Where is spring?

It has been a while since my last post. After getting back from England in February, and me getting the flu, and then Zoë being the lucky one, and her birthday following, we have kept pretty busy.

Just last week when I thought I might be able to start doing some stuff in the garden...like getting the mulch delivered, and seeing what survived the winter....it snowed over a foot! So, now it may be a couple of more weeks. Though, I do think that this weekend, I am going to start some seeds indoors. I have been saving toilet paper/and paper towel rolls to use as little pots. I definitely want to start herbs soon, so that I will have a full, fresh supply through the summer. It will be a fun project for Zoë and I.

When I last posted about a couple of dishes I was going to make....fish pie and Cincinnati chili, I never had the chance because of our unexpected and sad trip back to England. Now that we are back in the swing of things, I will try and do that this next week.

One thing, I did manage to do before my lovely daughter turned 3 and my mom and sister came to town, was to paint our dining and living room. Now that I have done it, I can't believe I waited to long to do it. They are so much cozier now. My wonderful husband also surprised me with a new dining room table that I have been infatuated with for several months now. Our dining room is so much better, and I *heart* the table!!

Our dining room before:


After:


I love the Craftsman-style look of the table. I wish our entire house could be like that.

For the color, I began by thinking I would just use the red that was used under the chair-rail and that would be a cheap and easy solution. I have learned nothing is going to be "cheap & easy". Once I got that red on an entire wall, I decided it was too "bricky" and I definitely wasn't thrilled about it.. So we spent a week painting samples on the wall, and decided to go with Benjamin Moore, poppy, and I am in love with it!

The living room before:


After:


I kept the charcoal grey fireplace wall that I had painted when we moved in, but painted the rest of the room a slate grey. It kind of came out looking more blue than I imagined, but I really love it. No more beige!!! And it really makes the trim and crown molding stand out.

I think I am done painting for a while. I have now done almost every room of the house, and I don't want to smell paint fumes for a long time!