Projects Galore!

I don't know if it's that spring-time is coming, or all the cute do-it-yourself decorating blogs I've been hooked on lately, or just the fact that we have lived in our house for 20 months now and it's still not decorated... Or maybe some combination of all of the above factors... But lately I am totally in the mood for projects! There are so many things I want to get done around the house to finish making it our home. We LOVE our house! But it needs some finishing touches, for sure.

First things first--the entryway!

We need a table or bench or something in this space to make it more welcoming and home-y! (Not to mention the bare walls that could use some love.) We have been looking (and looking and looking) for something that belongs here ever since we first moved in. It really was at the top of our list to get the entryway furnished... However, we have had such trouble finding something we love that we can also afford. We've considered building something ourselves, using some old leftover wood from my parents' shop. I've also been looking around at yard sales and thrift stores for pieces I can use as-is or fix up and make into something perfect for the space. One way or another, this entryway is going to get a makeover... Soon! And I am excited about it!

Another room in our house that needs a little help (well, they all do, but I am trying to focus on just a few at a time) is our guest bathroom:

I LOVE our guest bathroom! It is really quite large to be a second bathroom, and I think the tilework and fixtures are beautiful! I just need to add some color. Should be an easy fix. When we moved in, all we had were brown towels... So we used what we had! Maybe now is the time to decide on a color palette. You can kinda see the shower curtain and candles on the hanging shelf in the pictures... What do you think? Stick with the reds and oranges and browns I already have, or change color schemes? I am torn. I hate to go buy a new shower curtain when I have a perfectly good one already, but maybe I want a new look. Oh, and sorry about the color in the bathroom photos... Everything looks a tad more yellowy-orange with the flash on. My bathroom is really not that orange.

Next, there's the master bedroom:

We need some serious personality in our bedroom! Like the entryway, it's quite bare. I love our comforter, but maybe it's too dark. I am a huge fan of espresso, but I am thinking about getting something a little lighter. I would love to find some cream or burlap-colored bedding and then accent with some pops of green or blue. Also, we obviously need something on the wall! We haven't decided whether we want a headboard or something on the wall in lieu of a headboard. And we need some bedroom furniture. You can't see it in the pictures, but we have a chest of drawers in the corner to the right of the window on the right. It's a hand-me-down from my grandmother that my parents built when they owned their furniture manufacturing business, which was when I was a little kid. It's not what we want long-term, but it's all we have for now.

OBVIOUSLY, we have a lot to do! Lots of fun projects for me to work on! I am excited, but I have my work cut out for me. I would love to do a lot of it myself, i.e. buy old pieces and fix them up, so I can learn to re-paint and re-finish and re-upholster and all that other fun stuff. I guess we'll just have to see what I find and what I end up doing! But one thing's for sure... I'm going to do something.

And as though that's not enough stuff to do and projects to work on, our landscaping needs a major re-do as well! We spent a pretty penny on some beautiful greenery and flowers for our flower-bed last year when I was pregnant with Adelyn, and Tyler, Ashley and Phillip spent hours digging and planting to make it look beautiful... And then when we were in the hospital at the beginning of June when Adelyn made her arrival, just about everything died in the heat. Now, after an unusually cold Alabama winter (that is still not officially over), this is all we are left with:

We are looking forward to making it look beautiful for spring and summer! Anybody out there have a green thumb?