I’m sure holiday cards are flooding your mailbox *wow, doesn’t snail mail feels so foreign?* I absolutely loved our card this year. It was difficult to top past year’s awesomeness
2008 Pre-Olivia
2009 Preggers with Olivia
2010 Olivia’s 1st Christmas
2011 She’s a pro now!
This is one AWESOME card drawn by the talented Story & Chris
This card wins at everything! From Warren & Kim
Incredibly creepy and wonderful, YAY!!
I’m going to attempt to keep this brief since I must get ready for the yard sale *of pretty things* in a minute. Yesterday Antz finished the re-organization project in our laundry nook. We bought this wire holder from the Container Store to hold our card/foam board we use for our chalkboard signs *since Liv tries to draw on them. We thought we could hook it under the shelf and slide them in and out easy, peasy. Well it didn’t turn out as we imagined so Antz went to the hardware store and came back in MacGuyver mode. He built a special shelf that holds all our paper/boards and other things that were homeless. Dude! I am always blown away by his resourcefulness, he takes $10 and does the impossible. So now our shelf went from this
2008, not that bad
2009, at it’s worst, we lost the curtains due to a paint accident
Last weekend
Now look!We got rid of so much junk and organized. I can’t tell you how overwhelmed it felt before. I would go to Target and bring stuff home with nowhere to put it. We also had to spend 10 minutes going though everything to find something. It was a Hoarders situation.
Yesterday, See my handy dandy new shelf for oversized paper and cardboard. Of course Antz is painting it white but it’s pretty
My Real Simple mags now have a cozy new home
We used the wire for my binders and other supplies, our orchid is being rehabilitated so it’s hanging out on the shelf far from Livzilla’s wrath.
We will be curtain shopping after Christmas
LOOK WHAT I WOKE UP TO FIND!!!!
Antz painted the pantry door in chalkboard paint. I’ve been wanting to do that for a year…Happy Happy!
Holy SHIZBALLS!! I LOVE IT
Even have a cute bucket to hold chalk.
Now I must run to the sale…I’m keeping my fingers crossed I find something SPECTACULAR!
This morning we actually got all dressed to go to her swimming lesson when we looked out the window and saw grey, drizzly skies. Talk about June gloom! So we have now missed two out of our six swimming lessons so far. Bummers
Since we ended up staying home I’m going to take you on a photo tour of La Maison Hall Conley since I have yet to post a house tour.
Our lovely home on the Open House February 2006
Red doors are a sign of prosperity in Chinese culture, good sign
Fast forward to March 6, 2006 Aww snap, We are HOMEOWNERS!!!
Our front porch – After
Arrrggh ye mateys! *my favorite flag*
You may not tell but we repainted the red door and changed the doorknob. Antz also re-tiled that top row on the stairs after our clumsy gardener, Jose broke most of them dragging up his lawnmower. D’oh!
It leaked, it felt like you were walking on a trampoline and it was the biggest nightmare renovation project we’ve ever encountered
After a light rain
We decided that March 2010 *whilst I was 7 months pregnant* we would have the garage roof repaired because we didn’t want the growing mold in the garage to effect our unborn baby’s health *good enough reason, right?* and we didn’t want our soon to be child to one day fall through the paper thin deck/roof. It was supposed to be a five days project *I had to snort when I wrote 5 days because turned out to be more like 5 weeks* I guess that’s what happens when you begin a project on Friday the 13th.
All this progress took place in the course of ONE day. They were moving at lightening speed and they covered the roof that night for upcoming rain…which ended up turning into FIVElongweeks of NO WORK!! Between permits, city inspections, rain and our contractor avoiding us to work on another *more expensive* project, I almost lost my marbles with stress from this well-intentioned upgrade. Many times I wished we had just let it be.
Our new pricey, city mandated, fire wall. Talk about no bang for your buck!
This was the only shot of David, our contractor, *he’s probably on the phone with Anthony for the millionth time trying to assure us it will be done in time for our shower* He helped the crew paint the 12th coat of white paint because the wood wasn’t pretreated so it soaked up paint like a sponge.
The garage roof/deck – After Well, it doesn’t leak anymore!
Living room – Before we moved in
One aspect that sold us was the lovely vintage Tiffany-style ceiling fans and the abundance of original crown molding and windows….Love at first sight!
Living Room – During our move in
The room is full of windows and bright
Out of our hundreds of friends *and many of them we have helped move in the past* only Antz older sister, Clinnie, generously helped us move into our new house. Not only that but it was cold and rainy and she had to go to work later that day. She even scrubbed our bathtub with CLR…we vowed then to NEVER move without hiring professional again!
EDITOR’S ERROR: I humbly apologize to Leslie & Stephen Saiz, our wonderful amigos and our daughter’s Godparents. I somehow blanked that they did help up carry our heavy as shit furniture up our 20 stairs….in the rain. I’ll say it again, I’ll NEVER move without hiring people again. Sorry, guys!
Anyone who helps a friend move gets like 2,000,000 kharma points!
I drove this monster truck close to 100 miles roundtrip during our move.
Seeing the previous owner’s furniture worried us about the spaciousness of the living room layout but once we added out bright-white, beachy furniture it gave the room more depth.
Living Room – The first week
This is exhausted-looking-me and my Mommy-in-law sitting on our old tiny Ikea sofa that ended up in Antz office.
We didn’t buy our current couch until my birthday, March 20th. It was our first major purchase but I did bargain free, same day shipping since it was my b-day.
It’s more than clear we had no clue about design, and we were living on a budget *how lame is that $30 brown rug from Target?* I never noticed how clunky our old TV was until we got a flat screen.
Our Living Room – After
Eeek, those mini blinds! Atrocious! Our Urban Outfitters curtains transform the room.
Fresh cut flowers make me so happy!
Our Living Room – Now
The Dining room – Before we moved in
The other side of our Living Room/Dining area – After
Love our beautiful congas my Mom gave us as New Parents gift *which Liv has gotten much practice on*
I hope to one day buy a table and chairs and actually use the space as a dining area
Antz made the find of a Century when he brought home this $12 desk and painted it cheery turquoise
I adore my new Anthropologie Orimono lamp shade/thrift store lamp *that Antz spray painted white*
Our Living room niche – Before we moved in
Our niche – Now *baby photos of Antz and me, btw*
The fireplace *it’s tragic we can’t use it or our house will burn down*
Our Fireplace – After Antz re-tiled using the original tiles *amazing job, babe*
Our Kitchen – Before we moved in
Our Kitchen – After we moved in
We had to cut the cabinets over the fridge to fit our brand new, huge Samsung fridge into the space.
Our remedy to cover the now doorless cabinets? Anthropologie dish towels!
And what lives behind those towels now? My beloved Domino magazine collection!
Our Kitchen – After
More Anthropologie Dish Towels *as curtains* So much orange!
breakfast nook
Our old stove/range
I cannot believe we lived with this disgusting old stove for 4 years!
Our new stove/microwave range
One of my favorite presents from Antz, my light blue Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer
*UPDATE* Liz from the future here. We finally remodeled our kitchen! New copper pipes, new Ikea cabinets/countertops, new lovely hardwood floors and A DISHWASHER!! It turned out gorgeous.
We painted the inside of the cabinets a happy pop of light blue
FINALLY Water pressure!!
Our Laundry Nook – Before
Note to any future home sellers: unless you own a kick ass $5,000 fancy washer and dryer, leave your old washer & dryer for the new homeowners! You will be able to afford a sweet Electrolux set in cherry red when you buy your new house. We ended spending $1000 on a set of $299 basic washer and dryer from Sears and it ticks me off they took their old set with them when we asked for ALL appliances in our sales contract.
I do love our laundry nook since our old apartment was 2 flights of stairs to the shared laundry room.
Antz painted the pantry door with chalkboard paint, we love it!
Our ancient hot water heater – Before
This water heater was 17 years old when we bought the house
Today we put the finishing touches on our bathroom makeover. We met Story & Chris at the Montrose farmers market for a quick snack *Antz had meat skewers and I had peanuts*
Spuzz was giving Liv puppy kisses but I never caught her on camera
These were the biggest strawberries I’ve ever seen. We bought a little basket because whenever I buy a giant box they always spoil before we eat them.
Story & Chris gave me a belated birthday present of a $50 Anthropologie gift card *Yay!! You know I’m itching to spend it* I am thinking of applying it to my favorite $88 pillow
We had to stop by Paper Source because last night we ran out paper for the medicine cabinet.
Look how pretty it turned out!!
We can’t get over how lovely our poop room looks!!
I adore my Anthro knobs, they make our tiny sink look lovely.
Hello Antz foot!
We went to our favorite toy store, Wackos and spent forever trying to come up with which theme we were putting on the shelf over the mirror. I wanted Calveras, then I saw Gloomy Bear toys…
But Antz vetoed it and there was only 2 toys and we wanted to fill the entire space
This guy is adorable but more suitable on our bar
I almost went with the Yo Gabbs plushies but Antz reasoned that the fabric may get wet and mildew from the moisture. *Still super cute for Liv* I want to get them but they have to have the complete set!
I was sold when I found this Bride & Groom
It took some convincing for Antz but I love the Calveras/cute style of these guys and the $8 each price tag was right but they are a little smaller than we wanted.
I wanted this guy soooo bad!! It’s so fucking rad but it cost $130 and our total budget was $100 bucks. I have to buy it for our next house. Love this artist, Nathan Ota.
There was a art show going on and I LOVE these pieces!!! Too bad they were all sold.
I am no fan of Betty Boop by any means, but the artist depicted her voluptuous shape that is exactly like mine!
These pieces remind of art Antz did in college. He has a painting of Micky cheating on Minnie with Jessica Rabbit and Minnie getting her revenge with a gun in Liv’s nursery. He also has Donald Duck holding the decapitated head of Mickey while standing on a balcony of the Enchanted Castle. *Any grotesque art of Disney makes me happy!*
Antz picked out these creepy cartoon vinyl cats and we ended spending $100.97!
Here’s how they look in the bathroom.
Now we realize how small the skeletons are we may buy a few more *I liked the Tiger, Koala and the sheep* So we are going to take a house improvement break but sometime in May we will start our veggie/herb garden. This week is going to be my lazy week *aren’t they all lazy?*
In 2 weeks Liv starts World Citizen Dance Class so that will be radness.
My little girl isn’t so little anymore, she is 21 years weeks old!!. I can’t even recognize her from her birth photos.
*Sorry, this is Back to the Future Liz, I know this is cheating but I needed a post with all her weeklies*
Liv was more interested in reaching for my camera than posing, it was a hilarious shoot this week!!
I have been spending so much time in the nursery, I thought it would be nice to see the difference from 5 months ago. Liv’s nursery was even featured on Lil Sugar and OhDeeDoh. This was Antz old office back in March 2010.
The man cave Before
Why we painted it in that awful red and brown, I’ll never know. Maybe we were watching too much of The Shining!
I love how fresh paint can transform a room!
I think the neutral furniture palette was a wise choice. The furniture won’t be dated in 5 years and the accessories bring the color to the room so if we want to change colors everything will be cohesive.
The handmade mobile of us. Created by Anthony after hearing me moan and groan about ugly mobiles.
Her tiny closet
Before
After *I was 6 months preggers at this point*. Today it’s packed to the top!
You’ve come a long way, BABY!
I can’t wait until next March so we can work on the kitchen, bathroom and garage.
It is beyond ridiculous how excited I am about this outfit Antz found on Etsy for Olivia to wear to Yo Gabba Gabba live show next month!! OMG!! So flipping cute!!
I am ordering it as soon as I find out if she can make it in Liv’s size because her shop only has size 12 months and up. HAPPY HAPPY!!
