Rodeo Houston

With the Rodeo coming to a close, I wanted to share with the rest of the world what a big deal the Houston Rodeo is. I actually wanted to share these pictures a long time ago but I had we had a lot going on at the house and I was just blogging about all of that.

To open the rodeo there is a trail ride, a real trail ride and people come from as far away as El Paso I think on horseback all the way into Houston. On the last day, Go Texan Day, the trail ride comes all the way through the city into downtown to open all the events! People across the city get dressed in their best Texan attire (at work or school) to celebrate.  Then for about 3 weeks there is Rodeo competition and awesome music performances every night of the week! It's pretty neat and something I had never experienced at all before moving to Houston

I took some pics of the trail ride on Go Texan day and wanted to share! For the Houstonians out there, this was on the West Loop at Westheimer!

There's just something about conestoga wagons and men on horseback riding through the city

Final touches

I've been looking for something relatively inexpensive but fun, colorful and modern for a while now. After having to scratch a real painting off the list for budget reasons, I found this cool print on Pinterest of course I knew it was what I was looking for!

I think it took me like 3 days to pull the trigger- that's moving pretty fast around here! Through ImageKind I purchased a print to mount. I really really wanted to purchase the image printed on to canvas and then hung in a floating frame but I was worried I wouldn't love the colors as much in person or it just wouldn't look right, so I went the cheaper route just to make sure!  But now, seeing it in person and on our wall I think eventually I will either get this print framed or have it printed onto canvas. The colors are great and the design is exactly what I was wanting.

For now the print is just taped up onto a piece of plywood Home Depot cut down for me,  a la Little Green Notebook style. I just need to stain (or maybe paint, undecided) the edges of the plywood!

And now, the living room is really about 90% done but it's done for now! I want to live with it how it is for a while before I make any more changes.

Ottoman

So, I couldn't show you more pictures last week of the tan couch's new pillows because I couldn't get a good shot without showing you this!

Our new coffee table- which is clearly an ottoman! A storage ottoman at that, see:

not properly arranged or anything, but who needs to arrange it when I can close it up and no one can see!!

Another shot with the couch and new pillows! I am planning on getting a new tray to sit on top, I'm not a huge fan of the wicker one, but it's what I have for now. And see my next project sneaking into the pic?? I'll tell you more about that on Wednesday!! 

more pillows!

Does anyone else have a throw pillow problem??? Or is it  just me? P thinks I have a serious problem. If I'm not buying pillows I'm looking at fabric to make some that we need or to replace some outdated ones. That's totally normal, right?
My latest pillow project has been in the living room, again. Okay maybe it's bad, but it can't be because I'm in love with the new pillows. I told you I was planning on making them a while back, to coordinate with the dining room chairs when we finally get those recovered.
I was going to wait until after I had the chairs reupholstered to get the pillows made, but, well I got impatient! HA understatement of the year! Soo, I had my lady sew up some pillow covers for me and VOILA!!

I'm loving how they turned out- looks like that's what should have always been there! 

couch

Well, we finally bit the bullet on getting a new couch, and it couldn't have come at a better time! Just in time for me to be sick and lay on it for 4 days straight! PERFECT! haha

Anyways, after loving our love seat from Star Furniture, we went back there for our couch and found a great couch for a great deal! It was on sale and then an extra 10% off the weekend we bought it! LOVE finding a steal of a deal- it makes me feel better about buying major purchases!

So here's the new couch for you, we went neutral with the aqua walls, I just think it fits a little nicer than the old denim couch we've had, what do you think?

The best part is how long it is! At 95" even P can full lay down on it! And the super depth is just perfect for lounging! Now we just have to trade off who gets to sit on the new couch! 

Oh and do you see our new end table peeking out down there?? We got the table a few weeks ago from Ballard Designs and P put it together in no time! 

See the old denim? We got the table before we actually got the new couch delivered, so here's the top for now and underneath below: 

We are loving it! 

Balloon wreath

So I'm co-hosting a baby shower for my sister coming up here in a few weeks and I've been working on the decor! We are having  a bright "crayola" themed shower for her and sweet baby G! After the shower I will share more but I don't want to ruin the all the surprises for her yet! But I just had to share this so easy and so festive balloon wreath I made from the Our Best Bites tutorial! It's been floating around Pinterest but I actually follow their blog daily too. They have a great blog if you haven't checked it out- their recipes and crafts are GREAT and so easy to follow along!

Check out what my not so crafty self pulled off in like an hour while watching some DVR'ed shows

Isn't it cute?? I was really impressed with my skills! And it is seriously like three materials and that's it! Just a straw wreath, a LOT of balloons and some florists pins! 

Check out the tutorial over at Our Best Bites and make one for yourself! 

Patio Reveal!!

Well the patio is finally completely finished!! And I might be more excited than when we bought the house! 1. It looks sooo good- it is exactly what i wanted 2. I had fun playing with some bright colors 3. It is SO useful and just in time for all this great weather we are having :)

I have already sat out there at least 5 times, pretty much every day after I come home from work I play with the puppy and then sit and relax in the chairs. It is SOO nice to have a beautiful and useful outdoor space!

So without further ado . . . . our new patio

now close up of the dining area

pretty pots by the back door- the small one has my herbs in it!

On to the lounge area

And the grill area

with the fan- a very essential part of a Texas patio! 

We do still have this area over on the far side of the house which has no use right now, but I'm pretty sure that this is shortly going to become a garden center/ drink cart area!! 

Oh and just for dramatic effect- I had to throw in the before and after: 

Love seat

So after much looking and debate, we finally got a new love seat for the Wii room/ back room/ play room- I call it a million different things! When we moved in we didn't really have furniture for a second living space, even a small one like this so we used "hand-me-down" furniture from my grandparents. It wasn't really my style or what we loved but it worked and it meant we didn't have to go out and buy something right away.

But I never really loved it, so when Sam the puppy lost a toy under the love seat and did this:

chewing a nice size hole in the skirt to see toys under the couch. . . 

I knew it was the perfect excuse/ time to buy a new love seat! 

After much research and debate about what to get when ended up with a super comfy love seat from Star Furniture: 

It's a beige-y color with a little sparkle in it and it looks great with the ottoman we bought a few weeks ago

It has really calmed the space down a lot which is nice- that multi-color plaid just didn't really play nice with everything else. 

And another look from afar: 

See my other new little surprise? While I was out one day I HAD to pick up this lamp on sale at Pier1. I just LOVE the base and the color of the shade. And it just happened to be the perfect size for this spot

But now I think the green chairs look dinky. . . of course! So while I've crossed a few things off the ever present list, I just added another :)

Hopefully soon we'll have some fun slipper chairs with a punch of color. We need something smallish, but a little taller than these chairs which just don't stand up to the heft of the love seat arms. Anybody have fun ideas??

and we paint!

After having paint samples up on the wall for a few weeks (hey I'm getting better than last time we painted a large room and I had samples up for months!) we have painted, a LOT! Exciting day because we have now painted every room in the house!

After living with the olive tan color in the almost every room in the house for close to two years it is officially GONE! When we first moved in, this color:

was in 

EVERY 

ROOM

and hall

and even the ceiling in the house! 

We were drowning in nasty olive beige over here! 

Over time, you've seen us paint the ceilings, the kitchen/ breakfast room & Wii area when we took down the wall last winter, and the guest bedroom on a whim last December. I even painted two accent walls in the living/ dining area ( a few times) to downplay all the beige. 

But it was finally time to completely rid the house of this dark and dull color! So we finally picked a color (or three) and painted our living/ dining area all one color, the hall and our master bathroom! 

So now the rooms are looking more like this:

All the living and dining room are now one color which is nice! And it's hard to tell in the pictures but its more of an aqua blue than a baby blue. It's very soft and "light and airy" my favorite terms according to P! 

Now I just need to find something to go above the couch! I was hoping to buy a Michelle Armas painting I've been crushing on for a while but with all of our other big expenditures right now it just wasn't in the cards for us! So for now- I am searching for something fun and colorful to go up on the wall! 

Any thoughts? 

So that was the biggest part of the paint job, but we also went ahead and lightened up the paint in the hallway

And actually went a few shades darker in our master bathroom, just for some drama

It was hard to get a good shot of the color. It does not have any green undertones like it looks here, it is more of a smokey grey blue

pardon the close up of my eye cream but that was the best shot of the color I could get! 

We are really loving all of the color changes and how they changes the mood of all these rooms! It really is amazing how much difference a little large can of paint can make to freshen up your house!