It's been a while since I have posted anything on this blog. That is because sometime last year Justin created me a new blog. So starting today I will no long be posting anything on this blog but will be posting here Justinandsally.com. So if you have been following me on this blog please start following me at justinandsally.com,

Coming Soon

I know I have been MIA this month but that is because Justin and I have been working on creating a new blog. Well Justin has been creating it and I have been giving my opinion and trying to be patient while he finishes it. Because a new blog is coming I haven't wanted to post anything on this one. But don't worry!!! The new Justin and Sally blog is just about ready. Once it is up a running I will blog about it and send out the new link. So until then.... happy blogging!!

Brass free - Part 2

One of our resolutions this year is to replace all of brass that is currently in our home. We started by changing out our door knobs. Read about that here.

Since we are working on redecorating our bedroom, we knew we would be replacing the old ceiling fan with some new, thus getting rid of more brass.

While on one of our recent trips to Lowe's I dragged Justin to the lighting department to look at what they had. I had no intentions of really finding anything - I just wanted to see what they had to offer. I personally thought that we would have to look online for something, but I was surprised to find a nice looking ceiling fan that I liked and Justin loved the price too. We didn't purchase it at the time but we both agreed when we were ready to make the purchase this would be the one we took home. 

The other weekend I took a short weekend trip to my parents with my brother and sister-in-law. Justin was planning on coming up Friday after work but thought he should stay home and get some much needed things done around the house. We missed him at my parents but I think I might go out of town more often...Justin did so much stuff around the house in only two days! One of those was surprising me with the new ceiling fan. When I came home (to a very clean house), I walked into our room and noticed that the room was so bright. Our old light only had one bulb but this new one has four. It makes such a big difference in the room. 

I was so excited that Justin had not only replaced the old ceiling fan but in so doing also taken one more step towards updating our bedroom. I have a great husband! 

I am so grateful that Justin worked so hard to get the light up before I got home. If you have every put up a light or a ceiling fan you know just how hard that can be but to do alone  He is just so great!!

Peeping Tom's

Before you starting thinking that we actually had someone peeping into our windows, let me go ahead and set your mind at ease: we have not had anyone peeping into our windows. But if someone wanted to, it would have been really easy since we have not have any window covering on our front two kitchen windows since some time last year.

When we started updating our kitchen over a year ago we never thought it would have taken so long to complete. To see our kitchen updates from start to finish click here, here, here, here and here. Once the work was all completed (well...we would love to get new flooring, counter tops, and back splash...the list never really ends), we took down the old flimsy binds with the plan on putting new blinds and some curtains up to add more color to the kitchen. After spending hours looking at Pinterest and other online decorating idea books, I decided to skip blinds and go with Roman shades.

With the decision made I went on the search for some fabric. Since I am not a big fan of buying fabric online I thought I would be limited to the few fabric stores we have around here and got a little frustrated. I had head about this great fabric store in Brookhaven, so one Saturday Justin and I made the trip and found some great fabric. The sad part about all of this is how long the fabric sat in our closet waiting for us to make the shades. Our newly painted and partly decorated kitchen sat like this for almost 7 months.

I knew I was going to have to get someone else to make the shades for me since I don't know to use a sewing machine, but it took much longer than I thought. After looking around for someone to make the shades I was disappointed to learn that professionals charge almost $500 for two shades. I know that some of you are thinking, "I didn't pay that much for mine!" Don't worry Justin would never allow us to spend that much money either. Crossing professional made curtains off the list was easy, but now I was back to square one. I was talking to some friends one night and told them my struggles. One friend said she would be happy to help me with the curtains. This friend just happened to be an excellent seamstress and very crafty. Check our her blog Designing Emily!

After getting her all the materials she started working on the shades. At first we were working on them together. Really, she would work and I would take pictures. We soon realized that she could finish them up a lot faster if she didn't have to wait on our schedules to line up. Within a few weeks she had the shades finished. They look great and really complete the breakfast table area. They really did turn out just like I imagined. I am very happy with them!

Now Justin and I don't have to worry about people looking into our kitchen window anymore. I love that we are now able to close the curtains at night. I know this is silly, but I feel much safer at night knowing that people walking or driving by can't see into our house.

Symmetry in the Bedroom

When we decided it was time to redo our room I was over the moon with excitement. I took out my notebook of home/life inspiration and started showing Justin everything I liked. I think I might have overwhelmed him just a little. I also went a little over the top by researching everything I wanted for the room. Almost everyday I would show Justin something I thought would look good in our room. He was nice enough to appease me and say that he liked whatever it was that I was showing him or he would in the nicest way possible say that he really didn't like it. I think he is over it now because when I show him something he just says "I am not sure, let's just wait a little longer."

I thought we should pick everything we wanted for the room, save, and get it one piece of furniture at a time. It made sense to me, but Justin thinks differently. He felt and still does feel that we should get one thing at a time and see what it looks like in our room and then move on to something else. I have come to agree with him but not after a lot persuading on Justin's part.

Now on to the symmetry of the our room. When it came time to make our next purchased Justin and I both agreed the next thing we should get was nightstands. Our old ones just weren't cutting it anymore. You can't really see our nightstand in the picture but you can see that they are two different sizes and shapes.

When we first started talking about the nightstands we decided that we didn't want our dressers and nightstands to match. It would have been easier to just get a whole new bedroom suite, but we wanted to mix things up. So I started my search. I came across many nightstands that I liked but none that I loved. Then one day I found these. Justin approved and we ordered! It was just that easy!!

I never told Justin, but I was a little nervous about the color. It is always a gamble when you order something online. However all that changed when I saw this at my door.

I quickly tore open the boxes and left this mess for Justin to clean up. I was so excited to get the old nightstands out of the room and get our new ones in place.

The color is perfect and they look great in our room. My old nightstand had a really small drawer and Justin's had two big drawer. This drawer is deep and is great for storing books, chapstick, a book light, notebooks, and pens. I love the shelf for my puzzles. I know I'm a dork who likes to do puzzles before going to sleep.

Finally, a full shot of the symmetry in our room (which has been five years in the making!). I love how the nightstands look in the room. I can't wait to keep going with the room.

Cutest Nephew Ever!

A few weeks ago Justin and I made the trip to Rayville to visiting John Hayden. I know I am a litte obsessed but I am not going to apologize for it.

This was the first time we have seen John Hayden since at the hospital when he was born. When he was born I couldn't really tell if he looked more like Abe or Lindsay, but now I definitely see some of Abe in his face.

John Hayden loves reading!

I just want everyone to know that this was my mom's idea. She got this handprint kit for JH. It has three tins for you to make handprints of your baby during their first year of life. JH did a great job and Lindsay was able to get a good handprint.

Making faces at the camera.

John Hayden is growing so fast. Be watching for another post about John Hayden's first trip to Aunt Sally and Uncle Justin's!!