Front Remodel

I know I've talked about everything we were doing to the front of the house.  New door, shutters, rock pavers, patio....but I never showed the completed pics.  So here you go!

*BEFORE-black shutters/door and no rock accents

*AFTER-brown cedar shutteres, stained knotty alder door, and rock accent window/door--now if we can get that new roof we are wanting......

*BEFORE-Black door with glass storm door and ceramic tile porch

AFTER-knotty alder door, wood stamped concrete, and rock surround --the boxwoods were removed and we planted a Japanese Maple and added our lion statues at the front-"PhiAlpha"-(Sorry, this pic was just after the hail storm so please forgive the messiness!)

New Shutters

New Shutters close up---I'm so proud of my hubby for doing such a great job!

You live in Oklahoma when....

Last week we had this craziness of a hail storm sweep through Oklahoma City.  I think we were the only house on the block that was actually excited, because we have been wanting a new roof for awhile now.  Unfortunately, the color of our roof is the only problem as it was in pretty good shape and no good reason to change it.... until now!  Thank you mother nature for the hail damage on our roof!  We are waiting for our insurance adjuster to come finalize our roof insurance and give us the "OK" to move ahead.  So, we're keeping our fingers crossed!

*The silver-gray roof doesn't match our new shutters and door!  Looking forward to a brown roof like normal people!

Speaking of crazy weather...we've also had a few tornado scares in the last month.  Tornado season is one of my favorite things about Oklahoma--minus the damage they do!  But, I love to sit out on the back porch and watch the skies over Lake Hefner, God is truly a wonder at the beauty he can produce!  However, these days with my little munchkin I am much more cautious than I used to be!  For mother's day, Dillon told me I could pick out  new patio furniture.  Instead, we decided that my Mother's Day present would be a tornado shelter! YAY!!!! You know you live in Oklahoma when you get excited about a tornado shelter.... In Dillon's words "You can't put a price on my family's life".  Plus, it's a good selling feature in the future when we decide to move.  I think all-in-all we will get at least some of our investment back.  Dillon tried to talk me into the 12seater one so he could put a poker table down there. Um...how 'bout NO? I think the 6seater will be plenty roomy for us and some of the neighbors!  All the kids are little anyway so they only count for like 1/3 of a person.

*We opted for the flush-mount.  This is what ours will look like when it is installed.

Living Room Fabric Change!

I said a long time ago that I was going to re-do the fabrics in my living room!!  I got most of the way done but my sewing machine went haywire on me at the end!  But here is the majority of it.

New pillows for the couch--I plan on putting a rectangular one in the middle with ruffles but of course my sewing machine broke on me :(

Not a very good pic-but new curtains

Pillow close-up-small pillow is a gray linen style paisley with blue linen ruffle

Pillow close-up--the big pillows are double sided leopard and blue sear-sucker

better views of curtains-grommet top ecru linen with a band of the gray linen fabric that matches the pillows.  I had to add the beads for a little more glitz that I'm sure Dillon could've lived without :)

I'm also using the leopard fabric in the new bathroom for a cafe' curtain on the bathroom window and the paisley linen for a curtain valance in the kitchen....as soon as I get my sewing machine back! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

It's beyond any explanation the joy I get from being a mother to my little rascal.  For those of you who don't have the luxury of having this joy, my greatest hope is that someday you will.

We had a wonderful Mother's Day (and Birthday) celebration on Thursday night with my family.  My sister Camber and her boys-husband Wes and son Grady- were there, as well as my brother Cord.  I somehow screwed up the ground turkey for the burgers so the men had to run to the grocery store last minute and thankfully my sister had marinated some yummy chicken to throw on the grill as well and my mommy made Grammy's famous Asparagus casserole which is always a big hit! We had a nice healthy meal to celebrate the end of our Biggest Loser competition, Mom and Cord's birthdays, and mother's day for mom!

*Kenwood and his cousin Grady--they are bff!

*She is truly the most wonderful "Zeezi"and mother in the world!

We gave mom her first iTouch.  So, as soon as she gets Words with Friends we will all have plenty of games to play...she'll be addicted. :)

On Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day with Dillon's family.  My mom joined us for church but then dumped us to eat lunch with my brother. :)  I guess you have to divy up your time when you have more than one child!  But we enjoyed the time with the Orr's! And Kenwood loves those cousins just as much!

*Please forgive my puffy face...I've been sooo sick with allergies for the last few days!

*The original "Orr" family :) ...Happy Mother's day to Leah and Loma!

Happy Mother's Day to Nana who joined us as well and to Dillon's Granny and my Granny and my Grammy who couldn't be with us this year but were definitely looking down! We love you all!

Backyard..UGH

Ok! So I'm trying desperately to convince Dillon that we need a backyard makeover. So, he at least agreed to let me have a landscape designer come by to bid out an estimated cost of "remodeling" our backyard.  This included, tearing down the fence/planters; putting up a new fence, re-sodding, firepit, graveling the side of the house for a golf cart "driveway" and building pergola-type roof for our golf-cart "garage" next to the shed.  Needless to say, apparently backyards are even more expensive than living rooms!!! So, the landscape designer came today...I got the bid and then I proceeded to look at the price...my dreams were immediately shot to hell.  Here is what I'm working with--I sent these oh-so-intriguing pictures to several landscape TV shows in hopes one of them would have pity on us.  But, apparently people don't film shows in good 'ol Oklahoma City.  Whatever.

In the midst of this I am now trying to talk Dillon into the following:

Demo-ing the fence/beds ourselves and hiring a fence company to put up a new 3ft cedar/capped fence--same height as our current fence but it will look tons better.

Hiring someone to come re-sod our yard

Then furnishing our covered patio with this inspiration I got from the oh-so-my-style Pottery Barn catalog but on our minimized budget that doesn't include affording Pottery Barn:

*Rustic table, bench, and chairs...the lanterns are hanging from a rustic ladder by rope. I'm in love. BUT I am not however, in love with what this little dreamscape would set us back dollar-wise. YIKES.  Instead...I will go to our favorite store.. El Paso Imports for the same look at HALF the price. Literally.

The lanterns would still be bought from Pottery Barn...same sizes as shown in the picture--8 lanterns.

The rustic ladder the lanterns are hanging from--I found an antique store online that has 5ft wooden ladders (same as PB) for $29.95---pretty appealing versus the $199 tag on the PB ladder.

Table:

*in a darker wood--see chair below-- or in an ivory antique similar to the color of the chair covers in the PB inspiration picture.  The great thing about El Paso is they will custom the color for FREE.  I love them.

Chairs:

Bench:

*in whatever color the table choice is.

Bathroom Remodel COMPLETE!

We had our final inspection for the bathroom remodel today! WHOO HOO!!! The painters are still coming at the end of the week for some last touch-ups but other than that we are DONE! I cannot wait to have our master bathroom back and in perfect order never the less!  Here is the finished product following the before of the same view:

*BEFORE: Walking into the bathroom (closet door is on the right)

*AFTER: Same view as before...we added a linen cabinet and knocked the wall to the left down...the closet entry is on the right of the linen cabinets

*BEFORE:  Looking toward shower from the closet...this wall was demo-ed as well as the fur down you see in the upper right corner. 

*AFTER: The wall was demo-ed and everything opened up.  Plumbing was moved where the tub is now where the toilet was and the toilet where the sink was and the sinks where the vanity was...

*BEFORE:  old shower

*AFTER: New shower...we kept it on an angle but opened it up by raising the ceiling and using a frameless door...and obviously re-tiled and new fixtures.

BEFORE:  Looking back towards the bathroom entrance..this pic is taken standing to the left of the shower where the toilet it now located

AFTER: Looking back towards entrance...the tub is now where the old toilet and wall used to be.

What a transformation! Whoo hoo!! We are so excited to enjoy our new bathroom! Now, if only I can talk Dillon into another project...the backyard maybe? :)

I have been promising for sometime now to get some pictures posted of the bathroom remodel progress.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

*We decided to add a new glass door for a little more pizazz

*We also added the same door to go into the closet.  This one will have a cafe curtain on it to hide our messiness.  I've found the perfect leopard fabric for it as well :)  Thank you fabric.com

*Our new vanity area and linen cabinet.  We will have venetian gold granite and large rectangle frameless mirrors.  The cabinetry has a mocha glaze in the creases.  Paint color was changed to Sherwin William's "chopsticks" instead of the original choice of Benjamin Moore "whale grey"

*More storage over the toilet...also known as something Dillon can lean on while he stands to pee :)

*better view of the whole bathroom...I think we did a pretty good job with the limited space we had to work with!!

*My baby.

*Dillon's baby.  We opted for an exposed shower system to go with our classic with a twist of modern style.

Finished product coming soon! Stay tuned!!