Week Five: A Tour Inside

Last Saturday Dave and I took Dave's grandmother and her best friend on a tour of our new house. Both widows in their 80s, these ladies drive around the South and Southwest volunteering their time and energy to various Christian charities and churches and I am constantly amazed by their energy and faith and we had a great time visiting with them. In any case, as promised, I took a few pictures

Nursery: Quick Midweek Update

I came home today to find a completely painted nursery; what a wonderful midweek pick-me-up! I'm loving how bright and clear the pale aqua is. Now all that's left is to starting loading in the room. Stay tuned!{I should note that I didn't have a surprise visit from the painting fairies. Dave and I decided to bring in the professionals for this paint job given the fact that I'm 32 weeks pregnant

Happy Second Anniversary, Odi et Amo!

{If I could give you each a Sprinkles cupcake, I would!}Today marks the completion of my second year as a blogger. 2010 was definitely an exciting time for this little blog as I saw my readership quadruple over the course of the year and my focus -- and my voice -- shift slowly towards the more personal (but I suppose pregnancy will do that to you).Last year at this time, I featured a roundup of

Nursery: Progress Report

Over the course of the holidays, despite plenty of company and my growing fatigue (and belly!), I did manage to get a good bit done in the nursery. When we last left off, the spare bedroom was essentially our storage room, which meant the first task was clearing it out. After several trips to Goodwill, we managed to empty the room and get cracking. Dave's big task was to remove the light and

The Backyard is (Finally) Finished!

Back in August I posted some pictures showing off some preliminary work we'd done to our backyard. Well, four months later I am thrilled to report that we've finally finished landscaping and that I couldn't be happier with the finished results. While we spent a huge chunk of my 2010 bonus on the yard, both Dave and I believe that we've managed to create a little something out of the ordinary,

Master Bedroom Design: Progress Report

It's been a few months now since I first posted about my plans for our master bedroom, but I promise that I didn't forget about it, despite my baby haze. In fact, real progress has been made towards achieving my initial vision and I'm excited to share the changes the room has undergone in recent weeks.I've swapped out our queen size bed with a larger king. I selected a modern, black version of a

Nursery Design: The Beginning

So I'm over 24 weeks into my pregnancy, which gives me less than 16 weeks (or 3.5 months for those unaccustomed to measuring time in weeks) to decorate Baby Boy Conn's nursery. To give you an idea of what we're starting with, above is a shot of the soon-to-be nursery. I had considered cleaning the room out first before taking a photo, but I thought I'd best be totally honest with you guys. As you

Master Bedroom Design: The Beginning

Now that I've completed (or nearly completed) decorating our family room, I'm turning my attention to our master bedroom. Since any great "after" needs a "before", this is what I'm starting with right now. No, it's not bad -- and I am still very fond of the wall color (Farrow & Ball's Parma Gray, which is really more blue than anything), but it feels...imcomplete and just not as "wow" as I'd like

Family Room: Not Quite Finished Yet, But...

So I lied on Tuesday. I didn't get the family room done this week. But I should've known that. After all, I'll probably never consider the room totally, 100% complete. And I'm still waiting on a few key accessories for the built-ins. But I wanted to get you an update on where I am now. If you'll recall, this is what the room looked like when we moved in last August:After moving from a much

Family Room Preview...Almost There!

The curtains have been hung and the built-ins are almost complete, just a few more finishing touches and I promise I'll be sharing pictures of my (mostly) finished family room later on this week. Stay tuned!{And please forgive the hideous utility boxes in plain view through the window -- the backyard is next on the "to do" list!}

Family Room Preview

I know it's been a month or so since I've posted any of my projects on our house -- but don't worry, I've got some pretty big plans up my sleeve for the great room. As you can see, our family room (which opens out onto the kitchen/breakfast area) is a great two-story behemoth, wildly popular with builders across the country. And I'll admit that it does make for a great first impression. But it's

Quick & Easy Mini-Makeovers

While I'm a huge fan of the monumental DIY projects that many of my fellow bloggers tackle on what seems like a weekly basis, I'll admit that sometimes after a long week at the office I'm just not up for that. Instead, what I'm after is the kind of quick and easy project that gives you a big pay-off for minimal time (and monetary) commitment. If you're anything like me, you don't have each and

Best laundry room ever....

After a weekend hassling around with our old washer and dryer (which now manage to get unbalanced anytime I try to wash or dry more than a few items at a time), I'm dying for one of the new high-tech versions from Electrolux, which wash and dry a load in as little as 36 minutes (allegedly). While I'm at it, I'd perk up my now very beige and white space with the turquoise models and cover the

Weekend Update: The Powder Room

Yesterday we managed to complete another major project around the house -- without even being here! In fact, we were in Phoenix, Arizona, this weekend attending the wedding of a dear high school friend of mine. Meanwhile, back in Sugar Land, our trustworthy and fantastic wallpaper lady completed the wallpapering job in our powder room and I'm ga-ga over the finished results -- and completely

Family Room Update

Progress on decorating the once-empty family room has sped up in recent weeks. After much internal (and external) debate on ottomans and throw pillows I feel like the room is finally starting to take shape. Sure, I'd like a smaller swivel chair close to the fireplace (I'm thinking something with a skirt to counteract all the leggy pieces in the room already), curtains and dramatic built-ins on

Weekend Update: Credenza Completed!

Well, it took us two weekends, three coats of paint, one coat of polycrylic and a lot of elbow grease (and brass polish), but we finally managed to finish spiffing up the credenza I scored off of eBay last month for Dave's office. And despite this project being far more time consuming than I had initially anticipated, I'm pleased with the final results and consider it well worth the effort (

Patterned Powder Rooms

Jonathan BergerI suppose I've been on something of a bathroom kick recently. After putting the finishing touches on my master bath last month, I painted my upstairs' guest bath turquoise last week. Next up on my bathroom "to decorate" list is the powder room. What I love about decorating powder rooms is how you can really go all out. Since powder rooms are separated and closed off from the rest

Weekend Update: Going Turquoise

This past weekend Dave and I decided to perk up our dreary (and windowless) guest bathroom with a bright punch of color. I've been itching to go really bold with paint in the new house and decided this secondary bath would be the perfect spot for some serious experimentation. I selected Capri Seas from Benjamin Moore, which is a classic turquoise, a perfect balance between blue and green. All in

Sneak Peak of My Next Project

In an effort to stick to my self-imposed decorating schedule, I thought I'd go ahead and post the "before" photos of a project that I hope to complete in the next few weeks. Last month I scored this great Hollywood Regency-style dresser off eBay for a fraction of the price of a new sideboard and after some simple upgrades (paint, hardware), I think this piece is going to be a real show stopper in

The Bathroom That Blogging Built

This weekend marked the completion of the final decorative touches to our master bathroom and I couldn't be happier with the finished results. What excites me even more though is that this is the first room that I feel like I can really cross off my list and declare "done" in the new house (as much as any room I ever design can be deemed complete as I'm always tweaking things). It's also the