House Goals of 2016

Keeping up with life is hard. Keeping up with house projects is even harder. Despite my lack of blogging in the past few months, I still enjoy making house goals every year to help guide what I want to accomplish in working to make our house more of a home and more cozy.

Since we have a baby on the way, I’m not going to get crazy with my goals this year. I’m trying to stay reasonable and keep these goals within reach. I must say that having these goals really gets me motivated to cross some things off my list, and I usually do quite well at achieving them because I actually do take the time to make the list and keep it close by.

{One}

Complete Landry’s closet

{Two}

Replace mailbox and mailbox post

{Three}

Add finishing touches to courtyard

{Four}

Purchase rug for breakfast room

{Five}

Have artwork framed and hung

{Six}

Make some changes to the nursery

{Seven}

Get new bedding for the master bedroom

{Eight}

Change at least one main light fixture

{Nine}

Get planters for the front door

{Ten}

Have a new breakfast table made

Most of my house goals this year include very few DIY projects and more purchases. I consider it an accomplishment to complete at least half of my goals each year. Last year, I completed a total of six goals thanks in major part to my husband. Crossing my fingers to a successful year! And if I don’t, at least I’ll have another sweet little baby to divert my attention.

Finally Fall and Finally Back

Since school has started, I have been on a little hiatus. Of course, what I was too sick and exhausted to tell you all at the time was that there was another reason aside from the regular beginning of school exhaustion.

Luckily, things are on the up and up, and I’m feeling much better and gaining some of my energy back. Because of this new found energy, I decided to pursue some of my fall decor dreams since I haven’t done that in a couple of years.

Thanks to some very generous people I have pulled this together with a limited budget and made a decent fall scene that can be used until Thanksgiving. Is it bad that I’m already planning for Christmas though?

Don’t worry! I don’t break out the Christmas decor until after Thanksgiving even though it’s getting harder and harder to adhere to that.

Starting at the front door…a small touch with pumpkins and dried limelight hydrangeas.

And then it moves straight to the front porch….pumpkins, cotton, hay bales, ferns, planters, and a lantern to top it off.

As for the planters, I used a combination of marigolds, creeping fig, celosia, and scaevola.

I’ve got plans for a fall mantel, but it’s just a matter of following through with them. Hang tight…I may surprise you.

On to the doctor tomorrow for our second ultrasound of baby brother. Hopefully will have a video to share soon! We’re taking Landry, so that should be interesting. As always, keep us in your prayers for a healthy baby boy. I’m always nervous until everything is confirmed. So thankful for all God has given us!

Oh, Say Can You See

Since Independence Day is right around the corner, I wanted to add a few touches around the house to show our patriotism for our country.

This year I kept our decor contained to our fireplace in the dining room and the front porch.

For the mantel, I only used things I already had here at the house- minus the miniature flags that were like $2.50 a pack of four.

My SIL and I made the wreath a few years ago, and surprisingly it has held on. I do believe I’m going to have to get another one though since the leaves are falling off slowly, but surely. For the purpose of this mantel though, it served the purpose. All it is is a boxwood wreath from NDI, some thick white ribbon, and a metal star that I’m sure you can find at nearly any thrift/antique type store right now. It’s simply wired together, and I added a hanger on the back of it with some thread. Use what you have!

For the rest of the mantel, I brought in my lanterns from the porch {that I scored at Dirt Cheap}, some candles, a frame that I painted red a few years ago {with a free printable}, and a galvanized bucket I used at a shower previously.

The banner was made for Landry’s 1st birthday party last year {and will likely by used this year as well}. All you need for it is some gingham fabric, some hem tape, and grosgrain ribbon. I bought a yard of each color. You will have plenty left over, and mine is pretty long. It spanned across the back porch as a banner for the party, so that can give you an idea of the length.

For it, I simply traced a triangle pattern that I made onto the fabric. I cut it with cutting shears, and I didn’t worry about perfection. I then used the iron and a wet cloth to connect the fabric and ribbon with the hem tape.

As for the porch, I simply stuck some more of the miniature flags into my planters I blogged about here.

And of course, we are flying Old Glory just as we do year around.

Thrift Shop Dresser Makeover

I was so disappointed the other day when I rode through town to see the little thrift shop I scored this cute little dresser from had closed! I had such high hopes of checking in with them this summer to maybe find some other little odds and ends and maybe some more furniture.

I’m a sucker for furniture, especially tables and dressers and buffets. I’d probably buy every single one I liked if it was at the right price and was my style.

This dresser started out black and with no knobs. I was fine with that since I knew I wanted to paint it and probably would have changed the knobs anyway. There was no way I was going to pass up a solid wood dresser with dove-tailed drawers for $20.

I painted it with some paint I had left over from painting our cabinets, Benjamin Moore Advance Paint in White Diamond.

I ordered some knobs from knobdeals.com….very cheap, too! $5.94 for six of them! You do pay a good bit for shipping, but you still come out on the good end of the deal. In the end, it was $19.19 shipping and all. You can’t beat that! It can in just a few days though, so that was a plus as well.

I thought the knobs tied in nicely with the lamp I bought later on from T.J. Maxx. If there is something you don’t know about me, it’s that I believe in the power of lamps. The bigger the better in my book! I hate squatty lamps in a room.

So, there’s my new addition to the entry way. It makes me smile every time I pass by it, and that’s what making a home is all about.

Remember to see past the paint and the knobs. See past what it is and see what it could be, especially if it’s a steal!

Now what?

You’ve removed everything possible from your room. You’ve rearranged the furniture. You’ve deep cleaned behind the couches {and under them}. You’ve found those missing toy pieces. You’ve gotten all of the stuff put in another area, so you can shop what you already have later.

The room is quieted.

Now what?

Well, you start piecing things back together and only putting the things back that truly give your room the feel you are going for. You’re not feeling guilty about not putting it all back in the room. Half the stuff I had on my bookshelves were not even things I liked. I just didn’t have a spot for them, and I had an unfilled space.

All that created was a space of misplaced stuff that stressed me out. That’s not how you should feel in you’re own home {at least because of furniture and decor anyway}.

So, I worked specifically on my bookshelves and mantel, while changing the accessories on my end tables a little bit.

And, I painted the coffee table…again.

And the end result…

A “summer-ized” home! It feels less like fall and winter. I don’t know why I didn’t try this sooner. It made the biggest difference in how I felt in this room. I’m no longer overwhelmed by the tchotchkes, but instead I feel pleased every time I look in either direction in this room.

While I can’t do anything about the deer head over the mantel or the ugly side chair, I try to distract away from it. The big windows help with that. Have some things you don’t like in your house but can’t afford to change it? Get those eyes looking at something else instead. These are just some of the tips from the Cozy Minimalist Class by the Nester.

Here’s a side by side…of course, without toys.

And….with the toys, just to keep things real {straightened up, of course}

Quieting the Room

Have you ever just looked around a room and decided that you need a change? There’s just that something that just.doesn’t.fit.

In my living room, I had two spaces that bothered me to death. Say hello to my built-in bookcases and my mantel.

Yep….that’s how our house looks on any given day. On the bright side, I usually do a quick clean-up before bed.

Not the point though.

These two walls flank either side of this room, and both places were filled with stuff. Not meaningful stuff. Not stuff with a purpose. Just stuff that didn’t have a place anywhere else in my house.

In an effort to get some control of the room and make some changes, I decided to follow the advice of The Nester and quiet the room aka take everything but the big stuff out.

Cleaning things out makes you want to clean every nook and cranny. I pulled out the couches and wiped, vacuumed, and mopped. I stripped the couches and washed every slipcover on it. That left us with this {minus a few things you still see in the room}.

I moved the kid table over to see if it would work there {and to vacuum and mop}, but it didn’t. Then, it was time to reconfigure the bookshelves and mantel. Stand by…

I’ll share my progress later. For now, I encourage you to do the same. Quiet the room. Start over.

And for goodness sake, if you need more tips, take the class or read the book like I’ve said a million times.

Class is in Session

I took a class. A decorate your house class. An it’s ok to not have a perfect house class. An embrace the imperfections class.

You get the idea. As you all know, my favorite blogger of any blogger is The Nester. I rave about her book on a regular basis. I read the book over and over. I read every.single.blog post. And then she offered this class that was four weeks long and was interactive. Seeing as how it was a little out of my price range and was not really at a convenient time for me, I opted out. I kicked myself for doing it, but I did what was best for the bank account.

And then I received an email…the one where The Nester announced that she was launching the class in video format where you could do it at your own speed, which was much better for me. AND the price was right!

If you’re looking for a class to help lead you in the right direction to making a home you love, I really encourage you to take this class. If you’re not even sure where to start, sign up. She offers tips on how to quiet your room and make big base decisions that ultimately make a room. Then, she helps you think about meaningful accessories.

If you’ve already got a good handle on those things, maybe this isn’t for you, but if you need a little encouragement and guidance, I can honestly tell you that this class will help you get started and build your confidence.

If you want to take it to, follow this link and say that I referred you. It will save you $10. That makes the course only $29. And when you get done taking the class, GO BUY THE BOOK!

 

P.S. If you sign up for the class now, she is doing a live webinar on Tuesday morning that you will get to participate in as well!

Give it a Little Life

When it come to accessorizing rooms, I’m the worst. I can pick out paint colors and curtains and furniture and rugs all day long. If you want me to accessorize it though, I’m pretty much worthless.

It takes me a while to piece things together. Of course, the many books and blogs I’ve read lately make me feel better. Now I feel less compelled to accessorize the room all at one time. Instead, I’ve chosen to do as they suggest and accessorize throughout time for a more collected feel. Then, I can change things out, especially since I get bored with things rather quickly.

During spring break, I worked on a table I found in a dumpster. It’s been my catch-all table when school was in session. Most days it just looked like this…

if not worse!

You can see from the picture that I bought those stools from Overstock that I had talked about in the original post about this table project. Loving them!

Anyhow…a sweet little girl in my class gave me a beautiful plant on the last day of school! Totally made my day! I was so excited because plants have been on my list of things to add to the rooms in my house. It’s amazing how much a plant can add to a room.

And for a before and after….

It’s amazing what a few little additions can do to a space!

“Mint” to Be

Once upon a time, I posted a picture of my dining room in my house because I was so thankful to {finally} have all of my surfaced cleaned off. Then, a sweet lady commented how she wished her house looked like that. She didn’t have hardly anything on the wall. What she didn’t know was that I really don’t have anything on the wall either!

I’m pretty picky about what I want to hang on my walls. I’m not sure why. It’s so easy to change things out. The Nester suggests moving stuff around until you find the right place for it and accepting the imperfection. I’m still a work in progress though. That’s probably why I’ve read the book twice…and probably will again.

Anyhow…I was recently introduced to this cool website called Minted.com. I’ve heard of Minted before because of their amazing invitations for parties and weddings. They have everything from thank you cards, to save the dates, to the invitations themselves. What I didn’t know was that they had art that looks amazing, and they will even frame it for you. Can it get better than that?!?!

I was shopping around to see what would look best in my house. I would love to have an affordable piece of art already framed and delivered to my house.

The first thing that popped out to me was this cool foil print of my wonderful state of Alabama. I thought the frame {that I got to pick out} was unique and went with my obsession with distressed white pieces.

I’m a sucker for typography. It’s always nice to have some inspirational quotes or phrases that have sentimental meaning to you. This one would be perfect for my office. You can even customize it to match your color scheme in your house.

And then there was the more traditional art that I’m really drawn to! I can’t pick just one place I could use these pieces in my house. I would love to add some art to my walls or tucked into my built-in bookcases.

There are so many styles on the Minted.com website. It’s definitely worth checking out! I hope to getting at least on of these pieces soon! If I do, I’ll be sure to share it with you! If you’re looking to make a small investment to add a little more home to your house, this looks like a great place to start.

***Click on the pictures to be linked to those same pieces of art.

Click below to see what the offer in:

Art

Save the Dates