Sunday, March 21, 2010

*Note: If you're sick of dog pictures you may want to skip this post*

The other night Josh and I were talking about how unphotogenic little Zoey girl is so I went through the photos I've taken so far to find all the good ones. I guess 'all' is a relative term because there weren't that many. Here are some faves:

This is from the night we got her and I love how Zeke and Monkey are checking her out. Of course anti-social Hobbes is nowhere to be found.


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This is a typical Zoey pose - using the arm of the couch to get up higher so she can see what's going on in the kitchen.

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She and Zeke have become fast friends. She loves him and tries to copy everything he does.

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A rare moment of peace when they're both sleeping.

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Josh isn't a fan of this one because she looks like a bit of a disheveled mess. I like it because it captures her squirmy, constantly-moving-around-ness. You can really see where her nose got chomped.

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Mr. Smiley and his pal :-)

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I'll try come up with some new material so the next post isn't about our dogs :-)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Monday, March 8, 2010

Fun with white paint

As you know I am a big fan of black paint. So far our headboard, the powder room vanity, the living room mirror, and (some of) the kitchen cabinets have been painted black. Well lately I've been on the opposite end of the spectrum and have been having fun with white paint.

It all started with this coffee table I found on Craigslist:

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When I saw it I thought it would be perfect for the living room. I've always felt like that room could do with a bigger coffee table but every big one I saw was too pricey. Enter this huge, solid wood beauty with an even more beautiful price tag: $35!

The color wasn't great but that's what paint is for!

At first I thought I'd paint it black (surprise, surprise) but because its so big I was worried it would suck all the light out of the room. So I decided to go with white.

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(The Trader Joe's daffodils are back - a bunch of 10 blooms for an unbelievable $1.29!)

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(Once again all the animals felt the need to get in the picture. The only reason you don't see Zoey is because we didn't have her yet!)

I'm still getting used to having so much white in the room but I definitely like it!

I think I spent about $20 on supplies so I am pretty happy to have a huge 'new' coffee table for under $60!

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I was so happy with how the coffee table turned out I started thinking about other things I could paint white. The craft room is on my to-do list for later in the year and I've given myself a pretty small budget for it so I've been collecting used furniture to use in there. This thrift store chair has been sitting in the garage, patiently awaiting a makeover.

She started out like this:

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Pretty ugly huh?

And after some spray paint, new foam and fabric, she now looks like this:

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I seriously LOVE it!!!

I cant believe I almost left that ugly chair at the thrift store - isn't it amazing what paint and fabric can do?

I think my darling black paint has some competition :-)

A new (puppy) baby

Meet Zoey!

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She got chomped in the face by one of the other dogs at the breeder's house so they deeply discounted her because she's all scarred up now. We don't mind though and were more than happy to bring her home.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Master Bedroom update

We 'finished' our master bedroom a year ago. I was happy with how it turned out but I always felt like it was a bit too blue. I bought the blue bedding before we moved into the house, and then we decided to paint the walls a light gray color. The color we chose is called "Light french gray" but when we put it on the walls we discovered it was more blue than gray. Luckily we love the color but combined with the blue bedding its a bit of blue overkill.

So for the past couple of months I've been thinking about how I can switch it up a little without buying a bunch of new stuff.

I found these pillows at Target and did a happy dance in the aisle when I discovered they had been marked down to $10 in the after Christmas sale! I think technically they are 'winter' pillows but since I am drawn to cool colors I think they can work year round.


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Unfortunately they didn't work with the blue duvet so I started looking for a light gray one. I checked Ross, Home Goods, TJMaxx, and Marshall's regularly with no luck, and then finally I found a dark gray set at Home Goods.

I was worried it might be a bit dark and masculine, so to soften it a little I made white pillow cases for our big square pillows out of a twin sheet. They aren't perfect but for $8 and a little time they are perfect enough for me!

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And that's how we made the change from this:


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To this:

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I love it! It seems so much fresher and modern and the gray doesn't seem too dark at all!

Next I wanted to spruce up the bay window a little. It looked like this for a while:


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Then I moved the ottoman downstairs so it has looked like this for the past couple of months:

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I thought some light and airy curtains would add some nice softness to the room. Originally I had planned to hang curtains on all the windows but I couldn't get the curtain rods to work on the small windows so I just hung them on the big window (does it look weird?). They are the same Ikea curtains I used in the living room and they aren't the highest quality but at $10 for 2 panels they're unbeatable! The black chair is relocated from the family room - we never sat on it down there. Its a little bulky for the small bay window but its free so we'll make it work!

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I don't know what the deal is with our pets but they are constantly trying to get into the picture!


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What do you think? Is it an improvement or is the gray too dreary?