Shame on baby steps

 As you can see I changed my design a touch . I went with three smaller panels and two upper panels, I love it. I just need to finish the top details after I add the casing around the new door opening.

 I just love wainscoting.

 It's so pretty and makes a great back drop , for shaming. OMG I just couldn't help myself.

Moe is on the left and Dolce is on the right. I'm not sure why Dolce looks so mad?
This has been an ongoing problem, marking. And when one marks so does the other one , it's a vicious cycle. So I am dealing with it by making both dogs wear belly bands which don't allow for marking. I didn't even know they made belly bands for such a reason. I had to just make my own.
Hopefully this will break the habit. My poor drapes.....

I don't believe in human shaming but heck the dogs have no clue I'm shaming them online and it's darn funny to me.

Moving onto the wainscoting

 We just completed out 1 year touch up list with our builder Tribute Communities. Our builder has been so great and very reliable to make any and all repairs that were needed. One little issue we had but that we thought we could live with was a missing bit of framing of the door way leading into the living room. But it was causing a problem for painting and it really needed to be added.

That's much much better, a little 2"x 6" and some drywall and the rest is up to me. I need to trim up the opening so that I can get what I want. I just need to get motivated and mostly I have been waiting for the weather to warm. Good news it has started , the thaw has begun. 

I even started the wainscoting to see how I like it. I am doing the same design as I used on the stairwell wall , which I love. I am going to continue this through the main hall.

Maybe I need to add another baton to the bottom and one to the top space??? decisions decisions.

Thinking spring

 We may just have received a fresh coating of snow here but I am hopeful that spring will eventually come our way. We have been discussing what to do with our blank slate of a back yard.
First things first we need a fence for the front of our side yard . Secondly we need a deck , a nice spot to sit out and enjoy mornings, afternoons and evenings for about 5 months of the year.

 Here is a reminder of what we are working with.

                                                                         
We have also decided to take the spot behind our garage (see pic above) at some point and have a custom spa created.
Here are some of the photos that I love of custom spas.

 We have the space for 8'x10' sized spa. I would also like a water feature , a water fall of course.

 I love this one with the water fall coming out of the stone wall and with the lovely pergola.
I think it is time to get some quotes. I think it will be amazing when our back yard is done , in a couple of years. We have big plans. We want to create a great get away and an awesome entertaining space.

       Another great plan we have is to create an outdoor kitchen and bar area somewhat like this one. We will build it off of our separate garage , this will be amazing to have.

 Back to the deck , this we will do ourselves. I want a lovely railing to define the space , like this one but crisp white.

 I love this deck , I am stealing this cut back design and the ground level stone work.

                            Cedar for sure for the top and pressure treated for the frame

Simple beautiful details , I am looking forward to working on the yard for sure. I am so longing to get outdoors in the warm weather.
You can check out more of what is inspiring me on Pinterest HERE 

 In the upcoming months we will be finally taking our girls on a trip of a lifetime to Aruba. We haven't been on a family vacation in 4 plus years, so sad I know. And our kids have never experienced the tropics or the ocean so this is going to be really fun. I am so looking forward to it and especially having my kids experience something so amazing.
I was very fearful because of my daughters life threatening peanut allergy , so many places like Mexico and Dominican were out for me due to the language barrier. English is a spoken language in Aruba and it is especially safe to explore which is a great comfort. Although I am a touch nervous still regarding my daughters allergy but that comes with the territory.

                                 I can not wait to be here... this is going to be great.

After this winter we really need a getaway....

Did you get away this winter , are you dying for spring and warm sun like me?