So much work, so little time

Feeling a bit overwhelmed this week with so many things on the "to do" list. My mom is such a trooper. Her and I have been working hard the last few days cleaning up the downstairs foyer and family room of the new house. It's no secret, we both enjoy house projects and we make a great team. It's been fun working together and I look forward to being closer in location.

With all this manual labor....I am looking forward to a little girl time! I've been sporting my grubby clothes and messy hair (which btw is showcasing several colors from the new paint palette).

On a sad note, the last few weeks I've had a chance to spend a lot more time with my parents. I had no idea how much my father's health and mental capacity has deteriorated. He was diagnosed severe dementia a year ago, and since then he's slipped quite a bit. At this point his Parkinson's symptoms look meek in comparison to his cognitive abilities. Being closer and quality time with my dad is priceless these days. We're not sure how much longer he'll still resemble himself :(

1950's fireplace wall

Now you can see a before photo. The piano movers are the end of the week to move the piano so we can rip up the carpets, tear down the popcorn ceiling, and the wood paneling. Underneath the carpets is solid birch floors that have been covered for 50+ years. The fireplace may have to wait, as we have budget constraints and time limits. Either way, that fireplace it nasty and the drapes are coming down right away.

My quest to reface the fireplace has been narrowed down. I need to consult with a contractor and most likely we'll be adding a gas insert as well.

I have my vision for the upstairs as very much clean lines, nuetral colors and airy. The photo above, represents many of the elements I want in the room. Though, I'm not a huge fan of the blue sofas (I like them, just not sure if that's the color scheme for me). I do however already own an offwhite tailored slipcovered sofa, similar to what is shown, add the piano back in and I just need a few more items to finish off the space.

This weekend, we'll be moving everything out for the estate sale and starting demo!!!

Kitchen Pain in the @ss

We have no sink, no dishwasher and half of the kitchen looks like a scene from CSI. Totally a pain in the butt!

There is some good news, the mold wasn't a as bad as first though, though looks like the contractors may have to rip out a small section of our exterior kitchen wall. At this point, I don't really care what they do, just get it done.

Girl Time

Tomorrow marks the start of the kitchen repair from the water damage that occurred over New Years. The remediation people want us nowhere near the kitchen while the mold is being treated. Our kitchen will be under construction for the next 3 weeks (we hope it's just 3 weeks), add that with all the other major life challenges. I've had so much mom guilt going on and I needed a little time out today. So E and I went shopping and had a great time.

What really was fun, I was able to use my camera today. Needless to say, even if I'm not that good at photography, shooting makes me happy!

The fun was short lived. I had to come home to packing up the cabinets and empty the refer so the construction guys can remove the counters in the morning. We are 4 weeks out to moving. This week I will also be moving my grandma into her new place. We are in peak mode right now, and things are now about to really get crazy.

More more decor stuff

This here happens to be one of my favorite design sites...Decor Pad

As I was browsing through the site, under Looks 4 Less I found my dinning room chairs for $100 less than Restoration, woohoo!!! What I love about these chairs, is that I can incorporate them as seating in the large living room as a separate little seating area. http://www.decorpad.com/look4less.htm

Inspiration

Been doing a bit of online shopping/surfing lately. I've been trying to work out how I'm going to incorporate the inherited pieces of furniture with my style and my existing pieces.

The dinning room table that I'm getting is very much like the one above, it's an oval shape. The chairs that my grandma picked out years ago, are beautiful but way too traditional for my style. I've been eyeing these chairs for awhile and of course they are from Restoration Hardware, GULP (probably cost just as much as the flipping table). I'm also looking at a more clean lined upholstered seating as well. For now these go on my inspiration list.

For lighting, I'm thinking of this...but I keep going round and round. The space I have isn't as large as the photos shown so I'd only be able to do one light.

The dinning room is attached to a formal living room. My other big piece of furniture I have to work around is a grand piano. The lighting is fantastic in the living room, as there are 3 really large windows facing west. Not quite sure how it's all going to work out.

After I have an empty room to photograph, I'll share photos.

Mommy Goggles

I admit it, I'm ga ga over everyday photos. They may not be technically perfect, but nothing pulls faster at my heartstrings than seeing my kids do everyday simple things. So with my mommy goggles on, I {heart} this photo. The book, Where the Wild Things Are is one my personal favorites as a child, and the shirt is priceless, as is the little boy wearing it!

Oh, and the piano is sold! One more major thing to check of the big list before we move!