Snow in ATL

It hasn't substantially snowed in Atlanta since 2011. So when it started coming down yesterday afternoon, I was very excited to see the house covered in snow. 

Since we've been house-bound for the last two days, I started a couple paint projects. 

There's a great wood-working store down the road called Woodcraft, and they've been a huge help with my furniture refinishing project. This time, we picked up a couple different wood stains from General Finishes. 

So far, I've painted our living room bookcase and our stairwell bannister. When I get back from my next trip, I'm hoping to also update our bathroom cabinets. Still very confused about which door hinges to get.

I hear the Gel Stain is much better, but my patience is limited.
I picked the water-based so I wouldn't have to deal with oil-based messes.

The Black is very, very black. But, it does anchor the room much better.
It also puts getting new couches higher up on the list. 

This project took about three days to complete, mostly because I could only do it in the evenings. The spindles are Whitewash and the bannister and stairs are Espresso. I went back and forth on whether or not I loved it, or if it didn't work with the carpet, or the floor, or any other random house-flipping factor that I might not have thought hard enough about. 

I do like how it turned out, if I don't pay attention to little smudges or not perfectly straight lines. Overall, our house is starting to split between very, very white and very, very saturated color. Still waiting to see if it will all come together.

Family-ready

This past weekend, Troy's family came to stay with us. It was their first time in the new house, and we did a lot of sprucing up to accommodate everyone. From smoking a pork roast for 10 hours, to making the guest bathroom inhabitable, to finally unpacking all of our books, the house is a couple steps closer to done (very little steps).

The wish list Ikea Expedit bookcase for the office.
Still needs a couple things to be fully styled, and we plan on getting a second unit to make it floor-to-ceiling. 

New fluffy white comforter from The Company Store, so our family doesn't freeze at night.  I'm picturing all white sheets and curtains, and hopefully a bigger framed print to go above the bed. 

This dresser and mirror set was given to me by my other great-grandmother.
It was polished up and looks pretty nice in the space. Since this is our first photo of the guest bedroom, the color is Sherwin Williams "Sand Dollar".

We finally replaced the mirror in the guest bathroom, and it makes it seem much more spacious. We will eventually replace the light fixtures and repaint the cabinets to lighten the space even more.

A new addition to the house. We found him antique shopping. 

This is our third bookcase. We've put it in the upstairs landing to fill up the space.
While I have a lot of classics and chick lit, everything on the right side are "man books" and anime.

The weekend went by very well, and I think we managed to keep everyone entertained. I have exactly one month until our next big event: a bridal shower. That puts a dining room sideboard, curtains and a Pinterest party on my schedule. 

In the meantime, here are some new things that will find their way to our house soon.

This is a Parks Duffey print of my alma mater, St. Margaret's in Tappahannock, VA. It's getting framed and mounted in the guest room, which will probably be the SMS room before too long.

I found this on Pinterest and it's the perfect piece to go in our foyer. It's originally from London street artist, Mobstr. Since he doesn't really sell prints of his graffiti art, I get to create it myself after a trip to Michael's.
Source: The Chic Pad 

Two topiary trees to go on our front porch.
These will hopefully stay green all year and make the front of the house a bit more welcoming until the spring.