condo confession.

ready to buy this print now
source

soooooo, what exactly happened to my posts about the condo?
where are the promised pictures of condo-beautifying progress?

i'll tell you.

there have been no posts and no progress on our beloved dwelling because....brace yourself....for a good many months we thought WE WERE MOVING. AGAIN. that's right. we were pretty positive that we'd be backing up the moving truck for the third Memorial Day weekend in a row.  so positive, in fact, that we called our best friends in California to tell them that we were going to be neighbors ((ohhh that makes me so sad)). 

there is a long, very winding road of a backstory to the whole situation, but basically the new position for Lucas is still his....it just changed a little and now based out of headquarters (Allentown) instead of in Orange County. 

we shouldn't have been surprised. we've had five addresses in our five years of marriage. it has been one "we think we're moving here...now we're not....no, now we are" drama after another, and if it's tiresome to us, it's got to be down right obnoxious to those we know and love.

in any case, here we are and here we will stay.  at least for now. haha

and in the meantime, we have some renewed vigor for making this place our own. months ago, we decided that we wouldn't decorate a single thing because what's the point of spending time and money to make something awesome if you're just going to leave it??  no point, i say. 

now i'm ready to unleash the decorating/organizing/renovating maniac within. should be fun.  and i promise to post pictures along the way :) 

powder room update.

since we're still plugging along with the home updates, let me show you current pictures of the downstairs "powder room". ((and for those wondering, powder room is just condo-slang for "really small bathroom with no shower"))

original powder room, in all it's seafoam glory

current view.



original and current mischief maker.

 as you can see...new paint, flooring, light fixture, and mirror. still need to install the new facet. and debating whether to refinish the cabinet.  any opinions??  if you painted it, what color would you recommend??  i also really love the idea of a vinyl wall decal to liven things up a little...like this, but not:

dandelion decal.

maybe some birds or flowers or a life size decal of Mr.T saying "i pity the fool who doesn't wash his hands".
you know, something subtle.

do you like the decals as much as i do? they're like wallpaper's hipper younger sister!

villain hair.

it occurred to me today that the blonde, feathered, sidepart hairdo the baby is sporting nowadays is pprreeeetttyyy darn close to the villain hair Johnny Lawrence had in the original Karate Kid. judge for yourself:

VS

admit it. it's the same.
but don't worry, we're teaching her to use her physical strength for good, not evil. (and seriously this kid is STRONG)

anyway, the past couple days have been gray skied and we're all sick with colds. again. trying not to anticipate that i will spend the next few months trapped in my house with Kleenex and a cranky toddler, but that's the way it's starting to feel. couple that with teething and a spectacular header into the hardwood, and you might say that Sadiebaby had a rough day.  she was in bed by 6:15pm.

on other news, would you like to see the updated dining room?  here's the new rug and dining set:

what do you think??
what color curtains would you recommend??

the dining room that doesn't dine...yet.

thanks to you guys, my book reading dreams are bound to come true!  great suggestions!!

i'm going to add them to my "books to read" list, because:

1. i actually have an ongoing list titled "books to read". let he without nerdiness throw the first stone... 
2. all of those suggestions sounded genuinely interesting to me

high fives all around :)

now, since i only have a quick minute to post, lets continue the condo tour....

Dining Room

Original



After paint and trim

Current Dining Room

 

Another View of Current Dining Room

soooooo, as you can see the dining room is missing the crucial table and chairs.  this is because we decided to go Amish, driving down to Lancaster and everything...and since each table is "made to order" it takes about four months to arrive. we should have it in the next month or so, and i can't wait!!  in the meantime, we need to a get a rug and some curtains.

and i've had a couple people ask how we did the "faux paneling".  i use the term "we" very loosely here, since Lucas did 100% of the work. here is my "how-to guide" in a few easy steps:

1. marry a hunky, handy (that's handy-not handsy,ladies), do-it-yourself type who is willing to indulge your decorating taste
2. check out this blog entry for all the instructions
3. buy the materials
4. donate a weekend to the project
5. enjoy

what color curtains/valences should i get?? i'm thinking a green/tan/blue type patterned rug. any ideas?

condo: room by room.

let me show you the condo as it progresses one room at a time since my goal is to write short, frequent posts as opposed to giant, bi-yearly posts....and this will help stretch it out :)  

let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)

Entryway:

Original Entryway

Current Entryway

I know what you're thinking..."is there supposed to be a difference?"
well, not really. as you can tell, we haven't done much except add a runner.

the reason it made the blog is because i'd love to get your opinion. what we're thinking of doing is taking down the gross little curtain (side window) and then putting stained glass in all the panes. question is, what color stained glass?  would you go with the blues/greens/yellows/rainbowbrightstyle? or just stick to one color in different tones?? hmmm.

also, should i try the "faux" stained glass first (my fabulous cousin Jamie did it, and it looks SO good) and see if i like it or just jump in headfirst and buy the real stuff??

help a sister out and let me know what you think!

the condo.

so, we bought a condo back in May and have been slowly...SLLLOOOWWWLLLYYYY....settling in, bit by bit. it's just hard to get everything in it's place when the only time you have to do so is during nap time or when the tot is in bed for the night! in any case, i'm still figuring out this whole blogspot thing, but once i do, i'll be posting pictures. 

other than that, we've just been watching with awe as Sadie gets bigger and bigger and stronger and more animated. she's such a trip. throw in church, work, and now luke's MBA...and well, we're pretty busy.

in a good way, though :)

what are you up to nowadays??
anyone reading this yet? :)