J Cooper Photography

Nothing really.

We are gearing up for the next installment of fun around here….a second round of Christmas to commence this weekend!  We’ve been lucky enough though to have my nieces here this week.  I am one blessed aunt.  These kids are so much fun.

We took in a movie.

And the littlest girls are busy having a sleep over.  {Can’t wait for the Peruvian Princess to join in on the girly fun this weekend!}

It hasn’t been ALL play and NO work though.

WE HIRED A PAINTER – YEAH!

He was scheduled to start last week and paint all of the woodwork on our main floor in 3 weeks – DOUBLE YEAH!

Yesterday…WE FIRED OUR PAINTER – BOOOOO!

Turns out he didn’t have a clue how to paint woodwork which is kind of an essential skill for the job

So guess what I’ve been doing?  Yep…lots and lots of white paint.  And sanding his mistakes.  And painting some more.

We took a little break from heavy duty painting and whipped up a proper hearth for our living room fireplace.  It had a sad and pathetic little metal sheet on the ground.  It was screaming for a major re-do.

Here’s the before: (remember that I already painted the wood surround)

And here’s a grainy iphone snapshot of the hearth in progress!  Just wait till you see it on the fireplace with the NEW TILE (just waiting on the grout!)

I also had fun on a smaller project over the weekend!  I had a hard time parting with my fun pantry chalkboard wall from our other house and knew I needed one in our new kitchen.  The problem…there are NO full walls!  So I opted for a framed one to hang near the eating area.  I re-purposed a large white frame I already had….had some MDF cut to fit the opening (on Christmas Eve at Home Depot) and painted it with Rustoleum’s chalkboard paint.  It was easy peasy and makes a cute addition to our kitchen!

I know lots of you have already stripped your house bare and are busy organizing your rubbermaid tubs.  But stick with me on Christmas for a few more days, K?  I still have loads of cute photos I want to share and we haven’t even made it to Round Two yet

Hope you are home enjoying those you love!