Glimpses of Home

Saw this fun little linky party going on, and decided to play along!

Moving from Philly suburbia to South Texas last year meant h-u-g-e changes. On a positive note, the money that we made selling our house in PA (even in a "down" market) went much further in TX, so we now have more space for our family. That's certainly a blessing, but that also meant that we needed to actually do something with those spaces...

Today I'm showing you what we've dubbed the front room. The former owners used it as a formal dining room. We have no need for such a space, and the plan is to open up a wall in a couple years and create a large kitchen/dining area. In the meantime, I'm trying to make the room work for us. And seeing as how it's the very first room you see when you enter our home, I want it to make a decent impression.

This little corner is definitely my favorite spot. A place to curl up with a cup of coffee and my Bible.


This piece is from the bedroom furniture that we purchased from IKEA in 1997. We have a lot more closet space in this house so didn't need the dresser... I decided to use it here to store linens and other seasonal stuff. I pulled the wooden knobs off of it and replaced them with white knobs (which I took off of built-in cabinets in another room) I really would like to paint it, but hubby isn't going for that idea :) I covered it with white burlap, added some family pics, and finished it off with a garage sale lamp - spray painted of course! To the side you see an ottoman (Target clearance find!). We have 2, and they get moved from room to room as needed for extra seating.

On the other wall you see my piano (Christmas gift from my hubby), a chair family portrait, and shelves holding music, photo albums, and a few knick knacks. The chair was another garage sale find, and hubby cringed when he saw that I was painting it purple, but I love the pop of color it provides - and he actually conceded that it "wasn't bad."

Oh, and can I comment on the room color? I hate yellow. I don't think sunshine - I think urine. Ugh. I've already purchased paint (a bluish gray) and it's on next month's project list. I also have some white sheer curtains to hang on that window by the chair. Baby steps, but it's slowly feeling more like OUR HOME.

Works for me Wednesday - Displaying Kids' Artwork

Our son & daughter both manage to crank out a lot of art projects. They, of course, are proud of their creations and want them on display... I want to encourage them, but also have a hard time getting excited about accessorizing every room in our house with construction paper.

My solution: the art wall! This space is in our dining area, right by the back door. We spend a lot of our time here, but it's not the very first thing you see when you walk in our house. The kids know that this is where stuff has to fit - and if they have a new masterpiece to share, then we need to decide what will be coming down. All it took to create was six nails, a few feet of jute twine, and some clothespins. I considered decorating the clothespins with paint, ribbon, or patterned paper, but in the end decided to leave them plain because I didn't want to detract from the kids' creations.

Click over to get some other great "works for me" tips!

Monday, Monday...

First off: may I present our new hallway?!? I managed to get it painted (along with the accent wall in our living room) with the help of a friend while my hubby was gone last week. He was definitely surprised! Amazing how a bit of paint can totally transform the feeling of a space. It's much more calming, plus it frames out the fireplace/brickwork really nicely in the other room (I know, I still need to post pics... someday, someday!) My only issue now is that the 2 colors are too similar in depth of tone... but I will happily live with that for awhile :)

My parents arrive in approximately six hours, and I still have a number of things to finish up. Oh, and did I mention I can't talk? Yep, I've been fighting off a cold and now am being awfully quiet. My daughter thinks it's pretty funny, but I'm annoyed. I just want to feel better quickly so I can get on with my life. Getting sick just never happens at a convenient time, does it?!

Well, I'm off again, even if it is in slo-mo. I probably won't be posting much in the next couple weeks, and I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love.

Updating the Abode

My husband is such a funny guy. Apparently he recalls a conversation we had along the lines of "We're not going to do anything to this house for a year." I truly don't recall saying that (I think it was something more like, "We won't start any major renovations for at least a year") but he loves me and puts up with me! So the first picture is of my laundry hallway - complete with the color sample and the pale blue vinyl paneling ripped down. I'm planning to paint this week, and then we'll put up beadboard on the lower half of the wall on Friday (he has the day off). I cannot wait to see this completed, and it's possible that it might even make me enjoy doing the laundry just a bit :)

The second pic is of our entryway. You'll note the dreaded orangey half is still present - I'm hoping to tackle that in 2 weeks, but we'll see. In the meantime, I'm much happier with the feeling it conveys. This picture is taken from the meant-to-be-a-formal-dining-room, and the front door is to the left of the bench. It's a strange area - too wide to be left plain, but too narrow to handle much furniture. I found this teak bench online for a song, and it works for now (plus will be fabulous on the back patio if I ever find something better). I purchased the hook/shelf/picture frame thing from Hobby Lobby, but unfortunately they only had it in black. A can of spray paint later (plus some B&W prints from Wal-Mart) and the hall actually has some personality.

Anyway, my parents are coming down here for Thanksgiving and I really want to get a least a few of these minor make-overs down before that. And hey, I might even put them to work while they're here :)

Etsy Love

As we've settled into this house, the bare walls have irritated me. Larger house means more space to fill, and I wanted to find some good stuff. Off to etsy! I purchased the fabulous coffee print from Life Verse Designs, and it now hangs in my kitchen, adjacent to the dining area. The next two pics are from Cherie Lester Photography, and they're by the table (opposite the door you see in the background on the first photo).

I also wanted to address the empty space under the built-in cooktop. The folks at Vinyl Lettering were great to work with, and created this custom sized scrollymabobber (yes, that's a technical term). Won't it look great?!

Well, I'm sure it would if the cabinets had been properly primed and painted... Let's just say I'm really thankful that it was another shade of white paint under there.

On a side note - we're hoping to revamp the kitchen in about 2 years. It's not a great layout, and we'd like to knock out a wall and open it up into the dining area. Plus I can then replace the badly painted cabinets (complete with their faux aging that simply makes them look dirty...)

Dreaming in Color

Yes, I'm starting to think about colors. This house is done with mostly yellows (hubby's least favorite color) and punches of orangey-rust (my least favorite color). Needless to say, we'd like to move away from the tropical palette and make it "ours."

This morning after dropping D off at school, I picked up a pumpkin spice latte then headed to Home Depot to buy weed killer. I do lead a glamous life, don't I? :) While I was there, I just had to browse the paint section. Selecting paint colors takes some time, as I don't particularly enjoy the actual painting process, so want to make sure that we'll be happy with the color. So now I'm looking at the paint chips* in the sunlight, and will be evaluating the evening version. Now I just need to wait for a good paint sale.

And hooray for neutral berber! :)

*Home Depot has a new line with the primer and paint in 1 - not sure about the paint itself, but I do love the super-sized samples, and they even provide the clip ring right there. Thought that was a nice little feature - inexpensive but definitely handy for the consumer.

What's new?

Well, thought I'd take a moment and share what's been going on. The house is finally on the market (and a few people have asked for pics, which is why I'm posting these) so we've been making ourselves scarce as potential buyers come check it out. Please pray that it sells quickly! Hubby is currently in England - thankfully this is only a 2 week trip (much nicer than the usual 1 month China expeditions). And frankly those 2 things are quite exhausting all by themselves ;)

We had a beautiful weekend (I dug out my flip flops!), but it's now cold and rainy. School is early out this week due to teacher conferences, so we did a library run and are fully stocked with books and movies. And now I really must get dinner in the oven and fold laundry. It's a thrill-a-minute, I tell ya!

Last but not least, a funny little story from yesterday. We went to the park during the Open House, and I saw a man holding a leash but couldn't see anything on the end of it.... but then the ferret popped out. Yep, I always like to take my rodents out for a nice stroll on those sunny days... (I thought of you, Megan!)