{our home} behind the scenes...

there's been a lot going on around here lately...

and i've been doing a pretty good job keeping you updated on the obvious.

but there's a lot going on behind the scenes as well.

i think it's time to get you caught up.

let's start with some of my recent favorite pictures...from a few weeks ago...

while my two older girls were away with their dad,

i decided to use my time wisely to get some baking done for their birthday party.

i enlisted ella's help and decided to start on the lemonade cookies...

since this was ella's first "official" baking session...it just HAD to be documented...

she's pretty excited...(and pretty cute too...*wink*)

she's played with dough before...

but THIS time she actually REALLY participated in the entire process...

kneading...rolling...& cutting

i just LOVE these pictures of her tiny little hands working some BIG magic...

the cookies turned out wonderful and ella and i had fun spending some quality "kitchen-time" together...

in other news...

i am STILL painting the new house.

i know, right?!

it just takes forever with a little one.

and aside from the tremendous help from my mom & my older girls for a few days...

i'm the only one painting.

phew!

so.

our plans are to finish things up this weekend...

once and for all.

just me & j.

and as promised some time ago...

here are before and after pictures of the painting that's already been finished!!!

oh!

WAIT!!

you need background information...

the entire main interior of this home was an orangey-mustard color.

(not one of those gorgeous mustard colors...this one had too much orange undertone to it).

it was REALLY dark so i had to lighten things up.

although i purchased several different colors to use,

i somehow kept sticking with the "antique white" every time I moved into a new room.

these "after pictures" are showcasing the difference in the colors of the walls...

there aren't any real decorations in any of the "afters"...

i just wanted you prepared so you weren't looking for some amazing interior design elements.

i'm not there yet.

remember...

i'm STILL painting...*wink*

the wall as you enter the kitchen/dining area

(see all of those swatches on the wall? every room in the house looked like that!)

& do you see what i mean about the orange? the antique white brightens things up SO much!

my mom suggested hanging a HUGE clock on this wall...i've been obsessing eversince...LOVE the idea)

the double-sided gas fireplace - family room view

the "before" picture was taken before we officially bought the home - the decor is from the previous owner).

(still trying to decide whether to mount the t.v. there or just have a gorgeous piece of furniture to house it on another wall.) anyone want to chime in?

the double-sided fireplace - dining room view

(again...the "before" picture shows decor & furniture from the previous owner)

dining area - view as you enter from family room/foyer

would you LOOK at the orange!? brightening it up made SUCH a huge difference!

working with a guy right now on designing a custom 11x3 foot harvest table for this area.

the table i'm using right now is from my grandparents and it's seen it's days...*frown*

the bench pictured is something i found about 5 years ago in an antique store.

thinking of having it refinished and then use it with the harvest table or transfer it to the backporch?

i've been told i should do only ONE bench with the harvest table and use chairs on the ends as well as on the other side. what do YOU think? will it appear unbalanced?

i need to also catch you up on some wonderful party details posted by some customers of mine!

but that deserves a post all on its own.

and this post was REALLY long-winded.

i hope you all had a productive week -

i look forward to even more productivity over the weekend.

it's going to be busy...i can tell you that.

all in a VERY good way!

friday date night with j, painting all day saturday, company picnic on sunday and dinner guests sunday evening! FUN!!

Keeping It Real:

I might have added a little more flour to Ella's face on that very last picture of her!

But I'm not telling...*wink*