Goals for Next Week & Changing Renner’s Room

 

Hehe.  I love this.

Ideally, I’d tell you today that I completed all my goals from last week.  Yay me!  Goals are awesome!  This is why I always make to-do lists!

*crickets*

Oh.  You mean the purpose of goals and to-do lists is to complete them?  Well, better luck this week I guess!

Review last week’s goals and what was completed:

1. Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room (need hubby for this)
2. Clean out and organize the crap craft room
3. Choose a paint color and purchase paint for kitchen and living room
4. Make a decision on Renner’s room changes 5. Keep the laundry caught up… all week

What happened?  We didn’t remember to remove the closet doors until Renner had already gone to bed one night.  And we forgot all the other nights.  I did clean out the craft room, leaving piles ready to organize and piles of garage sale items.  I posted yesterday about selecting a paint color, still not having made a decision.  It’s harder to choose this time because I’m choosing one color for the whole house.  I did make some decisions in regards to Renner’s room (we’ll talk about that in a minute) and something crazy happened with our laundry this week.  I swear every single item of clothing Renner and Justin have was dirty, along with every towel, washcloth, sheet and blanket we own.  However – J never had to ask if x-item of clothing was clean or if there were clean boxers somewhere.  I call that a success!

This week’s goals feature a repeat of last week’s that weren’t completed and a few newbies:

1.  Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room
2.  Organize the craft room
3.  Choose a color and purchase paint for all interior rooms
4.  Get Renner to take naps in crib
5.  Collect, organize and price garage sale items

In true cheater fashion, I’ve already started on 4 of the 5 items.  Admitting that means I need to have everything marked off my list next week!

In other news, I *think* I’ve finally come to a decision on the changes I want to make to Renner’s room.  Let’s go crazy with the back links:  reveal, how it started, little details, ready for changes.  I had considered changing the paint color, changing the bedding, the curtains, re-painting furniture.  Seeing as how I have an entire house to paint and Renner’s room just got a fresh coat, changing the paint color is out.  I do want to add stripes to two of the four walls, like this:

Who doesn’t love Vintage Revivals?  I love the current series she’s doing on real life stuff.

I’m also going to paint the monogram above Ren’s crib white because it’s just too kid-town for me as is:

And with the stripes, I’ll be moving some art around.  I think the armoire needs to be painted white (J will love this!) or I may just get rid of it altogether (garage sale?).  While I do use it for storage, the diapers, wipes, bath and misc. can find a new home.  And it would free up so much room… plenty of room for the pallet shelves J is supposed to build:

via

I’m going to hang new curtains to brighten the space, the closet doors are coming off and being replaced with more curtains, and I’m on the hunt for new fabric for a new longer crib skirt and I’d like to add a rug.  Generally, the idea is staying the same, just being refined.

I’ve already started pinning (do you follow me?  You should!) things for his big boy room, and I realize I may be getting ahead of myself.  But there’s nothing wrong with pre-planning, right?

Okay, now you tell me… what are your goals for next week?  What do you think now that I’ve made a decision on the Ren-dog’s room?

Happy Friday and have an awesome weekend!


(As always, if you would like to pin the images that come from other sites, please use the links I've provided to go to the originating site.  Thanks!)

If I don’t paint the living room & kitchen soon, I’m going to lose it.

I didn’t care for the colors to start with, even referring to it as the Joseph and Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat of houses.  Now that I’m a WAHM, my eyes are about to bleed.  AND we moved our furniture so my view is now the kitchen, which I consider the most offensive color of all.  Matter-of-fact, I dislike 95% of the kitchen, but there’s only so much I can do.  While I admire the boldness of the previous occupants, they are not my colors.  At all.

Just for fun, a room-by-room color break down:

Living room & hallway:  Pastel green
Kitchen:  Strange pale yellow
Hall bath:  I say mauve, everyone else says it’s just red
Master bedroom:  Hunter green with olive green border on three walls
Master bathroom:  Baby blue
Work/Craft room:  I think it’s lavender.
Renner’s room:  (which I’ve already painted) Grey
Trim throughout: White

I was laying in bed last night and realized I could see 5 paint colors… 3 shades of green, baby blue, and mauve.  Now, I’m no stranger to painting rooms different colors.  I think that need to paint comes from living in “don’t paint” white walled apartments and duplexes.  In the house we owned a few years ago I had the same camel color in the living, dining, kitchen (open floor plan) and 2 bedrooms.  But my hall bath was bright red, the master bedroom was chocolate brown, and J’s master bath was green.  I liked the bright red bath (it could be seen from the living room) because red was the accent color in the main living space. 

Color is a tricky subject and very personal.  A color that is beautiful to one, is the worst of the worst to another.  Someone that grew up with a house of many colors may only feel comfortable if their adult homes are the same way.  But the reverse can also be true: house of many colors growing up, need for whites and other neutrals as an adult.  Color also evokes strong memories.  A palette of blues may for one person remind them of winters in Colorado (icy blues), another would think of vacations to Florida (beachy blues).  Maybe you’ve just had a favorite color forever.  My favorite color has always been red.  Always has, always will.  Three of four prom dresses in high school were red, the car I got my senior year of HS was red, my fave clothes, shoes, nail polish, etc. all red.  Even now as I contemplate a home color palette of whites/greys/blues, I wonder how I’ll work in some red.

via

It’s amazing to me that after living in several white wall rentals, that I’m even considering white walls for our current house.  I’m beyond thrilled to have white trim and before, I would be eyeballing dark reds and browns to pop against the bright white.  But not now.  Not this house.  I keep pinning pictures of white walled rooms (Nester has a great white wall board) and every palette I view on a paint company’s website is in the white family.  This isn’t to say I want a white void of a certain tint.  I always find I choose paint that is too yellow or orange (despite my distaste for both colors), so I’m carefully looking for blue or gray backgrounds or brownish tints that aren’t fleshy.  There is nothing – I repeat NOTHING – worse than flesh toned walls (in my opinion, of course… you make like skin colored paint). 

Here’s a sample of the paint colors I’m considering (all colors from Benjamin Moore):

Source: simplyseleta.com via Adrianna on Pinterest

Elephant Tusk

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Skipping Stone

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Grandma's China

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Cake Batter

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Sea Salt

Just for the sake of making things easy, I was even considering going with Dove White for everything.  It would make painting so easy, because the trim needs a fresh coat of paint and I could slap Dove White every where.  I'm familiar with this shade from my days in property management, as it was the go-to color for rentals.  It's a great white that isn't too blue, too green, too grey... The more I think about it though, I would like a little contrast between my trim and walls, and apparently feel the need to make myself work for it.

I'm leaning towards painting every room the same color, again to make things easy.  I imagine every room in some shade of white or a nice neutral, so using the same color throughout doesn't bother me for once.  I also plan to use Low or No VOC paint for the first time, but need to do a little more research as to what paint is the best for the money.  We've always used Valspar at Lowe's, but hubby has a work account with Sherwin Williams which equals a nice discount. 

Next week, I'm going to share more about the planned color palettes of each room and finally make a decision (I'm not marking at least one goal off my list for this week).  So tell me, have you used Low or No VOC paint before?  What has been your favorite brand?  Do one of the colors above strike your fancy?

Photo Dump Tuesday

I typed in the title of this post and wrote ‘Thursday’.  Not only is it not Thursday, this has always been Photo Dump Tuesday… where my brain is today, I’ll probably never know. 

This is what I get for trying to take a picture with my kid.  Such a camera hog.

Ren-dog took his first trip to the zoo (first time I’d been in probably 20 years!) and sat in the front of his stroller for this first time, too.  Big day.

Our first zoo trip was with my bff Krystal and her daughters Grace and Hannah.  This is probably my fave pic of the day, Grace feeding crackers to the giraffe.  The smile on her face is too much.

Renner tried (and loved!) avocado this week.  That’s my boy!

Justin and two of his friends are going to try their hand at running a ball park.  We spent some time there on Saturday mowing (hubs) and organizing (me).

Daisy is a master beggar when it comes to people food.  She is sitting (like a weirdo) with one paw up on the recliner, hoping her cuteness warrants food rewards.

Okay, okay, last Renner pic (for today).

Happy Tuesday!

(I really killed it with the parenthesis this week!)

Goals for Next Week

Often times I find myself going through a mental to-do list… from things to do today around the house, things to write down for the blog, ideas for projects.  Sometimes it’s written down, other times these things just swim around my head until the next time I run through the mental list.  Last night I was thinking, how can I make sure that I not only write these things down, but complete them?

Answer: Share them on the blog.

Now, I make lots of grand lists with every project under the sun that needs to be completed.  This is not that kind of list.  Every Friday, I’ll share the things I’d like to get done over the next week.  Maybe it’s just to clean out the fridge (not exciting), maybe it’s a craft project that needs to be finished for the house (exciting!).  Regardless, this weekly feature will keep me accountable.

Next week’s goals are:

1.  Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room (need hubby for this)
2.  Clean out and organize the crap craft room
3.  Choose a paint color and purchase paint for kitchen and living room
4.  Make a decision on Renner’s room changes
5.  Keep the laundry caught up… all week

That’s it.  Easy enough, right?  The craft room scares me.  A lot.  I was maybe 1/4 way through the organizing (you could see the floor!) when I was distracted and started pulling things through our house for a garage sale… and chucking it in that room.  Yikes.  It’s a hot hot mess.  I feel like I can’t start painting or working on Renner’s room until that room is somewhat cleaned up.  And J would probably like me 10% more if that room wasn’t such an abomination.

It actually looks worse than this now.  It’s that bad.

So tell me, how do you keep track of your to-do list?  Anyone want to place bets on how much of this list is completed by next Friday?

A Honey-Do List

Hey, hubby?  I know you don’t read this blog, or maybe you do and I don’t know it.  Regardless, I need you to do all of these things.  Please.

Because you love me.

After you see this list, you’ll realize just how much you love me.
 
It’s just a little list…

*  You know that kitchen table you painted for me?  It wobbles.

*  I’d like a shelf above the kitchen windows.  Like this:

320 Sycamore

* All that wood in the garage?  I need one board cut down to make two of these:

Schoolhouse Electric

*  And I need more of those boards cut down for a sweet sign project I’ve dreamed up.

Great!  See… it’s not anything too crazy!

*  I think our hall bathroom would look great with faux board and batten like this (it only cost $11!).

*  I also want to frame out the mirrors… in both bathrooms.

*  You know how I posted these pallet book shelves on your Facebook wall?  I brought home some pallets…

Little Lucy Lu

*  Speaking of Facebook, I also posted this headboard plan on your wall:

Ana White

*  I'd really like the closet doors taken off in both our bedroom and Renner’s.  I tried to do it myself, but I didn’t have much luck.

*  You know how you said you don’t own a hacksaw “because it’s not the 1800’s”?  That means I need you to have some rebar cut at your work for these:

Home Stories A to Z

Well that’s it… I think.

 

You still there???

Be back tomorrow…

 

We’re moving furniture!!!  (Don’t worry, we’re not moving-moving.  Again.)

 

Photo Dump Tuesday

It’s Tax Day!!!  (Do the exclamation points make it not so bad?)  I started – and finished – our taxes this weekend and even got to spend a little time at the IRS office.  I should’ve taken a picture while I was there for PDT but the sign that says “NO CELL PHONES” scared me enough not to.  Well, that and the armed guard.  Sonic has all day happy hour today and as soon as this post goes up, I’m headed there for a special treat… the Lemon Berry Slush.  Have you ever had a Lemon Berry Slush?  It’s so good, that my co-worker and I at an old job called them Lemon Berry Cracks.  Mmmmm…. tastes so good when it touches your lips.

Because getting the clothes IN the hamper is just too much work.

Great wording, children’s author!  I seriously laughed out loud.

It’s official… the foot goes in the mouth!

Small fry?  Maybe not.  This onesie was baggy on him when he was born. 

Now, it’s a tight muscle tee.  Or a tight belly tee.  Whatever.

Happy Tuesday!

Photo Dump Tuesday

Last week’s PDT didn’t post.  I don’t know why.  I just discovered this and was going to go ahead and post it, like double PDT goodness but just decided to skip it.  I assure you, it was just 6 pictures of my kid because apparently that’s the only thing I did.  This week I did more.  I went places, I saw things.

I was going to make Easter it’s own post, seeing as how it’s Renner’s first, but then I went back through my pictures.  I have 20 copies of the same picture… trying to get Renner to smile before church.  Smiley babies will smile until provoked.  Also, I need to get over being concerned with how I look in pictures.  I always worry about what people will think and I need to get over it.  As it stands, there are only a handful of pictures with me and Renner and this makes me sad.  Why am I so worried?  This kid loves me every day in pjs and a top knot with no make up.  Also, my daily top knot is not the trendy top knot you see on Pinterest.  Trust.  Do other mom's have this problem?

Long story short, this week’s PDT includes Easter.  We definitely took the long way around that one.  Oh!  I’m also doing the April photo a day.  I’m sharing the pics on Twitter (follow me here) and Facebook (follow me here).  I don’t think I’m going to make those part of this.  But I won’t say never.

Yes.  That smile is real life.

This onesie is hu-larious.

Renner and I worked super hard on these.

This is what Renner looks like ‘in between’.  As in… not awake enough to care but not tired enough to care.  Just in between.

God bless this dog.  She’s the best.

Ren-dog checks out his Easter bucket.

This may be my favorite picture.  He just doesn’t smile on cue.  Take that, Mom.

How was your Easter?  Super awesome?  We made a weekend out of it… Easter bunny on Friday, J’s family on Saturday, church and my family on Sunday.  Renner’s first Easter was a success.  I mean… look at that Easter outfit!*

*J said Ren looked like a baby Chris Farley on Sunday.  He kept singing, “Fat guy in a little coat.”  Once he said that, I looked at the tie, suspenders and khakis and immediately thought of this:

We may have a Halloween costume idea...

Dang Spring Mantel IS FINALLY DONE.

Now that it’s practically summer, my spring mantel is D-O-N-E.  I shared on Monday the decorative spring towels I made, and outside of both my mantel and the towels having flowers involved… they have nothing to do with each other color or design wise.  These spring decorations were all about using what I already had on hand… and I did just that, except one silly thing.  I had to buy duck tape.  J has a garage FULL of things, all sorts of things for which I don’t even know the names, but the man had no duck tape.  I’m not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing that he didn’t.  It either means he fixes things without needing duck tape or he used it all on something.  If it’s the latter, I may never know what that something is.  It’s probably better that way. 

Anyway, my spring mantel!





I was struggling with the overall design, so I started with a rag garland or rag bunting that you have undoubtedly seen a bazillion times before.  I however, had not ever made one and it’s possibly the easiest craft of.all.time.  Take fabric.  Cut into strips.  Tie on rope/twine/ribbon.  Finito.  I was going to make yet another line of flag bunting (I made a ton for my wedding and a little for Renner’s room) but I’m glad I tried this version.
 


Super sad for my mantel, it sat with just the garland for awhile after masking tape failed to hold up the flowers.  I was going to leave the bottom mantel empty, but I started putting some miscellaneous items there as they arrived.  Our name tile, followed by the free (only pay shipping) canvas of Renner, I finally had 8x10s of my fave wedding pics made, and put to use the vow matted frame I made when I was prego.  Surely you’ve seen the vow frame on Pinterest… it comes from the Etsy shop lovelywrittenwords.  My DIY is our vows and the closing from our ceremony and a picture of, “You may now kiss the bride.”



Those flowers!  The hitch in my giddy-up… well, I guess it’s not the flower’s fault.  More the hanging method I didn’t think much about.  Do you follow A Place for Us blog?  I didn’t, until I saw her on The Nate Berkus Show.  She was doing a House Proud segment and I saw her mantel.  She DIY’ed these paper flowers… using regular ol’ brown paper sacks.  I knew I wanted to make some and this spring mantel provided the perfect chance. 

My inspiration via Destiny @ A Place for Us

I used lunch bag size brown paper sacks and hot glue to make these.  I originally wanted the size to start big at the top and gradually switch to small, but liked the look of the similar sized flowers once they were hung.  And the hanging... I tried masking and packing tape to no avail.  24 hours after hanging, duck tape seems to be the answer.  I have had to climb up on the arm of our very ugly yet very study sofa to secure the larger flowers once.  My dog thinks the sky is falling when these float down, so I might just be paranoid.



I thought about moving the rag garland down below the frames, but liked the pop of color between the paper sack flowers and the black and white pictures.  I also liked that it kept the fireplace décor more compact… or as compact as a fireplace mantel of that size can be.  Oh!  And for once in my life, the green paint in this living room actually looks good with something.  Never thought I'd see the day...

I did have some continuity in my décor, when I made a super easy wreath for the front door.



I used the same yellow fabric from the rag garland to wrap the basic foam wreath form.  Total cost of this wreath?  $.25.  I bought the wreath form for a quarter at a garage sale last summer (I actually got 4 of them) and the big white flower was part of the decoration my sis used at my bridal shower.  I consider the yellow fabric free at this point, because it was a tablecloth that I made into curtains three years ago.  See mom/husband/doubting self?  There is a reason I keep everything.

I’m glad it’s done.  I mean, I’m glad I finally finished these decorations and wrote this dang post.  Is it ridiculous that I’m going to link up to the parties still?  There were four parties: mantel, craft, front door, and painting project.  I finished the mantel and front door, and shared the towel craft Monday.  I didn’t paint anything, but 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

Did you do any spring projects?  Do you change your décor seasonally?  Is Live Writer’s adding the accent mark above the e in décor driving you as crazy as it is me?



http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b243/signmakergirl/smallsnsstars.jpg"/>>


http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/"> border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WzPdfImjyJ8/Ti3RiAl7TrI/AAAAAAAAbsk/EOZi_5qvP7o/s1600/One+on+sidebar.jpg" /> 

Spring Craft: A Pretty Towel

Supposedly, spring has sprung.  Based on the temperatures in my neck of the woods, it seems spring was suffocated by summer, never to be seen again.  I think summer buried spring in its backyard.  Just sayin’.  I keep hearing people say, “Yay!  So glad winter is gone, bring on the heat!”  Well A) we didn’t have a winter.  We had like one week of cold temps and one snow.  That’s not winter… And B) SHUT UP.  If it’s 90 degrees at the beginning of April, what do you think the temp is going to be come July and August?  In the brilliant words of the always amazing RZ (Rachel Zoe to you), “I die.”

When I sat down to work on my spring mantel (which still isn’t done… I keep forgetting to buy good tape!), I ended up putting together a wreath, some rag garland, and these super easy, super cute towels that are sure to brighten any corner… and maybe remind summer YOU’RE NOT WELCOME HERE.



Supplies:
- White feed sack towels (these are so cheap and come in giant packages… check the ‘Mart or dollar store)
- Fabric of choice, with large scale pattern (I used a large scale floral)
- Mod Podge
- Scissors*



Step One
Lay out fabric and isolate an area that you like and would be suitable for cutting and pasting.  Cut around the section of choice, but don’t pay any mind to getting all the nooks and crannies cut out right now.  You just want a more easily workable section.  Then, use sharp scissors* to cut out all the details.  I cut my flower away from the leaves to make it easier to maneuver. 









Step Two
Lay out the towel (which has been washed and dried, but I didn’t iron mine.  You can… if you’re being a show off) and decide on positioning by laying your cut out section on the towel.  I made a small mark with a pen where I wanted the center of the flower to be (not shown).  You can also snap a picture with your phone, as I did when I made the towel with more flowers.
  


Step Three
Get messy.  Forget your sponge or paint brushes… I found it worked best to just use my hand and fingers to get the Mod Podge on the flower.  There are no pictures of this step because I put the flower in my left hand and applied glue on the front and back with my right hand fingers.  I’m sure you can imagine how hard it would be to snap a pic of this step… but I assure you, it’s the best way to apply the glue.

Step Four
Position the thoroughly glued section on the towel.  Using your already glue-y fingers, use more Mod Podge over the top of the design to smooth over the edges.  Be careful not to go crazy with glue too far outside the design.  It is Mod Podge after all, and will make anything it touches a little stiff and shiny (that’s what she said).  Carefully pull the towel off the work surface (I used a plastic Rubbermaid lid… really) so it doesn’t stick and let sit for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, check the edges again and add a little more glue if necessary.  If you look closely in the picture below, you can see the bottom edge of the flower is pulled away from the towel… this is where you add more glue to make it really stick.



Step Five
Let it dry.  I placed mine outside in the sun and in less than 30 minutes it was super dry, no tacky.  Then, you’re free to enjoy these pretty little decorative towels anywhere you like!





These towels are definitely decoration only… you don’t want someone’s *cough*husband*cough* grubby paws all over them.  I did wash mine and they came out fine – Free & Clear detergent, cold water, delicates wash, air dry – so hopefully you have the same results.  I like how these towels look un-ironed, but if you wash them and want to iron, I’d just steer clear of the glued portion.  Glue-y iron, no good.  Unless you want the excuse to not iron again… wink wink.

I originally hung my towels in the kitchen, but they were mistaken for usable towels and were promptly removed.  They’ve since made an appearance in my guest bathroom and have just confirmed one thing for me… I am so ready to paint this house!  I’m done with the heavy colors and furniture.  Bring on the light and bright, ASAP! 

So tell me, did you make any spring crafts?  Do your crafts ever inspire you to make design/décor changes?  What’s for dinner tonight?


*Anytime I type ‘scissors’, I say “skissors” to remember how to spell it.  Anyone else do that?


http://taylornorris.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r14/skichic95/Tays%20Stuff/UnveilYourGeniusButton.jpg"/>>


http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b243/signmakergirl/smallsnsstars.jpg"/>>