Stairway and Artwork

We've slowly been checking projects off of our list. Sometimes things get started, half-way done, and then left for a while. Life gets in the way.

A big one that we touched upon in a previous entry is the new stairway built by the boys of Choice Woodworking. Everything is brand new, from the treads to the risers to the railings, etc. Nick and Paul stained the treads and railings dark to match the wood floors upstairs. And everything else is a crisp white.

The boys finished their beautiful handy-work a while ago, but Tony still had to do some touch-ups on the white paint. So it only recently became officially completed. Here is the finished product:

So preeeeetty.

Although I can't seem to find a proper 'before' photo, here is the old stairway mid-demolition:

Dirty white paint and a blue carpet on the treads and risers. They had seen better days, obviously.

The crafstmanship is admired by all who see the new stairs... including by Nick and Paul themselves who are over all the time anyway. ;-)

A more minor project we've been gradually catching up with is hanging stuff up on the walls. We have so many random mis-matched frames and mirrors, it's hard to make sense of everything. So I tend to overthink where pictures should be hung, therefore leaving blank walls throughout the house. But here's one spot that's done:

Dining room. Photos of our trip out to the Southwest.

An obvious choice for the bathroom... photo to be hung on the wall. We purchased this at an auction, piece by the one and only Jenny.

We also put a mirror up in our entry way, which looks decent. So many more to go.

And here's some progress on the biggest project in our lives, Project Baby:

25 weeks

26 weeks

Getting there!

Sick Day

Here's what my day looks like:

Lots of tissues, digital Yahtzee, and the remote control. I figured after spending all day yesterday sneezing and coughing my way through work (with plenty of Purell at the ready), I'd give my coworkers a break. I'm home resting in the hopes of kicking this annoying cold. The good thing is there's no fever or body aches, and just a minor sore throat. So I think we can rule out that dreaded three-letter-word... starts with f and rhymes with shoe. That one.

But I don't have a wide array of choices when it comes to cold medicines right now, so a day of sleep, water, and back-to-back episodes of A Baby Story will have to do. Let's hope it does the trick.

Speaking of A Baby Story, here's the latest progress:

23 weeks

24 weeks

Pardon me for sounding indelicate, but it would be nice if the boobs would stop growing at the same rate as the belly. It's just getting awfully.. crowded. In the frontal area. I know, I know. I have a long way to go. Alls I'm sayin is, donations to the New Bras Every Two Weeks foundation are welcome.

But in terms of the pregnancy, I have been feeling pretty good lately. At the risk of jinxing it, things have been uneventful. Baby boy is moving around like crazy in there and Tony has finally been able to feel it from the outside, which is exciting and fun. I'm getting a lot of nice comments from strangers and coworkers who are just realizing the extra poundage is not just from chocolate donuts.

And typing those words was all it took... I just texted Tony to pick up a chocolate donut for me on his way home from work. The cravings for sweets are out of control. This is definitely his father's son!

Windows... and a bump update

Before we did all the work on the house, there was more separation between rooms, i.e. walls. So each room had it's own style... And I use that word loosely. My style consists of throwing together craigslist finds, clearance items, and hand-me-downs that look like they kinda-sorta go together, and then hoping for the best. Tony's style is whatever is cheapest and the wife likes, in that order.

Now that everything is opened up we've had to rethink the different styles and try to keep everything somewhat cohesive. In particular we've found this challenging with the windows. There were different blinds and curtains to suit the 'style' of each room.

Although I don't have any true "before" photos, here is an idea of what we had going on:


See that thing behind the 3 drunkards? That's our bay window in the main room. It's pretty indicative of what was going on throughout. Raw wood trim, yucky white horizontal vinyl blinds leftover from decades past, and whatever cheap curtains we found in the clearance bin.

Here it was yesterday:

Just painting the trim white was a huge improvement, which was done months ago. But we weren't sure what else to do. Instead of getting custom-sized (read: expensive) blinds for each window, we decided to go with a double curtain rod. Then we'd put a sheer curtain closest to the window for privacy, and a real curtain on the outside rod. Here's how it looks now:

We like it. In case you can't tell, the sheers are ivory and the curtains are chocolate brown with a checked-pattern texture to them.

A sidenote to all those shopping for 84" curtains... Apparenly, 84" sometimes really means 82". So the brown curtains ended up being 2 inches shorter than the sheers. Ugh. Luckily after a quick phone call to my mother, we let out the 2+" hem at the bottom and re-hemmed the bottom with some Stitch Witchery (great stuff). Thanks Mom!

Anyway... These brown curtains we bought recently are not only energy efficient, but they happen to be the exact same curtains we hang over our french doors in the fall/winter. Seen here in this blurry pic from Christmas last year:

So when it becomes cool enough to hang these again, the room will be balanced and warm (literally and figuratively).

For the rest of the standard-sized windows throughout the living room, bar area, and dining room, we wanted something easy, natural, and cute. So we went with my fave, bamboo blinds:

We could put some curtains up over these, but I think this look is nice enough to stand on its own. Also of note, these are cordless blinds, so no choking hazard! Gotta think of the bambino.

Speaking of the bambino, here are some pics of the ever-growing bump from the past couple of weeks:

21 weeks

22 weeks

In the last photo I am wearing my new maternity jeans, that I believe were stitched together by angels in heaven. You have been good to me, Bella Band, but it's on to bigger and better things.

And things are definitely bigger!

Project Baby: A Progression

Maybe it's just because I am knocked up myself, but I am fascinated by baby bellies and seeing the progression through the weeks. Going through it myself and seeing others go through it on various message boards and email groups, I realize that every person is different. I hadn't gained any weight in the first 16 weeks, and then BAM. What's up 8 pounds. Nice to see you there... on my rear. And everywhere else.

So here is my progress so far, in photos. (Please don't mind the messy background. I haven't made it to the nesting stage yet.)

13 Weeks -


14 Weeks -


16 Weeks -


18 Weeks -


19 Weeks -


20 Weeks (halfway there!) -


I'll continue taking photos, as painful as it might be the larger I become. And believe me, I'm getting bigger by the day. I figure this will be something interesting to look back on.

And hopefully a few months after delivery I'll be able to post a proud photo of myself back in fighting form. Wishful thinking?

Brief Update on a Long Journey

Wow. I just looked at the date of our last post and realized how long it's been. As if we're finished with the Peach Orchard Project! Oh heck no.

In fact, in light of some other.. ahem.. projects in the works, the theme of the blog may be morphing a bit. While we'll continue to post about house-related happenings, we'll also be sharing our adventures in pregnancy and parenthood.

Come January a little boy will be joining our world. :-)

Excited is such a stale word. We are so far beyond that. We need to invent a new word for how elated and terrified and impatient and fulfilled we feel. If anyone's got anything, let me know. Thesaurus.com isn't helping.

There have been some bumps along the way, including a scary hospitalization and continuing health issues. But Tony and I have handled this as we deal with most everything else in life. With jokes and laughs and intense devotion to eachother, and always surrounded and supported by our family and friends. If anyone has a better word for 'lucky,' I'm looking for that one too.

On the home front, things have been great. We're living in a lovely home with finished floors and walls and lights. Crazy! There are a few minor touch-ups to paint and pictures to hang and window treatments to finish. Oh and that new issue of a nursery to think about. (Yikes.) But as we gradually cross off big and little items from our list, we've just been enjoying our house.

We have a million photos to upload, of house projects and a growing baby bump (20 weeks, half-way there!). Hopefully I'll be getting to those this week. So stay tuned! More updates to come. Things are really shaking up around here.

Slated for an updated...

Sarah promised pictures, so I am here to deliver.

As mentioned, the boys are hard at work on the slate tile. Here are some before and after (well, in progrss) shots

Kitchen:

Entry way

As you can see, Nick is on the ground doing the grunt work. Number one, he is shorter so he doesn't have to bend over as far. Number two, he is half Italian so working with stone and mortar is in his blood. Paul used his skills to make all of the cuts on the tile.

And now for a big surprise that Sarah doesn't even know about! (until she reads this). Work has begun on the steps! On my visit home for lunch today, I was surprised to hear a nail gun.

This is what they looked like when we left the house this morning.

When I delivered burritos for lunch, muco progresso had been made

You can see Paul taking pride in his work. He didn't even drink a beer for lunch because he wanted to stay sharp, or choice, as we call it. Many props to both of those guys.

I'm psyched to see what the place looks like when I get home...

Where We've Been

La la land. Otherwise known as St. John, USVI. Pure bliss. It was an anniversary gift to eachother (2 years of marriage, 10 years together), and probably the last vacation to be taken for a while. Sigh. The pictures speak for themselves:























Returning to Real Life has not been easy. It's been 2 weeks and I still feel like I'm catching up. But at least we got to come back to beautiful weather. Sense my sarcasm? It's June and it's in the 50's. Hi New England. I did not miss you.

On the house front, work slowed down for a little while, but it's picked back up the past week or so. As I type this the Boys are laying down the slate tile in the kitchen and front entry way, and hopefully that will be close to done by the time I get home from work this evening. Photos of their beautiful handywork to come.

Hopefully once that's done we can finish up the baseboard and heaters. Then the next big project is the stairway.

Our Summer housewarming is looking more like it will take place late Summer/early Fall. Still lots to do. But progress is definitely being made! So stay tuned for more frequent updates to come.