2011 Goal #2

I've always loved how the folks over at Young House Love
painted this bathroom:

 I think the stripes aren't too much in this small space 

because they are so neutral and almost calming. 

Isn't it fabulous?

Ever since we built our house,
I've wanted to paint some stripes.

So my 2nd goal for 2011 is to paint our main floor bathroom

with some tone-on-tone stripes a la YHL.

They've even got this handy tutorial on their blog

to show us exactly how to do it!

This is pretty much what our main floor bathroom 

has looked like for the last year:

Pretty plain.

The walls are white and all I had hanging in there 

for the longest time was just a white shower curtain liner.

I eventually threw a few things we'd had hanging in our apartment

up on the wall to make it less stark in there.

But between my love of the YHL bathroom, 

this rug I already owned,

and the color of my bathroom countertop,

I knew this was the perfect room to stripe

with some tone-on-tone neutrals -

The problem is,

we've just never got around to doing it.

So now is the time,

since all of these projects have to wait until spring.

I'm hoping to knock this goal off the list

before baby #2 arrives in April.

Let's see if it happens!

No Cavities

Because I don't post videos often enough

and because Walt LOVES brushing his teeth,

here he is - getting the job done!

 He's got 10 teeth now, after recently getting 2 molars.

And he enjoys caring for them all :)

2011 Goal #1

This isn't a resolution for the new year -

Just a little goal I'm setting for myself

to help organize some of the chaos in my house.

I've taken a lot of pictures in my day.

A LOT.

What might shock you to know -

(or maybe not even a little bit)

is that I don't have a single photo album

full of pictures in my house.

We're talking just your regular old

stick-the-photo-in-the-plastic-sleeve album like this -

I don't own a single one.

I made 2 completed scrapbooks after my first Europe trip in 2000,

but 10 years later I never even magaged to finish the third scrapbook. Pitiful.

So basically every single printed picture I own since birth

is crammed into a few giant boxes with zero rhyme or reason.

And not cute, organized photo boxes like this:

We're talking a couple of big cardboard boxes,

the contents of which look like this:

It's awful.

It's ridiculous.

It haunts me.

I've tried to tackle this problem before,

but the idea of organizing them all seems daunting.

And despite the problems I have with all of my old printed photos

sitting around in cardboard boxes -

I also have this to deal with:

It's an external hard drive.

The problem here is that every photograph I've taken

since approximately 2003 is stored on it.

None of the pictures are organized or sorted besides into folders from when I uploaded them,

and almost NONE of them have ever been printed.

Luckily I started this blog a few years ago,

on which I display photos frequently.

Otherwise, I'm sure all of the pics 

would've just gone off to the external hard drive -

Never to see the light of day again. Stupid.

Because dealing with my chaotic collection of photos

is an overwhelming project -

I'm hoping to take a baby step 

at organizing some of the mess this year.

I'm starting small.

My goal is to take the photos from 2010, month-by-month,

and to print off the good pics and put them into an album.

I'm not talking about fancy scrapbook albums or anything crazy.

Just a nice album like this, labeled 2010 -

So this month, my plan is to sift through

all of my digital photos taken during the month of January 2010.

I'm going to print off the keepers,

and start filling a photo album with them.

That's it.

The goal is to continue this project during each month of 2011,

so that by the end of the year -

I should have an album or two

of all of the printable pictures of 2010

in order from January to December,

to proudly display on a shelf or pull out for people to look at.

It will be amazing!

While this plan may not help me get a grip on

the other 29 years worth of pictures I've got in my house -

It will mean that from 2010 forward I'm not adding to it!

Baby steps people - baby steps.

Anyone else got a big project they are hoping to at least

make a little headway in during 2011?



The Simple Things

Walt got a lot of great things for Christmas -

 

 

 

 

 But in spite of all of these wonderful gifts,

Walter's found his latest excitement

in riding around the house in a diaper box.

 Nothing makes him happier
than his daddy pushing him down the hall.

 

And in seeing the looks on his face -

and hearing him giggle like crazy -

we get a pretty big kick out of it too :)

Unfinished Projects

Happy New Year everyone!
If you've been following my blog for awhile,
you  may have seen some "before" projects
that never got an "after" photo.
That's most likely because that project is still sitting around here somewhere, unfinished.
In fairness to me -
a number of these are more outdoor or garage projects.
So I'm kind of stuck waiting for spring so I can complete
my sanding, painting, and staining.
But in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions -
Here is a list of projects I plan to complete this year:

1. My green desk makeover - this is what it looked like when my brother-in-law found it sitting next to a dumpster:

 And this is how it looks sitting in my garage right now:

 

I sanded it a few times and then didn't know what to do with it,
but now I've got a plan.
I just need some warm weather so I can finish it up.

2. Farm Chair - I brought this baby home from the farm where it had been abandoned in the garage:

 It's had a few rounds of sanding -

 

but still needs to be finished up, stained, and put back together.

3. Flea market crown molding - I bought these 3 pieces of crown molding hoping to make something out of them:

I found some great hooks to go on them,

but haven't attached them yet.

4. Guest Bedroom Window Project - I picked up this window at a flea market and know just what I want to make with it:

I got part of it done this summer -

I bought some lumber,

 

and some primer -

 and got a few of the pieces primed.

But there is plenty more to be done.

 With a little more priming, painting, 

some sawing and assembling -

 I just may pull this one off!

5. My antique flag - I found this 48-star beauty at the local antique shop:

I wanted to find a nice way to hang it in our basement,

but haven't pulled that off yet.

The poor thing has been stuffed in a drawer for the last 8 months.

I know, ridiculous.

6. Craigslist & Thrift Store furniture purchases: You haven't seen these before, but I picked up a few cheap furniture pieces that I'm hoping to revamp.

I snagged this little night stand off Craigslist for $10.

 I loved it's cute little legs.

 I'm thinking once I've made it over,

its new home will be in the guest room.

 And I found this little metal end table 

at a thrift store for $8!

 I'm hoping to spray paint it

and line the drawer and shelf with cute paper.

 Then it too will get a home somewhere in the house.

7. Baby G #2 - one last project I plan on finishing in the new year,

is baking this baby! Here's what I looked like at the halfway point:

And here I am 6 weeks later at week 26:

Only 14 more weeks until I can check this project off my list!

Since all of these projects

will have to wait until spring to be finished,

I'm working on another list

of things I hope to accomplish in the meantime.

Stay tuned!