New paint, new floors

So on Friday, August 6th (two months ago to the day, coincidentally), the city turned off our water to fix a water main break. We accidentally left our bathroom faucet on and then left to go to Tim's parents so he could shower and then out to dinner with friends. We returned home to a flooded house.This necessitated replacement of all the engineered hardwood flooring in every room except Stella and Etta's bedrooms. Which, for some reason, took 6 and a half weeks to actually get installed. Well, technically they installed the floors in 10 and a half hours, all that in-between time was due to Floor King being really slow. We got the same Walnut floors so that we could keep the floors in the girls' bedrooms.

The only good to come out of all of this, well other than the fact that the flooring that

we accidentally scratched when moving the piano in got replaced, was that they repainted our living room, hallway and bedroom walls and ceilings to fix any places that got ripped when they pulled off the molding. And we got to choose the colors. So our formerly cave

-like living room (because the ceiling and walls were too dark) went from this:

to this:

I realize it's not one of those "wow" transformations, but it really makes the room seem so much brighter. The color before was a beigy-brown and had too much green in it and always sort of bugged us. It was hard to tell what color it was. The color on the ceiling is Behr's Swiss Coffee and the walls are Natural Linen. You should have seen us desperately trying to choose the colors the night before the painters came, lining up these little tiny paint chips on the picture ledges and trying to tell different shades of white apart. But it was definitely worth it, I think we chose the perfect shades.

Then we had the shelving unit wall. I'd had the idea few weeks ago to paint that wall orange to make everything on the shelves pop. I couldn't believe I managed to convince Tim this was a good idea and so as soon as the painters were out of here, I set plans in motion to get it painted before Tim could change his mind:)

I wish I'd taken a picture of the awful orange we chose first. It was called "Pumpkin Pleasure" in Olympic's No-VOC line, and it looked perfect on the chip, but it was totally wrong. After three terrible coats, Tim decided to use photoshop to get a fix on what the actual color was in our

inspiration picture (the one in the middle):

BTW, if you are looking for lots of inspiration on 60's and 70's paint colors, check out www.retrorenovation.com

So this is the wall with the shelving unit before:

And after, with the addition of Olympic's No-VOC Georgian Leather and some hard work rehabilitating the shelving unit using these instructions:

I also used Jonathan Adler's shelving unit as inspiration:

Although I could have done a lot better if I'd just had a grand or so to spend on some of his pottery. I wonder if he'd be willing to give me a gift certificate if I sent him an email? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery;)

What do you think? The orange color isn't exactly what we had in mind, but Olympic's no-VOC line had a very limited selection and we were in a hurry to get our house back together! Next up: our bedroom.

Our new living room

I never blog anymore, but thought I'd include some pics of our living room with the new couch and curtains in case anyone reads this anymore. I made the curtains after the couch went in and haven't gotten a picture of everything together yet. One day...

10 Months!

Etta, you turned 10 months old today. It is hard to believe that in that time you've gone from this:

To this:

My tiny little baby is growing up, only 2 months away from turning 1! Of course, you also get more fun every day and are in that stage where I'm reminded WHY I have children. You and your sister now play together on your own. Just wander off and I'm like, "where are the children?" and I'll go look for you and there you are in your room or Stella's room just playing together as happy as can be.
You worship your sister. Oh my goodness, I know you love me and I love you, but I will never be the recipient of the type of love I see in your eyes that you hold for Stella. She is your teacher, your buddy, your idol. It's an amazing relationship already.
Some wonderful and fun things you have been doing lately:

1/12/10: Etta pulls up in her crib! I went into her room because she was crying and not sleeping at nap time and she was standing up! I went to try and help her down and she fell down, stiff as a board, and nearly bonked her head on the backside of the crib!

1/13/10: Etta waved hi to me twice when I was putting her in the car after Stella's ballet class! Then she waved to her sister!

1/13/10: Etta pulled up to standing on the bathtub twice!

1/14/10: I love how when Etta wants you to pick her up, she'll crawl over to you, get on her knees and tug on your pant leg. She looks up at you with the most adorable expression:)

1/18/10: Etta was standing at a chair in the kitchen and she sat back down on her bottom without falling!

1/20/10: You're 10 months today! I love how when you're eating, you'll pick up a piece of food, tap my palm (or your sister's) with it, and then put it in your mouth. Almost like you're saying “cheers!”

You also are getting a "Buddha belly". It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. And no wonder since I think you only ever stop eating out of sheer exhaustion!

You change every day and it's an amazing process that I feel like I am enjoying and savoring far more this time. Thanks for being my little "Etta-bird".

Love,
Mommy