Archive for the ‘home sweet home’ Category

I’ve had a few projects on the brain lately that I finally completed this weekend.  Oh how I love three day weekends.

This pillow that I had seen in this book.  It is not a crafty/pattern book.  It’s more of a lifestyle book.  How to really live at home.  I have gotten several ideas for decorating and simplifying in this book.  I used some of my favorite fabric and linen.  My first time working with linen and I have to say that I love it.  I struggled forever trying to do an invisible stitch and just finally gave up.  I couldn’t quite ever make the knot big enough to not pull right through the linen.  And if you haven’t picked up a copy of this book yet, you really should.  It’s one of my favorites.

I also made some cafe curtains for my kitchen window.

Adds a spash of color to the kitchen and ties in the red from the rest of the house. I’ve been wanting to add some orangey-red (official name) to this space and it just feels right.

For my birthday I was given this sweet mixed media art piece by a wonderful friend.  She’s a scrap booking genius and has started making and will soon be selling her work.  I’ll keep you all posted on this.  She has an etsy shop in the works.  The quote above the owl says “The art of being wise is knowing what to over look.” Wise words.  Very wise indeed.  Sarah and I were talking about our knee jerk reaction to situations.  A constant work in progress for me.  This sweet picture will remind me of that everyday.

I believe we are on day 46 of over 100 degree temperatures in Austin. That sets a record for high temperatures set back in the 1920’s. That’s 46 days friends. Over 100 degrees. Hot.
So with that brings very few outdoor activities. As the lake level continues to drop and boat docks are now sitting on dry land, we hibernate inside. The air conditioner seems to be pumping all of the time. No rest for the weary.

I’m a window girl. Not the I stand in a window in Amsterdam type, but the I like big windows in my house type. The entire backside of our house is sliding glass doors. The good heavy ones built in the 80’s. In the morning, as the sun comes up, the curtains are closed. The scorching Texas sun heats up my house like a greenhouse. Our bedroom has the same window. Although we like to sleep by starlight, the first glimpse of sunlight wakes both of us up in a race to close the curtains.

There is another window opposite the big wall of windows in our living room that has stood bare for quite some time. The previous owners had installed shades, but that space has always felt empty. Like they were never quite properly dressed for the occasion. The occasion being blocking out the sun in the late afternoon. The sun comes up over the lake and sets in the hills.

Lucky me, I found these silk curtains at the thrift store this weekend. And yes friends, that thrift store is in Dripping Springs run by a retirement community. Shoot, I hate giving away a secret. And yes, they were only $6 for the pair. They are the good old pleated curtains that your grandmother had hanging in her dining room. Actually, mine had lace curtains that are still hanging there. Sorry the picture is dark, it’s about impossible to take a picture of a window with this sunlight.

The bench I picked up at an antique store in Georgetown right before we moved into our house this time last year. It’s made from all repurposed wood. From doors and a vintage bed. It has been living on our front porch but I’m the queen of moving things around instead of buying new. So now it has a new home under the window. Now I need some rocking chairs for the front porch in time for fall and the cool weather.

A couple of weeks ago I was checking my email when I stumbled upon an email from a writer at Ohdeedoh. It was an email, addressed to me, wanting to feature Makena’s room on their site. What? Stop the press. Me? Little old me from Austin, Texas? I was speechless. Honored. Humbled. Appreciative. I think I even did a little shimmy shake dance around the living room. The kids joined in. The dogs ran circles around us. And we all passed out in a blogland stupor.

Her room was featured today on Ohdeedoh and I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this is for me!! Go on, have a look!

So if you are new here by way of Ohdeedoh… welcome, bonjour, hola, ciao! Good to see you. Thanks for stopping by!

Baby steps to design school. Baby steps.

I had a dream the other day. Actually it was a daydream, but for storytelling purposes lets go with the dream. In this dream we packed up and moved to Europe so that I could attend design school. Yes, you read that correctly. I packed up the family and we flew across the pond so that I could go to design school. In say… Sweden. How cool would that be!?!

As a child I was always moving my furniture around, changing the art on my walls and also helping my mom with her interior decorating. I would move a sofa so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you. I’d have the hammer and nails out in a flash to hang new art. Actually it was more like Kirk Cameron and Corey Haim posters from Bop magazine but who’s counting. My idea of a good time was shopping for new furniture for my room. And I was only in elementary school.

Had I only known then that you could make a living doing that I would have followed that yellow brick road. Instead, as life has it, I was led into sports where I eventually went to college on a basketball scholarship. And I went to school in a very tiny Texas town that was all about agriculture and the rodeo. Needless to say I don’t think design was a choice as a major. What’s a girl to do… major in communcations that’s what. You can do anything with a comm. degree. So they said.

So now that I’m into my thirties and have lived my first life as a teacher, I long and thirst for something more. I oogle over design books, blogs and flickr pictures. The stark white design of Sweden is such a long way from where we are here in Austin, Texas. But oh how I love it. The simplicity of it all.

Since I can’t pack up and move to Europe to pursue my dreams I have a tendency to put my mind at work around our house. Pictures, furniture and children are moved on a regular basis. Just until I get it just right, only to find a new idea and move things all over again. Having gotten Makena’s room all done I was ready to move on to Keegan’s room. Since he’s almost two and got a new big boy bed it was the perfect opportunity to turn his nursery into a toddler room. The first thing I did was take all of the pictures off of his wall and everything off of the shelves. I needed to start with a blank slate. Then I got down on the floor, at his level, and layed there for a while. Thinking about what this space should be.

Here is a little tour for you of his space.

The bed we found at Ikea. I know, go ahead and say it ‘it looks like a girls bed,’ but I was immediately drawn to it because it looked like an antique bed. I couldn’t resist. The art above his bed are pages framed from Where the Wild Things Are. On top of his toy chest are his first pair of cowboy boots. This is Texas after all. The quilt was made by my great-grandmother and handed down to us. I think Keegan’s bed is the perfect place for it. Lovingly handmade in the early 1900’s. I’m getting sappy just thinking about it.

His shelves are full of things that I love, but he just can’t play with yet. I’ve collected some of the vintage toys at garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores. Some of the other things like the dala horse and Pinnochio duo were mine. My husband brought the Kremlin model back from Russia when he visited as a kid.

I created a corner for him to play and relax. I put together a basket full of books. Since he’s a book tosser, I can’t have a bookshelf in his room just yet.

Above his play corner is all of his art. His own little art gallery that I can add to as he gets older and creates some of his own art. Yes, that is a stuffed animal buffalo head on his wall. The rocket was painted by a friend. Another friend created his name art on the wall. Inside the letters are all of the details of his first year of life. The other framed items are from vintage books.

Here is his view to the rest of the world. The dresser was used in his nursery as a changing table, but since he now weighs more than his three year old sister there is no more lifting him up there. I’m really happy with the way his room turned out. As he walked into it this evening, his face lit up. He immediately climbed into and out of his bed. Then made his way over to the book basket and picked out his favorite dinosaur book. As he sat in that corner and snuggled the puppy dog with his book, I knew he liked it. And that’s really all that matters after all.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and positive comments yesterday about exposing myself. It was a lot of work, but you are right it feels so much better to have it all done. For those of you who are participating, keep going! It feels overwhelming when you are in the middle of the mess but it will get better.

With all of this talk about our carbon footprint, I thought I should dive right in. I’ve been taking small steps to help the environment. I bring my own green shopping bags when I grocery shop. I’ve even started doing this at non-grocery stores which is a stretch because they do want you carrying around their name brand bags but whatever. I’m saving the planet here. Duh. Work with me here people. We recycle and I’ve even started precycling. Precycling means simply buying less so you aren’t taking as much away from the planet. I’ve been hooked on the new channel Planet Green. I believe it used to be Discovery Home. There is a show called Wasted, which is pretty repetitive each episode but they get the point across. I’ve stopped buying plastic water bottles. Tap water here is just fine. We don’t live in a third world country. The main reason for this is the amount of oil and resources it takes to manufacture these bottles. By simply thinking about the resources that are used in the production of many products it has made me stop and question if I really NEED the product after all. I did a post about sustainable living here a while back.

Most of you know, my kids have had their fair share of illness this past year. Keegan has respiratory issues that has been diagnosed as asthma. Although I beg to differ. Since I’ve taken him off of milk, things have improved 100%. He still gets wheezy when allergens in the air increase so anything I can do to help him out inside our home I will do. He’s been under the weather for a couple of days now. Wheezing. I cut out all dairy, no cheese or ice cream either and today he’s feeling better. Keeping the house clean and not spraying toxic chemicals all over the place has helped as well.

After seeing Stefani’s post about making her own cleaning products I jumped right on that bandwagon. And the more I have learned about the harmful effects of cleaning products, I went right out and bought all of the supplies. First of all let me tell you that it is cheap, cheap, cheap to make your own cleaning products. It is one first initial investment of about $10 and that will last you a very long time. It will make several bottles of cleaning products. And with a little help from Stefani as to where in Austin to buy some of these products I was well on my way.

I ended up making glass cleaner, scrubby stuff (that’s an official name by the way) and all-purpose cleaner. I found recipes for the products here. I used tea tree oil for the glass cleaner and lavender oil for the all-purpose cleaner. I even added the tea tree oil to the scrubby stuff because the smell reminds me of a spa. Talk about being still. A spa.

Saving the planet, one footprint at a time.

Well I’m done. I have been exposed. I have had piles and piles of stuff sitting around my house. The piles then took the spot of my car in the garage. I have sorted. I have organized. I have purged. I have stood alone in my closet, trying on clothes and shoes. Looking at myself in the mirror and saying to myself “Does this make me look fat?” Tossing clothes into piles. Wondering why on earth I bought it to begin with.

The picture has nothing to do with this post. I just couldn’t do a blog post without a picture so here ya go! Oliver. My right hand man. The kid’s best friend. Toy, furniture and wall chewer extraordinaire. Table clearer. Ankle biter. Scared of the deer. Puppy the size of a full size dog.

I have been buried beneath piles of plastic noise-making toys. Sorting. Gathering. Donating. I read somewhere that you can tell a lot about a person if you look in their closets. I have to admit that my closets have always been bursting at the seams. Well I’ve been able to actually make my way into all of the closets and come out a better person.

I could go on for days about mass commercialism and consumerism in the United States. I could write one heck of a research paper on the topic right now but I know that I’m preaching to the choir. I really think that is one of the many things that I have gained from this blogging experience. Meeting like-minded women who share the same passion for home-made. Mama’s and non-mama’s alike we all seem to want to reduce our carbon footprint, get back to what is important and say no to ‘the man.’

Oh how I long to have a garden, can my own fruit and learn to be still. Now that I have exposed myself and gotten rid of all of the clutter in my life, I feel like I’m better able to take on new endeavors. Maybe actually finishing a book, or learning to knit. Maybe pulling out the paint set a friend got me for Christmas and learning to paint. Hmph. The opportunities are limitless.

We had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday and were able to get rid of most of our stuff. What was left over was donated. I was able to set aside two boxes for two of my sisters who are each having baby girls this fall. I was able to create a box of great children’s books and a drum for a little cousin.

We had some furniture that was left over after the garage sale and since we don’t own a truck it would have gone back into the garage. We moved it from the driveway to the front yard with a sign that said ‘free.’ It was gone in 20 minutes. Minus a mishap of one local hippie fella that locked his keys in his truck with the truck running. One hour later, he was on his way with his new entertainment center and overstuffed chair.

The rest of the weekend was reserved for lake floating time with friends. Aaaahhh… now that’s being still.

How on earth am I supposed to get my life in order with a barrel of monkeys running the place? Helloooo… I’m trying to Expose Myself here… act like you weren’t raised by a pack of wolves.

I attempted to organize Makena’s closet. Fortunately for me, the closet fairies arrived just in time to help. Ha.

The mess was moved to the bedroom. And yes that is a hammer and nails on the bed. I’m the queen of moving things around, especially pictures.

Then nicely organized in the closet. Everything has a place. It’s the virgo in me that forces me to use all white hangers. Has to match or it will drive me bonkers.

Not sure how long they’ll let me keep it like this but it’s worth a shot. I have cleaned out lots of toys so that all of her toys fit on this one shelf. With the exception of a couple of baskets for her baby dolls. New rule: If a new toy comes in the house, an old toy must leave. I just picked up this Melissa and Doug chore chart to encourage Makena to help around the house. I’m sure I could have made one on the computer but this was way easier. Makena and I have been having a battle of wills lately. I’m getting a lot of “no mommy, you do it.” Does she know who she’s talking to like that? Oh I know, it’s only going to get worse.

If you want to join in on the Exposing Myself fun, leave me a comment and I’ll add you to the list of fabulous ladies…

Adrienne

Anne

April

Courtney

Erika

Jenn

Katie

Kelsey

Ruth

Stitching Surgeon

Susan

I do think it’s important to set a deadline. This process could go on forever. There has to be an end in sight. My deadline is July 10th. We’ve got the garage sale on the 12th so that gives me a couple of days to breathe before I have to face my junk again. Until next time, happy sorting!

Today marks the second day that I will be Exposing Myself. Fortunately, I’m in good company as we attempt to declutter and get organized. I haven’t exactly set a time frame that we need to complete this process. It’s really up to you and your schedule. Honestly I’m working as fast as possible to get it all done. I’m just over it. The mess that is. We have a garage sale scheduled for July 12th so it all has to be done by then.

A few friends have decided to join me in this venture. If you are feeling the urge to at least tackle one zone in your house, join us! Here is the list of groovy gals that are cleaning out. Check out their sites, they are going to post their progress and tips along the way as well.

Adrienne

Stitching Surgeon

Courtney

Ruth

Erika

Kelsey

Susan

Katie

You all know that I’ve been doing the kid room tango. Moving them into each others rooms, moving them out, furniture in, furniture out. A little back story for you… We went to Disney world and the kids shared a room. Since Makena’s finger incident we’ve had difficulties with her sleeping in her own room. Almost every night, around midnight, she would sneak into our bed. Maybe it was the crack they handed out at Disney but she slept in her own bed, for seven nights. So we got home and decided that the kids should share a room. Maybe she doesn’t like to be alone. Moved her into Keegan’s room. Furniture and all.

About a week later Keegan began crawling falling out of his crib. For fear for his safety, we needed to move him to a toddler bed. Makena sleeps in her great-grandmother’s full size bed. After a trip to Ikea, the kids room reminded me of the Princess and the Pea. Here is Makena all propped up on this huge bed and little Keegan in his toddler bed. I know they don’t know or care, but it made me sad. Plus the other issue that Makena had become ‘the boss’ when I wasn’t in the room with him. She was laying the smack down on Keegan on a regular basis. Keegan was destroying all of the books on the bookshelf. Makena was getting upset and yelling. A lot of yelling. My solution: move Makena back into her own space. This type of sibling angst should be reserved for the later years. Right?!?

Amongst all of the room rearranging I was able to get new ideas for decorating and organizing. My first problem is that the kids had too much stuff. I cleaned out six bags of toys to throw into the garage sale. After the sale, they can each go and buy one toy. Probably at a garage sale. Zero impact on the environment and zero on my pocketbook. You see, my love for garage sales and thrifting can get me into trouble if I’m not careful. It’s easy to buy too much, just because it is cheap. Then you end up with a house full a clutter. The trick at garage sales is to know what you are looking for. My eyes are always peeled for vintage toys, little people, dolls, trucks, books.

I wanted to show you Makena’s new space.

A place for her princess dresses. Before they were scattered on her closet floor. Now she knows where they go. Organized.

Another picture from my Faux-Toes friend Kristen that hangs above the bed. It’s a picture of Makena and her two girlfriends. Very sweet.

I’ve been wanting to get Chinese lantern’s to hang in her room for quite some time now. I always put a handful in my cart at Ikea and then end up putting them back because my brain can’t figure out how to hang them. Problem solved when I went to Kristen’s house to pick up the kid’s pictures. She had hung the exact lanterns in her daughters room. Aha! Inspiration! I am new to the American Girl scene. I picked up the doll in the high chair at a garage sale for .50 not knowing what she was. I thought she was a beautiful Native American doll. Come to find out, she’s worth $90. Tempting to sell…

Last weekend we picked up this Raggedy Ann doll at a garage sale. I think she’s a great replacement to the tons of other plastic dolls. I was able to bring her in and clean out about ten.

Makena’s bookshelf is now nicely organized and the good books are out of Keegan’s pesky reach. They even have their own piggy bank guard dog.

Speaking of books, if you have books you are looking to sell check out this site. You simply enter the ISBN number and it automatically tells you if they will buy your book and for how much. I have a huge stack of books ready to garage sale. Although they only bought four, and I paid significantly more for them at the bookstore (lesson learned), I was able to make a few extra bucks. My new rule is to either go to the library, garage sales or thrift stores for books.

Overall I think it’s important to simply clean out. I’ve managed to clean out about 3/4 of the kids stuff. Without the guilt involved. When there is too much stuff they don’t play in their rooms. Their spaces are now more manageable… for all of us.

Let me know if you want to join us in our quest for organization and I’ll add you to the list! Happy clutter clearing!

Ever feel the urge to peek in your friend’s cabinets? Just to see what they’ve got going on in there. Want to open those closet doors to look for skeletons? Peek under the bed? Uh huh. Guilty as charged. So my friends, thus begins the first installment of Exposing Myself.

I’m going to let it all hang out. Metaphorically speaking.

As I begin this organization/disorganization journey I’m going to bring you along with me. To take a look at my mess. Maybe show some before and after shots. Or maybe just after… since it’s prettier that way! Now not every day will be filled with decluttering. Since I have ADD I have a tendency to bounce around. I might be cleaning out my closet and find that fun fabric I was wanting to make curtains out of. So we’ll see where this takes us.

Let the clutter challenge begin! We’ll call this Exposing Myself.

Does anyone want to play along? Need to clean out? Have a garage sale? Just have too much stuff all over the place? Are your closets bursting at the seams? If so, leave me a comment telling me you want to participate and I’ll include you on the list. You too can expose yourself without the shame normally involved. You can show us what you clean out. Organize. What you are able to create now that you are able to find everything. It will be fun and we will have cleaner, healthier homes in the end.

I’ll be posting links to other sites that I find to be helpful in this process. And if you feel urged to participate, please share your knowledge and found resources on your site.

Last week I tackled my kitchen and boy did I have a lot of things that I never ever use. It was time to get organized and create zones.

This is the baking/prepping drawer. Anything used in the getting food ready process goes in this drawer. Before it was all scattered around the kitchen, hidden in different cabinets and drawers. I probably walked twenty circles around my kitchen to make cupcakes. Now everything is all in once place.

The beautiful thing about this process is that I didn’t have to go out and buy anything. It’s not about spending money to make your life easier, it’s using what you have. Just using them in more functional ways. All of the plates and bowls got organized with these shelf racks and my spices got a new spin on the lazy susans. I had these lazy susans in my pantry, to hold a few odds and ends. Now I can find my spices without taking everything out of the cabinet.

I’ve struggled with the space above my cabinets for some time now. I’ve moved picnic baskets in and out. Cake plates have been arranged a variety of ways. My kitchen is not large so I don’t have a lot of room to work with. Storing the cake plates on top of the cabinets makes a nice display while making them reachable when I need to use them.

I hope you decide to play along. Once we tackle the clutter, we’ll have more time for our families and ourselves. Without the mess.

The extreme room makeover is in full swing. There all piles everywhere. Furniture is moving from here to there. I have made a decision to move Makena back into her own room. She needs her space to play with her dolls, without Keegan the Tornado tearing through. Keegan needs his own space, to pull everything out of the dresser and off the shelves.

They are just at different stages. Makena likes to keep her things nice and orderly. Not sure where she learned that. And Keegan is fighting the toddler bed. We have enough challenges right now just with sleep time for Keegan to rattle the cage anymore. So this morning was dedicated to moving Makena back into her room. I’m that kind of girl. If I want something done, I do it. I’ve always been the type to rearrange on a whim. During my adolescence it was in the middle of the night which drove my mom crazy.

Now all is quiet. There are a few things scattered around the living room that I need to put away. Makena is playing in her room and Keegan is in his. Eventually he’ll wear himself out and take a nap. We are blessed that he is like this because Makena was not. She’d fight sleep time. Each and every time. Still does.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a friend telling me that our pictures were in. My friend, Kristen, is a photographer and I would have to say that she is not only one of the sweetest people I know but a most talented photographer as well. She captures what I have in my mind. She’s my type of girl! Check out her site and if you ever happen to be in Austin give her a shout, you won’t regret it.

The pictures are now hung above the piano with care. Some of these pictures were already up there, taken by my dad, another excellent photographer. The big one in the middle is my favorite. The perspective is priceless. A wonderful addition to the extreme home makeover.

Here’s the other that I just had to show you. The one of both of the kids was taken almost a year ago. Time flies. The one of Keegan squatting makes my heart melt. Will my baby boy always melt my heart?