Progress

FINALLY- we've moved!!!  Four years ago before we moved to Hawaii (two weeks prior to moving, actually) we purchased a home as an investment and rented it out with the intention of someday living in it. After having it rented for four years (to numerous tenants) it is ours...and we've kissed apartment/900 sqft living goodbye happily.  Amazingly, the house was in ridiculously good condition after being rented for so long.  Not one paint mark on the wall, no huge holes to patch, no nasty carpet to replace, no gashes in the hardwood.  We spent two weeks cleaning it head to toe and painting everything but the bathrooms and the nursery...including all ceilings in the house which Robby wanted white and I will forever be grateful that he accomplished it!  I love the white ceilings!!!  After entirely too much money spent on paint samples, we executed decisions with the attitude that if we hated it, we'd just redo it.  We have a purple entry room, a turquoise kitchen, a "1970's Maytag washer" gold living room wall, a blue and gray bedroom and a pink and green toddler room.  I love it all immensely.  It's bright, different, fresh and fun...and I am SO glad it's over.  Picking paint is a bit exhausting and overwhelming if you ask me- way too many colors to choose from.  Like asking a pregnant lady if she wants chocolate or potato chips and what kind.  Seriously?  Hard choices here.

The fireplace REALLY needs to go...the green and gold either totally works or makes the "maytag washer" wall that much more hidious...I'm pretty sure the latter.  I love the obnoxious color and hopefully soon the budget will allow for some new tiles to make it look a little more modern...all in time, right? 

My dare devil hunk leaning over stairs to get the job done.  This boy didn't put in one night under midnight in order to get it all done and move a pregnant lady in.  ♥

Syd's room is my favorite as it is the only complete room in the house as far as decor is concerned.  All walls except for hers are blank and have me wondering what in the world I am going to do with them.  Someday it will be decorated, but for now- there's lots of empty space...which after living clustered for four years in a condo and an apartment, is welcomed.

Two months ago I got the itch to make Sydney some birds for her bedroom.  What initially started as a plan to have them painted turned into a project for myself.  I found a piece of scrapbook paper that had a bunch of birds on it and fell in love with the shapes of the different birds.  I used their templates to make my birds, but had fun picking out fabric, hand embroidering and then sewing them to duck cloth.  Robby made all of the frames for me and then we stretched the duck cloth to look like canvas.  I somehow got excited while cutting out my birds and ended up with 15 of them...what an undertaking and a project that caused me a little frustration, stress, but a huge amount of joy and accomplishment in the end.  I dubbed it a nesting project and kept at it during naptime and after Syd when to bed nightly until I finished.  I made some hanging book displays for her walls to match the birds, but that idea wasn't my own...that was an amazing pinterest find and I would recommend EVERYONE do it!  It was so easy and they look adorable on the wall.  You can get instructions here. 

Here's an up-close for detail. 

We're all loving the new space.  Sydney enjoys hiding in numerous closets and nooks and crannies.  She likes the hard wood floors and how she can slide around when we have dance parties, and the huge tub in our bathroom that easily fits all three of us.  When we're out and on our way home she'll ask me "Mom, where's my new house?"  I'm loving all the storage space and the fact that it's not all crammed with stuff.  I adore the kitchen and the fireplace is one of my new best friends.  This is the first time I've had a laundry room that isn't in a closet, and I don't think I have ever washed/folded laundry with such a smile on my face. Robby is tickled pink to finally have a garage again and says he looks in open garages as he drives by hoping to get ideas for storage racks and organization.  He's itching for spring to come so he can get his hands in some much needed yard work.  It's funny the little things you appreciate after not having them.

Sporting Daddy's hat and my shirt for our nightly "dance party".

BIG smiles around here.

Now, if we could just get this place completed- we can have a baby!  More on that in a future post!