little blue sweater

baby_sweater 220 It’s baby season, which means I’m at it again with the handmade gifts. I’ve mentioned before that I really enjoy knitting for kids because you get the satisfaction of making something somewhat complex but on a smaller scale. This sweater took me quite a lot longer than the grey sweater I knit last year since it was made with a smaller garter stitch. The hood is by far my favorite part.

baby_sweater 221I also love these handmade buttons I found at The Little Knittery. They weren’t too cutesy and with the burned wood, they have just enough character. Off this will go to some happy new parents (Who hopefully don’t read this blog. I don’t think they do.) just in time for the cooler months.

living room color

living room The first thing we did when we moved into our apartment was paint the living room and dining room. It took forever, even with no furniture and lots of help. I have never been 100% happy with the color we chose though, which is generally what happens when you choose from swatches and never see what the paint looks like on the wall. It’s a little too dark and a little too green. While it works better in our dining room with all the dark mahogany furniture, I wish it was just a little lighter and more subdued.

I’ve been talking about repainting for awhile now, (probably since soon after I finished painting the kitchen) but whenever I bring it up Shawn points out I haven’t bothered to repaint our mantel this whole time and that both rooms is quite a bit larger project. Well guess what, I finally painted the mantel this weekend which I think means I get to paint the rest, right?

I really want a pale blue / green / grey. The trick is to pick a color that is neither too dull nor too poppy which can be tricky with blues. I like the blue above from Martha Stewart and also the first blue room in Tamera’s Greek Revival post. Maybe a more subdued grey would be nice. My biggest worry is that I’ll never be totally satisfied because our walls are textured and weird. I think it’s worth a try though. Right now nearly everything in the living room is the same tone and it needs some contrast. We probably also need a wooden coffee table rather than the white one we have and some new accent pillows for the couch, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Photos from Martha Stewart