Spring is coming!

The magnolia tree across the street is blooming, and we are discovering all the flowers in our new yard.  So far, we have daffodils, tulips, one crocus, and a mysterious wilted plant that bloomed purple and pink flowers.  The roses are coming back (except perhaps the one I tried to winter over inside and forgot to water), and the yard is greening up.  In the back yard, we have fosythia beginning to think about flowering. 

Inside we are thinking about how to best use our greenhouse.  So far, the verdict is herbs.

Jess

Cooking! (no, really!)

The fall weather has inspired me to stop making meals out of milk and randomly grabbed pieces of tortilla (although I love both of these) and actually make a few real meals.  First up was the first lasagna I have ever made.  It went amazingly well (so, so good).  Five people devoured an entire, then Shawn and I carefully split the remainder over the next two day's of lunch/dinner to draw it out as long as possible.  Yesterday's meal was pork loin - nothing fancy here, just baking the pre-seasoned pork with some quartered potatoes.  Tonight, more pork and I made cranberry sauce.

This may be as much cooking as I have ever done in a week.

Jess

A small update...

I have been making a few more updates that I will show soon, but here is a small one that turned out very well. 

Here is the bathroom vanity we inherited:

The vanity itself is staying for now, but the grungy modern knobs on the traditional vanity had to go. 

Here it is again after a quick trip to Target:

Much better.  Now if only someone would clean off the collection of makeup and hair things on the top...

An (Overdue) Update on the Little Bedroom

Here is how it started:

And here is how it ended up, after a good coat of Behr Polar Drift (Flat) and several hours taking up carpet:

I love this color of blue.

Next up: The little bedroom

The next painting project is the littlest bedroom.  This is one of my favorite rooms, since it has two leaded glass windows to complement the downstairs window in the door.  I have not been great with capturing the before, but here are some before/in progress pictures of the bright turquoise paint:

 

Max considered himself a big help in the painting process.  I got sick of taping, and decided to try to cut nearly everything in by hand.  I think this first coat went fairly well - we will see about the next!  Next step is to buy the color today, and wrap this up!

Before's and afters

The dining room before.... (not our furniture)...

The diningroom with a new coat of blue and white.   Currently our little kitchen table is bravely trying to fill up the space with it's two little chairs, so I am searching for a dinging room table.  I can't decide what style set to get - any ideas?

The master bedroom before (again, not our furniture...)

And after with a coat of Behr's Silver Charm in flat finish...



Quick Shine

My cousin told me about this for wood floors, and it is amazing.  It took our great, but I-wish-it-was-a-little-shinier floors and gave them a nice, medium gloss.  The cat is the only one who doesn't like it - he is hanging out in the bathroom until it dries.  : )

Jess