Chair Crazy

The other night while I was painting my dinning room chairs on the kitchen table, 

my husband walked in the room.

Me, "I know you think I am crazy to paint my BRAND NEW chairs, but I want them to be white."

Mr. M. said, "honey, I don't think you are crazy.  I KNOW YOU ARE CRAZY!  Whatever makes you happy."

I love this man.

You see, I did just get four new dinning chairs in the mail last week.

I love the shape and the cost.

Not so much the color.

I already knew I was going to slipcover the seats. 

 Three young kids, slipcovers are the only way to keep me sane. 

So, I got out my favorite paint and so far two chairs down and two to go.

See!  Already with one coat of paint the chair looks better.

Would you be brave enough to paint brand new chairs if you were not in love with the color but loved the style?

Or am I the only crazy one here?

Sisters are not allowed to answer!

Random drawings.

I found a picture on the kitchen table when I was painting this morning.

Looks like a certain little brother may be just as talented as his older brother.

Mason, the 6 year old, drew a mouse from one of his reading books, top pictures.

Chase, the 10 year old, decided he should show him how to really do it, lower picture.

Never a dull moment in this house.

Purple for a Little Girl

Now that the study room floor is done, we are on to the next project.

Wood is ordered.
And waiting patiently in the hallway.

Old carpeting is ripped up.

Most of the furniture is out.
The big iron beast is last to go.

A little girl is excited because her room is next on the list.

We want the room to be able to transition into a teen room with minor changes.

She is excited to be having her own little slumber party in the basement while we work on her floor.

here

I was surprised when I showed her this picture and she loved the bedding.
Her room is already painted a very pale purple.
My plan is to keep the color just paint another coat to make it clean and fresh again, and of course all of the trim will be repainted white again.

I am on the look out for a chair to slipcover.
A new/used desk and desk chair.
They will be painted dark purple.

The wood floor will not be stained, we will only put couple coats of poly on, so if we change our minds and want to paint a pattern we can.

We are still looking for a rug that will bring all of the room colors together.

Then comes the hallway.
I still love my painted walls so I will be staining the floor same as the downstairs floors.

Then, the boys room.

Cue the Jaws music.

Two boys=

Lots of Legos.

We're Not Irish, but I Still Love Green

I worked on the living room mantel yesterday while home with a sick little guy.

I traded in the red books for some green ones.

Nope, we are not Irish.

But, I do love green.

For St. Patrick's day the kids find trails of gold chocolate coins.

This year I am going to try something a little different.

If you MOUSTACHE it will involve a green marker.

When I was a kid, my dad would paint shamrocks on our faces for the day.

I think my mom also made some kind of Irish dinner that I still don't like.

One of my favorite indoor garden angels.

Baby tears in ironstone.

Love the plant but it seems I tend to over water it, so each year I get a new one.

The moss M I made several years ago.

You can make one too with a letter and some sheet moss from Michael's.

You may have noticed I went with simple.

Books again, and other greens I could find around the house.

I went to a local nursery last week and stocked up on several new ivy for spring.

Green, white and silver.

One of my favorite combinations.

How about you? 

Do you decorate for St. Patrick's Day?

I am joining Courtney from French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday.  

Let me say, if you have never visited her blog, you must, you must.

I am also joining Debra from Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday, who is always has incredible displays in her home.

And my last party of the day is with Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

If you can think of a party I am missing, please let me know.

When I get home, my cocktail glass will be waiting. 

Office Love it.....Hate it

I haven't shown pictures of the office yet, because, well the title says it all.

I am loving the new floors, but the room just wasn't happy.

Flirty legs and some Spring color.

My view into the study from the living room.

Maybe it is the white or maybe the slipcover ruffles but I love the view now.

The new corner cabinet I bought over the summer.

Great bargains that day.

Both my sister and I drove away with a cabinet. 

 We would have bought more but we had no more room in the truck!

It did not have a back and was in need of a paint job.

My favorite pin board, love the chippy frame and vintage fabric.

We moved furniture until it was right.

And moved.
Yep, moved again!

My poor son has helped me move a table in the living room twice.

Move a table from the basement to the office. 

AND

Back down into the basement to the exact spot it came from.

My sister will read this and laugh because I used to ask her to do that.
She knew to screen calls and was hesitant to answer if I said "what ya doing?"

That was before my son had muscles.

We moved the couch from the office to the kitchen.

AND

The chair from the kitchen to the office.

I think I am almost done moving furniture.

I had to keep trying, I was hating the layout.

I just can not sit at the computer with my back to the door, I feel exposed.
Part Feng shui, part not being able to hear anyone behind me.

I think I have the room where I am comfortable.
Now if only I could get rid of all the cords.
I have a feeling Mr. M. the computer guy can help me with that.

Now it is time to hang the shelves and fluff the room.

I had been searching for a rug for under the office chair with no luck.

Until Mr. M. and I were out shopping over the weekend.

I really love all the color and it would look great against all the white.

Until I went on line to locate it and just as I was about to order, I looked around the office.

Color...mmm....no, more like black and white.

Change of plans.

More rug searching.

Then I found it.

The rug above is on order from Lucketts.

And while I was at it I added some of Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone milk paint.

Although I may still get the orginal carpet for the living room, Spring is on it's way you know.

So, what do you think so far?

Love at Arbor House Lane

Valentine's Day.

Is more than just that.

If you didn't already know or guess.

It is Mr. M. and my wedding anniversary.

15

Wow!

Still in love, yeah!

We are the couple in the corner at parties talking to each other.

Not because we didn't want to talk to anyone else.

But that we enjoy each other's company.

We work well together.

You see, it is also the anniversary of our home.

We moved in the year after we built it.

Yeah, that means the year we were planning our wedding, we were also planning our home.

We put everything into it.

Just like our marriage.

Each year we love our home even more.

We make slight improvements to make it more comfortable, more like us.

We were just in our twenties when we started this house.

We had mostly lived at home our whole lives.

What did we know about designing a house?

ZERO!

We took Arbor House Lane from this.

To this!

We did it.

LOTS OF HARD WORK!

We did most of the work ourselves.

Laid tile.

Electrical was my job.
Oh, and paint, lots and lots of painting.

We put in the tubing for the in floor heating together.

Wood floors installed in three different rooms.

All trim work, windows, doors, floor and ceiling.
Finished the basement.
New wood flooring in living room and study.

I can't just talk about our home.
We also are raising three great kids together.

We pretty much did it all.

We work well together!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE!

Red in the House

Red pops in the house against all the white.

You can see the living room mantel in the mirror.

I rearanged the living room after the Christmas tree came down.
Now there is plenty of seating for everyone.
Oh, and I still love my wood floors.

More red in the living room.

The moose is paper mache that I covered in red rose tissue paper many years ago.

The kitchen mantel, silver and white with a little red.

The mercury hearts were actually bought during Christmas time but I knew I would use them differently.

The dinning room is all set for Valentine's Day Dinner.

Beautiful roses I bought on my lunch hour Monday.

I even snuck in some pink and green, Spring is on it's way I heard.

The snow is melting too.

Are you a RED person?