post party and living room update!

Well, here we are.  July 8th already and the party is obviously over.  It was awesome and we all had a blast.  It was so great to have all our family and friends over and celebrate with the kids and make them feel so special and loved.  I'll share pics from the party soon (I went with a rainbow theme and made a rainbow cake!).


In the meantime, I'll quickly address the birthday list.  Of the 18 items on that list, I made it through 9 of them.  Wop wop....  Oh well, what can you do?  Chalk it up to the usual for me, slightly overzealous with my list-making, but underestimating the time for each and time available for projects.  At the time I was coaching 4 days a week (currently back down to 3) and that coupled with my regular duties of full-time mom, the Etsy shop, etc. just made the rest hard.  But, I'm making my way through the rest and a few new items as well!  I'll post a few of those items soon (new sun shade anyone?).


In the meantime, here's some updated pics of the living room!  Finally you get to see the transformation of the new paint color, as well as the new mirror I added to the space!

Hello kitty! 

the new mirror!

notice this side doesn't have the back painted?

I've since made some changes to this, and it obviously wasn't' filled back in yet also.

I love love *love* the new color.  It's everything I've been wanting - it is a fresh look, it's still neutral, it's a cool color but definitely has warmth to it, and it really seemed to brighten up the space.  This was also my first time painting with Benjamin Moore paints and they are *totally* worth the extra cost in my opinion.  Everything went on in one coat even around the trim work, which almost always needs a second coat.  We'll definitely be using it again!

I also LOVE the new mirror.  I totally broke down and splurged on that one.  I had seen the mirror in Centsational Girls living room.  It was a mirror she had picked up from Lamps Plus and then painted white, which was my plan all along.  Once the mirror arrived and I saw how perfectly it went with the tile on the fireplace I decided to leave it.  

So, where am I in this room?  I need to:

• finish painting the other bookcase (this is actually done already!)
• finish the curtains (oh boy, do I have a story on that one for ya!)
• finish styling the bookcases
• move the family photo to another wall and add a gallery of frames
• add a new piece of art in the old photo space
• add some personal touches to the foyer
• add some color!

Other than the splurge for the mirror, I'm really trying to do this room on the cheap, so I'm working with what I have and as much as it would be nice to buy new furniture pieces, etc, it's just not part of my plan, so it might happen slowly and will surely evolve over time.  I'll talk about the financial aspect of our spending/decisions in a post soon!