Fixin' Up Friday: Progress in the Decorating Department

Last week, my mom's upcoming arrival lit a fire under my bottom to get some stuff on the walls and decorate a bit. And with the arrival of spring, I wanted to "springify" the house a bit. :) (to see the house before all the progress - click here)

In the past, I've always forgotten to decorate for spring - Easter sneaks up on me, and before I know it the pastel-pallet is no longer applicable. Thankfully, this year, I remembered to pull out all my fun decor. :)

Let's start our tour in the front room.

This space is pretty empty (and I kinda like it) but functions as a big entry way right now. Eventually we will have a piano in this room and may be a chair or two or small couch. But for right now, our pennies need to be saved for new couches for the living room. :)

Our two bookshelves anchor this side of the room, because Brad has almost all of his "studying" books at church in his office, space has been freed up on the shelves for me to put some picture frames and decor. I even have my cook books out here right now, since my kitchen/dining room doesn't have a place for them right now. :) You may recognize the plant stand from here and the lamp has moved into here from the living room because of a new lamp (keep reading to see it). :)

(Pet-peeve: The shelves are different colors, we bought them at different times and Target changed the shade of the color between purchase 1 and purchase 2. Boo. Paint may be an option in the future...)

Ok, let's go down the hall to the master bedroom,

A close up of the wall. Wedding pictures, our invitation, some love penguins, a (fake-but-looks-so-real) rose and memorable little boxes make a nice grouping.

The dresser. Brad gave me the jewelry box for my birthday (the first year we were together) the Lladro piece has a fun story behind it:

Years ago my Great Grandpa Ivance was shopping and bumped this statue while browsing. He ended up buying it and gluing it back together. As my family was helping him move this was one piece that went into the "give-away" pile. As I was looking through the pile I grabbed it up! When I lived with Bill and Nina Knuth for a few summers they instilled in me a love for Lladro and I thought it would be years until I could own a piece of my own. I rebroke this pretty lady's arms, took off the old glue and tape (with finger nail polish remover and cotton swabs) and re-glued her together, the results made me happy! The cracks were much less evident and I felt comfortable making her a centerpiece on my dresser. She is not perfect. But I love her. :) As we think about what we want our Master Bedroom to be, I think I would like to go to a lighter color pallet in the future, perhaps using this lady as inspiration. :)

Onto the other side of the room:

I am still thinking through what I can do above Brad's side of the bed (left) to balance out the off-centered window and hide the electrical box.

I moved my apothecary jar onto my nightstand per Brad's request, he felt he was going to break it on his side. :) I like waking up and seeing one of my favorite things, so I was happy to oblige. :) I painted the picture, a copy of this, with my friend Linsey one summer.

To see Lucy's room, click here.

The guest room, still a little sparse - but functional. :)

Ok, back to the dining room. :)

Our buffet is no longer lonely, but has a picture to keep it company. :) I'd like to make a longer runner for the buffet (burlap? canvas? or something else neutral), the proportions are off a bit with this one, but hey - it was free. :)

A bit of Easter fun, candy anyone? :)
(ohh that rhymed :) )

I hung the pictures in the same arrangement they were in in Chicago (tried to find a picture to show you - is it possible I NEVER gave you a tour of our condo on Leavitt?). I liked the grouping, and it works well on the wall.

Our spring table. Look, Lucy even has her bunny bib out! :) (Secret: I'll give a tutorial on how to make those decorative balls soon. Shhh... dont tell ok?)

The living room doesn't have too many decorating changes (other than the south wall! lol - that's a bit different now than it was during the last home tour).

My mom gave me this end table, which I think was given to her by her sister Joy. I love family furniture pieces (especially when they are free!). I've been loving this table, it gives me a place to set my drink in the evenings when we are relaxing - the right side of the couch is mine, the left is Brad's. Yes, we assign seats in the living room. :)

The left side of the living room is lookin' fine with that treadmill, am I right? Oh the price I am paying to (try to) stay in shape. :) Eventually we will get a screen to hide the ginormous equipment. As for now, we fold it up and push it against the wall when we have company.

Attention north wall. You will soon be attacked. Prepare yourself. (I can't wait to get that paneling and wallpaper down... but one project at a time Sarah, one project at a time.)

And meet the Lucy corner. It has expanded. Quite a bit. (See the progress we are making on the wall? :) A few more coats of mud left, and then we can PAINT!!)

And there is the new lamp, we got at IKEA in Dallas. Love that place.

Brad likes the changes I have made, but Lucy isn't so sure:

Just kidding! She loves them too, she even asked me, "Mama, when will you be done taking down all that paneling?"

That's my girl. :)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the progress tour. We are no where near the "after" status, but we will make sure to take lots of "during" pictures to document our journey toward it. :)

Do you like the changes? Or do you feel like Lucy, in that picture above? Has spring sprung in your neighborhood? Have you decorated to bring in the new season? If not - it's totally fine, I'm a little obsessive - maybe even OCD - about changing my decorations, I like things to be new and different. :)