Lovely lamp makeover

So Rick had this ole lamp when I moved in (3 years ago last week). I've been meaning to spray paint it for years, and last week I did it! I walked outside with the lamp, painting tape, and the spray paint, and Rick said "Wait, shouldn't we discuss these things before you just do them?" He insisted this is a "really nice" lamp, so I asked where he acquired this beauty.....Target. Don't get me wrong Target has some nice things, but come on Rick. So I moved on from that convo and started spraying.

Here is the lamp before:

Here is the paint color used:

The finished product:

I still need to get a new lamp shade, but isn't it ADORABLE???!!! I LOVE IT!!! I also LOVE spray paint. That do you guys think?

Bathroom #2: Paint color?

We are about to start a little makeover on our half bath, and we need help! We are not gutting this bathroom like we did the other, so we are stuck with this beautiful blue tile. So the question is, what color do we paint the top half of the walls? I say white, but Rick is totally against this. I seriously think there is no other option?? So bring on the suggestions. Here's the room now:

Bathroom BEFORE and AFTER (1 year later)

So, I realized I never posted the pics of the completely finished bathroom. All I can say is Rick and I had a VERY busy year. Better late than never. Here is what the bathroom looked like when I moved in to Rick's Bachelor Pad. Let me warn you these pics could offend some.

Are you scared yet?
Notice the beautiful pink tile, EVERYWHERE!
You can uncover your eyes now. After a month of VERY hard work by my very talented, hard working, strong, amazingly handsome, husband (mostly by himself, with a little help here and there), this is the finished bathroom!

My also talented, beautiful mother made the shower curtain for us. I searched high and low for a ceiling length shower curtain, with no luck. This was not only hard because of the length, but because Rick allows no "girly" patterns or textures in our house. Which means no floral, damask, whimsical, polka dots, pin tucks, pleats, it pretty much means only stripes or solids (Auburn patterns are also allowed). I looked into just buying fabric and having her make one, but that would have cost $150 and I couldn't find the perfect fabric either. SO, I found a Pottery Barn duvet on ebay ($60) I thought was perfect, mailed it to my mom, and she made EXACTLY what I was looking for and still not so "girly".

Rick did all the tile work in the shower and the floor.

I did contribute a little with my painting skills. I think the bathroom turned out absolutely PERFECT!!!! I LOVE THIS ROOM!!! I am so proud of the hard work Rick put into this, all while I complained about having to go to a friends house to shower for 23 days in the middle of winter. This room makes me happy and was well worth it! What do you guys think about my handy dandy husband?

Christmas Decor

Here are a few pics of our Christmas decorations. This was the first year I actually tried to make our house look festive. My mom also came to visit on her way to Destin, and she is SUPER CRAFTY! So anything that looks fab, she probably did. This pic does our supper colorful tree no justice. I LOVE LOTS OF BRIGHT COLORS!!!

Got to have the fleur de lis in there somewhere (WHO DAT!). My mom did this creative masterpiece, and she also made all of our stockings. I did not get my mom's crafty genes. So sad.

Guess who decorated the door??? Yep, super mom. Isn't it so stinking cute!! I was so proud!!!!

THANKS mom for making our house and first married Christmas so festive! LOVE YOU!

Biggest deal of the bathroom....THE MIRROR

We looked EVERYWHERE for the perfect mirror for the new bathroom, I mean everywhere, with no luck. The problems was that it had to be approximately 30" x 42", and we were looking for brushed nickel, or towards the end white, or some color to match the cabinets. I did find one that was perfect, but it was $589! Rick said absolutely not. Then I found this one at Pottery Barn for $329, and we thought what a deal, right?

In the parking lot of Pottery Barn I said, lets just run to Homegoods and just see what they have. Rick was over it, and just wanted to get the mirror and go. After talking him into it LOOK WHAT WE FOUND!!!!

The above mirror was ONLY $29.99!!! I said, Rick lets make sure to get a good one without any scratches, he said, we got a good one, IT'S $29.99!

We also found this one, and decided to get it too, just in case the brushed nickel one didn't look good with whatever shade of gray I decided to paint the walls. This beauty was only $59.99. So in total with both mirrors we only spent $100. MUCH better than the $350 we would have spent at PB, and we are returning whichever one doesn't work. I WAS SO PROUD of myself! I think Rick was excited too, but he doesn't show too much excitement ever, so I had to share with you guys. YAY ME!!! My mom taught me well. I another bargin story to tell on the shower curtain but that will come later.

Bathroom update after who knows how long...

I haven't posted the latest pics of the bathroom, mostly because the updates were slow and small. So here is what it looks like as of this morning.

This is a temporary mirror we already had, so that little guy is not staying. We are still looking for a large mirror, unfortunately the only one I found was $600, and Rick said NO WAY! So still on the hunt. Before he left for a bachelor party in Orlando last weekend he installed the light, and I LOVE IT!! It was cheap, and EXACTLY what we looked all over for!

Oh, the faucet. Well the guys put the WRONG holes in the marble counter tops, and I was VERY sad about it. So we had to send the original faucet that I loved back because it would not fit, and we had to get this one, that I do not love. We had planned to have a widespread setting, since we had a long sink, and this one was a real pain. It took Rick about 10 hours to install it because the settings were so close together. In the long run, it doesn't matter, and it's done.

Everything is really coming together.

Rick has worked SO HARD on this project, and he has done a FABULOUS job. I am a lucky girl! All we have left is the shower curtain, painting the top half of the walls, and hardware (towel rack, toilet paper holder, etc.). Stay tuned.

Shower curtain question

Is this fabric ok for our shower curtain? The reason I ask is, the bottom half of our walls have white b-board, and this fabric has cream stripes, thoughts? I need to know asap. THANKS!

Bathroom progress 2 months later:

WE HAVE CABINETS!!! Our cabinets and counter tops were installed yesterday, and they look GREAT!!! I was a little nervous about the stain color, since the cabinet maker couldn't show me a sample, but he did great! I wanted them a little darker, but they look awesome, so I am happy. They did put the wrong faucet holes in the marble counter, and I am VERY UNHAPPY about this, so stay tuned on that. Next projects are hardware, lighting, and a mirror. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel!! WOO HOO!! So what do you guys think? Hmmmm?

Bathroom progress week 4

Let me start by saying WE ARE SHOWERING!!!! Last Tuesday (23 days into the project), we took our fist showers at home, and I could not be happier!!!! Not to mention that the bathroom LOOKS AMAZING!!! Rick has worked so hard, and it is really starting to show. Rick has tiled the shower and floor, and we have put a primer coat of paint on the walls, and Rick painted the ceiling. Lots of progress this week as you can see. Still a lot of work to go, but the end is definitely in sight.

New shower.

New fixtures.

New floor.

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT OUR NEW BATHROOM!!!!

Bathroom progress day 18

WE HAVE TILE!!! Rick has been working SO hard to get us showering again, and the hard work is starting to show. Like I said before, most of the work up to now has been behind the scenes, but now look...

The shower is tiled, and he is going to grout today!!!
Here is the inset for shampoo, body wash, etc.
And the bottom border tile.

You have NO CLUE how exciting this is to me!!! It looks GREAT!!! I am so impressed by Rick's talents everyday. He is an AMAZING MAN!!! Now it is time for my work, picking a paint color, I need suggestions, and I am thinking something light since it is a pretty small bathroom. I was thinking a light gray, but someone told me that was a cool color and wouldn't go with our tile, what do you think? I am a coold color kind of girl.

New chairs....

OK, so not really new chairs but re-covered chairs! Every little bit helps. I was so proud of my self, especially since I am NOT crafty at ALL!

BEFORE:

AFTER:
Not the exact fabric I wanted, but it will do for now.

Thoughts on this painting?

It was Rick's great, great grandfather's, so he is pretty attached. Do you think that a new frame and matting would help?

RED couch for sale

I am selling my RED couch if anyone is interested or knows anyone who may be interested. I love this couch, but it doesn't "go" in our house. It is a great couch and has a chaise lounge attachment. Just wanted to put it out there. THANKS!

Up close for LG

Dining room art

I got Rick these 2 pieces of art for Christmas and Anniversary. They are from an artist local to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, named Walter Anderson. His art is amazing. It is hard to walk into a house on the coast that doesn't have at least 1 piece. Mr. Anderson has long past but his art lives on and is available at Realizations in downtown Ocean Springs. If you are looking for inexpensive, different, art, google Realizations, and look at the online gallery. You can order from the website, and even request specific colors to match your room. (I would put the link, but I am on Rick's ancient computer since mine crashed last week) Back to these pics, so Rick was like ok, thanks, you know guys are not much on decorating. The pics are from Mr. Anderson's Alphabet, each letter is something different. I got Rick the R and the M for Rick McKibbin. Well, we hung them in the newly painted dining room, and he noticed that the R is River, and the M is Man ( totally appropriate for Rick, who always says things are manly, or says that is MAN work), so put them up and it says RIVER MAN! HE LOVED THAT!!! If I haven't said before, Rick goes on these big river/fishing trips all over the country with his family, so this was perfect. So what do yall think about the art?

FABULOUS hall frame

For my birthday back in August (It was on back order until October), Rick got me this FABULOUS wall frame. I LOVE IT! Those that know me know I am OBSESSED with pictures!!!!! Well, it has been really hard picking pics for this! I mean to tell you HARD! I started with color and black and white pics, but that was too much going on, so then I had to have them all re printed in just black and white. Then deciding what pics should go in there, Rick tried to put a limit on the # of pics of him in the frame but I totally ignored that. Half were horizontal and half diagonal, so that was hard too. Tried to put his friends, my friends, his family, my family, hard work. After 7 months it finally all came together and it looks GREAT!!!

It is in the hall so I couldn't get a good pic of it straight on, but you guys get the idea.
What do you think?

MY CROSS WALL

I started my cross wall today!! I say started because I want to keep adding. Excuse the horrible bed, but I LOVE how this turned out! What do you guys think?