Overdue Hellos!

Happy Holidays my lovely friends! I have been going through blogging withdrawls over the last week or so, and while we have been having quite a rollercoaster of a month so far I cannot thank you enough for your comments and emails! I think I have popped my laptop open maybe 2 or 3 times at most over the last few weeks with only a few moments to read through your sweet words without the time or opportunity to write back and say

Thank You.

I have so many new and exciting things to tell you about that have built up like a pot boiling over, but to avoid overwhelming both myself and you I will spread it out a little. After the surgery I have been on a strictly enforced couch potato existance (which nearly drove me mad!) but even that didn't seem to protect me from a nasty cold that either came home from the hospital with me or was already floating around here because it hasn't been pretty. The one thing I actually want to do is sleep this cough and sore throat just won't let me.

It also didn't stop me from cracking the whip once in a while, reminding Sean that these stairs aren't going to finish themselves! I usually don't push him much, but we had a birthday party planned for last weekend and I had my heart set on at least finishing up all the messy work (like plastering, sanding, painting, etc...). And he didn't disappoint, on top of already caring for Wren and me and working at the restaurant. But the most exciting thing he did was bring in this buffet before the party that I had been working on.

You may remember me mentioning it all the way back in February, but it slowly became crowded by more pressing pieces. The fact that this needed to have 9, yes, a whopping 9 layers of paint sanded and scraped off didn't make it much of a fun job, hence the lack of motivation.

But we got it done (excluding the 2 handles we didn't get on in time for the party) just in time to bring it in last Saturday. Sean really made my day with this one!!

He also made sure that our new-old door pediment was up. At 1am he was drilling holes for wall anchors, but it was soooo worth it.

We decided to go with a slightly cooler white than the walls, just enough to make it contrast ever so slightly in person.

And it adds a ton of much-needed character to the tall, blank wall. Now we just need to track down a new light fixture and we can check the entry off our list!

But the biggest of the jobs he managed to tackle these last weeks were the stairs. Not so much laying the flooring, because while it is a time consuming, tedious job we have done enough floors to feel comfortable with it. The much bigger job was repairing the walls from the carpet and getting them pretty enough to have simple, clean, white risers.

After installing the smooth, woodend back plate for the risers he platered and repaired all the edges. Once the plaster was all dry he had to set up yet another bubble (much like the one we did while spraying the railings) to keep all the dust under control when it was time to sand it smooth.

With a few passes of the palm sander and a fresh coat of paint they blend in perfectly and are exactly what we envisioned.

I don't even mind the exposed wood, it was just that ripped, torn and ugly drywall that was really driving us mad!

Our poor wall of sea-side paintings took a little beating with all the hammering and banging and will definitely need to be leveled!

We wanted to get a little creative with the stair treads and try a different pattern with the wood. With long, linear lines for the main step contrasted by vertical planks between the railings all the way to the edge. Almost like a little trim going along the staircase.

Sean also did a fantastic job on the landing! He turned those lengths diagonally for added interest. Already it feels like night and day and all we can keep saying to each other is "why did we wait so long to attempt this?". And I know why, because we like to give ourselves unreasonable and stressful deadlines to get this stuff done...

But it hasn't been all work and no play. When Saturday rolled around I ventured out of the house for the first time in nearly 2 weeks to pick up the goodies. We did a variety of cupcakes again (we ordered 45 cupcakes and will be eatting them for breakfast lunch and dinner for the next wee!) as well as all Wren's favorites from Duchess (our favorite local bakery!). I was so excited to finally use this tiered garden tray I've had laying around for the last couple years...

As well as getting to use some galvanized metal name plates that I found at Anthropologie a LONNNNG time ago for $3. They always seem to get forgotten at the back of the drawer, but with all this time on my hands I was sure to bring them out!

Wren's big 2nd birthday party was a blast, and to follow it up on Sunday we had a brunch with my family where Wren got to meet Santa for the first time. She is absolutely enthralled by Santa movies, books and music but when it came time to actually meet her latest Hero this was about as close as she would get.

But all in all it was a fabulous weekend with good food, friends and memories. And more good food!

(and I think I gained back at least half the weight I lost with this whole ordeal, which is a GOOD thing!! It was starting to feel like the skeletor was looking back at me in the mirror)

Anyways, it is SOOOO good to be back and I can't wait to share our December candle of the month as well as some exciting news from Sean!