Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas décor this year:

We went to a Christmas Tree farm on Thanksgiving and chose a tree to cut down. :-)

 They had fresh garland, too, but it is already drying out. :-/

 More fresh garland on the stair railing. I am probably going to replace this with fake lit garland when it is just too dried out....

 The boys decorate a tree in the play room each year. :-)

 A little "shabby chic" white tree in the family room.

And for some added cuteness, our little turkey on Thanksgiving. ;-)

Announcing the arrival of.....

Baby Tyndale! :-) Born on Sept. 12th (our tenth wedding anniversary) weighing 9 pounds 2 oz. and measuring 21 inches long.

I had a quick labor and wonderful water birth. :-) We are both doing well, although I am still very tired.

                           Nathanael and Teddy are in love with their new brother. :-)

The Guest Suite- Our Most Dramatic "before and after"!

Don't look at these before shots too long- you might be blinded, or have orange nightmares tonight.

 We are not sure what would possess anyone to paint a bedroom in these garish shades of orange, but I guess there is no accounting for taste. ha

 Ahhh....After- so much more relaxing and serene. No more nightmares. Ben had to fill/putty 40+ holes and marks on the wall before priming and finally painting the room.

 A spacious, beautiful room with great features was hiding under all that orange!

I do plan to add more wall décor over time, but for now the room will function just fine.

 The door on the right is the one of two walk in closets in this room. This one is all shelves. The other one has tons of hanging space and another storage area opens behind it. Great for the boxes I haven't
unpacked in here yet. ha

 We did not have to paint the ensuite bathroom, as it was (thankfully) already a neutral tone. I just added the shower curtain, rug and accessories.

The guest suite is all ready for my Mom's visit starting next Saturday! So far baby has stayed in waiting for Grama, but I'm not sure how much longer he will be so patient. ;-)

Baby's Peter Rabbit Nursery :-) before and after

The previous owners used this bedroom next to the master bedroom as a guest room. Before pictures below:

 

After Ben gave the room 2 coats of light blue paint, we replaced the carpet with the same "frieze" style carpet we had installed in the master bedroom.

 I added Beatrix Potter wall stickers to make a border of sorts around the room. We also plan to put in white bead board below the border at a later date. Can't get all our plans done before the new arrival. ;-)

    The built in drawers are very handy, as now we don't need a dresser for the baby.

           And the shelves are very nice for displaying Peter Rabbit collections. ;-)

 The baby's diaper bag is all packed and ready for the birth center when the time comes. In the gift bag is a birthday present for the boys to bring for the baby when they meet him for the first time. :-)

 I just set up the crib today- all by myself with no instructions! This was a proud moment in my life. haha

 I made the bumper pads for Teddy when he was a baby, but the Peter Rabbit sheet is new. One of the few things I've ever bought at Pottery Barn. The BABY blanket was my favorite bed blanket I used with Teddy. It's very soft and just the right size.

                         I added some Peter Rabbit touches to the adjoining bathroom, too.

Now we are all ready and can just wait for the new baby to make his appearance. I'm hoping he waits until just after the 24th when my mom arrives. ;-)

The Kitchen- before and after

The kitchen walls were painted a shade of green that I did not care for at all. It looked sickly to me.

 They are now Diverse Beige (SW) like the rest of the newly painted living areas. Thanks to Ben. ;-)

 I think it's a big improvement!
As far as the rest of the kitchen goes, it was already beautiful and updated when we bought the house. The cabinets are solid maple, and I love the granite counter tops.



 I also love that there are some glass cabinet doors to display some of my teacup and teapot collection. :-)
Since there isn't a pantry in the kitchen, I store all my dry foods in this wall of cabinets. There is plenty of storage space even without a designated pantry. Some of the cupboards are still mostly empty. ha

 Eventually I want to get a little table and chairs for the breakfast space, but I thought for now it would be the perfect place for the baby to swing while I do the dishes, etc. nearby.
I will also add some panels or valances to the windows sometime in the future. But for now, I like them this way. ;-)

Ruffled Romance~The Dining Room (before and after)~

This is how the dining room looked when we moved in:

 Since most of the curtains in the house were not to my taste, I sold them on eBay and made enough money to buy some new ruffled curtains for the dining room. :-) I found them on eBay, too, by the way. ha                       
                         Teddy insisted on being in some of the pictures. ;-)

 


 

You can catch a glimpse of the kitchen in the picture above, but that will be a topic for another post. hehe

                                                       Some of my vintage linens...

Living Room~ Before and (almost) After

We just finished changing the paint in the living room from a drab sort of yellow to Diverse Beige, by Sherwin Williams.

Before: 

 

I really love this color! Even more that the darker version, Utterly Beige, that we used in our bedroom.
I also added some curtains, but I'm not sure this is their permanent home. I think something less patterned might look better in here. They may be moved to the guest room. ;-)
                                                                  After:

 

I've hung this quilt on the wall above this sofa in 3 houses now. :-) I think it is my favorite out of the quilts I've made.

We have plans in mind for this fireplace, but they may have to wait a few months. A quick fix that we are considering is painting the bricks the wall color, so they blend in with the room better. And painting the mantle white. Eventually, Ben wants to cover the bricks with white wood paneling and molding. Over the hearth, too. I am afraid of brick hearths once we have another little one crawling around and learning to walk.

For now, we are much happier with the living room, and can move on to all the other rooms needing some paint attention. ;-)

Odds and Ends

I love the built in storage and shelving in our living room, but the knobs left somewhat to be desired.

They were basket weave which looked more suited to an African safari theme or something. ha Not our style. Even Nathanael didn't approve of them. ;-)

I bought 4 pink glass knobs half price at Hobby Lobby and switched them out.

Yes, I do display my American Girl dolls in the living room. ha I make and sell period doll clothing for the AG dolls, and these are my models. I have Kirsten and Samantha from the days of my youth when I actually played with dolls. ;-) However, I still love these dolls so much that Ben gave me a Rebecca doll for Christmas year before last. I need to change them into some of the clothes I made, but haven't had time lately.....

                                          This was our 4th of July look for the front entry:

The Spring/Summer wreaths were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, so I bought this one for the front door while I was there:

                                         The flowers are made out of a burlap type fabric.

Speaking of burlap, I cut some in strips to make tie backs for the neutral curtains downstairs. More light comes in now, and it looks cuter. ;-)

I had to buy some burlap "ribbon" to use on the last two panels, since I ran out of my left over burlap fabric.

Thought I'd show you a couple more pictures of the downstairs family/rec room. How do you like Priscilla's eyes in this shot? haha

                           The boys always have to pose in a shot or two, as well. hehe
The pool table came with the house, for a small price. The previous owners didn't want to have to move it, and Ben loves pool, so that worked out well. Nathanael and Teddy are learning how to play now, too.