We celebrated one year!

Monday was a momentous occasion for us----we celebrated our first wedding anniversary!  We've been through a lot in the last year.  But no matter what life gave us, we took each challenge as an opportunity to grow together in love and as a couple.  We celebrated the day by enjoying a fancy dinner at The Capital Grille in the 'Burgh and then went home to enjoy the top tier of our wedding cake.


For those of you that don't know, my sister and I made my wedding cake.  It was a hybrid of real and fake tiers with sheet cakes being served from the kitchen.  Our top tier was a decorated cake dummy.  In order for us to do the traditional wedding cake sampling on our anniversary, I had to make a replica of our cake as a substitute for the fake one.


Here's how it turned out:

Courtesy of my iPhone---sorry for the poor lighting.

And, for comparison sake,  a shot of the original:

At the request of my Mr., the anniversary cake was fondant-covered carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and filling.  It was yummy!   I tweaked the recipe I've used in the past and swapped out some of the fresh grated carrots for a few jars of carrot baby food.  This intensified the flavor and made it very moist.   I was really impressed with how it tasted.


I know some couples enjoy eating their frozen tier, but fresh-baked cake is better than frozen any day.   Ours was delicious!


Here is the recipe, in case any of you are interested:


CAKE:

•   2 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour
•   2 tsp. baking soda
•   1/2 tsp.  ground cinnamon
•   1/8 tsp.  ground allspice
•   1/2 ts salt
•   2 cups  sugar
•   1 cup  vegetable oil
•   2 lg eggs; at room temperature
•   2 tsp. vanilla extract
•   3 cups grated carrots (swapped with four 4-ounce jars carrot baby food)
•   One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple; well drained
•   3/4 cups  chopped walnuts (I omit these because I don't like them)
•   1/2 cup raisins

FROSTING:     

•  8 ounces cream cheese; at room temperature
•  4 tbsp. (1/2 stick)  butter; at room temperature
•  1 tbsp. half-and-half or milk
•  1/2 tsp. almond extract
•  1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
•  4 cups  confectioners' sugar   (1 pound)

Directions

To make the cake: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, tapping out the excess flour. Sift the flour,baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt together and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at high speed, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined, about 1 minute. Mix in the carrot baby food. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and mix until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the pineapple, chopped walnuts, and raisins. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.


Bake until the top springs back when pressed lightly in the center, about 1 hour. Cool completely in the pan on a wire cake rack.

To make the frosting: 


In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, half-and-half, and almond and vanilla extracts until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar.

Spread the frosting over the top of the cake. Cut into 15 pieces. If desired, garnish each piece of cake with a walnut half.

Copy Cat Pizza Hut

Sometimes you can't imitate an original, but sometimes you can---and it turns out tasting very yummy!


The other day, I made copy cat Pizza Hut Pan Pizza and I was thrilled with the results!

Here is the recipe I used.

From cdkitchen:

Pizza Hut Original Pan Pizza Recipe

Ready in: 1-2 hrs

Serves/Makes:   4

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup Warm water (105F)
1/4 cup Non-fat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt
4 cups Flour
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 pk. Dry yeast
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil (for dough)
9 ounces Vegetable oil (3 oz. per pan)
Butter flavored Pam

Directions:

Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in a large (2 qt.) bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Allow to sit for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. Turn out on to a flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into three balls. In three 9" cake pans, put 3 Oz. of oil in each making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9" circle. Place in cake pans. Spray the outer edge of dough with Pam. Cover with a plate. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

For Each Nine Inch Pizza: 
1. Preheat oven to 475F 

2. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on dough and spread to within 1" of edge. 

3. Distribute 1 1/2 Oz. shredded mozzarella cheese on sauce. 

4. Place toppings of your choice in this order: Pepperoni or Ham Vegetables Meats (cooked ground sausage or beef) 

5. Top with 3 Oz. mozzarella cheese 

6. Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown.

If you click on the link above for the recipe, you can get the details on making the sauce.  I just used a bottle of store bought.  (I am lazy!)

I swapped some of the flour for whole wheat (about 1.5 cups) to make it a little healthier.  I used two 8" cake pans on one 10" pan because that is what I had on hand and I used way less oil to coat them than the recipe calls for.  The pizza did take a little bit of a time investment with all the kneading and rising, but it was worth it.  We both really enjoyed this recipe!

Kitchen Sneak Peek!

It's been a rough few days, so I thought I'd share a little sneak peek of our kitchen.  Sharing cheers me up!  I have a few more little things to do in here before I take some more pictures.  I hope this iPhone photo isn't too dark.

Appliances are Frigidaire Gallery from Sears

Cabinets, purchased used from ebay, are painted white with Ace Hardware's Cabinet, Door and Trim Paint

Subway tile is from Home Depot

Everything on the counter is from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy's

Setbacks

Setbacks suck.  And we've had our share of them during operation house rehab.  Saturday morning, we were gearing up for a day-long wait for the cable company to FINALLY, between the hours of 8:00 and 4:00, install our cable and internet. (oh, how I've missed you internet!)  I really wanted pancakes and I really wanted to make them on our new electric griddle.  The griddle was in the basement on the storage shelf, so down the stairs I went.

The crummy part of this story starts when I tell you I sleepily took that last step down and found my foot in four inches of water.  Lucky us.  We hit the sewage water line backup lottery two weeks after moving in.  What a crappy way to start our Saturday.  Thankfully, the backup was in a clean water sewage pipe and did not cause our actually sewage to fill our basement.  Just water.  Lots and lots of water.

We were assessing the damage and calling in reinforcements by the time the cable guy showed up.  When does a cable guy ever show up at 8:00 am when they give you an eight hour window?  Just our luck again, right?  He initially said the install would not be a problem.  He only had to check the wires in the basement and he was wearing waterproof shoes.  Twenty minutes later, he tells us his supervisor recommends he not do the work because of the water.  Fair enough, cable guy.  But if you wouldn't have arrived on time (as is your reputation) we'd have time to get rid of the water before you got there.

Anyway, the reinforcements came by way of a well-connected brother-in-law with a drain cleaning snake he borrowed from a plumber he knows.  After a few minutes of running the machine, the clog was found (old rag from who knows what decade) and the water receded.

Our Saturday of painting the hallways and various doors throughout the house turned into a day of  sorting through the wet mess that was all the junk in our basement.  We were really lucky to have very little damage to the contents of the basement.  Most of the items down there were building materials from the remodel just waiting for a dumpster rental.  Our washer and dryer are on a higher-sloped part of the floor, so they only got about two inches of water---not enough to do anything because they were sitting on small blocks.  We ended up clearing out the entire basement and moving it to the garage.  We had been planning to clean all of this eventually, so I guess being forced to do it earlier than planned isn't all that bad.  We are hoping to get a dumpster in the next week or two so all of this stuff can be out of our way for good.

Setbacks still suck, whether they mess you up for a month or for a day, or whether they cost you thousands or nothing.  On a scale of one to ten, this one would probably be an eight--minimal damage and cost, but several straight hours of hard work.

Oh.  And I never did get those pancakes.

Favorites

We've been busy settling into the house and tackling the remaining improvement projects.  While I'm jumping right into the housekeeping and homemaking, there are ten products that I absolutely love and want to share with all of you.

1. The Shark 2-in-1 Cordless Stick Vac and Handheld Vacuum Cleaner.  We have hardwood or tile floors throughout the house and have low-pile area and accent rugs here and there.  Since we don't have pets or kids, we didn't really see the need for a big, cumbersome vacuum cleaner.  I wanted something lightweight, cordless and capable of sucking the dirt off our our floors and the Shark 2-in-1 works perfectly.

I like how I can vacuum the whole house on one charge and how it is great for quick pick-ups here and there.  I also like the conversion to a hand-held vacuum.  It's not the easiest conversion, but it works fine and does it's job.  For the money, this vacuum is so much better than the old broom and dust pan.


2. Gold Canyon Candles.  A few years ago, my mom, sisters and  I went to a candle party where I reluctantly purchased two small candles due to the guilt one gets from attending a home candle party.  I was skeptical, but when I received them I was surprised by how clean they burned and how great they smelled.  I like them so much that I was hesitant to burn them more for fear of using them completely before I could order more.  That same year, I held a candle party of my own right before Christmas and earned about $250 in free products.  (It was the demonstrator's best party to date.)  Fast forward and now one of my sisters is a demonstrator and my family has turned into candle snobs.  If it's not Gold Canyon, we aren't buying or burning it.  They are a better product and better value than Yankee and PartyLite and they come in a wide variety of delicious scents.

My most recent purchase was Grass.  This candle is spring in a jar.  It smells so good and so much like a fresh-mowed lawn. Love it!

The company also sells great candle holders and care products.  Their wick trimmer is a must for any candle lover---seriously, go buy one!


3.  Gold Canyon's Homeology Cleaning Products.  After professing my love for their candles, how could I not profess my love for their line of plant-based cleaning products.  My favorite is the floor cleaner because it smells amazing and it makes our hardwood floors look so shiny.  I just spray it directly on the floor and then use a Swiffer with a dry cloth to "mop."

The all purpose and glass cleaner also have nice fragrances and work wonders.  I just purchased the all natural cleanser (it is similar to Comet, but smells way better and is plant based.)  The products are a little on the pricey side compared to other cleaning products, but they last a long time and are green.  Purchase from my sister's site here.

4. Martha Stewart Collection 6-Piece Multi-Colored Melamine Bowl Set.  Who ever though mixing bowls could be so fun?  I received these as a wedding shower gift, but they came from Macy's.  I love the colors, the sizes and how easy they are to clean.  These bowls make my kitchen happy.

5. Potato Peeler.  I don't know the proper name or brand for this, but I got it as a shower gift from a cousin who works at the Kitchen Collection.  I'm not a huge fan of peeling potatoes, but doing the deed with this little guy made it more enjoyable.  I mean, how can you not smile a little when you use this little guy to peel the spuds?  I even received a matching potato brush--too cute!

6. Hamilton Beach Smiley Mixing Spoons.  Again, got these as a shower gift and they came from the Kitchen Collection.  They are literally my happy spoons. (and I refer to them as such.)  They are fun, colorful and I like them.  That's enough for me!

7. Scroll Banana Hanger.  I purchased this functional and decorative item at Kohl's.  The Mr. really wanted one and this one looked pretty, so I bought it.  It keeps our bananas fresh and yellow longer. It also helps to keep the bananas in view so we eat them.  We can put a big bunch of bananas on this thing and they'll stay good for about a week.  Setting them on the counter could never give us the same result.

8.  Bounty Quilted Napkins.  The Mr. is a paper towel waster.  This is a tough habit to break him of because he uses paper towels for everything.  I found that buying cheaper paper towels just meant that he would used more than one at a time.  I've decided that, despite the price, Bounty paper towels are necessary.  While shopping in the paper goods aisle at Giant Eagle the other day, I found Bounty Quilted Napkins on sale, so I picked up two packages.

These napkins are basically folded paper towels, but they are cheaper per sheet and effective enough for a paper-towel-loving husband to use for little spills without wasting the paper towels.  I'm still working on getting him to use dish towels to clean up water splashes and to dry plates and pans, but until then, the napkins are an economical stepping stone.


9. Plain Jane White Dinner Plates.  I don't remember what brand ours our (they were a wedding gift) but they are just your basic rimmed white plates. They are classic and will never go out of style.  I love how colorful and appetizing our food looks when we use them and it's an added bonus that they go with everything.  I'm looking forward to how they'll adapt to different holiday decor ideas.  They provide a clean canvas for tablescapes and dining room decorations.  I love them!

10.  Fire King Jadite Mixing Bowl.  I purchased my mixing bowl at a flea market last summer and it is, by far, my most favorite thing in my kitchen.  I have always loved Jadite, but never bought any before.  When I saw this bowl, I new it had to be mine.  Thus, the collection began.  One day, I will have cupboards filled with Jadite plates and bowls and will serve dinner on them daily.  I would love to have a display of unique kitchen serverware and containers made of Jadite.  So far, Etsy and ebay have been my go-to places to search for great additions for my collection.  This bowl is my favorite piece so far and I love that I can use it for everyday mixing and serving.  (The Mr. likes to use it as a popcorn bowl.)

So, now that you've seen my list, what are some of your favorite things to use around the house?


Full disclosure:  I have not been compensated in any way to review or promote the products mentioned above.

Refinishing our floors Pt. 2

Yes, I know.  This blog has been severely neglected over the last month.  But, I do have a VERY good reason.  It involves this:

Yes!  We moved in!  FINALLY!  There is still so much more to do (and still more stuff to pack and move), but the place is livable and we are slowly settling in.

I want to finish a few things before I take pictures of our kitchen, bedroom, living room, dining area, bathroom and other areas to share with the internets.  In the mean time, I figured I could give you a run down of the rest of our floor refinishing project.

After we sanded all the floors, we removed all the dust from the rooms.  We wiped down the walls, the trim and any nook and cranny where dust might settle.  For the floors, we first swept them with a broom, then followed with a shop vac.

Just to be sure we got everything, we went over the entire floor with a tack cloth.  Any dust left behind could end up settling in the poly coat, making the floor feel rough.  We wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

We tried a few different brands and really liked the ones made by 3M.  We found them at Ace Hardware.

The next step was to cover the floors with a few coats of polyurethane to protect them and give them that purdy, glossy shine.  We decided not to stain them because we wanted the look of the natural wood to show as much as possible.

For our floors, we used a water-based poly.  We picked water-based over oil-based because we wanted something that was fast-drying and low on odor.  Oil-based polys are more durable, but really stink up the place, take longer to fully cure and aren't as easy to clean up.

We bought this at Home Depot for about $38 a bottle.  I think we used four of five bottles to do all of the wood floors in the house.  That's six rooms and the stairs.

The first coat went on quickly.  We did it mop-style by using a Water Wiz attached to a pole.  We bought those at Home Depot, too.

We applied the poly with the grain and were careful to work our way out of each room by starting in the corner farthest from the door.

The polyurethane looked like watered down Elmer's glue, was a little cloudy during the application and dried clear.  We put it in a paint pan to make it easier to load our applicator.

To cover the areas where the applicator wouldn't reach, or to smooth out any drips or poly build up, we used a small paint brush.

After the first coat completely dried (we let it go overnight), we had to sand the floors again.  The reason was that the bare wood expands and the grain rises when it absorbs the polyurethane.  The floor was very rough after the first coat and sanding is standard practice.

We used 220 grit sandpaper and did the work through a combination of hand sanding and using a small palm sander.  We sanded lightly along the grain until the result was a smooth finish.

Then, it was a repeat of the dust removal process.  There wasn't much dust to clean up, but we still swept, ran the shop vac and used a tack cloth.  Dust is bad!

As you could assume, we used the same techniques as the first coat when we added two more coats of polyurethane.  With the water-based poly, we didn't have to sand between coats as long as we did them within six hours of each other.  The floors dried enough to walk on in about an hour, so we jumped right into both coats in one evening.

The floors had to cure for a few days before we could move in furniture.  We probably let them sit for about a week just to give them plenty of time to cure.

The results are fabulous!  I am so tickled pink with how nice our floors turned out!  I love them!

Oooooh...shiny!

It's a big change from what they were before.

The dining room floor after one pass of the drum sander.  The edges hadn't been sanded at this point, but you can see how bad the floors were when we pulled up the carpet.

I'm really proud of the work we did on the floors, but don't get me wrong---it kicked our butts!  Especially the sanding part.  That is some hard labor.  But, it's so nice to have beautiful hardwood floors throughout our house!  I love the warm, welcoming feeling they provide and the small monetary investment of DIY floor refinishing (which for us, it was about $500 in sandpaper, rentals, supplies and materials) was more than worth it. Carpeting or professional refinishing services would never have been as affordable.  

Did I mention how much I love the floors?!?!?

Shopping for appliances

We needed a refrigerator.  We also needed a microwave/rangehood combo.  We really didn't need a new range.  We have an older one that was my parents', but (there's always a "but") because I love to bake, I wanted a decent range.  We weighed the options and decided to just buy everything new.  These are items we will use just about every day, so it's worth it to have new, functional appliances in our kitchen.

Sears was having a great sale on all appliances for Presidents' Day Weekend, so we went to check it out.  When we got there, they didn't have the fridge with bottom-mount freezer that caught our eye online in stock at the store.  We browsed the rest of the display models, but nothing quite sparked interest.  We headed over to the ranges and saw a few nice ones in our price range.  At this point, we were discussing which color to get.  We already have a used dishwasher in black and our cabinets will be painted white.  We weren't too sure about white appliances and white cabinets, so we ruled that out.  The bottom line on choosing between black or stainless was the price.  Going with black would have saved us a few hundred dollars.

Notice how I used "would have"?  :-)  We splurged a little and went with stainless!  Yay!  I love the look of it and I think it will look great in our tiny kitchen.  Black would have looked OK, too, but we made our decision because over the life of the appliances, spending a few hundred dollars isn't really a big deal and they will look so much nicer!

So, do you want to see what we picked out?

Kitchen Appliances on Polyvore.com

The refrigerator is by LG and range and microhood are Frigidaire Gallery.  All should be delivered shortly!

I don't think our black dishwasher will look too bad with the stainless.  It's old and, if it craps out on us, we can get a new one in a stainless finish.  I'm also looking into swapping out the front panel of the dishwasher with a stainless one or experimenting with some stainless-look appliance paint.

I'm just really happy to have appliances purchased!  The kitchen is coming together!  

Refinishing our floors Pt. 1: Sanding

The flooring in our house is hardwood.  The entire floor plan was oak and, aside from a few pesky pet stains, the  foundation of the floors was decent.  We originally planned to refinish the floors in the living room, dining room and the smallest bedroom because they were the worst.  After sanding the living room and dining room, we decided to just do all the floors.

Sanding is a tough job.  We did the downstairs in a weekend and it completely kicked out butts.  It's not that it is  a difficult job to do, it's just very labor intensive.  We were fortunate enough to have use of my dad's floor sander, purchased at an auction for $5.

Here is the beast in action!  This is an older model drum sander, but it works fine.  We were able to find the right sandpaper (7" wide) at a local rental store. For our floors, we used the following grits in this order: 20, 36, 80 & 100.  They ranged in price from about $1.50 a sheet (100 grit) to about $4 a sheet (20 grit).  A 20-grit sheet would  pull up the existing finish on about half of a room.  We used two or three 36s in each room and only needed one each of the 80s and 100s for a room. The room sizes had a lot to do with how much we used and we had a few new sheets tear or break when we hit a nail or staple we missed during the carpet removal or when we didn't have the paper attached tight enough on the machine.  This was frustrating, but I had to keep telling myself that we were saving money by doing this ourselves.  Ruining some paper wasn't that big a deal.

OK. On to the actual sanding part!  (put your earplugs in!)  We loaded the drum sander with 20-grit paper and, since our old machine was missing the dust collector bag, we attached a shop vac hose to the dust blower with duct tape.

For most of the floors, Chris worked the sander.  He started on one side of the floor and walked the sander up and down one strip at a time, following the direction of the grain of the wood.  At the start, he would gently pivot the sander down onto the floor and move forward at a decent pace.  Not too slow,  but not too fast.  The trick is to keep it moving or else you will gouge the wood where you stop, even if it's for a second.  For this reason, we would pivot the sander up at the end of a strip before gently putting it back down and pulling it backwards.

Once one row was sanded, he would go right along side it, slightly overlapping.

After finishing that section of the floor, we turned the machine around to get the other half.

The first pass with the 20 grit was able to remove most of the old finish, but in some trouble areas, we went over them again.

We then used a rented edge sander (loaded with 20-grit paper, too) to get the 3"-4" around the perimeter of the room where the drum sander couldn't reach.

The edge sander is very aggressive.  Because it is orbital, the machine pulled to the right.  This one had to be moved very quickly to avoid creating swirl marks in the wood and to keep it from taking off too much of the wood at once.

With the corner round removed, we were able to get all of the exposed wood sanded with the use of the edger.  In this photo, Chris is moving it side to side with the grain.

The edger was also useful for closets, walkways and other areas where the drum sander couldn't fit.

Once we finished with edging and sanding the entire floor, we swept up the floor, loaded the sanders with 36-grit paper and repeated the whole process.  Then, did the same with 80-grit and 100-grit paper.

Since the edger couldn't get into the corners, we used a Black & Decker hand sander with a pointed tip to remove the finish and sand them down.

And, I know what you're thinking:  Why is Chris doing all the work?  What are you doing, besides taking pictures?

I was holding the hose!  We found it was much easier if someone held onto the power cord and shop vac hose because they kept getting in the way.

And I did a lot of the edge sanding.  I just don't have pictures of that.  Chris did let me do the final few passes on the upstairs floors with the drum sander and I have proof:

So, there you have it.  My recap/quasi-tutorial on sanding floors.  We just started putting the poly coat on, so that will be part 2.

Stairway to despair

We ripped up the carpeting on our steps.  I pulled up the carpet on the bottom step on the day we closed just to see if they were nice, but didn't really look close enough to see what was really under there.

First, I started at the bottom and loosened the carpeting from the tack strips:

The padding was, for the most part, gone.  There was a little bit of cushion on the sides, but the middle part of the step showed the wear.

Then, we took a hammer and a small pry bar and began pulling up the tack strips.  Never in my life have I seen so many nails and staples.

Once we got all of the carpet up and all of the tack scrips and staples out, we were left with this:

Look closely and you'll see why I'm a little sad that our stairs will be more of a pain in the butt project than expected.   Don't see it?  Maybe this will help:

At some point, I'm guessing around the same time the house had a coal furnace, there was either a carpet runner or tread protectors on the steps.  The wood looks good in the area covered, but the area outside is dirty and black.  I tried cleaning them, but it was a lost cause.  We are going to have to refinish the steps.  Bummer.

In an effort to make this a little easier on us, we decided to paint the trim and the stair risers, leaving only the tops left to sand and coat with polyurathene.  Here are some inspiration pictures for what I have in mind:

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Maybe we'll get funky with it and try one of these ideas:

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We'll have to rent a sanding edger to do this right.  I don't think it will be too bad, but it's just not a project we thought we were going to have to tackle.  C'est la vie!

Adding some color

We were at Home Depot when we decided it's time to buy paint for our upstairs.  We gathered some paint chips and picked our colors, which all happened to be Glidden paint.  We were really happy with how our walls turned out.

When we needed to pick out colors for our downstairs, we were already needing to go to Lowe's for something else. All of our paint choices ended up being Lowe's colors, or colors available in the Valspar Signature premium paint.  We were a little hesitant to spend an extra $5-$10 per gallon, but so far, the paint has been working beautifully.  In some cases, we were able to get by with using only one coat, which will save us money in the long run.  We kind of prefer the Valspar to the Glidden now, although the Glidden did seem to spread better and go farther.

Picking colors for downstairs was probably easier than upstairs.  With shared walls and an desire for more neutral colors, we picked "Linen" for our kitchen/dining room walls.

Top color is Linen by Eddie Bauer and the bottom color is String of Pearls, a Lowe's Creative Ideas for Colors shade.

String of Pearls is the color we are painting all of the trim in the downstairs.  This color will also be carried up the stairway through the baseboard trim and the hand rail.

For the living room, we picked Colonial Beige.

This is a Waverly signature color. Again, String of Pearls trim color on the bottom.

It's a little darker than Linen, which is perfect because we wanted a noticeable, but not overwhelming contrast between the two colors.  The colors have to coordinate well because the living and dining rooms share a wall.  We decided to use Linen on that wall so it would be an accent color in the living room.

For the addition entranceway and the walls in the stairway, we wanted a neutral and coordinating color.  Waverly's Natural seemed to be a perfect fit.

It's weird how the colors look so identical/monotone online, but the paint chips and actual paint colors look so much different!

For the bedroom in the addition, which will most likely serve more as a living room, we picked a greyish-blue from Lowe's Creative Ideas for Color line.  It's called Hot Springs and it is fabulous!

It's looking a little green on my computer screen, however.

So, with our colors picked and some of them even up on the walls already, We have to start thinking about our decor plans for these rooms.  I am so excited over how much like a home this place is shaping up to be!

I always only seem to have my iPhone on me when it's picture time, so I apologize for these.  Here are a few shots I took of the Colonial Beige on our living room walls.  It looks different in every one, thanks to poor camera quality and weird lighting.  The color actually looks more greenish as the daylight goes away.  I really like the color next to the String of Pearls trim!  

It looks 8,721,624 times better in person.  Trust me.  :-)

And it looks 9,563,521 times better than the orange and dark grey-blue that were on the walls when we bought the place.  (How could it not?!?)  Yay for progress!