Christmas 2014

A few times a year I skim over "The Nester" and am always inspired and moved by her. She talked about decorating with simplicity and freshness and with real elements - popcorn garlands and handmade childrens items on a real tree instead of gobs of seasonal storage that just add to layers of stuff. She talks about being a memory maker, not a stuff manager. It lays at the back of my heart and mind now - is seasonal decorating about building family time and memories together or is it about hauling out boxes of stuff and spending time unpacking and then repacking the stuff.

The chalkboard wall was a family project - everyone adding in their snowflake. It didn't take long - each snowflake maybe 30 seconds to draw. This was a fun activity that we will do again. I do like having a chalkboard wall. It builds a feeling of informality and connection and art into the home. I really want my house to be a lived in thing, not a museum of display, but only things that are useful and unimportant and meaningful. Unimportant and meaningful can be a hard blend - I want my home to be held with open hands, so that gathering and people always are important and the items are not. However, I want the items in my home to have stories and be serving a good purpose. The chalkboard wall has been this - welcoming family to draw all over the walls, while still providing style and function.

We had a little forest of christmas trees across the table - and the boys egg carton reindeer crafts in the window. We tried to do many projects this year - including a scrapbook of memories.

here is another kid craft - in the window Ama helped the boys make paper christmas trees which went on a candle holder. And I made a metallic NOEL deer head print for the wall.

Our nativity scene is something that I will always box up and take back out. I love putting out the figures and even packing them away again.

There is the picture on the wall of Christmas art that Tristan made as a child, and my newest favorite thing - a topiary reindeer. I just love him. And he'll be hauled up and down from the attic for years to come too. But there will be a balance I hope. Not too much STUFF - only a few well loved things that are always a joy to put away and take out.

We had some other decore, but this was the jist of it. Merry Christmas.

side table

I picked up this side table for $3 at goodwill. The primative lines seemed like it would make a good boy's bed table in an industrial room.

But I didn't need a bedside table, I needed a livingroom table, and this just didn't fit right. So I painted it with some metallic blend.

Along the seams I threw in a few nailhead trim tacks. It was simple because I used the existing crack and just tapped them in.

The middle is more gold and sides more silver. This wasn't intentional. I just painted at two different times so the mix turned out differently. It didn't seem to matter either way to me. But it does make a sidetable suitable for the livingroom now. I bought the character sketch books at a resale too. That made me happy and they tuck into this table quite well.

Dresser Redo

A friend was moving and getting rid of this dresser. They had looked for a matching handle for the missing one and couldn't find it. With the hectic parts of moving, the time it would take to redo the scratches on the top seemed not worth it. So they generously dropped it off for me.

It was nice to have a reason to get new hardware. I was excited when I saw these guys on clearance:

 

They seemed like a fun "industrial" piece. And they came in the mail quickly. It cost $37 for the hardware, which was my only expense, since I used paint and primer that I already had at home.

I used a bonding primer so that I didn't have to bother sanding.
Then I mixed metalic craft paint on three paper plates. With one I added in black craft paint, with the other I added in white craft paint, and with the other I added in gray craft paint. Craft paint is cheap. About $1.50 per color. And the metalic one I bought in a slightly larger jar at $5 but I've painted many things with it and it's lasted me a long time.  I put a poly glaze to seal it, and used some black craft paint to kind of make the groove "pop" with a touch of darkness.

I did this project in little bites. Sometimes with a kiddo on my lap. 15 minutes to slop on a coat here and there over a few days.

And this is the result

Boy's Bedroom Finished

In my previous post the boy's bedroom was shown, so I wont show any before pictures here. Just the end result.

I painted one wall white to brighten the space. And then added white on another wall with a wood "chair rail" to hide my paint line and add interest. I just used scrap lumber that I did a gray wash on and nailed up.

The photo was one that I had before, I painted the frame gray, and turned it sideways. The mat was $12 at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon and the print is of the Brooklyn bridge with the American flag flying. It was on amazon for $7 and I rather loved it. A bit industrial, and a fun way to show off the flag. A flag room is the theme, by the way, as my 5 year old became a bit obsessed about flags and countries and maps and geography.

Lego table stayed.
Found fairly good prices for flag pillow cases ($4, $10 and $12)
Banner was a world cup one for $3.50 (all free shipping)

White wall did help brighten the whole room

Quentin was kindly given a toddler bed - which works for this year. He's so happy to be with his brothers.

I had looked for bunk beds for two years, on and off, and finally found these. $200 and super solid and sturdy with a style that I like and room for a Friend-spending-the-night mattress underneath.

I kept the ship bench but took off the doors and added bins to hold Quentin's clothes. This way he can change his shirt or shorts easily by himself, even if other clothing is in the closet.

My grandmother gave me her playpen - the one she had used with her children - she actually put her Christmas tree inside of it to keep the babies away from the ornaments. I couldn't figure out what to do with it - not exactly meeting child safety codes anymore - so took out the bottom to use as signs.

But after finding $7 clearance lamps at Lowes, I had a new vision.

Reading rack, easy to move to a new wall if/when needed.

I have a lot of people to thank for this room. My husband, for dragging out the carpet and pad and cleaning it and taking apart the old beds and storing them (for when our two youngest sons are ready for real beds!)

My brother for putting the lights together for me - they actually were simple but I couldn't fathom looking at instructions two days after giving birth and feeling rather fuzzy still.

My friend for giving me a toddler bed - and delivering it!

The craiglist older couple who sold us a great bunk bed AND delivered it AND set it up so that at 9 months preggo I didn't have to bother with it

My mom for helping me mount the boards to the wall so that the room could be finally finished

And it is nice to have the boys all in one room with even more space than with just two of them in there. And it's brighter and more functional as a hang out space. And Tristan can read at night now since he can't fall asleep very easily, and the light is high enough away from his brothers to not bother them. So. Happy ending.

Boy's Bedroom

When we moved into the house the boys room looked like this:

Although I didn't love the dark paint color, I also didn't love the idea of painting everything. I found a big finished carpet on sale for under $100, and since that was the best price I could find for a huge quality rug, and since it was in the same tones as the wall paint, I just went with it.

 

I also had a green chair to throw in. So there it was, a dark mossy bedroom.

 

The beds were free.

The little cupboard was on the side of the road. I painted it and when my dad visited he added the top half and I bought a wheel. My mom gave me the fabric for the sail.

My mom also sewed me the stripped bedding. I wanted something slightly sailor looking, and durable for boys, and washable, and light to balance out all the darkness of the room. So having my mom make the bedspreads instead of finding that (for the right price!) was very convenient.

My mom also used some $1 bedskirts to make simple curtains.

 

When we added the fooseball table to the mudroom, I took out the corner table (the one from our old house's breakfast nook) and used it in the boys room for a lego table. I keep their off season clothes and blankets in the benches.

 

The mural was supposed to add some light color to the walls/room. I tried a projector to help me get my outline. It didn't work great, but was somewhat helpful. And at least this gave the room a sense of nautical theme.

 

Now, however, our 3rd boy wants to be sharing a space with his big brothers. And it seems convenient to me. So I'm anticipating triple bunk beds and a redo of the space.

I'm still not game for painting the whole room. I'm too pregnant and there is too much happening. But there will be some small changes to make some big differences. I'll show you soon!

What I've Been Up To

Baby #4 is due next month and I've been nesting.
I don't remember nesting like this with the other boys... maybe I just am more aware of how little gets accomplished with a newborn and the drive is extra strong this time.

Whatever it is, I've liked how much has gotten done.

Things like putting dishes away and thinking, "This is not efficient. I need to change all of these cupboards" or "Those wires in the living room TV area drive me crazy. Has to be dealt with" or "we've been in this house two years and I never added the shoe shelves into the cubbies. Good grief it must be done today."

One project that I shoved forwards with was my closet.

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and wasn't sure what to do with it - to use it for little 4 minute repairs I need it to be easy to access. So I decided my closet was pleanty big enough for a sewing machine and clothing.

Within a week my closet was a crazy mess. Summer and winter things, sewing and craft and scrapbooking things, AND piles of maternity clothes stacked above the normal things I simply couldn't fit into. The closet which had once seemed large was now bursting like hoarders home.

It's not finished - but here is where I'm at.

 

And I got a baby cradle - my first, always wanted one, and arranged the bedroom to accomadate it. Got a new end table for $10 at Goodwill that would fit the printer underneith since we have to keep the router and printer and phone stuff all in the bedroom. It was time to hide all of that under a heavy square end table. I also got a $20 sheepskin at a overstock store in town because I wanted the baby area to feel special, even if it's not a full nursery. By the way, my bedroom walls are NOT green. They just look that way :)

I was going through the front door and realized how unhappy it was - 

 

At one point it had been different, for one thing, I had a collection of lanterns. But I gave away some and moved some here:

So I decided to do a super cheap makeover of the front door. For one thing, I want to spend money on other things - like storage bins to clean and sort the attic (my next project).

I found these planters on the curb 2 years ago. So they were free. We have pleanty of hostas in the backyard. So those were free. I bought the rug on clearance for $13. And that was the end of that - something simple but at least crisper/cleaner.

I put the black piano bench out to see if I'd like to have some sort of outdoor seating but I'm not sure... the whole thing is, with a screen door, there is no wow factor for a front door anyway. So I'd sort of like to remove it. But it is functional I suppose. So for now I just wont care much about curb appeal. Maybe next year or something.

I had a hutch, the partical board painted black cheap one, on the corner wall in the family room. But I've been keeping my eyes open for sturdy quality wood hutch. I needed it to be narrow and have two glass doors and shelves... I saw a few on Craigslist over the year but they were always $150+ and I wanted under $100. Also, it was hard to find one that was tall and thin for that small of a wall.

Well, I found one at a church garage sale and so that got put into the family room, and then the cheap black one became a baby dresser once again (I don't have quality dressers so sticky drawers have always annoyed me. Thus I prefer having my kids clothes in bins on shelves instead of tucked inside an old dresser)

This is where I'll abruptly end because hubby is here and it's time for bed!

Dreamy kid fort

I tend to like kid things that are eye-pleasing to an adult too. This would be the ideal kids fort for my yard: