Bamboo is Bettah!

Before:

 After:

Bamboo is bettah!

(Checkin the clearance rack for bamboo blinds has finally paid off.  I got these for $10 each at Bed Bath and Beyond!  In my size, only 4 left.)

I want twin beds...

After seeing this picture I want twin beds...

...and to basically have this exact room in my house!

credit unknown.

I wonder if Chris would go for it...

*This has always been one of my favorite color combinations!  Navy and fire colors (yellow, orange, red-orange).

The cow has landed...

I think the cow has found a cozy home.
It's not in our dining room....or our study.

It's in our living room.

Check it out...

(it was about a week before i noticed, my cow skin is accompanied by a cow painting)

Before cow:

(I love this kilim rug in here, but cow needed a good home.  

this rug is now in my dining room!  I'll post pics of that soon.)

After cow:

Thanks for checkin in!

What lies beneath...

Started scraping the paint off the ceiling of our front porch...because it was basically falling off on it's own...

And I discovered, that beneath this chipping paint lies awesomeness...

I had to call in for back-up.

(Which involved Chris making an emergency run to Lowe's for legit paint scrapers)

I mean, really, I'm basically in love with the thought of our hole porch ceiling look like this... 

(minus the leftover grey paint, of course)

Roughly three hours of labor and we're only this far...

Feel free to send encouraging postcards, letters, or presents...because it's gonna be a LONG hard journcy scraping this whole thing...but it WILL be worth it!

Check back...in four months...for the results!

This Funky Junky

BeiBei spent the weekend at my sister's house, while we were in New Orleans for a wedding.
She blogged about the weekend, here.  She is has a great blog called "This Funky Junky".  Read it!

Fixin' Up the Fixer Upper...

We've FINALLY been getting some real, professional, non-DIY work to our house this week.

We needed some fixin' on the brick on our house and had some rotten wood to replace.

So I left for work on Tuesday morning, and returned to this...

Wow.

Day 2 was about the same.  

But Day 3 is actually kinda nice...

We added a nifty little door so we can store things under the house.

The good news is...now that all the rotten wood has been replaced...we can paint our house!!!

The bad news is...we have to scrape the old paint off first....

by ourselves...

like with scrapers...

:(.

But I'm not going to think about that.  Instead I'm dreaming of what it will look like when it's done.  

A.

(lighter top, darker bottom)

or 

B.

(darker top, lighter bottom)

I'll remind you...the house currently looks something like this...

Except all my plants are dead.

...as a doornail.

Which one do you like best?

A, B, or something different altogether????

Come on....chirp up.  We need a little help.

We're going for awesome resale curb appeal, so you're opinion counts!

Decorating a Room from Scratch: Part 3

Some things are starting to come together since I left D.C.
( see Part 1 )
( see Part 2 )

The pair of chairs were delivered...

The sofa came in, and it looks great flanked by the lamps we found!

The pie safe I found in Birmingham was delivered and will be great in her dining room!

 I love this mirror over the fireplace.  It's a little tall...but I think it looks cool overlapping the trim.

Still gotta get rid of that painful light fixture.  That big armoire has now been sold via Craigslist...yay!

New paint color.  The doors will be painted the color of the mantle.

We are still waiting on...

The rug to come in

Removing the light in the middle of the room

draperies & pillows

bamboo blinds

ottomans

tv console

dining area table, chairs, buffet server, chandelier

art & accessories!

These are the fabrics...

(sofa, chairs, drapery, ottomans, pillows)

I put together this image to help myself visualize how it will all come together...

Can't wait to see as it continues to unfold...

Thanks for checkin' in!

Bei is growing up!

And now, 9 months old....just about full grown!

 She's about 55 lbs.  

I love her a little too much.