Check!

Well... we can now say that one thing is crossed off the list!

Crown molding went in without a hitch this weekend and it looks A-MAZING. Seriously. If anyone in Southern MD (possibly elsewhere?) needs anything like that done, I will recommend those guys in a heart beat.

Anyway, I took some pictures (duh) so you can check it out! We still have to touch up the paint, but everything else is all finished!

In other news, Bobby finished the deck this weekend! All that needs to be finished are the little caps to put on top of the posts to deter little, furry vermin from climbing on them :) We have an inspection schedule for next week and then we'll officially be finished with it! But my brain was in other places yesterday, so I neglected to take a picture of our finished product and the first major project executed on the house. I'll get to it eventually.

Enjoy!

Please don't mind the Swiffer... I was cleaning, ok?! Our front entry/foyer.

The hallway leading to the back... look at the corners - that's my favorite part!

Did I ever show you a picture of our dining room completed? I can't remember, so here you go. Obviously there's zero decoration in here. I haven't gotten that far yet.

My fabulous black powder room!

Our kitchen...behind the cabinets, too.

Family room - I love the white molding against the gray!

That's it! Now you have to come see it in person on May 1st!

Buried

Yup. Buried in house projects. That's how I would describe our life right now.

The dining room table is upside down in the family room, the console table is under our kitchen bar, there's a vacuum cleaner in the powder room, there's crown molding taking up the entire garage, and Killian has been sleeping in the bath tub at night.

Oh, Bobby has school two nights a week, wedding season has started for me, we're both trying to squeeze in an hour work-out each night, we're eating dinner maybe before 9pm, and we both have full-time jobs.

We're not busy at all. We're buried, but I think I mentioned that before.

I'd like the record to show that I am the QUEEN of unfinished projects. I press one of Bobby's buttons every time I start a new project. Thankfully, we haven't lost all of our marbles...yet. Things are slowly coming off our "to-do" list. Obviously, our to-do list will continue to grow, but hopefully some things will get to be crossed off.

Tomorrow, a big feat will be started and finished as we're having someone install crown molding on the whole first floor. While 2 guys will hang from our ceiling all day, Bobby is finally going to finish the deck! And me? I'll be shooting a wedding...otherwise I'd love to share in the madness that will be taking place on Primevere Street tomorrow.

So, because of you have been so patient for pictures of all these projects, I give you the "in progress" stage of our house. Please mind the piles of papers to be filed and miscellaneous boxes on every other surface of the house.

Did you know that Green is the hardest color to pick out? EVER?! I simply cannot decide on the right shade. Two words: Valspar Stinks. Oh, and no making fun of my splotchy wall that is my office.

We painted! It's hard to tell here, but the color is a stone-gray. And we changed the orientation of the couch and TV. I'm not sold on it yet...



Something fabulous is going on this wall. You can see it as you walk in from the front door! I'll reveal...once the project is a) started, and b) finished.



And the piece de resistance... our powder room! I have always wanted a black room! And while this isn't quite black (although it may look like it here), it's actually charcoal. "Dark Knight" to be exact. Who thinks of paint color names anyway? I can't wait to finish this room, it's quite possibly my favorite color we've painted so far.

That's it!! Oh, and drum roll.... please mark your calendars for May 1st! We will be hosting a housewarming party/open house for all to make the trek down to SOMD. More on that coming later...

Happy Weekend!

Etsy Love

What's this? A blog that finds all sorts of amazing designers on Etsy and displays their pictures so you can see all the wonderful Etsy goodness?!

Yes.

Elephantine.

If you've never shopped on Etsy before, I recommend doing so. Run, do not walk, to the nearest computer and have yourself a little search: random handmade jewelry, almost ANYTHING wedding related, crafts, letterpress, home decorations, funky throw pillows, Antique Mason jars, knit baby hats, tutu's, the most amazing and emotional one-of-a-kind art pieces.

The best part about it? You are supporting local artists directly. Never before has creativity been available like this. Etsy is just wonderful.

Ready? Go! Click here ---> Elephantine Etsy Blog.

How-To Undo Ugly

...and I'm not talking about giving Killian a make-over.

Sorry Baby. (Please take note of Bobby's face as he expresses pure disdain for our furry room mate).

Nope, remember this thing? This was the first thing I wanted to change when we moved in.

It fell down the list a few times before we "took care of it."

I hated it so much, it went down to the basement and hung itself. Get it? Ha. Ha.

Moving On! So, since I couldn't find a chandelier that a) wasn't $39,050 and b) I actually liked, I decided to take matters into my own hands. A DIY was just what this ugly fixture needed. A little love.

So, I went to Lowes. By myself. I picked up some Hammered-finish, "wrought iron" look Spray Paint, 9 globe-style light bulbs, and a swiffer to remove the piles of dust from the polished brass. Let's get started!

Go back to Lowes because you got the wrong sized end for the light bulbs. Oh, what? You got the right size? Well, still. Go back to Lowes. It will make me feel better about myself.

Next, Swiffer the heck out of your chandelier. Dust Bunnies are no fun to look at when eating dinner. Then, go ahead and give the spray paint can a good shake. OPEN A WINDOW. Suffocate yourself in the basement. And then give the chandelier a good, thorough painting.

Now, go ahead and hang the chandelier where it belongs.

Realize that you forgot to spray the entire bottom of the chandelier. Then take it down and hit it again with the spray paint.

Wait 24 Hours for it to dry completely. And VOILA!

See the lovely, unique hammered finish without having to hammer anything? That's my kind of work!

No go ahead and hang it again where it belongs.

Play with the dimmer 7930587 times, and marvel at how the ugly disappeared.

Then don't compare to the image I was going for in my beloved Pottery Barn catalog. This is the Edison and it costs precisely 7 times what it cost me to make-over my hideous polished brass chandelier.

$40 or $300?? Mine may be upside-down, but I'll take $40 for now. Thank you!

Cha-Ching! And we have Undone the Ugly.

Coloring Our World

Color. It's used to evoke emotion, feeling and memory.

I want to use color throughout my house in a way that makes it feel warm and inviting, happy and friendly, glamorous and stylish, and unique and original. That's quite a laundry list, huh? I've spent my evenings at home scouring HGTV.com and countless decorating blogs (please see new column of home and decorating blogs to the left). I leave feeling inspired and excited...only to feel confused and unsure 10 minutes later. How do I make my home a true representation of me? Of me AND my husband? Of our life together?

These complex thoughts that really should not exist are the sole reason why I have 289045 different paint samples of the color green on my office wall. "Jalapeno Jelly" is too yellow, "Organic Green" is too grassy. "Asparagus" is too brown. "Pea Pod" looks too much like an Easter Egg. "Paris Mint" and "Celery" have yet to be slathered on to the collection. I have a good feeling about "Paris Mint," although I think I will convince myself to like it just because it has "Paris" in the title.

So, while I mull over my green paint choices, we've moved onto the dining room. Thank goodness for that because I picked ONE color and have never wavered. Bobby and I spent one weekend very close to a saw. There was lots of saw dust, sanding, Spackle and caulk involved, but the majority of the project is complete. The details are left to my husband to obsess over. He is quite the carpenter and it shows with every project!

Here's our step-by-step progress of the 2-day dining room project, if you weren't already following along with my Facebook or Twitter updates!

The clean slate.

The first board on the wall - yikes!

The first wall complete!

Window framed out

Carpentry almost done

New baseboards installed.


PAINT!

The final reveal will be up... whenever we finish. There are some finishing touches left to complete.

In other news... It's tough being a princess.

We celebrated Ellie, Grampa and Mary Claire's birthdays this weekend in Raleigh, NC!

Baby Wise will be arriving in April. Another Baby Barrick (not ours, Bobby's brother) will be arriving in late March, and a good friend (Baby K) will be arriving in about 10 days! Babies galore! Stay tuned for chubby cheeks as they arrive here shortly!