Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

 
 Our first Halloween here in Arizona.  It was quite the party.  Since the weather is perfect for a night stroll, everyone is outside enjoying the crowds that go by.
 
Spencer was a spy.

Tanner was a ghost.  (I used dry shampoo to make his hair and face white, weird I know, but it worked)

Logan was a vampire.

Preston was a policeman.

I was a slacker this year on costumes.  We waited until the last minute to look for things to go with their costume.  We didn't find much, so we mostly just used what we had.  They all still got plenty of candy!

Happy Birthday to Logan today too!  He is now 9 years old.  He's a great kid; responsible, self-motivated, and just a sweet boy!

New Paint Colors

 We have almost finished painting the entire main floor of the house after eight gallons of paint.  We rented scaffolding so we could paint the high ceiling entry and install a foyer light.  Let me just say getting on the very top of the scaffolding was very scary.  I made Jason do all the painting up there, I only had to get up there to help him put it together.  I don't recommend it to anyone who is afraid of heights, I didn't think I was until getting up there. 

Most of the walls in the house are brown.  We are now in the desert and all the houses are brown on the outside, I don't know why it has to look like a desert in the inside too.  I chose three different colors for the main floor.  In this post I will show one color that I chose for the formal living room and dining room.  Picking out colors was quite the challenge.  I wanted to do it right the first time.  Colors always look different than what I had imagined once on the walls, but overall it has been a huge improvement. 

(Before)

I chose Silverstrand by Sherwin Williams.  It is a blue gray color, which looks more blue than I expected, I thought it had a slight green tint to it, but I don't see the green anymore.  I do like it, it's a nice color.  By the way, the nice people at Sherwin Williams told me that they were going to have a 40% off sale on paint, so I waited for the sale.  I will ask next time I need more paint when they will have a sale.

I wish my camera was better at capturing the color better.

I will be posting about the other colors soon.

A Brighter Kitchen

If you know me well, you know I like a light and bright house.  The kitchen in our new home felt a little bit like a dungeon, well maybe not that bad, but it did feel dark to me.  The countertops and backsplash were a black granite tile, that seemed really hard to keep looking clean.  I always have had light colored countertops and realized that I've always been happy with them, even though they had been laminate.  We decided to replace these countertops with Quartz Silestone in Blanco City.  Because quartz can get a bit pricey, I chose the lightest color option in the least expensive group.  We bought them and had them installed by Home Depot.  They had a 10% off special, plus by signing up for a credit card I got another 10% off.  I think we got a great deal. 

After the old countertops and backsplash had been removed, it felt brighter already.

I love the new countertops!  They feel clean, bright, and modern.  We just did the 2cm thickness, which was the base price.  I was a little worried they would be too thin, but it seems normal to me and doesn't bother me at all.

After shopping for a new sink, I found one that works perfect for us.  It's a silgranit one bowl sink.  We have a garbage disposal in the one and only drain, no more food stuck in the wrong drain.  I think this is going to be great with kids.  So far I love it!!!

We could have done an undermount sink, but it wasn't that important to me, at least not for $250.

We have our glass tile backsplash ready to install and our island butcher block still needs to be cut and finished before installing.  I will be posting more pictures soon, we've been painting the house, repainting the brown walls with more updated colors.

Aqua Glass Floor Lamp

 Our living room doesn't have any lights at all.  I was on a mission to find a floor lamp to get started with the lighting in there.  I remembered seeing a floor lamp at Pier 1 Imports that I liked.  So I went to the store and saw "it", and it was more beautiful than I had remembered.  But, there was one problem, the price.  I couldn't pay $200, even though I really wanted it.  After I wiped the drool off my chin I roamed around a little dreaming of how perfect it would be in my living room.  The sales guy there asked if I needed any help, I asked if they were going to have a lamp sale anytime soon.  He didn't know, and asked which lamp I liked.  I told him which one and he said he had one in the back not in perfect condition that he could sell discounted.  I got excited and wanted to see it.  The top glass ball was missing and the part the lamp shade attaches to was loose and we couldn't figure out how to tighten it and the discount was getting greater.  It also didn't have the original lampshade, but said I could pick out one of their extra ones they had in the back.  To make a long story short, by time I got to the checkout, I paid $50! 

It was so cool walking out of the store with the lamp I thought I would never have.  Anyways, after about 15 minutes of messing around with the lamp, I had it tightened up and working just fine.  I love the lampshade too, it's silvery.  I love a great deal!