Rug Swapping

So we bought a rug for the master bedroom. I'm surprised that this was the last room we got a rug for considering every other night I wake up to Radar's nails going "click, click, click" on the wood floor. I found a rug online and ordered it, not really being able to tell what colors were actually in it. When it arrived, we realized it didn't have an ounce of blue in it, so we switched it out for the rug in the living room. We were thrown off a bit at first, because we assumed each rug was 8' x 10', but the original rug in the living room was 7'10" x 10'10". We kept wondering why everything wasn't aligning as it was before. But anyways, we finally got everything situated and this is how it looks now:

The original rug from the living room - now in the bedroom.

Another view.

The new rug in the living room.

A close up.

It has a lot of different tan, brown, green, and orange tones in it. Now that we have a rug that doesn't have red in it, we really do want to get the red chair re-upholstered. That poor chair has been in the family for over 10 years and has lasted through 3 teenage boys (Jason & his brothers.) It looks terrible, but it is just too dang comfortable to get rid off.

I feel like it's a never ending circle of consumerism... we buy one new thing, and the old thing next too it looks 10x shabbier than it did before. Will it ever end?

Unwinding

After a particularly stressful day at work, I came home to find I had a Country Living magazine in my mailbox. Combined with a glass of wine and a good record it was a perfect way to unwind.

Coming home to this silly face never hurts either.

Another happy moment today: I checked my personal inbox and had an email titled "Love of God." This is what it said...

Dear Trinity (the church we used to go to in the Woodlands),

I just wanted to send you a short note reminding you that you are loved by God.

Take a deep breath and allow the Spirit to touch your soul.

You are loved by the God who made you. Pray, "I am loved by God."

Peace,

Father Gerry+

Master Bedroom & Jason's Birthday Dinner

Master Bedroom

So I promised you a post with a master bedroom update, so here it is...

This is a picture of our bedroom just a few mere weeks ago.

And this is a picture of it this evening. Notice any differences?

Well, for one, our glass and metal side tables are gone (thank goodness.) As are the college desk lamps. Finally, our flimsy Target bookshelf has been replaced as well.

So here is a pic of one of the new side tables (and lamp - another HomeGoods purchase.)

Here is a pic of the other side table.

And this big ole piece was delivered today. It was supposed to be delivered a week ago, but rain kept that from happening.

Here is a close-up of the detail. It's an English antique that we found at an antique shop in the Heights.

So what about the other side of the room?

Well this is the before pic.

And this is the after.

This is the new piece on the other side of the room. Another English piece. We found it at the same antique shop. The two pieces are from separate dealers, but match surprisingly well.

Jason really likes all the new furniture. Doesn't he look excited?

The lady who helped deliver them said our bedroom looked very Tudor now. Hmm. We still want a rug and some new curtains... preferably in a color other than blue and brown.

Dinner

It's also Jason's birthday today. And guess what? I finally cooked this summer!! I found these recipes on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website.

This is baked cilantro and parsley snapper.

And these are roasted potatoes and vegetables.

Fish and veges combined.

It was yummy.

Although I rather not have had to be the one who cooked it.

And I did the dishes.

Dang I'm a good wife.

Radar kept me company while I cooked.

Wow, between this picture and the previous one of Jason, we are one exciting family.

We can't contain our excitement.

Woooo.....

Guest Bedroom & Odds-N-Ends

Guest Bedroom

Our guest bedroom looked pretty plain jane when we first moved in. And for the most part, it still does. It's main purpose is to store the ironing board and our bikes (now up to three!) I'm purposely keeping it pretty neutral because I recognize that eventually it will be used for other purposes if we decide to expand our family of two plus a spoiled dog. But, I did want to add a few new pieces for the time being. So, I got new bedding (on clearance at Target for $25) and a lamp & bedside table (both found at the HomeGoods section at Marshall's... that place has some great stuff!)

Before.

After.

Close up of the bedding, lamp, and table. I think it has a nice whimsical look.

If/ when we have kiddos I want to have white or ivory furniture and patchwork quilts and textiles. I think this is pretty gender neutral and could be worked into any design.

Master Bedroom Pictures

When Jason's mom visited a few months back, she gave us some of her photos. We finally framed a few and put them up. These are on the walls of our master bedroom. Check out more of her stuff at http://www.dkharvillephotography.com/.

The first framed picture is actually a silhouette of Jason and I that I got for him this past Valentine's Day. I found it on http://www.etsy.com/. Search for "Paper Cuts by Joe" to see more of his stuff.

This was the inspiration for the silhouette.

Special Wine & Dinner

This is my wonderful husband. He has been cooking dinner for me all summer. I love him bunches and bunches for doing so.

The other night we decided to splurge and drink our "special wine" that we brought back from Sonoma. It was our last remaining bottle from our wine country trip, and we decided to go ahead and enjoy it. Jason cooked spaghetti for dinner, and we attempted to make it more of an occasion by making home-made meatballs. It was delish.

Close up of the spaghetti with meatballs and mushrooms. Yum!

Garden

Just a few minutes ago Jason found that our other pepper plant has been busy growing lately.

For scale purposes.

Sorry for the here-there-and-everywhere post. I'll have an update soon about some more changes to our master bedroom, but I'm waiting for some pieces to be delivered. For now, I'm going to go enjoy another dinner made by my wonderful husband. Tonight is cod fish with tomato sauce and vegetables. :)

Patio Set

While Jason was at the river with his family this weekend, I shopped. Hehe. I've been frugal all of my life (read: cheap, stingy - slightly to an obnoxious degree) and now that I have a house, I actually enjoy picking things out for it. I still shop deals, though. I picked out this patio set earlier this summer - it's one of the sturdiest sets I've seen and the price was right. (It's actually from Kroger, believe it or not.) I had a feeling it would go on sale towards the end of the summer, though, and sure enough when I stopped by the store on Saturday it was 25% off. I was hoping it would be a bit more on sale, but it was the last set so I snatched it up. I also convinced them to through in free delivery. (My job is 80% negotiating and I think it's paying off!)

So, here it is all set up in the backyard...

Nice, huh?

This patio set won my heart because of the tiled top. I like it much better than the glass top tables. The tiles are also removable/ replaceable which makes cleaning very convenient.

The chairs are a nylon fabric or something. They are comfortable and pretty easy to clean, but I am a bit worried about the durability of the fabric. I will probably get a patio set cover to help prolong the life of the set.

Another view.

I'm looking forward to cooler weather when we'll actually get to enjoy it a bit more. Ferryn & Steve came over for dinner the other night and we grilled hamburgers and brats and ate them outside. It was super hot though and the mosquitoes weren't too fun.

I bought a few other things while I was out and about this weekend, but I'm waiting on a delivery before I show all the pics. Other than bedside tables for the bedroom, we are almost done furniture shopping.

Painting & Grilling

Painting

I feel like a liar. Right after I tell you that we aren't really planning any more projects, Jason wakes up and says, "Hey... let's paint your bathroom today." So, off to Home Depot we go.

I really disliked the orange. According to color psychology, orange is supposed to make you feel excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth. It brought none of these to my mind. Instead, it only reminded me of my elementary alma mater - Hillcrest Lil' Yotes. Not exactly what I wanted to be reminded of everyday. So, we picked out a blue that would match our bath accessories and that would look good with the blue of the bedroom.

Step 1: Remove hardware.

Step 2: Tape the edges.

Jason is outside building the grill we bought when we were at Home Depot on our paint run.

Step 3: Prime.

Primer is done.

I was really worrying about our painting abilities after I saw the job we did priming.

Step 4: Enlist the dog to help.

You can tell how enthused he looked about the project. By the end of the day, he had all of his toys lined up outside of the bathroom.

Step 5: Cut in the edges.

Step 6: Paint cutsie messages for each other.

End of day 1. The first coat is up.

I woke up this morning and put a second coat of paint up and removed the tape. I was not thrilled with how the tape worked. I think I could have done better edges without it. Oh well, for our first paint job, I think it turned out okay.

The end result.

Much better than the orange. :)

Grilling

I've really missed having a grill. When we were up in the Woodlands, one of my co-workers let us use his grill when he was off in San Francisco for training. We used it probably once a week. Jason is determined to eventually get us a really nice wood burning BBQ pit. Since I knew that finding the perfect BBQ pit was probably going to take some time, I suggested getting a cheap grill to use in the meantime. We found this one for $25 at Home Depot on a 4th of July sale. It truly is only worth about $25, but I figure if we use it even a couple of times, we will get our money worth out of it.

Once again, the dog is trying to help. Can't you tell how useful he was yesterday?

We grilled steaks....

and vegetables.

Jason was worried they wouldn't turn out very good, but I thought he did a great job. Steaks were juicy and vegetables were very yummy.

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July as well.

I am just thrilled to have a 3-day weekend. :)