Productive Procrastinating

John's mom is paying us a visit in 11 days and we're so excited to see her and have her meet Grafton and her new grandpup, Chewie.

So pitiful.

Unfortunately, that means we need to clean up the disaster area that is our guest bedroom.  It didn't start off too bad and we actually had it set up pretty nice for my parents' visit back in November, but since then, it has been a dumping ground as we move from room to room and don't have room for something or the energy to unpack a box.  So, in our true nature, we keep finding project after project to do in lieu of actually undertaking such a wretched task as organizing and cleaning.  *shudder*

Last week I was battling a sinus infection which went undiagnosed until Friday when I finally caved and went to the urgent care clinic up the road in Annandale.  The Z-Pack I was prescribed and Vitamin C pills John kept forcing down my throat reinvigorated my DIY spirit and we managed to actually accomplish quite a bit this weekend... just nothing involving the guest bedroom.  :)

The most exciting project I'm going to keep to myself for now until we've made more progress.  Let's just say we were deterred by the crazy amount of rain we got today.  I was really hoping the 100% chance of rain was a mistake and we'd be able to finish it.  I couldn't contain my excitement this morning, waking up around 8:30 (that's super early for us on a weekend) and staring at John until he woke up at 9:00 and agreed we could start on our project.  Sadly, we only made it about 30 minutes before the rain was coming down too hard.  Last I checked, we have a pretty awesome mud moat.  Now I just need some attack beavers...

Determined not to let the rain... rain on our project parade?, we headed out to West Elm to pick up a new pair of curtain panels for the upstairs living room.  I know we just bought a pair not too long ago, but the fabric and color just seemed too heavy for the smallish window and our space.  We decided something lighter and airier would really be better, so we picked up a pair of their crinkle-cotton panels.  They came out super creased from the packaging, but a quick spin on our dryer's steam wrinkle care setting and a Febreeze Bounce sheet left them crease-free and springtime fresh.

Here they are with our new and improved end table/pet bed.

Once those were up, we couldn't help but notice how awful our first floor paint color is.  It's just a beige/tan/yellow... nothing.  We have been discussing possible colors since we first moved in and finally decided to take the plunge.  After thorough deliberation and paint swatch examination, we settled on Benjamin Moore's Gossamer Blue, which BM describes as "A timeless mid-tone that's soft and subtle, gossamer blue evokes the mellow, relaxed feeling of faded blue jeans and lazy summer days."  We loved the way it picked up the blues in our kitchen counter granite, complimented the blues throughout our space, and how it looks in both shady and bright spots.

Being the cheapos we are, we went to Home Depot to get it color matched to our favorite Behr paint and primer with a flat enamel finish.  We plan on carrying this color all throughout the living room, office/reading area, kitchen/dining area, hallway, and stairway heading upstairs.  Since that's a whole ton of painting, we just started in the office/reading area since it's pretty much its own room and wouldn't look weird if that's all we accomplished for a while.  In our usual I cut in and John rolls fashion (although he did help with the cutting in this time), we painted the room and here's our end result.

We are absolutely in love with our choice.  It surprisingly brightens the space and really makes the trim, bamboo shades, and wood floors pop.  Before, everything just faded into the terrible beige.  The photos don't really do it justice, as the blue looks warm, vibrant and soft.  We're definitely happy we love it since there will be a whole ton of it all over when we're finished.  And just think of how great it all look with a nice crown moulding to top it off.  mmmm...


Finally, just a small project... John located, filled up and hung our little window bird feeder on a dining room window.  Within just a couple hours, we had a few avian visitors to the delight of Elliot and Kiefer.  We can't wait to pick up a few more feeders to add to the yard and attract even more bird guests.

That was our weekend.  We might not have actually done anything we were supposed to do, but we did get a bunch done.  Plus, like I said, we still have 11 days to work on the guest bedroom.  Although, the next few days seem to be rain-free, according to the Weather Channel, so it might be back outdoors to work on our moat...