home.

we have kicked it into overdrive trying to get our little home ready for 2012's guest of honor.

as i mentioned before, we started the party by fumigating while we were on our baby moon.

since then, we replaced the red roof with a grey shingle -i know a guy who got us a good deal :)- that makes the house look less 1930's and a tad more bungalow.

we drywalled the weird opening that was from the kitchen to the living room. this closed up the kitchen/living room entrance, and made it possible for us to give the little girl her very own room. we ordered interior french doors for the wider opening... and so far- it looks adorable.

we also planted sod in the backyard- so by the time i am able to drink wine again our backyard will be less of huntley's dig den and more of a family place.

we sold the couch of scotty's vengeance- the lounge couch that i purchased from crate and barrel one year ago- and got an L shaped couch for our new living room... the front entry :)

AND this week the house was painted!! i cant even stand it. the house we have wanted since buying our little project over a year ago is so close... we couldn't be happier.

other than that- I AM SO LAZY. the definition of sloth i am.

i am thankful to have a pretty large, healthy baby in my belly that COULD join us at any moment- but i would also be thankful for another week to get the home in tip top shape. i keep hearing about this sudden burst of insane energy one gets a few days prior to popping- well, i need it... so bring it on.

here are a few snippets of our progress in the little girlies room. ligit pics to come.

daddy and uncle adam painting the room for little one. (scotty picked out the color. he's a cute guy).

the only complete-ish corner of her room. LOVE the colors and the chevron.

i love this little mobile that she will be looking up at... its heaven.

she has a little shoe collection going. makes me so happy.

i feel so lucky to have this life. it is so good. and about to get better. holy moly.

baby girls room.

i am having such a hard time finding nursery inspiration... so here are some snippets of things i have found and saved on my desktop. i am new to photoshop. pardon me.

updates...

south beach day 8?

well... i am down 5.6 lbs. ill take it. i drink a lot of water, and eat a lot of eggs. and i miss PG. unfortunately i told everyone in my "pod" at work that i was not eating carbs or sugar for two weeks so i was unable to sneak some oatmeal past them this morning... i think one week no carbs and no sugar is ENOUGH already. only- i cant cheat at work, and i cant cheat at home... and i would feel really bad about myself if i snuck whole wheat toast while in my car in the dark... so i guess i will just stick with it.

also- we finally got some chairs for the little front room of our little house:

please ignore the surfboards, snowboard, and huge fake tree. when you move in with a lover, you have to allow their prized possessions too :)

(this is why i need a garage)...

now we have plenty of room to put scottys favorite coffee table... and one day, this will be the living room...

i also started our little frame wall that i talked about a while ago. definitely not perfect but WAY better than sad blank walls...

and this is what happens when you leave a puppy home alone with a huge box full of bones and toys. she goes for the toilet paper. duh.

the end.

front of the house.

my kind and beautiful and generous mother and father offered to get us an outdoor swing for the north (right) side of the front of our house. growing up, my grandparents had a porch swing and i have many great memories on it.

as you can see... it is lacking... well, something, everything. it is plain u-g-l-y.

but since our house is 15 feet wide i am thinking more of a porch chair swing.

here is my research thus far:

1. pier one- $269 + $169 for the stand:

2. two's company hanging rattan chair- $369

3. plastic rattan by vivah? $475

and now we are entering in to pipe dream territory:

4. urban balance outdoor hanging chair- $1499

5. hanging chair from opulent items- $if you have to ask you cant afford it:

but i really thing that at the end of my search, i like #1 and #2 best... thanks mom and dad! you are truly the greatest!

shutter inspiration/sickness.

i am obsessed with the idea of turquoise trim/shutters/doors/something. the shutters come on friday and they gots to be painted before they get hung so i need to act fast.

now i just have to talk the husband in to it.

i think turquoise shutters are my destiny because this is where we were staying when we closed on our little house:

hello turquoise soulmate shutters. nice to meet you.

picture taken by me on our lovely and amazing honeymoon.

the ballots have been counted!

well... the votes (vote) have been counted and the decision has been made. it was a 2:1 victory. my blogger feedback of ONE was the deciding vote! (ha ha) thank you soulmate!

results:

brown and beige: annie, elysia

blue and beige: scotty

woo hoo! brown and beige it is:

so on my lunchbreak i simply sewed the four ends- measured the fabric 8' x 3' and got some clip on grommets. i thinks it cute. cute enough. they cost me $35 people. they are fine.

quicky sort-of side note: clip on grommet hooks or whatever you want to call them are rad. i could hang a beach towel and they would look like curtains. i am getting more. clip on grommets for us all.

oh, and i had fabric leftover to make a quicky little pillow:

diy curtains

so the fabric came! yay! i wasnt sure if the dark brown would be "too much" but i am leaning towards it. husband likes the blue better. i respect his opinion very much and want him to be happy in our home. but... i still think i know what is best. my four blog readers, what do you think? i want to make them tomorrow- using the tutorial found here....

(please excuse the pics- i literally just threw the fabric over the rod).

side by side view...?

im torn. i dont want to be obnoxious. but i am obnoxious...

at least i am attempting to attempt this

i bit the bullet... and after an embarrassing amount of time blogging about again and again and looking for chevron print curtain panels or rugs or anything striped... i just bought the fabric and will make curtain panels myself. the fact that i had told myself for the last two months that it would be SOOOOOOOooooOOOOOooooOOOoo expensive to buy the fabric at joanns and i would have to just accept it and spend $100 per panel.... it turns out it costs nothing to buy. and they ship within 48 hours. and its also on sale.

and it will also make me feel good to make my own. and im not even sure that i want chevron print curtain panels. so, since i am incapable of making decisions. i bit a cheap bullet and bought 3 yards each of these two fabrics...

thoughts? i want to like the brown and cream one. but i think our tiny little house would most benefit from a softer shade...

oh who the heck even knows anymore...

another good weekend. another good week.

so why the heck am i am so dang tired?

almost done with the guest bathroom... i came two seconds away from taking my FIRST bath in it last night (what the heck is taking me so long...?) but my severe sunburn prevented me.

here is the bathroom:

courtney and mikey came to palm desert from olympia for the week... so we trekked over for the weeked. huntley was so good in the car... and the whole weekend really...

we ate a LOT. layed out by the pool. got sunburned. played with huntley in the pool and with the hose. went to bruch. oh, and i got an iphone app that turns your face fat. we had wayyyy too much fun with it.

bahahahahahaha.

kickball game tonight. bridal shower this weekend. sea world on sunday. life is sweet.

weekend passed/past.

its official. work gives me the sunday blues/monday morning jitters. even though i like my job... i like not having a countdown in my head starting sunday around noon.

this weekend was great, though. it felt like winter. on friday at least.

i got a good bang trim:

i made progress on the bathroom-

thursday:

now:

it was fun. the color turned out almost as cute as i expected. i got the picture frame shelves from ikea. and i have enough frames and knick knacks to keep the shelves busy and rotated for a long long time. now all i need to do is:

-finish the trim (not pictured) and the worlds most annoying thing.

-find a rug to tie everything together

-get a cute mirror for above the toilet. id love something driftwood like, or shells. even though the mirror above the sink is sea shells... so maybe not.

-hang the wooden blinds that i also purchased this weekend to cover the scary window.

baby steps towards the goal:

exterior- the fence is almost done being stained. it is weather permitting so it had to be put off this weekend. picked up these cute little lanterns for the front posts. i need to get bigger (heavier) candles and some more shells to add to the base for weight, and of course, beauty. next up- string of pearls collection.

bathroom inspiration.

as of yesterday, our guest bathroom was grey, and reminded my mother of a mental institution. so i painted it last night. inspiration below. lets see if i can pull this off...

home. over it.

husband and i were talking on our drive up to santa barbara last weekend about how basically... we are over the house... and we wish it had already been two years so we could avoid taxes and just sell the bitch... too bad we have one year, seven months, seventeen days, and 21 hours left to go.

anywho- fence. we tore down the (rotted) picket fence that came with the house. see below.

we built a semi-contemporary redwood fence. and by we, i mean scott. last monday, i white washed it with a semi-transparent stain that in my head looked amazing but in reality** looks like this:

**as scotty pointed out: the reality is that the fence really does match what we want the house to BE- just not what it is IS. very deep stuff going on with scott and i.

i will remedy this "situation" by doing the following.

1. on each brick post sits a terra cotta pot with some sort of death defying plant in it that "came with the house". we will replace these plants with "string of pearls" succulents. if we buy them old enough we can get them to hang up to three feet, draping over the brick... like this...

hopefully it will give it a more contemporary, beachy, boho feel.

2. shutters- thanks to coastal living i have finally discovered what type of shutters to go with. this picture is my full blown wet dream of the vibe i am going for. and i think i manifested it when i painted our door tiffany blue a few months ago...

so some rustic, earthy pots (most of the terra cotta pots are super weathered and perfect)... some draping succulents, some bright shutters.... and a grey roof.... we should be close.

3. i just ordered this from crate and barrel. i think it will also help convey that I AM REALLY TRYING TO MAKE THIS DUMPY ASS 15 FOOT WIDE RED AND WHITE NASTY HOUSE LOOK CUTE AND BEACHY!

jobby job makes me want to shoppy shop.

oy, i have been blogging a lot. my job is either so busy my head is spinning... or so dead i have nothing better to do but write to myself. the new house helps too. lots of house websites out there. lots of things to blog about. and then either do, or buy:

1. shutters. we ripped off the disgusting plastic BURNT RED shutters that came with the house. as well as the dollhouse trim around the door. now we must replace it with new shutters and new trim= preferably the same color so that i can sleep at night. order shutter, simple enough? no, it isnt. there are ten varieties. which most says "i am the fake siding to windows on a contemporary beach bungalow"???

2. rug. our living room needs love. it is sad. we are hopefully going to get our amazing artist friend to paint us something for the HUGE blank wall. but we also need a rug. to really finish the room off. i like these: (husband, what do YOU think?) something striped... image from target.

3. i am seriously considering a painted ceiling for the living room too. is that stupid?? i think with the wood beams, and the doorways with the trim... it would really "pop". i am 90. maybe a blue/green/sage/grey color...??? thoughts, audra and annie. hahahah.