We've Come A Long Way!

The rest of our furniture came in while I was in Colorado last week. I came home to dinning room chairs, kitchen stools, a new washer and dryer, and our murphy bed installed in Tom's office. Everything has finally come together! As I was flipping through photos today I realized just how far our home has come in the last few months.

It seems like only yesterday I was standing in a disaster zone taking these pictures. I was tired from a long drive, amazed by the home that Tom had picked for us, overwhelmed by the idea of designing the space for us to live in, and excited about my future in a new city. The movers had just dropped all of our belongings in a huge pile in the main living area. I remember wondering how this mess was ever going to get put away.

It has been a long process but, little by little, things have come together. Don't get me wrong, there are still little pockets of that original mess stuffed into corners (mostly in my office!) However, for the most part we are living in a finished space.

The spot where all of our stuff was originally dropped is the great room. It includes the back entryway, the living room, and dinning room. The kitchen also opens up to this space. Three months later, after lots of hard work and new furniture, it looks like this...

Master Bathroom

This color was the first one I picked and the last one I painted. Meaning... yes, I'm all finished painting! (Still behind on posting pictures though.)

I picked the light green/blue color for the walls because I loved the way it looked with our orange accessories. This bathroom does not have any natural light so I also wanted a color that would brighten it up.

A few weeks ago Tom went to Miami for a dairy conference. FYI - the dairy conference is always held somewhere warm and after living the midwest for a winter you realize why. So, anyway, while Tom was enjoying the warmth I was stuck here with the dogs and the cold weather. As a consolation prize he brought be back a little piece of the ocean, complete with an orange starfish that goes with our orange towels. Look at him go! They are the perfect accent for the bathroom.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

The Heart of Our Home

Our kitchen was originally painted a warm buttery yellow color which I really liked. However, the paint was beat up in places so it had to be redone. They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home and I couldn't agree more. It's a place where I spend a lot of my time and I wanted it to be perfect.

I have never debated so much about what color to paint a room. Although the granite looks black in these pictures it is actually a very dark green with teal and gold accents. After lots of time and staring at samples we finally picked a teal blue color.

When the teal blue color went on the wall the teal was clearly missing and all we had was blue. It was dark and dreary. I hated it. It literally made me want to be anywhere but the kitchen. I'm not sure if we picked the wrong shade or if they mixed the color wrong at the store... but it was ALL wrong.

After more debating, and painting a bunch of sample colors on the wall, we went with a light and bright green. Problem solved. I love the color; it's very light and inviting. I like being in the kitchen again... so no more eating out for us. Well, okay, less eating out for us.

Bedroom Bliss

It's Valentine's Day and I happen to be to the bedroom... coincidence? I think not. I really think that the master bedroom should feel like a retreat. I love the way ours turned out. It's beautiful and cozy.

The bedroom, and master bathroom which hasn't been painted yet, are Moab inspired. It was Tom's idea and I had found a bedspread a while ago that I loved that was "Moab" colored. Eventually, we will have some of the photographs that we've taken there on the walls.

Before After

We upgraded from a queen bed to a king. It pretty much fills the room but we love it. No more fighting the dogs for space while we sleep! There is plenty of room of all of us.

Happy Valentine's Day! Love to all :)

Hair and Chicago Climate

Since I arrived in Chicago my hair has been crazy frizzy and isn't curling like it use to. As a result I've been straightening it a lot. Which, as time goes by, seems to be adding to my unruly mane. Today I had enough. I researched a salon that I walk by and found out they had a stylist that specialized in Ouidad cuts. I decided to give it a shot.

Since I'm getting so good at before and after shots here are a few of my hair :)

This Morning - Before:

This Afternoon - After:

It looks like she took two or three inches off the length but she just trimmed it. The cut and style made it spring to back life.

I highly recommend Fox Hair if you are looking for a salon on the North Side, especially if you have curly locks. Everyone there was great. Jenny is the one that specializes in the Ouidad cut and she was fantastic!

Pumpkin Bellini Room

Today, my focus is the family room. Which in the before pictures is still the color of.... well... let's just call it Pumpkin Bellini (a drink at snooze that is also this exact color.) When we first moved in I said that this room HAD to be the first one I painted... turns out it wasn't. Others rooms came first for different reasons.

The color actually began to grow on me. I can see why the previous owners picked it. It goes very nicely with the wood floors and adds a very rich feel to the room. However, it did not go well with our furniture and was the color of... well... you know. Here's what we did...

BEFORE PICTURES

This room was so much work to paint. One of the great things about this place is all the different angles. It's not as great for painting though... especially awful for taping.

AFTER PICTURES

I think it's safe to say that this is our dogs favorite room in the house.

It is hard to get a picture of the room without them in it.

This is also one of my favorite rooms. It has a great view of the Chicago Skyline and is the perfect place to relax with a yummy hot beverage and curl up with a good book.

Painting Update

Like I keep saying I have been busy painting. However, I have not had a chance to post before and after pictures. I have family members asking for these so I am going to post a room a day for the next few days to get caught up.

First, is the hallway. I guess it could be debated whether or not this is really a room. It is, however, a very important part of our home. From this hallway you can access our front door, both of our offices, the extra bathroom, and the family room.

Tom and I really liked the original green color. However, the walls were pretty dinged up and it needed to be repainted. The color we choose will be used in three different areas of the condo. Our home is very long and narrow so the idea is to unify it some with the same color being used in different places.

Before After

See that messy room at the end of the hall? That will be tomorrows topic...

Storm Update

Turns out this week's storm was the third largest to hit Chicago in recorded history. The snow fell for a total of 22 hours. O'Hare recored 20.2" and Midway recored 20.9".

Today was nice and sunny. The bummer about that is with the sun comes the cold; we had a high of 14 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder. It seems like in Colorado when the sun comes out the snow starts to melt no matter what the temp is. Not here. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this snow to melt. May, perhaps?

The side streets are busy with people attempting to dig their cars out. Sidewalks are single file paths the width of a snow shovel. It's making it a challenge to walk the dogs, especially with Calvin's "issues."

Chicago Blizzard of 2011

Like most of the country we have been experiencing extreme weather. For those of you in Denver this is not normal for Chicago. In fact, there have only been 5 storms with snow accumulation over 16" in 126 years of weather records. There have been reports of up to 22" of snow in some of the suburbs. It sounds like we probably got around 16" here last night. I have no clue how they were be able to measure it considering wind gusts reached 70 mph. Here's a video of what it looked like. The video doesn't really do it justice.

When we woke up this morning the snow had stopped and the wind had died down. Chloe loves the snow... I think she is part rabbit.

It started coming down again right as we headed back inside and it's been going strong ever since. It's accumulating on the rooftops since the wind is not blowing as hard today.

(We probably have got about another 2-3" since this photo was taken.)

I'll keep you posted on the final snow tallies. Tom's working from home today so we are both safe and sound :)