Category: home

master bedroom plan (& before photos)
There are a ton of things I love about our 1983 home, and several that I’d rather change. Some of them we can do eventually (larger cosmetic projects like replacing laminate flooring & new backsplash in the kitchen) and some of them we’re stuck with (mostly small windows without a ton of natural light).

Regardless, I am viewing it as our forever home because we have no plans to go anywhere. Every room is in various stages of being decluttered, furnished, and decorated. Although I wish it would be “done” now, the reality of time and budget is that it’s going to take awhile to get there. I do want to make forward progress though, so while I KonMari all of our belongings I’m also focusing on fully decorating and setting up one room at a time.

This year I chose the master bedroom (not including the bathroom because it’s seriously stuck in the 80’s and it’s going to need a LOT of help). Let me show you its current state, which is a decent blank slate but far from feeling complete. I didn’t do anything to the room before taking these photos (that will be obvious, but I still wanted to let you know)!

Master bedroom before

This is what you see upon entry. We painted the walls and ceiling white a couple years ago, and the carpet is pretty new. Straight ahead is the entrance to the bathroom. It doesn’t have a door, so we make do with a curtain. It’s really annoying because the cats play with it and the tension rod falls down a lot. I’m not sure what to do instead, though.

Looking to the left where the dresser and window are. Sorry for the terrible lighting, but I had to close the blinds and turn on artificial light to get this to show up. I still like the curtains and the dresser is staying. It’s not the best thing ever but it was free and it’s functional! I’d like to change out the knobs and restyle the top. The basket and mirror situation on the right is temporary and need to be changed.

Here is a portion of the top of the dresser. I made this black burlap table runner and I loved it, but it’s very faded now and the cats have torn up the edges. I’m not sure what to do to cover the top of the dresser now; it’s in pretty bad shape under there.

There is a small built-in bookshelf right as you enter the room. This needs to be decluttered, organized, and styled.

Here is the far wall. These three lonely frames were going to be the start of a gallery wall, but that’s not happening. I have a different idea for this space. Also, I’d like to replace the old ceiling fan.

The main event: the bed! I love our bed and we just got new white sheets. The bedding needs some help, as do the nightstands and the wall. I also want a bench for the foot.

My nightstand. I love this little table; my dad and I painted it together. It really needs some touch-ups and new knobs, and I need to clean off the top of it. I also want to redo the cord situation. There is an old baby monitor that’s not even plugged in hanging out down there.

Here’s David’s side which is pretty sad. We don’t even really use that ugly clock so it can go. We basically just pile kids’ books on this TV tray.

And this is the last wall, which doesn’t need much done to it. I’m a fan of that print and little mirror, and I love that basket which I use for dirty linens.

To-do list:
- New bedding
- A second nightstand
- Bench for the foot of the bed
- Headboard?
- Decorate the walls
- Change out ceiling fan
- New knobs for all the drawers
- Restyle the top of the dresser
- Deal with the built-in bookshelf
- Change the curtain to the bathroom situation?
DIY Ideas:

Hanging plants in front of the window.

A macrame wall hanging as a headboard. (Photo by Amy Bartlam. Design by Veneer Designs.)

Framed engineer prints of the kids on the wall.

Giant crocheted blanket. My mom is already working on this for me, but with different colors!

I’m on a spending freeze during Lent, so I’m going to try to take this time to completely declutter the bedroom. You can see there isn’t much there, but it will probably still take longer than I expect. And I’m going to price some of the things we need to buy, and make a plan for the DIY stuff. I’d love to hear any ideas you have! Thanks for following along as we build a happy home. :)
February 15, 2016
3 quick things i’m doing to get in the mood for fall

This post has been sponsored, but as always (for good or bad) all the content is my own.

I am so excited that it’s almost October. Except for the fact that it’s crazy how fast this year has gone by, I’m pretty happy that the summer is really truly behind us. October is when we usually get our first real cool front. October is our wedding anniversary (six years on Friday). October kicks off the holiday season which I love. The traditions, the rituals, the anticipation, the fact that most of it centers around the home…it’s all designed to make me happy. Me personally. It’s like with Lorelai and snow…and if you know what I’m talking about you know what I mean, and also I love you.

The point is, I’m really trying to maximize my enjoyment of the seasons and especially fall. Because as much as I love the holidays, I don’t like being cold so I’m not particularly welcoming the arrival of winter. But because I’m a working mom with a million personal projects on my brain, I’m starting with these few easy ways to get in the mood. Then if I find myself with some extra time and inspiration I might take on another seasonal project – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Here are the three things I’m doing now, and because of the awesome blogger that I am I even alliterated them.

Scarves & shoes

So many people love fall fashion, right? I know I do, because of the coziness factor. In reality, though, I’m still wearing my summer capsule wardrobe 95% of the time because it’s still so hot here. I’m also not sure that I’ll have the funds to put together a full autumn capsule wardrobe this year. In the meantime I find that lightweight scarves turn my summer outfits into fall-ish with hardly any effort. Now I need to collect a few more!

The same idea applies to shoes. I’ve started swapping out my Tevas for my Toms, and my sandals for my moccasins. Not a big deal, but still makes a difference.

Switch out decor

Alright let’s not get crazy here. I don’t have a ton of fall decorations, although I’m trying to add a little each year. For me this is going to look like framing the above cross stitch sampler to hang, putting up a pine cone garland and making small changes to the mantel, and maybe even finally getting some throw pillows for our couch.

Scent

The last thing is probably the best and easiest, and it’s just to make the house smell super good all the time. I always forget how much I love candles until I light one again and then I’m immediately happier. Next time you’re in the air care aisle grab a $5 candle and treat yourself.

I’m also a fan of the regular old plug-ins. Using them means the house will smell good when I walk in from being gone all day. They are also strong enough to fill our whole living room, and I don’t have to worry about the open flame issue.

So that’s my plan, what’s yours?

September 30, 2014
life interrupted
Over the weekend we decided to tackle the project of switching the nursery, which the kids had been sharing but is very small with only room for a crib, with the craft room, which is the largest bedroom other than the master. I don’t need all that space for crafts, but the kids could use a bigger playroom and this way Meredith can have a “big girl bed” that hopefully she’ll be sleeping in soon (fingers crossed).

I have known that something like this was going to have to happen at some point. Whenever I got frustrated with the family bed situation I would think about all that needed to happen to get the kids into their own beds and I’d feel so overwhelmed that I’d just go into denial. But I have two long weekends in a row and things are slow at work, so there really was no better time.

I’d been dreading the project because for one, I hate moving things – I love to feel settled and at home, with everything in its place. I’m not someone who rearranges furniture for fun. I knew this wasn’t going to be a day-long project either; it’s going to take a couple of weeks to really be finished, most likely. I dislike the thought of my stuff being spread around the house for that long.

And two, I hate painting – I knew I’d want to go ahead and repaint the kids’ new room because I never liked the wall color with the new carpet we had put in and this was the best time to just go ahead and knock that out. Even the ceiling needed to be painted, ugh.

On Saturday we spent all day painting. With the help of two generous friends and my mom to watch the kids, it still took way longer than I expected. By the end, we had finished, but there was time for very little else that day.

On Sunday morning I managed to wake up early and do my Bible study before the kids awoke. That day I read the story of Moses and the burning bush. Do you know it? Moses has been a shepherd in the desert for 40 years when one day he notices a bush on fire that is not being burned up. So he decides to investigate the strange phenomenon. Then this verse happens:

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ –Exodus 3:4 (emphasis mine)

I was completely struck by the fact that God didn’t reveal himself until Moses turned aside from his ordinary routine. The burning bush was an interruption, and Moses paid attention.

Obviously this little changing of rooms ordeal is minor in comparison to many other possible life interruptions, but after reading this I still decided to see what I could learn from it – what God was maybe trying to reveal to me about himself through it. I was surprised at how much I came up with:
- My friends Lauren and Gerardo, along with my mom, gave selflessly of their time and effort all day to help us, and that showed me an awesome example of servanthood and Christian love.
- We moved out all the stuff from this room and painted it white. It’s a clean slate, just like God gives us despite our sin.
- For the moment, all of my craft stuff, and a lot of junk I was holding onto, is scattered throughout the house and exposed. I will be forced to confront it and my intention is to get rid of whatever isn’t necessary. This exercise would be good for my soul as well.
- All of this stuff being out of place and unsettled provides me with a good reminder that this house – this world – is not my final home, and my life is not my stuff. I am traveling through.
- I couldn’t do this project on my own, so it makes me appreciate the people in my life and emphasizes that relationships are ultimately most important.
After that exercise I felt a lot better about the whole process. I really want to remember this for next time my normal life gets interrupted.

How about you? How do you react when ordinary life gets interrupted? In what kinds of situations do you think God tends to reveal himself to you?
September 1, 2014
instax home life / 2

Continuing on with my little Instax mini project today. I’m not taking pictures every single day but that’s okay. :)

>dirty dishes in the sink
>making eggs as usual for breakfast
>sitting up and sucking his thumb

>putting stickers on the potty chart
>playing with toys in bed
>reading books on the couch

>making a mess in the craft room
>quilt in progress
>Liam was screaming whenever David made a growling noise

>photo cluster on the wall
>playing in the kitchen while I made breakfast
>little toys on the toddler bed

August 27, 2014
instax home life / 1

I started a new little project for myself a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to play around with my Instax mini camera some more, so I started taking a photo with it once a day(ish). The only parameter I set was that it has to capture our home life. So far these have all been taken inside our house, but I will probably expand to outside or our neighborhood at some point.

I am still really terrible at using this camera, but I hope by using it every day I will get better! And I can’t wait to eventually do some sort of project with them.

>my side of the bed
>a mirror in our bedroom
>making pancakes

>opening a birthday gift from us
>sick baby
>first art journal pages

>phone
>Bible study
>hanging out in the kids’ room

>father and son have a chat
>bath time
>on my dresser

August 7, 2014