When I planned a girls' weekend road trip to the closest IKEA, I had no idea our day would revolve around food. On Saturday morning, I loaded up with Garan and K and we spent two and a half hours of a rainy drive to Atlanta for our first ever stroll around IKEA. I've heard of it plenty, even ordered the magazine and shopped on-line a few times, but if you are reading any design blogs you know that there is plenty of goodness to be had here on the cheap. The big blue warehouse greeted us right off of the interstate and we were all a little giddy. I was armed with a little bit of cash and a long list of wishes for the newly painted living and dining rooms. Mom & K really wanted to scope out couches and I kind of wanted to do some mattress testing for SD. We started out in the ...
Daredevil
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Graduation
Guess who graduated into big girl seats this morning? I've been meaning to get Ella a booster seat for several weeks and she finally reminded me enough times that I stopped on my way home last night to pick up the big surprise. You would have thought I brought ice cream or something. I was going to wait until Soph's birthday to move her into the Britax, but I figured if I had to unlatch and untether and relatch and retether, I may as well do it all at once. Can you say happy girls? This might have been the easiest morning buckle-up in my parenting history. She looks so tiny to me in this big ole seat Two happy girls, ready for school! Ella screaming about how happy she is and how much she loves her new seat And just in case anybody needs to know, Sophie is in an appropriate ...
Pretty Girl
Now that you've seen my living room, I can show you these beauties! K outdid herself, as usual, on Soph's nine-ish month photoshoot. ...
Singin’ the Blues
To say that I am pleased with the way these two rooms turned out would be a vast understatement. I still find myself sitting around staring at the walls, giddy with excitement. I haven't spent a single dime on anything frivolous for myself or the girls since the first of the year and it's all because I keep thinking of things I want to add here and I'm saving my pennies for a few finishing touches. The "after" is such a dramatic change that Ella comments regularly on the fact that we "live in a different house" and everyone who stops by can't believe its transformation. It is so BRIGHT in here now and I can actually take photographs without a flash. I feel like we've been living in a dungeon for the last six years and we've finally been let out! This is the view when you come in the ...
Progress & Some Inspiration
I had secretly been dreaming of painting our living area a soft blue color, but couldn't imagine what it might look like. I knew we had to keep our rugs since they were fairly new and a bit of an investment. I wasn't sure how to make soft blue work with all of our natural woods and the yellow and orange in the rooms already. Then I saw this picture in Better Homes & Gardens and just knew it would work. The way the natural wood looks with those walls and the patterned rug. Oh and the curtains! I am in love with the bold blue curtains and cannot wait to replicate that look on a budget for my own room. Now I was convinced, but I just knew Josh was going to die when I mentioned painting the rooms. He didn't even bat an eyelash -- he agreed that after six years in this house we needed an ...
The Befores
Does anybody know how long I've been saying that I would share our living and dining room makeovers? It's been exactly 6 weeks since we emptied the rooms and gave them a face lift and I've finally taken pictures of the "afters" this morning. I wanted this to be one of those projects that was complete inside a month, but I quickly realized how silly that was! We are pretty close to being finished, but I have a few more things to pick up and make and the new goal is to have everything done by Sophie's birthday party on April 16th! The photographs below were taken in May of 2009 right after we bought new rugs for the rooms. A few pieces of furniture had been moved since then and I'm sure we bought some accessories, but in general, this is what the rooms looked liked just six weeks ...
Oui Oui
My little bit has a slight love affair with this plastic crinkle cut french fry. It hangs off of her lip like a cigar quite regularly. In fact, two mornings this week I've gone into her room to wake her up and found her sucking on it?! I have no idea how she managed to get to bed with it twice without me knowing it. If her lovey is a plastic french fry, I might cry. ...