This Week's Projects

Yes, I know I am giving birth next week (hopefully), but there are still so many things that I want to accomplish before she gets here. None of these are vital to the survival of the baby but they would all make me feel more ready. Plus, when I don't work on a project at night, I don't sleep. The nights that I decide to sit around and relax, I end up sitting around and relaxing all night with my eyes open for hours. Not worth it! Since the laundry room is completed with the exception of a few pieces of trim (E's project) and a cushion that my mom is going to make when she gets here, I needed a new project.

So here are the projects I want to finish this week:

1.) My poor neglected coffee table. Luckily E bought me a new sander this weekend so progress is moving alot faster. But the 25 layers of clear coats are super stubborn so I finally finished sanding the top, about half of the side, and 2 of the legs this weekend. Hopefully, by the end of this week, the table will be ready for a coat of dark walnut stain.

2.) Pickup the new glider from the store and put it together. They called yesterday and to let us know it was in.

3.)Finish painting the Living Room/Dining Room and the Hallway (yes...I did start the hallway...I was bored)

4.)Rearrange the Living Room and the Dining Room.

5.) And this project is for my mom to help me finish when she gets here but I already finished my part. This is an old door that we pulled out of the house and has been sitting in our garage for 2 years now. So I decided to use it as a headboard for our bed. I filled all of the holes and put 2 coats of paint on it already. This is the before picture and I can't wait to show you the after picture.

Progress

I feel like such a slacker this week since I don't feel like I have posted anything at all. Most of this slackerness comes from the fact that I got that computer virus going around on my machine here at work so I am working from a lab computer. Good Times!! So as a quick update, I thought I would show the progress being made on my house.

First, E was able to finished the laundry closet this weekend. So we (nevermind, not we, but E and a friend from work) finally got the washer and dryer stacked and into the closet this weekend so guess what I did all day Saturday? You guessed it ... LAUNDRY!!! Since the washer and dryer had been unhooked for so long, laundry had seriously piled up. Here are a few pictures.

Since the nursery is as finished as it can get for the time being (awaiting family to bring the rest of the stuff we couldn't fit in our car on the way home from the Christmas), I needed a new project. I have this mindset that at some point I am going to be too miserable to help around the house so I am working hard until that day comes...if that day comes. So I started painting the living room last night. Here is the color...yes, I really loved the green but after 2 years of the green, I was ready for a change. Plus, I saw this color in my sister's house and fell in love with it so don't think for a second that this was an original idea! I decided this over Christmas break so I was able to collect all of my new accessories and pillows and dishes at home with all of the nice stores that were having nice sales after the holidays! Hold on..accessory colors are orange and yellow! You will see...it will all come together and be AWESOME!!

My new dining room chandelier from CB2 came in the mail yesterday. I am excited about this...Look at my old contractor grade chandelier and you will find out why I am so excited about the new addition. We have had a rule at our house that we will not change any of the bulbs in the old light. So if all the bulbs go out, then the time has come to get a new one. We got the new one just in time...there are only three bulbs left.

And last but not least, the baby's new playyard came in the mail yesterday too. Small story behind this...Me and E have been saving our change for about a year now. I saw at the local grocery store that they had a coin star. I had used these in the past and enjoyed the fact that I got cash and didn't have to count all of that change even if I lost 10% of the money as a service fee. Now, you can buy a gift certificate to a few vendors and you get to keep the extra 10%. So I started thinking and researching. Since Amazon is one of the vendors, I checked Amazon's baby stuff to see if there was anything I could use. HECK YEAH!! They have alot of stuff! So I got an Amazon gift certificate and was able to pay for playyard and a few other small things for the baby. I was pumped...it was like all of that stuff was free because I never think about how much change I have. So here is the new playyard.

Next week, E is taking a few days off of work to work on the house with his pop, who is coming into town for a few days to help out! We are very thankful for this!! So I hopt to have more pictures for you next week!

Renovations and Nursery Finishes

I am trying hard to use things I already have or find things really cheap to outfit the nursery. However, the other night, E dragged me out to Hobby Lobby and I ended up finding this fabric and fell in love with it. Turns out, that it matches the crib bedding perfectly and softens the polka dots a little bit. Here is a picture of the 2 new peices of fabric with the bedding in the background.

I spent Saturday sanding and painting the baby's crib (not finished yet), I finished the dresser for the nursery and E put the hardware on for me...

and I got a chance to start using some of that new fabric when I repainted this chair...

and turned it into this chair.

I am so pleased with how it turned out. I have to touch up one or 2 places where I scuffed it up when I brought it into the house.

E worked hard this weekend too and had to make new door frames for the laundry room. He worked so hard trying to get everything measured and cut right. And we finally have a door up. Whoo Hoo!!

Our Day Off

Well, work was called off on Tuesday in preparation for the storm so we made a day of it and made iced coffee (from Smitten Kitchen) and Whole Wheat Apple Muffins (also from Smitten Kitchen). Mmmm. I decided it was time to get to work on some of my goals to complete before the baby arrives. I only have 174 days till the arrival and those days are flying by oh so fast!

So the Bathroom/Living Room Closet (I know that doesn't make sense and I completely agree...why does the bathroom closet open up into the Living Room?) really needed to be cleaned out. In fact, it still had boxes in the bottom left over from when we first moved into the house over a year ago. Shame on me! So here are my before and afters of the closet...

BEFORE

AFTER

Then we made some spinach quiche and spinach dip and cleaned out the medicine cabinet and went throught the hurricane supplies. What a long day. I was exhausted.

E worked on the house some until his headache took over. He laid down for a little while and didn't wake up for 7 hours. Once he got up and starting functioning again, we wanted to walk Maggie while the weather was still mild and then watched 3 Days of the Condor. (E is on a kick where he only wants to watch old spy movies right now... I would object but they all turn out good...Marathon Man, the Lives of Others...I guess it's better than watching Harold and Kumar right?)

Oh yeah...did I tell you that me and E tried to stack the Washer and Dryer?? Even though I asked him to find someone else to take my place he was positive I could help him and we could do it easily...well,...we dropped it...It still works but whistles now.

Shabby Chic

So Friday was my last "Friday off" until next summer (or until the baby comes) so I treated myself to some discount furniture shopping. My mother and grandmother would be proud!!!

I hit this crappy furniture place I have been wanting to visit for months and was finally able to catch them on a day they were open. It was JAM PACKED full of furniture, so much so, that you could only get through one or two of the aisles.

But I did find these 2 pieces that I am looking forward to refinishing and putting in the house.

The first one is a round coffee table. I have had my eye out for one of these for a while. And this one will suffice. It is 100% oak and I plan on sanding it down and staining it a dark walnut color.

This one is a little iron ottoman that I found in the corner. The iron work needs a fresh coat of paint and I will definately be exchanging the ratly old upholstery for something a little more fresh and modern.

**Please pardon the crappy pictures from my garage.