Updated Light Fixture

Original brass fixture

I've spent a major part of February and March looking for a new chandelier for my dining room re-do. I did find a few that I loved but generally I did not love them enough to justify their price tags.  After much angst about the whole thing I mentioned to my friends that I still like the one I had hanging in my dining room even though it was over 20 years old.  I wish I had a photo of it before we took it down but unfortunately, I didn't do that.

I was pretty satisfied with the idea that I really picked the right fixture long ago and that I still loved it. I did hate the worn brassy look of it though.  It screamed 80's and it needed to get an upgrade. Considering that the "in" thing these days is converting old mason jars, jelly jars, and recycled wine bottles into lights, my fixture had stood the test of time since it had the jelly jar look. I was going for something that had a Victorian feel since the house is a Victorian style.

So a friend says, "Why don't you just spray paint it a different color if you love it so much?"  Huh. That never even crossed my mind. It doesn't hurt that I have a really handy husband that can make/fix/create anything.  Off we went to the hardware store to pick out some spary paint.  I chose a color called Aged Copper.  After purchasing it, I discovered that the brand of paint I bought was cheaper at Wal-Mart so I headed over there.  It was cheaper but they did not have the same large selection of colors as the Menards store where I bought the paint.  They did have another color called hand rubbed bronze that looked similar so I bought some of that.  But when I got it home to compare, I really liked the Aged Copper better.  So that's what I used.



Spray painting in progress

Jeff made me these stands when I spray painted a bed last summer. They are basically 2X4s with a piece of an old handle from a broken shovel screwed into the middle of them. It was a great way to raise up sections of a bed frame in order to spray paint the legs without leaning the pieces against anything. So I took those wood chunks and nailed long nails into the top of them ndto have something to dangle the parts of the light fixture on in order to paint the whole pieces all at once. It worked great.

So Jeff put the light back together and hung it up last night. I love how the color complements the new colors of the dining room. So basically I saved over $300 since that was the cheapest light fixture I found that I would consider purchasing. 

Finished chandelier

March Madness Bracketology

I love NCAA time, it's like spring break for me.  I take the days off and enjoy the comraderie of fellow sports lovers at the local bar.  If you love March Madness, it's the best place to be because of the large number of televisions...nothng like watching more than one game at a time.  And here is my bracket for this years's event. 

Kids Stuff from Ikea

We put together the Ikea furniture for Chloe.  I got the cute little play kitchen, the table and chairs for her and Avery and a simple table to set the doll house on.  Jeff and I spent the evening putting the stuff together. I can't wait for the little darlings to see it.  I still have to figure out where I am going to put it all, but for now, it's in the living room. 

Once my dining room remodel is done, I will move the table and chairs into the dining room. And once the kitchen is re-done, the little kitchen will go in there. 

Ikea Trip

Trips to Ikea always require advanced planning for me.  After all, it's a big place and a big deal just to get down to Schaumburg on any given day.  Bailee worked it out where she could come along without the girls. We would need the room in the truck to haul back our purchases and two car seats take up way too much space. 

We started our trip the same way as always. We headed to the third floor to work our way from the top down.  On past trips, we averages one hour per floor.  But here we were two hours into our visit and we were still on the third floor.  Bailee was going through her list to make sure she didn't miss a thing. I finally sat on a bench and waited for her to go back and pick up a few things missed from her list. 

We got to the second floor and decided to go through the children's section last.  It was the highlight to the visit so we wanted to save the best for last. We started with one cart we shared and had to split our things into two separate carts.  That was a little scary since we didn't even get to the first floor yet where you pick up all the big boxes. 

No matter how many times I go to Ikea I never get tired of the shopping cart escalators. They are so fun to watch. 

On the first floor, we had to pick up all the furniture we wanted from the second and third floors. We decided to pay for our carts full of stuff first.  That way we could push a cart around easier and know how much cash we already spent.

One of the items Bailee wanted, a television stand was in the discounted section of the first floor.  These are returned items sold "as is" much cheaper than the cost of new.  So we loaded it on our cart but I worried about how much room we had in the car. Once we got all our purchases, we had to unload the car and start with the big things first.  We put the television stand in, then the kitchen table and chairs, followed by the hutch and drawer unit we bought.  The we loaded the kid's kitchen, table and chairs and the coffee table to be used for Chloe's doll house. We had to fill in the cracks with the smaller purchases and Bailee had to ride with a bag full at her feet.  There was so much stuff I couldn't see out the rear view mirror. Luckily, we had an easy ride home without much traffic.  I still cannot believe we got all that stuff in my car!

Chloe's Birthday

For Chloe's birthday, her mom threw a princess party with pizzas and cake. Since Chloe turned 3, I don't think she totally understood that it was her day. Then again everyday is her day when she is with grandma! It was a wonderful day.

Avery Grace's Baptism

Today was Avery's baptism.  It was a small event with a few family members but it was full of the important ones.  We went to church where PJ performed the service and then we had cake.  Rosie made the cake and it was amazing.  We were the communion assistants today so that made it even more special.  Jen is the godmother and Alec is the godfather, both great choices.