The Paint Debate

Picking paint colors is proving to be wayyyyy too stressful. Gray is such a tricky color. We have more gray paint samples that I know what to do with. 

Unfortunately no store in my area carries Benjamin Moore paint. So I'm having a few different places color match the colors I like. And yes I'm that neurotic that I'm having different places color match the same color to see which one matches it more closely. Yes I know this seems a little overboard, but hey thats how I roll. 

So anyway I think I've narrowed it down to either Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore and Silverplate by Sherwin William. They are the two grays that look the least blue and the least purple. However, I swear depending on which room I have them in and what time of day it is they look completely different! 

Silverplate at the top and Stonington Gray at bottom. in the outside light 

s. 

And the paint under indoor can lighting. Silverplate at top and Stonington Gray 2nd from top. The bottom two colors are Gray Owl and Revere Pewter which I've def. decided are a no.

Another color I'm trying to decide on is a turquoise for the laundry room. I'm also debating what color to do the downstairs guest bath. I was thinking of doing a dark brown. But I may have talked myself into this crazy blue color. This is color matched Electric Blue form Benjamin Moore. Remember the color of Carrie's bedroom when they redid it on the Sex and the City movie? Yep that's it and I'm kind of loving it. I just don't know if I have the guts to do it in the bathroom. Maybe the laundry room instead? Hmmm...yep that's the sound of more indecisiveness. GREAT.

Here is a pic of her bedroom from the movie. 

 

I did nail down one decision over the weekend. A backsplash for the kitchen. Here is an idea of how it will look against the countertops and cabinets. (This is the color of our cabinets but not the door style.)

Hope you all had a good weekend. We celebrated Jason's birthday this weekend. It was pretty low key but we went to a really good dinner at Global Gourmet. I had never been there so it was nice to finally see what everyone raves about. It was pretty good!

The house is coming..slowly but surely

     We have quite a bit of progress in the house. They are finishing up with the insulation and sheetrock. The finishing of the sheetrock and painting should be starting at some point next week. Now begins picking out paint colors. I have been dreading this for awhile! Paint colors=lots of decisions!

A pic of the sheetrock in the master bedroom. Love the tray ceiling my stepdad built in for us. 

A pic of the great room with the insulation and sheetrocker's scaffolding. I wondered how they were going to reach up that high! Glad i'm not the guy who has to climb up on that thing!

This will be the master bath shower. Jason is really excited about this I think. On the other side of that half wall is a bench. Jason hates to shower. Yeah, I know, that's weird. He says if he can sit down in the shower he will like to take them . Now Jason is by no means lazy...the guy works more than almost anyone I know. But come on....who needs a bench in the shower in order to talk yourself into taking one! Oh well he is getting the bench and two shower heads. He better enjoy to shower now! 

Speaking of Jason. He went and bought this recliner couch for his mancave last weekend. I must admit I really do like it. Mancave or not I think I may be spending quite a bit of time on it reclined back watching movies. Even the ottoman turns into a little gaming chair.

So for the longest time I was set on Carrera Marble countertops for the kitchen. I love the white with gray veining they have. So pretty. 

Well after much arguing debate with Jason and our cabinet guy we have decided its not the most practical thing to do. At first I was worried I was going to get the nix due to the cost of marble. I was actually surprised to find they weren't much more expensive than granite. However, they evidently require much more maintenance. We were told they have to be sealed twice a year and are easily stained and scratched. BUMMER! So finally I gave up. No more pretty marble countertops :( So I looked into granite but there really isn't a granite with a similar white and gray veining. Most granite looks more spotty. So after some research (AKA stalking home decor blogs and pinterest) I found a quartz counterop by Cambria called Torquay. It has a very similar look to the marble and since it is a stone material I love the feel of it as well. 

This is the sample I got from our lumber yard.

A close up I found of it online

A picture I found of the Cambria Torquay Quartz that somebody used in their kitchen.  

 We met with the landscaper a few weeks ago. Our back porch and part of the front porch is a little high off the ground. I showed this picture to him. I think it will help the porch not feel so high and it looks great!

Hopefully this weekend I can find tile for the master bath shower. I really like this tile. I'm hoping I can find something similar. This was from the www.houzz.com app on my phone.

Well that's all for now! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Link Up with From Mrs. to Mama

So today I'm linking up with Becky at From Mrs. to Mama.

This link up is basically a *411 on, well, yourself. A quick way to introduce myself to other bloggers. Becky has made a list of questions for each blogger to answer. I chose 6.

So without further adieu.....

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging?
     For the past year or so I have really gotten into reading blogs. Fashion blogs, home decor blogs, mommy blogs, pregnancy blogs. All of it. One day I realized, ya know we have a lot of friends and family across the country that would probably like to keep tabs on what we are up to since we moved back to Illinois. We also have a lot going on right now (building a house, trying to start a family) that I kind of wanted to be able to journal all that's going on in our lives. So after I finally got over the whole "nobody is going to read this darn thing/I'm probably wasting my time"  thoughts I just decided to give it a shot even if mom and grandma are my only followers! Ha!


2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?
     I attended Saint Louis University in well, obviously, St. Louis, Missouri. I graduated from there in 2007 with my Masters in Physical Therapy. This is also where I met Jason. We both were studying Physical Therapy and were study buddies and close friends for about 4 years before we started dating! 


3. Where have you traveled?
     My husband and I have done quite a bit of traveling. After graduating from PT school we worked for a traveling therapy company that relocated us all across the country every three months. We absolutely loved it. We have met some great friends and people all across the country. We have lived/worked every where from Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, San Antonio, to even a few small towns in Kentucky and Texas. I wouldn't trade those three years for anything. But after awhile we made the decision to settle down, "grow up", and move back to my hometown in Southern Illinois to be close to family. We have also been on a few great vacations to London, Paris, Rome and were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I did a weekly blog post called "Tuesday Travels" where I posted fun pics from each of our trips if you would like to check that out! 

4. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?
     When people leave the shower curtain open after they have showered, men who leave toilet seats up, when the toilet paper roll unrolls for the back instead of the front (ok why are all of my pet peeves in the bathroom?! Weird!) AND when people say I sneeze funny. Yes I know I sneeze funny, yes its obnoxiously loud and high-pitched, and NO you don't have to comment on it every time I do it. Oh and when parents let their children hang on the second story railings in the mall. I think I have a mini heart attack every time I see that. I mean come on! Am I the only person who can't stop imaging these poor  little ones plummeting to their deaths! Pull them away from the rails!!! OOPs that was way more than three, huh? 

5. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?
     I have a small obsession with West Elm lately. We are in the process of picking out furniture for our new house, which is under construction, and I sort of wish I could just pay the West Elm fairy to decorate it all. 

6. Show us a picture from high school or college.

College= Cardinals games :)

7. Show us the most current picture of you or you and your family.

Us at the wineries a couple months ago

Our wedding 2 years ago....yes I know that 2 years ago isn't a recent pic but I couldn't resist!

So there it is.... the 411 on me! Thank you to Becky for hosting. I love checking in on your blog and seeing the cute pics of your little one!

It's a Picture Post

We have had a busy last month or two. Which means lots of pictures to share. So here are a few shots of what we have been up to.

Me and the "little" sisters. 

In June we had a family reunion with my mom's side of the family and family in town from Texas from my dad's side of the family. 

Cousins

In June we had a little weekend in Nashville with friends. We have been so busy working, building the house, doctors appointments....it was great to have a quick get-a-way and have some fun. 

We have been spending a lot of time with this cutie lately. 

Our nieces Kalli and Khloe.

Jason and Kalli

Kalli and I trying to entertain ourselves while we wait to get new tires on my car. Of course we had to buy a toy while we waited. She wanted a baby doll bed...I may have talked her into this instead. Do you remember these velcro paddle catch things? I remember playing with them with my sister. 

I have been on the search for cute colored jeans and finally found some I love! In pink, of course.

Speaking of pink I think I have a nail polish obsession lately. I think I buy a new nail polish every time I go in to Target or Walgreens. Seriously, I need to stop. I was cleaning out my nail polish drawer and realized I seem to buy a lot of pink nail polish in almost the exact same shade. 

Jason and I ended our weekend with frozen yogurt date. Yum! As always I kept mine super healthy with brownie bites, snickers pieces, crushed smores, and marshmallow cream. 





Hope everyone had a good weekend! 

Because sometimes you've got to laugh to keep from crying

Saw this on Pinterest the other day. Lord knows a lot of tears have been shed the past year or so, but seeing this made me smile.

And these...well, these made me laugh! Cry a little because they are so true...haha. But mainly laugh!

And to keep it all in perspective.....

The House that Pinterest Built

How did people build and decorate houses before Pinterest? Better Homes and Gardens magazine pages ripped out?? Hmmm....not quite as inspirational I don't think. Although I won't lie I do have a binder full of ripped out magazine pages as well. So anyway I thought I'd share some of my "pins" and ideas for the house. 

One thing I know I'm going to do is a wainscoting in the dining room. 

This white wainscoting on the bottom half of the wall and painting the rest of the wall a dark navy similar to the color below. I figure since I'm obsessed with gray and the rest of my house will be probably completely gray, then maybe I should add a little different color to a few of the other rooms.

Image via http://emilyaclark.blogspot.com/

I def. know I'm going to do one of the bedrooms in gray stripes, but how cool is this in the laundry room? Or I'm thinking a bright paint on the walls like the turquoise below. Maybe that would make doing laundry a little less dull??

The picture below is what we have given to the guy designing our cabinets. I love the row of drawers next to the small vanity area. 

This picture has almost the exact same vessel sinks we picked out for the master bathroom. I also love the tile in this bathroom. 

I haven't decided what I want to do for mirrors in the master bathroom. I love how sleek these frameless mirrors look. Not sure how I would go about doing this though. May have to look into that a little more. 

And I love this idea for a guest room. So cute and easy!

There is a very small wall in the breakfast nook that I would love to put something like this on. 

And I would love to do a gallery wall like this on the staircase.

I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to paint the front door a color or leave it white. I have always wanted a red front door for some reason. This house looks great with the gray siding, white trim, and red door. 

I think I may have to wait and see what the stone around the door looks like when it goes up before I make that decision. What do you think??