Friday, August 31, 2012

{Lighting LOVE}

So, we are still moving forward over here, and I am trying to keep the mojo alive.

One thing that I knew I wanted to tackle upon moving in was the light fixture over the dining room table. It wasn't bad looking, it just wasn't my style at all. See.....



 Even though it has a matching entry-way light......
 .....(that I am leaving up because I don't have a budget for a new one), I knew I wanted something new and fresh over the table. The ceiling in the dining room is very high, and I know absolutely nothing about hard wiring anything, but I figured that if I could find a light worth having, I could find someone to install it for me (well, I hoped anyway).

If you'll remember at our old place, we had a light fixture that I loved......


The West Elm Capiz Shell Chandelier. Ooooh. Ahhhh. (lol). Unfortunately, that one had to stay with the house :( ....... B-U-T.......my sweet husband saw how bummed I was about leaving it behind and agreed to get me THE EXACT SAME ONE!! :) Yay! So, I have had it in my possession for over a month now, but have been overwhelmed by the task of hanging it.

Duh....all I had to do was ask my awesome brother in law to bring a 16ft ladder home from the firehouse and to hang it (hard wire) for me. Easy Peasey Japanesey!

Here we go.....

Come on down big guy ;)


Here is how the chandelier came, with all of the shell strands individually wrapped....

Once it was up we had to unwrap the strands carefully....


Oliver liked watching us do all of the hard work too...




And finally, all is right with the world (or at least with my dining room light fixture ;) ).....


I am so happy with how it turned out. Yes, the scale is a little off (small) for this space, and yes, it's a little "white" and gets a little lost against those tall white walls, BUT, once I hang stuff up on the walls, it will POP, I just know it. And I can't wait to hear the jingle jangle of the shells clanging together when the cross breeze goes through the house. I love that sound :) the sound of my VERY OWN WEST ELM CAPIZ SHELL CHANDELIER!!! :) YAY!

Oliver is excited about it too, can't you tell?! ;)



Happy holiday weekend everyone!
:) -L
 



Monday, August 27, 2012

{Gettin' stuff done - finally ;) }

I have been dragging my feet when it comes to getting things "settled" here at he new place. I'm not sure why....? Maybe I've been a little overwhelmed by the thought of getting every area situated at once instead of tackling things one small area at a time, so I have just avoided all of it?? Yea, I think that is a big part of it. That being said, yesterday was a good day. A day of getting some things done that I have wanted to get done for quite some time (thanks to a good old fashioned cry prior to getting started (lol), and some help from my sweet husband :)).

First things first -- our breakfast nook curtains. I purchased my DREAM curtains at West Elm a couple of months ago, and we finally hung them up....


I am super happy with how they look. They are fresh and airy and stylish in all of the right ways. The window is an odd size (it's big), so the panels are exactly wide enough to cover the whole thing, and they are a touch too long (108"), but in general, I'm happy with how they fit. I won't really be closing them much anyway, so the tight fit is not really an issue :)

After seeing the look of the whole space, I am going to remove the lattice place-mats & use plain ones. It looks a little....busy.  Don't you think....?



I think the table decor needs to be changed in general, but it'll do for now.

While we were on the curtain kick, the formal dining room got some too (cheap gray curtains from Ikea).....
...but that's all I can show you in there, because besides the curtains, it's a total disaster area ;) lol.

I've been starting to put my touch on other small areas of the house too.

Kitchen window...

A small amount of my vintage citrus reamer collection:

...& some other window-goodness....


I plan on adding some more succulents up there soon. It is a greenhouse-like window with glass shelves right behind the kitchen sink. I really like it!

I also finally printed & framed a few photos to sprinkle around...


...and ordered a large (20" x 30") gallery wrapped canvas to hang up somewhere. It is HUGE and I am IN LOVE with it!


 (Newborn photo by Bubba-Loo Photography)

And one area of the house that has stumped me a little bit as far as decorating goes is in the "family room" (the room we sit in most). It is a "cut-out" that the builder decided to add to house a T.V. An old-school square tube-T.V..  Do any of you have these in your homes? Home builders in this area did this a lot, and in my opinion, it was not a good call. Why would I want someone else to decide where my tv should go and what size it should have to be, and furthermore, in my case, they put it to the right of the fireplace, and added another cut out below it (maybe for more A.V. equipment? Or firewood? who knows!), so it is off centered and random looking :/

All I know is that it is kind of a challenge to work around it, so for now, this is what it looks like.....


(The 22nd is the date of our wedding)

To the right of this "cubby" is a window, to the left is an empty space over a barely-wide-enough mantel, and below to the left is the fireplace. It's an odd set-up, but nevertheless, we are making it work (& in the small cutout to the right of the fireplace, I have put a basket with folded throw blankets. Not pretty, but functional).

So, there you have it. That is all the progress that I have made so far, but I feel my mojo slightly creeping back and plan to continue with my decorating mission until it's done :) Wish me luck.

Oh..and some Oliver goodness, because, why not!!? :)















Monday, August 20, 2012

{6 Months (*sigh*) }



6 MONTHS OLD!!! That is 1/2 of a year. That is -- Crazy!! Our little Oliver Cash is growing up way too fast :/. He is changing everyday and it is so much fun to watch. He has such a great disposition and loves learning new things.

Current likes: 
*Bouncing in his Baby Einstein Jumparoo
*Baths
*Splashing in the pool
*Watching our doggies - they make him laugh :)
*Rolling over from back to tummy
*Grabbing onto our faces and squeezing (hard)
*Sucking on his toes
*Yelling/screeching (lol)



Current dislikes:
*Eating (This boy does not like baby cereal, fruits, etc. yet. His lips clamp down like a locked door when the spoon comes near. We are still continuing to try, and eventually we know he will love food :) )
*Staying on his tummy for too long
*The car (he still does not love the car when he's awake. He's getting better, but it's not his fav.)

Oliver's Stats:
WEIGHT: 15.6 lbs - 18th percentile (he is only up 2 pounds from his 4 month check-up, but the Doctor said that he looks great and is gaining weight, so there is nothing to worry about. He is a great "drinker" and is developing/growing perfectly)
LENGTH: 26.5" - 50th percentile (up 1.5" from 4 month check-up)
HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE: 17" - 35th percentile (up .25" from 4 month check up - but they measured this twice and got 2 different measurements, so I'm not sure how accurate it is. One was 17.25" (50th %). It's funny how the most minute measurement difference can change the whole percentile)

He is definitely getting stronger. He can't sit up on his own yet, but we are working on it and he will get there soon :)

No teeth yet. 

So there you have it. Here are some more pictures from our little "chair" session.....







and of course some with Mr. Gnome.....





Love this boy SO much xo

Happy Monday everyone :)

-L