Enjoying Palm Sunday

Despite the rain this morning, it turned out to be a beautiful day! Perfect for hunting Easter eggs at Nana's house...




Posing for a family photo....




Taking a ride around the block....




And watching the ducks on Meme and Papa's front porch.



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Yes, I am a mother.

Look what I found in my wallet the other day! Yes, I am a mother and apparently I store Cheerios in my wallet.

The weather has been so lovely here in Indy lately! I love it! Ainsley and I decided to enjoy some time at the park before heading for our pizza dinner.
She tried to chase the "da" (dog).

She showed off her bracelet.

Going down the slide was really fun....

...but trying to climb back up was even more fun.

Hope you are getting to enjoy the weather wherever you are!!
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a fun-filled weekend

well, not too much happened at the house this weekend. we're still waiting on a plumbing part so the water can't be hooked up yet. which means we can't clean yet either. also, chad has been batteling a cold so he got some rest...well, as much rest as you can have with a 16 month old child running around.

ainsley and i went to the outlet mall with nana on saturday.

we bought new clothes and new "sooooos" (shoes).

ainsley had a play date with her other born in october 2010 buddies, bryson and cooper:

happy monday!



first signs of spring!

yesterday it felt so spring-like when we went outside to go to school!

At the zoo...

...Literally and figuratively. Soon I will have an exciting post about the house, the bathroom specifically. No pics yet but we are finishing up a few things and then we can call this (very long) process and project a success! Until then, I shall post pics of my favorite person, Ainsley.
We had a fun girls' weekend. Shopping with Nana yesterday. Today Ainsley and Mama went to the zoo (oh and more shopping after that).

We saw lions roooaaring:







And a mama elephant and her baby:




And sharks that we could touch! But A was not really that interested.




She was more interested in snuggling with her blanket!




House pics to come soon!








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Find Simplicity

This should be my mantra living in a fixer-upper:

the bathroom

after years of planning {literally} the bathroom project has officially started.  as some of you know, it took us months to finally receive our custom tile.  where did we order it?  American Restoration Tile.  let me say that the tile is beautiful.  it really is.  the floor is a replica of what we have now, only in different colors.  everything is handmade and hand colored.  it is just gorgeous and exactly what we were hoping it would be.  BUT, what is up with the dude who owns the place, i have no idea.  maybe he is a perfectionist, maybe he is super busy.  but what i DO know is that he totally lacks communication skills.  omg.  we ordered the tile and then we just didn't hear anything.  i would not recommend going with this place at all.  i know we'll be happy with the tile in the end but the waiting was such a pain.  anyways, this is what the tile looks like:

here's a peek at what our bathroom currently looks like, at the beginning of the project. 

this is the space where our new shower will go.  can't wait to have a new bathroom!

living room

what do you think of the new blog look?  i love it.
so another room i'm mulling over lately is our living room.  currently it looks like this:

please don't judge us.  i did finally take care of the laundry after i snapped these photos.  anyways, we are aware that it is horrible.  we are living {as usual} under construction so there are boxes of bathroom tile all over the house. 

back to the the living room.  see the problem {as i see it} is that the room is long {24 feet}, the woodwork is beautiful but it is dark and we will not paint it and the rugs have made the room dark.  {we had to put down two 9x12 rugs so the floors wouldn't get scratched up by dog and baby.}  throw in a dark brown leather couch and ...  do you see where i'm going with this? 

so i think we are going to paint it a light sage green color {i really want to do a sandy tan/cream in the dining and living room but chad wants more color}. 

so i am going to need to lighten up the space with the accents.  i am thinking of repainting our side table and coffee table in an ivory color.  and then throwing down a smaller rug. 

found on ebay

from ikea

i think either of these would lighten up the space.  and then i found a chair at a thriftstore that i want to buy and have reupholstered.

did you know at joann fabric's website you can design your own furniture and accessories.  now you need to have time and patience if you are going to check out it out because it keeps getting stuck.  but what do you think of one of these?

some throw pillows in some different colors and then something done with that desk area.  that's for a different post.  i need some cute storage too.  any ideas for the desk area or storage?

Ideas Abound! {outcomes to follow}

Let's just get it out of the way, it's been like eight years since I last wrote.  I know, I know.  This is a habitual problemo with me.  And I'm sorry.  I really do always want to do better but somehow I can't seem to find the time (or energy) to write in a consistent manner.  I'm sure all two of my readers are super duper upset.

Anywho, can I just say that I am really excited about some of the things happening at Irvington Bungalow?  First of all, life is just so much more interesting and fun with Ainsley.  She is definitely the bright spots in our days.  When work is sucky and the house is a total disaster (both of which are daily occurrences) at least we have this to look forward to:

That face!  OMG.

But ALSO, our bathroom project is {finally} underway.  And if a cute, babbling baby doesn't make you smile, surely a new bathroom will, right?  (I should take some of my own advice when the baby is crying and the bathroom is dusty with plaster droppings everywhere).

We finally received all of the tile about a month or so ago.  And it is beee-u-tee-ful.  Chad is in the beginning stages of demolition with full throttle remodel happening in a few weeks.  But, WAIT.  There's more.  Only I'm not going to give it all away but let's just say this: I'm totally over my kitchen.  And like the "I'm never satisfied" person that I am, I'm already complaining about when we can start the kitchen project.  Since I know it is a few years away, I've been schemin' up ways to give my nasty kitchen a face lift.  Nothing that will cost a whole lot but somethings that will give it the oomph it needs so I can stop stammering and making excuses when someone walks into it for the first time.  Think: chalkboard paint, beadboard, paint colors in white, grey/blue and a deep red or gold/yellow (or both!) for accent colors, open shelves, organization, and some spiffy adornments.  I can't give too much away because Chad reads this blog and it is all a secret until I can present a plan.  Right now, I can show some inspiration:

paint colors:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
possible accent color, found here: 
 

another accent color, found here:



chalkboard paint, inspiration found here:

 
new cabinet hardware, found here:
 
 

So none of this is official because I can't do anything without talking to Chad yet (that's how we roll, for better or for worse!) and I'm still in the scheming planning stages.  But I'm SOOO excited to possibly get a kitchen that I don't loathe.  Wouldn't that be nice??  
ps: don't get an iPad because then you will spend all of your spare time sitting on the couch, getting ideas for which you really don't have the time/energy/money to implement.
 
pps:  most of my inspiration came from two blogs I'm recently obsessing over, found here and here.

goodbye, 2010

another year has come and gone here at irvington bungalow.  2010 was perhaps our most eventful year yet, both housewise and otherwise.  the biggest change?  well, baby, of course.  but we did get to cross the following off of our house to-do list:

• refinish floors
• repair plaster walls
• install drywall where needed
• repair ceilings
• prime and paint bedrooms
• start bathroom/ new plumbing (only demo and purchasing so far)
• new HVAC/heater/AC (this was unplanned)

still on our to do list for 2011:

• finish bathroom/plumbing
• paint LR and DR
• hang pictures
• make outdoor table

the bathroom continues to be an ordeal.  i can't even tell you how disappointed i am with the place we ordered the tile from SIX months ago.  this better be the best tile EVER.

happy new year!!

more ainsley pics

creative title, uh?  here are some pictures of the little bug -

hanging out after bath time ...

shelby and ainsley checking each other out ...



chad snuggling with his little girl ...

lovin' a little naked tummy time !



celebrating thanksgiving at talena and chad's house

hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!!

ainsley's firsts

the third week of life held some firsts.  a first real bath in the whale bathtub, a first shopping trip, the first time mom and ainsley ventured out alone together, a first bottle and the first time to meet chad's grandparents - mema and papa.  i guess when you are less than a month old there will be a lot of firsts, right?

ainsley really enjoyed her first bath....

until she didn't anymore.  which thankfully was when we were just about finished anyways. 

ainsley, mom and nana went on their first outlet mall shopping trip.  who says three weeks is too young (well, mom was thinking this actually but it turned out to be an okay trip.)  mom didn't realize that she had her camera with her the whole time so all she got was a picture of ainsley's loot. 

and ainsley met mema and papa, chad's grandparents, for the first time.  they were in love - and who can blame them?