Spicin' it up!

We made a few changes in the house the last few days, thanks to some generous X-mas gifts we got from our family, and then mixed up our art work a little too. Here's what's going on:

The main piece that spurred us to do the rearranging was a gift from Jeff's aunt Jane. It's an Art Deco blue tinted mirror from around 1930-1935 that she found in an antique store. Sooo cool! We love it.

Here's a close-up. I had wanted a mirror by the door to check for crazy Baby Jane lipstick smears or crooked ponytails on the way out so we really liked this location for it. Of course that meant that the Mark Millers we had flanking the console had to be moved so we tested out a few options and decided to move the Mark Millers to where the Alex Gross print was next to the TV, and swap that out to the other wall. I'm very pleased with this new arrangement. Liv likey.

It feels more balanced (yet not perfectly symmetrical which would look too perfect for our mish-mashy living room) to have two pieces on each side of the TV. And look it! A new piece of furniture!! I know I said I was done for awhile, but this piece was necessary (and on sale at Cost Plus!). Jeff and I have made a 2011 NY resolution that we will be shoeless in our house. I'm tired of vacuuming and mopping the wood floors constantly (even though I love my steam mop) and we track in SO much dirt and filth on our shoes so that's it. Sorry friends. We will buy a big basket of Asian slippers to offer you in exchange for your kicks when you come over. It's also another DIY project in the making. I'll be reupholstering the top cushion with something Lily-proof soon.

You may have noticed our lovely new crocheted blanket on top of the couch in the last picture. My mom made that for us! She was going for Lily Mae's colors, and here she is demonstrating how nicely they coordinate:

Sue also got us an amazingly soft ivory knit blanket for x-mas, but that bad boy is dry clean only so that one will be saved for when company is over and Lily Mae (and her bodily fluids) is nowhere to be seen...

A new addition to the bathroom... An architectural piece by our friend Seth Drenner (who also helped us with our wedding invitations, thank God).

And then the last major art piece to go up: our beloved friendly Yeti. Jeff did this piece way back when for his senior show at the Art Center. He was up in our TV room in the old house and stashed away in our closet in this house until now. We missed him. Look how perfectly he fits!! The chandelier is bothering me though because this is the view from the kitchen through the laundry room. It blocks his face and I don't like it. I think I  might replace this chandelier with the one we got from the seller of our Danish bedroom set, and hang it lower so you can see his face and it's closer to the table. Another day.

These copper cups (which I'll use as vases most of the time) were a x-mas gift from Jeff's other aunt Lee Ann. I love how they look with the woods and the other metallics we have going on in our sparkly dining room. Purdy.

And lastly, we treated ourselves to some gardening help with the money Santa gave us. Our orange tree was eating the fence, just as the weird pod tree was eating our roof so we got those trees trimmed, along with the two cherry trees in front and all of the weeding that needed to be done along the side of the house. They did it so quickly, and saved us a huge effort. Well worth it we think. The kitchen is so much brighter now with those low hanging branches gone, and the backyard is so much sunnier with 1/2 of the orange tree gone!

Here's a before:

And an after:

Hey neighbors!! Bye privacy! It's okay, it'll fill in soon I'm sure. Here's the pod tree, trimmed back to a respectable size:

That's it for now! We have a reason for making these spruce-ups but it's a mini-secret until next week. Stay tuned!