Dog for Sale (cheap)

I'm pretty sure for the amount of money it has cost to have Rocky as part of our family for the past 6 months, we could have taken a nice family vacation to Hawaii. He's been busy adding to his tab lately - a ruined {relatively new} comforter (apparently they are not tested for ruggedness by having a dog try to bury his bone in a bed), digging in the backyard to try to get into his girlfriend's yard, various toys, etc. But, his real favorite treat these days are shoe liners. He is especially fond of Ella's shoes. I think she has one pair left. 

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Hello Spring

After last week's snow storm, we had a little taste of spring this weekend. We had to split up to cover all the games this weekend.  It was a bit windy, but at least the grass is starting to get green. We squeezed in a few workouts of our own too. My legs are very tired after 4 days of barre class in a row. But, I am hoping it pays off when I visit Jessica and try to keep up with her in class. Our neighbor graduated from a nutrition institute this week so we prepared a special bouquet for the occasion.  We had a fun night toasting to her success while the kids had an equally fun time playing with a babysitter.  And so another week begins. Ella tried to pack all her pants away for the summer.  Since, we  are expecting snow again Monday & Tuesday, I think her efforts might be just a little premature.
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Chinese New Year

The cleanse ladies said when you clean up your diet, you can feel the urge to clean up your surroundings too.

photo by Greta

The kids & I have been on a power purge recently (Nick did a big clothing purge when we moved out AND when we moved in).  Despite the fact that we have only lived in this house 6 months and did a massive purge before and after the move, I still found a huge lawn garbage bag of trash, a huge pile of recyclables, four overflowing laundry hampers of items to donate and oodles of missing socks in the kids rooms. Where does this stuff come from?

Today was donation pick up day.  It always feels good to move things along to a new home, doesn't it? 

I also recently redeemed my groupon Junk King purchase for a pick up of a few items that didn't survive the move. Photo not available but imagine a 7 foot tall armoire in 16 pieces sitting in the garage.

The Chinese New Year's Day is February 10, 2013. I was very happy to learn that you should purge your home before the new year rid your home of those items that block good feng shui.  For once, I am ahead of the game.

I'm thinking of three other corners of the house to tackle before Sunday. The thought of having a clean sparkling home to start the "new year" sounds amazing (especially since I did not get this done before the start of the traditional new year).

Bring on a great year!

Greta's Room

This is Greta's room before we moved in. The pictures were so deceiving. I thought the room looked  dark & tiny. Thank goodness this house was the same floor plan of another house we liked in the neighborhood (the other house was taken off the market). Otherwise, Nick may not have walked through.

Greta is greatly disappointed in her room. Not enough purple. She blames the painters {not Dad} for forgetting to paint the other walls. She picked Hazy Lilac by Benjamin Moore. Another great color/tone. If you want purple walls, this is a good color. I think the room could have handled at least one more purple wall without looking too much like a grape.

I'm thinking of other ways to add some more purple to her walls. She made the butterfly canvas & crayon art in Albuquerque. Her room in ABQ was smaller, I think she could use some bigger pieces on her walls now. 

With the exception of her new pink pig trashcan, Greta's room is a collection of hand-me-down pieces. I had the bookshelf painted white (instead of sea green) before we left. Now that I see her room, I could have  picked a darker color with more contrast. Oh well, who knows what her next color crush will be.

Charlie's Room

It's been a busy week - let's see what photos I can find on my camera.

Charlie's room is mostly done. I still need to print some photos for his empty frames and hang some hooks for his hats. 

Charlie selected Million Dollar Red by Benjamin Moore. I think this room could have handled another red wall. The painting was all done when the house was empty, with old carpet & before we move to Colorado. It's hard to gauge the color in a room via facetime. But, Charlie seems very happy in his room. 

This black beauty was my favorite find in New Mexico. We hit Goodwill before we left town & picked up this piece for $15.  A coat of paint later, Charlie has a stylin' toy storage center.

First Look: Ella's Room

BEFORE:

Since we never painted the kids rooms as promised in Albuquerque, it was a top priority with this house. Ella & Greta both moved into rooms occupied by teenage girls. They thought these rooms were pretty fancy! But, both girls ultimately decided to pick different paint colors.

MID-REDECORATE

Ella choose Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. It is a beautiful color, but had we painted the whole room navy, she would have been living in a black box! We picked one accent wall & the other walls are painted Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.
Since we regained a guest room, Ella needed a new bed (thank you Ikea). The bedspread was a steal from West Elm (her selection) & she found the splash of orange lamp from Target.

A display case for trophies & treasures came from a piece we previously had in the dining room. 

I bought this dresser when I had my first apartment. We used it as a changing table for all the kids. A fresh paint of turquoise paint & four "new" hand painted knobs from Aunt Jessie's new house & we were in business! A BIG thank you to my Mom for her help in emptying all the boxes & organizing Ella's room.
Phase two will include curtains, hanging photos & adding the finishing touches. But, luckily Ella is already very happy in her new space (bare walls and all).

Chip it!

I've been trying to think of new paint colors for the house. Sherwin-Williams has a fun new application that will create color palettes from a photograph on the web. I installed the chip-it block following THIS LINK. I dragged the icon onto my toolbar. When I click on the icon a cursor comes up. I hover over a photo on the web, click & a color palette appears.  Pretty cool.

Wall Art

One of my yet-to-be-memorialized New Year Resolutions was to devote one month to completing those nagging projects in each room. It hasn't worked out the way I thought it would because sometimes it isn't realistic to work room-by-room. But, in the last week, we've focused on "hanging projects." I've wanted to expand my front room photo collection to include about 10 frames I collected. I spent nearly a year searching for a large letter "P" to hang within the photos. I could never find the right size/texture/color combination. Finally, about a month ago, I called a store in San Francisco known for their vintage signs and letters. They had the perfect metal "P." They emailed me a picture & helped me do some other remote shopping to fulfill their minimum mail order. Mother's Day weekend, Nick helped me hang the P & the remaining pictures. I love the look. Now, I just need to order the few remaining photos!

I love this combination at the end of the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. The "O" and "V" are from Timeless Treasures and were larger than I expected. I'll keep searching for a larger "L" and "E" for this display (these are inexpensive finds from Urban Outfitters). I'm hoping to plan a trip to San Francisco in the next year & will definitely visit the store.

I collected a few other letters in my search. This $10 P from Urban Outfitters was too small for the front room, but looks great in the entryway from the garage. The key hook is a $2 find from the Sundance Outlet.

Ella's Room

Ella's room has been very messy lately. Books, clothes, toys are everywhere. It drives me crazy that her room always looks so cluttered. If it gets cleaned, it is a matters of hours before the twins & Ella make a mess again. She is so good about clean up at school but complains that she doesn't have space for anything at home. So, in anticipation of her resolution, we got to work:

(and this really isn't that bad)

It was very cute that Charlie & Greta wanted to help. They grabbed dust cloths & wiped down the walls.

Ella has been in her bed long enough that we aren't concerned about her falling out of bed, so we were able to move her bed away from the wall. I finally conceded that it was time to take some of the furniture out of her room. We transferred some board books to the twins, packed up some old toys, threw away the junk she had accumulated & found a home for everything. She was very proud of her no-cost makeover:

When Nick got home, she showed him where everything goes. I was so happy that she actually paid attention! She told me her stuffed animal area looked a little messy still, but that she was OK with that. It's been 2 days & she's done a great job of picking up clothes & toys each night. It's tough being the big sister of twin toddlers - they are the most frequent reason that her room gets messy.

Master Bedroom Remodel

We didn't take before bedroom photos. This is a photo we happened to have. At least you can see the white walls!















The back wall is Spanish Red. The other walls are a tan (Pismo Dunes).

Master Bath Before

View from the bedroom. The carpet, closet (on left), door to the bathroom, cabinet (right) and lights were replaced.















View into shower (from toilet). The sofet in the shower was removed & a vent was moved to make the shower larger.














View from bedroom of closet in bath (And a peek at the colors we were contemplating in the master bedroom).

Master Bath After

The After photos don't do the bathroom justice. The shower is larger and taller than our old one. We love the tile on the walls and floor.















The wall cabinets were made by Arendal. They make such better use of the space than the old closet.






















You can see the new glass block windows and light fixtures. We raised the cabinet height and used Mexican Noche travertine on the floor and counter.















View from Bedroom. The old door was replaced with a pocket door to give us more room. The colors are the same as the bedroom. Pismo Dunes and Spanish Red.



















View from shower/toilet area

HALL BATH REMODEL

BEFORE














The decision to remodel the hall bath occured while we were at work, so there are no formal "before" shots. These were taken when the prior owner was trying to sell the house. So, you conveniently cannot see the carpet, 1970's dungeon-like lights, interesting fabric flanking the shower and the old wall on the tub.

AFTER












The walls are the same color as the master bath (Benjamin Moore, Pismo Dunes). The counter, fixtures & lights are new.





















The floor & shower wall is torreon travertine.