Welcome!

One more house project was completed this weekend and for the first time, it was to the exterior! Our front door got a makeover!

Before:

The hardware was about 10 years old. The brass had seen its fair share of use and was tarnished and worn.

Off comes the brass kick plate!

I handled all the painting. Brad taped and took care of replacing the hardware. As with all of our household projects, we are closely watched by Samson and Cheyenne. This particular project was a great example of their personalities...

Samson must be close to the action all the time.

Chey wants to be involved but just nearby.

After:

A perfect red with the brick.

New hanging plants too!

New brushed nickel hardware!

So pretty from the street!

We aren't quite down with the entire project... The columns need to be painted. The worn bench will eventually go away and be replaced by more plants. I am also on the hunt for a pretty year-round wreath for the door. Otherwise, we are pleased with the fresh new look and we welcome you to visit anytime!

On fun side note... since we re-keyed the house and had to get new housekeys, I got to choose a fun one! Brad isn't so happy, but I love it!

Doggone Days of Summer...

On the weather this morning, the weather man said this week would be "cooler than last week" and then showed a highs of 104. Today marks 54 days of temperature at 100 degrees or more this summer. Being a Native Texan, I have come to expect and deal with the hot summers, but it is still TOO HOT! So, we decided it was time to treat our hot dogs with their own swimming pool!! Our dogs are predominately indoors. However, when you are covered in fur and all black like Samson, it doesn't take much to get hot in this weather!

Since Samson is a Lab and they are usually water dogs, we figured he would like it but we hadn't ever had him around water to know how he would first act. As expected, he was curious but very anxious at first. We let him walk around and check it out and then he realized he could drink it! After treating it like his own super-sized water bowl, Brad picked up Samson's front paws and put them in the water.

Slowly but surely Samson began to get that this could be a good thing! Meanwhile Cheyenne is just zooming past us, not paying any attention to the new pool.

We tried telling him to "Sit"... but he caught onto that when his rear end got wet!

Samson got the hang of it really quickly and then we couldn't get him out!!

Then it was Cheyenne's turn. She has never been a water dog. The times I have taken her to Town Lake or around any body of water, she prances along the coast line, only going in just below her stomach. I saw her swim once and it terrified her. So, I was hoping that the level of this water wouldn't be as intimidating for her. She was NOT having it at first. 

Eventually Brad did the same thing with her and put just her front paws in. She ran away. She eventually came back and then walked through the pool not staying long. 

She repeated this over and over again. Eventually she stood in the water and you could tell she finally understood its purpose! 

"What? I am in... are you happy?!"

It was really funny to see how they each had their own way of drinking! Samson had fun putting his entire snout into the water and blowing bubbles!! Chey would drink the water by biting it!

Once they were comfortable with the water, they would both run in and out of the pool. This of course, meant the water quickly got very dirty. Oh well. 

Then Samson decided the water felt so good, he wanted to roll around... in the DIRT!! He moved too quickly for me to stop him, so we just laughed and watched him enjoy the dirt like a pig!

It was a fun addition to our backyard. As the day went on, I would glance out the window when the dogs were out and at least one of them would just be standing in the pool cooling their jets!

Happy dog!

Master bedroom makeover...

We have had the paint for the master bedroom forever but just hadn't gotten to it. With the successful work on the guestroom done, we felt inspired to continue on and do the master last weekend. This is perhaps one of the most dramatic makeover we have done so far and I couldn't be more pleased! 

When Brad and I started dating, his bedroom was an overload of floral. I am not a floral person and was surprised when I saw this in a guys bedroom. Come to find out this was left from "previous administration" and Brad had just not ever done anything to it. So, one weekend I helped him shop and pick out a new bedding set to get him on his way of packing up the pink rose craziness. The red and black bed set is what eventually inspired the rest of the room and the master bathroom (an easy sell for the Tech graduate). 

Before:

The material over the bed was intended as a mock window.

After:

The bay window (behind the bed) is a darker charcoal gray while the rest of the room is a light shade of gray. 

We bought several art pieces and drawings of places we visited during our honeymoon. Once we get them framed, they will be added to the now bare walls. For now, we just have this fun picture of London (thank you IKEA!). 

Brad is changing out the doorknob. We are slowly switching out all the brass for brushed nickel throughout the entire house.

I have since added a nice reading lamp behind the chair for a comfy reading area (the chair is a recliner).

The end result is great and makes the room so much more cozy. So, I guess our next major paint job will be the kitchen. As much as I would like to get the living room done, the high vaulted ceilings may have to be left to some hired pros!

Artichoke Heart...

No- this blog isn't dedicated to the yumminess of artichoke hearts, it is actually about our recent home decor project - the guest bedroom. The color of paint I chose was called "Artichoke Heart"!

This room has been largely ignored with white walls and no decorations. It had been on the "to-do" list for a while. We will be hosting our first guest next week (my Mom- yay!) so it was time to finally get this room in shape. Here are the before pictures...

Although it had already been prepped for painting, this room didn't have much going on, so these are still good "before" pictures!

Cheyenne coming to check it out...

Getting some love from Mom.

 As we made the final preparations, the entire family came in to see what was going on!

Zoe, Chey, Gypsy and Samson!

What piece of styrofoam?

Unfortunately, the green paint didn't photograph well which is disappointing. However, it is a very pretty color of celadon green... like this swatch I found online:

Here goes!!

We have painted enough rooms together now that we move pretty quickly as a team. I use the roller to cover most of the walls while Brad handles the trim. We were closely supervised by Cheyenne and Samson.

Don't worry about me Samson... I would hate to make you move.

The Trim Master.

It is hard work painting.

The final product:

 

The next day, we turned our attention to the Master bedroom... that post is next!