Need more advice :) (& some other updates)

SO, I don’t know if you guys saw my edit on my bedroom question, but you ALL voted for room #2. Seriously – 100% of the notes. It does make more sense – the only thing that would have put him in room #1 was my paranoia. You pointed out some things to consider, like – having to decorate TWO rooms and deal with Luke’s stress over the transition while I’m pregnant. Doesn’t sound very fun. Plus, that room is the closest to the fire pit & pool in the back yard (where I envision us spending many summer nights) so we can keep tabs on him easily just by opening his window. It’s the best way to do it. So, thank you for you input!!

While we’re at it, I need some more advice! This time it’s decorating.

I mentioned before that the tan living room suggestion seemed like the most reasonable. It will compliment our maroon recliner and still be neutral enough to change over the years without having to change the paint (unless we want to). I found another picture and discovered that there is a clean division between the living room & dining room (despite them being completely open to each other), so if I WANT to do it another color, I can….it doesn’t HAVE to be tan.

Here’s where I get confused. The kitchen. You’ve all seen it. It blows. We ARE going to re-do it – it ‘s just a question of when we will have the money. So for now, we just need to make it as US and as functional as we can get it on our budget. This means tearing down the wall paper and getting a temporary island. What I can’t decide on, is the temporary wall color.

1.Should I do it something light and neutral (yet boring and NOT ME) so its easy to paint when we re-do it no matter what color we pick at that time?

2. Should I paint it a rich brown like my Charlotte kitchen and use my coffee decor since I already have it and love it but fear it may a) not be right for the room and b) be difficult to paint over when we re-do it?

3. Do I try to pick the color I want in the future when we re-do it, so when the time comes the only painting to do is touch ups even though the colors I want to chose from don’t work for the room as it is right now?

4.Should I come up with a totally different theme that I can live with in the kitchen as it is now, do all that work, only to re-do it a year or two down the road?

I don’t know!

One theme I came up with in talking to lovah yesterday, was the possibility of doing the kitchen in a very similar style as "the awesome kitchen" (and I assume you all know what I mean by that at this point lol). When we re-do it, we’re going with white cabinets/cupboards and black appliances. You all know me with my black & white decorating – I want to pair it with a pretty jewel tone! That of course will be the wall color, and if we stick with "the awesome kitchen" ‘s theme, it will be a tiffany blue to a light turquoise (similar to the color in my side bar…maybe not quite as rich). That color WILL NOT work in the kitchen the way it is right now, so it would look totally weird in there. I thought about doing the more public bathroom (the one that guests will use) in this theme instead, so I could get to play with it even though I can’t do it in my kitchen (and may go with another color when the time comes). But then, what if I decided it IS what I want to use in the kitchen, and then my bathroom is identical? Not to mention, it’s the bathroom right off the kitchen. 

Then there’s the question of….does the blue stop at the kitchen, or extend into the dining room? If it extends into the dining room, then it will be next to my tan/maroon/brown living room and that would look, stupid. So then I’d move the tan into the dining room instead, but I’m not sure how it would look that close to that bright blue. GAH!

So many decisions. I’ll have more pictures after tomorrow, but any advice along the way is MUCH appreciated.

In non-house related things….

I originally thought about jumping right on the packing wagon, but since closing is going to take longer than we expected I think I’m going to hold off on that til April or so (I don’t want to be living out of boxes for TOO long). In an effort to distract myself from the house stuff, I shifted gears to work on Mal’s shower. I addressed all the envelopes for the invites yesterday. Now I just have to stuff them, stamp them, and mail them and that part is done. Next I have to plan the food & decor….and favors. The games & prizes are already planned – just need to hammer out the details for those. 

I am not Irish (or maybe I am, somewhere distantly, because I am in fact covered in freckles), but I’m getting sucked into St. Patrick’s Day today. I never celebrate it. I don’t even get it. Something about, snakes being driven out of Ireland and green beer? Apparently other members of our family DO care, because Luke ended up with multiple shirts that I have to photograph him in for their sakes (one of them is a "my 1st St. Patricks Day" shirt that he JUST got for his birthday, even though this is in fact his SECOND St. Patrick’s Day). I also got signed up to make corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot without prior knowledge. I had no idea what I was doing. But….I did it, and it’s in the crock pot, and I have no idea what it will taste like. I assume both Matt & Tim will come home with beer, though I doubt it will be green considering Matt is anti-that, saying it does nothing but turn your mouth & pee green. That’s really the extent of the celebrations, but it’s still about 200% more than I’ve ever done before. 

(Though in this house I WILL decorate for it because HELLO. Decorating!)

Speaking of. I really want to be the houseplant type. I mean okay – not really. I think if you have too many it gets a little annoying.  But a few? That would be totally nice. I have tried the house plant thing a few times – but it doesn’t work. Why? Because…..my cat eats them. He tips them over, digs out all the dirt (yes, all of it) and then eats the leaves. They all end up destroyed. I have ONE plant that is still alive – it’s a spider plant, gifted to me by BFF, born from one of HER plants. I never brought it to Charlotte because I was too afraid of it getting hurt on the journey, so it stayed at my moms. I visited it every time I came home, and now it’s almost time to bring it with me. The other day, while thinking about that, I wondered why that particular plant has survived. Oh yes. It’s hanging in a basket high above the kitchen sink. Where my cat can’t get it. So I have to come up with a similar situation for it….and I’d really like to do the same for a couple others. Nothing crazy. I just like the idea of them improving the air quality in the house.

Time for laundry.