The Great Outdoors

we've worked really hard on the outside of our house to realize very small changes.  again, the house was virtually untouched since 1973, and it sat vacant for over a year.  everything structurally on this house is really nice.  the roof is some kind of 50 year "lifetime" roof (it's really cool), the ac is a huge really nice new unit, there's a new furnace and hot water heater.

and little things like these garage doors.  they're really super insulated.  everything's nice just not very pretty.  i can do that.  i can do asthetics.  structural things and remodeling are not things we can afford.

on the list of exterior home projects are new lights and painting the brick.   it'll probably be another year before i can decide on a color ;)

so here're the garage doors before:



they're beigeish cream and dirty and old.  i gave them a quick coat of primer and two coats of sherwin-williams-suggested outdoor paint in white.



then jon and i screwed these bad boys on.  one set per door.  home depot just under $13.



now we have that "carriage door" look that was going to cost $2600.  i know.  i priced it before settling on fakies.  they make "window" attachments that go on the top.  we're thinking of saving up for 'em too. they're $100 per door.  still significantly cheaper than new garage doors, but so charming!   it crossed my mind to paint faux windows on top, but i don't want it to look to arts and crafts projecty.



here's the front door when we were having the house inspected.  we quickly removed the storm doors and sold the bench on craigslist.  oh, and we took out that obnoxious bush plant thing there to the left.




and this is the front door now!  again, purchasing pretty new doors would be cool, but painted old doors are going down as "charming" once again.  the color is ben moore's "wyeth blue" though most people think they're green.

i should also note that a family of mice has taken up residence in the hay bails.  jon has set about to evict them since they don't pay rent.  so far he's caught one innocent little baby mouse in a horrific trap.  such a sad way to go.

also of note, all those big pumpkins are from our garden!

Bookshelvage

it's been a while since we've looked around the house.  hey!   let's check out the book shelves today!  woooooo!

after rearranging about 100 times and buying stuff and taking it all back...i decided to arrange the books by color.  hahaha.  they look really happy.

we realized that we had very few books left after so many moves and so many clearing outs.  oh well.  someday the couch will no longer be pink.  i'm just giving the boys ample time to fully trash the fabric, then we'll do something new.  also, my FAVORITE-RUG-IN-THE-ENTIRE-WORLD finally came back in stock at ikea.  maybe if i can nail down a couple of photo shoots it will be mine :)  it'd look darling back here.

jk. i just checked and it's already sold out again.  moving on.



i don't know, maybe this is a super boring post of every one of my bookshelf shelves.  cue the elevator music.





art supplies



antique glasses from my grandmother.



our peter pan pop up book



milk glass









kitschy snow globe collection



our sand from all the beaches we've been to





my favorite children's book





there you go.  happy little colorful shelves!

Chandelier Makeover

it's a beautiful thing to pull out a pan of PW's maple rolls on a chilly saturday morning and warm them in the oven.  add to that the beauty of a quick pan of homemade hot chocolate, and you're starting the day off right.



i added a dash of peppermint to mine.  delightful.



you may have seen this chandelier lurking in various rooms of our house.  in the settling process, my dear husband has now moved it 3 times.  sorry honey...



the chandelier came with the house and it was darling.  it was just dated.  i've toyed with painting it everything from yellow, to hot pink to lagoon blue, but when it came down to it i went white and i'm so glad i did.



it took about 3 cans of my favorite spray paint (@ home depot).



home depot also stocks a varied collection of ceiling medalions.  this 28" one was only $12.48.  yes, you read that right.  say it slowly: tweeelllvvvee dooolllaarrrrsss.  and it's HUGE.  these things can get super expensive.  it's not flimsy.  i don't know what to tell ya.



it's silver now with this leftover spray paint from the console:





i put in very little effort, and did a pathetic job "antiquing" it and making it less one dimensional by blotting this mettalic glaze (also home depot) into the cracks and crevices.  i should have tried harder.  i just wasn't feeling it, but it still looks ok.



it looks so ethereal.



mmmmkay.  it did look good as is, but i found these (you guessed it - home depot. only this time online) they're these super cool thick paper covers for chandeliers.





simply unscrew the light bulb...



remove the existing cover...



cut the new cover to length...



and twist them into place.  i love the art deco look.

Framed Calendar

here was our master bedroom when we first walked into our house.



it's making improvements, but there's still a bit of oomph factor missing.  i'm a perpetual furniture mover a rounder.  i just can't make it all land in the right spot.  for some reason i just don't feel like things are making sense in this house yet.  maybe it's all the children ;)  oh well.  it's fun to rearrange, and rearranging what you already own is free.



the wall behind the tv (which is leaving the bedroom now) was blank.



the table was naked (!).



i bought this calendar by cavellini & co almost 2 years ago for 1/2 off.  i've been meaning to frame it, but never got around to buying frames.  9-12 frames add up.  the calendar pages are printed on linen paper, and they're so big and heavy and pretty.



see all the different months.  lovely.



i picked out 6



i ended up settling for these frames from walmart for $5 each.  they'd be super cute sprayed a color too! maybe gold? for the bedroom i kept them dark wood.



well, i bought 6 frames, but the wall really needs 8.  i'll have to go spend $10 more :)



super cute huh?



here's the angle from the bathroom.





ya gotta burn your candles.  you can always get more.  candles are so moody and pretty...



the table was put together from scraps i've had around.  it's an extra curtain hot glues around the table and layered on top with 3 squares or scrap.



leftover from the euro shams and stuff.





the only thing left to do...



is to get  jon's "office" into rowan's old nursery.



bye bye printer!!!