Stir Crazy

Anyone else going completely stir crazy? As much as I needed a break from work, I am now losing my mind! Christmas is over and now we wait for New Years and then back to work. And PS I am headed back to work on the 3rd this year! Does that seem crazy to anyone else? I guess two full weeks is enough, the life of a teacher is so hard:)

Mini Day Project

I have been wanting to paint our utility closet door with chalk board paint since we moved in, the other 27 projects trumped it though. So yesterday I decided just to crank it out.... and yes I know everyone in America has a chalk board in their house and this is not at all innovative or progressive but it's progress for me....so it we go!

BEFORE, please excuse the X-mas junk!

Side wall

First coat of paint

Santa brought me some white frames that I grouped together on the side wall of our living room. It is not 100% complete and if you look really close you can see most of the photos are the strangers that came with the frames.

AFTER

And here is another close-up of the door. All of the R's are anxiously awaiting the New Year including George Strait who will be enjoying his champagne from his doggy bowl.

AFTER

Did you say champagne!?!?!!

And I of course have to share a picture I forced my sweet husband to take after 72 hours of celebrating Christmas. We were exhausted! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Wishing everyone a very happy new year!

The R's 2012 

 Happy Holidays!

Mr. Strait

I would like to officially announce the arrival of the newest member of our family. 

George Strait Ramirez

George Strait Ramirez came to us last week via our school's animal rescue program. Well, it went more like this...

Setting the scene:
I am camping for the week with 100 high school seniors and my husband sends me this text...

I miss you, I'm getting a puppy.

This dog is super chill.

Front room rug ruined.

I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I arrived back home. As soon as I set eyes on this little guy it was love. It helps that my husband named him George Strait, who could say no to that? He is very similar to his name sake. Short and handsome with dreamy eyes! GS also loves country music, specifically Patsy Cline.

George really loves exploring. We took him down to the farm this weekend and he had a ball running  around with the dogs and playing with the kids. He did maybe, perhaps, accidentally kill a chicken. Yes, it happened and I blame the damn chicken! Stay inside your pen and you wont get attacked.........stupid bird.

I just wanted to share our news. He is a great little guy and we have enjoyed every minute with him so far.

Here is a pic of my other favorite puppies from this weekend!

Happy Family!

Oh Hey Office

What is this room anyway?

It has been my dressing room/storage area since we moved into the house....in March! I moved into the other guest room only because getting ready amongst the chaos was stressing me out. So we cleaned this small room and slapped up a fresh coat of paint. And oh my, painted it is! I was stressing a little bit about this color when we started but as the powder blue began to disappear I started to really love it. It's definitely a statement room! I'm ok with that. Mr. R said it was playful....that works for me too. I am so happy I get to do whatever I want in this house and my sweet husband just nods his head and goes along with it.

Moving in...

Total junk room!

This room's walls were by far the worst in the house. It looked as if two people had a fight with nail guns in here! The closets were littered with huge 4" nails too. So sad! The color in here wasn't horrible. A little too baby boys room though and again the walls needed a little tlc.

I knew I wanted a really intense color in here because I am going to accent with white and greys...who's shocked! This room get great light and I knew a rich color could work in here. I also wanted to put a painting I did a few years in here that I love so much. It too is crazy bold but I think it looks good with the wall color. I went with Sherwin Williams Cloudburst. And yes, it looks a lot like my crazy ass hutch but it is way way different!

SW 6487 Cloudburst

What we have....

-Nothing...errrr....painted walls!

What we need...

-Rug

-Desk

-Twin bed (I want this to be a crash pad if needed)

-Bedding

-Dresser

- Curtains (bold gray and white stripe???)

Oh, and the bathroom is close people....very close! Waiting on a lighting fixture and of course it still needs to be dressed. No one likes a naked bathroom. Photos soon though! I feel like with the holidays upon us not much will be getting done around here but I will try. Every weekend we are booked, thank goodness for a long Christmas break!

Happy Painting!

Mantle Monday!

Just a little sneak peak of the mantle. The tree has gone up as well but it is not quite ready to be photographed! I am really keeping it simple this year and not going over board on decorations. I have already made the decision to buy everything when it's 75% off for next Christmas.

Very excited to be in our very own house for Christmas, although we wont really be celebrating here it is fun to decorate!

Happy Holiday Season!

Slow....

I'm not even going to say slow and steady, it's just plan moving SLOW! Here are a few bathroom updates. Very happy with the progress so far but I am tired of having a toilet in our hallway! No really, we are stepping over it to get into our bedroom. Very glamorous over here folks. So ready to be finished with this project.

We had a little hiccup with our project manager that adjusted our 4 week timeline slightly. Well, he disappeared.....yep, it happened....gone, vanished, missing! Our main contractor has since taken over the job and we are back in business. Crazy right?!?!? I didn't ask any questions....

 So my awesome bead board was install at an angle and I can't freaking wait to see it painted. It already looks amazing. When the guys were installing it I know it was a total pain in the ass but it was so so so worth it! The custom cabinets went in without a hitch, still debating on hardware.

Raising the shower head and finally saying goodbye to the pink tile. Bye bye!

We opted to paint the tile in the bathtub. It was in great shape just an unfortunate color. The epoxy paint was crazy strong. We had to sleep at my sisters because the fumes were making us crazy....literally, brain cells lost. But it looks awesome. Way better than I was expecting. I love the floor too. There is something about that vintage hexagon tile.

White carrara marble, I love you! No really, I am in love with this counter top. Going to pick out marble was surprisingly easy. Cut and installed in two days....just love it!

Urg, that's all I have to show. I am being optimistic by telling myself this bathroom will be complete by December. Only renovation time will tell though. Until then I will be staring at my marble and dreaming of the day when our toilet is not in the hallway.

Happy Renovating!

Happy Anniversary!

.....to the love of my life! Mr. R what a year....holy freaking cow! People keep telling us the the first three years are the hardest. We have made it through all major holidays, buying a house, two pretty serious family crises, a European vacation, and living in a mess of a renovation project! And we're still standing!

November 19th 2011

Happy 1st Anniversary sweet boy! You are the best part of my day...every day! I can't wait to see what the rest of our lives look like. 

Happy Anniversary!

Bye Bye Boyd!

The R's are headed down to see Miss Boyd become Mrs. Teague and I cannot be more excited! These two got engaged the day after our wedding at my parents place on the Brazos. Emma was there to catch the special moment. Pretty handy being best buds with an awesome photographer! Love love love this idea!



Will you marry me?


Mr. R proposed in the kitchen while I was doing dishes....true story. I love our engagement story though....it's so us!

While we were in New Orleans celebrating Boyd's bachelorette weekend she took our "mug shots". This was after a very long night...eeer morning on Bourbon Street. Some stayed out longer than others! She got this idea off Pinterest, e-mailed me this pics, and put in together for her. I love how she personalized every ones name plates. It's so funny to see how all of these girls fit into her life. I hope no one cares I am putting this on the internet but it's already been all over FB.

How funny is this! Such a good memory!

Wishing the future Mr. and Mrs. Teague all of the happiness in the world! I hope your house is always full of love, friendship, laughter, and hopefully soon some babies! Love you both! Congratulations!

Happy Wedding Weekend!

Pretty....ugly!

Out of town wedding, huge fundraising dinner for work, and then Halloween...what week!

Progress on the bathroom has been slow and....gosh, I can't even say steady. For a good week I felt like nothing was really happening. I know that is how it works when you are dealing we several different crews of people. Plumber has to wait for drywall guy, drywall guy waits for the electrician, blah blah blah blah blah. I will admit I was stomping around here the first three days because progress was not moving at the speed I had envisioned....I got over it.

On more than one occasion these last two weeks we have driven up to strangers in our backyard. It has become so common to have men in and out that we weren't even concerned. Everyone who has worked on the bathroom has been great. I'm sure my constant peeking is really motivating them. I will say I give lots of encouraging compliments. That makes them move faster right?

These photos are so sad I hate to even post them but I have nothing else to show. These are from earlier in the week. When we came home today there were walls without holes! Heres how we started...

Demo day1

Removing the gas heater

Goodbye pink tile

Sharing a bathroom with my husband has been easy. I pretty much stay out of his space and have set up camp in the guest room. Now my sweet little guest room looks like a tornado went through it but it's only for a few more weeks. You know, the dust hasn't been nearly as bad as phase one. The guys shut the door every afternoon and I don't even notice. The back porch on the other hand is a disaster but that's pretty normal around here.

It's going to be busy busy the next few weeks, happy to be out of this mess for sure. Excited to have a new space and finally have people over again. I will not lie, I was a tiny bit sad to see the pink tile go, but I could not justify keeping it. I ran into an old high school friend this weekend and she asked what it was like to buy a house knowing we were going to have to put so much work into it. Honestly, I love it! I really wouldn't have it any other way. This is my hobby. And yes, it's stressful and at moments expensive, but it is so worth it! As I'm typing I'm engulfed by the sounds of the saw and nail gun.....

Stay tuned!

Happy Renovating!

Boo!?!?!

Is it already October? In my head and heart it's still summer. Maybe because I continue to tromp around town in my shorts and flip flops. The house has been turned upside down. Rooms that were once clean and decorated have been cluttered and neglected. Who thought is was a good idea to live in a house during a renovation? No one....ever! I know it hasn't been that long ago but Mr. R and I still laugh about living out of a cooler while Phase 1 was in progress. Why do we create these very difficult scenarios? We like the challenge maybe? Or we are too cheap to do anything else! What phase are we on now? 16? 

I saw one of my girl friends last week and she asked if I had put up my Halloween decorations. I love Halloween, i love dressing up, I love wigs, I love a Tootsie rolls....please brace yourself.... I do not love Halloween decorations. Stop gasping already, I'm just not into it ok. I enjoy other people who go all out with fake cob webs and styrofoam tombstones but it ain't happening at this house folks. It's like seasonal Starbucks flavors....it's just a little too much for me.

Despite the chaos I managed to throw out a few holiday decorations. And when I say a few, I mean two pumpkins....they're painted at least! Please give me a little credit.

I scored these awesome big pumpkins at Aldi....never lets me down y'all....for $2.99. These were the small ones too. I couldn't lift the big guys. I jazzed them up a little bit and I am very happy with them. I chose the Charlie Brown shirt design because I always think about those cartoons around the Fall holidays. I am fully aware that it just looks like black and orange chevron but whatever....call me trendy! Hopefully they will last well beyond Halloween and into turkey season.

Boo!

I also scored these orange roses and thought this little grouping looked seasonal. And that my friends is all the Halloween decorating I got in me. Phew, I'm exhausted:) I'm sure when we have some kids running around here it will be more fun to put up the real spooky stuff but until then I sticking with just getting this house decorated....period.

So spooky!

So now the biggest dilemma of the month, besides bathroom fixtures, cabinet pulls, tile color, and the dust piles, what should me and the Mr. be for Halloween?!?!? We have thrown out a few ideas but nothing is concrete. We celebrate a very PG Halloween with our neighborhood crew. Thoughts and ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks for visiting our little house blog! Hopefully I can post some before and after of the current bathroom project this week.

Happy Renovating!

Hello Hutch

Well I have gone and done it now! Please meet the world's brightest build-in. Good gracious, I am the worst paint picker. I am too emotional about it. I go when there is a sale and I have this weird buying high which leads to emotional colors like neon teal! I am totally exaggerating, it more like really intense neon teal. I made a little splurge on SW Cashmere paint, still 40% off of course. We now have a teal hutch y'all!

You must first see what we started with...

Please note on the picture above there are cans of paint, a pile of keys, and the always important wine glass! I think we had been in the house for one night at this point. Our counter pretty much looks the same.

Popcorn + ceiling  fan = gag reflex

Knocking down walls!

I've got some goodies that have been itching for display. Milk glass collection, Vintage glass odds and ends. Jars of cotton....just like your cotton collection right?

Finally my sweet baby globes have a home. Now I just have to find a place to the 10 giant ones I have. For about two second yesterday I thought about selling them. I lined them all up and was just about to take a picture when I remembered that I loved those round things too much. If I ever do sell them I will have to work out some kind of visitation. Y'all think I'm being funny but I really do love my globes.

Definitely still a work in progress.

Well it's an eye catcher.

Hopefully I will have knobs and handles on this bad boy before Halloween, that is my goal at least. I invited my neighbor in today to see the house and she kept saying how much progress we have made. I can't see it, I guess when you live in it everyday you just see the drop cloths and dust pans.

Ahhhh, finally!

With the hutch re-paint complete-ish I have two other semi big/semi time consuming projects in the works. They have to be finished by next Monday because that my friends is when our pink bathroom is getting smashed to bit. Yep, it's happening....about 4 months later than I wanted, but I will take it.

Thanks for taking a look at our little blog. The house is moving at a snails pace but at least it's moving!

Happy Hutch!

Showerpalooza

Today I attended not one but two wedding showers. Unfortunately I was having a mini can't find anything to wear breakdown on my way to the second shower and walked off without my camera. So for today I only have one to share.

I have known this sweet bride my entire life. She is one of the funniest girls on the planet with such a big heart and love for life. Her laugh is truly epic y'all. I was so happy to be apart of her bridal shower and in few short weeks watch her tie the knot.

The sweet bride 

Beautiful home!

Simple bow on the door

The beautiful dining room

The house was truly amazing. Everywhere you turned there were huge windows and beautiful views of the backyard. I could have spent the entire shower just wandering around the house looking at all of the amazing details.

I could not get over than center piece

My sister cracks me up. She could not get enough of the sugar cubes. She went on and on about them. I told her it was the small things that made her day. I just had to share that story because she made me giggle. Now I know what to get her for Christmas. Who knew!

Bride and groom's initials

Very adorable shower guests

Father of the bride sent this special gift

Mother of the bride

Gorgeous ring

I could not be happier for this little bride to be. It was such a beautiful day. 

Happy Wedding Shower!