The pit of despair and an {UPDATE} on life.

You know that room, you've all got one, the one where all things go to die.  

I have about three of them.  

Or more. 

After my son left for college, our computer room became a vacant room.  Nobody sat at the computer for hours on end, so I decided it was time to move my personal office (my laptop) back into this room.  

But where? 

(and sorry for all the crummy pictures... some were taken on my cell iPhone and the rest, well, I don't know what was up but my camera just didn't like taking pictures of this room AT ALL). 

The only available space in there was his vacant chair and a rocking chair in the corner and as you can see, all I did was add to the chaos.

And I looked around and thought and thought some more.  I went to Pinterest and looked for ideas. I discovered the super coolest website ever... Houzz... and started searching office ideas. 

Then I went to an online room planner site I also found on Pinterest and came up with a new floor plan.  

First thing first, the plastic table my son's computer was on had to go.  So did all the plastic rubbermaid drawers.  My desk was in a position where it couldn't be used except to put random crap like the printer on.  Some of the slats in the vertical blinds were broken and needed to be hidden (because it's such a huge window and just not in my budget to replace the blinds yet). That meant curtains were in order, which meant the shelf above it had to go.  The shelf above the desks, also had to go.  

I presented it to my super handy husband and he was good with the plan, so we went to work.  

I originally planned to purchase some book cases at Target, but upon inspecting them, the husband decided I should take the money I was going to spend on them and buy some maple wood from the lumber store and he would build me some.  Sold.

I hunted high and low for the perfect shade of grey and ended up going with "Creek Bend" by Behr.

I loved it so much, I also painted the entry way and a couple of walls in the kitchen.  Someday, when I forget how much I hate to paint, I will also do the living room.  

A month later... we are 99.9% there.  

The view from the front door.  SO much better! 

After 14 years in this house, I finally put up curtains.  I found some inexpensive panels in small stripes of grey, black and white from Home Fabrics for only $14.99 a panel.

I took down the shelf on the wall and let the husband refabricate it into a smaller shelf.  I had the brilliant idea to add lights, which nearly caused him a stroke, but in the end, turned out really awesome!  (and you'll notice the boys chair has a new semi-permanent resident in the form of a 12 year old girl)

My intention was to make this room more... masculine.  But, in addition to the golf pictures, I had to include a couple of my own that I have nowhere else to display.  A doily my sister made and framed.  A quilt block made by my grandmother over 60 years ago.  A copy of "The Living Christ".   

This is what golf is all about, folks. 

The husbands corner...

He still needs to clean off his desk and organize his corner, but I'm making him do that. 

My corner.  I'm not in love with it yet.  The lighting in this room is going to be the death of me.  There is no ceiling light first of all.  All lights come from the lamps I have around the room.  I have two matching floor lamps which don't have a switch, so you have to plug them in when you want to use them.  Luckily, we have an outlet on a switch behind the piano.  The extra lamp is just that.  I still haven't hung up that golf picture either. 

BUT... 

The little bookcase is now filled with canvas baskets which hold 99% of the random crap that was on my desk and in the rubbermaid drawers under my desk before.  

CD's, video games, cameras, chargers, various cords.  

All tucked away and hidden. 

The husband built me two matching shelving units.  They are about 32" wide and 16" deep.  I wasn't 100% sure on the depth when he first brought them in (even though I agreed to it when he started building them), they take up more space than I imagined they would.
But now that I have stuff on the shelves, I LOVE that they are so deep.

There's a place for the stuff we use daily... printer paper, cardstock, photo paper, staplers, extra tablets.  I put all the art supplies in rubbermaid bins and labeled them with contact paper I cut with the Cricut.

The other side is filled with novels, photo albums, and music books.

At Christmas, I purchased these lanterns at Porters for $12 each, intending to place them on the shelf above my bed after Christmas.  However, I fell in love with them being on the piano and decided to keep them there.  After Christmas, the same lanterns were $35 so I guess I won't buy any more.

  

Luckily, there is a visit to Tai Pan and Hobby Lobby in my future! 

While searching for ideas for the office, I fell in love with black doors.  I love my front door, love that it adds so much light to the entry way, but when I saw the black doors, I knew I had to go for it.  The husband agreed.   He even brought the paint in the house for me. 

I even painted the trim and floor molding that's been up for 2+ years.  

AND, I painted the pantry door in the kitchen black.  It's taken awhile to get used to, and it still needs another coat of paint.  Actually, it just needs a whole new door, but that's another expense for another day.

A few other things I did while I was at it...

Just for fun, I angled a wrought iron thing above the curio cabinet and placed a silk plant that had previously sat on a plant ledge in front of it. 

I made a new keyring holder for the kitchen.
Thank you Pinterest.

I painted my menu board (previously red and brown) to match the kitchen and hung it on the wall instead of the back of the pantry door.
Now if I would just use it.

 Finally... I got rid of the candy in the jars on the counter and replaced it with almonds and peanuts.  

It's my attempt at getting healthy. 

AND NOW... an UPDATE on us the past six weeks...

I've been running on the treadmill.  

The first day I ran/walked a mile in just over 18 minutes.  

A week later, I am down to 14:34.   

I am hoping to get to where I won't die when I run outside this spring like I did last summer.

In addition to all of this...

Three months ago, my husband applied for a job with our local hospital.

He finally got a job offer this week.

And quit his current job today. 

My dad had a mini stroke last week.

He has no peripheral vision in his left eye which means he can't drive.

My mom hasn't driven for years and her license officially expired on her birthday last week.

So now, we, as in his kids, along with the help of a few good neighbors and home teachers, 

are taking him and mom everywhere they need to go.

Man, they sure go a lot of places. 

The boy is doing well at college.  He is loving this semester better than the last one, but mostly because all his friends are in his classes.  We don't hear from him much, but at least he's not homesick.  

We had a snow day a few weeks ago and my brother in law took the girls snowmobiling around the yard.  Air drove her own and Ish rode with Robbie and she said they went so fast at one point, it felt like they were time travelling. 

The girls both got the flu and missed three days of school each.  Ish has had a couple of little colds since then, but nothing too major.   The husband and I have lucked out and have remained healthy. 

Knock on wood.  

Our second trimester is almost over.  We failed the first attempt with the live care baby (it was a dud) but survived the second attempt, and the middle child definitely decided that motherhood was for the birds!  

She took drivers education two years ago and we never spent much time driving with her so she has yet to get her license.  Now she is starting golf season and needs to be at the golf course every day at 2:30.  We're not sure how that's going to work with our work schedules, but it's definitely motivating us to help her get her license and something to drive as soon as possible! 

Yesterday at church, we walked in to sacrament meeting and my daughter leaned over, pointed at the speaker and said, "that's my favorite seminary teacher".  I didn't pay him much notice, until he got up to speak.  He started out by saying he'd had a strange dream the night before and he didn't know what to think of it until Arilee walked in.  Everywhere you go, if they know her, I guarantee you, her name will be brought up.  She leaves a lasting impression with everyone she meets.  I couldn't wait to hear this story.  

It turns out, her seminary teacher had a dream about her.  He found her sleeping in his daughters bed.  Then again in the kitchen cabinet.  And again in her bed.  No matter what they did, they couldn't not make her leave his house.   This seminary teacher is very... animated.  He definitely knows how to tell a story.  At one point, I leaned over to my husband and said "is it just me, or does he remind you of Cam from Modern Family?"  Nope, wasn't just me.  

His subject to speak on was commitment and so it turns out, the reason he shared this story was that she was definitely committed to taking a nap.  And the moral of the story... if Arilee ever knocks on your door... don't let her in.

Always good to know we aren't the only ones having nightmares about her and the congregation (including the stake president) all got a good laugh at her expense.  She's such a good sport about it, too.  Though I'm not sure she will ever let Brother Browning live it down. 

Life is good. 

Bring on SPRING!

it's {autumntime}

I love autumn.  

But only the decor.  

I think I love it more than Christmas.  

But only the decor.  

Why?

Because, I love autumn orange.

And maple leaves.

I'm not big on Halloween. 

Not to mention that it's totally pointless to decorate for Halloween

since in 14 years that I've lived here, we've had approximately eight trick or treaters.

That was my niece, Britnee, who's come every year since she was born.  

She's eight.

Do the math.

This is one of the few "Halloween" decorations I display.  

A 3" tall mummy.

I heart him.

  I BELIEVE everybody needs a bit of Christmas to display all year long.

Don't you think so?

 A black cat on the black cat perch.

I keep waiting for her to knock it off.

She's gets totally jealous like that.

 My least favorite part of fall decorating is sunflowers.  

I'm not a fan.

Perhaps it's the color?

They're just so... yellow.

 I even tossed a bouquet above the cabinets in the kitchen.

Just for fun.  

:-)

"Pin" spired pillows

I have a disease.  

It's called "I bore easily itis". 

This is why I can't do any project that takes more than a day or two to finish.

I get tired of it too quickly.

Same goes with my house.  

I have found that I get tired of colors rather quickly.

I usually like to stick with neutral colors for big things,

like furniture and paint colors so I can easily change out the accessories.

I recently went all out and painted my kitchen and dining room blue.

I know.

I wonder how long it will be before I get tired of it?

But, then the red accents in the living room didn't match.

Plus, I'm tired of brown, and my Pinterest addiction has introduced me

to the world of black and white so I went with it.

First up... new curtains.  

I loved the stripes, but the dark brown on light brown just wasn't doing it for me.

Black and white it is.  

 And that meant I had to have new pillows, too.

These came from here and here.

It was one of these two pillows that killed my sewing machine.

 So the super cute, adorable, sweet, fantastic husband

bought me a new one because the old one was going to cost me more to fix than it was worth.

No more cheap "Brother".  

This time I went with a "Husqvarna Viking".

I like it.  A lot.

It sewed this pillow which I found here.  

The only problem with these super cute pillows are the children.

They aren't allowed to go near them.

So the ugly brown ones are tucked in the corner just in case they need a pillow.

Now I just need different couches and some new carpet or maybe hardwood floors

to go with my beautiful blue walls and cute black and white pillows.  

Although by then, I will probably be tired of black and white.  

In the meantime, I need to stay away from the fabric store!

Anatomy of a {kitchen}

Redoing my kitchen has been a work in progress for many months.  It's still not where I want it to be, but it is getting closer.   

Here is the before shot from last fall.

A new coat of paint. 

A new stainless steel sink and faucet 

replacing the white chipped porcelain sink

Stainless steel accents from Ikea

I love the wooden spoon my brother carved for us for Christmas tucked in amongst the metal utensils. 

Black and white houndstooth valances 

Cheap Ikea silverware tucked in the stainless steel containers on the island.

So convenient for the kids to use, so easy to put away after washing.

I'm not sure if I like the black stars.  I may have to paint one white so it will stick out a bit more.

Silver flower plate is from Ikea.

These chickens totally don't match, but they came from my husband's grandma's kitchen.   She died 12 years ago and her kitchen was filled with them.  We snagged a couple of them to remember her by and they are tucked away in a small alcove above the cabinets.

I'm not a fan of pickles, but I let the husband buy the bulk ones from Sams Club just so I can have the jar when it's empty.    

I've been saving jars of every size and shape, you just never know what you can put in one.

Only a couple of things I still want to do...

Replace the white counter top and back splash with something darker 

(if I can ever afford it, I have a ton of counter space to replace)

Paint the island black 

(that's my spring break project)

And find a new rug to go in front of the sink.

(Easier said than done) 

Until next time...

Spring is in the air...

I just love it when a new season is upon us and I can rearrange and change things up in my house. I also love it when I have a day off from work and have a little bit of time to actually do the rearranging and changing of things. Today was that day.

Spring is definitely in the air.

Okay, not really, but spring decor definitely is.

I won't tell you about nearly falling off the ladder in the garage while getting the box of stuff down. That would have been just my luck since bad things come in three's and we've already had two unfortunate incidents in my family this week (my dad had a stroke and my nephew crashed his long board and spent a couple of days in ICU with a skull fracture - they are both okay). I did not want to be unfortunate family incident number three.

During my shopping spree in Utah a few weeks ago, my sisters and I hit Tai Pan Trading and my new favorite, Hobby Lobby. Here I was able to add to my "star" addiction and start a new addiction... birds.
I think my next investment will need to be a super cute birdcage to tie it all together. Sounds like I need another trip to Utah. *wink wink*

(bird from Tai Pan)
(Cute birds and star plate from Tai Pan Trading, birds nest from Michaels)
I picked up this plastic plate like thing (my sister had a name for it but I've forgotten what it is) at Hobby Lobby. My plan is to find the perfect saying to put on it. I sure could use a Cricut machine about now. *wink wink*
The Ish has agreed that I need a Cricut. This way I can be super cool like Sister B who is always using hers to cut out the cutest little things for the achievement day girls. If I had one, she could decorate the whole house and it would be so super cute. I'm a little afraid of what she could to my walls with a Cricut and some vinyl.

Only one more thing would make this complete... GRASS!

Unfortunately.... I can't find any.

I have issues...

I have issues. I know, surprise surprise, right? Every day it's something new, what bothers me this week won't even matter next week. But in the meantime, this is really bothering me. What is it?

My curtains.

I don't like them.

We have this nice bright sunny living room with a big west facing eight foot wide window and it's the first thing you see when you walk into my house. Only, we can't seem to stand it when it's nice and bright in there.

I don't know why, we just can't.

More issues for another day, I guess.

Not to mention, the wind blows from that direction so there is always a draft and then there's the cat that just can't stay out of the blinds and curtains....

So, we keep the window nice and hidden, by vertical blinds - which I hate and are thusly (is that a word?) covered by thick thermal curtains, which I hate even more.

No idea why, really, they just don't do it for me. They are so... boring.

But, I haven't clue one what to do about this latest issue. I've looked everywhere in person and online for the perfect (affordable) drapes. Can't find anything. I hunted the fabric stores. Can't find anything.

My budget is ... like, oh.... nothing.

What I envision is... I don't know, and there in-lies the problem.

It just needs... something. Something... different.

But not so different that the red pillows and blankets don't match anymore. *wink wink*

Fix it for me. Please?

What would YOU do to this window?

One messed up wall...

I love rearranging the furniture. Sometimes it drives my husband crazy. Well, it used to anyway when I actually did it every couple of months. I don't so much anymore because of the layout of the house and the furniture we have, it really only works one way. So instead, I rearrange the pictures on the wall. Every time I do, I say this is the last time I'm doing it because it finally works for me.

Yeah. Don't hold your breath.

I'll do it again.

Anyway...

In all my rearranging, I ended up with one seriously messed up wall.

I had repaired the screw and nail holes, which of course left white spots on the wall. I attempted to paint over them only to realize that not only did the paint not match, but I didn't have a drop of this paint color anywhere.

So... I came up with this idea...

I think it works for me. Except... I wish I had painted the "frame" a darker brown or even black.

Does it look okay? What would you do different if you were me?

Oh, and that ugly smoke detector.... I don't even think it works. We have put up all new ones anyway, so it's pretty much pointless. But, it's hard wired into the wall and there is quite a hole behind it so we can't just take it down.

So... what do I do about it???

(I have an idea, but I'd love to hear some others before I commit to it.)

Suggestions?