Friday, June 28, 2013

Home Improvement - Living Room

BEFORE:
Light tan walls

Blah Pillows

Oak Blinds

We weren't loving the oak, so we meticulously cleaned then spray painted all the blinds throughout our whole house. It took about 22 spray paint cans to do them all! Truman did most of the work but I did tons of blind cleaning and prep work. 

Moving the furniture to the center of the room getting ready to paint. You can see the gray sample paint on the wall and our freshly spray painted white blinds.


             Before:  Light Tan           After:  Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter






AFTER:
I love how crisp and clean it turned out. I've had this Ballard canvas painting for a long time and since it has a creamy background, I knew I wanted more of a contrast for it's backdrop. I am really into this whole greige thing that's been going around too. I looked on design blogs for months to try to decide what I wanted to paint our walls and I kept coming back to this warm gray by Benjamin Moore. During the natural light of the day it almost looks like a beige and at night more gray with warm undertones. It took us three nights of painting and in addition I touched up all the baseboards. A lot of work, but so worth it. We also bought this ottoman which makes the room feel more complete and I'm loving the four drawers of storage for all Elle's toys. The best part is that it's super cooshy so she can't hurt herself on it now that she's pulling up on things.


We finally got to put our curtains up since we are officially finished painting. These beauties were a great deal at Anthropologie and they're even prettier in person with the mustard gold geometric design having a velvety feel to it. The background lets just enough light in and they add the perfect amount of warmth to the room. 


I love my new Chevron pillows!


I read on a lot of design blogs about making your curtains go all the way to the ceiling to draw the eye up and lengthen the room and I have to agree with them, I love what it does to the room!


The view from our kitchen


White blinds with new curtains & you can see our tall vaulted ceilings


View from our french doors



BEFORE:

AFTER:
These french doors were a beast to paint! 15 panels per side x 2 doors = 60. I learned A LOT along the way and we had to start all over at one point and re-sand them. Long Sigh... How was I supposed to know you have to use a wood stain blocking primer??

Moving on...I threw away the horrible brassy knob and bought hardware to match our front door. I touched up the trim around the doors and it all just brightens up our front room. We also replaced the ghetto brass and glass light fixture with a oil rubbed bronze light fixture which gave it an instant update. 

We've been having fun and keeping busy with all these projects. The front room isn't completely done yet, but I'll post those pics later. We've been working on many others home improvement projects which I will post more on later as well. We are loving home ownership, we feel so grateful everyday. 



Chevron Pillows

BEFORE:





AFTER:
I have been taking sewing lessons from my Mom every Thursday. We bought these sofas when we moved into our new house but I hated the main pillows that came with it! I wanted something bold and fun, this Chevron pattern was perfect! I also tied it in with two other areas in my living room. My mother is an excellent sewer and she helped me line up everything perfect on the top, sides, and bottom. She also showed me how to put piping along my pillow and add a hidden zipper so I can wash my cases. I love how they turned out, a definite pop now! 

M.S. Dixie at Lake Tahoe

Truman & I made a day trip to Lake Tahoe to take the M.S. Dixie on a scenic tour of the lake. We departed out of Zephyr's Cove and it was a two hour trip around.


It was a great day trip! Elle slept a little on the way up to Lake Tahoe and on the way back but not on the boat. She would hardly eat anything either, guess there was too much going on. I saw a 4-year old girl asleep on her Dad and I just kept laughing because I have a baby and she won't even sleep on me??

The crisp fresh air was perfect and there was lots for Elle to look at

Elle enjoyed sitting on top of the glass bottom viewing part


Historic tea house

Historic viking house

The water in Emerald Bay is truly emerald!

People kept coming up to us going crazy over Elle's pony and big blue eyes

Sun hat!




Monday, June 24, 2013

Elle Weston - 9 Months


Look who's crawling!




She loves to waive her arms up and down and go "Awwwwwwwh" over and over again!

Her newest tooth, her left upper central incisor, came through at 9.5 months


You can see all 3 of her teeth in this photo. She has the two cuties on the bottom and the one on top poking through

She sees something she wants...

Ooo...a chocolate crumb, those pinschers really zeroed in on that!

And it's gone...Mmmm...


Elle has been growing and changing so much! 

She is still not a huge fan of solids but she eat a few ounces a day.

She enjoys sharing Daddy's kale smoothies with him in the morning.

She loves being outside, walks in the stroller, and mostly just walking outside being in your arms.

Elle just started crawling like 3 days ago! She is enjoying her newfound freedom.

She is just starting to be able to pull herself up on things. She has to be in the exact right spot but she is just getting the hang of it. She loves our ottoman and loves to pull the tray off the top of it and chew on the remotes.

Her hair has been getting so long it's super hard to get her signature curl to stay so she has been sporting her new fountain top pony.

Truman bought a bike trailer that we named "Pony Express" or the "L Train" and Truman will take her out in a ride in it while I'm making dinner and she LOVES it. She puts one foot on the side and the other on the front part and just gets to lay back and enjoy the ride, so cute!

She has just begun to kind of point at things when she wants it or gets excited about it. "Pony Express" has a flag on top of it and she excitedly puts her hand that way and yells "Ha Da!"

When she gets a bout of 'stranger danger' she will snessle right into your neck and cuddle her arms around you, it's so cute to have her do that because she never does that. 

We just bought her some Mega Blocks and her favorite thing about them is taking them out of the bag, we think she likes it because she thinks she's doing something she's not supposed to. 

She has been consistently saying "DaDa" when she sees Truman, she nearly jumps out of her high chair when he comes through the door she is so excited to see him. 

Elle went swimming for the first time in Grandma and Grandpa Weston's pool a couple weeks ago and loves it. She splashes like crazy getting herself and whoever is holding her very wet! She loves her swim floatie and just being held, she is a water bug!

Two days ago, I come into her nursery after her nap to find that she is kneeling in her crib with her chin on the crib rail looking up over at me. haha. Truman lowered the crib that day!

What a joy she is, can't believe how fast the time is going!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Jegging Bum Love

Love her Levis jegging bum and palm tree pony on top!

Don't ever want to forget this cutneess...

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Elle's 9-month Wellness Visit


Elle had her 9 month check-up today and she is still our healthy baby girl. Daddy surprised us in the parking lot at the doctor's office. He drove over to give her hugs and kisses and be with her during the first part of the appointment. I love how Truman dotes over her, it's the sweetest thing. 


She was being very cute at the doctor's office to the doctor and assistants. She was going crazy thrashing around the blue pad they have them sit on and the paper on the table haha. She is hitting all her little milestones and is such a happy girl. Dr. Barrios said to me "Elle is so vivacious!" 

Yes, Elle is certainly our vivacious baby girl, no doubt about it. 

vivacious (adj.)
                                  1. full of high spirits and animation; lively or vital
2. having or displaying tenacity of life




Age: 9 months
Height: 27 inches  - 25th percentile
Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz  - 48th percentile
Head circumference: 18 in  - 92nd percentile

She had to have 3 shots today, darn those shots! I can't stand that part. I'm happy I could scoop her up afterward. When I took her home, we played with toys in the living room and for the first time she pulled herself up on the drawer of the ottoman, all on her own! I couldn't believe it. After she finishes her nap, we'll go numb her leggies by taking her for a swim and Grandma & Grandpa Weston's pool.