Pillows!

Dear Target,

Thank You!
love,
me

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When I bought my adorable placemats, I noticed target also had coordinating pillow covers for just $5 each. I only had ten bucks then, and I chose to get the placemats, but tonight I had some extra money in my pocket- and we all know how money HATES being in pockets and much prefers the company of more money in a cozy cash register drawer.

AND the pillow covers were on sale for $4 each. I scored 5 of those bad boys for the same price I would have paid to buy one decorative throw pillow. Score!

I have hated my couch's pillows since we bought the darned thing, and have been quite obsessive about the patterned side always facing the couch. I didn't want to look at it! But now I have 5 lovely "new" pillows!

We technically only have 4 couch pillows- and only 2 of my dining chairs had cushions. One of them got lost in the move, so I stuffed the remaining one inside one of my new covers. The only style of the cover I didn't buy was the striped one. It's my least favorite, but I may go back to get it for when I stumble across that missing dining cushion. Or maybe I'll buy a repeat of one of the solids- I don't know. I have a lot of bold blues and greens in the room. Another pattern might be too much. There is a solid tan option. I need advice. I know I'm bordering on over-kill. It just occurred to me that I could also buy some more to do dining cushions. Dining cushions are so rarely washable- and my kids wipe their hands all over them.

We always like to have bed pillows on our couch as well. My husband flat out refuses to sit on the couch unless we have company. He always lays down on it. We have a stack of blankets near the couch as well. And he stacks all the pillows under his head. It's Snuggle Central.

I want to find some inexpensive pillow shams for 2-4 bed pillows that match the covers I bought. Target's usually pretty good about carrying a pattern across departments- the floral pillow matches my placemats- but I didn't see any shams today. Keep an eye out for me!

Additionally, I bought a new utensil holder ($7 on the clearance end-cap) in my favorite color! The florescent lights give the counter a heavenly glow, and you know what? It is heavenly. Look at my lovely new utensil holder! How well it matches my Scentsy warmer and the frame on that adorable picture of my daughters!They also had a matching cookie jar for $7. I wanted it, but couldn't justify it, seeing as cookies these days come in their own resealable packages. I'm now sitting here trying to think up something I could store in a tall, narrow, air-tight kitchen container just so I can go buy it. And that just reinforces the fact that I don't need it. I'm also eye-balling a fabulous turquoise retro-styled metal breadbox. However, due to counter constraints, it would probably get tucked into the pantry. So why bother? OR I could put it on my "junk" counter, to shove the junk inside. My guests will think "what an awesome bread box" and I will think "thank goodness they can't see my big pile of junk!"

House Warming Party!

Our house warming party is set for Saturday, August 15th. Should be a pretty packed house! Hooray! I can't wait to see all your beautiful faces. Call us if you need directions, have questions, or when you figure out if you can make it (so we can get a head count.)

Don't feel obligated, but if you'd like to get us a gift, here's a list:
We need some big budget items, like a water softening system, a new bed frame for the girls, and a freezer. We've already shopped around for the best deals on the ones we want, so we will gladly welcome gift cards to Home Depot, Lowe's, Ikea and Sears.
For smaller things, we registered at Target- bath towels, kitchen stuff, odds and ends, and a couple of "fun" items. Our registry is under Club Wedd because I didn't realize I had other options.
We also need those clear plastic things that cover the knobs on the oven/stove, to keep the little one from burning the house down. They have them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and "baby" stores.

The run down on our decorating scheme:
Living Room- deep tan walls and couches with green and blue accents, large painting of Starry Night, brownish black furniture with straight lines
Kitchen/Dining- deep blue walls, dishes in shades of blue, green, and brown (mainly plastic due to the kid factor) black appliances, dark brown tile and countertops, medium shade wood cabinets
Half Bath- presently unpainted, deep red accent pieces. I'd like to get a collection of Mexican punched tin hearts to hang on the wall- I bought one the other day- a red heart with silver flames coming out the top. We might want to hang them over the cabinets in the kitchen. Hmmm...
Girls' Room- turquoise walls, purple furniture, under sea/mermaids
Girls' Bath- blue and lime green, puppies and kitties, with a few frogs
Master Bedroom- blue walls, brown and blue bedding, dark wood bed frame
Master Bath- presently nothing, hoping for brown and deep orange color scheme
Exterior- forest green front door, green door mats and flower pots
(Pictures of what we've done so far are available in the previous post- August 5th.)

The new light fixtures my husband installed are all dark brown/bronzish, with slightly yellow frosted glass. The carpet is a light tan with brownish speckles. All hanging picture frames are black.

Candles are also great- I love it when my house smells like Thanksgiving baked goodies: pumpkin pie, hazelnut, cinnamon, maple.

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OK, well I guess I have two weeks to finish painting and get unpacked... Don't forget to RSVP!

Day 67: Walk Thru #2

Went out sans husband (he was at work) for the final walk thru today. Just about everything from the list was fixed.

This is what was lacking:

1. Mutant ants were still there. The exterminator was scheduled to come at 5- I was there at 4. He's supposed to leave a slip on the counter as proof that he did his thing.
2. The fridge will arrive on Tuesday.
3. The light above the powder room sink will be fixed tomorrow. The guy was there trying to do it during my walk thru but was missing something and will come back tomorrow.
4. The back sidewalk was repaired, but it is quite obvious. Supposedly, they stained it to match after I left today.

Here's what our door and post look like now that they are the right color. The door looked a little streaky- maybe because they just painted it? It's an olivey- forest green.I tried to get a shot from further back to give you the over-all effect, but it was just too sunny for my camera phone. (My actual camera has lost it's mind. Or it's eye-sight I should say. It keeps saying "lens error" and won't take any pictures.)

The shelf in the master bedroom's walk in closet is a thing of the past. The new shelves in the front room's closet nook look fabulous. (There was no charge to rip them out and relocate them. Am I supposed to tip someone?)

Our blinds are in! Reuben, our builder, was the guy who did this walk thru with me. He's in charge of all the ordering and such. He had ordered the blinds for our house prior to the paperwork for us being turned in 2 months ago. He thought it was going to be a "spec" house- and they always do lots of upgrades in those. Therefore, we got faux wood blinds instead of the crappy metal ones. They close with an overlap, reducing your A/C's struggle to heat or cool you home. Awesome- especially because our blinds were free. When we were doing our upgrades, the saleslady talked us into some pretty cool stuff and then felt bad when we hit our budget cap- which is why she threw the blinds in for free. (An A/C note: we only have one unit, but it has some sort of a switch on it so we can set the upstairs and downstairs to different temperatures.)

This is the front window- the front door is on the left and the coat closet on the right.

dining/living rooms

Reuben gave me a reference sheet for the house- when to clean things and with what, how to care for the tile and how often to treat the cabinets. He said builders don't seal the grout on tile- it's the home owner's job. So he told me what to buy at Home Depot and how to do it. Sounds easy enough.

He also said that during our first week, if we need anything, to call him instead of the warranty company. They still have about 400 houses to build in the neighborhood so he'll be around. One example he gave: When we move in furniture, it's likely that we'll hit the wall and corners by the stairs which can chip the texture off the wall or scuff the paint. Instead of using our patch kit, we can just call him and he will touch it up for free.

He gave me a typed up paper from our saleslady promising that our fridge will be in on Tuesday, and have an icemaker. Reuben ordered it- he confirmed that it will be black. I had him write on that sheet that the light will be fixed and that the exterminator is supposed to come.

When I was leaving I met the neighbor that lives directly behind us- another police officer. (A constable lives a few houses down from us. Anyone know what a constable is?)

Closing
We were supposed to close tomorrow. However, we applied for a USDA loan. The paper work has net yet returned. There is a possibility that it could arrive some time tomorrow and we can go close, but if not, we'll have to wait til sometime next week.

(The USDA gives loans to get people to move out to farm land-type areas. Our house is on the furthest edge of town, by goat farms and cows. Fortunately, it's also only 10-15 minutes away from downtown.)

After closing we'll have two days to get all our utilities switched over. Reuben said the first thing we should do after closing is head to the house with our keys. Apparently the house has magic locks on it! The builder and sales key work until the home owner keys are inserted. At that point, some little metal thing inside flops down and locks out any other keys. Neat-O.

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We went to Ikea last week and I found a large area rug on clearance for $125. My husband scoffed at the price, but I've been in the market for some time now and know that's an excellent price for a rug of that size. It's actually the perfect funky shade of green to match our existing living room pieces. And I'm insisting on an area rug because our carpet is just so lovely. I want to protect our high-traffic areas. If that rug is still there after we close, it's as good as mine.

This isn't the rug- although I like this one- but it's in that color family.

I'd also been searching for a train table for my daughters. They are very pricey new ($100+) , so I was hunting Craigslist. None of the people I contacted got back with me. Their loss- as I went to the Pottery Barn Outlet and found my own version. Technically it's a media base, but it'll certainly work in the playroom. Found it in the clearance section for $40 plus everything in the store was an addition 10% off for the holiday weekend. The outlet sticker says $149.99 and the Pottery Barn website has it listed for over $350!

This is what it looks like, but the one I bought is red. It's a little scuffed up on one side, but I can paint it. I got it for less than I would have paid for a used play table, so I won't complain. Lots of storage space with the drawers and cubbies. As a bonus, we can still use it when my girls have outgrown trains and doll houses. Score!


I realize this bedding is pretty youthful looking, but I still like it. It's my favorite colors, so it's my inspiration for the down stairs color scheme. Plus it has such a nice worldly pattern, reminds me of those Mexican tiles I love. This is part of the back-to-college collection at Target. And now it's my kitchen inspiration. I tried to find pictures of the things I bought, but no dice. So I will simply tell you. There's this fabulous little 4x6 picture frame- I think I want to mount it on my pantry door. It's white, with turquoise and brown bloopies around the glass, and green flowers with blue dots along the edge. Lovely. I might go get another one. I also bought the case for one of those huge body pillows. Originally, I was going to make pillow covers for my couch pillows. I hate the ones we have. However, I don't want my living room to be too feminine. I took it out of the package and it is nearly the perfect size to be a table runner. After I get my sewing machine fixed I think I'll remove the back and line it with a nice contrasting fabric. Then I might take the back piece and turn it into a couple of place mats for the bar top. I also like the idea of buying a few more and making chair cushions- but again I don't want to overwhelm the eye with flowers and bloopies, so maybe just solid cushions with pops of color on the table tops.

I also bought a package of kitchen towels at Target. There's a yellow one in there that I'm not too keen on, but I really like the brightly colored one. It's blue and white, with yellow and I think some green. It's one of the few things I've already packed...


My daughters' bathroom will be shades of blue, green, purple, and white- with a puppy and kitty theme. I found this frame at Target on clearance for $2. I LOVE this picture of my girls, fresh from the tub, wrapped in their puppy towels! I want to install a shelf in their bathroom to showcase it.

An extended member of our family recently moved and has an abundance of boxes. We went by their house last weekend and loaded up the truck. My dining room table is covered in them. Now if I can just muster the motivation to pack! This will be our 3rd move in less than a year... and hopefully our last for some time!

What a bundle of nerves I've been. Well, it'll all be over soon.

Stuff We "Need"

We're trying to determine what we need/want immediately upon move-in. Some of the things we'll buy brand-new, most we'll try to find on Craigslist, and some things we'll need to build ourselves.
Here is our current list:

toaster or toaster oven
Our old toaster was stainless steel and I want to avoid that smudgey nightmare. I think finding a blue one would be awesome,or black to match our appliances.

This orange one from Lowe's for $40 is also cool.This one has a toaster on top and the toaster oven beneath. That's inventive.My husband would prefer a toaster oven. I can't really find any in blue... but these would all look nice.

up-right freezer
The freezer will go in the kitchen, at the end of the counter/edge of dining room. Eventually I'd like to get an additional matching cabinet to hang over it to make it look like it belongs there. I'm not sire there's a cabinet over my fridge. On the blueprint it's listed as an upgrade, so I may have to get two of them.
mirror and sink for powder room (see my previous blog)

bar stools
We want 2-3 bar stools. They seem to have a huge price range: $60-$150 each. Our dining table is mission style, and I'd like the bar stools to match. The trouble lies in what color? Our dining table has a dark brown stain. The living room furniture is all black-brown. The area where the bar stools go is on the edge of the living room. Perhaps we should get the stools in black-brown so that they match the colors of the room they sit in, but the style of the dining furniture just a few feet away. What do you think?

curtains throughout
Target has pretty good prices. Target had their panels 2 for $20. I think we'd need eight of them to do what I have planned. I want matching floor length curtains in the living and dining, tan with a chocolate brown band the bottom. I also think we should do that thing where the curtain rod extends a foot or so past the window on either side so that the window appears larger, especially with the living room being painted a dark color. Plus we need one panel for the foyer window. I may just make them myself. I need to check the fabric store. We need curtain rods, about $30 each. Or we could do Roman Shades. My husband likes them and they're about $34 each.
These drapes are from Pottery Barn. Way more than I want to spend, but the right look. I want a sleeve at the top instead of grommets- especially if I end up making them myself.

Ikea mattress for the wee one
This is, of course, assuming, their bed frame survives the disassemble/reassemble process. towels/bath mat for master bath
deep orange, chocolate brown, maybe a cream color $6-$10 each

I also dig these from World Market:

Floral Chestnut Turkish Cotton Bath Towels

$4.99 - $8.99

Mexican tiles
I want to do a frame around the pantry and also a "chair rail" in the entry out of Mexican tiles. I don't know the dimensions of the pantry door, but I measured my apartment's front door. It would require 55 tiles. I also don't know the length of the foyer. There are a lot openings in the wall for closets and such, but I think I'll need about 35 tiles. I'll do true measurements once the house is actually there... That's a guessing total of 90 tiles. 4x4 tiles are about $1.50-$2.50 each, and discounts are given on boxes of 90. Low end, this project would be about $150 (frowny face.) I'll want to shop around for the very best deal.
We also want to do our house numbers with the Mexican tiles. You can buy a little frame for them and hang it on the house. We also want some sort of exterior art piece to hang on the stone between the two windows on the front of the house.

futon or small couch with hide-away bed
for guest room. we haven't discussed a color scheme.

2 desks
We need two desks to go side by side in our office/guestroom/playroom. One for the computer, one for my sewing things.
This one is the ALVE secretary desk from Ikea ($199 each.) I prefer for the bottom of it to be enclosed so there aren't wires poking out and the baby won't be able to turn the computer on and off. We also need a lot of storage space.
At Walmart I stumbled upon a cool cabinet, so now I'm looking into "computer armoires." I need to be sure that the ones we select can support a sewing machine. Maybe I can find a craft armoire, too?

rugs
I love how rugs look- like artwork for the floor. I definitely want one in the living room. I'd like it to be at least 6x8. I want the color to compliment the living room and dining room walls, in addition to our painting. This is the 6x9 Blue/Brown Striped Chindi cotton Rug 401061 from World Market for $139:Rugs are so expensive. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this wool one from Rugstudio.com, but it's a thousand dollars for the 7x9! The colors are so beautiful and it would look fabulous with our painting.

I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant it!

coffee table and end table
We have a couple of options with our existing furniture. We have a coffee table for the living room- but I want an end table, too. We can get a matching one at Ikea. OR we can put our coffee table in the playroom upstairs and get a new coffee/end table set for the living room.

lawnmower
We might have a seller for this item.

tall ladder

paint/supplies
Have any leftover paint?
I need small quantities of these colors: burnt red, chocolate brown, purpley blue, and purple.
And at least one can each of a basic brown, navy blue, light blue/turquoise, and a dusty blue.

nail gun

recording equipment

t.v.
We'll look on Craigslist for a flat-screen HD t.v.

supplies for building a bunny hutch

supplies for building a raised flower bed
I'd like to build a raised flower bed in the backyard, to run the length of the fence along the street. I want to put a trellis on the fence itself, and plant climbing things like honey-suckle and orange trumpets. I want it to be butterfly friendly, but minimize the amount of bees we'd get. I actually want to do two beds on that fence. The other bed would be for a small produce garden: basil, rosemary, strawberries, some sort of vegetable, etc. I also want to put a lot of bird houses on posts in the garden. I just have to make sure they won't eat my veggies. And we definitely want some humming bird feeders!

grill or chiminea or fire pit
I saw a fire pit today that comes with a grill for cooking, a bucket insert so you could fill it with ice and cold drinks, and a dome lid. We'll need to clear a space for it in the yard- we didn't add the patio up-grade. Eventually we'd like to lay a small stone patio.

black flat-backed kitchen trash can
I don't care if it has a lid- I probably won't use it. Our trash can will sit at the end of the island near the dining area. I want it to sit flush with the island.

1 or 2 outdoor garbage cans

fire extenguishers

supplies for dog run
We thought a chain link dog run would be easy to do along the side of the house, but it needs to be shaded and protected from the rain. This presents a problem in that adding a roof or awning over the side would be visible from the street and therefore subject to HOA approval. Building a wooden dog run like this would probably be less of a hassle.

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If you have any similar items that you are looking to get rid of, please let us know!