Arrival of our little Lea

I'm thrilled to share that our beautiful Lea arrived on November 7th. She was a healthy 9lbs 13oz!
Chris and I have been busy settling into our new role as mommy and daddy and we've been loving every minute. It's definitely the toughest job I've ever had, but by far, the BEST and most REWARDING job I've ever had. She's a beauty and we're both so mesmerized by her.

We had these beautiful pictures taken of Lea when she was about 2 weeks new by the super talented Stephanie who runs Dahlias and Daisies here in Dallas. She is a pro at taking newborn photos and captured some timeless photos of our little Lea.

She sure is a blessing and we have so much to be grateful for this holiday season!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll soon be sharing some pictures of her nursery..when I have some time:)

Chalk Paint Transformation for Lea's Nursery

Working on Lea's nursery has been such a fun process. It's been a ton of work, but well worth every inch. Her room has been quite the transformation starting out as our guestroom. If you recall not that long ago, I made some changes to that room you can see here.

There were many projects I wanted to do in the room. We installed crown molding, painted the room,  stenciled a wall, and repainted a piece using chalk paint. So for this post, I wanted to show you the before and after of the entertainment unit and the transformation.

This piece was one of the greatest investments my parents ever made. They bought it for me back in high school, and it's followed me many places. It's a timeless piece that will now bring Lea years and years of enjoyment.

{Image via}

So here she is before. We used the Anne Sloan's Chalk Paint and I used the Duck Egg Blue and mixed that with the Old White. I poured half DEB in one cup and half OW in another cup, and then mixed those together to lighten the color up a bit.

Here is the after before we applied the clear wax and the dark wax. I definitely would recommend using the wax. It gives your piece more depth and character. After just using the paint, the piece looked pretty flat and the color was brighter than I had wanted. The greatest thing about chalk paint is there's no prepping the piece. No sanding, whoo hoo!! Just paint!!


These are pictures I took after both waxes were applied. Made all the difference and aged the piece nicely, giving it more character. The color softened up a lot and the flatness we were seeing before was gone.

And there you have it. All and all, it took a few days to finish it. I would paint your piece one day and apply the clear wax and the dark stain the next day. You work the two waxes simultaneously. Someone told me also after my mom and I finished the piece to dilute the paint with a little water. This will allow the paint to go further and help thin it out a bit. It's great paint, but pretty pricey. If you can make it stretch, it's worth it.

I'm pretty happy with how the piece turned out. A big thanks to my mom for helping me with it. I was about 7 months pregnant when we took on the project and the dark stain fumes were pretty powerful. She did an amazing job and it looks beautiful in Lea's nursery.

If you haven't yet tried your hand using chalk paint, I wouldn't be scared if I were you. It's the easiest paint to work with and very forgivable.

Chris and I are expecting our first little one..very soon!

I'm super excited to fill you all in and let you know Chris and I are expecting our first little one very soon, a baby girl!! We couldn't be more thrilled. My phantom due date as my doctor calls it is November 18th, but we're all thinking she'll make her debut sooner than that.


I couldn't have asked for a better pregnancy and we're so excited to meet our little one. It's been a whirlwind these last 8 months. It seems like 9 months is plenty of time to get her nursery put together with all the essentials, read up on everything you possibly can to prepare yourself on being a new parent, but come to find out, that 9 months sneaks up on you very quickly and before you know it, you're ready to pop and still not feeling ready.

All the anticipation of being a first time parent definitely wore on me a bit. The nesting kicked in as soon as I found out we were pregnant. You have this urge to want everything to be perfect and to make sure your 100% prepared. At least, that's how I've felt. I felt the need to read every book imaginable out there and every online review and rating for swings, bathtubs, strollers, etc. By doing all that, plus trying to get every project on my to do list for the house complete, I became just a tad overwhelmed with it all. Who wouldn't?

I've come to realize that I'll never be 100% prepared. Who really is?  I've realized all she needs is our love. Everything else will fall into place. I'll get the hang of being a new mom, and Chris will be an amazing dad. I can't wait to take on the new role as mommy to my new baby girl and can't wait for her arrival. Until then, no more books!  Now it's time to sit back and relax. I'll be enjoying  these last few weeks by getting plenty of rest and sleep. I know those days will soon be gone.

Blast from the Past Guest Bath Reveal

I'm excited to finally reveal our guest bath. It's been several months in the making and it feels good to finally be done.

If you recall, here is how it looked before. When we first moved in to our home a couple years ago, I actually was pretty fond on the wallpaper and pendant lighting.

A couple years later, I was over it. It was time to bring this guest bath into the 21st century. After several bids from contractors, I couldn't see spending tons of $$$$ on such a small bathroom. There were some definite things I wanted to tackle so I took it upon myself to do the research and figure it out myself.

I'm VERY pleased with how it turned out and love how everything came together. I kinda had a vision, but not really. It's a creative process for me and it's fun to see how it plays out. One thing inspires one thing, and in turn, inspires another,etc. It feels like a whole new bathroom and it feels good to be done.

Losing the wallpaper and going with a light paint color definitely lightened up the space making it look bigger and feels more airy. The cabinetry is in pretty good shape, so just replacing the counter top and the lighting really updated the space nicely. It didn't take too much and I repurposed some things that I already had elsewhere around the house so I saved some money there.

And just in case you were wondering, here are my sources:

Paint: Restoration Hardware accent wall in Silver Sage and the rest is in Pale Silver by RH

Mirror: Restoration Hardware

Lighting: Online @ Lamps Plus

Shower Curtain: Pottery Barn

Towels: Previously had from RH

Sink Fixture/Towel Ring/Bar: Moen "Boardwalk" @ Lowe's

Granite: Local granite supply store remnant

Wall Art: Previously had from One King's Lane

Temple Jar: Previously had from Home Goods

Rug:  Previously had from Target

I've got some exciting news to share with you all, but will save that for next time. Until then...

Blast from the Past Guest Bath ~ Phase Two Redo

With the granite counter installed, the new sink fixture in, and the wallpaper down, it was now time to scope out and find new lighting, a mirror, shower curtain, and select the paint color.

LIGHTING

Finding new lighting was a must. The retro pendant lights (seen here) had seen better days. I searched high and low to find exactly what I wanted without breaking the bank. I wanted to stick with chrome and find something with a shade. I looked everywhere from Home Depot, Lowe's, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, and ended up finding the perfect sconces online at Lamp's Plus.

Perfect sconces at a perfect price, George Kovacs Fabric Shade Sconce in Chrome. The price was right and I was very happy with the quality. I knew I wanted to keep the design simple and mimic the clean lines of the sink fixture.

{George Kovacs Sconce}

MIRROR

I wasn't sure I wanted to replace the mirror at first, but I felt the space could use something a little bit more substantial to fill the wall out. So then began my search and I ended up going with this beauty. A little bit more than what I wanted to spend, but I feel it really added a nice rustic element to the space. I wanted to create an element of sophistication, and feel I did that with the sconces, but at the same time, not glam it up too much. It's a nice contrast and mixture of the two styles. BTW, the coloring is not at all like the picture. Each piece is unique and ours had more gray tones, which worked out.  

{Pieced Oval Mirror from RH}

SHOWER CURTAIN

I love my shower curtains. I have a tendency to keep them forever. For me, it's like a piece of art. I typically work my colors and design around the shower curtain. They can sometimes be a little bit of an investment, but I figure if you keep it for 5+ years or so, it's worth it. 

When I stumbled across this one at Pottery Barn, I couldn't resist. I loved the color palette and this inspired my color selection in paint. It had the tones I was looking for and it was a subtle design, not too busy, and easy on the eyes. 

{Celeste Damask Shower Curtain from PB}

                                                       PAINT

Selecting a paint color can be pretty tricky. It's not as easy as going to the store, picking a chip, and buying the paint, although it might be that easy for some of you. Props to you all. You hate to make a mistake and select the wrong color, and that's why it's so important to buy testers before you commit to an entire room. Your lighting in the room and the color of your floors will all play into how the paint will look. Originally,I pulled some colors from the shower curtain I thought might look nice.

{Silver Sage Collection}

I'm glad I tried the testers first. The neutral tones ended up looking dirty next to the beadboard. I then realized I had some leftover paint that I had used to paint the laundry room, and put that up to see how it looked. Loved it!  I decided to do one wall in RH Silver Sage and go a shade lighter on the rest of the walls in RH Pale Silver. I love the subtle contrast of the two. 

That completes Phase Two of the Guest Bath Redo! I can't wait to show you the finished product next week. It feels like a completely different room and we're enjoying it so much more now. 

Blast from the Past Guest Bath- Phase One Redo

Our blast from the past guest bath is getting a well deserved update, but as I mentioned in my previous post, we had to do it in stages. So onto stage one....I decided that I ought to tackle the countertop, sink, and faucet, while spontaneously removing the wallpaper somewhere in the mix.

First, I knew I wanted to replace the outdated clamshell countertop with a granite and surprisingly, I had some great luck finding Granite Design Center off Central Expressway in Dallas. The process was pretty easy and painless. We looked at several remnants and I found the perfect one. The colors were right and so was the size. It had some nice grays, a little black, and a little rust color.

{Out with the old.....}

In the details, I went with a white undermount sink to tie in with the white bathtub and opted to go with a beveled edge for the granite. It's amazing all the choices you have when choosing the edging detail for your granite. There must have been 5 or 6 finish options for the edging. My thought process was to mimic my cabinets and go with the beveled look.

{....and in with the new.}

My second plan of attack was the sink faucet. Did I want to go with an oil rubbed bronze or did I want to go with a chrome finish? Satin Nickel I've never been crazy about. I went on my search and looked at Home Depot, Lowe's, and several other places. At first, I was totally sold on the oil rubbed bronze finish. I purchased a fixture at Lowe's, but realized later that night, I wanted to definitely go with chrome. Oil rubbed bronze can be pretty, but it can also look very heavy and stand out when there is a  lot of it. I feel your fixtures should blend with the space. I also heard ORB has a tendency to corrode and who wants to be replacing fixtures every couple years. I referred back to one of my favorite designers, Candice Olson, and noticed she uses a lot of chrome in her spaces. It's crisp, clean, and reflects light nicely. Who doesn't like a little sparkle here and there.

I went with a Moen faucet from Lowe's called Boardwalk. I chose it because honestly, I felt it looked the most expensive. Loved the lines and the weight felt pretty substantial. There were several I looked at from other places that I even questioned felt like a plastic. It's not easy trying to find a good quality faucet that doesn't cost and arm and a leg. There seems to be a lot of low grade faucets out there and high grade faucets, but not too many in between.

After the faucet was installed, I decided I'd try my hand at removing the lovely wallpaper. It had already begun to start peeling in some areas so I thought I'd give it a try, and remove a piece or two all depending on how easy it was to take down. Luckily and by the grace of God, it came down super easy. No need for a steamer or any other fun stuff.

And that covers phase one folks! The granite countertop really made a huge improvement and I feel removing the wallpaper helped open up the space more. I unfortunately don't have a better picture with the sink fixture to show ya'll, but you can start seeing progress which I like!

How about you all?? Any projects you're currently working on and decided to do it in stages? The only thing about doing it in stages, is that you have to have patience. It's a true test for me, but it's going well so far!