A Home For Us.

I have mentioned a few times about our plans to move. We have been going back and forth with working on this house and decided (after a lot of exhaustion and stress and just being over it all) that it would be in the best interest of our family to just move into something that was "done". I really want to focus on these precious years with our children and to be more present both at home and in creating these businesses that I've started, and living in a constant work zone kind of took away from that.

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At first, we were going to build with a professional builder, but after running the numbers about a million times and having to downsize, and downsize, and downsize some more to fit it in our budget we decided to back off. The whole point of this thing, after all, was to get to a place that we could just "be", without having to worry about moving again.....you know, something that our family could grow in to.

SO. So, we backed off and kind of dropped it for a few weeks...and then lo and behold, Bryan found a lot. Like a legit, for sale lot. Come to think of it, I have no clue how he stumbled upon it, and when he first brought it up I was all "UM NO", but we eventually got into the crazy conversation of building this thing ourselves. Now, you guys.  I completely realize that this is kind of counter-active to the whole "being done" and "saving on stress" thing. But here's the deal: We have always talked about doing something like this. And to be honest, the only way we can get into a house that won't require a lot of work and that we can stay in for the foreseeable future (or even forever) would be to do it ourselves. AND: I think (I don't know, but I think) that there is a huge difference between living in a construction zone (think renovations) and working on one while living elsewhere. And also, this lot is perfect. Two acres, backs up to a little farm, in a really great neighborhood, great schools, etc.

So, we are building a house. (!)

At least we will be if everything goes according to plan, which so far it is, so that is a great sign.

We plan to close sometime in February, and will put our house on the market sometime in the next month.

We have been obsessively searching house plans online and I am SO pumped to get this show on the road. My personal dream has always been to live in a two-story with a wrap-around porch and dormers (oh, the dormers!), so that is I guess what we are looking at for the most part (but with more brick because we live in Texas and that's what everyone uses). The wonderful thing about the neighborhood is that all of the homes are different sizes and styles, so we are pretty free to do what we want. (There is a committee that has to approve our elevation, just FYI.)

Here is my tentative wish-list:

1. Lots of windows and light

via (And a TOTAL dream....right?)

2. Formal dining room

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3. Larger laundry with some counter space and utility sink

4. Plenty of counter and cabinet space in the kitchen

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5. Higher ceilings in some of the rooms

6. Bonus room for a play/game room

7. I would really like a desk/command center built in somewhere if there isn't a study so I can have a workspace.

8. Plenty of closet space...ideally a big closet to store alllll of my craft supplies (I've already accumulated a lot this year with MOPS and Joann, and I had quite a bit to begin with!) and also my seasonal decorations.

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My inspiration photos are way too extreme for us....but a girl can dream! Ah. So fun.

What are things you were happy you put in your home or wish you had? I would LOVE to hear suggestions!

Thanksgiving Tablescape

I am back with another project for Jo-Ann that's I'll be sharing today on KAMR at 4:00. Excuse me while I do a fist pump....these are so fun!

With the big eating and thanking day looming, I wanted to show a bit of a nontraditional Thanksgiving tablescape that is easy, affordable, and incorporates both new and old, elegant and rustic.

I wanted to feature these birch tealight candle holders that are extremely easy to make (if you have a handy husband) and are featured on the Jo-Ann Maker's Guide. The originals are actually dipped in gold paint which I LOVED, but I decided to keep them plain to draw more attention the other elements of the table.

For my family, at least, we always seem to mix and match each other's styles, dishes, and decorations to make our Thanksgiving table. I personally think it's really great to capitalize on this and use several different styles to make your table interesting and cozy. It ain't 1960 anymore...we can have a bit of fun with "formal" decor!

I decided to use my mother-in-laws 35-year-old china which is gold-rimmed and super fancy. Add the gold tapers (Jo-Ann), crystal holders (MIL), silk napkins (mine), and pretty stemware and you've got all the elegance you need.

To counter this, I threw in the birch candle holders which have stolen my heart, some fun and casual patterned ribbons to tie the napkins with, and black "chalkboard" place tags and thankful cards (great prompt at dinner!), to add a bit of rustic fun. (Use a dressmaking pencil to write with...easy and cheap!)

The happy mediums in this whole setting are the linen and gold trellis table runner I sewed super quick (fabric from Jo-Ann....I spent a whole $11 on it), and some grocery store greenery (a $6 bunch) fresh pears, and squash. Oh, and the giant fake pumpkin that JA had on sale (I got two of them...they were cute.)

So that's that! What do you plan for and consider when planning your Thanksgiving tablescape? I would love to hear ideas. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

A Quick Makeover For Our Bathroom

With our house going up on the market at some point in the near future, we need to finish a couple of projects "just enough" to sell for the price we want. We had our realtors come out and look at the house a few months ago and were completely shocked at what they said we could list for, BUT we were instructed to get our master bathroom somewhat up to par with the rest of the house before doing so.


I am about to show you a horror scene. I'm kidding of course, but it ain't pretty.

(Don't mind the Lightening McQueen potty seat. ;)

The doors on either side of the tub go to our closets.

This is what the entire house looked like when we moved in (except for some chocolate brown paint in the living room. Stark white (and dirty) walls and baseboards, peeling linoleum, beige cabinets and counters, etc. etc.) You get the drift.

We have used this for 2.5 years and it has worked just fine, but I have to say I am very excited for a little re-do. Originally we had bigger plans for this space, but after deciding to move that got down-sized quite a bit.

On the to-do list:

-Change flooring to tile (something prettier but affordable from a box store)
-Replace baseboards and door casings to match the rest of the house
-Paint walls (in closets, too)
-Paint doors to match the rest of the house (black)
-Paint vanity white and add hardware
-Replace mirrors with something a bit more aesthetically pleasing
-Replace shower door (this was one thing our realtors said had to go...the current one is broken)
-Deep clean the shower (it is so gross and stained from the previous owners)
-Replace light fixtures (probably with something inexpensive but pretty from a box store)
-Replace faucets and fixtures in the shower, tub, and sink (again, from a box store)
-Add some wall art and accessories (including a vanity stool)

Okay, that actually kind of looks like a lot, but it really isn't much. I'm thinking we can knock it out in a week.

Here is a bit of what I'm thinking:

vanity light / paint: silver sage / light / mirror / lamp / botanicals / vanity / rug / cup pull / art / stool

I'm going in the vintage-traditional kind of farmhouse vibe that I've been doing in this whole house. I actually don't know if I will do that style completely in our next house but we will see!

A few things:

1. It takes way too long to make an inspiration board. However....it helps me organize my thoughts and make decisions so that is good.

2. The spindles on that stool kill me. LOVE. 

3. All of this is just inspiration and probably not exactly what I will be getting (except for the cup pulls, the paint color, and the fern)

4. If my budget would allow, I would get much cooler mirrors with a pretty shape, but I found some similar to the rectangular gold one at Homegoods for $40. So I got two of them :). (We will be using two mirrors and lights since the vanity is long.)

And so....one last makeover for this house (and then a whole bunch of tying up loose ends and organizing....BAH.) Should be fun!

A Few Of Our Living Room

I've had these on my computer for months and forgot about them until this morning. Ha!

I guess the main reason I haven't posted these it because I'm still not satisfied with this room and I feel it needs a lot of explanation. I've had a love/hate relationship with the living room in this house ever since we moved in. I love all the space, but I cannot stand how dark it is. The builder was loco to put a tiny window on such a huge wall when we have a covered patio outside.

I threw the pillows together at the height of pregnancy hormones. Some days I love them, other days I want to change them. I love how the patterns still go together somehow even though they don't match at all. That was not on purpose but I'm happy it happened to work out! My preggo brain couldn't handle any more decisions at the time. ;)

I love my Goodwill chairs, but they are too small for the couches. I picked them out though because A) I needed low chairs to not block any more of the limited light coming in, and B) that's all the budget would allow. You can't find nice substantial arm chairs for under $250, so I made it work! I was hoping the upholstery job would somehow mask their smallness, but alas, it did not. ;)

What I would do, though, if I had the budget, is get really large armchairs (for the giant men that will roam this house some day) with really pretty lines---some pretty wingbacks would be nice. My in-laws have some that recline and I LOVE them. Maybe in a light gray-ish brown leather or a green velvety fabric. 

I would also love to swap out some of the accessories for nicer items (like a lot of the faux greenery which I did myself from Hobby Lobby...now that I've been to Market my eyes have been opened!), and I would also like to add a pretty wooden rocker (think colonial) and maybe some ottomans. 

I love our Craigslist dresser SO much. It holds all of my gift wrap, cards, boxes, ribbons, tags (including Christmas).  

I also DIY'ed those "linen" botanical frames and still love how they came out. I think they look pretty high end in real life and would like to make more. I used utility fabric that looks like linen, cream cardstock, and antique botanical prints that I ordered from Amazon years ago. They are 16x20 and cost me about $13 each. 

I would also love to get a giant gilded mirror to replace the smaller two but that's not in the budget right now, either. (Which is okay! Make it do.) 

AND, I would love to get my sister's painting framed at some point. It's on my list! 

So anyways, a lot of what we have in here was purchased due to a limited budget or was found or handed down via our generous parents or re-used, but I do still love it for the most part. Working on my home is something I love to do and this house is FOR SURE always a work in progress.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hey, So I Think We're Moving

Hi, guys. So I guess I shouldn't say "think" because as of right now, we are planning to move! Just to a new house, not to a different town. Hold on to your hats!

I know, I know, I talked a big game about all the renovations we were going to do to this house. But can I tell you a secret? This house, while there are things that I love about it, has never sat well with me.

And you know, what? I just read the above paragraph and am a little sad and feel a little hypocritical because I do love parts of this house. I do love many of our memories in this house. I LOVE our neighborhood and our neighbors, I love that we can walk to preschool, I love that the grocery store and our favorite pizza place are right across the street.

But. But renovations are hard. They are hard when you are staying at home with two babies and when you are staying at home and trying to run a business (or two) with two babies. They are hard on your budget, and when your husband is your handy man and your wife is your designer and you stare at a project day in and day out that you are both too tired to finish, they can be hard on your marriage. Add that all up and you have one big happy meltdown a few times month year. :)

Seriously though, Bryan and I have talked and talked and talked (the renovation summary of 2015: talking) and weighed every option and budget and potential life route and we keep coming to the same conclusion: maybe a house renovation isn't in our best interest right now.

Sometimes I wish SO much that I could just get over it. That I didn't care about how things look. That we could just pick any old house and move in and hang pictures and be done. Like, I have actually prayed that quite a bit in the past. But... that's actually kind of sad because I think that making things beautiful, that making a home, that....decorating, even if I'm still learning... is a gift that God has given me. That sounds silly. Interior design and home-building are such materialistic, first-world things. I fully realize that. And I have no clue why I have this drive in me but I do and I'm just hoping that God uses it at some point.

Please note: my key words in all of this are right now. Renovations aren't in the cards for us right now, but in the future...sure! Hopefully. We dream all the time. We talk about things we could do, businesses we could start. You know, go all Chip and JoJo, minus the superstardom. ;) Bryan has been fiddling with the idea of getting into contracting and I (no surprise) would love to get into interior design one day....but right now, we just want to focus on these fleeting moments with the precious little boys without feeling stressed and tired and like we never get a break and are throwing all our money at a house that will never be done.

Kudos to anyone who can juggle all of the above and be at peace and have tons of time... but we are not those people...right now.

So where does this leave us?

Well, for starters we are planning to build. We talked about trying to build on our own--buying a lot, contracting everything out ourselves, doing the floorplans and all that jazz, but again, we know that would be a huge time investment and we really have no clue what we are doing so we have decided to wait on that. We have plan. Who knows if it will work. For now, we are going to use a local builder who does some fabulous houses and really allows so much customization. I am super excited. We actually have already picked out a lot and a floorplan and are just waiting around on pricing before we sign the contract.

I'm also feeling a bit of mixed emotions, too, to be perfectly honest. Some days I stop myself and think...."You know, let's just stay here. This house is good. This house is plenty. There are so many more important things." But then I keep dreaming and thinking about our future plans and land myself back on the new-build. Also, this new house is more expensive than what we have now....and as much as we've talked through the numbers and as doable as it looks on paper I still stress because I'm a paranoid budgeter. Also, my little booth....not such a little expense, I'm quickly learning! I can see it starting to pay off, but being the obsessive planner that I am, it is hard to forecast where all of that will go. I'm really hoping it will be to great places! I have so enjoyed the experience so far. And also....I just like our current neighborhood. Our new house will essentially be in a cotton field. I mean, in the next five years it will be in a really nice neighborhood with a huge park....the elementary school is only a block away and they just started building a grocery store across the street, but still. I just have a hard time with change.

Really, I'm just a whiner on either end. :) I'm fairly sure that's how most moving situations go, though. They are all a little bittersweet, all a little scary, and all full of possibility.

So there's me!

I would really appreciate prayers on this. I am usually a strict "I don't pray about materialistic things because God is probably just rolling his eyes at me", but I do believe that He  does care about every decision we make, even when it's something as luxurious as buying a new home. I know he wants me to be a peace....and I know he has been opening some HUGE doors to get us to this point. I just want to make sure this is the specific direction He wants us to go in. (I'm one of those people who are all...."Seriously God, I need like a really obvious sign.")


This was nice. I like blogging like this and never really do it anymore. Gold star for you if you made it through this post!

Our Bedroom So Far

I have learned one thing in the last two years: decorating while you stay at home with kids takes a WHOLE lot of time, like two years of it. A couple of weeks ago, I finally FINALLY sat down to sew us a bedskirt and pillow for our bed. After living here for so long, this makes me one happy lady! I am an *extremely* visual person and very much obsessive so this has been hard for me to go so slowly when decorating our house….but I've managed to do it, so far, at least. Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me?


Anyways…here is some of our bedroom, which I am really starting to love!

The bookshelves were given to us by my in-laws. We painted them white and I styled them with things we already had (and all of our books). FREE!

I finally found my nightstands for $50 each on Craigslist. They actually weren't even listed, but we went to meet with the seller to buy a dresser for our living room and he had these there as well and asked if we wanted them (they match the dresser).  Fate, I tell you! I l-o-v-e these. They are extremely nice, solid wood, dovetailed drawers, and are exactly what I had envisioned. (Also painted.)

I already talked about the fabric--all from Hancock. I paid $5 for the Robert Allen on the pillow! The curtains are my favorite white panels from Ikea, and the lamps are from TJ Maxx which I got right after we moved in. Quilt is Overstock and Euro shams were clearance at Dillard's. I've had most of this stuff for about 2 years now and didn't really buy any accessories new…I had all of it because I am a home decor hoarder. (It's a problem.) Oh, and that headboard. I spent all of my birthday money on it 2 years ago. TJ Maxx. My favorite headboard ever.

Still working on the dressers and wall art on the other half of the room but it is coming together! I found some awesome mirrored frames on clearance at HomeGoods (I feel so weird typing that, we finally have a HomeGoods!) and just ordered some of our wedding photos to fill them. 

Oh, and there's this kid, who happily played by my side while I played photographer. (I had to crop train tracks and random toys out of several pictures.)

That's about all I got. Hope you liked it!


Sharing at The Shabby Nest too!

The Plan For Parker's Bedroom.

I am SO excited for this room! I don't know why, maybe it's that I'm adding color to the house, but I can't stop thinking about it. 

fabrics / pillow / plane print / gentlemen print / sheets / blanket / blinds

Allow me to talk through this...it will take a while. :)

Here are the things that Parker loves that will be somewhere in the room: Planes, trains, cars, trucks, ABC's, and books.

For the the basics of the room, I'm sticking with my usuals...bamboo blinds, some kind of natural flooring (hopefully new carpet if I can save enough this year!), and probably a light color on the walls. I was thinking of stripes (still like that trend), and I put a gray paint on here, but it may be more of a beige or closer to white. Oh, and I would love to build sliding barn doors for the closet. It is a really wide double-door that always gets stuck so it would fix that and look great, too.

For furniture, I scored some awesome deals on Craigslist--two twin headboards (P and baby will share this room eventually), a nightstand, and an amazingly under-priced dresser. I will paint the headboards and nightstand but the dresser is a truly beautiful knotted oak and I'm just going to switch the hardware out on (I'm thinking brass or bronze cup pulls). I am a little worried about fitting both beds in the room that we are planning to use...it will definitely be tight. Part of me is considering bunk beds but I don't like how bunk beds close up a room visually....I don't know yet. The headboards were only $25 together so I won't feel too bad if I go a different direction with that.

For decor, I'm thinking a book wall would be cheap, colorful, and useful. We will still have a playroom so these are the only "toys" that will be displayed. This kid could read all day, so I think he will like it. We also have some vintage airplanes prints that were passed down to Bryan from his grandpa that I plan on using. Excited for that! I like the idea of using a flag and maybe some cute graphic prints with quotes or verses on them if we can make them fit.

For fabrics and bedding, I'm sticking with red and navy, and I might throw some light blue in there with sheets or something. I love the idea of gingham on a simple bedskirt. I also saw a really cool linen-look map fabric that I may use for curtains.  For a pop of color (to tie in the book wall colors), I want to get a couple of those ABC pillows. (Etsy) OH, and I saw the army blanket idea on Sarah's House like 6 years ago and promised myself I would use it if I ever had a boy.

Here are some of my main inspiration pictures. All of them can be found on this board on Pinterest. A lot of them are really designer-ish, so our room would look more livable, but I love the overall looks...

I think that's everything in a nutshell. :) Once I finally make up my mind about the bed situation we can get to work on the room! Any suggestions? It's a weird room set-up so a bunk bed would either go right by the window, or right next to the closet...what do you think of bunk beds vs. twin beds?

Here's Our Laundry Room...

Hello! I am finally getting around to posting an actual room in our "new" house. This is a big day! I have to admit that a major reason that this hasn't happened yet it simply because I hate going through photos and figuring out which ones to use. ;)

We finished the laundry room in January (I know) and I LOVE it. It is seriously the only room in the house that is 100% remodeled to the style that we want everything else to look like someday too.

I really needed it to be pretty but really functional. I wanted to make sure that every single thing in there had a reason for being in there and was easy to get to, so that played a huge role in decorating.  I talked a lot about the inspiration for everything in this post and this post.

Ta-da! Hope you like it as much as I do. :) We tried to skimp on cost as much as possible because 1) we are low on funds, and 2) I like a good deal as much as the next girl. Thankfully I have a live-in handyman and I'm not too shabby with a paint sprayer either so we make it work.

Bryan is really the all-star here because he tiled the floors (this tile) and built all of the craftsman style casings for the doors. He also installed the 5.5" baseboards that look so luxurious to me! I love them. Oh, and he nailed up the paneled ceiling to hide all of the popcorn. I love that man. And we got through this makeover with next to no fights ;).

I used my favorite Home Right sprayer to paint all of the trim, casings, and ceiling. It only took a few minutes after we tarped off the room from the rest of the house. (that's the beauty of re-doing a small room) The walls are BM Early Morning Mist, the trim is BM Paper Mache, and the doors are Valspar Lincoln Cabin Black.

Now, we don't have a window in this room, but I like pictures with natural light because they show the true colors of everything...so for the above photos, the door was open to the garage. BUT, I will share what the room looks like with it closed even though it's not as pretty in pictures :).

I'm not quite sure why it looks greener in these photos? The walls are more greige in real life. We changed out the light to a "natural light" bulb to get rid of the usual yellow tungsten tone--it made such a difference in the feel of the room! We also replaced the light with this schoolhouse one.

I saved on cost by using some leftover shelving that we had from Ikea. They are painted in BM Carolina Gull. The shelves are super handy and functional.  Things are separated in the large baskets like this: candles, small tools that we need frequently, extra light bulbs, lonely socks, shoe cleaners/polishes, and all of the tapes (duct, masking, etc.). It has really helped to corral things and stays organized easily which is nice. There are still a few little baskets and drawers that are empty, too...still trying to figure out what would work in those. 

On top of the dryer, I made a little washing station where our laundry detergent and dryer sheets are kept. I really love this set-up. I always fold laundry in front of the TV and I never need the top of the dryer for anything else, so this works great and looks pretty. 

 (There's the door to the garage.)

Our laundry room tends to be the place where we pile all our bags, jackets, scarves, and shopping bags since it's the first place we come in to from the garage. I got these little numbered hooks at Paul Michael a couple of years ago and finally put them to good use for all of that! I made it prettier for the photo, but normally Parker's Skip Hop backpack is hanging there as well as more than a few Target and TJ Maxx bags that I'm always meaning to return :). I printed the fruit prints from the Graphics Fairy for free. They look super nice in real life and add a lot of color to the room. 

I also seriously consider our cleaning closet a huge blessing in our house. The main reason that I was able to do open shelving was because I could hide everything else behind the closet door. I keep our ironing board, iron, other detergents, stain fighters, batteries, hooks, brooms, mops, paper towels, diapers, and all of our cleaning supplies in there. It's awesome. I guess I should have taken pictures---one day maybe!

So... that's all I've got. I think the only things I still have to do in here are order this laundry print and add an industrial looking bar to hang clothes on the small blank wall next to the garage. (I rarely hang clothes to dry though, which is why I haven't done that last part yet.)

Maybe if I could decorate/organize the rest of my house to this scale it wouldn't be in a constant state of mess? Kidding, kind of.  ;) We will get there. Have a great weekend!