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!