remodeling :: quasi relaxing weekend part 1

So our weekends have been "quasi" relaxing since Christmas . . .

Well, somewhat . . . meaning no painters or sub-contractors running thru our house.

And all of these ideas I've been storing up in my head with bookoos of inspiration have given me a mission to conquer, one good idea each weekend.

But of course that sounded way too good in my head to become reality.

Last weekend Noelle and I tried to finish her room by getting {E} to help us hang the rest of her pictures along with conquering Noelle's personal request . . . a painted grandmother clock on her wall. 

 :: more to come on that topic :: 

Meanwhile, the small monkey that lives in our house was begging and begging and begging to go outside . . . because afterall, that's where monkeys belong. So I had to put down the paint brush on my little project and head outside for some sidewalk art, which is actually what I love doing with my little monkey boy on a "quasi" relaxing weekend.

Meanwhile . . .

My busy little husband can't sit still and continues to use me as his apprentice on ALL of his projects, therefore I was whisked back inside for some plumbing apprentinceship.

This little plumbing project was something that we've been putting off but was totally necessary so we could have our bathroom downstairs. 

First we had to do our best to push the vanity into a tiny spot that made specifically for the vanity . . . no smaller, no bigger.

We had to get our cabinet maker to notch part of the legs in order to make them fit. It's been a long process and this is just another one of those bumps in the road 

:: we basically built the bathroom around the vanity but silly us must have had a lot on our minds because we forgot to take the baseboards into account :: 

which means lots of more touch up paint for me to do.

yay! finally got it in . . .

by this time I had poured me a nice little glass of sparkly . . .

and Lucas was wearing us down.

:: don't all apprentices have a wrench in one hand and a glass of wine in the other? :: 

but of course monkey had to be in the spotlight . . .

all of that work and {E} realized the faucet had a leak and we had to return it!

Seriously? I'm talking hours people, hours!

Anyway, he was finally able to finish it the next day after church . . . after a couple of more hours of help from his apprentice.

the loveables :: vintage valentines

I love my sweet vintage valentines . . .

These are all from my grandfather, Ralph Smythe, that my grandmother saved throughout the years. 

About 10 years ago my mother framed them in a shadow box for me for valentines day which brought me such joy! I love that they are all signed from his grade school friends and most of them mispelled his name. 

the loveables :: printable valentines

Since my life and famille have been so bizarre for the past 3 years, I haven't had many opportunities to whip out the creative genius stuffed inside of me even though it's my heart's desire. This is the first year that Noelle hasn't done valentines for school {because 6th graders are way too cool for that} but nevertheless, now Lucas is of the age that his Mother's Day Out classes are full of classroom parties. 

So . . .

Since I have vowed to never buy Go Diego Go valentines for Lucas I was panicking for a quick creative substitute. Luckily there are some genius artists that have the time and talent to come up with great school valentines for the modern kiddos with modern moms!

I ordered the happy heart day animals for Lucas and decided to go ahead and order the love birds for Noelle in hopes that she'd change her mind. 

Sure enough, the love birds stole her heart! {yes, punn intended} Aren't they precious?!

Many thanks to Julie Green with up up creative on etsy  I was able to start the lovely weekend in a semi-creative way! 

remodeling :: new light fixtures

So we finally got the electrician out here a couple of weeks ago to finish the electrical in the kitchen and breakfast/sunroom.  Then {E} installed our new fixtures that we ordered!

I love how they turned out! Simple, clean and elegant!

dining room sconces

kitchen island pendant

breakfast/sunroom fixture

the loveables :: mr. moose

Mr. Moose became apart of our family on Christmas day. Since we bought Noelle tons of stuff for her bedroom, I just had to add some design whimsy to Lucas' room . . .

even though I haven't decorated his room yet, he's LOVING Mr. Moose. They're best buds! 

I've seen them on several sites but I got this one from popdeluxe .