Busy Busy Busy...

January and February are usually my least favorite months of the year. The weather is just yucky, there's nothing really going on, the kids are usually sick a lot and I'm so ready for it to be Spring so we can get out of the house and enjoy nice weather and have fun. I usually end up with a mild case of the "blah's," but I think I managed to dodge it this year. We've been staying really busy and I think that has helped a lot. We've been busy painting all three bedrooms and our master bathroom as well as doing some deep cleaning and organizing along the way. Since finishing our basement almost three years ago and painting our main living areas about two years ago, we have painted all the rooms in our house except the laundry room and the main bathroom (which we plan on painting soon.) I guess you could say we love painting! Steve and I have also been busy working out (Steve has been getting ready for a photo shoot and I finally decided to take advantage of my Trainer/Dietitian-of-a-husband and let him train me and do a meal plan for me.) He's been training me five days a week (I know I'm spoiled) and we also completed the 200 sit-up training program together. We also finally got some enlargements done to hang in our house and I absolutely love them! Here are some pictures of the rooms we've painted and the enlargements we hung in them...

We painted the accent wall "Robin's Egg" (Glidden) and painted all the other walls "Silver Dust" (Glidden.) We left the ceiling, trim and doors white. We also painted our master bathroom the "Silver Dust" color. All the "Silver Dust" walls used to be a light tan color that just looked dingy after we painted the accent wall. The "Silver Dust" really brightened up the room and made it look a lot better. I know I've already posted pictures of these pictures but I thought I'd post them again on the painted wall (because it looks so much better and makes them really pop.) The wall they are on looks more grey in the pictures below-the true color is closer to the above picture and the pictures are b&w not sepia...

18x24

24x36

18x24

I'm not really a fan of the whole pink/blue girl/boy colors but those are the colors that were in the kids bedding so those are the colors we ended up painting their rooms...

I actually wanted to go really bold and do a really bright pink on Avery's wall and we tried but it was a disaster... think Pepto Bismol pink. It was so bright, it reflected off the white walls and you could see the pink glow way before even entering her room. Needless to say we found a "softer pink" and redid it. The color we used was "Pink Chintz" (Behr.) We left all the other walls, ceiling, trim and doors white and it looks so soft and girly! She loves it and I guess that's what matters. I did a small collage of b&w photos of her to hang on her wall (they are all done on a 3/4 in. "standout" mount because I didn't want to frame them)...

11x14 (4)

We painted all of Maddy's walls "Waterfall" (Martha Stewart) and left the ceiling, trim and doors white.

11x14 (3/4 in. standout mount)

Maddy wanted a picture of him in his new blue room :)

Avery was sick most of the time we were painting and spent a lot of time sleeping on the couch.

Maddy of course had to be in the middle of it all and help :)

I was at Pro Digital Photos ordering our big family picture for our living room (pictures to come shortly) and the kids were being crazy and touching things. The employee told them he had balloons for them if they were quiet... it worked like a charm and they sat on this chair and didn't make a peep the rest of the time. Maddy asked me to take of picture of them behaving so I took one with my phone...

Provo Tabernacle Fire...

As many of you know the beautiful Provo Tabernacle burned and was destroyed early Friday morning. It was such a beautiful landmark as well as a religious gathering place for many. I have attended various meetings there over time. It's so sad... I will miss seeing it when I'm driving through that part of town. You can read KSL's breaking news report here. Recovered from the ashes was this painting of "The Second Coming" by Harry Anderson...

You can't deny that the "burn pattern" is truly remarkable. I love the look on the fireman's face. You can read more about the recovered painting here.

Here is some amazing video footage of the damage...

Here is some video footage taken during the fire...

Friday 12/17/10

Basement...

Our basement is finished and we love it! I was a little slow posting pictures but here they are...

This is the entrance into the basement. We finally painted an accent(Ralph Lauren: Windsor Burgundy) wall that goes all the way upstairs and I just love the color-it looks so good and changes the whole look of the house. Now I want to repaint our whole upstairs. You can also see there is a door going the opposite way-it goes into the guest bedroom.

Family/Theatre Room.

The theatre system is awesome and sounds and feels like you are actually at a real movie theatre-except it is way more comfy than a movie theatre. You know I'll be spending some time down there watching the concerts I have on dvd:). Cabinet built by CB Construction. Theatre system done by Unique Home Theatre L.L.C.

The seating arrangements.

Carpet done by Universal Interiors(Cavalier Carpet Industries:Boss Tweed:Castlestone.-8205) Paint Color of accent wall-Restoration Hardware:Chocolate, all other walls in family area-Ralph Lauren:Burlap. Paint color for all ceilings and trim-1/2 soft white.

The wet bar which will eventually have a fridge in the open space at the end of the counter top. Granite counter tops done by M&G Solutions. Stained concrete done by Gallery Concrete Designs.

The Gym.

Now I have to get back in shape. There are built in speakers and an ipod dock (because of course you can't work out without music!)

Paint color of accent(window) wall-Ralph Lauren:Antique Brown, all other walls-Pittsberg Paints:Sand Fossil.

Eventually there will be a pool table here...we need to start saving our pennies again...

This is one of the two bedrooms that we will be using as our office-which was previously upstairs. We now have a formal living room upstairs or as we call it, the fish tank room.

The guest bedroom. Paint color for both bedrooms(office)-Ralph Lauren:Tangier Island.

The bathroom which has a entry into the guestroom as well as an entry into the family area. I'm so excited to have a pedestal sink :)-I've always wanted one for some reason.

Bathroom paint color-Devoe Paints:Silver Lace Vine.

A big thanks goes out to CB Construction who did the majority of the basement finish. They do great work and we love the finished product! I have to also thank Steve who hung the blinds, moved furniture, assembled lots of stuff for me and helped me get it all cleaned up. We still have a lot of decorating to do but we are happy to have it done.