Let's do this.

I’m half way through this pregnancy thing, which means, I need to get back to pimpin’ this house.  For one, the little bambino needs a legit room.  Not a half-ass thrown together room full of stuff we just happen to have nowhere else to put.  Which is what the little’s room looks like now.

My pregnancy brain is digging Pinterest at the moment.  I got no time for my own tricks, I need to copy someone else’s.  This new baby room is going to be a full blown study in plagiarism. 

I’m also super excited that one of my favorite designers, Emily Henderson, is expecting a baby boy right before me.  Don’t be surprised if I copy her room, unless she fills it with a bunch of 60s mid-century modern stuff.  Not that I have anything against that.  This kid’s guncles would totally move right in and ask to be breast fed if that was the case.  But it’s not my style. 

Here are a few of my inspiration pics.  All I need is the motivation to get started.  But right now, cupcakes are totally outweighing the decorating thing, so red velvet cupcakes it is.  At least that’s the flavor of the day.  

 {Pinterest}

I’m determined to paint the crib gold.  Isn’t it fantastic?  And then of course I send the picture to my mother and she goes all dream-crusher on me and tells me it’s a bad idea.  My husband says I get my dream-crushing from her.  Dammit. 

Is it Friday yet?

This week has been crazy.  Well, this year actually, but this week in particular has done me in.  And now that I think about it, I'm not sure why.

Will's new company is in full swing, and it's pretty exciting!  It's a wonderful thing to watch your husband of 10 years do a complete 180 when it comes to his career.  From dreading the office and complaining about work to staying up late working on his business and jumping out of bed at 4am to head to a job site.  It's been amazing and I think this is the best decision he has ever made (besides me, of course!).

It's also stressful and tiring.  From ordering computers (I am considered the expert in that area) to gathering items to furnish and decorate his new office with.  But it's finally starting to come together.  We were up late last night decorating (romantic, huh?) but had to leave mid-stream when we realized it was 10:30 and our son was still up watching a PG-13 movie at his grandfather's "awesome" desk on a school night.  We've got a Rustic Modern vibe going on.  When it's a little more put together, I'll post more pics.  And yes, the deer is now hanging in the office.  I refused to touch it.

On Tuesday, I took G to the doctor for a wheezy cough.  Nothing alarming in my book, but because everyone is so sick these days, I wanted to go early  just in case.  Well, we ended up in the ER for xrays, 3 breathing treatments and a dose of steroids.  Poor dude was so scared, but after 4 hours, popsicles and a coloring book from the nurses, he didn't want to leave.  All of that and we left with a vague diagnosis.  Bronchospasm and a respiratory virus.  It was all a little over the top if you ask me.  His pediatrician also sent us away with a prescription for an ointment to put on his leg because he picked a scab.  Are you for real woman?  Do you even know anything about kids?

Do you know what steroids and 3 rounds of abuterol does to a 4-year old?  It's not pretty at 9pm when he is bouncing off of the walls and trying to use dad's flip flops to practice new skateboard tricks.

He's fine now.  Tuesday turned out to be an expensive day.

And then there's work, which I won't go into, other than to tell you that at the end of every day, my brain is done. Toast.  NOTHING LEFT.

Thankfully it's Friday.  Dinner downtown with good friends tonight at Paggi House, and tomorrow we are totally getting our gay on with my brother-in-laws' vodka launch party.  A bunch of straight suburbanites on a party bus with a drag queen MC should make for an interesting adventure.

A little Friday Humor

It's Friday Y'all!  And I've been published!  Kind of a big deal for me.  I'm not a writer, except here on this little blog thing.  My sister majored in journalism and went to the Portfolio Center.  She's a writer.  I'm marketing and business, but my brain has this internal fight on a daily basis on whether to be business or party.  Party being the creative part.  The fun part.  I love to design, decorate, plan parties, and write.  I can help you pick out paint color and fabric in 2 seconds flat.  But I'm also addicted to excel spreadsheets.  I'm having a hard time figuring myself out.  I'm like a mullet.

My good friend, Melanie, is the editor for the Austin Family magazine.  She asked if I wanted to submit an article for her Humor column for the February edition.  Yes, sometimes I'm funny.  Turns out, they liked it!  So, here I am, on page 66.  Personally, I think humor should be up front, so I'm hoping there are a few people who read magazines back to front  (the business-part of me knows that people do this with catalogs).

I'm working on my next submission.  Wish me luck!

Long time, no write.

I figure I need to do a blog post before January ends.  It seems to be the one consistent thing around here since 2008.  Get going in January, and trail off towards the end of the year.  Or March.  

I know I really need to post before and after and during pictures of this house.  Everyone keeps asking.  But dang, that takes so much time!  So, I've taken some pics with a real camera and now I just have to download and organize.  I am trying to avoid the constant iphone pic post, but it's just so.damn.easy! 

Let's play catch-up. Since I last wrote, we've had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. All three competing for my favorite holiday of the year.  

Thanksgiving was spent at home in Collierville, TN this year.  As always, I got to see one of my best friends, Mardis, and her crazy clan.  We met at Mississippi State in 1995.  Chi Omegas together.  She in her Lebaron convertible, me in my bright red mustang. And everyone else in their Honda Accords.  She now lives in my hometown and has 3 boys.  Three boys that make my dad drink scotch, heavily.  I was also able to see both grandparents and my bestie from high school.  The only downside of the trip was that Will got the flu the night before we were headed home.  Have you ever driven 10 hours in the car with a 4 year old, dog and sick  husband?  NOT FUN.

Christmas was spent in Georgetown and was surprisingly relaxing. Shopping done online early? Check.  Family in town?  Check. Wine fridge stocked?  CHECK CHECK CHECK.  Of course, I use the word “relaxing” loosely.  14 people in the in-law’s house for a week is a little over the top for me.  I had moments of weakness when all I wanted to do was retreat to my own house, in my own bed, with total silence around me and a bottle of Cabernet.  But then Christmas is over, family all goes home, and I miss the chaos.

And then there’s New Year’s.  The one night of the year where I allow my grown-ass friends to come over, destroy my house and act like teenagers.  And it is SO MUCH FUN.  This year, the theme was thrown in the trash when no one could get their act together enough to find outfits.  So, we just dressed up, drank cocktails,danced, cried, counted down the new year, danced some more, cried again, and then played slip n slide in the rain on the street while eating breakfast casserole.  Another NYE, another 5:30 am closer.  At some point I’ll finally accept the fact that I’m getting too old for that.  But not any time soon. 

So, here we are.  Work on the house has taken a bit of a break while Will gets his new company off the ground.  After 13 years at that other company (and 45 years for Mr B), Will decided to take a leap of faith and try it on his own.  Probably the best decision he has ever made.  So, screw the long list of new year’s resolutions for 2013.  This family just has one plea. 

DEAR GOD, PLEASE LET THIS WORK.    

Keeping it real

I'm about to show you insanity.  It's cray cray around here.

I like to challenge myself every once in awhile, and the best way to do that is to invite 5 college girlfriends for the weekend in the middle of a reno.  Ah...nothing like a little pressure to get shit moving.

We started painting the exterior of the house last week.  I'm super happy with how the color turned out, seeing as Will and I went completely custom.  3/4 of the house is painted, but we have one side with rotted wood that needs to be replaced.  And you would think that a carpenter would be easy to come by.  Nope.  At least not one that wants to do any work!  We finally found someone to start today but they don't speak any English.  ZERO.  But did they show up?  NO!  And the only way I can communicate with the guy is through my painter.  Speaking of, he didn't show up today either.

I'm still picking out a front door color.  And we have the top to a lovely armoire hanging out on the front porch.  Why?  Because we can't get it upstairs.  So, Will is getting a scissor lift delivered from his office today to raise it up and take it through the upstairs porch.  Never a dull moment.

While we are outside, see that lovely trash trailer?  It's been sitting in my driveway since April 14th.  We have filled it 4 times and probably have one more round before we are done.  And then I never want to see that thing ever again.  A few weeks ago, I think something crawled into it and decided to die.  So not only is it an eye sore, it smells like shit.

We are definitely enjoying our new kitchen (which doubles as a catchall/work bench/project room).  Except for the little fact that the oven doesn't work.  We have a working oven upstairs, although "working" isn't really the correct term for it.  Let's just say that it gets hot. So, how fun is it that we have to go upstairs to cook anything in the oven!?!  Exercise and cook at the same time!

I have until noon on Thursday to get this place in order.  Which means that people better start showing up to work and my to-do list gets shorter.

It's about time

I'm finally getting to do a bit of decorating around here.  How is it that something can be so wonderful and so stressful at the same time?  I'm all about giving advice to friends, but me?  It takes me years to figure things out.  2 full years to pick out a bed in my last house.  5 full years to decide on window treatments.

We started getting G's room together last weekend.  His headboards went up and they are amazeballs!  When I first saw the antique iron gates 12 years ago, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

Will's dad got the iron gates about 35 years ago in Mississippi while on a construction site.  They weigh about 300 lbs each and would kill someone if they fell over.  You can see our support brackets screwed into the wall, so G's life isn't in danger every night he goes to sleep.  Eventually I'll paint them to blend in.  Or not.

I also decorated my kitchen shelves last week.  A harder task than one might think.  I like how they turned out.  Will isn't as pleased - They need more color.  Which means they will stay just as they are for awhile.

The room I am having trouble wrapping my brain around is the master bedroom.  Here's the bed.  No mattress, no bedding.  I have no clue what to do in here.  So for now, it looks like this.  I bought white sheets and a white comforter, with the idea that I'll lay there at night and a brilliant design scheme will pop in my head.  I'm even thinking about using the bucket of adhesive as a side table.  Pretty cute, huh?

#scenesaroundthehouse

Sometimes I just like to hashtag things.

Clearly we are not finished with this little project.  And clearly I need to document it on a better camera.  But, here's a bit of eye candy for your Friday.   Although this is more like a half-ass eaten piece of melted candy because of the poor photo quality.

Downstairs Hall Bath

Dining room/kitchen (my before pic is the wrong angle but you get the point)

Another dining/kitchen combo

Living room fireplace

New master bath (was an office before)

Master bedroom

Teaser time

Well, Pinterest and Instagram have been consuming my world wide web time, and this little blog keeps taking a backseat.  Are blogs becoming extinct?  If not, I'll keep on truckin'. 

Things have been happening so fast around here that I can't keep up.  Not that I'm complaining or anything.  I'll think of a million things to blog about and then something else gets done and I forget about the other stuff.  Vicious cycle.  And then I get overwhelmed and have to sit down and have a drink.

We went on vacation last week to Kiawah Island in South Carolina.  PGA Championship, the beach, and cake for breakfast.  My kind of vacation.  While we were gone, we had the floors refinished downstairs.  Coming home on Saturday night was almost as exciting as Christmas morning.  We left the house in disarray and when we came home, it was crazy how different everything looked! 

Before and after pictures are at the top of my list of my favorite things.  LOVE THEM.  So, I'll give you a little sneak peak with a before and sorta-after shot.  We still have a lot of small touch ups and little stuff to take care of, but you can't really see any of that in the pic. 

BEFORE: 

SORTA AFTER:  

Damn, that looks good!

Up in here.

I did something ballsy yesterday and bought an orange velvet bed.  SAY WHAT??  I blame Brittany.

On the way home from San Antonio this past weekend, Brittany stopped at the outlet mall in San Marcos and texted me a picture of an orange velvet wingback bed from Williams-Sonoma.  It wasn't assembled and it was scrunched up with other beds, but I fell in love.  Lust.  We were meant to be together.

I know what you are thinking.  But Mimi, you already have an orange velvet wingback chair.  Yes, yes I do. But you can never have too much of a fabulous thing.  And I want to roll around in all of the wonderful goodness of an orange bed.  I can't do that with a chair.

So Monday night comes along and I dream about the bed.  Tuesday, dream.  Then yesterday morning, Will says that if a bed makes me that happy, then by damn we are buying it.  So after work, we picked up G and headed down to San Marcos in a big ass truck that was loud and bumpy for all 1.5 hours.  And we stopped 4 times for G to pee.  But it was worth it!  Feast your eyes on this baby (but in orange velvet).  Persimmon to be exact.

I can't find this fabric option on the WS site, so I'm guessing it's either a custom piece that was returned, or it's an old option that is no longer available.  Anywho, I got a fantastic deal on the bed and am one happy girl. 

And check out my other amazeballs deal of the night.  I found this zigzag floor pouf, without the insert, for $24.99!!  Who cares about the insert, right?  That's easy to get.  Or make.  

We are nearing the end of our renovation.  Sort of.  There's a light at the end of the tunnel, which means decorating is on my mind.  It's about to get dangerous.  Really really dangerous.  Fo-real.

Craigslist score!

Last night I went on my first Craigslist adventure.  Yes, I was a craigslist virgin.  I've sold a washer and dryer on there, but never purchased anything.  I've been looking for 6 dining chairs that have a wood frame but upholstered seats and backs.  Not parsons chairs.  And not necessarily Louis-style chairs.  I wasn't really going to be super picky because then it would take me 10 years to find what I wanted.

All I knew was that I wanted to paint and reupholster them.  I think I've been reading too much Little Green Notebook.  She makes DIY seem so easy and...fun.  And I am not a DIY girl.  

So when I found 6 chairs this week for $45 each, I jumped on it.  Melanie and I loaded up the kids in their truck and trekked into Austin to pick up these beauties (with a McDonald's stop for ice cream as our bribe to the kids).

Aren't they just fantastic in all of their 1980's beach house glory??  I was shocked to find out that the lady, a retired decorator, had spent $400 a piece on these in 2000.  Seriously?  You bought these in the year 2000?    DUMB.

I have big plans for them though.  Here are a few of my inspiration pics, all from Pinterest.

I have an obsession with chairs.  Adding these to my collection makes 10 total chairs that I need to reupholster.  Does that qualify as an addiction?

Oy! Obrigada! Bom Dia!

I went to Brazil last week for work and that's all of the Portuguese I know. I didn't even learn to say the word for their cheese bread, which I stuffed my face with for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I went to Brazil and all I came home with was a double whammy of Strep throat and a sinus infection. I would feel so much better if someone just chopped my head off.

Oh, I also brought home nail polish. Random, right? But apparently Brazilian nail polish is the bomb, so I bought 18 bottles of it.

Will was out of town last week too (and came home sick), so the house work took a little hiatus. We are back in full force this week and making progress. We had the downstairs hall bath demoed, Will tiled the master bath, kitchen cabinets were installed, bookshelves installed, and the bathroom vanities were installed. All while I laid in bed and watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey.

I wouldn't say that beadboard cabinetry is my ideal choice for a kitchen, but it's what I had to work with.  And matching it versus replacing it all was a helluva lot cheaper.  I think my cabinet guy did a great job!  Next up:  counter tops.  Probably the biggest decision that's making me sick to my stomach.

50 Shades of Grey

Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not talking about the latest mom-porn-book that is on millions of nightstands around the world. Although, HOLY-50-SHADES-OF-MOLY! Yes, the books are on my nightstand. And yes, I’m about to start book 3. Don’t judge.

I’m talking about grey paint people. For your house. It’s hard as shizz to pick out.

The biggest challenge with grey is that there’s blue-grey and green-grey. Some look silver. Some look brown. Or “greige” as they are calling it now. There are very few grey-grey’s. And that’s what I want throughout my entirehouse. Leave it to me to pick out the hardest color scheme there is. Our old house had a blue-grey color in thekitchen and upstairs bathroom…Mineral Deposit by SW. It was hard to tell if it was blue or grey onany given day, and I loved it, especially with my teal accent color on my chaircozies. So, that was my startingpoint. I knew that Mineral Deposit hadblue in it, so I went searching for colors that appeared greyer. Is that a word? More grey.

Well, my final selections turned out blue as crap. I even managed to pick out a black that looked blue. Ugh. Back to the drawing board. I bet I have a million paint chips in thishouse, all in different shades of grey and black. And in the end, I picked 3 that I absolutely love. Mindful Gray by SW, Dovetail by SW and Kendall Charcoal by BM. My problem? They don’t seem to be popular paint colors inthe design world. That knocks my levelof confidence down a bit. WHY? Why don’t people use these colors a lot???

At this point, the majority of the upstairs has been painted. 4 Shades of Grey. I played around with Mindful Gray and did it at 50% in an extra bedroom. That’s always a good route to take if you like a particular color but think it’s too dark. I might do the 50% in my masterbath downstairs now that I know I like it. We shall see.

My biggest nail biter was the doors. All of my interior doors (minus closet doors) are Kendall Charcoal. I was nervous as hell to make the move. Doors are not fun to repaint if you screw up. But, I LOVEIT! It’s delicious….and as we speak,Will just announced that he thinks they are too light. Great. If I change the doors, I have to change the color of my kitchen cabinetsdownstairs. I’m anal like that.

I have a few more weeks until I have to make final decisions on the paint for the downstairs.  Which means I may have to redo some of the upstairs.  

Btw, what is the difference between GRAY and GREY??  Why's it gotta be confusing like that?