To do list

I am a list maker. Almost to the point that I should be going to meetings, does LMA exist? I firmly believe that lists get things done, there is something almost exhilarating about checking something off, a definite sense of accomplishment. That being said, B and I are desperately in need of feeling like we've accomplished anything other than watching Pitch Perfect 3 times in 2 days. Side note... we don't know how that happened, we only watched it for the songs! And the slightly-cuter-Dane-Cook-10-years ago lookalike. But seriously, we have so much we still want to do that it is getting a little overwhelming. So.... our to do list, and it is a doozy.

Master Closet (how are we not done yet??)
- find darker divided hamper
- add hooks to hang belts/ scarves
- decide if we're removing the closet door
- stain dresser and add new pulls
- jewelry box

Master Bathroom
- decide on paint color (finally)
- paint
- buy new bathroom textiles
- install shelving in water closet
- frame mirror/ install new mirror(s)
- hooks for towels (if closet door is removed)

Master Bedroom
- curtains
- bedside tables
- lamps for bedside tables
- new ceiling fan
- dresser for tv/ extra storage
- bench/ ottoman for end of bed
- artwork/ picture collage

Kitchen/ Dining Room
- dining room table and chairs
- rug?
- paint island
- curtains

Living Room
-buy loveseat and chaise
- coffee table
- curtains
- entertainment center/ fireplace

Laundry Room
- decide on paint color
- paint
- organize!

The guest bedroom, bathroom and both offices are pretty much blank slates right now. We haven't discussed at all what we want to do with those, so no list yet. We're also refinishing all of the door hardware to oil rub bronze from the boring standard brass. Long term, we'd like to stain all of the cabinets and repaint all of the interior doors, hopefully within the next six months.

Outside we have this huge, leafy tree, you can kind of see it in the middle of the yard there. It clogs our pool filter with leaves on a daily basis. We are so done with it. Plus for our fur baby it'd be nice to have some more yard. The cost of tree removal, and more so stump grinding, is a bit of a deterrent right now, but we'd love to have that out by the end of summer.

Looks like we have our work cut out for us!

Chevron love

 My jewelry pin board! I made this originally at our rental house and it was covered in tan linen with blue ribbon. Needless to say, it was not working with our current color scheme for my our closet. I bought the chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby to re-cover it. You can't really see in this photo but I used clear pushpins with black crystals glued to the top to go with the black ribbon and the rest of the closet. Once I find the rest of the accessories I'll try to post some detail shots.

I still need to find some sort of jewelry box for my earrings and the rest of my bracelets. I have a bunch of really chunky ones that just won't hang on a pushpin. And it'd be nice to have somewhere to put some of my nicer jewelry. I'm hoping I can take care of that today after my hair appointment. So happy to have accomplished something.

We've kind of taken a break from household improvement stuff. B is just getting back into the swing of things at work, he was on a sort of leave of absence right after we bought the house. Money is finally flowing back in but we're getting caught up on things before going crazy buying furniture. I expect that after next week we'll be able to get the ball rolling again though!

Linens and things

Our bedding was officially purchased today! B and I were at Target on Sunday buying a baby shower gift for one of our friend's when I made this find. Nice and light gray paisley print, it is a little bit difficult to make out in the picture, I know. The best part though is that the 3 piece set was marked down from $100 to $50! I decided to sleep on it and went to visit the set today. Since we weren't necessarily in love with the JCP set I was totally willing to take the $40 in savings over the JCP set and B was easily won over as well. Fortunately for me there were still 2 sets left when I picked ours up this afternoon, along with a 2 shelf shoe rack for B.

I set it up as soon as I got home and so far we're both really happy with it. It is a little bit wrinkly right now, since it went on the bed straight out of the package, but I'll try to fix that in the dryer tomorrow. I also need to pick up some queen size pillowcases for the shams. The standard size I currently have just don't fill them out properly.


I think these are the curtains I'm looking at to go with the new comforter set, possibly layered over white sheers? I have always loved dupioni silk curtains but most of them are well over $100 per panel. Seeing as we need 3-4 panels, depending on how handle the second small window in the master, real silk just isn't an option. These faux silk curtains are just $30 per panel though, so that is definitely within our budget. Time for some pinterest/ houzz inspiration for how I handle these window treatments!

My amazing find!

 We now have bar stools for the island! I found these bad boys for $14 a piece on clearance at Target. We are loving them so far. The legs are a bronze-y metal and then they have black (faux) leather seats, they match perfectly with our color scheme and for $14 even if they don't last forever I won't mind.

Originally we'd talked about getting stools that had a back support but decided that we'd rather that they stay out of the way and not take up our walkway. Another issue I had been running into was finding a seat that was actually comfortable to sit on, most of them were just way too small! These are 16 inches square, so even B, who is slightly larger in the tush than I am, can sit on them comfortably.


I think we finally agreed on bedding too! For the most part at least. My original plan was to do all white bedding to go with the charcoal gray walls and dark espresso/ black wood accents throughout the room. B and I were a little worried that all white would come off to country and we're looking for something just a tad more chic, but not over the top. I love the simple gray design on the bedding, "understated elegance" as it is described on the JCP site. B isn't crazy about the pillow situation, which is why we mostly agree on the bedding. I don't want the 2 accent pillows, but I do want the euro shams so even though he thinks they'll just end up on the floor collecting dog hair, which I don't intend for them to do, we'll probably get them as well. I love that everything is finally coming together!