Night Float Zombie

Well, the past 2 weeks in the Wilson household have been about as backwards as they come.  I'm pretty sure I have a husband named Davy, he's out there somewhere, I just haven't seen him lately.  That's right, thanks to night float, I've become a regular zombie and can't wait to make my debut back into the land of the living! As George Strait and Kenny Chesney put it so well, I've been working a "big ol pile of shhhift work." :-)

Anyway, whining aside, my longing to sleep in my own bed inspired us to wrap up a final lighting project in our bedroom so that the boudoir would be ready for my homecoming.  Davy and I have always flirted with the idea  of putting up swing arm lamps on either side of the bed to give us ample reading light while freeing up space on our nightstands.  When we came across these beauties at the Home Decorators Collection for such a good price we couldn't resist. The installation was surprisingly simple and in no time we had lighting. 
The other plus of this project is that it allowed us to repurpose these lamps my mom found at Tuesday Morning.

 They will go perfectly with the decor in the basement and add some much needed light to the space.

Here is a photo timeline of how far our bedroom has come. New paint, carpet, lighting, organic sheets....... I'm ready to spend a night back in my own bed!

Before the Wilson's moved in

From same view after

After, we chose to position the bed on the other bank of windows. Couldn't be happier with the lights! 

Dresser, where our TV used to reside

We opted to replace the TV with pictures of our sweet nieces and nephews. Surprising how sound we sleep without the distraction of the TV.

The other project that Davy and I managed to squeeze in to my abbreviated time at the house this weekend was working on the basement. The carpet has been ripped up, drop ceiling removed, and brand new sheet rock in its place! We couldn't be more excited.  The first order of business was some serious cleaning to eradicate the doggy urine smell that had permeated the carpet.  After a good washin' with the Mr. Clean, we got to work painting the walls and ceiling.  We stumbled across the new Martha Stewart paint collection at Home Depot the other day, snagged a couple of samples, and found the 2 colors that were fit for our man cave vision. 

*Just a side note, thankfully my husband is perfectly on board with this room looking nothing like a cave, pub, hunting lodge, et al. Just one of a million reasons why I love him.*

The walls are a cool grey blue color called Cumulus Cloud and the ceiling is a more warm tone called Tailor's Chalk.  We were very pleased with how well the paint went on and covered, plus all of Martha's paint is low VOC, which is always a plus.  Here are some shots of the room before we started painting:

You can't even appreciate the smell of that dank carpet :-) We'll save you the sensory assault

Now for the interim progress, Sheetrock in place, new lighting, carpet.......long gone.

Note hard working husband.

Carpet on stairs ripped up, and new molding added along stairs

We moved the angular wall that was home to an outdated 80's entertainment center set-up. 

We finally wrapped up the painting late Sunday night! We were both sore to the bone, but thankfully got to relax to the sound of our new rain chain in action, which sounded as nice as it looked (not to mention the amount of H20 we are saving!) We'll leave you with one more picture!

Have you seen my stapler?

No rest for the weary. Even though it is our anniversary weekend, Rachel and I were hard at work making more changes to the house. This time we decided to tackle Rachel's office (or bane of my existence as I like to refer to it). This particular space has been difficult to get under control. Since we moved in it has pretty much been the, "oh, just throw it into the office" junk room. However, as we posted earlier we bought a new desktop computer so we had to get things organized, or to quote Rachel, "I need more feng shui in this room". Translation: we need to go to Home Depot so don't even think about watching the PGA Championship Davy. So, off we went to the Depots (Home and Office) to buy the necessary materials for making a junk room into an office. Wireless printer, check; push pins, check; binder clips, check; closetmate, check; various and sundry decorative yet organazational what nots, double-check. It does amaze me at what Rachel can do with just basic everyday hardware. Best example of the weekend, using binder clips to organize our various chargers (ipod, Kindle, etc...) Check it out...

However, the major project was utilizing the existing closet space as a defacto built-in bookcase. To accomplish this I installed closetmate to make shelving and Rachel channeled her inner Candice Olson to make it look nice.

Before

After

I think it is a pretty dramatic difference and Rachel could not be happier with the results.

We had one final project that we let professionals tackle. After watching this happen to a home across the street from us,

http://www2.tricities.com/business/2010/aug/13/fire-destroys-home-bristol-tennessee-ar-426010/

we decided it was time to activate/upgrade our home security system. We now have a complete system with safety, fire, natural gas, and carbon monoxide protection. This ofcourse pleases the many funeral directors, ok maybe just the one, that we have in our family. The next step is the man cave, which as we speak has drywall in place. We might treat you to a sneak peak next week.

Walkin' in High Cotton.....

As many of you know, Davy and I are celebrating our two year anniversary this year!

We have tried to make it a tradition to stick to traditional anniversary gift giving rules.... so this year we were both on the hunt for cotton.

BUT.... we also are fortunate enough to share an anniversary month with Davy's sister and brother-in-law, so we eloped on an early anniversary couples weekend to Blowing Rock, NC and got into the usual amount of mischief :-)

Before we left, my persnickty husband pulled out an early 2 year gift that had NOTHING to do with cotton, BUT something that I have been pineing for a while.... a new Bose Sounddock for our Ipod touch.

In Blowing Rock, we lodged at a fav bed a breakfast where we shared a beautiful porch with the Rouses. Live music, wine, cheese, and plenty of early (or maybe not so early) coffee drinking ensued.

As we inched closer to our real anniversary, Davy and I couldn't handle the suspence of each others great cotton search and exchanged gifts a few days early (and honetsly, who can blame us, it is COTTON.... the fabric of our lives!) Anyway, stupid jokes aside, see pics below for some cottony goodness!




My West Elm Gifts, Beautfially Wrapped!

Our bed made with my new organic sheets and Davy's Tempur Pedic pillow..... we will defenitely sleep tight tonight!

Davy suprised me with new organic cotton sheets from West Elm. (Perfect after a long night in Labor and Delivery.) And along those same lines, I treated Davy to a new Tempur Pedic pillow. With us both working long hours, we both value a good night's sleep, and were obviously dreaming of peaceful Zzzzzz's as we were anniversary shopping :-)

This weekend we also endulged at the Troutdale for dinner, which was delicious as always.

Best of all, Davy and I had a quiet weekend where we had time to relax and count our many blessings as a family. We have had quite a few milestones this year as a young couple, and are very thankful!

The Wilsons couldn't be happier at year two of wedded bliss!

We're Back!!!!

Sorry for the off time folks, been a little busy with doctoring and pump selling. In all seriousness, we have had a lot going on the last little bit. First of all, the house is a different color...

Before

After

Notice the landscaping is still alive, shocking!!

So, we went from a "dove white" to "quail ridge". We absolutely love it! (So do our neighbors, especially the rich ones on Country Club Drive :) ) In addition Rachel decided our door was a burgandy and she needed to change it to red, like super red, well maybe super, super....., super red
Well, there is one thing that we do not have a picture of, "The Bradford Pear Incident" da da da. I have to give my father-in-law a lot of credit here, he always said that the only thing Bradford Pears were good for is breaking in half. Well, the one in our front yard did just that, broke, hit the house, scuffed the paint. Fortunately, when it happened the painters were still here and I had already made friends with them so they fixed the paint job. Man I had to work a chainsaw to cut the branches into 6' sections so the city would pick them up. So, instead of just cutting down the rest of that tree, Rachel decided we needed some serious trimming, so.... Bradford Pear, gone; small Maple, gone; pictures to follow (I know you are just shaking with anticipation).

Last (but certainly not least, Bubba and Larry) we are turning the basement into a man cave/theater room/UT FOOTBALL VIEWING AREA (Bubba and Larry!). Quick degression into full, only men will care, mode. This is the make-up: 1080P full definition projector, 110" screen, 5:1 surround screen (speakers are so good that you will feel the impact of Janzen Jackson laying out Gator RB's). So, besides the above mentioned qualities, Rachel will be picking out the full decor which already includes a 10 person sectional (sidenote: I love this woman). We will have pictures to follow on this as well, but we already have the drop ceiling torn down, the built-ins ripped out, and gas ran to the fireplace.

Anywho, we are definately are going to continue with the blog at least once a week and we hope that you guys can follow. We hope everything is going well with everyone and we look forward to seeing everyone soon.

P.S. I am writing this on Rachel's brand new computer, here is a picture of us taken from its' webcam

What's Blooming at 19 Plymouth Circle?

So as I (Rachel) was knee deep into Round-Up and pesticide this afternoon, I started noticing how much is blooming at the Wilson Digs. We have come a long way from the bare bones landscaping we inherited a month ago. So, while Davy was at Best Buy pre-shopping for man cave materials, I decided to give everyone a tour of our yard!

We aren't the couple known for nurturing things very well (i.e. forgetting to feed Murphy) but I think we may have turned a corner.

We'll start on the deck

Hibiscus! One of my fav plants, every new bloom is like a miniature piece of the tropics.

Planters on the deck with petunias, basil , and sweet potato vine.

A spicy variety of basil that I think is delicious! I plan to use it in a pesto encrusted chicken later this week.

Matteo thinks this may be a black cherry tree, I'm not sure. Any ideas out there??

Peonies from graduation. Still smell divine!

Tiger Eye in the mail box planter. This one makes me smile every time I drive into the driveway.

Clematis climbing up the mailbox

Planted this on Day 1 right after we closed!

Murphy has been trying to help by using his own built in irrigation system

I have seen this blooming all over Bristol, but have no idea what it is.

Blueberries! I am so shocked at how many are on these bushes.

Our hydrangea and lenten rose, both housewarming gifts are also in full bloom in the back yard. Tiger Lily in bloom and Calla Lily getting ready to bloom.So you are probably wondering if we have had to buy stock in City of Bristol H2O to keep all of this stuff watered. We have been fortunate in the rain department, however our friends Lacy and Aaron stopped by the other day to drop off this beauty

This pic is really dark, but its a nice green, taupe color that will blend great with our new paint job on the house. It holds 75 gallons of water, and supposedly is full after one rain, so I can't to start using it! We are going to put it on the back corner of the house, and are considering this copper rain chain to channel the rain to the barrell. Any thoughts?
So that is the garden tour of the Wilson yard so far! Any suggestions or gardening tips are much appreciated! We are definitely learning as we go, but are pretty happy with our little footprint so far. Happy Tuesday!