for now.

Still on the To-Do List:

* Find a sofa table. I actually found this one on CL (I was surprised).

asking $135

Unfortunately I think the finish is too red, and the style is a bit too country. I think I need something a bit cleaner and darker.

* Hang some art. I know I mentioned a print that I have in another room, I'm thinking it just won't work because of the placement of the thermostat (darn!). What do you think about two tall and narrow, modern pieces above the piano? So far this area is very traditional, and directly across from the piano is a modern entertainment center (an Ikea Besta unit, sort of like this). I'm thinking modern art will help to balance the two areas.

* Get a lamp for the side table. I'm going to start at GW, once again I think something with a more modern shape would be nice. While we are talking lamps, what do you think about the finish of the piano lamp? I know my mom bought that lamp in 1987, it's a nice lamp, but I'm not sure I can handle the brass...oil rubbed bronze? black?

* Slipcover the bench with the pillow fabric, and pick up some fun fringe to finish the pillow.

What do you think so far? Your wonderful feedback and ideas got me started on this project, and now I need it as fuel for me to keep going :)

Thanks again, for all of the thoughtful comments!!!

Because I Know You Love Updates

#1 - Huge thanks to everyone for all of the great feedback on my (currently not-so) Great Room!!

You are awesome and I love you!

We did a little furniture moving and it's already looking better :) I'll be doing a few more things tonight and tomorrow and then should be able to give you a little update (but don't expect too much - we are moving at a snail's pace over here).

Onto the updates.

At the beginning of the year I had a pretty solid set of goals to accomplish before the impending birth of "Bun." I'm going to be honest, I had to reread the original post to remember what they were (not a great sign). Here's the rundown:

Blog more - I was aiming for 3 posts per week, so far that has not happened. It's been a little chaotic around here, so the fact that I have continued to post, and not just abandoned my little house blog, makes me feel like I haven't totally given up. I've got a lot to say and show, just not a lot of time - I will try hard to improve on this!

Try a new recipe each week (and eat out/carry out less) - I've tried quite a few new recipes! But haven't been very good about making sure to try a new one each week. We've also been hit-or-miss with cutting down on carry out. The good news is the foundation repairs have been paid off (and with new money!). And just in time for more foundation repairs...oy.

Get to Church - We have not been regulars at Church. I'd like to blame it on Peanut's behavior during Mass (2 is not an easy age for a Fr. Mike homily), but it comes down to me and Hubs - we're slacking and it's no good.

Baptize the Kiddos - the goal is to have everything ready for a double Baptism (the "Double Dip") and party by my birthday - May 20. I am on track with this goal!!!

Lose Weight - on hold until baby Bun's birth.

House Projects -
The Great Room has been getting a little attention, although not as much as I would like.
Currently turning the office into a big boy room for Peanut. - It's been painted, furniture is almost done, decor is on-track and (most importantly) he is sleeping in his new big boy bed!
Move the office into the den - it's a great big mess, but almost 100% of the office stuff is in the den :)
And then I'd like to paint the hallway - not going to happen any time soon.
And the guest bath - ditto.

So that's where I stand after the first quarter of this year. There's room for improvement and a few "go-me!" moments. I guess that's not too bad.

How have your goals for 2010 been progressing?

My Brain is too Busy to Decorate

It's time for my very favorite party :)
Amanda is hosting her world-famous Decorating Dilemmas Party, come and join the fun!

Here's the deal.

This is a chunk of my great room.

I know you want to steal this amazing style

It used to house a dining room table, and buffet - both have been relocated because it felt like my GR had about 37 huge tables in it (really it was 2 large tables and a big island, but it was too much). Two weeks ago a piano arrived (thanks Mom and Dad!), and this week we finally finished a project (I know a WHOLE project - I was amazed! ps - it's the cabinet in the corner). So I've accumulated a few pieces of furniture, but that's where the plan ends.

I think my fetus is eating my brain. I cannot come up with a solid plan for this area.

What I know I need to lose:
* plastic play kitchen - heading to Peanut's room
* mismatched red rug - I love it, but not in this room. Right now it's just protecting the floor from the evil-metal piano-bench feet.
* cheap floor lamp - it's actually left over lighting from a project I was doing, it really belongs in my bedroom.
* 10 lbs, at least (oh wait, we were talking about the room...)

I am thinking about adding:
* a sofa table behind the couch - what finish? pale blue to match the newly-completed cabinet?
* a new area rug. Maybe I can make a large rug like Miss High-Heeled? I need some fabric inspiration.
* this chair from my bedroom (and make a pillow with the fabric (clearance score from Ballard))? I'm afraid the gold in the chair will clash with the yummy-yellow walls.

I have 2 yards of the yummy fabric

* architectural print over piano? I already have one, it's long and skinny (Mackinac Bridge blueprint), and very nicely framed...not quite sold on the idea, though.
* recover, or just slipcover, the piano bench with the Ballard fabric.

What would you do? I'm thinking I can only spend, maybe $250...
Thanks in advance, I'm excited to see your ideas!

a rundown

JJ:
- Last Thursday he slept in his big boy room for the first time. It was totally no big deal. I mean, he has a choo-choo pillow, so of course his bed is the coolest thing ever. I'm not going to lie, the empty crib in the nursery makes me cry - good thing we're getting a replacement baby soon ;)

sleeping soundly

- The language explosion that is going on at our house is AMZING. I remember learning about this stage in my one-and-only linguistics course (so fun, still makes me think about becoming a linguist), seeing it happen is pretty cool.

- JJ prefers to play "ootside" every day. Yeah! Except, when it is rainy and cold, we have an extreme case of cabin fever. Boo!

- Very interested (borderline obsessed), in all vehicles - especially "dumpie" trucks - robots, rockets, monsters, dragons and dinosaurs (which are apparently interchangeable, probably becasue they all say "RAWR!"), and duplos - because who doesn't like to build stuff?

- Also very into dental hygiene. We brush 4-5 times per day.

Me and Bun:
- Today makes week 34. Six weeks to go. Oy, this is happening fast.

- I am carrying Bun completely different from JJ. I feel like I have someone's feet in my esophagus, I swear this fetus is 27 inches long already. And because of placental-placement, I can feel Bun move so much more than JJ, it's weird and wonderful at the same time.

- I went to Cleveland last weekend to visit my best friends :) Sat night was my first time away from JJ over night. He was totally unfazed, perhaps it was because J let him eat junk food all weekend. I played a viola for the first time in a decade (?) maybe more? Allison was amazed that I could remember the first 8 notes for Twinkle, Twinkle... I am amazed that she let me hold her beautiful new violin.

the a-team
in front of the world's grooviest grass-cloth wallpaper

- Guess who is chairing the Bicentennial Gala Ball for my city in 2012? I'm already planning my outfit... Squeee!

The House:
- We recently paid off the very large loan we took out in Nov. to cover the foundation work we had done. J headed down to the crawl space the other week and looked around...the other walls are moving. Awesome. The good news is this fix will be much less expensive and invasive (power-braces instead of piers), and we really like the company that we are working with. The bad news is - who really wants to spend $8K because 200 years ago some crazy farmers decided to build a city on a swamp?

breaking news!

"A palm tree were purloined from a porch at 132½ N. Main St. recently."

From my favorite news source; I included the grammar mistake for your enjoyment.

Real Life

In my dreams, I craft in a space like this:

Heather Bailey's craft room, found here

In real life, it's more like this:

please send help

Yup. That's my kitchen island.
On a good day - I actually wiped the peanut butter up before laying out my fabric. (score!)

Oh well, in my mind I'm crafting with Martha in a beautiful craft room. With all of the supplies I could ever need, and no interruptions :)

Get Ready!

Get ready lovely followers! I feel a marathon blogging session coming on tonight...

I have to wait until Peanut is safely tucked in bed, but after that expect some updates on the happenings around my little house.

:)

On Breakfast Foods and Meal Planning

Tonight was low-key. Hubs had his last bowling night of the season (thank you!), and Peanut and I spent the day hosting a little egg-dyeing party. We were pretty tired.

Around 4:30 I decided that we would just have bowls of cereal and fruit for dinner. And I decided that if I didn't have a cup of coffee I would not make it to bedtime.

And then I remembered Amanda posting this nommy little recipe yesterday. So I told Peanut we would also have a little treat with dinner. He may be his father's twin, but he is momma's boy - he excitedly said "Chocolate?!" Yep, little one, chocolate is generally part of momma's treats :)

So we ate.

And then, while catching up on some of my favorite blogs I noticed that Laura planned her entire month of dinners for April. What a fantastically freeing concept!

Instead of dreading meal planning every Monday, I can just do it once and get it done! I can;t believe it never occurred to me before. So simple, but so wonderful.

So tomorrow I think I will focus on planning meals for April, and I'm also going to start planning meals to cook for the freezer so that I'll feel a bit more prepared about the impending arrival of Bun (nine weeks to go!).

Do you have a goal for April 1st?

future aerospace engineer?

Lately we have been all about rockets.

All day long I hear "3,2,1 Blast off!" And then I usually hear "CRASH!!!"

Crashing is fun, don'tyouknow.

I have been trying to teach JJ that it isn't "blastoff," but rather "ignition." See, I totally remember something from Space Camp - Mom and Dad, consider that money well spent :)

And while I was caught up in the vocabulary, JJ was busy building his own rocket:

ahh...duplos!

See the trailer on the back? That is the rocket boosters. After "blastoff" the rocket flies very briefly and then the boosters detach and fall to the ground. We're not sure where he learned that part, but we think it's pretty fabulous.

Thrifting!

On Saturday morning hubs and I dropped Peanut off at a friend's house.

We had a hot date...at a garage sale ;)

Last week when I dropped off my donations for the church rummage sale I spied a ton of furniture. I figured it would be a great place to check for a dresser for Peanut's new room. I wanted something cheap (less than $40) with no particle board. I'd been stalking the local GW, but kept coming up empty handed.

We showed up early and the doors were already open (and it was a madhouse). We kept going down the row of furniture, but nothing caught my eye; I was begining to get discouraged.

And then we saw this:

yep, that's a terrible picture of a beat up dresser

And then I saw this:

sold!

Now it's sitting in my garage ready to be sanded and painted!

I'm linking this up to the Thrifty Treasures party
at Southern Hospitality - come check it out!

be prepared

you never know when a tsunami may hit

Time to Confess

It seems inevitable.

No matter how hard I work at getting rid of clutter and unloved items, there is a constant influx of STUFF coming into my home.

Last week it was freebies (at least no $ headed out) - books, toys, baby hangers, a shelf (I actually found something with potential on my CL!). I can, and will, use everything - but I can't help feeling that as much as I work to de-clutter, the clutter keeps following me.

I really think it's stalking me.

Should I file a restraining order?

How do you control the clutter bug?

how about....

We all get together at the Detroit Zoo sometime in late April/early May?

We had a really nice dinner at Sangria, and AJ mentioned to me that she wants to set up a Zoo day, and I said I was thinking about that too!

Who's interested in a day at the zoo? Would you prefer April or May?

A Little More Cleaning

Installment 2 of the "Throw out 50 Things Challenge."

Check out Episode 1 :)

It's really easy to let go of things when I know they will support a great cause. An upcoming church rummage sale is a great reason for me to get rid of a bunch of extraneous "stuff" I have lying around.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the rummage sale drop off with:
11. cookie jar
12. bag of potpourri
13. a bunch of unloved cook books (hooray for more shelf space!)
14. random, hand-me-down metal stand
15. old TV (from my dorm days)
16. old VCR (also from the dorm)
17. bag of random kids videos (no VCR = no need for VHS tapes)

I threw out:
18. handful of expired medications/toiletries

Listed on CL:
19. old yarn stash (time to realize I can't possibly knit all of it, and it is taking up some major closet space)

On Sat I donated this to my favorite little Cub Scouts' Food Drive:

yep, that's some random food

20. bag of random pantry food (for some reason I always buy Hamburger Helper when it's on sale, even though we NEVER eat it, the same with the microwave popcorn and Cream of Shrimp soup - I should not be allowed in the grocery store while pregnant)

I'm working hard to get up a second list for this week so that I'll finish before the end of the month. I'm thinking that cleaning out the china buffet and hall closet should more than fill 10 more spots. And I have a really fun guest-blogger writing a post about clutter in other cultures. I'm excited for it! I think it'll make you stop and think about future random purchases.

Keep on De-Cluttering, it feels so good!

a reminder

I don't always look like I've been on a 12 year bender.

singing to the birthday boy

J and JJ aren't too shabby, either ;)

A Plan for my Entryway

A month ago I shared my entryway decorating dilemma, I also said I would share my ideas for how to address the space.

But I lied. I never shared my ideas.

Because I was waiting for Amanda's totally cool Show Me The Progress Party. And it's finally here! ( I wish there was cake involved. sigh.)



I got some awesome feedback! Thanks everyone, your comments got me thinking!

Let's start with the Big, Bad, Blank Wall.



There were quite a few votes for turning this space into a photo/kids art gallery. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I have plans to do that in the hallway connected to the entry. Kendall read my mind with her suggestion of the Samantha Collection from PB. My husband is currently building me the shelf (and for a lot less than $229, thankyouverymuch). I think it'll look great and be the perfect place to stash our cell phones and keys, and I know I can find some super cute hooks to add to the bottom.

Unfortunately the bench won't work as there is a register in an awkward spot on the floor :(
What will work is a smaller, open bottom bench. I'm trying to thrift one, and then maybe recover the seat with burlap and a fun number stencil. And maybe some black ball fringe, because that just sounds fun. And I'm going to try to make a small boot tray to stash under the bench, but not block the register. I'm thinking a cheap baking sheet and some spray paint...

Meg read my mind and suggested the umbrella stand project from Little Green Notebook. I loved the idea when I saw it, but never thought I had a good place for it. Now I'm pretty sure it would look excellent next to the skinny window. And it'll be the perfect spot for a monogram.

Let's move to the front door wall. It was a snore-fest.

Big time.



A few suggested I paint the basket, but I paid a lot of money for it back when I though that Longaberger baskets were more important than groceries (I've since moved on to expensive hand bags). So no paint, but I'm happy to report I ditched the wretched silk greenery. I realized I had a little copper tag with our family name that came with the basket, so I attached that to the front. It still looks like it's floating in a sea of nothingness. I do have a few more baskets I can hang next to the door to fill out the wall there. And above the door, I'm planning on adding a wall decal (potentially on a hunk of MDF as we will be painting the walls soon (hopefully)). I was thinking of these cute birdies in all black.

And then there's the floor. I had been thinking of making a very rustic styled (so that it can get dirty and fade, etc) floor cloth from a drop cloth. Amanda also suggested it, so now I'm sold :) I'm thinking a black/white harlequin pattern would look nice.

That's it. My plan, influenced by all of you :) Thanks!

Also, thanks for all of the nice comments on the buffet in my entryway. It's an antique from my great-grandmother's home in Detroit (which, like most of the city, is no longer there). It has some issues, but one day I'll have it restored, I'm pretty attached to it. I also have the matching dining table with a super cool barrel base - Mimi (my great-gram) used to hide her booze and money in it! Isn't that a hoot?!

sometimes...

Sometimes I wake up beautiful.

And sometimes I look like Ozzy Osbourne.

aiojfopjopjpsharonafpp

It's nothing coffee can't fix :)

Have a great day everyone!

Cleaning it out!

Inspired by my good friend Heather (we went to college together!), I'm going to complete the "Throw Out Fifty Things Challenge" for the month of March. Here's a brief summary of the challenge. Heather originally found the idea at Make Under my Life.

Having rooms in transition makes it really easy (and necessary) to get rid of a lot items. Currently, the very large closet in my former office is full of the remnants of a home business I used to run. Since the business is now closed, and a little boy will need space for toys and clothes, everything needs to go! I started the task last week, and was happy with how successful I have been (although there is still a ton of stuff to get rid of!). I also went through my closet, and pulled a few random items from the den.

Here's my list:

1. box of kitchen knick knacks (I listed them on CL twice, with no interest - now they are going to the church rummage sale (next week))
2. giant stack of magazines (freecycled)
3. old business supplies (listed on Ebay and sold for $25)
4. old business inventory (listed on Ebay, the auction isn't over yet, but there are bids - so everything will be leaving!)
5. business samples and a large sample binder (sold on CL for $10)
6. clothing (took it GW)
7. couch from the den (sold on CL for $50 - it was picked up on Sat.)
8. old pet supplies (the guinea pig died in Sept, the Humane Society was thrilled to have a few bags of food and bedding)
9. frog pod, baby bathtub organizer thing (super cool, but we couldn't get it to work at our house :( someone bought it on CL for $10)
10. wine rack (my sister was happy to have this)

This has opened up a lot of space already, and I have $95 in my pocket!

Who wants to join in on the challenge?

heading to the D

I have pics from the birthday extravaganza, and stories of a pregnant lady who spends her time trying to corral an extremely active 2 year old - but those are for another time.

I've got some business to attend to.

I will be in Detroit this weekend! And the best babysitters EVER (AKA Grammy and Papa) have graciously offered their services for Sat night so that I can go out to dinner with my Detroit girls :)

Hooray for Grammy and Papa!

Leave me a comment or send me an email (firstnamelastname@sbcglobal.net) if you'd like to get together and I'll be sure to get you the info. I'm thinking maybe dinner at Sangria in RO? Any other suggestions?

Alternatively if you want to meet during the day Sat or Sun I'm game for that (just know that JJ will be in tow). We want to see our friends!

bits and pieces

I have two big Thank you's! and one reminder to take care of.

I'll start with the thanking :)

Casey at Thrifty Little Blog featured my humble little closet cleanup in her Closet Week wrap-up post. I sent her my link knowing that she wouldn't have room for it, so I was super surprised to see my messy closet on her post. Thank you Casey! I puffy-heart your blog!

Danielle at The Newlywed's Paradise recently gave me a fun blog award! Thanks Danielle!!! I really enjoying reading about what's going on at your home!

cupcakes!

I'm supposed to share ten things that make me happy, so here goes:
1. Hubs and Peanut (and Bun - whose arrival is getting closer and closer!), it just wouldn't be my little house without my little family :)
2. Getting random emails from my friends (but not forwards - blahh forwards!)
3. Waking up to a clean kitchen
4. Waking up to a clean kitchen and then eating donuts!
5. Spring!
6. Finishing a project, and being happy with the results
7. Getting comments on my blog!
8. Getting rid of clutter
9. Pens that write nicely, even if they were free from a hotel
10. Organized spaces

And here's my reminder:

Amanda's "Show Me The Progress Party!" is on Wed!
So get your post together!

This is going to be so fun :)