Sofa Curious?

I realized today that I mentioned in Friday's post about getting a new sofa and then failed to show y'all the new one! 

Bum bum da dum!

So, we ended up going with the Ikea standard, Kivik. Specifically the love seat with attached chaise lounge.

The room is obviously not done. We have a couple wall hangings to get to and a couple of throw pillows on order. And I'm still trying to decide which child to sell in exchange for the hardwood floors I've been wanting for the past three years. Also, notice that le husband's terrible, awful, no good chair is still here. We have yet to find a suitable replacement. Well, we found a suitable replacement. But it cost $2600. Um, yeah...no. We'll keep looking.

And another view..

And the ottomans? TJ Maxx special, y'all! 

If you're wondering where the TV went, le husband mounted it on the wall by the fireplace over his three day weekend. And until he hides the wires, there shall be no photographic evidence.

Progress. We're Making Some.

Albeit slow.

But progress is progress. Even if it's made little by little each night after the kids go to bed.

Kitchens with an abundance of storage can be a blessing and a curse. A blessing for obvious reasons and a curse because there are 34 cabinet doors and 13 drawers that need prepping, sanding, spackling, more sanding, priming, painting...and so on and so forth. 

Let's remember what we started with.

Say hi to my mom! Unfortunately, she left last week to go back to sweet home Louisiana, but before she left we put her to work. Check out the miracle she worked with our staircase.

The woman spent hours meticulously caulking and painting the risers on my stairs. And it looks absurdly good. Every single time I go up those steps, I silently say a little thank you to my Lona Mae.

But back to the kitchen. This is where we're at now. And by now, I mean that I took these pictures tonight after dinner before I had time to clean up. Sorry about the mess.

We're getting there. WE'RE GETTING THERE!

....

I have a little confession about le husband. 

He's obsessed with spray painting things. 

Like this candelabra that I picked up from the Goodwill for a buck-fifty. 

Over the holidays, le husband kept mentioning this wooden owl his mom had when he was growing up. She graciously offered to send it to us. The cool thing about this owl is that it's hand carved from Oberammergau, Germany. My mother-in-law bought it back in 1971. Meaning this little cutie is 41 years old!

John hit little Miss Owl (I think it's a girl.) with a little sander/deglosser, a coat of primer..

And then two coats of some glossy white spray paint and BOOM.

She shines! And now she's a welcome little living room addition with a nice back story.

Next up? Finishing the cabinets, installing hardware, and a weekend trip to IKEA!

Lately

-I underwent my second tooth extraction of the month earlier this week and I'm happy to report that I didn't kick any dental assistants. Sobbing uncontrollably, like a toddler, is more my style.

-My kitchen is in complete overhaul mode. It's making me twitch. Wanna see what I mean?

-It's coming along. My mom painted all the trim. We've removed all the doors and hardware. We've sanded and deglossed the cabinet frames and doors. We've primed the upper and lower cabinet frames. We've got two coats of paint on the upper frames. 80% of the cabinet doors have been primed. And we started putting a first coat on the upper cabinet doors last night. 

-This means we're only about 15% of the way done. What's left? 

• Put two coats of paint on the lower frames. (The upper and lower cabinets will be two different colors.)
• Finish painting upper cabinets. (Hoping to get this done in the next 48 hours.)
• Finish sanding drawers and cabinet doors.
• Start painting lower cabinets.
• Refinish the cabinet hinges. 
• Install new cabinet hardware.
• Paint the wall near the kitchen entrance with magnetic and chalkboard paint.
• Replace sink.
• Install new countertops.
• Paint kitchen walls.
• Remove those God-awful under cabinet florescent lights.
• Purchase and install new microwave and dishwasher.
• Demo kitchen coat closet.
• Give the ceilings a fresh coat of paint.
• Install new floors.
• Install new light fixtures.

Most of this isn't in order. And I know I'm forgetting a few steps, but as you can see, we have a LONG way to go. 

-I woke up yesterday, despite just having an old root canal yanked, completely full of energy. Feeling 100% myself again. A couple times during the course of the day, I found myself completely forgetting that I was even pregnant. (Except for wanting to eat my way through every Taco Bell in the tri-county area.) That's how good I felt. 

-We need to start car van shopping. I keep putting it off, not really wanting to deal with it. And speaking of car van shopping, you can click here to read a nifty little blog entry that sums up my thinking on minivans.

-12 weeks on Friday! And I THINK we have found a couple of names for this new baby. The planner in me wants to have the names pinned down before we go for our big gender revealing ultrasound. I'm definitely not ready to share them yet, but it's forthcoming. :)