Oh Boy! (or Girl?)

After many speculations here at MorganDesignInc, we’re excited to announce that the Morgan family is currently under construction. Our new addition is expected on March 30th. We’re thrilled, even though a certain someone won’t be the baby anymore…

Yup, I've got a proverbial bun in my proverbial oven. And we couldn’t be more excited to share the news with you guys!

So buckle up for more posts (as soon as I'm able to crawl off the couch) and lots of fun DIY tutorials! We're nothing but home obsessed, here at Casa Morgan.

We Blue It.

Since first posting about plans to paint the exterior of the house this summer (here), you have all been patiently waiting for the final reveal. Well, you've come to the wrong post. But, we did make some progress. Finally.

Last weekend (okay, last last weekend) we finally started painting the house. I started by, of course, taking some photos (I know. weird eh? It’s like I have a blog or something). Here is a photo of the house as you drive down the driveway.

Wow. Ug-ly. With a capital ‘ugh.’ So right we were to paint this ol’ house of ours. We’ve been working for so many years on the inside, I guess we forgot people could see the outside of it to. Heh, yeah, we’re those neighbours.

While taking the first few photos, Lucy couldn’t help but sneak into the shot. She was actually chasing me and smiling into the camera. What a diva.

I felt a little bad for Dutch – being over shadowed by her little (but huge) sister. Dutch was just behaving during all this, obviously stacking wood for us. Good dog.

Here is a photo of the back-yard-side of the living room. Yes, the siding is on an angle – which we hate – but we plan on doing a major renovation to this room in a few years, and it wasn’t worth the time or effort (or money) to replace it right now. “We’ll just throw a little lipstick on this pig, and it will be good as new” (we hoped.)

And here are photos of the front-walkway-side of our living room. We hate the sunrise shaped window, but for now, like the angled siding, it stays.

After taking the first few photos of the house straight on, I realised just how dirty the gutters and roof were. I knew they were a little weathered, but it had never made it on to our regular maintenance schedule.

I figured that we (by we, I mean Hubby and Jamie) should give the roof a good sweep and scrub. So I loaded the boys up with a few beers and sent them up to do my dirty work. Yes, Ladies, this photo proves that man can sweep! It just takes copious amounts of alcohol and the danger of falling to get them to do it.

I managed the scene and watched the dogs while they worked.

Then came paintin’ time! [Insert a rendition of Erin singing ACHammer’s never released remix of the original song – ‘Stop. Paintin’ time!’]

From what I remember about the house paint when we bought it (which is very little) I don’t remember it being so blue. This was the point when we started saying “Wow, it’s blue alright” (code for “What have we done?!”)

Here is photo evidence that we did indeed use the back end of a shovel as a stirring stick. Don’t judge.

Finally after one day of Hubby and I painting, and another day of me flying solo, we have [most] of the living room painted!

Before

After

Wow, it’s blue alright! [This is when we started saying this every time we walked past a painted side, or noticed the paint left over on our finger nails.

Before

After

Okay, we didn’t entirely finish. Have I ever mentioned that I’m not a fan of heights? This was as far as I could reach with my ladder without my knees getting too wobbly.

Again, only part way up the wall on the other side to. We hope to finish it - [before the kids move out] - in the next few weekends.

There you have it. One weekend of lazy, ‘hey-lets-sleep-in-first’ work. The blue still scared us to death for another week, but started to grow on us after that. Good thing, because we are far from done, and we already paid for the paint.

Have any of you ever painted the outside of a house? Did you own the house for 4 years first before you even noticed that it maybe needed to be painted? Did you buy paint that turned out to be a lot blue-er than it did in the paint store? Are you free next weekend to come over and help finish?

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

Snow!! You know how when most people get one of those rare ‘snow days’, usually the whole towns walks to the park to all sled down the hill together in some wintertime camaraderie. Well (without any snickers from the peanut gallery please) I’m not most people. Instead, I curled up with some coffee, French toast, my favorite old movie (To Kill a Mocking Bird) and proceeded to ‘relax’. This of course didn’t last long – suddenly I realized *GASP* I have nothing orange in my living room!! This would never do.

Since I could not go out to buy orange spray paint (you know how I love my spray paint!) I devised a plan to add a small punch of the juicy colour, cost free.

I grabbed a few old cardboard jewelry boxes, and some great scrapbooking paper.

The I narrowed down the scrapbooking papers to a sparkly orange and a cute patterned blue.

Then I proceeded to glue the paper to the boxes as I wrapped them, inbetween sips of coffee.

And, voila!! Cute little boxes to decorate my little table (which you might remember from here: http://morgandesigninc.blogspot.com/2010/11/oh-how-i-love-you-usedvictoriacom.html )

Also, look how great those framed stamps look on the wall. (Original post: http://morgandesigninc.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweet-stamps.html )

Chic Front Doors

What do you do to prepare for summer, when you can't wait another day for some sun shine? Do you dream about laying in the sun on your friend's boat, sipping a cool Stella? Do you plan fun adventures for your group of friends, and decide which island you're going to visit this year? Do you try to scheme a way to keep your back yard lawn looking perfect, yet not have to give one huge newf up for adoption?


Rich and Lucy (AKA Big Bubba)

Well, if you're me, you're thinking about how nice it is going to be to paint the house in the warm sun this summer! And by association: the door! I have a few ideas of what I want for the front door, but am still open to all ideas and pretty pictures:

A Simple Christmas Decoration

Today it has been brutally cold and icy out (well, for Victoria, that is) and although I generally tune out when people complain about being bored, I admit, I am. Richard, the dogs, and I all got enough of the snow yesterday, and now I'm left with a cold house, way too much comfort food, and a house not yet decorated for the upcoming holiday season.

But yes, there is an easy solution! It involves wine, old holiday decorations and some simple ideas.

Here is how to create a simple holiday decoration, using basic holiday supplies. Easy to do and beautiful to look at!

1.

Grab a vase or bowl, lots of ribbon and some left over Christmas tree bulbs

2.

Place big strips of ribbon at bottom

3.

Layer the bulbs on top of the big ribbon

4.

Arrange the narrow ribbon in a big messy pile that trails deep into the vase

5.

Voila! A cute dish of centerpiece goodness! I'm putting mine on the piano for the holidays, assuming I don't make 4 million more.


Also: SNOW!


Dutch


Me sprinkling snow in my dogs face


Lucy and I


Lucy sprinkled with sugar