New Beginnings

Sorry for being a bad blogger... there's been so much going on. My daughter graduated from high school, we are packing to finally move, STILL painting the house, finally clearing out our 3 storage units... *sigh*

I'm so annoyed with myself because as I began to clear out our master bedroom, I see sooooooo much stuff that I didn't and never needed but had way too much of.. shoes, clothes, coats, bags, hats, makeup...etc. Just TOO much of everything and it just made me sick and mad.

Sick because more than likely I'm going to throw so much of it away. I know I could take it to Goodwill or someplace but more than likely, it's going in the trash because I simply don't have time or energy to do anything else with it.

Mad because when I look at ALL of that stuff, I see dollar signs. I see tons of cash that could have gone towards our retirement, towards savings for immediate needs for the new house, towards anything else besides a bunch of "stuff".

I need to simplify. I need to purge. I need to find joy in accumulating less "stuff". I need to only purchase what I need and treat myself to indulgences ONCE IN A WHILE. Instead of indulging ALL THE TIME.

I believe I will appreciate what I purchase alot more and my closets won't look like they are on the cusp of hoarding.

Lovely Sofa

I just love the arms and the unusual shape. The one seat cushion is perfect.

I just adore this sofa. It's so curvy and feminine and sumptuous.. it's gorgeous!

Guns Blazing

This woman is amazing... at 75, she looks like this:

Look at her skin, it's tight and beautiful. I had always heard that weight lifting made your skin tight but now I'm a believer!

Mrs. Ernestine Shepherd holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest competitive female bodybuilder. She's seriously fabulous! Love her!

Ummmmm, Malachite

It is a SICKNESS I tell ya'!! I already have some fabulous dining room chairs... and now I have another set of six dining room chairs that came with this:

The chairs look like this, except in black.

via

I don't want the glass table and chairs and while I've seen both the table and chairs on Ebay.com, 1st Dibs.com and VandM.com, I'm not sure I'm up to trying to find a place to list them and sell them, so I have a total of 12 FREAKIN' DINING ROOM CHAIRS... who does that? 

And I still want these beauties:

 

Six faux Malachite dining chairs. I want.. sooooooo bad.

See?? A sickness, I'm hoarding dining room tables and chairs.

Decisions, Decisions

We are planning to have the house's exterior painted in the another week and I'm under the gun to choose colors and get things on and poppin'.

I used Sherwin William's color visualizer to help me decide on a great shade of gray.

First, up is Classic French Gray for walls, Wool Skein for trim and Tricorn Black for shutters. Nice, crisp and classic.

I don't know how I wound up with this color combo but I really like it too. There's Light French Gray for the walls, Greek Villa for trim and Homburg Gray for shutters. Pretty, right?

Which one do you like? Does the bottom one give a country cottage feel? Because I'm not going for that.. Would a black glossy front door give it some edge? Or should I stick to the tried and true classic of the first option?

Get In My Kitchen!!

I NEED a La Cornue range. Really, I do.. I do, I do, I do!!

This pic just makes me wanna eat some Turducken.

This one is my favoritest, I just love the white with brass accents!!

I may have to swear off buying shoes for a while... to get this range.

Virtual Decorating

Wish I could show you photos of the completed painting of the house but I can't because we're STILL not done. I think my molding is breeding and making more molding because seriously, it seems never-ending. *sigh*

But it's coming along, seemingly we're almost done. Then, we can slap on the black paint for the doors and living room fireplace and we'll finally be done. Well, there's still the kitchen but we're gonna use a paint sprayer for that.

Today, I turn my attention to the family room. This room will be decidedly more masculine and dark, as opposed to the light and airy and diva-likeness of the living room. The family room will be where everyone congregates because of it's proximity to the kitchen. So, I'm keeping durability and wear in mind. With that said, I still want that room to have a glamorous feel.

This is my inspiration:

Fab room by Atmosphere

 

LOVE THIS ROOM!!!

So, my take aways for my family room are how they have a white fireplace, that they take the color all the way to the ceiling. We will be doing that. If you remember, our fireplace has this great white marble with gray and black veining... I think it's gonna be pretty cool.

Still debating the accent color(s) of the room but more than likely it will be in the gray family, to keep that element throughout the house.

I love the scones they used in this room and I want those:

I already have an armchair that is currently glossy black and patent leather:

But I'm thinking of reupholstering it in a pattern to bring some movement into the room, like this:

Another item I love in this room are the lamps. LOVE THESE!!

I have my eye on a couple of lamps that's similar. Can't wait to get my hands on them!

The last item I want for the family room is this:

Crocodile embossed leather flooring, in black, of course. I think this flooring will make me do a happy dance every time I see it.

I Want A SMOOL

What is a SMOOL you might ask? It's a small pool. I made up that word.. kinda cute, huh?

Although the Hubby and I want a pool, we don't want it to take over the whole backyard. We want to maintain grassy areas and a spacious area for the outdoor kitchen and dining area.

We have had a pool guy come to the house and give us an estimate and when I told him that we wanted a small pool in one corner of the backyard, he told me,"it's not advisable and we won't be able to enjoy it."  What?!?! (I always get the most negative people to work with..remember my realtor, who didn't want to sell us our house..but I digress.)


I thanked him for his time and told him I wanted a solutions oriented pool person and we'd keep looking. BUH BYE!!

So, on to the interwebs I went because I was more than certain that there HAD to be an option for someone like me, that wanted a SMOOL. I mean we don't need an Olympic size pool, we more than likely will just lounge in the pool, take a quick dip on a hot day and it would be cool to have when our little family members came to visit.

I did find many small inground pool options and I'm thrilled.

These smallest options are called Patio Pools and they are kinda perfect. They are also called DIY pools because for the most part, you can excavate the hole yourself and have the pool manufacturer just drop the pool in and fill with water, then complete the surround. Although, my Husband wants no part of this particular kind of DIY, it's a great option for those who want to go that route.

If we chose this kind of pool, we'd try not to have too much concrete around it, because we like our grass.

Isn't the water so pretty?

This would take up more space because of it's shape but I like it.. just not for our backyard.

Another great option sans the pavers.

Anyone have a SMOOL? Do you want one?

Light And Airy

This space is beautifully serene...

It makes so filled with anticipation of how our house will look, dressed in creamy whites and filled with light.

Biggest Loser Day

Today is my "Biggest Loser" workout day. I work out for 4 hours, just like the contestants of one of my fav shows. I've already completed my 2 hour run. It was great. Did I actually just say running was great?!?!

I had to take a break from running because of shin splints but now I'm back in full effect! I haven't been getting as winded, which makes it sooooo much easier to keep going. YAY me!



My next workouts will be via Exercise TV and will include meeting up with my girls, Jackie Warner and Julian Micheals.

Then, rounding out my "Biggest Loser" day with Pilates.