Painted Piano

Who doesn't love a free piano? This one was given to us by a friend. It was given to her by a friend some years before that. I have no idea how old it is. It can never be perfectly tuned. The bench top used to be cracked and upholstered in worn orange fabric. It was the perfect candidate for a makeover. I would never have done this to a newer piano. This picture was taken after I had Greg replace the top and reinforce the bench because I was afraid it would collapse every time I sat on it.

So I sanded it down, primed it, and after some deliberation, painted it ivory. My intent was to match it to the couch, but for some reason the paint in the can was much lighter than the paint chip. I would have taken it back to Lowe's but I didn't realize it until after I painted the piano. I definitely didn't want to do that again. So...the piano is lighter than the couch but it's not white. I'm pretty happy with it. I also reupholstered the bench. Maybe someday my girls' piano skills will exceed this piano and we'll need to get a new one. But for now, we're happy to be using this one.

Watercolor Memories

I miss our old house. I missed it really bad when we first moved. It was the house where we brought three of our babies home to. We have so many memories of our kids being little there. We had great neighbors, a great ward, and a great school. Our new house just didn't feel like home yet.

Now, more than two years later, I still miss it but not as badly as I did then. Our new house is starting to feel like it's actually ours. I can walk around in the dark without feeling uncomfortable. The kids have loved their teachers at the new school, and we've adjusted to our new ward. But I still wanted something in our new house to remember our old house. So I decided to dust off my watercolors and do a mini-painting. It's only about 3.5 by 5.5 inches and it is now framed and sits in my foyer.

Progress

My living room is finally starting to come together! I decided to keep the rug for now since it's fairly neutral and nice rugs are expensive. I painted the walls a warm gray color that I pulled from the rug. I bought the end table and lamps for a steal at Ross (a.k.a. my happy place) and TJ Maxx. Greg hung the picture over the sofa but that might just be temporary since I would like to have something more interesting there. I am still on the lookout for accent pillows for the couch, something cool to put on the coffee table, and drapes. I'm hoping the new Home Goods store will have some amazing finds for me. Is anyone else as excited as I am about Home Goods coming to Bel Air? Now that we have Wegmans and Home Goods is coming, all we need is a Trader Joe's and all of my shopping fantasies will be fullfilled. Well, almost all of them. If H&M came to Harford Mall I think I would die.

Anyway, I got a great deal on a damask stencil on ebay. My plan was to use the same color paint but in a high gloss but I've seen a few damask walls done differently and I'm giving myself some more time to think about it. Did anyone watch The Biggest Loser? The walls in their dining area have the damask pattern in a lighter shade than the background color. Then there was J.Lo's bedroom in the movie The Back-up Plan, which was so bad I'm embarrassed to admit that I watched it. But at least she lived in an amazing brownstone which almost made the movie worth watching. Look closely and you can kind of see the damask pattern with a goldish sheen to it. (Hello, beautiful headboard.)

So that's where I am on my living room project. If I can get the girls to clean up their piano books I'll show you my painted piano!

2nd Day of School

Audrey had gradual entry on the first day of school, which means that I took her for two hours and then brought her home. The second day of school was her first full day and the much-anticipated first bus ride. She was so excited. We took plenty of pictures while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. This girl really knows how to strike a pose.

The Hurricane Post

We knew the hurricane was coming and it was going to be bad. I did everything I could think of to prepare: bought tons of extra water, cleaned the whole house and did the laundry in case we were without water and power, bought downspout extenders to direct the water away from our house, filled the bathtubs with water for toilet flushing, bought food that didn't need to be cooked or refrigerated, but I was still scared. I think deep down inside I knew something bad was going to happen and I think I knew it would be The Tree. The Tree that I've been worried about ever since the other tree fell last year. We even slept in the basement just in case. After a pretty restless night, I got up in the morning and went up to my bedroom where I heard this ominous creaking sound. Something was putting a lot of pressure on our house. I went outside and saw that The Tree was leaning on the point of our roof, right above our master bedroom.

After some debating, we decided to call 911. They sent a fire truck out and they said there was nothing they could do and that we should evacuate the house. We went to my parents' house, where Greg called a tree company and amazingly they said they'd be there in twenty minutes. The tree guy came and said that they couldn't do anything until the wind died down. Not long after that, the wind blew the tree and it slid down the roofline and landed on our deck.

This is the point where the tree was leaning:

That is Greg's shed underneath the deck:

It didn't rain at all after the tree fell, that's just how much water was in the ground:

That evening the tree people came back and chopped up the tree and took it away. Our cable was out for three days which also meant we were without internet and phone. Our power was out for 5 days and 3 hours. Luckily we have a generator that powers most of our house so we didn't lose any food and I was still able to cook. But it doesn't power our dishwasher and washer and dryer. I had never been more happy to do laundry and dishes than after the power came back on.

Since then we've been playing the waiting game . . . waiting for the insurance adjustor to come, waiting for his report, waiting for contractors to give us extimates. Nothing is fixed yet and it will probably be a while until it is. But through it all, I feel extremely blessed. Before the storm came I kept praying and asking Heavenly Father to protect our home and I really think my prayers were answered. It was a miracle that that massive, heavy tree didn't break the roof and crash into our house.

Whirlwind Summer

Was that the fastest summer ever or what? So many things to blog about that are past thier blogging prime . . . lost in the land of Shouldabloggedaboutitsooner. There was our two-week vacation in July, the first week spent in Palmyra, Niagra Falls, and Kirtland with Greg's family. The second week was in Hilton Head Island, SC with my family. Carolyn posted pictures on her blog. There were also Audrey's first lost teeth, Molly's bold new haircut, and Carolyn's trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. Then there was the battering we've been getting from mother nature in the form of an earthquake, hurricane, and a tropical storm. The hurricane will probably get it's own blog post because we have quite the story to tell. Oh, and I can't forget the first day of school, which actually started two days late because of the hurricane. (Who's ever heard of the first day of school being cancelled?) And Audrey started kindergarten! She's been having trouble getting used to the get-up-and-go routine since she prefers the get-up-and-lounge-around routine that she's used to. But I think she loves it. And I love having only one kid during the day. I've actually been getting some projects done. Wait 'til you see my living room. It's come a long way since the last time you saw it. Still more to do but I'm happy with the direction it's going.

My First Upholstery

(Exuse the low-res iPod photos. My camera has been MIA ever since Emma used it to take pictures around the house.)

Okay, I know pride is bad, but I am so proud of myself right now.

Remember the long list of projects I wanted to do for Carolyn's room? I finally made the cushion for her window seat and it turned out awesome. My mom walked me through it but I did all of the sewing. I was so intimidated by this project that I am so stunned with how nice it turned out.

Behold the craftsmanship:

It was also my first time doing piping and I'm not afraid of it anymore! I can't wait to do more projects around the house with my new skills.