pop goes some color

We're in for a few inches of the slushy white stuff and as a result I think I'm craving some color in my life. What's that you say? You too? Well perfect then, here you go! Check out that hunky chunky knitting right down there...

little frankenstein

It's been a busy weekend around casa de arkanoff putting away the last bit of Christmas and starting to plan for Lucy's first birthday. I'm quickly discovering how handy it is to have a little girl with a birthday 3 days before Valentines Day. Everything is pink in the stores including the candy, it's perfect! Speaking of little L, she's officially a walker now! She looks a bit like night of the living dead with her arms flailing around but it's so cute. We are so proud of her and you can tell she is too.

Hope you had a great weekend!

window makeover

So earlier this week my lone little family room window was listed as exhibit B on my attack in the family room, you remember him. He's the one sporting the plastic brown blinds and black wood valance. After ripping down the valance I discovered they had removed the trim from the top of the window to accommodate said "handsome" valance. (just in case you're wondering those little dudes living in top of it are none the than the Fab Four bobble heads) I should also mention the minute we moved in those walls were neutralized to a plain white until I could figure out my final palette. Oh and a word of advice when you're looking at houses- if the the furniture seems to be arranged strange in a room you may want to move it to see what's hiding under it. 3k on carpet later- lesson learned. 

Dunzo:

new paint on walls and trim

shades and rod/rings from Lowes

I made the curtains from Waverly Fabric Lunar Sky Azure Ikat Damask (say that name five times fast)

The little has something new to twirl around in. 

the paint: martha stewart "fledgling" color matched by Sherwin Williams in their Harmony Line- eggshell/satin

linking up to frugal friday @

tater tots and jello

family room sneak peak

You remember the mantle before....

And after.... 

I've never patched and sanded so much in life. It was murder y'all! So worth it though. It was one of those "why didn't we do this sooner" type moments when it was all over. I also finished replacing the trim above the window where the wooden valance was but I'm not ready to show you that just yet. The fabric for the curtains are on the way here and we have new sectional ordered. I'm starting to really dig this room. Nick and I are also toying with the idea of installing the crown molding ourselves this spring. Dare to dream!

you know what I'm talking about...

Happy New Year! I love this photo of my midnight toast with my honey. The toys in the background say it all about our year. We are lucky ducks!

My resolution is to "get er done." I'm talking about those projects big or small that just eat at you but for some reason you just live with it. Exhibit A is this ginormous mirror above our fireplace. I know a mirror is suppose to open up a space blah blah blah but this mirror was so large I felt it made the family room fill sort of stark and cavernous. Not to mention that no amount of windex could ever seem to get rid of the streaks. 

 pre-close (old owners decor)

 7:10 pm 1/1/11

I had high hopes that the mirror was held up by those handy clips you see in a lot of bathrooms. No such luck. 

It was glued to that wall what seemed like gallons of industrial strength Gorilla Glue. At this point I'm silently cursing the person who did this. 

Done! An hour and half later, the look on Nicks face was priceless when I demonstrated how my fist fit through one of the holes the mirror left. I've got some patching to do today. 

addressing the window

The old owner loved their wonkey little DIY projects. They had put up a wooden window valance above the only window in the family room. (Refer to exhibit A/B photo at the top of the post) In doing so they also prevented any curtains to be hung. Again the effect was so stark! I ripped down the valance and realized they had removed the molding from the top of the window so I had to replace that.

The trim is replaced and I ordered the fabric below to make curtains from. 

Lunar Sky Azure Ikat Damask from Waverly

Next up: Paint. 

What do you need to get done? You know you're just itching to do it...