Master Bedroom *Update*

Thanks to some helpful tips from fellow bloggers and a day off from work, I have begun to redecorate our master bedroom. Here are some pics of the changes that we have made so far:

First, we painted an accent wall in the bedroom. The color is called "Ocean Kiss" by Behr. I took the duvet cover with me to Home Depot to color match and the one we chose seemed to be a perfect match in the store. However, when we painted the walls it became clear that the blue was more bright than dull. I opted to stick with it because I've always prefered the brighter hues anyway and it added a lot of cheer to the room.

Next we took some much needed advice and hung the curtains on clips and moved the rod up five inches. What a difference these small changes made to the look of the room and the function of the curtains! I love it!

I found the perfect piece to hang above the bed! It is a bit smaller than what I wanted to hang but I couldn't resist the way the copper and rustic mirror went together on this barn star. It looks great! I am currently searching for matching candle sconces to put on either side of the star above each nightstand.

I purchased a few tropical accessories to put on the built in wall shelf but still don't know if they look right. I'll leave them there for now until we mount the television to the wall, which we have already purchased the mount so that will be a project for next weekend. I am debating whether or not we should paint the bathroom doorway another color since it sticks out from the walls. I have brown paint left over from the fireplace mantel (see pic below) that I am thinking about using. I think it would be a nice transition from bedroom to bathroom. Does anyone else agree?

Lastly, we decided to paint the master bathroom the same blue that we chose for the accent wall in the bedroom. I really like how it brightened up the space and tied the two rooms together.

The dragonfly in our garden...

The other day while Arielle and I were playing in the backyard and looking at flowers in the garden, we spotted a huge dragonfly flying around. It landed on one of the Glads and just sat there...it didn't even fly away when Arielle touched it! I think it was in awe of us as much as we were in awe of it. I even had time to run inside to grab the camera and come back out to find it still perched on top of the same flower. Could be that this little guy was injured and that is why it didn't fly away but I hope not. Still, it was fun to play with him for a while.

Miss Bossy

Lately Arielle has been acting like little Miss Bossy around the house. She has started really testing me when I say no to something by repeating that she will do it over and over again in a song-like manner. But I know underneath all of that bossiness lies an angel full of goodness because I see it come out of her from time to time. For now I will just take the highs with the lows and hope that the fours are a different story to write about.

Master Bedroom Makeover (suggestions please!)

Please allow me to digress from the world of pigtails and baby dolls for a moment to discuss a more grown up subject...decorating! Recently I decided to makeover our master bedroom. The problem with this makeover is that our room is quite small so there was no way to rearrange the furniture and since my stepdad made our bedroom set replacing it was out of the question. The solution was to add curtains to our gigantic window, replace our old small dresser with a big one and buy new linens. Again, I do not have any before pictures but that's okay.

This makeover is not yet complete because I am stumped as to what to put on the walls (I am not happy with what is on them now) and how to decorate the wide dresser and space around it. I also need ideas on how to decorate the built-in wall shelf, the wall above the bed and the wall across from the bed. Please leave a comment with your ideas on how to turn this boring bedroom into an oasis. Thank you!

Above the bed is a framed island print. The frame is metal copper color which I like but the mat is green which does not match the new duvet cover which is blue with tan & taupe ribbons. I really do like the print and every other room in my house has a beach or tropical theme so I think keeping it is a good idea. I would definitely have to replace the mat probably with tan or brown but I'm not sure. I could reframe it all together but I don't know if I would keep it above the bed or hang it somewhere else in the room.

This is the new, wide dresser that we just bought. I love how it is rubbed black finish over espresso so it picks up just enough brown to tie in the new curtains. My problem is that I don't know if we should mount the television on the wall or not. Either way the cable box and DVD player need to remain on top of the dresser as much as I do not want them there. How do I decorate this monster? What type of accessories should I use? The bigger question is what do I put on the walls. The only idea I came up with so far is to buy 3-4 matching iron, decorative squares (I've seen some at Kohl's & Linens and Things) to hang in a row above. I also think a couple of various sized candle holders would look nice but arranging accessories around the electronics seems to be a challenge.

Here are the new curtains! They are dark brown silk with embroidered tan flowers. The slipper chair brings a tropical touch to the room because it is made of wicker. The color is dark brown and I just recovered the cushion in a warm, linen fabric. Should I put matching sconces on either side of the curtains? If not, what should I do? Nothing? I think I like the tile print where it is. What do you think?

This is the dreaded, built-in wall shelf (please ignore the very messy view of my bathroom). It has been empty since we moved in over two years ago because I am at an absolute loss as to what should go up there. Should I use great big accessories or smaller ones? What type of accessories? If not accessories what else is there? Plants would be too hard to water and I'm not sure if I like the look of artificial plants. Help!

Lastly, what should I put on the very small wall space next to the bedroom door? I was thinking about switching the door so that it opened outward so I have more wall space to decorate. Either way, should I keep the framed beach print or replace it with something more sophisticated and elegant? Whatever I put there should coordinate with the accessories that I choose for the built-in wall shelf above.

Thanks for any suggestions that you might have on how to finish decorating my bedroom makeover!

"Take me out to the ballgame"

We got to take Arielle to another Colorado Rockies game today and nothing could have made her happier! Last year, when we took her for the first time she got a "Dinger the Dinosaur" stuffed animal. She could not wait to bring it back to meet the "real" Dinger and have it autographed by him. We all tried to have fun at the game despite the fact that the Rocks were still on their losing streak. Then there was the weather; it was very hot at first then felt like it would downpour at any minute. There were some highlights from the day like when Arielle got to eat a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone all by herself for the first time (not really though because Zak and I kept licking the sides so it didn't drip all over her). Then every time a song would come on at the stadium, Arielle would cover her ears up because she said it was too loud! She even got to play at the kiddie playground and go down a sliding pole for the first time. She told me not to help her on it and she did it herself! She definitely had lots of fun at the ballgame!

When we got home, after Arielle ate dinner and played with her friend Imani for a little while, she had a total meltdown. For the first time ever she cried and cried when we told her it was bedtime and kept saying, "I don't want to go to bed" over and over again. I'm sure the combination of missing a nap and eating loads of sugar all day had just caught up to her and she couldn't handle it all at once. Now that she is sleeping and not screaming and kicking, I can look back and say it was a fun day but at the time I was really regreting taking her out to the ballgame.

Pink Island Surf Bedroom

I decided to re-paint Arielle's room a couple of months ago. The original color that we chose was light yellow and although I really liked the color it didn't go with the tan on the ceiling and we never did a third coat of paint which it really needed. Seeing how I couldn't remember the name of the paint I just decided to go with a different color. I chose light blue based on the fact that Arielle's bedding {Pink Island Surf collection from PBK} complimented it well and when I asked Arielle what color we should paint her room blue was her choice! Not only did we repaint the walls but we also shuffled her furniture around, added a matching bench at the foot of her bed and spruced up an old bookshelf with beadboard. After adding a few beachy accessories and some new wall art the end result is fabulous and exactly what I was hoping for her room to look like! I wish I had taken "before" pictures but no such luck so here are the "after" pictures only.

















I just want to add that after looking at the pictures on Chris Kauffman's "Just Beachy" blog, I see a lot of resemblences in my decorating style compared to hers. She just re-designed her daughter's bedroom as well and I noticed some similarities especially in the furniture choices. CK is such a wonderful designer and a huge inspiration to me in my decorating endeavors.


This room was inspired by Pottery Barn Kids!


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~Momma to Bug n' Bear~

In case of an emergency...

I asked my mom, who just had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago, to watch Arielle this morning so I could go into work to catch up on a few things since I am really busy. She said yes so I was talking to Arielle this morning about what to do in case of an emergency {not that I think anything bad is going to happen with m y mom watching her but she should learn this anyway}. I showed her the phone in the kitchen which is out of her reach so told her she could get her stool from the bathroom to reach it. She wasn't sure she would be able to reach it though so to make her feel better I put the phone on the counter where her little arms could reach it for sure. Then I told her to push the big button first and dial "9-1-1". I went on saying that if Grandmom falls down and she can't get up that Arielle needed to do what I showed her and dial 911. This is Arielle's response: "But what if I want to help Grandmom get up?" She was so sincere when she said this to me so I told her that she was too little to help Grandmom up so that is why she needed to call 911 so that somebody bigger could come help Grandmom get up. I had heard a story on the news a little bit ago about a 2 year old that saved her mom by calling 911 so I figure if a 2 year old can do it, so can my 3 year old, right? I hope the need never arises for her to have to do such a thing but I'd like to think I can teach her what to do in case of an emergency.

Love hate relationship

Lexi, also known around the house as Monster and Doodle, has become Arielle's best friend and worst enemy all at the same time. We refer to her as the Monster because everytime she walks into a room she knocks stuff over with her clumsy, big paws or her hard, wagging tail. This drives Arielle crazy because she works so hard to organize her stuff and the minute it gets out of order she yells, "No Monster!". Other times she'll say, "Monster, come get me" and they'll chase each other around the house. Every time they play together Lexi just mouths Arielle's hands and arms but you never know if Arielle is going to laugh or cry about it. Lexi, being the dominant dog that she is, likes to sit on other dogs and people every chance she gets. This particular day Arielle was lying on the floor when Lexi walked over to her and sat right down on her tummy like this was the best seat in the house. Of course I ran to grab my camera right away but Lexi ran after me. I wish I could have taken a picture of that but we couldn't get Lexi to do it again. Instead, I took a few pictures of Arielle copying Lexi's every move.

Elitch's

This is the third year in a row that we have had the pleasure of taking Arielle to the Six Flags Elitch Gardens amusement park. Every time has been a lot of fun for all of us but this time was especially memorable because it was the first time Arielle got to ride on the Roller Coaster and Bumper Cars (although we didn't make it on the Ferris Wheel this year which was dissapointing but the line was too long and slow). We ended up being at the park for nearly seven hours...and Arielle was very good pretty much the whole time. It was only just before lunch time that she got crabby but once she ate it was smooth sailing for the rest of the day.

The roller coaster ride to me seemed like it would be very scary for a three year old. They got to go around the track three times and each time the operator would stop them and ask if anyone wanted to get off. I saw some kids that were obviously older than Arielle getting off after the first run but Arielle stayed on for all three runs! Each time she went around I know I saw the look of fear on her face after they went down the first hill but she hung in there and told us how much fun it was and that she wasn't scared. You can see the look I am talking about in one of the pictures if you look close enough.

The bumper cars had us rolling with laughter {if only we had brought the video camera and not left the camera in the car when we changed for swimming} and it was so fun to watch Arielle enjoying them! Zak and I both knew that she wouldn't be able to steer because we've seen her in the Barbie Jeep at home and she just doesn't have the ability to steer yet. The operator noticed it too because he kept trying to tell her what to do. All she did was go around and around in circles in her bumper car and every time someone bumped into her she laughed so hard!

I loved seeing Arielle enjoy all the rides that day; the teacups with Daddy, the kiddy rides all by herself and the water park slides with both of us. It definitely brought back memories from my childhood that I hadn't thought about for several years. What I remember the most was how afraid I was of the roller coaster. It wasn't until my early teen years that I actually got on one and figured out that it was actually fun, not scary. I'm already looking forward to going again next year when she is a little bit older and perhaps tall enough to get on more rides.

Flowering Frenzy

I have been wanting to post a blog about my flower garden since the summer began but never got around to it. If I had remembered to take pictures of my garden sooner you would have seen how beautiful the GLADIOLUS were before I had to cut them down because they were leaning so much. There were so many different colors...orange, magenta, pink, white and peach. The glads are definitely worth every second that I have to dig them up and replant them each year.
I am also really loving the MUMS that I planted last fall and I think they are blooming early this year. I have pink, burgundy, yellow and white mums. Another favorite flower of mine is the WILD COLUMBINE because of it's detail and coloring. When I first planted my columbine it didn't look like it was going to make it and didn't have blooms until a few weeks later. Now it has tripled in size and looks lovely! The CANNAS and CALLA LILY give the garden a tropical touch which is what I like the most about them. The DIANTHIS and CATMINT add a woodsy-cottage feel and are two flowers that every garden should have. One thing that did suprise me this year was that my IRIS bulbs did not bloom in the spring. I had planted some of the same iris in my old garden and they were great bloomers (they still are too and I know this because I drive by the old house just to see them!). Hopefully they will bloom next spring because I missed seeing them in the garden this year. Fortunately I had planted some along the rocks along our back fence and strangely enough, a lot of those ones bloomed.


















Arielle loves the garden as much as I do! She has learned only to pick one flower at a time or else mommy won't be so happy with her. She likes to "plant" the flowers that she picks in her pots of dirt or "float" them in a little cup inside the house for display. I really hope that flower gardening is something that she and I can do together as she gets older. It is a great mother-daughter past time.



















I hope you enjoyed the pics of my flower garden. Hopefully as the years go by I will be adding more gardens...God knows we have enough room for them in our immense backyard!