Vacations and honey-do lists

I'm about to embark on a 5-day trip to Ohio with my children. Just my children. They're 7 and 4 and for the most part get along, but I can't help waking up at night at the thought of being confined in the car with them for 13 hours. Thank God for Harry Potter and audio books.

My husband has decided to sit out this trip, so I've left him a long list of honey-do chores. The top most priority being to house-train the puppy. The second, replace the kitchen ceiling fan. The thing is a death trap. The third, get the flower beds in order.

The previous owner was at one time a fabulous gardener, but a lot of things were left to go to seed and now the once-beautiful gardens resemble not much more than a weed patch. Something one of our neighbors has commented on over and over again. 

Tune in next week to see how it all turned out!

Carpet dilemma

Mark and I have been having a battle of wills over the carpet on the steps and upstairs hall. I want to rip it out, well, yesterday. Mark firmly believes in carpet on the stairs for safety reasons. The carpet is dark green with a leaf pattern in slightly lighter green. Now, green is my absolute favorite color. But green carpet? With a yellow Lab? Oh, and there's something about this carpet that makes the dog hair stick like glue. I've tried everything, rubbing it down with a dryer sheet, (the carpet, not the Lab) vacuuming in concentric patterns, Arm and Hammer pet hair remover. Everything. 

 So I'm picturing a runner on the steps. Possibly with an Arts and Crafts paisley or floral pattern. Harvest colors, of course.

  Our summer project however will be battling the weeds that have taken over the flower beds. We kind of wanted to wait until we knew exactly what was in the flower beds, but the neighbors have remarked a couple of times about all the weeding we need to do. Ugh.

Prairie, Not Prairie

The previous owners of our house, nice as they were, weren't really concerned with sticking to the Prairie design on the interior. Now, once I 

discovered the Prairie style, I absolutely fell in love with it. I love the simple lines, the warm colors. I love the "earthiness" of it. Here's a photo of our dining room prior to our renovation:

Definitely not Prairie.

Here's our renovated dining room:

Prairie, through and through. We were so excited to find that light fixture at Menard's of all places. So many people have asked if it was original to the house!

The color is Hubbard Squash, from the Arts and Crafts collection by Sherwin Williams. We liked it so much, were continuing with the color in the main hallway and the living room. 

Love it. Love it, Love it, love it.