Easter Weekend?

This past weekend was supposedly Easter weekend, but I'm not buying it-it didn't seem Eastery at all.

Friday we started our weekend off by continuing to work on some much needed home renovations-mainly right now involving MORE painting and lots of it. The dining room and hallway have been our primary focus as they are some of the major rooms that still had their original hodge podge of a paint job that was driving me batty. Once they are both completed I will take pictures to show. The dining room has been painted the color in the pictures shown and then on the bottom a deep chocolate brown. It will look really fab with the white chair rail and crown molding I think...I purchased a new curtain rod from World Market, but have yet to find the perfect drapery which I envision for the space. The colors in the room were really inspired by my lovely orchid Howard got me for Valentine's day. It's still alive! (This is an accomplishment for me.)

Pictured below is a section of the dining room that I took to see the before and after. Howard is currently painting the crown molding at the top white and then will paint the other color to meet up with it at the top. He has made some headway since this picture was taken and it's amazing to see how much better a room looks when white paint is applied. LOVE IT. (Also, all of the trim has been taken off around the doors/floor/windows, which is why everything looks rather rough in this photo.)

Here is the hallway entrance with this interesting sauna-esque ceiling which is also getting a fresh coat of white paint as you can see is in progress. It will take several coats of paint, but it is well on its way too-to looking like a wonderful new space. The trim is also off in here and is being painted white to update it all. We are also removing the flooring which is currently a parkay (sp?) and is really too 80's for my liking. I have already picked out a rustic tile that I loved from the first time I saw it! There is a new front door in the works too, one with an antique glass look, however, it's on the back burner at the moment due to it being in the upward of the thousands...what can I say, I do have expensive taste!

And here are our cute little fans, who watch us while we work from their comfy bed. They have been really good this past weekend and Oliver is making great strides in his potty training. No accidents yesterday and none yet today (fingers crossed)...he's a very smart boy!

And lastly, we went to Howard's parents yesterday to celebrate Easter. Here is a picture of the little ones singing songs! Happy late Easter and perhaps next year will feel more like the actual holiday with some warmer weather and a date that is in APRIL.