Green with envy!

Ok, so maybe I'm not really envious as much as just in love with this...

Source: HGTV  (will be available at IKEA Fall 2013 according to link)

Green is my favorite color and I can think of little I'd love more than that big, comfy, GREEN couch!  Wonder if I can get C on board with that??? Probably not, but a girl can dream right?

I think it'd be the perfect couch to replace the one Jack used as a chew toy ;)  Especially since they're banned from the furniture now!  

Making a list, checking it twice...

Ok, so the list was made already, but I've checked it at least twice to see what we've accomplished recently.  Especially since we've made a bit of progress thanks to TreeFest2013's remodeling! Snort.  I'll update this post with "real pictures" (vs the iPhone 3 pictures!) in a day or two...


Updated master list as of the end of May 2013:

Entry/Porch:

• Paint front door (color tbd???)  Door is now a lovely shade of kelly green <swoon>
• Paint shutters black
• Stain/paint concrete a grey or natural color?
• Make pillows for chairs/bench out front
• Also completed: Columns got changed out with the tree-debacle and are now square and chunky instead of round and fluted

With the new columns/posts:

Nevermind the cord hanging that needed to be tucked up still at this point.  It has since been fixed!

Living Room:

• Repaint living room trim (white again!) and possibly walls too (a greige?) Walls were painted "Montpelier Ashlar Grey" by Valspar Ultra.  
• Transitions from wood to tile need replacing
• Add "something" to large collage over the couch above the biggest picture
• Possibly change up collage on entry wall  Check.  Lots of measuring later it's looking awesome!
• Add organizational tools to entry closet
• Make bench for near door/under mirror

Newly painted living room:

The other end of the living room near the front door where the collage was reconfigured. Looks much better now!

Kitchen/Dining Room:

• Make/Find Tall & Skinny framed chalkboard to fit near bar for calendar/bible verses/to do lists etc...
• Organize appliance closet and add additional shelving 
• Make farmhouse style table to seat at least 8
• Trim out and paint pantry in back entry - make it look more like kitchen cabinets with trim to tie it into kitchen

Back Entryway:

• Trim/caulk around ceiling/back door
• Paint walls to coordinate with kitchen
• Hang hooks and baskets for dog stuff

Hallway:

• Scrape walls and repaint (same greige as LR?)    Check.  The walls were RIDICULOUS.  Who doesn't cover walls when spraying ceiling texture?  All better now!
• Remove & replace crown molding, obnoxious/outdated doorbell, and lighting Had to fix crown and lighting due to tree debacle as well - we'll get to that doorbell asap!
• Reconfigure/update hall linen closet & hamper area

Hall Bath:

• Paint vanity (turquoise?)
• Repaint/caulk the trim 
• Hang shelving with hooks for towels to replace the towel bar that doesn't get used
• Fixup shelving behind the door - maybe update with glass doors and trim molding?

Like this maybe?

(Source: http://tinyurl.com/cmcjjjw)

Den:

• Hide cords with wall tracks from Amazon  as seen here
• Move bookcase to free up long wall for more seating
• Get rid of desk (bookcase can go in its place)
• Make/buy coffee table & shelving for under tv to hold game system/dvds etc

Master Bedroom:

• Paint trim & walls again (too many spots of touchup done before we bought it!) Again, the tree damage in here has caused us to repaint but YAY it's done!  It's the same grey as the living room and hall.
• Hang pictures 
• Make or find rustic/farmhouse style headboard
• Finish painting/distressing antique vanity and dresser - touched up the vanity while I was painting the room

Master Bath:

• Stain vanity darker (espresso?)
• Replace hardware on cabinets/drawers
• Replace mirrors with something with white/black/wood trim?

Jake's Room:

• Needs a headboard...Build one possibly?  
• Buy/mount small flatscreen tv above bookshelves
• Repaint bookshelves to match room or buy metal ones
• Replace boob light with ceiling fan
• Find/Make curtains to replace wood shade and move shade to master

Ian's Room:

• Make/find curtains
• Paint dresser or find larger one
• Organize closet 

Shelby's Room:

• Paint trim white (currently cream???)  Lulu's room sustained the most damage by the tree and had to be completely resheetrocked (is that a word?) and painted so, the trim got replaced and painted too!
• Get long low dresser and paint black - repaint/repurpose one current dresser to tv stand/storage for her, move other dresser to somewhere else
• Buy/build closet system to organize closet & room better 
• Paint/hang corkboard 
• Buy prints on etsy to switch out more "little girl" decor in there currently.

We purchased this print recently to go in there along with another of a squirrel with a moustache and a red beret.  

Source: Water in My Paint @ Etsy

Ch-ch-changes...

Well, there's not going to be too many changes since that'll blow the budget, but I'm getting to do a smidge of redecorating which is keeping me from twitching too badly over the mess/drama/chaos of the rebuild/repairs.

We had discussed square columns/posts on the porch before, but there weren't on our Master List since they were too big for us to tackle on our own and not something we'd budget renovation money for since it's not really worth it in resale (not that we're thinking about moving at all!).   But...since Mr. Tree smushed our porch, we get new posts!  I wanted the porch to look kinda like this:

Minus the railings of course, but love the square posts, lanterns on either side of the door, and the ferns!

I'm thinking along with the square posts that are going up (already have lanterns!), I'd love to change (the previous ones were destroyed by the tree!) the house numbers to be a bit more modern like these:

(image courtesy of 4men1lady)

I may even have to make her diy project to put on the front porch...

I've also chosen paint colors for the rooms that need to be repainted as well as for the shutters...who knew there were so many shades of black?   I'll have to hunt down swatches, but both the grey for inside and the black outside are historic colors by Valspar.  

A day late...and more than a dollar short.

Soooo, next time I want to take pictures of the yard looking all nice and in full bloom, I should get right on it.  Two days after my last post, the trees in the front yard did a little redecorating for me.

Nice huh???  Sigh...We are so blessed.  We weren't home when it happened, we were definitely under His watchful eye.  After nearly 2wks of estimates and continued damages from settling...we're at nearly 40 THOUSAND dollars of damage.  Yikes!  The main damages are to the roof/attic structure and the porch.  It will have to be completely reroofed (lots of rafters, the main ridgeline, etc) and the porch completely redone.  Looks like the majority of the inside work is cosmetic.  Lots of superficial cracking to be patched or replaced in walls and ceilings in many rooms and in Shelby's room, the entire front wall and ceiling have to be redone.  It's quite a mess in there.  Teaches me to get right on it with pictures though!  I'm going to try to document the process of reconstruction and blog it...When we start the inside work, I'll get to redecorate a bit since quite a bit of the trim/crown has to be replaced and at least 3 rooms need to be repainted after the cracking is repaired.  We also will have a new look to the front porch since we're going to replace the round columns with square posts.  I think while they're removing the shutters for repair, I'll have them remove them all and get on that painting I noted we wanted to do anyways.  That will keep me busy and out of the contractor's hair ;)  Stay tuned...

Some Spring Spruce-Ups and Romans 7...

      This past weekend we were busy trying to get a few things done in the yard and make the house a bit less WHITE...I appreciate the classic/neutrality of white, but I think the white shutters, door, trim, mailbox, and post may have been carrying it a bit too far!  Anyways.  We got the idea for a kelly green door from pinterest ...much better right?

Before:

After:

     I'll have to take some updated pictures of the front of the house to show what it looks like in bloom and with the green door :)  The plants (mostly azaleas) are gorgeous right now!

     We also spruced up the mailbox a bit.  The old one had lived a long life I'm sure, but between the dirt, chipping paint, and yucky reflective numbers, it was time for retirement!  We painted the post a black satin (Lowe's Valspar spray paints!) and then bought a new white mailbox at Lowes.  I also picked out a cap to cover the top of the bare post that bugged me that has solar lights in it...who knew they made those?  I was intending to just buy a wooden finial/fence post cap or something but saw this cute lighted cap and had to have it!  It was @ $10 at Lowes.  Looks so much more classy!  PS...Excuse the moving day photo with the overloaded trailer!  It didn't all fit in the overloaded uHaul!!!

Before:

After:

     This week I finished up One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and a passage in there was also in one of my morning devotional that same day so I felt compelled to pay extra attention to it.  In Romans 7  Paul describes our sinful human nature and how without God and his grace and love we are nothing...I felt like he was speaking directly to me.  I need that reminder that "every good and perfect gift is from above" and that I can't rely on myself or other people to do what is right, we need to strive for it, but rely on him.  Kinda went along with our lesson in bible class Sunday morning on pride as well...need to especially remember and be eucharisteo (live thankfulness, not just be thankful) that he deserves all the glory for it all. <3

Beautiful, beautiful....mess???

      Anyone that has their own home can attest to the never ending to do list.  I've got a mile long one and can't wait for spring to truly arrive to tackle it!  It's not really a "mess" - but we sure have a lot to do!

      When we moved this past summer, we tackled quite a few things before we all started back to school, but now we're in the midst of the school year and I can't wait to get some of the bigger projects started over spring break or the summer again!  I've started a master list as inspired by my favorite DIY duo at Young House Love and am excited to work on it as we're able to this spring/summer.

(source: www.younghouselove.com)

Here's what is on the to-do list right now:

Entry/Porch:

• Paint front door (color tbd???)
• Paint shutters black
• Stain/paint concrete a grey or natural color?
• Make pillows for chairs/bench out front

Here's a pic from right before we bought it.

Just needs a little color right?  Just too white and dull!

Living Room:

• Repaint living room trim (white again!) and possibly walls too (a greige?)
• Transitions from wood to tile need replacing
• Add "something" to large collage over the couch
• Possibly change up collage on entry wall
• Add organizational tools to entry closet
• Make bench for near door/under mirror

Kitchen/Dining Room:

• Make/Find Tall & Skinny framed chalkboard to fit near bar for calendar/bible verses/to do lists etc...
• Organize appliance closet and add additional shelving 
• Make farmhouse style table to seat at least 8
• Trim out and paint pantry in back entry - make it look more like kitchen cabinets with trim to tie it into kitchen

Back Entryway:

• Trim/caulk around ceiling/back door
• Paint walls to coordinate with kitchen
• Hang hooks and baskets for dog stuff

Hallway:

• Scrape walls and repaint (same greige as LR?)
• Remove & replace crown, obnoxious/outdated doorbell, and lighting
• Reconfigure/update hall linen closet & hamper area

Hall Bath:

• Paint vanity (turquoise?)
• Repaint/caulk the trim 
• Hang shelving with hooks for towels to replace the towel bar that doesn't get used
• Fixup shelving behind the door - maybe update with glass doors and trim molding?

Like this maybe?

(Source: http://tinyurl.com/cmcjjjw)

Den:

• Hide cords with wall tracks from Amazon  as seen here
• Move bookcase to free up long wall for more seating
• Get rid of desk (bookcase can go in its place)
• Make coffee table & shelving for under tv to hold game system/dvds etc

Master Bedroom:

• Paint trim & walls again (too many spots of touchup done before we bought it!)
• Hang pictures 
• Make or find rustic/farmhouse style headboard
• Finish painting/distressing vanity and dresser 

Master Bath:

• Stain vanity darker (espresso?)
• Replace hardware on cabinets/drawers
• Replace mirrors with something with white/black/wood trim?

Jake's Room:

• Needs a headboard...Build one possibly?  
• Buy/mount small flatscreen tv above bookshelves
• Repaint bookshelves to match room or buy metal ones
• Replace boob light with ceiling fan
• Find/Make curtains to replace wood shade and move shade to master

Ian's Room:

• Make/find curtains
• Paint dresser or find larger one
• Organize closet 

Shelby's Room:

• Paint trim white (currently cream???)
• Get long low dresser and paint black - repaint/repurpose one current dresser to tv stand/storage for her, move other dresser to somewhere else
• Buy/build closet system to organize closet & room better 
• Paint/hang corkboard 
• Buy prints on etsy to switch out more "little girl" decor in there currently:

I especially like this one for her room: 

Source: Water in My Paint @ Etsy

Well, that's the list for now.  One day the house will be "beautiful" but I enjoy it all the same now :)

Too long, but with good reason...

     Last I posted we were in upheaval and uncertain about our move to Montgomery...and here we are 7 months post-move and thriving.  Has it been easy?  No, no, and no.  It's been good though.  What a learning experience, what a growing experience.

     We've been busy busy getting adjusted to life in our new hometown, and working at new jobs, and attending a new school.  We've grown as a family more these last several months than we have in years.  We have lots of pictures to catch up on and lots to post soon.  Perhaps that will be my change for this year - steady blogging!  Imagine!  <insert snark here>

     Relying heavily on His Word to get us through these long, busy days, here's one passage that's resonated with me lately...
                                                       "Yet I am always with You;

You hold my right hand.

²⁴ 

You guide me with Your counsel,

and afterward You will take me up in glory.

²⁵ 

Who do I have in heaven but You?

And I desire nothing on earth but You.

²⁶ 

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart,

my portion forever." 
- Ps 73:23-26

Here's a new favorite of mine...