50 Shades of Grey

In case you're worried, this post, unlike the book (or so I've heard), is totally rated G :)

This week we decided to paint our living room.  Matt didn't like the yellow that was on the walls when we moved in.  I didn't mind it so much, but it was a terrible paint job-- drips on the baseboards and smudges on the ceiling.  I wanted to do it a light grey to match the chairs that I reupholstered.  Easier said than done.  Who knew that there are so many different kinds of grey?  We bought a sample, it was too light.  The one a shade darker was too dark.  The next one was too green.  There's blue-grey and brow-grey.  I just wanted regular grey.  So it wasn't quite 50, but it took us 6 tries to find the right one.
Check it out:

Here are the chairs that started it all.  We got them for free, so I figured it was worth a shot to try to redo them. These were my first upholstery attempt and I was surprised at how easy they were to do.

Before

Matt was my muscle and removed all the old staples

I took apart the fabric and used it as a pattern to cut out the new ones.

I sewed it up, painted the arms, and ta-da!

After I re-did the chairs, I bought coordinating fabric and made the valances and pillows.

And here's the final result:

Still want to get a rug and something for the walls, but that'll be another day.  In the mean time I'm glad to finally be done with painting for a while!

Roman Holiday

Although we are not Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, we still had a great Roman holiday of our own.
Disclaimer: This post is really long and contains lots of pictures

 Our trip started out right, with first class seats! (Brian Regan fans will be excited to know that we were even given essentials kits!)
Once we arrived, we stayed in a beautiful hotel right in the center of the city.

The TV says, "Hello Matthew Phillippi.  We hope you enjoy your stay with us"

View from our hotel window.

The location actually worked out perfectly, because we walked EVERYWHERE.  We probably saw every street in the city.   All that walking was a good thing though because the other thing we did was EAT.  Pizza and gelato every day!

For one city there is really a lot to see.  We saw the Coliseum

And the Roman forum

Matt is standing underneath to give you an idea of how big it is

Recently discovered frescoes in the home of Emperor Augustus

We spent a day going to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum.

Here are some pictures from the Basilica

View of the Basilica we saw while walking there

Michelangelo's Pieta

There is a lot to see in the museum, even the areas between the exhibits are impressive.  Check out the ceilings when you're just walking down the hall 

                         
They have lots of Egyptian artifacts

And Greek and Roman antiquities

And works from the Renaissance masters

Raphael's School of Athens

In the Sistine Chapel, you're not allowed to take any pictures, but Matt snuck one.

Here's our forbidden photo :)

While walking around the city we saw a lot of other things.

Biggest tub of Nutella ever.

The Pantheon

  

Spanish Steps

A gladiator almost killed Matt!

But don't worry, I saved him

The capital

Trevi Fountain

 It was a great trip, and we were pretty worn out by the time we came home.

 We had a pretty long layover in Chicago on the way back, so Matt had to take a little nap.
And now it's nice to be home :)