Home Improvements (the first of many)

There are a lot of things I LOVE about being a home owner, but I'd have to say that very near the top of my list is the ability to paint. Whenever. Wherever. Whatever color. I love that my home can have its own little splashes of personality now!

Ellie's room (a.k.a. the nursery) was first. Kevin thought I was a little crazy picking the color I did (baby blue in a girl's room?), but I was inspired by the little bit of blue in her bedding. And now that it's almost all the way decorated - finally - I can honestly say I love it.

I just wish the pictures were a little more true to the real color. Just know that the blue is a lot prettier in real life. :)

This is the crib wall. It looks pretty bare at first glance, but there's white vinyl lettering that's really hard to see in the picture. I'm also planning to make two more hanging rose balls cause that one looks really random hanging there by itself.



Here's the window. I (very obviously) made those curtains because it's hard to find anything girly that matches that color. They kinda bug me, though, because you can see the sewing seams really well. I'm so not a seamstress... :)



And here's the changing table wall. I really like it because I think it brings all the blue and pink in the room together.

Then there's Sadie's room. She wanted her room to be pink (no surprise there), but I wanted something a little more fun than just plain pink. Enter: the stripes. I think they turned out adorable, but it was quite the frustrating process. Kevin was incredibly patient as I ordered him around and told him exactly how it needed to be done. :)

Here's how the bed wall looks:

And last but not least...our deck!

Kevin, his dad, and his brother Alan built this baby all by themselves. Impressive, isn't it? It took them a few weeks longer than they hoped because of bad weather, but I'm so excited that it's done. Now I can use my back door! Yay!

Our next project will probably be a sprinkler system. Then some grass. A fence is somewhere in the future too. There's also that basement sitting there waiting for us. IT NEVER ENDS!!!

Don't tell Kevin, but I'm also determined to two-tone paint the rest of our upstairs soon. You have to have walked in our house to appreciate the enormity of that project. Everything is open, so that means it ALL has to be painted at the same time. The high, vaulted walls; around the kitchen cupboards; the stairway; down the hall...everything.

Phew. It's making me tired just to think about it.

Like I said, I think I'm just going to show up with the paint one day and say, "Surprise! It's painting day!" That way he can't back out. :)