I made a decision

Last post I asked you guys to weigh in on the color of our shutters on the house.  Finally I went with my gut... aka the advice of my interior designer / sister.  :)
She said to go with the black shutters and do a green door.  She gave a few other suggestions and color combos as well, but since I didn't follow them, I am not going to review them.  It's my blog, I can do whatever I want.  Here is the before picture to remind you what we were dealing with.

Here is what it looked like on Saturday when we removed the shutters.  Creepy.  Like seeing a woman who shaved off her eyebrows before she has had a chance to paint them back on (I am telling you, the eyebrow as shutters comparison totally makes sense!).  And yes, we know how dirty it is behind the shutters.  And no, we don't care. 

This was the professional set up I had going when spray painting the shutters.  I bought some cheap table clothes to cover the grass.  Then propped the shutters up on paint cans so that I could be sure to get the sides completely. 

So here is the end result!  I like it.  Obviously we haven't painted the railing or the door and the windows next to the door.  One thing at a time people!  I was impressed with us actually getting this done! 

The sun was pretty harsh when I took this picture.  Here is another shot from later in the day today.

I am thinking now that I am going to spray the numbers above the door and the mailbox both black, same as the shutters.  Then, paint the railing and the windows by the door white.  Then the piece de resistance will be a green door.  Not hunter green, but more of a kelly green.  My sister suggested it and I really think it is brilliant!  Here are some inspiration photos I found while perusing the time sucking website that is Pinterest. 

from here

LOVE this house!

 

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would NOT be this color green, just something to get an idea

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I like this green a lot

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gorgeous house, but the green is a little too light for my taste

What do you guys think of this?  I am pretty jazzed about the whole thing.  The husband's on board, but he thinks that it may turn some people off if we ever go to sell.  I think it's still a subtle color combo.  It's not a neon or anything.  I think it's got a touch of a traditional look as well as being current.  Give me your opinion.  I want to hear what others think. 

I have a question

I love a good shutter.  I like to think of them as eyebrows on a home.  Remember?  We have some on our current house.  I hate them.  The color depresses me.  They match the roof color, which also depresses me.  This house screams "NEW COLOR SCHEME PLEASE!"  So the hubs and I are planning some change.  We are not getting new siding right now, not in the cards any time soon.  So a quick face lift will take shape in the form of different colored shutters. 

This is what the house looks like right now..

Here is the plan :
We are definitely painting the railing on the porch white.  It needs to be done.  (Prepared to be amazed by my photoshop skills... SARCASM ALERT!)

Then we either want to paint the shutters black or hunter green (not easily replicated on the computer).  Also, the top window on the third floor will be getting shutters.  We took them down because we added a new window in place of the old window and the shutters were ridiculously small with the larger window. 

Then there is a possibility of painting the door.  Is a red door with green shutters a bit too Christmas-y?

So my question is, what would you do to our house?  Do you see a different color combo that would really look good?  Our neighbors have an all white house on one side (no shutters) and a dark blue house with maroon trim on the other (no shutters).  (Both houses can kind of be seen in the top photo).

**Side note... the red in the image of the door, would not be that red.  It would be more maroon.  Also, we would be painting the windows around the door.  Not sure what color, my guess would be white.  And of course, we would paint the mailbox and the house numbers.  Just wanted to add that so you don't think I am totally insane.  :)

I have a question

Continuing on with what I started last week, I have another question for ya!

What is your favorite home design show, current or off-air? 

When the husband and I were renovating / redecorating every single room in our house, I watched a TON of HGTV.  Like a severely excessive amount.  When we finished the kitchen, the second to last room to be finished in the house, my other half put his foot down.  He refused to watch another minute of anything home décor.  For the most part, I agreed.  However, I have a few exceptions.  Namely Sarah's House, anything with Candace Olsen, and anything with Jeff Lewis.  I DVR many of these programs to watch while the hubs is at work, so as to keep my promise.

Sarah & Tommy

 

 

Sarah's House Design

 

Candace Olsen

 

A bedroom done by Candace

 

Jeff and Jenny

 

 

A fabulous room by Jeff Lewis

 

I wish I had the design eye that these folks have.  They are my idols.  For realsy!  And Jeff Lewis is super snarky and rude... what more could you ask for in a show?  Tommy!  Sarah Richarson's design assistant is fabulous!  His one-liners make me giggle.  I heart him.  Apparently I love gay men with fabulous design sense! 

So who do you heart?  Which shows can you not pass up?  Do you love the kitchen shows?  The crashers?  The outdoorsy décor programs?  Let me know. 

Happy weekend all!  We have a busy one planned, but it should be super fun!  We'll catch up later this week with all the deets. 

I colored my eybrows

Actually I spray-painted them.  Can you believe it?!  They turned out super nice, and subtle.  It's a small change that needed to happen, and I cannot believe that it took me this long to do it...
Are you guys trying to picture me with crazy eyebrows?  It really wouldn't take much to picture that, but I don't mean on me.  Let me explain...
I think of house window shutters as the eyebrows on a homes facade.  So, I painted the eyebrows on my house.  I am not talking about the house I live in my with hubs and child, but the house I used to live in back in the day.  I bought it right out of college after I got my first big girl job.  I still own it now (thank you very much housing bubble) and actually have been renting it out for years.  It really is a wonderful house and I miss it dearly, but it's an hour and fifteen minutes south of where I am now, so not something we could move back into.  Anyway, I digress (weird, I neeeever do that). 
Here is what the house looked like back in 2007 :

Since then I have had to replace the shingles on the roof and I got new siding.  So before we put up the new and improved shutters it looked like this :

Oh, and a couple of weeks ago we replaced the light by the door, the mailbox and I spray painted the house numbers from the gross, cheap-looking gold to oil-rubbed bronze.
Check out how crappy the lawn looks.  This year has been HOT and DRY! 
Anyway, you can see that the roof is now brown and the siding is now tan.  So, I had to decide what color to paint the shutters.  They were originally green and I liked that, but I thought I should play off of the roof color a little more.  So I chose a maroonish-rusty color.

I used Krylon plastic approved paint (cuz they are plastic) that I bought from Ace Hardware (love Ace!)  I did this in my parents' side yard on a wonderful, sunny Saturday morning while my baby was napping.  I put down a few tarps, propped the shutters up on some old coffee cans and such and went to town.  They required about a half a can per shutter to get full coverage.  They didn't need to be perfect since they are going up high on the house.  But, I wanted to get them as close as I could.

We (husband and I) grabbed the ladder and loaded them into the Jeep.  Warning * HOT GUY IN JEEP WEARING A PIRATES HAT AHEAD!!!

Then we started hanging.

And by us, I mean my hubster.  I was busy getting close up shots of his toosh.  :)

I don't know why he puts up with me sometime!  hehe!

Here is the final outcome :

Now here is the before and after from the day :

Like I said, it made a big difference.  I wouldn't have immediately looked at the house and thought it was missing anything.  But now that they are there, I cannot imagine the house without.  Just like eyebrows.  Just kidding, you would notice if my eyebrows were missing.  And not just because they are bushy, but because that would be weird.  However, I still think of shutters as the eyebrows of a house's facade because they really could make or break the look.  And these made it in my opinion.
It's a SUPER quick, easy, and cheap project.  I think 7 cans of spray paint cost me like $35.00.  But, I did have the shutters already.  If you are interested in doing this though and don't have shutters, look for a Habitat for Humanity Restore.  They seem to have lots of shutters hanging about.  If you can find the number that you need, you could be good to go.  Grab some spray paint and a ladder and get to it.  Of course, it's nice to also have a good-looking assistant to make time go quickly. 

Here's the overall before and after :

Have you guys been using spray paint for anything fun?  Do you have a second house that you cannot sell due to the (stupid) economy?  Are you annoyed with how dry your front yard is too?  Do you dye your eyebrows when you dye your hair?  :)

I am behind in life...

I really wish that I had a minutes to relax a little!  But, this is life.  It doesn't slow down just because I am a little sleepy.  My intention last week was to blog about James' 1st birthday party and give some of the deets.  James had other ideas.  Like, taking 3 days off of school to stay at home and be sick.  Such a little stinker.  :)  He is fine, and really the only sign that he wasn't feeling well was the red throat the doctor saw and the fever.  I think he wanted an excuse to hang out at 2:00am and sleep with him mommy on the couch.  I don't blame him really, the extra snuggling was amazing.

Let's get back to it though.  I want to post some of the deets of the party.  Give you all a little taste of what I we got into on my baby's birthday.

These were the favors we passed out to the little kiddies who showed up - more info about those later.

Can you guess the theme?  Subtle, right?  :)

This adorable sign hung in the nursery at James' day care.  I love that they do that for all the wee one's birthdays. 

I decorated the outside too.  There were a lot of people who would be at our house for the first time ever and I wanted to be sure that they knew where the fun was going down!!  The balloons were a late addition on Friday.  James picked out the baseball and all he wanted to do was play with it!!

And the cake.  I was SO proud of this!  James was obviously in love as well!  Can you tell how this thing mesmerized him?!? 

I will return later with some more details from the party and his actual birthday.  If I didn't separate it all out, this could be a ridiculously long post!  Hope you all have a swell rest of your Monday!

I took some pictures - #MAYPHOTOADAY

I have been slacking.  This I know.  And I am sorry!  This is a picture heavy post since I am totally exhausted!  Today was my little baby's birthday!  This weekend was really, really tiring, but so incredibly amazing!  A big thank-you for all of those who helped make it special... words cannot express how grateful I am to have the friends and family that we do.  I am beyond lucky!
Here are May's photo-a-day challenge images :

day 1 - peace.  my fingers look weird. 

day 2 - skyline.  i live in the middle of nowhere.

day 3 - something i wore today.  pretty much what i wear any day i work.  ugh.

day 4 - fun.  so fun.

day 5 - bird.

day 6 - me.  can you see me?

day 7 - someone that inspires you.

day 8 - a smell you adore.

day 9 - something i do everyday.  i changed it to morning because i am a creature of habit : go to work, eat banana & drink XXX, and pump (the worst).

day 10 - favorite word.  or words.

day 11 - kitchen.  our messy one.

day 12 - something that makes me happy.  this sweet, sweet face.

day 13 - mum.  that's me.

day 14 - grass.

day 15 - love.  out of surgery and doing great.

day 16 - what i am reading.  rereading because it is so damn funny!

day 17 - snack.  i may finish the box.

day 18 - something i made.  the dinner and the kid eating it.

day 19 - a favorite place.  in the jeep with the top down, cruisin'.

day 20 - something you cannot live without.  my guys, my girl, and my milkshakes.

day 21 - where you stand.  literally.

day 22 - pink.  the suntan lotion bottle we let him hold while changing his diaper.  key to keeping him from jumping off.

day 23 - technology.  a stuffed toy that knows my kid's name!  what will they think of next?

day 24 - something new.  the paint color on the walls.

day 25 - unusual.  James climbed in to Lou's toy box!

day 26 - 12 o'clock.  James and i went for a bike ride in his cool new seat!!  I love this thing!

day 27 - something sweet.  it says so right there.

day 28 - the weather today.  oppressively hot.

day 29 - a number.  "stone walls and the grass is green"

day 30 - my personality.  up and down in seconds.  what can i say?  we are both Gemini's.

day 31 - something beautiful.  those eyes.

Up next for next month...
And this week (hopefully) I will be adding James' 12 year recap,birthday party details, and maybe talk of how tired I am.  And have been for months.  And will be for months and months to come.  :0)