The Nursery

For the past several months, Cowboy H and I have been undertaking a major home improvement project. Okay, who am I kidding, Cowboy H has been doing all the work, since a) I am more trouble than help when I paint, and b) I was pretty pregnant for most of the time. For the most part, we are simply replacing all the flooring and painting all the walls in the entire house. However, there was one extra special room.

WE GOT TO MAKE A NURSERY!!!

Hee hee. Although I haven't taken many pictures of the entire project, I will eventually show you the new and improved Homestead. But for now, my new favorite room in the house…

The idea for the nursery was inspired by this shelf:

which was given to us by the ever generous Desert Rose, as well as a certain red vintage cowboy fabric crib set owned by the same lady. (Hint, hint.)

The combination of the two led me to the idea of a vintage desert cowboy "theme". I wanted muted, calming colors that reminded me of the desert.

We purchased the crib and dresser/changing table set used from one of the veterinarians I work with. The quality of the furniture is amazing; its already been through three kids and hardly has a scratch on it. The rocking chair was used by my mom when my brother and I were babies; my dad and brother refinished/painted it for me. The border was hand painted by me, using stencils that I made after wasting too many hours searching online for just the right stencils to match the image in my head. The wall artwork are Will James (of Smokey the Cow Horse fame) pencil sketch reproductions. The crib set was made for me by an extremely talented aunt after I was unable to sequester the above mentioned set. This crazy (in a good way) aunt of mine made everything: sheets, crib skirt, bumper pad, quilt changing pad covers, towels, washcloths, pillows, window valence using fabric I purchased online.

Bumper pad


Crib pillow


Window valence

And yes, those were baby chinks you saw:

Don't worry, he already has the Wranglers to go with them.

Redneck Woman

Although, I suppose the fact that I am vacuuming disqualifies me from the redneck category.

What do you think?

Or better yet, what would you title this photo?

Most creative (i.e. the one that makes ME laugh the hardest) gets an original black and white 8x10!

Again.

At approximately 8:03 this morning, this is what my driveway looked like:

I promise I'll connect the dots soon!

Oh My.

This is what my front yard looked like at approximately 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon:

And this is what my backyard looked like at approximately 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon:

All I can say is, no tornadoes were involved in the making of this post.

We Put Something On The Walls!

Oddly enough, the Sunday before this appeared on A Cowgirl's Grace, I took the following pictures of some things I had finally gotten up on our walls. As you know, we've lived in the house for over a year now, and the only thing that had made its way onto a wall was a calender. Sad, sad.

New Year's Day my parents were visiting The Homestead, and while my mom and I shopped, Cowboy H and my dad hung these items on the walls.

So, let's take a peek inside the door!

When you open the front door and walk directly in, straight in front of you is the living room and fireplace. This painting now hangs directly above the fireplace.

Please ignore the white balance in all of these photos; The Homestead is extremely difficult to take pictures inside of.

I know its a little small for the space, but don't worry, I will have more on that at a later date.

One of my aunts and uncles gave us this as a wedding gift. It is just perfect for us. I love it.

If you walk into the living room and turn to your right, you will see our big picture window. If you continue turning to your right, you will see this hanging on the wall behind the couch.

My friend Cassie (you have met her in the wedding posts) painted this in college. It was one of her class projects. She is majorly talented.

It's an abstract, but can you tell what it is?

From here, if you look to the right of the front doors, you will see this (pencil/watercolor?) artwork.

No, the matting is not two different colors; there was a shadow from the wall behind me.

My grandma gave us this over Christmas-time. It was the very first piece of artwork she got as a married lady. My great-grandfather (her father-in-law) knew the artist.

Unfortunately, my grandma couldn't remember the artist's name, and there is paper covering the signature on the back, so we will never know...

From here, if you turn back to your left, so the front doors are on your right, you'll see this beauty.

Ahhh, camera distortion!!

Every cowboy's house should have one of these.

Don't ever sell your saddle.
Honest to goodness, there is not a sum in this world that would get Cowboy H to part with his saddle.

This was another Cowboy Christmas purchase. The writing is burned into hair-on cowhide. I love the big copper studs in the corners.

'Round the bend from here, in the kitchen/dining area is another painting from Cassie.

Cassie painted this when she was twelve.

Yes, twelve. It is an oil-painting. Crazy kid.

Behind your back from this standing point, is our kitchen. We have this chalkboard hanging there.

This was purchased in Idyllwild, one of our favorite little places to visit. We have important phone numbers for house sitters listed on the bottom half, so no peeking!

Thanks for joining me on an arts touring through The Homestead!

On The Home Improvement Front

Home improvement is starting up again at The Homestead. We've been in the house for almost a year now, and so far we have remodeled a bathroom, fixed up the front yard, put in new windows and had shutters installed.

The next project was supposed to be the garage and painting the interior of the house during Christmas break. In the garage, we're going to rebuild the shelving (which you can see in the above photo), put an industrial sink in near the washer/dryer and possibly put peg-board on all the walls. A month or so ago, I decided that I wanted to paint inside the house because right now none of our walls are the same color white. Cowboy H suggested adding some colored accent walls in as well.

Well, of course, as always, plans are a-changin'. Instead of the garage we are going to give our bathroom a minor make-over. Apparently we have mold growing in our shower. I would have never noticed this because I am blind when I shower (no glasses/contacts) but once Cowboy H pointed it out to me, it was quite obvious. So, a new shower liner is now in order and we might as well replace the cracked and separating linoleum while we're at it.

Secondly, the painting project is being replaced with the Fixing Up The Backyard To Accommodate The Dogs project. Right now the dog kennel is smack in the middle of the lawn. We would like to move it into a corner, up against the brick wall, but have to move some plants and level the ground first. So now y'all know what I'll be doing on my 12 day break off work.

Lastly, Cowboy H has started on the exterior trim for the new windows! The windows that face out front have thick dark brown trim around them. Cowboy H is going to add trim to all the backyard windows and the two windows by the front entry to match the existing trim.

We're going to make this:

look like this:

Lastly, I have an update on the doggies for you guys. Thanks for sharing your trouble-pups also! I know for a fact if we had more time for these guys they wouldn't be so bad, but hey, we have to work!

So, they actually seem to like their little kennel. For one, they don't see it as punishment, which is good. Secondly, they get treats (stuffed Kong toys) every time they get put in it. So far, there has been no whining, howling or barking AT ALL. While the first night they dug a little at the gate, they haven't done any more digging. They are still tearing up their bed, but thats ok. Beds can be easily and fairly cheaply replaced; sprinkler heads and wiring cannot. As much as we didn't want to do this, it seems to be working out for the better. Another plus about having a dog run, is that when we have non-doggy people (some of Cowboy H's co-workers) over for dinner and such, we have a place to put the pups where they can't bother the guests, but aren't locked in the crates or a bedroom.

Don't forget, Mama H's Big Quiz #2 starts tomorrow morning!!! Be there or be square!!!

Transformation

I'm not even going to show you the before pictures, because they're just embarrassing. Let me explain. Almost two years ago, we purchased a sofa/loveseat set used from another girl for $150. She had a cat, and well, we had two. And those two turned into four for a short while. In short, the couches were scratching posts.

Also, I didn't take any before pictures! Convenient, right?

So, we bought new couches!

Please, with every bit of imagination you have, pretend there are no blankets on the seat cushions. Envision the soft, suple, beautiful dark brown leather. And say hello to my lovely Olivia; she's one of the reasons for the covers.

The sofa. I never noticed how sunken our old couches were until I sat on the new one and nearly bounced back up, it was so supportive! We sit here nightly to eat dinner and watch movies since we also bought these:

Yes, t.v. trays! Which meant we were able to get rid of the hideous and increasingly dangerous glass coffee table we had inherited from friends. Instead, we moved a large rolling ottoman gifted to us from Cowboy H's old boss into the middle of the room. Here is a small detail:

The Complete Transformation:

And the details, because I am detail obessed:

Couch pillows. I have been wanting couch pillows for soooooo long and these were included!

The Man Chair

This is one of the pieces of furniture that we brought home from Palm Springs with us. Oh man oh man is it ever a chair. A man's chair. The Man Chair.



This is definitely Cowboy H's chair. Every evening when he gets home from work, he plops down in it to kick up his feet for a short while. If he's home, no one else sits in The Man Chair.

Except for Hank. He's pretty sure he's a man too after all.




And he's pretty sure we brought this chair home especially for him.

New Shades, Baby

Much (all) credit has to be given to Cowboy H for the following home improvement. He picked them out all by himself, down to the color. And, I love them.

Of course, we must also acknowledge the fact that he picked the MOST EXPENSIVE type of window coverings you can get. And I had nothing do with it. And, I love it.

These, these babies, they just, they, oh shucks, just check them out: