A Father’s Day First

It’s not even been a year. He’s been a dad for exactly ten months and ten days.

Yesterday, Landry melted when his Daddy had to leave for a minute and couldn’t take him along. He watches his every move and loves his Daddy to the moon and back. He knows he’ll scoop him up and put him in the stroller, which to him is the best thing in the world. He loves to watch as Colby works on something and does all the things men love to do…particularly being outside. That’s why he loves stroller rides so much.

I loved him when I married him, but I love him even more now. He’s a wonderful daddy and an amazing husband.

Happy Father’s Day, Colby!

Landry and I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

Out with the Gold

Dispersed throughout the house are accents of gold and brass…not exactly my finish of choice. I’m more of a bronze and brushed nickel girl.

When preparing the house for the baby shower, I knew we needed to move the chandelier in the old dining room to the new dining room, which would allow for us to move the fan in there to Landry’s room for the time being.

I had already ordered a new light fixture for the old dining room, but I knew I did not want to put up  that ugly gold and white chandelier in our newly converted room. That would just be a slap in the face to all of the hard work that had already been put in there.

I figured if I already hated the light fixture as it was that I had nothing to lose in attempting to change it for the better.

One trip to Wal-Mart and one spray can later, I was completely satisfied with going out on a limb to change things up.

Then, my handyman husband hung it up for me. My poor little projects would never come to fruition without all of his help.

Is it perfect? Certainly not. But it’s better than what I started with! I no longer have to give it the evil eye every time I walk into the room. 

Want to get the same look? Go to your hardware store and buy a can of Rustoleum spray paint American Accents in Satin Metallics Oil Rubbed Bronze. You might want to write it down. Quit living with the ugly. Spend $5 and make it something you like.

Is this the light fixture I want in here forever? Hardly. I’d rather have something more sparkly. I want the sparkly to be seen when people drive by and house stalk {like I may or may not do from time to time….don’t lie. You do it, too}. It needs to make a statement, but until my eyes find the perfect piece, I am satisfied with my modified light fixture.

Take a chance for goodness sakes. It’s a small risk. It’s not life changing.

Making My House Work for Me

Since we’ve moved into our house almost two years ago, our living room has been empty, been a living room, been empty again, and is now working for me…..as a dining room.

 

This is the room when we looked at the house.

I hated our living room when we first moved in. Nothing about it made me like it. Nothing about it made me want to fill it up with furniture. Then, my handyman husband painted it the week before a baby shower {for us}. I picked out Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue and instantly fell in love with it. Looking back now, I wish I would have had them reduce it with more white, but I do still enjoy going in that room.

If you dread walking in a room, do something about it. Quit walking past it and trying to ignore it. Just changing the paint color encouraged me enough to figure out what I wanted this room to do for me.

In came the couches, end tables, and lamps! Loved the room! But we didn’t use it! We used it one time during the baby shower. The room was not working for me. It was pretty, and I liked it. It needed a rug and some finishing touches, but it was a nice room to go in. What was the purpose of having just a “pretty” room in the house if we never used it?

I started brainstorming again. I thought I might put French doors by the entrance and make it a study/office/comfy hanging out room.

Then I thought some more. Maybe it would be a better fit for a dining room since our dining room was so squished up. I didn’t like where our dining room was. I didn’t like being cramped in a tiny room during holiday celebrations. So, what was stopping me from moving the dining room to a more spacious room that just made more sense? Not a thing in the world.

I tell you this now. Just because the blueprints in your house label the rooms does not mean you must use it for that purpose. It’s your house! Not the previous owners. Yours! Use it the way you want! Make it work for you! That’s one of the main things I got out of that book I told you about yesterday.

So, here it is. I purchased a rug from Overstock {currently out of stock, but usually is restocked} and had the boys move the furniture right on in.

Then, Colby changed out the light fixtures for me {more on that in an upcoming post}. This is how it looks today. Is it finished? Certainly not, but it’s on its way.

Comment and let me know what you think you might change up in your home. It’s summer, which to me is project season!

Taking a Different Perspective

Lately I’ve been more into reading blogs than into writing my own. I think about a million blog posts to write {which I hope to catch up on now}, but in my head I keep thinking that it has to be perfect before I can post it on the web for everyone to see. Although we all know that perfect never happens…there’s always something we want to add or change.

One of my most favorite blog to read is “The Nesting Place”. It’s right up my alley with inspiring words and pictures to go right along with it. I always look at the pictures of The Nester’s home and think how I wish mine looked that finished and complete, and I’m completely inspired by her creativity.

Then, I step back and think that it has taken her years for her to achieve this goal. It didn’t happen overnight. She didn’t just go to the store and by a set of something. Instead, her home tells a story.

Obviously, when I read that her book was finally going to coming out, I couldn’t wait to read it. I even pre-ordered it. I’ve never done that before. I was even a tad bit angry at Amazon for not shipping it right away! I mean…I pre-ordered it. Shouldn’t it be in the mail the day it was released for the rest of the world to read?!?!

I read it in a week’s time, which is slow for me, but is rather fast now that I’m keeping up with a sweet little ten month old. Did the book teach me something I didn’t know? Nope. It was just good advice that sometimes you just need to hear again and again or from someone else.

So, what did I learn?

• It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. That’s her tagline for the book, and it is so true.
• Be happy in the home you’re in now, at this point in your life. Rent a home? So what. Make it home. Work with what you have. Live in an old house? Embrace its uniqueness and make it work for you…not you work for it.
• What you usually see on the internet isn’t real life living….there’s usually a mess behind the camera. At least there is in ours!
• Don’t try to please everyone. Please yourself. Everyone has an opinion. Just don’t let someone else’s opinion keep you from doing what you want to do in YOUR house. After all, it is yours. Read chapter 7 if you want to know more about this.
• Yard sale and antique shop for some good deals and finds.
• Don’t let “buts” get in your way. Do it anyway.

Seriously…if you want to learn to love your home or wherever you’re at, buy this book. Highly recommend it. I told a friend about it, and I think she’s redoing her entire house! She loved it!

Good reading material. Gorgeous pictures. Inspiring quotes.

It’s a BaBy-Q!

Does this scene look familiar?

 

This was my shower at my house last year hosted by my wonderful friends. Same weekend. Same time. The same thing happened. Rain. Just like last year, the rain held off for just long enough for me to set up everything for some decent pictures. Had I not had to set up an hour before the party, pictures would have been a bit more detailed, but we’ll just have to go with what we have.

Once again, it was a BaBy-Q! The invitations were the first things  I picked out after scouring Pinterest and Etsy. I always choose invitations that are printable to save $$$, which is especially easy since we invested in a color laser printer back when I got married.

The front door welcomed guests with grapevine wreaths topped with a raffia bow and hydrangeas from NDI. I must thank my BIL and SIL for the ferns as well! It certainly completed the entrance! If you noticed something different about the front of the house, I’ll give the details in a later post.

The tables were adorned with galvanized pails with fresh hydrangeas in them. For the bows, I used some fabric I purchased, cut it into strips with pinking sheers, tied them on the pails, and then secured them with hot glue.

 

The runners were simply a bolt of burlap cut in half. Perfectly imperfect. And of course, half pint mason jars tied with twine made the perfect candle holders.

At each place setting, a brown paper bag was cut off at the top with pinking sheers and stuffed with folded napkins and eating utensils. To personalize it, I used a changeable monogram stamp my SIL gave me at Christmas to add in the new baby’s monogram.

On the table for the parents and grandparents-to-be, I changed up the table and used lanterns and smaller galvanized pails with hydrangeas.

Since we were using long tables, I thought grouping them into rows and making a box shape would make it easier to see the gift opening. Unfortunately, that never happened due to the storm that rolled in.

Now to the food…

Mason jars with pink chevron straws were used as the glasses to hold tea or pink lemonade.

The menu included:

• Marinated & seasoned grilled chicken
• Loaded baked potato salad
• Coleslaw
• Baked beans
• Fruit salad
• Deviled eggs
• Buttercream frosting cupcakes

It was a delicious spread for all to enjoy!

A Longerberger basket lined with pink gingham fabric {same as the bows} held the cornbread muffins.

Due to the incoming rain, I didn’t get a photo of it, but we used a giant galvanized tub to hold all of the chicken quarters and legs. It was a last minute idea that worked beautifully.

Not the best picture of me, but I loved Landry’s outfit {Cecil and Lou} so much and that cute smile that I had to share our one photo from the evening.

And proof that everyone did get to eat outside {albeit quickly}.

Overall, the shower was a success and once again made for a good story. Despite lack of seating, everyone stayed to chat, finish eating, and watch the opening of presents.

Thanks to all who came and were incredibly generous to Judd and Abby! I know the appreciated each and every gift that will be a blessing to their new baby girl.

Congratulations, Judd and Abby! We can’t wait to meet Landry’s new baby cousin!

Sources:

Invitation: Etsy by Sweet Bees Design Shopp

Big thanks to Kate, Erin, and Mrs. Linda for letting me borrow all of your party decorating goods! We seriously need a party closet for a one stop shop!

Aunt Times Three & Other Random Thoughts!

That's right! I am now the aunt of two {officially} but three when the new baby arrives in July! What's even crazier that I'm an aunt of THREE girls! Poor Landry is the only boy! I suppose I will eventually have to try to have him a baby brother, but don't get excited. It won't be this year {or at least it won't be planned...haha}.

My sister had her baby last week. Meet Anslee Isabella!

She is just the sweetest thing! She's so content with life being snuggled in her blanket. While Isabella was so still and quiet, my little lovely is quite active these days.

Landry is so much fun right now. Morning are our favorites, and if you follow me on Instagram then you saw this picture of his crazy morning hair the other day. Have you ever seen a six month old with that much hair?!?! I suppose it's better than none.

I'm seriously about to die to do some home projects, but I can't decide which I want to spend money on first. While I desperately want some new rugs for the new dining room and new study, I can't seem to find one that I can commit to fully. I wanted something a little less traditional for the study but something that still fits our home.

For the dining room though, I still want traditional and have found a rug I love, but it's just not big enough! Ugh! I'm hoping next weekend we can go to a couple of stores to see if I can find anything for a steal. Probably not, but it's worth a try.

With this new dining room switcheroo, I want a new chandalier to hang above the table. The ones I find online are EXPENSIVE, so I think I'm going to go to a giant antique store to see if I can find one that I can fall in love with and has a bit of character. If you haven't been to Alyssa's Antique Depot, you are missing out on life!

Well, I suppose that's all for now. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

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The Big Switcheroo

We have officially lived in our house for over a year, and during that time I’ve had plenty of time to find out what works and what doesn’t here. Since we moved in, I wondered where in the world we were going to put our computer and desk and printer and such once children moved into the guest bedrooms.

That’s where everything is now. If you don’t remember, our guest bedroom was empty and filled with junk when we first moved in. Then, we had the ugly blue carpet removed and inherited a king size bed. The junk went out {and into the attic or garbage} and the desk area became a little more organized. But what was going to happen when Landry had to upgrade to a bigger room? Problems.

Remember that living room I worked so hard on this summer?

Since Colby and I couldn’t agree on {or afford} chairs for the den, we ended up moving the new furniture from the living room into the den, so we would be more comfortable and the furniture would actually get used.

That has left an empty living room. So what to do with that space that would make it an actual useable space?

There were two options:

a) Make it an office and another space to watch television or play in {but close it off with french

     doors}

b) Move the dining room in there for more space and put a study where the dining room is now

Well…we chose option B. It just makes more sense. Right now, the dining room is very cramped.

My table can extend out even further to fit the remaining three chairs around it. When you have people over to eat though, there is zero room for people to move in and out as needed. It’s CRAMPED!

Plus, you walk from the garage into the dining room. Kind of weird to me!

This room also has a pocket door that separates it from the kitchen if needed. It was actually a study before according to the previous owners. They repurposed it back to a dining room though.

So…as soon as I can get a new rug for the soon-to-be new dining room, the switcheroo will take place, and our house will continue to be a giant work in progress.