Pillow talk.

Final resting place.
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

A few years ago, I read an article in Martha Stewart Living about bird embroidery. While I'm only barely competent with a sewing machine, embroidery is something I can do quickly and easily. Not that fancy embroidery, of course, but the basic stitches. The easy stuff.

So, inspired yet again by Martha, I printed out the bird templates and bought some fabric and a black t-shirt, intending to embroider myself a new shirt and a new pillow.

Turns out, t-shirts are tough to embroider! The stretchy material is not that easy to work with. I got about a quarter of the way through a bird, threw the shirt down in frustration, packed up the whole project and tried not to think about it ever again.

Fast-forward to last weekend, when I came upon the project again while cleaning out a closet. Having learned my lesson with the t-shirt, I picked out the thread, folded it up and put it in a drawer with my other t-shirts. Then I ironed the two squares of fabric, embroidered a bird on one, sewed the squares together and in less than five hours, completed the pillow. Sweet success!

Tangled up in blue.

Blue wall, full throttle.
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

Last weekend, after sifting through two dozen color strips from Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams, we painted an accent wall in the living room. It's Benjamin Moore's Rapture Blue, and while at first it seemed like it would be a bit overwhelming for the room, after the second coat dried it immediately settled into the Color of Our Dreams. I'm digging it.

Unfortunately, while we thought we could get away with just painting one wall and leaving the others, Rapture Blue doesn't play well with the old color. So sometime next month (no more money in the budget for paint this month, living room!) we'll spread out our painting supplies alllll over again and resume painting. Sigh...

Meet me in the bathroom.

Lovely new showerhead!
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

Yesterday morning, in the 30 minutes between the alarm sounding and the moment I actually had to get out of bed, I heard Aaron swear in the shower. When I asked what was wrong, he turned off the water and said, "Um, I just broke the showerhead."

Good news: We've always hated that showerhead! It's an ancient, plastic piece of crap and the water just dribbles out of it.

Bad news: Actually, there is no bad news, except maybe that the project set us back $50. For the first time ever, we were quite happy to have broken something as it provided the necessary motivation to get off our butts and do some home improvement. Yee-haw!

So we trekked over to Home Depot, picked out a new chrome showerhead, replaced the old one and then stood back to admire our handiwork. Happy Christmas, bathroom!

Shelf life.

Aaron hangs a shelf.
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

After we hung the Marimekko fabric on one of the kitchen nook walls in April, Aaron and I thought, "Now to hang something on the other nook wall!"

Aaron had his heart set on a shelf for his light-hungry plants, and I wanted to hang up some pieces of art. So we knew what we wanted—all we had to do was actually make it happen.

Eight months passed.

Finally, last week, I couldn't take it anymore. That bare wall was driving me crazy. I trekked over to Pottery Barn, bought a shelf, and Aaron hung it up this weekend. It matches the woodwork in the nook perfectly, and I couldn't love it more.

Now all we need are a few more bits of artwork for the walls and we'll be done. (Speaking of, check out that adorable bird print I picked up at the No-Coast Craft-O-Rama the other weekend--isn't it lovely?)

We're almost there! Action feels good.

Look through any window.

Getting back on the horse house-wise, this weekend I made curtains for the kitchen window. Inspired by pictures of Thomas O'Brien's kitchen in a recent issue of Domino, I bought some hardware from Jo-Ann Fabrics and a sheer shade from Ikea and, for $25 bucks, threw together a simple window treatment.

Before (an old shot without the backsplash—I was too lazy to take down the curtains for a better "before"):


After:

Touch of grey.

Black and Serious
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

Did I mention that our house finally got painted? They just finished it up last week. The body is grey, the trim is white and the doors and shutters are black black black. I just LOVE it. You can see the front of the house here, plus a link to the previous paint job.

Colour me in.

Side view.
Originally uploaded by AnneRosso.

Our white house is now grey (Sherwin-Williams Serious Grey, actually). The trim is still being painted, but everything should be wrapped up by early next week.

I am still adjusting to the color change.