The Deck is finally finished

Yippee! Josh put in a few more weekends into the deck, and it's finally done! 

Filling all nail holes in the face boards: 

He added the boards along the stairs:

Along the side of the deck closest to the garage door:

Josh about to rip off the second set on stairs, that go over to our yard:

Totally done! With my hydrangeas and peonies for Mothers Day. 

Green door

It was gorgeous last weekend, and I FINALLY painted the front door to match our updated mailbox! (Good thing too, because it's apparently winter again here, brrr). 

Josh took the door off the hinges for me -- yippee -- made it so much easier to paint. 

I love the color! 

Ella's New Room

This last week we painted our current guest room to get it ready for Ella. We painted it the same grey as her current room, we had a whole unopened gallon in the basement.

We have decided to keep her in her crib for as long as possible. Right now she isn't climbing out, or really even thinking about it. She also plays nicely in her crib in the morning giving us a buffer on when we have to go get her. I'm not ready for her cheery-eyed wake up visits to my bedside at 6:30! 

Because she is staying in the crib - and it's a huge pain to move/disassemble, she will stay in her current room until Evie is ready for it and then we will figure out how to move her. :) 

Here is our painting party this week: 

Protecting Evie from the fumes: 

Finished product: 

Bookshelf Decorations:

(Owl made by Aunt Rachel)

(E made by Aunt Rachel)

(Owls from Aunt Lauren) 

(Keepsake box my mom made from Ella's NH baby shower) 

Made by Aunts Kate, Danielle, and Rachel for Ella's PA baby shower) 

Curtain: 

Made from the sane fabric as her quilt and high chair cover: 

We need to bring over her dresser and a few other items - so I'll add those later. 

Mailbox

"Recently" we did a mailbox redo - but never got around to adding numbers. A scolding from a cop motivated me to add the numbers.

Now I need to paint the front door green to match the numbers. 

Mailbox Revamp

Josh and I have been working to tackle the outside of the house this spring/summer. There definitely is plenty to keep us busy.

Josh is currently redoing our front deck: 

I In the other hand opted for a smaller project. I tire easily and like quick results! :) I still need to paint numbers on the mailbox, but I'm going to use the same paint color as another (yet to be announced) project, so I'm waiting on that color to be final. 

Downstairs Bathroom

Our downstairs bathroom is FINALLY complete! We had a little bit of a mirror debacle - after removing the rather large medicine cabinet that was there when we bought the house, we discovered a rather large whole in the wall which dictated the mirror size.

I finally found the perfect mirror at TJ Maxx! And begin painting it coral immediately. This coral color is the same that we used for the stripe on the opposite wall of the bathroom [pics in the blog post here]. I love the pierced edges and detail.

Thanks to Josh for mounting the mirror - you are the best!

Ella's room - finished

I was finally able to get Ella's room all set up and decorated! I love all the bright color and think it looks great up against the grey walls.

Thanks Josh for hanging the mobile! 

Shout out to "giant Minni" from our sweet realtor. Thanks Aunt Katie for the custom-made art! 

Aunt Rachel & Aunt Lauren gave us the decorations for this room, thanks!

Ella loves her darkness for sleeping, so I've got quite the curtain situation going on here. We have RV window tint sheets up, a giant piece of fabric folded up over 3 tension rods to make an easy, no see roman shade. Then draped over top is a banner made by Ella's aunts, thanks Dee, Rachel, and Katie. 

Same dresser from here old room, new decorations provided by Gram B and my Aunt Carol! 

Downstairs Hallway

When we bought the house, the entire downstairs was a bright (I'm talking sunflower) yellow. Since our first weekend of ownership, we have been working to change that!

We painted the living room and dining room first. This past week we tackled the entry way, the hallway, and stairs. 

We had previously painted the baseboards white, but finally finished the job this week. 

We painted the hallway and stairs "toasted oatmeal" by Behr. I love the way it looks! 

Josh bravely painted the stairs using his brand new ladder. 

My wonderfully math-minded husband graciously hung up family photos - now it is finally feeling like home. 

Here is the photo collage in the hallway, on the side of the stairs. 

This mirror and frame hang on the bottom of the stair landing.

I also sprayed the metal elements with rustolem. Yeah for an easy fix to remove gold!