Living Room Redo

We've had a busy few months around here as we've been working to try to get Matthew healthy by making some big changes.  We started out with this back in January:

We made the big mistake when Daisy was a puppy of letting her up on the couch (cause she was so little and cute!).  Well, she grew and grew into a much larger, very hairy doggy!  

We started wondering a few months ago if Matthew was allergic to dogs.  We kept talking about taking up the carpet but it seemed like such a big (and expensive) thing to try when we weren't sure if it would work.

While we were debating about what to do, my parents came and graciously helped us repaint the living room!  I love the new color...after 7 years I was ready for a change!

When Matthew's itching got completely out of control a few weeks ago, we decided it was time to take the plunge.  We pulled up the carpet, and decided to get rid of the couch too since it had lots of dog hair on it that I couldn't get off no matter how many times I vacuumed it.

A few days later, we were at the allergist and I was able to have Matthew tested - yep, allergic to dogs and cats.  It seemed we had made a good move!

The result was chaos, for a little while :)

But over the last week things have really started to come together!  Brad was able to put down laminate flooring in one day (with the help of several really great friends), we got a rug, and last Friday Brad and I went on a date to get a new couch!

We went to Ikea, hoping we would be able to fit the couch in our minivan...

When I saw the boxes, I was pretty skeptical.  Brad remained ever confident that we could make it work!

Thankfully, he was right!

Here is the new flooring - I love it!  It took me a little while to get used to it, but it is so much easier to keep clean and I think it looks great.  We did get a bigger area rug because we spend so much time on the floor, and we figure we can replace that once or twice a year so that the dog hair and dander don't build up.

Here is our new couch!  It's a lot like our old couch, obviously :)  We like what we like.  It is very comfortable, smaller than our other couch which is nice, and most importantly Daisy is NOT allowed anywhere near it!  I love the ottoman, I think that's my favorite thing.

Look who else loves the new couch...

Now in case you are feeling really bad for Daisy, here is a picture of her cozy little dog bed!  She loves it and spends a lot of time curled up in the corner. 

We are not planning on getting rid of Daisy at this time, hopefully these changes will be enough.  Matthew has been sick a lot so it's been hard to tell if it's making a difference (he is itchy when he's sick) but the last couple of days as he's been pretty healthy we have noticed he is significantly less itchy.  Last night he slept in shorts and a t-shirt...I can't even tell you how huge that is!  It is a rare thing for him to not have to be in wet pajamas, and even if he is in regular pajamas they have to cover him head to toe or he itches.  Except last night...he didn't!  And tonight....he didn't!  So I guess we'll see, but I think our prayers may have been answered!