Living room project

We've been slowly trying to make our 1930's home feel more modern and updated. It's been quite the process to say the least and we're not even half way through. We have high hopes of updating parts of our kitchen later this spring/early summer. But for now here are some before and after pictures of our living room. It's still not 100% done, but I figured I'd blog about it while it's still new to us.


*Before - All the walls and trim were white. The fireplace was painted white brick with a large mirror fixed to the wall above.

*Before - Empty corner for creating piles and old light switch plate. Not to mention the old chair that came with the house :)
* Before - White walls with simple decor. Oh, and the old chair again.



**After - First off we replaced the old chair with a brand new one! That's right Logan and I actually purchased something new from the store and not craigslist :) a huge step in our marriage.
Trying some paint colors on the wall and taking a good look at our old chair. It was in the house when we came to NY house hunting last April and the owners left it (along with some other furniture we've tossed). We figured we'd use this chair until we bought couches and other furniture to sit on. It served us well (and is actually now sitting in our den).
Pretty neutral colors and classic style. We needed something that would go with our couches that wasn't so modern.

Before -

After - We painted the walls green and got a piano! I've wanted a piano since the day we moved in. I knew one would fit perfectly in this corner and it does! Only a few inches to spare. Green paint all over and a satin gloss white molding and trim (we still need to finish the baseboards). The flat white walls were tricky. Every time anything touched them it left a mark.

The real project: A new fireplace!!

Logan did an amazing job creating a new fireplace front. The old brink front was such an eyesore, to me. Logan took some time figuring out how to drill into brick and cut the molding. Once he figured it out things seemed to move rather smoothly.
We also took down the attached mirror and added our own. We haven't hung it on the wall yet and don't know if we will. We kind of like it propped up.

I still have throw pillows to make (to add some accent colors) and decor to go onto the walls (to complete the overall look for the room). We need to stain the book shelf, to the left of the fireplace, dark to match the doors and front window, oh! and paint the baseboards. I don't love the high-water length, dated curtains either. I've been on the look out for something great to replace them with.

It's been a nice change and we enjoy being in the living room to see our work (or should I say Logan's amazing fireplace!).

Logan's Birthday

I'm a little late on this post (almost a month). We enjoyed a nice day as a family together on Logan's birthday. We worked on our living room together and pretty much kept it low key. Logan requested brownies instead of a cake. Brennan was a little confused by that. We called them "birthday brownies". Yet, I kept saying, "we're going to have birthday cake for Dad . . ." At times he thought we were having cake AND brownies. Whoops.
Logan and his boys. They both sure love him! Brennan runs to the door everyday he gets home from work chanting his name. Trevor screams until Logan picks him up and gives him attention too.
Trevor was a bit curious about the food Brennan was eating. We gave Trevor a taste too so he wasn't missing anything.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Snow Plow

One of the first things we purchased this fall was a good snow blower since Rochester gets so much snow every year. We also live in the snow belt 2-3 miles south of Lake Ontario. Ever since we bought the snow blower Brennan has been so excited to use it with Daddy. Logan told Brennan all about how to use it when the grass was still green outside. He couldn't get enough of the lawn mower and NOW the snow blower! So much excitement for a 3 year old.

Well, this winter has been unusually warm and dry (snow wise). It would snow a bit and then melt. Or it would snow and only be a dusting. A few weeks ago we had a real snow - 4"+. Brennan was so excited to get outside with Dad and plow the snow.

Trevor came along for the ride as well. This is a 12 month old snow suit that our neighbors in Madison gave us. I don't know what 12 month old boy is this tall. I guess it was nice to keep his feet covered since he's not walking yet.

These are taken from inside our house. Trevor and I went outside to watch the first half of the driveway. Brennan wanted to walk with Logan the whole time. It made for a slow clean up. Hot chocolate is always in order after playing in the snow - Brennan knows that.

Ladies Man!

While we were eating dinner at the Christmas party, I looked over to see Trevor surrounded by some young girls in our ward. It was pretty hilarious! They had placed a Santa hat on him and were laughing and talking to him.

Trying to get him to look at me for a picture.

Santa!

At our ward Christmas party last weekend, Santa made an appearance. Brennan was excited to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Trevor, however, was just a little confused and curious (below).

Brennan 's a cheese!

Telling Santa he wants a slinky for Christmas. Ever since our friend in D.C. had a slinky, Brennan has wanted one. We told him "once" he should ask Santa for one and he remembered. A few days before the ward party we told Brennan that Santa would be there. He brightened up and said, "I'm going to tell Santa I want a Slinky!" I love his memory and am sometimes surprised by all the things he remembers.

Merry Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

We started the night by lighting the first fire of the year (first fire ever in our new home). Brennan was pretty excited to see Daddy use the matches. After the fire was lit we had to blockade the fireplace so Trevor wouldn't go near it. There's something about moving fiery flames to draw one near.

We set our Christmas tree up the Sunday after Thanksgiving (yes, the day we got home from our week in NC and D.C.). We realized our little artificial tree looks pretty pathetic with our 10 foot ceilings. We also realized how vulnerable our tree looks with Trevor crawling around.
After everything was set up it looked great. We may actually keep this little tree for the next 3 years. Trevor is also not that interested in pulling our tree down. In fact, he really hasn't paid much attention to it during the last week. Just in the last few days he's started pointing to the little lights.

Washington D.C.

On our way to and from the Outer Banks we stopped in D.C. and stayed with my best friend from high school. It was such a nice chance to break up our trip and enjoy good company. On the way home we actually stopped in the city and enjoyed some of the sites. The last time Logan and I were in D.C. was when I was 9 weeks pregnant with Brennan.
We finally found a parking spot and headed towards the Natural History Museum. We figured Brennan would love all the animals inside. It's a good thing there are so many children's book with animals (armadillo, beaver, wolf, hippo, etc). Brennan knew many of the animals there.

Just inside the museum. Brennan did really well the whole time. He wanted to jump off of everything - but what else is new?

(Brennan was in the stroller and Trevor had fallen asleep)

Maren and I. I kept telling her D.C. would be such a fun area to live in. She loves it! There's so much history and fun things to see/do. Not to mention people always wanting to come and visit.

The Martin Luther King Memorial opened about 4 weeks prior to our visit. It was still very crowded with people stopping by to check it out. We loved it. There was such a beautiful sunset as we were getting ready to leave. It's a pretty awesome design. MLK's statue was carved from a large stone cut out of the wall behind (picture below).

The Dance family.

Trevor wanted to grab Logan's camera! He was such a good boy the whole time (after he woke up).

The Richards.

The wall of quotes.