I feel like my blog is constantly filled with house stuff now but I guess that's kinda what my life is filled with and I love it so, I love to share! I've pretty much been going one room at a time and sprucing it up. It's basically started with painting each bedroom and then deciding to add a little coordinating decor(on a budget of course). Well, the first room tackled was the boring and blah white bedroom with a random twin bed thrown in the mix. This was basically our "extra" room. We knew we didn't want to spend any major money on the two extra rooms because down the road there will be fewer extra rooms as our family grows. So, the room started with a little blue paint thrown on the walls and a few fluffs added to the bed. I also later moved the vintage window into this room and Jon and I were quite happy with the results. So, on to the next room...our bedroom and the next, our actual guest bedroom. Voile! Done and done. But, we recently moved my grandmother to an assisted living home here in Atlanta and are working on moving her out of the house in Alabama so needless to say, there was a house full of furniture that needed a place to land. Perfect! We have a twin bed filler in one of our rooms and another one that's empty, so...we'll take it! We decided to move our twin set-up into the future baby room (the ocean room) since that will be the first room to be broken down in the future and we would set-up the antique furniture set in the blue room. Easy, right?...I've been dreaming of nice full-size furniture, fluffy white bedding and a pretty blue room for a while and now I've got it for a simple $50 duvet set. So I drove my happy butt over to Target to buy the bedding. I got it home, set it up and...hmm, disappointing. I'm not sure how I feel about it. So, now I'm re-thinking bedding and pretty much the entire look of the room. Do I want to keep the dreamy idea of an all white bed going and add some color to the curtains or to a rug? Do I try to really stick with the all white look like below and hope it grows on me? Do I change the bedding all together? Do I paint the room again? What to do, ahhh! I normally applaud myself on my visions and think that they usually turn out how I planned but, I think something is missing...
What do you think about these bedding options? Envision a four poster bed with matching dresser, chest and nightstand, all in a medium stain wood, slate blue walls and white curtains. What fits? What makes it look a little less traditional? Hmm....Jon likes the yellow idea...what do you think about that?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wishes and wants
Why is it that there is always a list of wants? Why can't we be content in the status quo? I wish that I didn't always think ahead to what I want. I wish that I had more patience and that wanting something and not getting it in my timing was okay. I wish that I had more faith in the whole, things happen for a reason and patience makes the heart grow fonder and, I'll throw one more cliche in....it's all in God's timing. I'm not exactly throwing temper tantrums or anything too extreme but, Jon and I both have the problem of patience. Once we decide we want something we're bound and determined to make it happen. I think in some situations this is a good thing but it can definitely be a fault of ours as well. We have a way of always looking towards the future and the next best thing. One more cliche...we think the grass is always greener on the other side. :-) Well, I'm basically having my inner dialogue work its way into this blog entry but I'm putting it out there as a mental challenge to myself to stop thinking about dining room tables, built-in desks, babies, iPads, new computers, babies, new camera lenses and babies. It will all happen and I need all these things to escape my mind for a bit. Cause you know, (one last one) when you stop thinking about it it will happen and (I can't help myself) a watch pot won't boil.
So, here's my self challenge: Stop thinking and seize the day!
*Although my day could be a little brighter waking up to a cuddly baby, eating breakfast at a new dining room table followed by an afternoon of editing some precious newborn photos on a speedy new computer at my built-in desk nook
Just kidding....sorta.
So, here's my self challenge: Stop thinking and seize the day!
*Although my day could be a little brighter waking up to a cuddly baby, eating breakfast at a new dining room table followed by an afternoon of editing some precious newborn photos on a speedy new computer at my built-in desk nook
Just kidding....sorta.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Nostalgia and memories
If you are friends with me on Facebook I recently posted something about my mom cleaning out my room at home. It was long overdue but I can see why it wasn't an easy job. Not only was it difficult because there were loads of just random things, but they were all sentimental items too. I guess that's not the easiest job for mom (or me either, really). I had gotten rid of a few things throughout the years like old love letters and teddy bears from middle school boyfriends along with JTT posters, beads from Spring Break in Panama City Beach and the 'everyone in the 90.s had one' lava lamp. But, also throughout the years I brought more things in to the room. I added old curtains from my college apartment, sofa slipcovers, t-shirts that didn't fit anymore among anything else that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of at the time. Well, I guess I was just buying time until mom finally decided to get rid of it. I managed to squeeze in about 5 years after college graduation to hoard things at home (yes...I just did the math, 5 years...crazy). But, last week included D-Day. My mom went through a lot of things herself but I ended up with a little more to sort through. I had a box of childhood school projects and craft projects, my hanging bundle of pointe shoe carcasses, random things like Mickey ears from my senior trip to Disney World, my cowboy hat from a High school band trip to San Antonio and a few other things. Jon and I had fun going through all my old school projects. It provided some great insight to my little kid brain. A true gem that I found in the bunch was my middle school diary. HA! That was a great read (for me and especially Jon). I referred to my friend kissing her boyfriend as gross and said that they were "frenching". Hah, yuck! I guess some things don't change...maybe I was a germiphob long before now. But, it was very entertaining. But, as fun as it was going back through things....I do NOT want to store a box of randomness in my basement. I know we "have the space" but if you don't know this about me already, I'm waayy OCD and even if it's tucked into a corner in the basement storage room it will drive me crazy. So, I went through it all and most everything was either tossed in the trash or sent to Goodwill. I did hold on to 3 sentimental pair of pointe shoes. My first pair, my ruby red Dorothy slippers and my Odette, Swan Lake performance pair (probably my most intense dance year). Other than that, all my little memories are on their way to the DeKalb county landfill. Sorta sad, but...they are memories, right? Not things you keep sitting in a box just for the heck of it..right? Say yes, I hope I don't regret this down the road but, just in case...I at least took some pictures of the pile of pointe shoes and kept the t-shirts to get mom to make a blanket out of someday. But, as Casey says, I'll be the one in the nursing home talking about the good ole days of when I could dance in pointe shoes and when I was a size 6 but thought I was fat. But, I'm sure there will be plenty of memories to come and this isn't the first time I'll be faced with my OCD, minimalist-ish brain versus keeping things that tug at the heartstrings. But, here's to hoping there are no regrets about tossing those things out and also, here's to hoping our storage closet doesn't become filled with every future child's school projects, vacation bible school crafts and ballet slippers.
Another room done!
So, this is post is long overdue. I can't believe I've gotten so horrible at posting these days. I promised myself that this wouldn't be a "fad" and that since I got enjoyment from blogging and even if Jon and I were the only ones reading it it was worth it because I enjoy writing and sharing and of course, who doesn't love talking about themselves? Holy run-on sentence. My 4th grade teacher would be very disappointed. Anyways, so a couple weeks ago, June 26th to be exact, I tackled another room makeover. Room at hand...guest bedroom! We had Jim and Daneel (and Olivia) coming in town over the 4th of July holiday and thought it was a great excuse to finally get some personality in the room. I think I've said it before but all of our bedrooms and the long hallway were a basic off-white when we moved in. And, although it made things nice and easy to move right into without crazy clashing bedding and walls and have-to do projects, after about 6 months in the house I made it my goal to truly make each bedroom a "finished" room. Most of this has basically entailed painting and adding a few decorative items on a budget but I think that every room is really earning a special place in my heart. We still have to add something to the wall over our bed, most likely our traditional Always Kiss Me Goodnight quote, but once we do that we'll truly have three finished bedrooms. With the nursery being the last, pending room. Of course, everything is a work in progress and constantly changing but if they didn't change, I'd be happy how they look right now. Well, sorta...what would my excuse be for weekly trips to HomeGoods if we didn't change anything? But, here it is! All turquoise and cozy. I like it. It took a while for it to grow on me right after finished painting and moved the furniture back. However, with a few stops to Target and HomeGoods and lots of trial and error I realized that all I needed was some different, more contrasting art on the walls and more white showing on the bed. What do you think? Would you feel cozy as a guest in this room?
Oh, and the iPhone only does it partial justice.
