Spring Mantel

I finally finished my spring mantel :)  I looooove how it turned out, thanks to some help from my handy hubby! 

 I wanted to give my mantel a fresh look for spring...
I absolutely loved Sarah's hydrangea-filled trough so I had my hubby build a shorter version for the fireplace.  I love how it turned out!!!

Make sure you check out Sarah's post for the how-to if you would like to make one for yourself!

Jeff put it together for me and then I stained it with some dark gel stain that I have had for a few years ;)

I think it looks gorgeous on top of my mantel.  I used artifical hydrangeas so that they would last all season and just hot glued them in place.  They can be easily removed and I can replace the flowers but I'm not sure I ever will, I love hydrangeas!

I also flanked it with these pretty yellow branches I got at Hobby Lobby when they were half-off (I always purchase their stems when they are half-off because they can be pretty pricey at full-price especially if you are buying several like I did.)  The glass holders I have had for years so I didn't have to purchase them, I just stole them from my bedroom :)

Then of course, my antique mirror/window that keeps making appearances on top of my mantel.  I wasn't 100% thrilled with it as part of this vignette but I didn't want to have to purchase anything else so the fact that it was free made it much more appealing ;)

So, there's our mantel....all ready for spring/summer! 

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Personalizing our Builder Grade House

It has been way too long since I have blogged!  A certain little girl has been keeping me pretty busy but I hope to get back into some blogging now that she is about 2 months old and taking great afternoon naps!

Today I thought I would share with you a bit of what we have done to dress up the exterior of our house.  We purchased our 'starter home' in April 2008 after three years of renting while Jeff finished grad school.  I was excited that our first home was brand new but I wasn't excited that it was going to look exactly like some of the other houses in the neighborhood.  Though we purchased our house new, it was a spec house that the builders had built to sell so we didn't get to choose the color of the siding and shutters.  We did get it early enough to where we were still able to choose most of the interior finishes though so I was glad about that but disappointed that the exterior of the house was not what I would have chosen.  I'm gonna show you the before and after, then I can explain what we did :)

I'm not sure how 'fair' the before picture is since it was taken before the house was finished but its the only 'before' picture that I have so it will have to do :) 

The very first thing that we did was paint the shutters and front door black.

There was another house just a few houses down with the exact same greyish white siding and burgandy shutters and it drove me nuts, plus I wasn't crazy about the burgundy (not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just not my personal taste.)   We replaced the solid front door with one that had a glass insert and painted it red a couple years ago. I saw Karla's red front door and fell in love.  I loooooooove a red front door!  I never get tired of looking at our front door!

Another thing we did soon after we moved in was adding the white railing to the front porch.  We had to special order it from Home Depot but I don't think it was very expensive and it really helped define the space.

The most recent changes we have made to the exterior of our home was adding a window and replacing the double garage door with two single garage doors.  Neither of these were done for cosmetic reasons, we finished off half of our garage into a bonus room so we could have a playroom for the kids since we were unable to sell our house last year.  Because we wanted to keep a usable one-car garage, we had them replace the double door with two single doors and one is just a false (non-working door.)  And we added the window so that the bonus room would have some natural light coming in. 

I still haven't completely finished decorating the play room so I haven't blogged about it yet but it's given us almost 200 sq ft of extra living space.  It also opened up our living room since the door to the garage was on a large wall and when we finished the bonus room, we expanded the opening to give both rooms an open feel. But anyway, more on that another time.  It's one of the many changes we made to the interior of our house.  As for the garage doors, they were pretty plain looking since they didn't have windows or anything so I decided we should add some decorative hardware to them.  I love how they turned out :)

One area that we haven't done much with is the landscaping :-/  Our little flower beds could use some pavers bordering them and some nicer plants but it's just something we haven't really done yet.  We did get the Japanese Maple a few years ago and it's really grown.  We also took up some of the bushes that the builders planted and put a few things in their place but nothing too fancy.  One of my besties Kyla lives down the street and has amazing flower beds that go all around her house with gorgeous plants and flowers.  They've worked really hard on their landscaping and it shows.  Maybe that's what we need to do next out there :p

Well, there you have it. Our little home. It's not our dream home but its ours and we have brought home two babies here. I know I will miss it when it is time to move on to a bigger place.

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

"Summer" in March!

We are having unseasonably warm weather lately and I am loving it!  Today it was 84 which was a record high!  I was dying to get outside all day and decided that we should go out for a picnic dinner when my hubby got home from work.  He picked up some fried chicken and potato salad on the way home and we made our way down to a quiet little park near our house.  It was great being outside and enjoying the weather together!  Hayden was mostly interested in playing at the plaground with daddy so I took about 1375 pictures of Ava while they played :)

He loves to swing!

My sweet little girl who is going to be a month old on Saturday!!!  I don't even know how that is possible.  Really.

I love baby yawns :)

...and toes

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

2 Weeks

Our baby girl was two weeks old saturday.  All that time we waited for her and now that she is here, it seems impossible to imagine life without her! 

When I was pregnant, my mom and I made some headbands and other props like this fun little 'halo.'  It makes me think of Spring!

(the below pic is somewhat of an outtake but she just looked so sweet that I kept it ;)  I love the roll in her arm!

My mom knitted this awesome blanket

Big brother hanging out in the bedroom while mommy was taking pictures

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Introducing...

Our baby girl, Ava Kate!

She was stubborn and came twelve days late but she is finally here!

Born on February 18th.  She weighed 7lbs 13 oz.

She just melts my heart :)

She came out with lots of hair!

"Feed me!" 

One of my best friends photographed our birth.  I am so glad we decided to have it documented because now we will have those priceless images to look back on for the rest of our lives.  You can check out the sneak peak on my friend's photography blog here!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

It's Almost Time....

Today I am 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

I honestly cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by! 

Soon I will be a mommy of two!!!

This poor little guy has no idea that his whole world is about to be turned upside down...

(no worries, he was just being silly and put the band-aid on his chin ;) ...then he wanted me to take his picture...ha!

Part of me is sad for him.  I'm happy that he is getting a sibling, someone to grow up with, protect and love.  But part of me is a little sad that he will have to share mommy and daddy with someone else.  And then I wonder how I could ever love another child as much as I love him! (I know it's silly and obviously it will come natural just like it did with him, but it's just a thought that crosses my mind.) 

We have been trying to do special things with him lately to make the most of his limited time left as an only child. 

We went to Chuck E Cheese this past weekend (not a good idea to go on the weekend) and he had a blast.  The weather has been unseasonably warm here lately so I have been able to take him to the park.  He loves to slide.  I've also been enjoying as much cuddle time as I can possibly get with him lately. 

He has been a lot more affectionate lately.  I think he can sense that change is coming.  He has been more clingy and is constantly giving kisses and hugs and wanting to snuggle.  I am not complaining though, I just soak it up!

Today when I was attempting those 'selfies' of me in the nursery, Hayden was having a meltdown because he got in trouble for telling me "no."  He finally was done and asked me to hold him. 

Notice the sweaty hair (from the tantrum) mis-matched socks and pj's asnd inside out shirt ;)  As I am typing this, he has added a pair of Buzz Lightyear snowboots.  I love the age that he is at right now.  So cute, independent, smart, funny and learning new things faster than I can keep up with!  I know that I am really going to miss this age when he is older. 
Here is a funny pic.  When I took the above pic, he heard the lens focusing and said "what happened? Is it messed up?"  So I took this pic of him during that conversation.  It was funny :p

And here is my view of little Ava who is just content as can be in my belly :)

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Ava's Nursery Reveal!

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about our nursery (at 38 1/2 wks pregnant!)  It's finally finished and ready for our little girl!  Get ready for lots of pictures ;)

(view from the door)

My hubby did a great job on the paneled wall behind the crib.  It turned out just as pretty as I imagined!

(view from the closet.)  There is my old dresser we refinished for the room!

You may have also noticed that my vintage mirror isn't in the room....   I hung it and it just didn't 'fit' in the space, I wasn't happy with it.  I decided to hang this round one that I had gotten at a consignment sale and I think it goes better with the room.  I love my little DIY mirror but if I don't think something looks right in a room, it literally eats at me till I 'fix' it!  Anyway, it is now back up on my mantel....I'm not in love with it there either:-/  Ok, back to the nursery!  Here is another view of the room.  It bugs me that the balloon shade looks so sheer in these pics, I wish you could tell how pretty it is in person!

Love the little dollhouse.  My hubby refurbished a funky table/cart we got at a thrift store for it to sit on.  Turned out so cute!

My hubby also made these great bookshelves!  I decided they also make great shelves for displaying photos!

Another thing we did was get rid of the popcorn ceiling and Jeff re-surfaced it with a trowel and texture paint.  Turned out beautiful!  We painted it a light beige color that I lost the name of :-/  And installed crown (of course!)

I replaced the wooden knobs on the closet doors with these pink glass ones for more of a vinatey, girly look.

The tiffany lamp was mine from my room when I was young.  Works perfect in here!  And you probably recognize my DIY blocks ;)

The tea saucers are all thrift store finds.  It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be to find them and my mom helped me gather a small collection.

My dream crib.  It was a gift from my grandmother and it's my favorite part of the room.

I also love her beautiful bedding. 

I envisioned having little flower vases above the crib but didn't want to use glass (for obvious reasons) but had a difficult time finding anything!  I ended up with these plastic bottles from Hobby Lobby and I think they work ok.

Sweet little chandelier

Gotta have throw pillows!  I had the worst time finding a rug for this room.  I'm not 100% thrilled with this shag number but it works for now.  It's actually 2 smaller rugs that I put together.  I actually wanted to make it twice the size but I got them at a discount store and there weren't any more so I had to work with two.

I hope you have enjoyed this little 'tour' of our baby room.  It was a labor of love and I look forward to enjoying it with her.

Ok, I will post product details as best I can with this crazy mommy/preggo brain I have going on!

Details:

Paint color: Valspar Pink Air (eggshell)

Crib: Bratt Decor Venetian Iron Crib from Pottery Barn Kids

Rocker:  I ordered it from WalMart.com when I was pregnant with Hayden 3 years ago.  I'm not sure if they still carry it, I was unable to find it.

Bedding:  Little House by Annette Tatum in Pool Rose Khaki.  The set has been discontinued, I found it on ebay.

Chandelier:  Home Depot (not sure if they still carry it, I snagged it on clearance for $50!)

Balloon Shade: Target

Doll House: Hobby Lobby (again, I think that style was discontinued.  We got the store display for a steal at $37!!!) 

 

p.s. I'm linking up to:

 Funky Junk Interior's Sat Night Special "Picture Perfect" link party!

Fingerprints on the Fridge

French Country Cottage

At the Picket Fence

Somewhat Simple

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!