New house inspiration

 Over the past couple weeks, Rob and I have had a lot of paint discussions for the new house.  I really don't want to rush into things too much. I want to take our time decorating and figuring out what works best by living there.  However, there are some things we have to make decisions on before moving in.  Like, some paint colors.

I want to get the boys room and the living room completely painted before moving in.  These are the 2 rooms that would be hard to accomplish too much in once we are living there because of the kids.  For the boy's room, we've decided to paint it the same color it is now in our current house, so that everything we already have works.  (We're also working with a minimum budget, so using what we already have is best)

The living room is where we kept running into problems.  We have gone back and forth on whether or not to keep things neutral downstairs or go for a bold color.  Part of me wants to have the guts to paint our living room something like this...

Deuce Cities Henhouse

But, I just can't do it.  I think that I may like it for awhile, but I know myself too well and know that I will get sick of it.

I'm aware that I like to switch things up, like, curtains, pillows, etc.  Having a neutral pallet allows me to do that.  There are so many other ways to add color, I would feel better having the freedom to do that with keeping the walls neutral.  Plus, I think the house will look so good with fresh white, or light gray paint.  I'm also really particular about lighting in a house, and until we live there and I get to know the natural light in rooms, or how it feels at night with lights on, I just can't do something this daring.  

The only room we may get a LITTLE more daring with is the dining room.  But, that's covered in wallpaper and has two chair rails, yes two...why have one when you could have two?!  So, we have a lot to do before making any decisions in there.

Here is my favorite house right now for inspiration.   I love everything about this house, it feels more like our style.  I love what Maria says about old houses in this interview,

“I love the fact that old houses have nicks and aren’t perfect; the floors aren’t level, the windows aren’t square,” says Maria. “Old homes are a lot more interesting and forgiving, so your lifestyle can be more forgiving.”

It's so true and exactly why I have such a love for old houses!

I love the kitchen.  I'm all about mixing black and white cabinets and butcher block!  Just check my Pinterest.

I love how this desk space is a little messy but stil looks pretty.  

Bedrooms

And, I just love this shot from the hall looking into the master bedroom.

all images from Vintage Simple blog

I'll share more inspiration along the way, but right now I can't stop thinking about this house and these images.  They just make me so happy! 

Christmas Decorating Inspiration

Thanksgiving came and went and I can't believe the Christmas season is already here.  I haven't felt too motivated to start decorating, which is kind of unlike me, but the snow that we got today helped get me in the mood. 

I lit my favorite winter candle, turned on my Snow Angels record and broke out the twinkle lights. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...twinkle lights are the easiest and best way to decorate for Christmas.  Just put twinkle lights everywhere.

I love this idea to make a twinkle light curtain (from the Land of Nod catalog)

Also from Land of Nod is this fun room

And last, this picture makes me swoon.  I love everything about it!

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and aren't too stressed yet!

Summer projects

I've been trying to write this blog post for weeks now.  Life feels so busy all the time and unfortunately, a lot of things I love, like blogging and house projects, have taken to the back burner.  Some days this really gets me down and I feel like I will never have time for these things EVER again ( I can be a bit dramatic!).  But, I've said it many times before that I will never get these times back, when the kids are young.  So, even though that means we've had to endure 5am wake-ups and dinners that are anything but peaceful, I am doing my best to cherish these times.  I mean, just look at these 2.  Persepctive, it's all about perspective.

Brady does have a diaper on, I promise.  He's just so fat he looks naked.

Ok, back to my post...

I love summer.  It is hands down my favorite time of year.  I love the warm weather.  I love the long days.  I love going on vacation and I love coming home.

Last summer was super busy.  With the anticipated arrival of Brady and numerous vacations, it felt like we didn't have a lot of relaxing time at home.  We spent a lot of time working on the third floor with the boy's room and I still can't believe we got everything done in time for Brady.

Even though that was a fun, big project, I am looking forward to working on some smaller projects around here this year, and having some more time enjoying our home. 

Rob and I sat down a couple weeks ago and went over things that we want to put our time and money into around the house this summer.  There are some things outside that Rob is working on.  One, which he worked on last week:

A "tree"house for Aiden.  To say Aiden is excited about this is a huge understatement.  Rob found that slide in someone's trash.  It just needs a good cleaning and to be attached and then it will be ready to go.  

We talked about how we want to spend a lot of time in our yard this summer.  So, doing some things to make that space nicer is a priority.  Rob's already done a lot of clean up in the yard and is of course hard at work in the garden.  I have some little projects for out there too; making a tablecloth, cushions for the bench.   We're having some family over on Sunday so I will try and remember to take some pictures of it looking spruced up.

Inside I have quite a few sewing projects I want to do.  I spent a lot of time  looking at fabrics, figuring out yardage, etc.  Here's my pile of fabric just waiting to be made into something.

One project I am super excited about is this floor cusion from pinterest:

Aiden is always wanting to put the pillows on the floor, which I'm not a huge fan of.  So, I'm hoping this will make him happy.  

We have one major project inside that we are going to do, and I'm super excited about it.  We need some closed storage in the living room for all the kid's toys, games, etc.  We love the shelves we have now because they work well in a small space.  But, with an almost-crawling-into-everything baby plus lots of kid stuff, we need closed storage, end of story.

Rob had this idea, it's on quite a few blogs, but I like this one the best from The Brick House.  I like the clean look, and I like the white with the wood.  It's also budget friendly considering how much storage it will provide.

Rob spent time doing lots of research and pricing things out.  We just need to sit down and find a few days on the calendar to work on this as we'll probably need to have the kids out of the house to get this done.

So, that should keep us busy for now.  I feel like my mind is always full of ideas and an endless list of things we want to do around here.  But, I am really going to do my best to enjoy our home this summer and not always feel like I need to get something done.

Happy Summer!

Organizing inspiration

I've been working on a blog post for 2 weeks now and I just can't get it together.  It's all about the projects we are planning for the summer, some of which have already started.  I'm hoping I'll have some time this weekend to finish it.  But, until then, if you need some inspiration, I stumbled upon this blog yesterday...

iHeart Organizing

Oh, be still my heart.  This woman is my hero.  And we have the same name.  And she has 3 boys.  Seriously, the amount of organization loveliness is almost too much for me to handle.  Seriously amazing.

I am most jealous of her laundry room.  Oh, to have a laundry room and not a creepy basement that has crumbling walls.

This may be the reason why I can't get  a blog post together, because I find blogs like this and I just can't stop looking at them.  

Hope you have a lovely weekend and are feeling inspired!