Kelley House - Living Room

It's been nearly 3 years since we moved into this house and it's amazing how much we've done in that seemingly short amount of time.  Especially when you factor in a 1 year old (at the time we bought our house), a new job for Chad that came with back to back (to back!) restaurant build outs and openings and NOW a new baby to throw into the mix.  House projects have been PLENTIFUL to say the least...BUT!  slowly but surely we've tackled a new room (or small project) every few(ish) months. 

To see individual posts on some of the OTHER house projects we've tackled in the last 3 years, 

click on the links below. (They're in order of the most recently tackled projects first....which you will quickly see was a LONG time ago...(although we HAVE also been working on our upstairs office area these last few weeks).  Blog post coming up on THAT once we actually finish it ;) 

Grant's Nursery Room

Everleigh's Big Girl Bed

Master Bedroom - Before & After

Master Bedroom Tufted Headboard DIY

Restoration Hardware Star Light - HACK

Kelley Kitchen - Progress Photos

Everleigh's Nursery Room

Playroom Progress Photos

Dining Room & Office Area

It's hard to believe that it took so long to FINALLY see some REAL progress in our living room.  Even though it's the room we spend the most time in....with walls so large, I had the hardest time committing to any design decisions.  Funny thing is, it all seemed to come together fairly quickly (and within the last few weeks!).  Once we pulled the plug to get the fireplace mantel and surround painted (the same color as our kitchen cabinets), everything seemed to fall into place after that.  Hallelujah!!  

I also think it's funny that things seem so much smaller in photos than in real life.  

Although I DO want to switch out a few of those baskets on the wall to larger ones for more variation, (as I find them)..they definitely aren't as small as they appear.  AND neither is that clock!  Just to give you an idea of scale, that clock is the entire WIDTH of my SUV and barely made it home in my car at all.  

Before the baskets & wall art. 

Panorama at night - I LOVE having lighting options for that warm glow :)

   

I swear and I can arrange and RE-arrange things a million times before I'm happy with the placement.  

Here is our mantle in its current state.

The nice thing about having a chef husband is him working at restaurants that get their wines shipped in these cool crates!  Instant decor :)

AND with awesome wine crates... comes LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of wine CORKS!

My latest wreath craft project made from a pool noodle :)

Grant Henry Kelley - 7 Months

Poor kid.  One of these months I'll be on task.  It's coming up on his 8th month and I'm JUST now getting around to this post.  Once again, I DID in fact take his photos on time.. just took nearly a month to get them on here.  And as you can see, the chair didn't last.  Dude almost took a header reaching for the carpet so I decided it wasn't worth the fight and let him do his thing.  :)  

Not yet crawling but he sure does like pushing up like he's gonna take off at any moment.  :)  

So.. here's my sweet boy who turned 7 months on March 11th :)  

What's a Mom To Do..??

What's a mom to do when a photo shoot doesn't go quite as planned and smiles were few and far between??

Take your own pictures!

With as many pictures as I take (daily, non stop... ALWAYS!) it should come as no surprise to anyone that I just HAD to try my hand at getting some smiles captured with our real camera for Grant's half birthday.  With Valentine's Day being just 3 days before he turned 6 months, I took the opportunity to continue the heart theme at home.  

Luckily for me (and you ;) I'm stubborn.  It took THREE separate sessions (in one day) to get pictures I was finally satisfied with.. This BOY!! I swear..lol.

Thankfully though, I caught it.  FINALLY.  The perfect smile.  That cheesy grin.  That sideways glance.  It is everything.

The whole series of photos can probably do with some color editing and all that mess...but lets be real here.  Who has time for that?!

 

Grant's 6 Month Professional Photo Shoot

As we did for Everleigh when she turned 6 months old, we enlisted a professional to help capture this time in his life and celebrate our bear's half birthday.  Unfortunately, our normally SUPER smiley Mr. Man wasn't so smiley no matter how goofy and silly we made ourselves look to all the people passing by .. Booooo..Hisssss..

I'm honestly not surprised though.  Everleigh was the exact same way for her 6 month shoot.  I swear our two bears are already devising ways to make us nuts.  ;)  Haha.. 

Thankfully, we did get a handful of sweet looks and if I must say myself, his "SERIOUS" face is pretty darn cute too.  

Now.. on with the show.