someone has curly hair like his momma

The other day I discovered Will has curly hair and I have to admit I am little excited! Someone had asked me recently if his hair was curly or not and I did not really know the answer since I always brush it after bath time. The other day I decided to let it air dry and not brush it to see what would happen and here is the proof of the curls!

I asked my mom to bring a picture of me at the age because I had the exact same curly mohawk at three months. I will try and remember to post some pictures next week when she visits. I am still hoping Will's hair will lighten as he gets older just like his daddy's did but I guess we will have to wait and find out. Below are a few more pictures of his crazy hair. At least his momma has curly hair and can help him pick out the right hair products and shampoo when he is older!

wall stencil

I had a baby shower for a friend the other day (pictures to come soon) and some of the girls were asking about my dining room wall stencil so I thought this would be a good time to do a recap of the details for those who are interested.

When Dave and I first moved in a year ago we painted the living and dining room walls contemplation by Behr. It is similar to silver sage available at Restoration Hardware but I think contemplation has more blue in it which I love. The living and dining room are basically one large room divided only by a header so I wanted to add something to make the dining room seem different without overwhelming the small space.

Dining Room Fall 2010

I had purchased a stencil last April from royaldesignstudio.com to use in the powder room but the idea of having to stencil around a toilet and sink seemed overwhelming and not fun. I decided to try it in the dining room instead and I love how it turned out. I think this achieves a similar look of wallpaper but was a lot cheaper and I can just paint over it if I get tired of it. The stencil is called fabric damask and the stencil color that I used is lime light which is a shade lighter then contemplation. I started at the very bottom of the wall and just eyed where to place each stencil. I found this easier then having to map it all out first and to be honest I am not sure I have the patience to do that :) I also used a foam roller which worked great and was a lot quicker then using a brush. The only complaint/struggle that I had was paint seemed to build up on the stencil. Thankfully that happened on the wall which is mostly covered by the mirror and buffet. This might not have been an issue if I had done it all the same day but with a newborn I had to wait and work on the stencil when Dave was home to help watch the baby so this project took a few days to complete. Sorry these pictures are a little dark but it has been raining a lot here in Virginia.

Close up of the Damask pattern

There are a lot of amazing new stencils available at Royal Design Stencils (dying to use silk road suzani) that I wish that I could use them all over my house but I have to admit I am not sure if I have the patience and time to ever do this again given the amount of work that went into it. It is also definitely not perfect which I can live with but this might bother some people.  I do love the overall effect though and I think it makes a huge impact! Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

living room wall makeover

The first apartment my husband and I lived in had a fireplace with a tile surround but no mantel. Growing up in an older home with ornate fireplaces this seemed really strange to me. I started to look for mantels while shopping at antique and junk stores and found a beautiful LARGE mantel that had been removed from a historic home that had been destroyed by a fire. The mantel was a steal due to some discoloring caused by the smoke but other than that it was in perfect condition. I knew the smoke damage would not be an issue since I wanted to paint it white. I was able to use it in our first home and am so excited that I was able to get it out of storage to use it again in our current home three years later.

 a view of the living room taken on moving day May 2010

 mantel all dressed up for Christmas along the above small wall

We do not have a fireplace in our townhouse that the mantel could cover so I decided to lean it against the wall and use it more as decoration. When we moved in a year ago I had planned on putting a mirror in the opening and a piece of artwork above the mantel (inspiration from Eddie Ross's blog). However, now that I have a little one I am already starting to think of him crawling and playing and being a boy which makes me nervous to have glass right at his height. Maybe I am being a little overly cautious and considering Will is only 3 months I probably don't have to worry about it breaking for awhile but all I can picture is the glass coffee table that my brother and I broke when we were little and the glass that went everywhere. I would really like to avoid that if I could. Now I am thinking of painting the opening with chalkboard paint because I think he will put that to better use then a mirror :)

mantel as of last month

I love the mirror above the fireplace which is another antique store find that was gold and got a fresh coat of white spray paint (you can see it gold in the above Christmas picture).  I had originally intended to put some sort of cabinet for storage on this wall but since our living room is on the smaller side the chair in the above pictures would have blocked the cabinet. I love how the mantel adds interest and I can still walk behind the chair! Of course I still need to anchor the mantel to the wall before Will starts to pull on things so maybe this would be a good project for the month of April. Dave are you reading this :)

my favorite picture

I just found this on my computer and had to share. This was taken minutes after Will was born and Dave was able to hold his son for the first time. This will forever be one of my favorite photos :)

And just in case you wanted to see one more picture of Will here is one we took on his two month birthday. Yes we are one of those parents who have to capture every moment. After all he is our first :)

A Bridal Shower

About a month ago I gave my dear sweet friend Katrina a bridal shower.

She is such a special friend to me and I could not wait to celebrate her upcoming wedding (which just happened this past weekend! yay for the new Mrs. Young!). A few of her wedding colors were pink and teal so I decided to focus on those two colors for the shower.

One of the items that she really wanted to use as table decorations at her wedding were mason jars so all of her family and friends started collecting. My husband's family has gone to Deep Creek Lake the past few summers and my mother - in- law is an expert antique shopper and has scouted out the best places to shop. I was able to get a handful of jars for her much cheaper then I would have been able to get in Northern Virginia. They did not have lids so I am sure this is why they were cheaper but since she put flower arrangements in them lids were not a necessity.

I love flowers and knew that I would use them everywhere that I could. Thankfully I live close to a Wegmans and I think they have a great flower selection for a reasonable price. Flowers really make all the difference in my opinion.

Below is a picture of the mantel all dressed up for the party. I found the lace wedding bell garland at the dollar store of all places. I placed it behind a home-made banner that I made out of card stock and twine. I got the mantel 4 years ago at a junk store in Norfolk, Virginia while visiting my parents.

I was so excited to use my collection of glassware and cream china that I have collected over the years. The table runner was from a good friend's wedding. I love the this Waverly fabric pattern and have a bunch in stock if anyone wants something made from it!

A friend of mine made the oreo truffles you can see below on the dessert bar and I am dying to get her recipe. I will try and remember to post it once I get it from her because everyone needs to try them!

The cupcake flags were so fun to make. I had gotten this love stamp at Michaels in the dollar rack. I simply stamped it on label paper and then cut it out and folded it over a toothpick to stick in the cupcake.

 

GO DUKES!

The below cups were made again with a stamp and label paper. An easy and inexpensive way to dress up dollar store cups! Aqua napkins are from Ikea.

 

So thankful for my friendship with Katrina. We lived together right after college before I got married and I loved being able to share that year with her. She is the most selfless person I know and I am so blessed to be able to call her my best friend.  I hope everyone has a Katrina in their life :)

will's first picture

Here is one of the first pictures taken of Will the day he was born.

We were so blessed to have family in town that week including a family friend who took some amazing pictures of Will. She is so talented. I cannot wait to go to Nashville in a few weeks and hopefully have another photo shoot now that he is 3 months although at the rate I am going you won't see those until this summer :)

Pictures of our townhouse coming soon so stay tuned!

it has been awhile

I guess I am not to good at blogging. one post in 8 months is not a very good record but I am hoping to do better now that Will is on a schedule. I will be posting some pictures of him soon (3 months yesterday) as well as some updates to the townhouse that we have done now that I am not pregnant anymore (yay!) and can paint. please stay tuned!