new baby, new blog

hi friends!  Hope you all will excuse my recent lack of posting... I do have a good reason!  We're so excited to be expecting a baby in mid-July!

We've been plugging along with home projects, and clearing out the back bedroom to make way for a nursery. I also decided to start a new blog for the new addition.  I'll definitely be keeping this one open, but won't be posting to it anymore.

If you'd still like to keep up with us (plus baby), please hop over and follow us at Wee Whittaker!

exterior update

Jeff has been hard at work on our exterior updates over the last few weeks...  The progress made after such a short amount of time is so exciting!

Our 'Exterior Project To-Do' list currently looks like this:

• Install new living room windows (and centering them)
• Install new guest bedroom windows (making them regular-size)
• Prime new siding
• Hang new siding
• Hang horizontal batten strips
• Paint all siding (including exterior of sunroom)
• Paint storm door & replace house numbers
• Build pretty trellis to cover stone side of house, with flowering vine
• Plan and build covered front porch (plans TBD) 
• Widen natural area in front of house & landscape

We still have to decide on the paint color... and whether or not we'll paint just the board & batten siding... or the entire house, brick included (which is my vote).

But for having made just a little dent in the list so far, the difference is incredible!

Before:

In Progress:

Stay tuned for the rest of our updates... And my best attempt at talking Jeff into painting brick!

the sofa returns

I am so excited that we got our Lee Industries sofa back from the reupholstery shop!  Two short weeks later, and it hardly looks like the same piece of furniture...

To remind you of our 'before'...

 
We worked with Sugar Hill Upholstery and highly recommend them.  Their prices include pick-up and delivery in the area and wrapping the cushions.  They also added casters to the front legs for us, since it appeared that the sofa originally had them.

It's a little hard to tell in the pictures, but the fabric is a light grayish blue color.

I ended up splurging on the fabric at $14 per yard, but really wanted to invest in something that was neutral and durable.  I decided to go with the practice choice here, since we plan to have this sofa for a long time (and it will hopefully need to stand up to some kids and dogs one day).  So I went with a durable commerical-grade.

And considering these sofas retail new for close to five times what we spent, I feel really excited about our find!  Now I'm off to hunt for a few new throw pillows and a rug... Happy weekend!

new living room windows

While I was off celebrating the nuptials of one of my sweet friends from high school, Jeff was working on installing new windows in our living room.  Much to my surprise, I came home to the work already in progress...

Before, with windows off-center & awkwardly placed in the corner...

In progress, with new windows separated and centered...

city livin vs. country life

One of the things that I adore about my husband is his love of homes... real estate browsing, home remodeling, all of it.  On a monthly basis, we exchange MLS links to homes we're interested in.  While our next home is certainly in the distant future, when the time comes, I have a feeling we'll both have a strong idea of what we want.

However, we do occasionally drift over to the 'what-if' of country living.  We both realize that you pay a premium for living close to town, and those old, walkable, convenient neighborhoods just so happen to be the ones that we love... and are out of our price range.

Then I stumble upon this dream home, and I start to wonder about moving out of town.  Seriously.  I love everything about this house... except that it is located in Monroe.
 

But then I look at this house again, and think I could suck it up for those floors and windows and fireplaces... And the unpictured cottage with separate living quarters on the property.  Oh, and the fact that it is priced only slightly above our current mortgage.

So what do you think?  Would you manage an hour commute to work (each way) and the hassles of living in a small town for an amazing (in price and detail) historical home?  Or would you keep the convenience of city living? 

 

lately...

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This pretty much sums up my life lately... We've had a lot going on and none of it has involved finishing anything on my project list (or cleaning my house for that matter).

The campaign chest is half painted & sitting in the middle of the sunroom, my Craigslist bookcase is lined with paint chips, the 'new' sofa is covered in tiny fabric swatches... and our back bedroom is filled to the brim with items for a yard sale that was supposed to happen two weeks ago.

I'm hoping that my house will be restored to normalcy soon... But (honestly) it's pretty unlikely, given that we purchased windows last week for our upcoming exterior remodel. 

Let's all agree to view it as organized chaos, okay? 

sofa fabric inspiration

My original plan for the 'new' sofa was an ivory or off-white fabric... Especially after reading Kirsten's design with kids in mind series, where so many said washable and bleach-able white is the way to go {and fur children and human children make roughly the same amount of mess, right?}

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Jeff wasn't so impressed by the concept, reasoning that our sweet puppy daughter's love of furniture and my OCD cleaning would have me washing the cushion covers every week.

Plan B was an outdoor fabric (also a suggestion from the kids in mind design series) in a light gray or bluish-gray...

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Then, of course, there is a very big small piece of me that wants to throw practicality out of the window, in favor of a beautiful home... With a colorful velvet upholstery...

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In my defense, Lauren at Pure Style Home has two little ones with velvet upholstery and says it has held up great!  {As a side note, she also mentions purchasing her LEE sofa on Craigslist for $300... That loud squeal you hear is my excitement over our deal!} 

So what do you think?  Washable white?  Outdoor fabric in gray?  Or a fun velvet?