Phase II of our living room makeover is complete!  I couldn't be happier.  Sometimes things don't turn out like I think they will in my head, but this turned out (dare I say) even better than imagined.  I've been brainstorming ideas for our living room wall space for a while, and knew I didn't want to do a frame cluster on both main walls.  I'm keeping one cluster in my back pocket for wall number two which will be a separate phase of this ongoing project.  I think it's probably where we'll highlight our newest addition.  

But until then, I'm going to keep smiling every time I walk into our living room and see this.  

 I was inspired by YHL and their former dining room display.  But, with the couch against the back wall, we didn't have enough space for three floating shelves.  And, the six foot options from Ikea just didn't seem like they'd be commanding enough.  Lucky for me, I found this tutorial (seriously, what would our houses look like without the help of John and Sherry + friends?), and Handy Andy agreed to the job.  

So, two weekends ago, we took our supply list to Lowe's then started sawing, hammering and screwing.  Haha.  The tutorial said these could be built in one day.  That's probably doable if you're highly motivated, but considering we didn't start until after lunch on a Sunday, have taken two road trips to Manhattan to cheer the Cats on to victory, been to Iowa for a family wedding and Andrew suffering through a bad cold, this one-day project took longer than anticipated.  Doesn't matter now because I love the shelves and am satisfied for now with the display of frames, bottles, etc.  I want to switch out a few things, add some additional frames for layering, etc., but all in good time.  

 We're at least company-ready as long as no one looks under the couch and Andrew's honkin' chair at the pile of dust I just saw when I looked at this picture.  Gross.  I guess not gross enough as it hasn't motivated me to clean there yet.

Next up, updating our curtains.  The new sets should arrive by Thursday!  I can't wait until our puny curtains are history. 

Since we won't get our pillow covers back until mid-April, I think I'm going to have to focus on the second wall in our room to add back some additional color for the time being.  I see some crafting and Etsy shopping in my future. 

Congrats to Mr. Jon and Rachel Sielaff!  My little sister got married last weekend, my parents are official empty nesters, and I gave one very funny toast (if I do say so myself).  I think it's always appropriate for siblings to tell embarrassing stories when someone hands you a mic in front of a crowded room.  Maybe Rachel should have thought about that when she made copies of my diary when we were growing up and handed them out to her friends at school.  No, Rachel, I haven't forgotten about that.  What do people say about karma...?  :)

We had a wonderful weekend in Iowa with family.  We celebrated two very important birthdays on Friday with an Andrew Moore pizza special and a few gifts...some even homemade.  

 We also tried to mark Brynnan's first birthday with some pictures, but the girl was not having it.  Our photo shoot lasted all of five minutes, and she refused to smile.  Oh well.  Next time.

Don't worry; no babies were harmed during shooting.  She just has this talent where even her fake cries produce real tears.  I feel bad for her future boyfriends.  She is going to get everything she wants with those waterworks.  

So happy for Jon and Rachel as they start their new life together in St. Louis.  

And Happy Friday to all of you.  Cats, Cats, Cats this weekend.  Finishing a project that said it was a one-day thing.  Hmm.  We're two weeks and counting at our house.  Time to bring it in.

Now that Phase I of my living room makeover is complete, it's even more obvious that I needed an update.  We have a fantastic neutral palate to work from so no furniture needs to be replaced which  means this re-do should be relatively economical.  Should be.  There are a few updates or additions that could be a bit pricey, but if we continue in phases as planned, I can save my pennies for the big purchases down the road.

Nothing I've chosen below is for sure (mainly because I want to keep my costs down and am always trying to DIY where I can), but if my living room looks like this in the end, yipee skippy.  

Here's the breakdown:

1. rugsusa.com - I'm stuck on updating our rug situation.  I loved the Target rug we've used in our living room for it's price, and the fact that we got it while Franklin was mid-potty training.  Enough said.  But, it's base is brown, and the pup's hair shows too easily.  Plus, I love this graphic pattern and much more soothing tone. 

2. I cannot wait to upgrade our curtains.  The current are so puny.  The problem is, our big bay window is beautiful, and I love love love it, but the wide space is really hard to match a long enough curtain rod.  So, the plan is to extend the current curtain rod, maybe hang it higher (if I can convince Andrew to help me with this), and either DIY my own curtains or buy these lovelies from Pottery Barn... on sale right now...  And that rustic barn wood behind the drapes?  Love.

3. White wood gallery frames.  Lots of my own photos, prints, etc.  Also from my fav, PB.

4.  Our front window is beautiful, but unfortunately doesn't let in as much light as you'd think since our front porch is covered.  And, much to my dismay, there is no overhead ceiling light in our living room either.  So, we've got to step it up and find some better lighting solutions for all areas of this space.  I love the white crispness and think a pair from homedecorators.com would be a great addition.

5 and 6. As mentioned above, our furniture is already a great backdrop.  Our linen couch, combined with the Valspar wall and trim colors are some of the only things staying in the room.  Besides the side tables and huge honkin TV for Handy Andy.

7. I love this chair from Crate and Barrel.  I think about it all the time.  I'd love a pair of chairs to place in front of our window along with either a small occasional table or possibly ottoman with a decorative tray.  This chair is the exact shape I'm looking for, plus the graphic print and blue color are exactly what I had in mind.  Unfortunately, they are more than I want to spend on a set of chairs right now. 

8.  We have a LOT of wall space.  These shelves from Ikea would offer so much space to display all things from number three.  Add some interest, bring the eye up to our crown molding, etc.  I like.

9.  Finally, I'm planning on bringing in a lot of color and patterns with some new throw pillows.  My super mom is recovering all of our previous pillows.  Mainly because they need to be so they'll fit within the new room once it's makeover is complete, but also because Franklin has destroyed anything with a zipper, button, any type of closure, etc.  So I have been left with a lot of pillow forms and no covers.  Not for much longer though...

Stay tuned...Phase II is already in the works...

I'm pretty lucky to have such cute nieces.  And also lucky that their parents asked me to snap some pictures of especially Brynnan as she is about to celebrate her first birthday this past weekend.  We are meeting again soon, and I have more photo ideas for the birthday girl, but until then...

Although I freaked out a little the night before Rachel's wedding shower, I have to say, it went very well.  Andrew, as always, helped me finish the food, pack up and got us on the road at 7am Saturday morning.  He's amazing.  We arrived in Hiawatha with enough time to stop by and see our nephew Leyton, pick up some last minute things from the store and check into our rental cabin to set up.  Lucky for  me, Andrew and my assistant for the day, Halley, helped me pull it all together right as our guests started to arrive. 

I tried to incorporate a similar theme as the wedding and think the simple decor really came together.

Unless everyone was lying to be nice, reviews on the food were all very good.  I made cake balls for the first time.  Easy to mix the filling, way harder than I thought it was going to be to dip those little suckers in the candy coating.  Even if they weren't the prettiest, they tasted really great.  I didn't want to just call them cake balls because that is such a mundane name.  So instead, I tried to fancy them up and call them Lemon Snowballs.  Yes, that would make them yellow inside.  My snowballs are yellow.  I made my guests eat yellow snow.  Hmm.

Lesson learned.

 All in all, what a great day!  Super excited that Rachel got to have the wedding shower experience even though her wedding is just around the corner.  Wedding bells will be ringing soon!

Franklin's worst enemy.

Not the snow.  

They are on BFF status.

No, a closed door.

Just can't resist that face.