Living Room Dreams

I have 3 children, can you  tell?   In a (blog) world where everyone's living room looks like a show room, lets get real.  We live in 920 sq ft. The wood stove HORRIBLY placed in the right corner, takes up about 1/6 of the tiny floor space we have and it's got to GO!

I would go insane following my children around, picking up their toys, in between laundry, kitchen cleaning, meal making, etc.

But one day, (in the next few months), I will be installing a gas fireplace, right where the kid's bedroom door is.  The armoir will be gone and the den door will be moved there.

The upper beams will resemble this, along with the fireplace and tv. (Beam not pictured but 14" down from ceiling). The windowseats will be the front door (left) and den door (right).

I'm thinking about a very beige/ warm palette. I'm not a fan of modern decor, you know me, I'm a country girl. But have decided that I will be getting this convex mirror and painting white, then sanding it.

I'm going to put it on the stair wall so "in theory" I can be in the kitchen, look back at that mirror wall and see the kids playing. (see it edited into the photo, haha)

Then there's the flooring.  I was going to go with this IKEA antique

But have since found this Armstrong vinyl, that I could use throughout the kitchen, laundry, and bath, without worry of water damage. And it'll be seamless! I've haven't priced it out yet at Lowes, but I like it alot.

And since in about 3 years, we'll be renting this place out, we want the least maintenance and the MOST durable. From what I've heard, tenants are very nice to homes that aren't theirs, so I'm just thinking ahead. 

What do you think, vinyl too lame?

We are EXPECTING...

It's official..... due June 15th (although all my children like to be fashionably late)

I have one of these lil' humans growing inside me!

We are feeling so blessed!!

You are 12 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 10 weeks)

• The fetus is now about 2.5 inches (6cm) length and weighs about 0.7 ounce (20 g).
• The feet are almost half an inch (1cm) long.
• The fetus starts moving spontaneously.
• The face is beginning to look like a baby's face.
• The pancreas is functioning and producing insulin.
• Fingernails and toenails appear.
• The baby can suck his thumb, and get hiccups.

From this week you may well be able to hear the baby's heart beat through a doppler monitor on your tummy. You will notice that the rate is up to 160 a minute, double that of a normal adult.

Your baby now has a chin and a nose and a facial profile. Vocal chords are complete, and the baby can and does sometimes cry silently. The brain is fully formed, and the baby can also feel pain. The fetus may even suck his thumb.

The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers. The hair is on the head and the fingers and toes have developed soft nails. The kidneys are developed and begin to secrete urine.

Christmas Shopping

With all my friends Facebook status saying : "Yay, done Christmas shopping", I'm feeling quite behind. 

Redneck:  I have no clue. He has a MacBook Pro, an iPad, and an iPhone 4. What else could a man want.  I could get him a briefcase for his business trips every couple months but I don't know.  What does he want?  Probably a .....

iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

 But since I don't have $1,000 laying around... this will have to wait.  Maybe I'll get him some nice $20 Smartwool socks, LOL. 

Carter : He loves Buzz.  He wears his short sleeve pajama shirt almost every day. So I got him the long sleeve version.

And that's all so far.   He'll be getting a good Buzz with wings, a Woody, some tinker toys, and who knows what else.

August : He likes Woody (because his brother tells him to, so he does).  So I got him matching jammies.....

And he'll also be getting a good big Buzz, since they always fight over it, and probably a Woody doll and some Lincoln Logs.

Luella : Not a clue. She turns 1 on Dec 14th, I think she needs a dolly stroller but we really don't have room for it. 

I have no clue what to get her.  She'll definitely be getting a Jessie doll, since we have the cloth Woody and Buzz.

But other than that? oy!

Hope everyone is having a great time getting all their shopping done!  

 

Mud Room Wall Reveal

I have been working on this mud room wall FOREVER, it seems.
So here is where we started. Plain wall. (ok, I forgot to take the REAL before, but you get the picture)

I put the ledger board up, a 2x6.

It stayed like that for far too long.  But then I got the mirrors and rest of trim installed, all using leftover trim that the previous homeowners left us.

It took forever because what I really needed that I didin't have.. BEADBOARD.  So once I got a day to borrow the van and my mom to babysit my babies, we were in business.

I got the hooks at IKEA. (5) for $10. Love them.

The seat is only 7" deep. (That's a sample of the IKEA flooring) It's enough for half a butt to sit on and take your shoes off but definitely not a "sit and relax seat".

But my favorite part is the seat is actually the old window sill from the same laundry room. (What Hubbys hand is resting on). You can read about that renovation HERE. I just loved the aged look. I had to scrap layers and layers of paint off and cut it to size but I love the outcome.  The mix of old and new.

And it matches the flooring we are going to install.

IKEA. Tundra, Antique Effect.
And there you have it.

I absolutely love it. It feels like it's always been there.  Can't wait to get rid of that ugly tile... oh well, another day.

Dining Light Revamp

You may remember my post about CSN.  I was so excited when I found this light for $ 27.92  (Marked down from $ 262.90)

Brass and all... I had to snag it up.  You can always fix the color, but the seeded glass and shape were perfect. 

Bright brass.

So I took it all apart and took it outside to give it a good coat of matte black with my FAVORITE BBQ paint, it's not glossy, I love it.

Note: I should have used primer. If I bumped the metal to metal is chipped in some spots so I had to be super careful. It wasn't a huge deal to me though because it's not like it's going to be touched a lot.

Reassemble

And there you have it.

So much better than the old fan, the lights didn't give off any light at all.

It defines the dining space so much better.
And here's the WAY before, so much has changed.  It's slowly coming together.

I love it.
Another note:  If you try to do a small project, that should take about 1-2 hours, times it by the number of short people at your feet that call you "mommy" and that is how long the project will really take. (2 hours x 3 children = 6 hours)

And A SNEAK PEAK of the laundry room wall that is soooo close to being done.  I have a small piece of beadboard to cut but it won't stop raining, erg!!  So, pics to come!

Carter

This Carter. He is 4.5 years old. My first born. My independant know it all. He likes to take pictures....

OF HIMSELF.

And I let him, haha.

Children are so much fun, and leave you such nice surprises in your SD card. LOL

Chalkboard Creation from Goodwill frame

I got this frame from Goodwill for about $5.  It holds a 14x18, very odd. 

It was wood

And very dingy but I loved the profiles

So some black paint, sandpaper, a coat of poly...

Then a custom cut 14x18 painted with chalkboard paint...

My oldest doing his coloring.  I want the chalkboard to say something like
"Rhyne Diner"   "CowTown Cafe"  I don't know.  I can't decide, so for now it sits plain.

But I definitely need some chalkboard pens.

Maybe I'll just keep it blank so I can always change it.

 

CSN Discovery

There are so many things I need for this house.  I can't stop thinking about redoing the backyard, it's going to be so awesome.  I got a quote from a concrete guy to pour a 1,000 sq ft slab and broom finish would be about $4,000 total.  Is that a good deal?  I have no idea, but I know I can't do it myself. Definitely not a DIY project for me.  But oh how I dream about how cool it will be to hang out out there.

I found these great barstools at a CSN shop, http://www.allbarstools.com/

I can just see myself sitting back with my ice mocha watching my kids play.   And for $98.99 and FREE Shipping, you can't really beat it.

Online shopping gets me every time.  I always get caught up putting everything my little heart wants into my basket.  Like we NEED a chandelier over our bed, isn't this one pretty?

Then I decide I need this fireplace for our living room

Paint the wood  white? Sand up the corners a bit. So cute, yes?
Then I found Beadboard wall paper.

This I MUST HAVE, and apparently everyone else thinks so too. So of course I click "Email me when available" But you can paint it and everything.
Eh, I hate having to have priorities. Can't I just have everything?