One Room Challenge Week Four

It's week four of  Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party

and I'm continuing to make progress!

My number one priority was to get the blinds hung....

I started to hang them myself,

but Teddy took pity on me and had them hung in less than ten minutes!

He takes after my Michigan dad and Virginia dad and is extremely handy!

Viola! 

They are room darkening....love them!

My coverlet and Euro shams arrived from One Kings Lane in record time...

as in I ordered them on a Monday night and they were here on Wednesday,

and I am thrilled with the quality and love how they look!

I spent all day Saturday making the rounds at my favorite consignment shops

with Caroline and my Virginia mom and boy did it pay off!!!!!

 I was starting to feel stressed about not finding a pair of botanical prints

to hang above the headboard.

I'm on a budget but was willing to splurge a little to get the perfect pair,

but I was not finding anything I liked in any price range.

Virginia mom spotted these at a consignment shop we were at on Saturday,

and they were not only PERFECT, they were a STEAL!

I already hung them up and love them!!!
I shopped my attic and found a few other prints for our bedroom and hung those as well.

I moved a very special piece of furniture into our room when I moved my desk out....
my great grandmother's secretary desk.
It is a small desk with Queen Anne legs and a mirrored cabinet,
and I would like to fill it with crystal, sliver, or white porcelain pieces.
I shopped my home for some things and found a few more things at consignment shops.

I love this small silver canister...the shop owner said it came from a castle in France.

I also scored this cut glass vase as well...I love how it reflects in the mirror!

I would love to get a pair of small white Staffordshire dogs for the cabinet,

and I have a small rose bowl and a few other small silver pieces I can use.

After rearranging the furniture,

I decided that I needed an arm chair to fill the space next to my dresser.

I added that to my consignment shopping list and hit the jackpot again!

This beauty was $50! It's very sturdy and in great shape...just needs new fabric!

Here's what I am planning to have it recovered it in...

Thibaut Ikat Check

LOVE!

This will not be finished by the end of the ORC, but I plan to add pictures of it once it's done!

So.....my ORC is coming along fabulously,
and the main things I need to finish are my window treatments and custom bedding.
I'm hoping those will be done in the next week!

I do have a small "to do" list....
1. continue to search for a small green and white porcelain lamp for tall dresser
2. finish sorting through "junk" that was in our bedroom
3. order fabric for chair
4. finish hanging pictures and mirror
5. help D with his mile long "honey do" list

I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting all of the other talented participants
in the One Room Challenge Linking Party.
If I am totally honest with y'all,
I feel slightly inadequate as I am not DIYing anything on my own ORC project.
I am AMAZED to see all of the skill and talent out there in blogland!
The wallpapering, painting, demolition, re-finishing of floors, the list goes on....
I am truly impressed with all of the talent displayed!
I really would have loved to tackle some DIY projects...
I used to do them all of the time when I was a stay-at-home mom.
Realistically, however, now is not a time in my life where it would be sensible
to try and add any DIY projects to my schedule....
just adding a dentist appointment to my schedule can throw me for a loop right now!
Some day I will have the time to take on DIY projects,
and I know I will miss these crazy busy days when I don't know which end is up!

Just keeping it real y'all.....

Weekend in Review

I had an extremely Happy Easter!

Caroline flew home from school to spend the holiday with us,

and it was a wonderful weekend.

We hit the outlets and did some shopping,

we found some treasures for my ORC while visiting some of my favorite consignment shops,

I waited until Caroline was home to celebrate my birthday so we had my birthday party,

and we went to church together and to the club for Easter brunch with my parents.

We finished off the day with my Virginia mom's traditional Easter Egg Hunt,

where the eggs are hidden so well that we are still finding them at Halloween!

 Here we are just before heading off to church...

  I'm happiest when I have all of my kids home!

 My baby boys....it is strange to have them taller than I am!

 My beautiful girls...

Half of our family!

D was in Delaware with his children visiting his mother for spring break and Easter...

and we missed them!

Hope y'all had a FABULOUS Easter too!

One Room Challenge Week Three

It's week three of Linda's One Room Challenge 

and I am making great progress with my own ORC!

My painter came and did a FABULOUS job of patching the "painted over wallpaper" walls!

 

This is just a fraction of the amount of patching he did....

but you can NOT tell that he painted over the "painted over wallpaper"...the walls are perfect!

I cannot tell you how THRILLED I am with my paint color!!!!

Benjamin Moore Papaya

(it's not as dark as it looks in this picture)

This is a little more accurate and shows the contrast with the crown moulding.

The hardest part of the ORC for me so far has been this....

Moving into Caroline's room while my room was being painted.

I cannot stand living in clutter and having everything out of sorts!

I moved most of the "junk" out of my room and into hers.

Yes that is the infamous ceiling fan from our bedroom on her floor...

I am ready to surrender....the fan is staying.....sadly.

Once the painting was finished, 

I only moved back into our room what is staying in the room.

That left a lot of this...

Here is a pile of "junk" in our master bathroom that must find a new home,

because I am not going to clutter our new room!

I have also been playing musical furniture...

Here is my desk...it was in our bedroom,

but it's finding a new home on our third floor and has been sitting at the end of the hallway 

waiting for my boys to come home and move it.

I NEED to get all of this stuff sorted and put away what I'm keeping

and make a trip to Goodwill with everything else....

our bedroom really had become a dumping ground,

and I will have none of that now!

This past week I also did a little shopping....

New blinds, new outlet covers, and new light switches...

I moved back into our room but there aren't any blinds on the windows

since I took the old ones down before the painter came.

D won't be home for another week and a half,

so I may have to hang them myself...not my specialty but I think I can manage.

I've also been shopping for a few new accessories....

LOVE this lattice cachet pot I found at a consignment shop

and the topiary from my favorite HomeGoods!

I'm having a custom bed skirt and shams made in the Thibaut fabric,

and I've been looking for a coverlet and Euro shams in a white trellis print.

One Kings Lane had a beautiful basket weave coverlet and shams,

and they are on their way to me!

Here is the pattern up close...I ordered white and it should be here early next week!

Here is a reminder of my inspiration board....

Here is what's on my to do list for the next week...

1. shop for a green and white porcelain lamp

2. shop for botanical prints for above our bed

3. shop my house for crystal and silver accessories 

4. make honey do list for D

5. shop for an arm chair

6. shop for night stands

7. find new homes for the piles of "junk" that came out of the bedroom

Anyone have a good source for small porcelain lamps (I want a green and white one that is about 18"tall)?

Or a good source for botanical prints (similar to the ones on my inspiration board)?

Looks like it will be a week of shopping for me!

I'm so happy with the progress,

and I'm even happier with the colors and fabrics I selected!

Please remember to check out all of the fabulous ORC participants at Calling It Home,

and of course check out the ORC linking party!

Renting the Runway for the Submarine Birthday Ball

D and I attended the Washington DC Area

114th Annual Submarine Birthday Ball on Friday night 

and we had a wonderful time!

Here we are at dinner....we were seated at D's corporate table.

My favorite part of the ball is seeing old friends....

this Lieutenant was a Junior Officer on the USS Texas back when D was the Commanding Officer,

and he and his wife have become dear friends of ours.

Here is a full length shot of my dress...which I loved!

And guess what?

I RENTED it!

I have three ballgowns that I have been re-running for about four years now,

and I wanted something new but did not want to invest in another gown.

My daughter, Caroline, encouraged me to try Rent the Runway 

and I'm so glad I did!

My hesitation in using RTR was that I did not want a dress that looked like it had been worn 1000 times,

I did not want a dress that was "cheap" and poorly made,

and I also was not 100% sure what size to order.

I am super picky and wanted a dress that was both classy and sensational!

I don't like to wear black to formal events....

I am a pink and green "bright colors" girl,

and I knew I wanted an emerald green gown for this event.

I did some research and RTR sends you two sizes when you order,

they guarantee your satisfaction and will overnight another dress 

if you don't like the one you ordered or are not satisfied,

and they have all designer gowns....as in some of their gowns retail for well over $1000.

Here is the online photograph of my dress...

I loved this Halston dress but was not too hip on the amount of leg the dress shows.

The other nice thing about RTR is that they have customer reviews on most all of their dresses,

and customers also upload their own photos wearing the gowns so you can see it on a "real" person!

The reviews on this dress all said the slit was not nearly as revealing as this photo showed,

and the color of the dress is slightly darker in person than the photos on the web page.

I took the plunge and ordered!

You can rent for four days or for eight days,

and the dress will arrive the day before your event by overnight delivery.

My dresses arrived Thursday afternoon...

I ordered my regular size and a size larger as most of the reviews said this dress ran small.

Inside the box both dresses were on hangers, had a plastic garment bags over them, were gently folded,

and both dresses looked like new with no signs of wear and no wrinkles.

My dress hanging in the mancave before the ball...

And here is how I styled it...

I posted this on Insta....you can actually rent jewelry too but I knew exactly what I wanted

and found the bracelet and earrings a Nordstrom.

Attached to the hanger was this tag with instructions on how to return the dresses...

it could NOT have been easier!

No dry cleaning or even hanging back on the hangers...

just place both dresses in the pre-paid envelope they provide and drop off at UPS!

It truly could not have been easier!

So my review on Rent the Runway is two thumbs up!

The selection, convenience, the price, and the quality of the dress were all excellent!

Rent the Runway has more than just ballgowns to rent,

so if you are looking for a fabulous designer cocktail dress,

or you would like to have a Chanel bag just for one event,

check them out!

Happy Birthday United States Navy Submarine Force!

One Room Challenge Week Two

It's week two of Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party!

Click here to see week one....

A funny story....

My sweet husband follows my blog and while he knew I was doing the ORC

and decorating our bedroom,

he did not really know about any of my plans.

Well after my ORC post last week,

D confessed that he read my ORC challenge post and was a little worried.

In fact, he didn't READ the post, he looked at the photos,

and thought that the BEFORE pictures with the previous owner's furniture

was what I had decorated our room to be!

He was very worried....until he READ what I wrote and realized what he was looking at!

Now that he knows what I am doing, he loves it!

LOL!

So...I have made it over my biggest hurdle in this challenge

(if you don't count selecting my fabric)

which is selecting my paint color!

I had a horrible time picking a paint color for my first ORC

and was afraid it would not go well this time around....

I decided on a beige wall color...and there are a MILLION shades of beige.

I looked at several different brands, but ended up with my old standby, Benjamin Moore.

Here was my first go around...

These colors look the same in the photograph, 

but they are Benjamin Moore Palace White and Indian White.

Fortunately they had the giant paint square samples....and I did not like them.

They look much darker in this photograph than they are in person,

and they were too blah....and too light.

I scoured Pintrest and Houzz looking at beige rooms

and reading articles about the top ten beige colors that interior designers use,

and then it was back to the paint store...

 And we have a winner!

 Benjamin Moore Papaya!

Here it is with my fabric...the color is not very accurate though!

 The color is actually much softer than this and my fabric is not brown.

While I love to paint and am pretty good at it, 

I know my limits and I truly don't have the time to paint my bedroom myself right now.

I have a fabulous painter who has painted several rooms in our home, 

and he is going to paint for me!

He inspected the walls and while he could strip the painted over wallpaper prior to painting,

he promised me that if he repaired the walls instead of stripping them,

I would not be able to tell the difference and I would save A LOT of money.

I am all about saving money.

He starts painting this week!

Next on my list was to find trim for my window treatments.

I decided on a board mounted balloon valance with tassel trim...

so I went searching and found the PERFECT thing.....

I LOVE this trim!!!!

Is it not PERFECT?????

Well it is $259 a yard...and I need seven yards....NOT happening.

Clearly I have fabulous taste, don't I?

It is a Scalamandre trim...the color was perfect,

but clearly WAY out of my price range.

As the woman at the decorating shop said...

"No one ever walks into a room and says "OMG that trims is to die for" so why break the bank on it?"

I found something very similar for MUCH less!

I am so relieved to have the paint color selected and to have the trim for the windows.

The woman who is doing my custom bedding and window treatments picked up the fabric today

and they should be done by the first part of May!!!

I feel like I'm making good progress.

Here's what is on my to do list this next week...

1. purchase new room darkening pleated shades and install

2. find a white coverlet in a lattice pattern for bed

3. shop for accessories

4. purchase new outlets and covers and new light switch and cover

5. continue search for nighstands

6. move "junk" out of the room

7. work on convincing D that we don't need a ceiling fan in our bedroom.

Don't forget to visit Linda at Calling It Home

to see her fabulous ORC participants!!!

and of course check out everyone else who is linking to the ORC!

Mom's Weekend in Kansas

Katherine and I flew out to Kansas this past weekend

to visit Caroline at the University of Kansas and participate in

her sorority Gamma Phi Beta's Mom's Weekend!

Despite mechanical difficulties, a three hour delay, a change in airline, a re-route through Dallas, 

an emergency landing at Fort Hood, tornadoes, another five hour delay, 

and a possible unexpected overnight stay in Dallas,

we made it to Kansas City at 3:11am Friday morning!

We had a fabulous time and we enjoyed meeting Caroline's friends and their mothers.

Friday night we met with Caroline's ten closest friends and their moms at a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner...

Here are Caroline and Katherine with Kansas daughter and Caroline's other BFF, M..

Adding in the moms....

 

Our group at dinner!

 

Saturday morning we headed to the sorority house for brunch...

 

My lovelies... 

Sweet Caroline and me... 

After a little shopping in the afternoon, 

we headed over to the cocktail party for some sisterhood!

Yes, that is me wearing a ZEBRA print....shocking, I know.

 My darling daughters...everyone thought Katherine was the older sister much to Caroline's dismay!

Two peas in a pod with their fabulous mothers!

Our time together went by FAR too quickly!

It was two days full of fun and A LOT of laughing....love my girls!

The only thing that made it easier to leave 

is that Sweet Caroline will be home in ten days for Easter!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk y'all!