7QT #49: chalk paint, baby clothes, & stripes

Another week, another quick takes post! Head to Kelly's for more.

1.
I know I shared a bit on Instagram, but here's the final product of our chalk paint job on our piano! (We've been all about the house projects recently. Or at least I have - the spring weather does that to me.)

If you've ever had hesitations about chalk painting, throw them away! It was SO easy and I'm in love with the final product. The best part? Hardly any smell while painting, and it's all low VOC/etc etc so safe to paint around kiddos.

We used Valspar Chalky Finish Paint and sealing wax from Lowe's (because I couldn't find an Annie Sloan dealer anywhere in Lincoln, and didn't want to wait to ship it online). They had 40 colors to choose from and we went with Moonstone Ring.

Two coats of paint and a coat of wax later, and it's all done and I'm swooning. It makes our dark living room feel so much bigger & brighter!

2.
MURPHY.
Murphy has been a somewhat good puppy lately, except for the last two nights she started chewing up my new kitchen rug. :(

play syringe from Kate's doctor kit ^^^^

And then when she got put out in the yard this morning, she chewed through Kate's swing straps even more than she already had. (Which is somewhat my fault for not putting it up higher than it was, but grrrr nonetheless.)

Now she's asleep like this in the living room and I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Puppies are hard work!

3.
David had late meetings last night, so I binge-watched more of House of Cards (so drama!!!) and sorted through the 4-5 tubs of baby clothes we were storing in the basement. Talk about an emotional project! I had a hard time remembering Kate fitting into some of the things I ran across.

Jenny's post the other day about getting rid of baby things, trusting they'll come back around to you when you need them, really resonated with me -- so I've got a pile to donate, a pile to hand-down to a friend, a pile to keep, and a pile to sell bit by bit so I can shop early at my favorite consignment events twice a year. ;)

I need to do the same with all of Kate's toys -- we've been pretty good about rotating them in and out, but I need to just let go of some that we don't like, and try not to feel bad about it.

4.
I folded this pile of my clothes the other day, and I turned to David and asked, "Do you think I like stripes, or what?" and he replied, "The funny thing is, you'll probably go around and buy a striped thing the next time you go out shopping."

He's not usually wrong, and I'm guessing he'll be right again for this. Stripes are just so fun!

the sad thing is that's not even all of them

5.
Someone else please take this Gilmore Girls Soulmate quiz and tell me if you get ANYONE else but Christopher. I got Christopher, Caitlin got Christopher, another friend of mine got him too, and then David got Luke. (Yes, I made David take the test. He hasn't even seen Gilmore Girls...and that's irrelevant.)

CHRISTOPHER SHOULDN'T EVEN BE IN THE RUNNING. Who made him an option??? He is not at all what you think of when you think of "leading men on Gilmore Girls". Dumb.

(I'm irrationally angry about this. Let's be honest, I was hoping for Jess, and was willing to settle for Logan. But Christopher???)

6.
My other house project was a lot less time-consuming than the piano but makes me just about as happy:

We needed a new wreath for our front door, so I grabbed some 50% off greenery from Hobby Lobby and a $3.99 wreath and went to town.

7. 
Thanks to our current binge of Parks & Rec before we watch the final season, every time I hear the Vitamin Water Zero ads on my Spotify all I can think of is this scene:

And then subsequently my favorite Ben quote of the entire show:

So dang funny.

This weekend will involve some yard work, more sorting & organizing stuff to get rid of, and hopefully a nap or two.
Have a great Palm Sunday, everyone!
HG

Linking up with Kelly!