So, after hanging 5,923,364 pieces of newspaper on the wall in all of the framing combinations presented here, I decided to take the advice of those of you who recommended going more minimalist. I wish I'd taken your advice in the beginning because all that newspaper being strewn about the living room totally confused the puppy.

We're waiting on some sort of special cords to get here so that we can move the cable box and such to the shelves and then I'll get full room photos. Because this room? It's ALMOST DONE. It's the only room in the house that I will be able to call finished after this week.

I'm pretty happy with how it is coming together, it's not been easy trying to mesh my love of girly colors, thrift shop finds and oodles of trinkets with my husband's love of massive televisions, neutral colors, and zero clutter. I dare you to take that project on, Genevieve Gorder.

Although I can't believe I PAID MONEY for rocks and branches. But none of our trees have those kind of branches. And besides, I'm kind of avoiding trees in general, after that whole baby bird incident…

Here is my issue. I thought I knew what I wanted to do on this wall. We finally got a piece of furniture to hide all of our electronics in and I wanted to hang a collection of my frames above it. Sadly, that did not work out so well.

The issue is, there is a massive television over that fireplace (obviously I did not think this "compromise" thing all the way through). I was worried that it would look weird to have the frames on the wall next to it. I tried it and it turned out that weird was not my problem. My problem was that my seven frames looked like teeny little ants on that huge expanse of wall. Help.

 

So then I thought maybe I should take up the entire wall with frames. Like one of these options. But then I have to order either the hangers or the shelves first. And I am scared to do that without knowing if it will be ugly.
 

So what do you think? Should I try one of these? Which one do you think would work on that wall? Or should I scratch the frame idea all together and do something else there? And if so, what else could I do?

I'll be honest with you, the shape of this room is totally throwing me. This is why I should keep the Christmas tree up year round. The Christmas tree TOTALLY WORKED THERE.

 
 I know you're all wondering how the remodel is going (it keeps you up at night, right?) and so I thought I'd give you a peek. This is the guest bathroom. I can see where this would have been a cute idea for a kid's bath, if it had been well executed. But please see image number two.

Right. 

I totally see where they were going with that. The hardened drips of glue really add to the room. It speaks to me. Seriously, it says "why in the heckfire would anyone just leave all the glue drips to dry on the wall?"

I want y'all to know that the reason they are still on the wall is because I CAN NOT GET THEM OFF. I don't know what these people used to glue them to the wall but I would certainly like to. Because apparently, it's THE BEST GLUE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD and I've got a deer head I'd like to hang in the trophy room. Just kidding. I don't have a trophy room.

Someone suggested steaming them first, so that's my plan for next weekend. Steam and a crowbar. 

Although if I can get one of those pink flamingos off in one piece, it's going straight in the mailbox for you, Ashley Wren. You are welcome.

(Side note: one of my favorite memories is of us girls decorating all of Tiff's dad's deer heads with tinsel and ornaments at Christmas. Y'all do that too, right?)

 
A few snapshots from around the house last week. If you had come over, you would have been charmed by the display of Valentine decor adorning our entryway.

And then you would have walked into my living room and said "Why in the heckfire is your Christmas tree still up?!"

That's why I didn't have anyone over. Which means no one actually saw said Valentine displays. Which means a better use of my time would have been to take down the Christmas tree rather than spending 472 hours creating garlands out of heart shaped cocktail napkins and the ribbons from my Victoria's Secret purchase. But I don't like to dwell on the past. Leftover conversation heart anyone?

Still on my to-do list: curtains, fabric to cover the chair seats and a large empty frame to surround the two on the wall. Overall though, we managed to refinish all of the furniture before we had family over for the holidays! Although I might have possibly been a little jumpy about people actually using said furniture, but you would be too if it took you nearly 20 hours to refinish it all. The table is for looking at people, not for eating at. Like a museum.

Here is the before shot of the dining room:
 
And here is the after:
 

I am pleased with this room because we saved a ton of money by refinishing my grandmother's dining room set. We already had the bench and we already have the curtains but I'm not very good at measuring things, so I've been forbidden to hang them. You make a couple extra holes in your first apartment and suddenly you're not allowed to use a drill anymore. Hopefully I can get Jeff to tackle that on Friday. His drill using privileges haven't been revoked.