My new chairs!!

I did it!

I have not had a matching table and chairs in years. First a couple of chairs broke, then we were given a couple of chairs. We kept the folding chairs in the dining room to fill in as needed. Then,last weekend I found 2 mismatched chairs at a garage sale for ............

ONE DOLLAR

All they needed was a little love :) I had planned to post a poll asking everyones opinion because I honestly couldn't make up my mind what I should try to make them all look good around my table! Finally, this morning when I had no more time to be fussy about it I just decided that black was easiest so I did it :)

I even took before and after pictures for this post

BEFORE


AFTER



Spraypaint in my hands.......nothing is safe....muahaaahaahaa

What has been keeping me so busy?

SPRING CLEANING!!!!!!!!!

My family groans when I bring out "the list"

The words "I have a plan" send them running to hide

I have to start keeping my to-do list hidden for protection

What do all these things mean? It's time for Spring cleaning!!!!


We have been very, very busy the last month but I have been limiting it to weekends and have divided the house into very specific projects. So far we have accomplished all 3 boys rooms, our master bedroom & the living room.

I'm not just cleaning either. We are cleaning, we moved everything out of each of their seperate 3 bedrooms (one at a time, i'm not completely crazy)including furniture and beds and cleaned the carpet and windows. BUT, as we put things back in we took the time to rethink their rooms. Anything that was broken was fixed, we hung on walls those things that needed hanging, hung dragons from ceilings.

Davis finally decided at 9 that he was ready to pass on Thomas the train and his table to his cousins Drew & Ben. That was a BIG decision but it made his very cramped room a little bit bigger.

We created a reading corner for Michael
along with the dragons for imagination.
But the biggest change was in Travis's room. He likes change a LOT and decided that he wanted his walls painted.
This was fine and even gave us a little bit to look forward to once he agreed that he would do the bulk of the work AND be the repainter when the time came. However, he came down with the flu & bronchitis the day we started and so.....you guessed it........I was in his room covered in paint along with his best friend Zach until midnight trying to finish it. I was praising God for Zach when he was the one at the ceiling and the floorboard leaving me the middle section. You know your child has found a great friend when he refuses to be given a ride home while his best friend is sacked out and he says "I can't wait for Travis to see how cool this is!" (I promise I fed him well, even snacks and thanked him often)

I am rethinking each of my rooms with the idea from Nester when I read her posts about the rooms in your house! You have to go to her site and click on this button. We have faithfully followed each post and I have brought in fabric in my living room
and now have 3 working lamps and many candles.
We really focused on our bed in the bedroom and eliminating clutter.
I also painted 3 canvases to go above the bed that I think turned out great. I wish I had a better picture! (please ignore the ugly headboard that i hate hate hate)

I have more to do in the bathrooms and the kitchen/dining but I am stumped with my dining chairs so we may have a poll coming soon.

Check back for more insanity!

Happy Birthday Jesus

Thank you Lord for the best gift of all.

I love the time we have had with family.
I loved seeing how much they appreciated their gifts we chose.
I wanted to take a few moments and remember about the best gift.

We are flying home tomorrow (Jeff & I). The boys are coming home and we will finally get to celebrate Christmas with our small family. Everything is ready and waiting for the excited sounds of the boys as they see their bulging stockings and the early morning wake up to open all their gifts. I wait all year for that moment.

I never updated but we did finish our projects...we strung popcorn and cranberries

I also made the silhouette ornaments and my "S" monogram wreath.

Since I believe Christmas is a frame of mind and not just a day, I am eagerly looking forward to getting home and having my family all around as we drown in wrapping paper and ribbon and watch their precious faces as they see what they are given. I can't wait to drink hot cocoa and apple cider and nibble on Christmas snacks. I'll see you all soon for new years!!

I just had to leave a picture of the view from the back deck of Jeff's house in Mass where we just had a wonderful Christmas with our family. We love you!

Excessive energy painting

What is that you ask?

It is the result of all the excitement from holiday decorating still churning through me at 11:30 pm at night when there are no more twinkle lights to hang, garland to create or Bethlehem villages to arrange and something in me is begging to create something great.

OK...great is a relative term but my 8 year old thinks I created a masterpiece!

Do you remember a few posts back when I showed off my new painting for over the couch? It was my inspiration for this project. I have a table/lamp combo that needs a makeover in a big way.

So far all I have changed is the lampshade, but I think it has huge impact. I have been thinking about it for a long time but I couldn't decide if I should. I really liked the idea of painting the shade and because it is across the room from the painting I wanted to mimic it to create some cohesiveness. BUT I also worried if a painted lampshade would make my painting less artistic and more design. The painting was a very big release for me and when I started I had no idea how it would turn out, I felt like I was just releasing myself and I didn't want to lose that feeling I get every time I look at the painting. When my sister in love Kelli was visiting over Thanksgiving I mentioned my idea to her and she thought it was a good one so it is thanks to her that I took the plunge :)

Guess what? I painted the lampshade and i STILL get the feeling!!

These are the AFTER pictures:
you can see the painting in the background along with our Sam sleeping on the couch
The little strange things on the top are tiny Santas hanging from the top of my shade (thank you Davis)
I still need to decide what to do with the ugly white post, the ugly brass thingy ma bobbee and how I should treat the table/legs part. Any suggestions? PLEASE help me out. It is better with the shade but it still doesn't go with everything else.

Comments, Comments, Comments!!!!!!!!!

decorating heaven

(a dark picture of my garland that doesnt do it justice)
I love to spend time planning and preparing when I decorate and I especially love just jumping in and making a huge mess and coming out with something that is beautiful to me and makes my family feel at home. Christmas decorating gives me all that and more.
(this is a picture of the garland close up)
I have a tree in every room....not just every bedroom but EVERY room in the house. Some rooms like the bathrooms and kitchen have small ones, but the ones in each of our bedrooms are my favorite! The big one in our living room is our family tree. It has the collection of the boys ornaments that are added to each year and lovingly remembered as they are hung. It also has all the ornaments collected as we travel and a million memories from our families and our trips. That one is special and i'm usually crying before all the ornaments are hung. This year I am planning on stringing popcorn and cranberries (i'll let you know how it goes).

The bedroom trees were each planned according to the person who lives in that room and are the most fun :)

***Davis's is a candyland dream and we have collected candy ornaments from all over. He also has candy garland and lights and the most elaborate room because he takes all of my castoff decorations and finds a place for them.
***Michael's is new this year because he finally has his own room and is of course "Colt's blue". So far it just has white lights and balls but we are on the lookout for sports and colts ornaments and will probaby make some.
***Travis is my patriot and his room has an american flag and a texas flag hanging on the walls along with a complete red white and blue thing going on and so he has the Texas tree.
***Jeff & I used gold and blue to pick up the accents in our room and also put on the first ornament we ever bought together every year together. He holds the branch and I hang it. That is part of the rule, each person puts up and decorates their own tree.


We did all this yesterday and it felt so good i ended up with so much energy at 11 pm last night I took on a project that I have been undecided on. Thanks Kelli for the push! (more on that to come)

This window stuff can be addictive

I couldn't quit staring at Travis's window.

It was mocking me.......bare and naked taunting.

I didn't have months of thinking and inspiration but I DID have a sense of accomplishment from Michael's mistreatment and the desire to cover Travis's.

What I didn't have was any extra money for supplies (or old giftcards laying around).

What I did have was nester's words running through my head AND a top sheet that I have given up putting on Travis's bed because he refuses to use it and it was constantly wadded up at the bottom under his comforter.

The sheet was the right color and even though it wasn't being used i didn't want to cut it because I might need it someday! However, I didn't want anyone who saw his window to think I had just hung a sheet up there. My dilemna was:

• how to make it unrecognizable as a sheet and look just like navy cotton fabric
• how to hang it with no rods or boards using the only thing I had (furniture upholstery nails)

My solution was:

• Window Mistreatment 101

Here is my end product! And since it is so dark you really can't see the detail at all, but trust me it looks just like Nester's did!

He didn't need to cover the whole window since it is at the back of the house and not everyone driving by will be looking in as they were in Michael's. Plus he had already been using the sill as a place to keep his trophies.

YAY!!! Another window covered and for $0

My first window mistreatment

BEFORE

AFTER

I am so excited about this you guys! I thought about it for a couple of months but didn't have the nerve to just do it! I have been so inspired by all the posts you talented bloggers have put up about your mistreatments and have really been wanting to try it. I am the perfect candidate....we are in a rental and I don't want to spend money on curtains that only work for this house and honestly.....you can spend a small fortune just for one window after buying the actual panels AND the hardware. Add in the fact that my son Michael wanted something nascar and so I wouldnt have been able to settle for something found on sale.

I got this specific mistreatment idea from Kimba at A Soft Place to Land and you HAVE to read it first because she makes more sense than I do!

Michael also needed a shelf for all the nascar collectibles he has that really didn't have a place to live in his room. Here they are piled on a table in his room.

I went back to the Nester's sight and read back through all her posts on the subject......thanks Nester!!! You MUST go visit her blog even if you just read the window posts your life will be forever changed :)

I went to Lowe's because I had $11.42 on an un-finished giftcard. All I had to buy was the board, furniture tacks and 2 brackets.....I even HAD to buy 3 mum plants for my front bed to finish up the card!

One thing I do have in my linen closet is a TON of extra sheets.

With 3 boys and 4 twin beds we are never short on sheets. I used a black flat sheet that is all by it's lonesome (this is pretty common in my house) and I also used the 2 extra nascar pillow cases since the other 2 boys are no longer using them (the third is still on Michael's bed so it is a great tie-in) I didnt want to cut anything just in case I might need it as a sheet again (i'm glad to read on the other blogs that I am not the only one who thinks this way). I did open the pillow cases on the seam but I know if need be I could stitch them back up again in a jiffy.

It may be hard to see here but all I did was use the tack to hold up each corner. After that I tacked up the middle making a pleat first. I then kept going half and half while making pleats and just tacked it up as I went. This is the back panel.

This may not make sense to you since it really only makes sense in my head......but go read the this post on Kimba's site (with much nicer fabric) and then it should start to come clear for you.

This is just 3 halves of the pillow cases (i have one leftover) I used no sewing at all in true mistreatment style. I bought a 1x6 board that was 6 ft long so the length was just perfect, no cutting.I used the upholstery tacks to put the fabric onto the board and hubby hung the new valance/topper/shelf over the window using the brackets. I used my hot glue gun to connect the 3 pieces of pillow case and make it look seamless. Now we have a back panel, a valance and a shelf! I know it is hard to tell from this picture but it looks really good!

I LOVE THEM! Michael loves them!!! Even Jeff thinks they are great (even though he made this face when he saw me tacking a sheet over the window)
















I also got a shot of Michael happily arranging his cars on his new one of a kind shelf :)

I did it!

I have had this canvas and paint for 3 months leaning against the wall. I knew what I wanted to do but was so nervous about doing it...........I finally did though!

Don't be too critical....i'm still learning :)

These are the accent colors in my living room....it felt really good to paint this, I think I'm addicted...

A redo project

This is what my first canvas painting project looked like.

It looked MUCH better in the old house because the walls in the bedroom were chocolate brown.

Since we moved and are living in a temporary rental I have to live with white walls and the paintings just don't work anymore. I really liked the way the paintings looked with the bedding that was my inspiration so I didn't want to lose that look.

What do you think of my redo?

I have to admit I have become obsessed with painting and have a million ideas. Maybe in the next few days I will show you my living room/largest project attempt once I determine it is complete. :)

Fix my dead zone!!!

OK.......i'm sure you noticed my to-do list on the side over there --------->

What you probably don't know is that much of it is inspired by the fact that we just moved! Our new move has a million challenges for us inspired by the fact that it is a very old house.....very far away from town.....very much in need of some TLC.

The move isn't long-term in the sense of welcoming our grandchildren because we would like to buy a house "soon" (what a relative term). Since we are renting we don't want to do to many changes but we do want to be comfortable.

I am coming to you blog buddies for some help! Did you see the first 3 items on my to-do list? I am thinking about tackling them this weekend. Here is the problem: our home is set in the middle of a cotton field. I don't believe grass was ever seeded and nothing is neat and organized the way I like it. I am trying to embrace the wildness and go with it. Here is a picture I made because I haven't taken one yet but I will try......especially for some before and after shots:

The only thing the different areas have in common are weeds! The grassy-type area of the lawn is mostly weeds, the area in front of the house has more weeds and the area by the road has less. The grass/weeds are infringing on the gravel/driveway and even on the concrete. I have a few ideas about the weed problem and hope to make them happen this weekend. Are you ready for the part I need help with?

THE DEAD ZONE

This is in the middle if the yard, we realized why it was just dirt and a few weeds the first time Jeff mowed and cut some plastic. Someone before us had laid plastic down and covered it to keep anything from growing.......

yes i know.......

while I have seen this method used before, none that come to mind explain why it was done here. We can't get rid of all the plastic and beg grass to grow (trust me) so I need some ideas for what to do here! The gravel idea isn't something I look forward to because the gravel from the driveway gets thrown in the grass already and has broken a lawnmower blade. It isn't ideal for a sitting area being that we are in West Texas and there is no shade and it is 1000 degrees outside. HELP!!!!!!

I also need to tackle the flower beds, when we moved in they had BEAUTIFUL blooming rosebushes which I know NOTHING about. There was a bare spot where we could see a plant had been removed and our landlady said she removed a wild plant she didn't like. We have lived there for 2 months and I have done nothing but water them. The beds are overgrown with grass and weeds which we will have to hoe out but I need ideas for bedcover to keep them from growing so quickly. Another problem is the bush she cut out has grown back to about 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet and is huge.....i don't know how to contain it. The last problem is my lack of rosebush knowledge. All but 1 of the bushes is still blooming beautifully and seems ok........but one of them has doubled in size in the last 2 months and is no longer blooming and has these hugely long shoots coming off of it that I want to cut but was told it will kill the bush. HELP!!!