Scout thinks she is a cat

Scout sleeps/sits/lays on the back of the couch.  This means she squished our catch cushions, which annoys me.  I don’t think she realizes she is a dog and not a cat.

Sister-in-law’s Wedding

My sister in law got married in September and we flew out to attend the wedding.  It was wonderful to see family and be there for such a big day.  Charlotte and Cooper were the flower girl and ring bearer and were adorable.  Charlotte loved all the attention, while Cooper hated his tux, his shoes were too small and he generally just didn’t care very much for the ring bearer job.  I brought my camera to capture a few moments and put the photos in the video below.  Not all of the photos shown are mine (there are 5 or so from the maid of honor’s camera).  I am most sad that I did not get ‘the big moment’ of her walking down the aisle.  I hope someone else was able to get it!

(I am not a professional photographer, do not claim to be, nor do I ever wish to be one.  I have never brought my camera to a wedding before, but my sister-in-law asked me and I happily obliged.  Although afterwards I decided I won’t be bringing my camera to a wedding again…too much work!!)

Untitled from Salina on Vimeo.

So much for the playroom organization

That didn’t last long.  We have moved these benches to Charlotte’s room because I’m tired of them tipped over like this.

First day of pre-school

The kids started pre-school at the end of August.  They are in the same class, but if as time goes on we may consider having them in different classes if it seems to detrimental to have them share a classroom.

Charlotte was so excited and walked right in, followed directions and sat in the circle.  Cooper had a tougher time.  He didn’t want to wait in line, didn’t want to check-in or wash his hands.  He eventually sat in the circle but the teacher said he was pretty upset the first few days.  He tried to seek out Charlotte for comfort, but she brushed him off!  He was happy when we picked him up though!

Overall school is going really well now.  They are eating up all the learning and have tons of best friends.  When my husband picked them up from school in the first few weeks, Cooper proclaimed “Dat’s Caden, he’s my boyfwend.  I hab boyfwends, Charlotte doesn’t have boyfwends.  She has gulfwends.  Only I hab boyfwends.”  Adorable I tell you.

Here are the photos on their first day.  They would.not.cooperate.  Good thing they’re cute!

 

Master Bathroom Reveal

We have been in the process of remodeling our house since July.  It’s part of the reason I’ve neglected the blog a bit.  Sitting around recovering from hernia repair surgery has freed up my time to catch up blogging.  So here’s the big reveal on the master bathroom, although it’s been done for about a month now.

We hired a contractor to do all the work for us.  We could probably do some of the the work ourselves, but we just didn’t want to.  Our contractor is the owner of  Remington Construction and is a friend of the family, therefore we trust him implicitly.  The work was high quality and done within the expected time frame and budget.  We couldn’t be happier!

We did pick everything out and put it together.  I felt confident in my ability to pick what I wanted and have it come together.  My husband let me have more say in the master bath, while I’ve let him have more say in the basement (almost done with that space as well).  I wanted a hotel/spa feel to the bathroom, with a lot of natural feeling elements.  This meant all neutral colors.

This is the view upon entering the bathroom.  We haven’t put new blinds up yet, but they’ll be a similar style.  We had the windows framed out to help them look finished.

We chose the cabinets first and I fell in love with the rift oak with weathered slate finish (gray stain+glaze).  Everything was custom made for the space which meant we also helped design the layout.  We planned to remove the medicine cabinet so we added the middle cabinet to replace it.  I love the hardware too, something the cabinet guy recommended.  I also wanted real storage in the toilet closet, so we had a cabinet made to fit the space.  I also chose light fixtures to have a similar shape to the tub.  The mirrors are empty 24” x 36” cabinet doors with mirror installed into them.

Then we chose tile for the backsplash, shower, wainscoting, and floor.  I have always wanted wood floors in my bathroom, but that much water plus wood seems completely impractical.  So I chose a porcelain tile that looks like wood to replace the carpet and tile in the toilet closet.  We also had radiant heat installed—it’s just fantastic.

I was inspired by this tile pattern, but wanted something more neutral with less ‘texture’ in the tile.  I found a porcelain tile that was similar and had the tile guy make the right cuts in both 20” and 13” for the non-pattern pattern.  I also liked the slate pencil edge to finish everything off.  The wall color is Glidden Designer Grey, a nice greige (beige + gray).

Next we picked all the hardware and fixtures.  I was inspired by this bathtub and found one that had similar lines. 

We found a sink that had a similar curve, and then found brushed nickel faucets with the perfect twist detail.  We went to the granite fabricator and chose a remnant in the yard by bringing our tile, flooring, and cabinet stain with us.

We designed the shower to have a fixed head, 3 body sprays, and a hand sprayer plus inset shelves installed.   

I wanted a bench to shave my legs so we used that to also build a pedestal for the bathtub hardware to avoid the cost of putting it on an exterior wall.   We used seamless glass and the door opens both in and out for the shower.

We moved the closet wall back to make room for the larger tub and shower and removed the door to make an arched doorway.

 

We used some of the closet space for the bathroom, but made both spaces more functional.  Our contractor custom made our closet and had the oak stained to match our cabinetry.  There is more than enough room for all our things, and we aren’t short on closet space in our house so I didn’t mind losing some of the space.

     

I LOVE using our master bathroom and I am very proud of how it all came together.

Edited to answer some common questions:

Tub:  Victoria & Albert Toulouse

Granite:  It was a remnant, White Delicatus

Hardware:  Brizo Virage series in brushed nickel

Rug:  Fieldcrest bath rug from Target

Wall Tile:  Castello Bianco

Floor Tile: Serenissima Barrique Castagno

Shower Floor Tile:  White Onyx Mosaic Marble Tile (I think that’s the right one…here is the stick version from Floor & Décor where we purchased the mosaic tile)

Wall pencil edge:  Autumn Slate Pencil

Paint Color:  Glidden Designer Grey

A Napkin Will Suffice

Our beagle is close to 5 now and she is as adorable as ever.  She loves cuddling on towels, blankets, clothes, and pillows.  I guess a napkin will suffice.

Tiny Town

My friend and her two girls, Ryan and Reese, joined us for day at Tiny Town.  It’s a miniature town with houses, stores, churches, schools and even miniature people.  There is also a little train.  I remember going there when I was a little girl and I just didn’t ‘get’ it.  You just look in tiny little houses, nothing moves, and you can’t play on anything.  I think I was slightly older too, so maybe it’s only fun up to a certain age. 

The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves and they loved the train ride.  It was a fun day in the sun up in the foothills.  Plus I love spending time with my friend and her two girls.

I love that Cooper is doing exactly what the sign says not to do.  It was exhausting to tell the kids to stay off everything.

Cooper telling me to stop taking pictures and help him jump stump to stump.

Every time the train went by they stopped what they were doing and watched.

They finally installed some miniature houses for the kids to play inside.

My friend was thoughtful and brought my two a Ring Pop.  My how they loved it.  I can’t believe how big our kids are getting!

This is my favorite of the day.  This is also with no editing other than the watermark.  Yay!  (I wish I felt inspired to pick up my camera more…practicing makes a huge difference!)