Living Room: before and after

It's been about a month and a half since we started working on the living room. We started with the popcorn ceilings and painting the beams. Since that was mostly my project, Elliott decided to take down the wallpaper and try to fill in the paneling. After talking to a friend who had a similar room makeover, we decided it was best to hire someone to do this job! It took a long weekend to finish the walls and the poor guy had to practically redo the whole bottom half. Luckily Elliott payed attention to his technique because he had to make a few repairs himself. When we primed, we encountered some "bubbles" so Elliott basically had to start from scratch to patch a few spots. We finished the trim and painted the walls and just when I thought we were going to put our house back together, we started ripping up carpet! That was the next task on our list but we are having a little party here tomorrow so I wasn't anticipating starting another project so soon! Laying wood floors was pretty much Elliott's job and he did most of it during the week while I was at work. We decided to only do the living room, hall, foyer, and dining room (yes, we had carpet in our dining room! gross!) for now and tackle the bedrooms after the party.  I contributed by painting the shoe molding and cleaning top to bottom before bringing back the furniture! My favorite part, of course, is arranging the furniture and hanging curtains and pictures (or asking E to hang curtain rods and picture hooks which is literally his LEAST favorite thing to do). Oh we make such a great team ;)
ok ok so here are some pics...beware

 large wall- chair rail separated exposed paneling from wallpaper

same wall-chair rail and wallpaper removed, beams/trim primed

same wall-paneling covered/textured

same wall-primed, paint going on!

AFTER!! (still a bit unorganized)

backdoor/laundry room door BEFORE

backdoor/laundry room door AFTER!

FINAL

no window treatment yet, still bringing in furniture and getting things on the walls!

We painted the walls Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray. It's the same color as the hall, guest bedrooms, and eventually kitchen when we tackle that! It's a great neutral and the front rooms (foyer, dining room, and keeping room) are all a blue gray so it blends well. The floors don't show much in these pictures but they are 100% better than carpet! I've never been more thankful for wood flooring! And just as a little treat, this is what was under the carpet...

some very very old school linoleum!

Even though our house is old, it feels so new and clean! After we get through this birthday weekend we'll catch our breath and finish up floors so we can start on the kitchen and bathrooms!

And we have these to thank for helping us get through it all...

(and to help celebrate E's bday) Have you had them? They are great!

The chaos continues...

With all the stuff going on around the house sometimes I forget that I miss having all those puppies around! Luckily, one of the puppies was being auctioned to raise money for the Ruffed Grouse Society and we were invited to attend the banquet with our dear friends Frannie and Rudy Comeaux.  He was the sweetest puppy and the only one who had markings like Liza (all the rest were roan colored). He has the sweetest temperament and was passed around all night much to his satisfaction!

We actually ended up knowing a lot of people at the banquet (bird hunters unite). This sweet face is the matriarch of the sweetest family, The Lindsay's, and the banquet was in memory of her father in law who was an avid bird hunter. Two of her sweet girls are in our Sunday school class and we loved getting to hang out with them!

Speaking of puppies, my mom recently went to help my sister last week with her sick babies. Looks like Mary Stewart and Pearl are best buds! Nothing like a puppy to make you feel better!  We gave my mom the puppy for Christmas and Ashley told me when Mom and Pearl got to her house Mary Stewart said, "It's YaYa (my mom) and Hattie puppy!!" Glad she remembers the puppies from our house at Christmas!!

We have been getting King Cakes at work for about a month now and I just can't control myself! King cake is my FAVORITE! We've collectively decided that Calandro's Supermarket has the best in BR but we recently got one from Whole Foods and it was a close second to me! I prefer plain cinnamon. I'm just not a fan of all the gooey fillings. Elliott likes to remind me that it's just a giant cinnamon roll with purple, gold, and green sugar on top and I know this but there's something about this time of year, the baby, the colors, that makes me crave it and for the rest of the year, I'm satisfied! (Unless, of course, they are Pioneer Woman's recipe which are to die for!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

That's the link to her recipe for your convenience.  I've made them the past 2 Christmases. It is a process to make them and her recipe makes a ton but it's worth it and the perfect baked treat for neighbors!

What goes better with King Cake than a Mardi Gras ball?? We've been doing this ball for the last few years with Elliott's parents and they always let us use some of their tickets to invite friends!

I'm glad we've been able to squeeze in some time with friends because our house is still in a state of emergency! 

This is one of the guest rooms that has accumulated about 1/4 of the living room. Everything else is spread out between the other guest room, keeping room, and dining room. I'll spare you more photos but we are making progress. Unfortunately we have run into some hiccups but I'm very thankful for my patient husband who has kept me from losing my mind! I'm realizing more and more that I'm not in control and when I can get over myself and look back, I'm actually very thankful for that! 

It was a very long and busy week at work and while I LOVE my job, it was nice to have this waiting for me at the end of the day Thursday! 

This followed by Mexican night with friends was the perfect way to start the weekend!

Let's catch up

January has come and gone and we have been staying busy! Between the pups (who are all gone now), some home improvement (pictures to come!), and our social calendar (ha), we haven't had much down time.  We had an engagement party for some sweet friends a few weeks ago. It was so good to see everyone since we were all hit or miss around the holidays!

Lauren and Bryce

We are looking forward to the wedding in August! Kristine (far left) is also engaged and will be getting married in June! She got engaged just before Christmas and had her dress the next week (her future mother in law owns a bridal store). We picked out bridesmaids dresses the week after Christmas and I'm pretty sure she has everything planned already! Such a fun time for my friends!!

Kristine's "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?"cards had the cutest attachment 

with all the bridesmaids unfolding! 

In other news, the pups have all gone and we are getting back to normal around here. If normal means having all the furniture moved out of our living room except the tv armoire and a couch, both of which are sitting in the middle of the room about 4 feet apart.  As I mentioned, we are having some work done in the house and I'l be thrilled when I can post before and after pics (and put my house back together again!)

Lastly, my childhood best friend Laura celebrated a birthday on Monday (Jan 30th). This means we have been friends for 19 years....making it my longest relationship besides family! Happy belated Laura Lou!!