trash to treasure

I have been searching high and low for an old antique high chair for Mae. We use a plastic portable one that has been great, but it has to be on a wooden chair (our dining room chairs, not kitchen which are upholstered) so food does not get in the fabric. Well, like I said before, we are not formal people, so we eat most of our meals at the kitchen table not the dining room table. I have found several antique high chairs since the search but some didnt have a tray, some didnt have straps, and some were just more than I wanted to spend...aka $100 plus. 

Last weekend, in Atlanta, I found this high chair that needed a major facelift at a local church rummage sale. I spotted it from across the way and bee-lined for it! Nothing some sanding and paint cant fix! 

I joked with my friend, Sarah Neale, that the bargainer in me wanted to negotiate the $15 dollar price. I should be condemned for even letting it enter my head, because the money was for CHURCH for crying out loud! So I went happily with my money to check out! And you wouldnt believe....

everything in the sale was HALF OFF! $7.50 baby! God knew he had to show me He was in control not me!

So after I lugged it in my car home to brag on myself to my hubby and him roll his eyes....we have this beauty!

I used a coupon for a free 8 oz. size of the new spring line paint at Lowe's. Color: London Coach

Ryan added a polyurethane coating to it today and tonight it will be in use for dinner! 

And for a final last look, Before and After:

As my friend Rachel reminded me today, one man's trash is another man's treasure...in this case baby's treasure!

First room re-do

So the first room we HAD to tackle ASAP was our front living room. In my opinion, it is made to be a formal living room, but let's face it. Ryan, nor I, are FORMAL people. So we made the family room Mae's playroom (pics to come) and decided to make the formal living room a family room! This will be where we hang out when we have company, when Mae is asleep, etc. It is not really child friendly for Mae, so we will continue to let her primary area be her play room.

We started off with a blank slate. This room was BY far the hardest to decorate, because of the layout. Two doorways, and 3 random placed windows, made for some constant reconfiguring...Here are some before's, sorry for crappy pictures from my phone:

We knew our first step was to repaint. We are over tans, and are loving grays, so we went with that! Not too light and not too dark:

 

After the painting was finished, we put everything back together with a few new purchases:

A new couch, in a different color, thank's to Haverty's:

Here is our actual one:

A new chair thank's to Home Goods:

Some new framed pieces, thanks to a local antique store and Hobby Lobby Framing:

This brick is used for our door stopper, it is a brick from Sewell Hall in Auburn, AL. Ryan's company tore the building down to build the new athletic hall and dorm. We snagged some brick's when we lived there and had the labels made for Ryan's dad, since he played football at Auburn. We kept one, too!

I love this little area and think it came together well. My friend Webber, came over to help rearrange this room, and she did this area! I LOVE it! (This piece of furniture was Ryan's great aunts, and I re-did it on a previous blog post)

I think TV's are the most unattractive piece in any room. It is so hard to work around them. This Pottery Barn TV stand we got right when we got married in our first house. I added the two baskets for Mae's toys, the few times she will be in this room. I also added this little antique wooden chair that I snagged from my mom. We call it "Mae's chair."

(PS I love the french doors going into this room...however they will always stay opened)

An end table with some knickknacks:  

These lamps, both me and my bestie Amy have. I love having them because they are beautiful, but even more because I think of her each time I look at them! Ryan is about to build pallet wood boxes to go underneath them to give them more height behind the couch: 

Here is the room at a glance: 

Hey Mae Mae!

The only thing missing is this Ballard Design's beauty, the Marchesa Rug in a 8x10 size, which is ordered and on it's way to the Harbuck residence! HURRY UPS!

I am loving our new room. Ryan and I have enjoyed actually living downstairs more, rather than in the bedrooms and bonus room upstairs. Plus, it is the first room that guests see when they come in, and we all know a first impression means the most! Hope you like our new room! More extensive renovations to come! I am slowly coaxing Ryan into tackling the guest bath reno. this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Greenish Thumb

I grew up in a house where unless you were a human, you died. Plants never lasted at our house! It was a joke my mom always told me, that she could not ever keep them alive!

So I decided to make a change in our family heritage! My Charlotte friend, Webber, got the itch in me. She always has fresh flowers at her house and it inspired me. Now, I think flowers die and can tend to be a waste of money at times...so I went with plants.

Ryan and I made a family trip to Lowe's Friday night! Man, we get crazy on Friday night's. I stocked up on some indoor and outdoor plants. Mae helped pick them out, too!

I went on a quick girls trip to Atlanta Saturday: 

Then Sunday got home and got to work. I had a little helper:  

Now, don't ask me the name of any of these, I have no idea! All I know is some are indoor and some are outdoor, thanks to the tag sticking out of the soil. Those tags will save these plants lives. 

I am excited about my new rosemary! I used to trim some out of my friend Elizabeth's yard in Auburn, and now I have my own! I can cook with it, use it for decoration and more!

And this baby, Webber brought to me the day after we moved here and I am SO proud to say it is still going strong! Yay, green-ish thumb!

We Heart Mae times 2

So...we had a 'heart' party for Mae's birthday as you have read before...it took on a whole other perspective the following week. We have been told since Mae was born that she had a heart murmur. Each pediatrician (the ones in the hospital, plus our dr. in Auburn, Montgomery, and now in Charlotte) have all reassured us it would go away by the time she turned one and not to worry! So we didnt!

Well, we are IN LOVE with our new pediatrician here. A sweet friend (and nurse from when we had Mae) recommended her aunt here in town. I am SO thankful! This new doctor reminds me of my mom, she is so knowledgeable and confident, is extremely experienced and to top it off went to University of Florida! You know me, I am a Florida girl at heart, I grew up there!

So when we went for Mae's one year check up and the murmur was still, loud and clear, we started to worry. The dr. referred us to a pediatric oncologist...talk about terrifying! A baby heart doctor!

Well, after a heated conversation with the referral lady and myself, we got Mae in as quick as we could (let's just say I was a nervous new mommy taking my baby to a heart dr.) So my sweet dad came up for support, since he has had his fair share of heart issues himself. Ryan met us at the dr. and results....

She has a perfect heart as we already knew! She is healthy as can be and will have the heart murmur the rest of her life, more than likely, but it is an innocent heart murmur and nothing to be concerned about...praise JESUS!

Filling our days...fast!

Ryan and I always joke about our moves, because I ALWAYS have a break down shortly after the settling begins. It goes something like this, "I have no friends, our neighbors stink, where are the Bottega's and my other favorite restaurants, I am home alone while you work, what am I going to do, , where will we go to church, what if we don't like it, I miss Publix, etc!" Well let's just say it lasts all of 5 minutes and then I am quickly blindsided with great friends, things to do, and my days fill...FAST! Well, funny enough, the break down has NOT happened since the move to Charlotte, and yesterday marks THREE weeks! I am so impressed with myself, I must say! I am sure Ryan is secretly extactic too, as I do not cry much so when I do he doesn't really know how to react...Amazingly this move has been the smoothest, easiest by far. I dont know why either, because its the furthest and we have known the least amount of people here.

So with that said, we are blessed. No other way to put it. First off, blessed by an amazing company Ryan works for who PACKED and MOVED us, we did not lift a finger, seriously. Then , we show up to our house, and they unload it all! We just point where! The night Mae and I arrived here...(she was PERFECT in the car, by the grace of God...she is NEVER perfect in the car, but this time, she was!)

Ryan was standing in our front yard waving with the big smile. Not sure if he missed me or Mae more...but I know he was ready for a home-cooked meal after living in a hotel for a month. I did not even walk in the house before we were greeted with neighbors with hot food! The best pizza I have ever put in my mouth...and, WINE! Hallelujah! Best neighbor award!

I walk into the house and Ryan immediately shows me the fridge, our realtor had it stocked! We had homemade lasagna to feed an army, gourmet sandwiches, drinks, forks, napkins, plates, etc. Everything you need when you know where NOTHING is, except in one of the million boxes. It was amazing!

Enough with all the details, we were showered with food. We went to neighbors the next night and they had warm chili for us since we were snowed in. They played and wore out Mae and it was amazing. We had a beautiful front and backyard full of snow.

AND thankful for the snow, Ryan was snowed in so he GOT to help me unpack and help with Mae! SCORE!

Mae and I have been walking the streets (we found an amazing lake with walking paths and geese 25 yards from our house). It is beautiful! Ryan cant wait to take her fishing and feed the geese!

Neighbors have been so sweet. Knocking on our door, greeting us, offering help, playing with Mae. We had our first neighborhood cookout last weekend and LOVE our new neighbors! Best part, there were 6 kids under the age of 2 and they were all GIRLS! Mae's new besties!

We have found a great park nearby and have had picnics.

A sweet sorority sister of mine, Webber, was my saving grace. She helped watch Mae for me to get my first grocery trip accomplished. They had us over last week for a wonderful meal and fellowship!

Ryan's fraternity brother and his wife, invited us to church and lunch after. They are so sweet and we are going to their house this Saturday to enjoy dinner!

We have had many play dates with neighbors and other friends, the first of many!

Mae is adjusting SO well in our new house. Poor thing has been drug around lots in the past few months...

We even got to visit daddy's new office.

Eli has met many new neighbor dogs and has a huge backyard to roll around in!

We have family here! My dad's cousin, his wife and two kids (they were my program attendants in my wedding!) It has been so nice to know family is around the corner! We even go to see Mae's great, great uncle this past weekend when they were in town!

We have a park, pool, and tennis that I have met lots of moms at too! Everyone is SO Nice! I want to live here forever!

I signed Mae up for Wee School last week...they remembered her name from Sunday School and just 'ooohhed and aaahhhed' over her. She is going to LOVE it there in September!

Mae and I have been busy checking out all the new stores...escpeially mommy's favorites: Home Goods and Tory Burch.

I seriously could go on and on. All I can do is thank the GOOD Lord above and just be content right where we are. Because THIS, is where we are supposed to be...no break down needed.