8.24.2013

{Home Decor} New Progress on the House!

It's been a crazy busy couple weeks and the last days have been even more hectic, mostly because all four babies have colds. And they're still teething. So double joy. I'm not sure if the colds were brought on from teething—they haven't been taking tolerating their new chompers growing in very well—or from visitors. Either way, we're blowing our way through box after box of Kleenex and are keeping up with a very strict Infant Advil schedule. Thankfully they're still eating decently and aren't running fevers, so I hope they kick this crud in a couple days. But let me tell you, sick quadruplets is exhausting.

Before that, I had eight kids at my house since my mom brought my other nieces and nephews over for a day. I have some great photos and cute stories to share on that later. And tomorrow I'm hosting a Champagne brunch with my bestie girlfriends, hence all the mad woman cleaning and decorating on the first floor rooms to get things presentable. I'm so excited to start sharing our home! Then Wednesday the husband and I will be with Harrison all day as he's to have a minor surgery procedure (circumcision) early in the morning. Then the husband is off on a hunting trip and I'm manning the place and hope to God the babies are on the mend by then.

In the meantime, I thought I'd snap a couple pics to show you guys the progress in the kitchen, dining room and adult living room thus far! I'm nearly done decorating the kitchen and, despite the mess, you can see it all coming together and I'm loving my ivy above the cabinets. Won't be long until I stick in a few springs of autumn leaves for fall!


Opposite the kitchen is the breakfast room, and thanks to both my step-dad and father-in-law our Texas light is now installed! (You can barely see it, but there's bronze stars on the glass light.) I love the stars on the wall as they tie it together well, and am still on the hunt for the right valances to hang across the top of the windows. We get such great natural light here during the day and have beautiful views into our backyard, that we don't intend to add any blinds or curtains.


Right off the kitchen is our dining room, which is pretty much done now! I busted my ass the last couple days to get all the stacks of boxes lined emptied and put away. Most of the decor I already had, save for the vase and faux flowers on top of the china hutch.



I love my zebra canvas lamp shades, a steal of a buy at Stein Mart a couple years ago. Seriously, they were like 30 cents apiece. The table was a $200 Craig's List purchase and I've mentioned before that I plan to paint it an ebony black with Annie Sloan's chalk paint. Soon, I hope, very soon!



Fresh flowers are the perfect centerpiece for the Champagne brunch I'm hosting tomorrow (Sunday) and I loved the light green roses! The china we have in the hutch is Spode's Woodlands collection and is perfect for the husband and I. We don't do traditional china and he loves hunting so the quail, labradors and other wild life depicted on the plates and bowls is very fitting for our home. The cute wreath hanging on the door was a handmade gift from my nanny! And, because this is real life, yes that's a huge dog kennel in the corner for our labs to sleep in at night. They refuse to sleep separately so our two 90 pound dogs curl up together in the same kennel and snore until morning!




The dining room gives way to the adult living room, so called because there are no baby toys in there! It's completely child-free, since we use our second living room as a play room for the kids. We enjoy this so much, I can't even explain to you the satisfaction that comes at the end of the day when we can kick back in there with a TV show or movie and truly relax. (The husband was doing just that watching football while I snapped the pictures.) It's still very much a work in progress, as we have some more things to put on the walls and need to mount the TV as well.



This room was a dark tan when we bought the house, but since we had to have a lot of repair work done and several parts of wall and ceiling replaced, we went with a lighter shade. I'm so glad we did because it makes the room feel big, light and airy versus cramped and dark. I keep some of my favorite glass and crystal photo frames on the piano, which I unfortunately have played probably twice in the last year! I took six years of lessons when I was younger and only remember a few tunes and can't read sheet music all that quick anymore. But I do hope to instill a love of music in my children as they grow up and hopefully they learn (temporarily at least) to play an instrument of some sort.


On the coffee table are more flowers (the pink roses are from my front yard!) as well as memory books I made of the kids' first year. I created a book on Snapfish for every three months, chronicling all their major milestones and special memories. I still need to finish their 9-12 month book! These are a great thing to share with visitors and gives them a personalized inside look at the first year.


My desk area needs work! I've not even begun to organize or sort anything there. Still on the hunt for much of office belongings, actually, and got tired by the end of the day so I stacked all the random odds and ends on top and called it done for now.


I also made a few changes to my gallery wall I shared a few days ago and added a couple more black frames. I love this display and that it will continue to transition over the years as I add new pieces and fill the entire wall.


That's it so far! I'll have more to share soon and my next big project is our master bedroom. It's literally a bed in a sea of boxes and clothes, so I have quite a bit to do in there. Happy weekend!
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9 comments:

  1. It is looking so great! Now if I could just snap my fingers and have the packing, the move and the unpacking done at our new place I would be one happy woman. We just bought a piano for $200 that is from 1905. So excited for the kids to take lessons.

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  2. It is beautiful! Hard to imagine how you do all this while carrying for quads! SuperMom :)

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  3. Your home is beautiful!! I love your china hutch, did you find that when you found your table?
    Hope the kiddos are feeling better soon,how miserable for them and for you.
    Thanks for sharing:)

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  4. I honestly don't know how you do it! It all looks better and better every day. Super mom FOR SURE!

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  5. Your house is beautiful! I love how you decorated :) We moved into our home 2 years ago, and it is STILL not decorated! My son (who was also born at 29weeks 5 days on 5/31/09!!) had a "surgical" circ at around 13 months old. Good luck on surgery day, probably way more tough on Momma and daddy.

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  6. What a cozy home!
    I am curious about the male surgery for babyboys. In Finland it is extremely seldom or next to never done. It is a debat whether there are any pros even. In some religions it is a tradition but still this procedure is something that not accepted among the hospitals. Just wondering how is the case in the States. If an uncomfortable question please do not hesitate not to answer.

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    1. It is still widely accepted/practiced in the states. I know there are certain people who say it is not necessary, and certain people who say it is "better". You sign a consent, most are done right after baby is born before being released. Not sure statistically how many people chose to and not.

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    2. It is the common option in the US, yes, and I would say the vast majority of babies are circumcised immediately after birth. In our case, it was due to prematurity that we had to wait awhile. I'm just glad he won't be remembering this and the surgeon did a great job, plus his meds have helped a lot. In my personal opinion, cleanliness is a huge factor in why it's so common here. And since it's not the norm to be uncircumcised, social awkwardness (locker rooms, intimacy, etc.) can be a result.

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  7. My desk looks worse. The house looks really great.

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