find joy in the journey

a clean house is a happy house

I have discovered that there are two things that contribute greatly to my daily happiness and sense of well-being:

1. a clean house

2. not being the only one who cleans the house

Over the years I have tried to implement 27 different chore systems.  (rough estimate)  There have been stickers, popsicle sticks, rewards & incentives (Chuck E. Cheese), bingo charts, and so many more. At each phase and stage of life something different was needed to match the kids' abilities.  Changes were needed often to keep their attention.  Change is good and necessary. I don't look back on any of those past chore charts as failures.  Just a tool to keep the kids engaged and to get us one step closer to finding something that works.

Now that my kids are older I've found a system that works well for them and for me.  And it has stuck for the last couple years.  It makes me happy.  It gets the kids working.  and our house gets cleaning.  I'm calling it a win win win!  Because our little system works I thought I would share it with you!

Z O N E S

I discovered that I am fan of zone cleaning.  That's where you clean an entire room or zone all at once.  Some people like to do all the floors one day and then all the dusting another day and so forth.  That never seemed to work for me because I could not achieve that feeling of a room being completely clean all at once.  So if you're someone who likes to clean by zones . . . This is for you.

To start, I wrote down the rooms which are common areas in our house.  Kitchen, dining, living, bathrooms, halls, stairways, etc.  Under each of those rooms (or zones) I wrote down all items that I would like to be cleaned on a WEEKLY basis.  

T H E   C H A R T

I typed this up, printed the document, and slipped it into a plastic sheet protector.  I hang it on the side of a cupboard in our kitchen and dry erase markers are close by.

H O W   I T   W O R K S

Every day the kids have to complete ONE house job.  Each of the jobs on this list take a maximum of 10 minutes (maaaybe 15 if they are moving like snails) so the jobs are pretty painless.  When they are done they cross it off with a dry erase marker.  I don't assign specific tasks to anyone -- it's all up for grabs.

The only caveat is . . . we always start with the living room and ALL the jobs have to be complete in that room before we start on the dining room.  The dining room has to be done before we start the kitchen, and so forth.  Obviously, the kids will try to do the easiest jobs first.  Which is fine with me.  Just as long as they are doing something each day and contributing.  Plus, it teaches them that they should do their job quickly before someone else steals the easy jobs!

I will also spend up to 1 hour of cleaning each day. I start with the "DAILY" tasks.  And then use whatever time I have left to work on the other house jobs.

We follow this routine Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

When Saturday rolls around we hope that most of the jobs are done.  Whatever is remaining we do all together on Saturday morning.  This means that if we were on top of things all week then Saturday will be super easy.  But if the week was crazy or the kids bailed on their chores, then Saturday is going to be a bigger work day.

W H Y  I T   W O R K S   F O R    M E

This systems satisfies my need to have entire rooms clean at once! If the family room is a mess while we're working on the living room, it doesn't stress me out.  I just put it out of my mind because I know that we will get to it before the week is over.  It will get clean!  

The following week I simply wipe the list off with a paper towel and we start all over again.

C L U T T E R

Aside from the general cleaning that has to be done each week, there is always a fair amount of daily clutter.  To combat that I will often set an alarm on my phone for 8pm.  When it goes off everyone stops what they are doing and we all spend 10-15 minutes cleaning up all the clutter (crap) on the main floor of the house.  The kitchen is also put in order and I sweep the floor.  We don't always do this, but I'll tell ya that when we do . . .  it changes my mood & energy level in BIG ways!  Knowing that I will start the day with a clean house is HUGE for me.  I don't wake up feeling defeated from the get-go and it gives me hope that I can actually get something accomplished that day!

 O T H E R   C H O R E S

Aside from the "daily house job" the kids have other chores that are just part of our routine.  They wash the dishes & clean up the kitchen every night.  I don't assign/divide responsibilities for that one -- all 3 of them just get in there and work it out together. They have been doing this for a long time so they are good at knowing what needs to be done without too many reminders..  They all contribute so we don't have arguments about someone not doing their fair share.  

The boys take out the trash on Tuesdays.  And on laundry days they all help fold and put away all the clothes.  

They are also in charge of their bedrooms and bathrooms.  But . . . . we're struggling with keeping those areas clean so I could definitely use some tips!!

M O N T H L Y  /  Y E A R L Y

It is on my to-do list to create a monthly cleaning checklist.  You know, those items that kinda get forgotten but could use some attention once a month.  Cleaning the fridge, running bleach in the front-loader washer, dusting ceiling fans, clean the vacuum filter, etc.

Along with that I also want to create a yearly project list.  In early January we always have a big yard clean-up day (pruning, leaves, etc.).  February is for cleaning the exterior windows.  March is for cleaning the interior windows & the window sills.  And that is as far as I've gotten.  For the yearly list I want to add things like: clean out kitchen cupboards/drawers, scrub & touch up baseboards, etc.

I  L I K E   L I S T S

These kinds of lists are SO helpful for me!  They are my lifeline.  If it isn't written down I won't remember to do it.  And again, it gives me the assurance that it WILL all get done in time.  When everything is swirling in my head, well, that just leads to stress and panic!  But creating a schedule, spacing the bigger jobs over the year, and keeping a list of the small monthly jobs helps me to feel like I'm just might keep it all together!

I'll tell you right now that my house is not immaculate by any stretch of the imagination.  My oven is pretty dang gross.  There are weird little piles of stuff all the way down the hallway.  And up until yesterday I had a year's worth of dust bunnies and lost socks under my family room couches.

I like a clean house.  But I also live in reality.  The stuff of life just happens.

But, I like for my kids to be actively involved in the maintenance & care of our living areas.  Daily chores will always be a part of their life.  And they know they are never going to get paid for it.  It is just what we do to contribute to the family & the household.  

AND it makes mom very, very happy.

A clean house is a happy house.

at home

I've made it no secret that feeling at home in the desert has been tough for me.  It was a tough transition to come here and there are so many things that are so different.  And many of the things that make ME feel at home aren't available here. 

But,

This week I felt that change for me.  I know, I know, it only took me 5 YEARS! I found myself on several occasions looking around my surroundings and feeling genuinely happy to be here.  As I drove around my neighborhood streets, to & from school, I would think to myself - I love this view.  I love this routine. I love this neighborhood.

Now, I still don't have a love for Vegas (most parts of it make me feel icky) . . . but Henderson feels like home.

That feeling, that full heart, was HUGE for me.  I never wanted to be unhappy/unsettled . . . it just took a while for the comforts & familiarity & relationships & connection to come together and mesh into H O M E.

And that made me happy. :)

It sure helps that the weather is beautiful these days!  We got to dog-sit for our friends last week which included several walks.

On Friday, Anna set up a party on our balcony.  There were blankets, decorations, music, a disco ball, candy . . . the kids hung out there all afternoon and well into the evening.

And we were barefoot outside.  Something about walking around the yard barefoot just makes me so happy!

Last week the school held their fun run.  I went as a parent volunteer to mark off laps.  I have sure loved this elementary school and will be sad when Anna "graduates" and moves to middle school next year.  We moved here when she was in kindergarten and it's a been a good place for her.  I have felt at home walking through it's halls, volunteering in classrooms, and attending performances.

On Thursday night we got a knock at the door and a cute girl was standing there to ask Conner to Sadie Hawkins.  I loved seeing him so surprised and SO HAPPY.

We hosted a gathering with friends on Friday night that was SO GOOD.  With a pinata, how could you go wrong?

Feeling at home and happy for it.

Now, if the weather could just STAY this wonderful for a while I'd be SUPER thankful!  Please don't warm up too fast! :)

the backyard project - before & after

Our BIG house project of 2016 was to completely gut, redesign, and install a brand new yard. I spent months thinking about it and planning what I wanted it to look & feel like, what plants to include . . . I drew sketches and spent time googling plants that could live in the desert while giving me that green, lush look I was craving and missing from the Pacific Northwest.

In January I got together with our friend and landscaper to really plan things out and set it all into motion.  Come April it was demo time and this thing was for real!  I loved watching the daily progress and was overjoyed when they jack-hammered away our random cement patio (the alien landing pad) and I did cartwheels when they hauled away all of the awful peach colored rock.  Yuck!

In the end we had a beautiful, GREEN, well-designed, functional space that I couldn't be more happy about! We worked with the basic framework that was already in place (cement, pool, gazebo) but pretty much everything else was ripped out and replaced.

Check out this video which highlights the before, during, and after photos of this big project.

It is absolutely amazing how much MORE useable space we have in our yard now.  The huge paver patio, the space around and behind the gazebo.  All of these areas were eye-sores before this project and really, unaccessible.

As soon as the yard was finished we let the kids loose on the new turf and Anna was simply overjoyed that she had all this extra space to run around in. And even dribble a soccer ball in.

I can now go out in my yard and I feel happy.  So so happy.  And I have plants!  Like over 120 plants to be exact!  Maybe I went a little overkill, but I needed it and the yard needed it and now we have this beautiful space to ENJOY. 

For Las Vegas Locals : Showcase Landcare was amazing to work with!  He made I was happy every single step of the way and got exactly what I wanted.  

 

everyday browns // vol. 9

A little look at what we've been up to this week.  It's been a full one!

Payton went in for an ortho consultation and he has an appointment to get braces on this week!  He is very excited about braces.  Well, not really about getting braces, but knowing he will have the opportunity to play arcade games & get free frozen yogurt & slushies when he visits the orthodontist every 6 weeks!

Purple Penguin opened for the season and all is right in the world again!  I ordered my favorite - Tiger's Blood.  We stood in line for our Family Home Evening treat and it really made it feel like summer is just around the corner.

We are beginning  BIG landscaping project at our house.  We are completely redoing the front & back landscaping and I am SO EXCITED!!!  We've been working on the plans since January, talking to landscapers, picking out plants at the nursery, getting HOA approval . . . and now it is finally here!  Each time I think about what this yard is going to become I am just overjoyed.  I have sooooooooo missed having a pretty yard.  So much.  And while rock isn't my 1st choice for landscaping material, we make the best of what we can work with in the desert.  I'm just so happy knowing that I am going to have plants, and trees, and it is going to be neat, clean, and new!

Here are just a few of the before pics.  Oy.

Anna received Student of the Month!  I volunteer at the Student of the Month Lunch every month (serving pizza & taking pics of the kids) so it was fun to have her there to participate in it.

The yard demo began on Wednesday which brought trucks, trailers, noisy equipment, workers, wheelbarrows, and a giant dumpster container that wouldn't fit in front of our house (we're in the circle of our culdesac) so it had to live in front of a neighbor's yard for 3 days.  I thought that a plate of cookies to our neighbors might be a nice peace offering during the commotion!

Here's a peek at what they were able to accomplish in 2 days.  Our landscape proposal estimated that they would haul out 3 tons of soil and 13 tons of rock. 

Friday morning I escaped to an early session at the temple while Scott got Anna to school.  So nice to start my day & the weekend like that.

After the temple I went in for a haircut.  It was a pretty big deal for me because it had been 7 months since my last cut and this was my first color in over 2 years!  

I'm also so so so happy because I was able to purchase a new camera!  I got my first full frame camera (Canon 6D) and my first L lens (35mm f/1.4).  I'm so excited to bust out these beauties and have fun taking pictures again!

On Friday night the school held a Father/Daughter 50's sock hop!  It sounds like they had a GREAT time!  First, dinner at Lucille's BBQ and then on to the school where they danced all night.  I think they ate too much at dinner because Scott was going to dip Anna but she refused because she was too full and couldn't bend that way.  Haha!  Anna thinks that her dad was pretty crazy -- dancing funny, making funny faces, and singing loud along with the songs.  I think he was pretty awesome for getting in there and making her night!

(Anna is wearing one of my LuLaRoe Girls Azure skirts - her favorite!)

While they were away I took the boys to dinner at Blaze Pizza and then made our way to Downtown Summerlin.  I had a errand to do there but we mostly just spent time walking around and checking out shops (Apple & LoveSac were definite highlights).  I just loved spending the evening with my boys and hanging out with them! They truly are SUCH good boys - easy going, fun, helpful, and kind.  I'm so happy that they don't ever play the part of annoyed-teenager or too-cool-for-my-family-teenager.

Or too-cool-for-mom's-photo-ops.  They happily jumped into the one above and created the two below.

Saturday morning I was back at Downtown Summerlin for a fun photoshoot!  My longtime scrapbooking/blog friend Katie was in town from Minnesota so I hired her to take pics for my LuLaRoe business.  I also invited 2 of my local team members to come get their pictures as they are just starting out their businesses.  How often do you get to have great headshots as an adult? Never!  So this was a real treat.  Afterwards Katie and I went to lunch at Cafe Rio.  Always so good to catch up with her - she is so easy to talk to and I love that faith in life, trials, & blessings is woven through all that she shares.

I also made sure that she went home with her first pair of LuLaRoe leggings, because everyone needs to partake of the buttery softness!  It was a great photoshoot -- so incredibly thankful that the rain held off for us! -- and I can't wait to see the results!

 Saturday evening we cleaned the church and grabbed dinner at Carl's Junior.  Not my favorite, but it was close.  I fell asleep last night watching Fixer Upper in bed (love that show) and was up bright & early for a 7am meeting at church.  Luckily, the church is less than 10 minutes away.  :)

We made baked potatoes, sausage gravy, and steak for dinner today.  The meal of champions!  Anna has plans for us to celebrate her fish's 1 month birthday.  Last night she made brownies, she has purchased & wrapped gifts for her fish, and I believe she has planned some fish themed games.  Oh my, she cracks me up!  But I love her flair for themed parties!  A girl after mine own heart!

2 years at home

Believe it or not we have now lived in our home for 2 years and one month!

It's crazy to think that the whole house-hunting, short-sale waiting, apartment living fiasco, and finally signing the papers and getting the keys was over two years ago.  Because of all that, I am so thankful for the home that we now own and get to enjoy.

We know our neighbors.  We really enjoy the proximity to school and how that enables us to walk there each day.  The neighborhood is safe (and gated) which means I feel just fine when the kids ride their bikes across the neighborhood to see if friends from church can play.  Other than denying us one of our paint colors, living within an active HOA has been a very positive thing.  The neighborhood is clean, well kept, rarely are there cars parked on the street, and right now they are hanging up Christmas lights on the palm trees at the entrance.

Waiting for this house was definitely worth it.  For the area that we get to live in and for the killer price we snagged the house for.  (Already, the value has grown so much.)

We do like our house, but there is a long list of to-do's to go along with it and we knew that going into it.  I wanted to take a second to jot down all that we have done so far, so I can feel good about our progress on that list!

I personally painted 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, the family room, laundry room, hallway, and half of the kitchen

I also painted the floor, window, and door trim in all of the above listed rooms rooms

New water heater (the old one died on us)

New dishwasher (the old one died)

New pool pump (the old one was very old)

Replaced 4 bathroom faucets because the old ones literally crumbled to pieces

Four new toilets because I needed that part of my bathroom to feel fresh.

Four new lighting fixtures - 2 ceiling fans, 1 bedroom light, and this light in the kitchen which I love.

Installed smoke detectors.  Because there were none!  Yikes.

Plantation shutters & trim on 9 windows.  This is an expensive job so we felt thankful that half of the windows in the house were already done.  We just had to finish the job.

Professionally installed window film on ALL windows except for 2 or 3.  This is something that is unique to living in hot desert climates!  It is basically a reflective film that is applied to the interior of your windows to keep the heat out. 

Replaced the tile around the master bedroom fireplace with pretty glass tile.

Exterior of the house was painted, along with extensive stucco repair

New front door and pretty hardware

New exterior lights - entry, garage lights, and 4 other exterior lights

Replaced the giant back door slider with a more manageable (and attractive) set of french doors.

Two more new exterior doors - one on the master bedroom balcony and one on the side of the house.

Repairs made to the cracked & crumbling cool deck in the backyard and a new coat of paint

Not to mention the bags and bags and bags and bags and BAGS of yard debris that we removed from the backyard over the course of a few months.  SO many weeds and dead plants. 

A BIG item on that list was painting the exterior and we were able to accomplish that earlier this year.  I shared the before pictures in an earlier post and talked about clashing heads with the HOA on colors.  They won, of course.  And while I didn't get to paint our gates and balcony railings in black, we made up for it with some beautiful black iron garage and entry lights.  

Remember the BEFORE:

And here is the AFTER:

Ohhh baby!  What a difference a fresh coat of paint can make!

And how about this new front door?

I think you need to see the old door to really appreciate this clean and simple beauty.

I was a little bit worried that switching from a glass door to a solid door would cut down on the light in the house.  But it has been just fine.  I painted the interior side of the doors (yes, me) a bright white and that really helps to brighten the space.

Let's take a closer look at the hardware transformation

Goodbye ugly brass,

Hello, beautiful

The door hardware is Emtek.  And all the lights came from Lowe's.

I just love it all.  And as I guessed, our neighbors were very appreciative of the update.  Like, they literally came up to us and thanked us for painting the house.  Haha.  That's how bad it was.

When we fix the landscaping we'll really be on their good side. 

Speaking of more projects . . . When we moved into the house I made a long list of all the projects, updates, and changes that needed to happen in order of priority.  That list has been on our fridge all this time and we are slowly and carefully checking things off the list, as I pointed out in the beginning of this post.  

Here is what we have remaining:

High Priority - do as soon as possible

• Finish painting the interior of the house -- we have the master bedroom, master bath, upstairs hallway, the rest of the kitchen, and the giant entry/living/dining space to do with it's 20 foot ceilings.
• Replace the upstairs trim with 4" molding
• Install closet doors in the scrap/guest room.  
• New carpet in all the bedrooms, hallway, stairs, living room, and the weird patch of carpet in the dining room.

Medium Priority - start planning/budgeting for

• Front & backyard landscaping
• Replace counters and sinks in all bathrooms
• Paint or change out the stair & banister railings
• Replace all of the interior brass doorknobs with brushed nickel (love the Emtek doorknobs).  Maybe the hinges too.
• Fresh coat of paint on all of the interior doors

Low Priority - wish list items

• New lighting fixtures in the entry, dining room, and over the stairs
• Master Bathroom remodel -- the tub and shower need some serious TLC and the barely functioning brass vanity lights need to go.  (This just makes me laugh - we have a total of 18 vanity lights in our bathroom and only 7 of them actually work!)
• New double ovens (in stainless) to match the rest of the kitchen
• Stone accents on exterior of the house

Some small projects mixed in there with several rather large projects.  Who knows when or if we'll get to everything.  But I'm pretty happy that this is still the original list that we made when we moved and we haven't added anything to the list.  Just trying to work through the basics - and a few frills - to make this house feel updated and like our own.

And whether or not we get to all of these projects we enjoy the space we are living in and feel blessed for it.  Hello, I got my dream white kitchen!  That counts for a lot.

hello, house

You may or may not have noticed, but since we moved into this house 1 1/2 years ago I have never showed you the exterior of our home.  This is for two reasons.

1.  It is seriously lacking in curb appeal.  The yard just "is" and the style of construction isn't much to drool over.  (In my opinion).

2.  It is in serious need of a paint job.  Like 10 years ago.  Our house is almost 20 years old and we're pretty sure that the current paint is original from construction.

So while I have spent a lot of time painting, hanging pictures, and pulling things together INside the house.  The outside has been largely ignored because it was going to be such a big project.

But . . . that should all change very soon.  A paint job (crossing my fingers) is in our future!  We have secured a bid and are putting together a proposal to submit to our HOA.  It will be awhile before it's all approved and we schedule the painter so I thought I would take a moment now to show you the "before" pictures.

Hello, house.

Let me take you up to the front door.  We do have a lovely rose bush and, you'll have to take my word for it, the blooms smell ah-mazing.

As you can see the step below the door is looking a little rough.  As well as the view when you look up (not pictured).  Replacing the front door in all it's brass-trim glory is part of the exterior update plan.

The door handle has seen better days.  You can bet we'll be swapping out the brass house lights for something a little more modern.

And in general there is a lot of stucco repair and sanding that needs to be done on the house before they can even start painting.  Plenty of holes

and crumbling stucco

and wood trim that wishes it had paint.

We have spent the last few Saturdays pruning bushes away from the house, pulling out screws, and removing an old misting system that we never even used.  Scott still wants to remove the satellite dishes (plural) that are attached to our house since we are no long using them (yay for Roku!) and they are unsightly.  I still need to trim down the jasmine by the front door.  But I'm going to wait until the last minute because it is so close to  blooming and I am not going to rob myself of that wonderful smell.

So what are the plans?  Well, we live in a pretty strict HOA which means I didn't have free range on color choices.  But this is what I am proposing from the approved palette (these colors do look better in real life):

 

Crossing our fingers that they approve everything.  This really is the best combo I could come up with from the colors provided and I think it will look nice.  Really, anything will look better than the sad paint job we have right now!

UPDATE:  I wrote this post a few weeks ago and we just heard back from our HOA Board.  They approved everything except for the black on the gates & railing.  Boo!  They say that we have to paint those with the Thundercloud.  Which is not my favorite idea.  Our second option is to go before a hearing in July (the next time they meet) to try to push for our original color scheme.  That is way too far away so we are going to go ahead and paint the house the way it was approved and if (when) we hate the way the gates look, we will go before the board to request either black or the Desert Suede.  But first, this whole plan STILL has to be approved by the master community -- we are working hard to get it on the agenda for their meeting this Friday.  Two levels of approval + boards that meet infrequently = a very impatient homeowner that just wants to make her house pretty!

When we finally get this done I will be jumping for joy!

master bedroom fireplace

I am so excited to share our new fireplace with you today!!

This Christmas my family did a whole handmade Christmas thing for our gift exchange.  As a gift my dad offered us free labor for one home improvement project.  Sweet!  My dad is about as handy as it comes.  He can design, build, fix, and renovate just about anything.  Anything.  So when he gave us this gift my wheels started turning.

AND I knew that they were coming just a few weeks later to watch the kids while we were in Hawaii so it would be perfect timing to fit in a little project.

I settled on our master bedroom fireplace.  It was doable in just a few days, I had a design idea, and it would cross something off my "home to-do" list that would probably never make it to the top.

Let me give you a look at the BEFORE

Just blah.  Cheap tile.  Ugly grout.  That brass.  (And yes, the carpet and baseboards are on my "home to-do" list as well.)

But seriously, the grout.  Let me give you a closer look.

Why would you ever EVER choose that color of grout?  Orange, terracotta.  Yuck.  And if you'll notice on the far left, the previous homeowners painted right over the tiles.  Yep!  Not exactly sure what the plan was there.

You see that we have vaulted ceilings and the fireplace takes up a big corner of the room.  It's what you see when you first walk in the room.  It needed some serious help!

I searched around Pinterest a bit and chose THIS as my inspiration photo.  I loved the blue glass tile, the trim on the hearth, and the rustic wooden mantle.  THIS was another example of what I was going for -- glass tile, crisp white trim.  

Because it was a small project I could splurge a bit on nicer tiles.  I found these 12x12 mosaic glass tiles at Home Depot for $8.97.  They were perfect with just a hint of blue/green and I loved the staggered rectangular shape.  Like a mini subway tile.

In the beginning I considered white stacked stone (which is gorgeous), but I'm glad I went with glass tile.  Because, look at this!

 

Isn't it beautiful?!  It totally changes the room and pushes the sophistication up a few notches.

Clean whites, spa blue, greys, light natural woods . . . . that has been our master bedroom color scheme for a while now and I just love it.  It is so relaxing.  

Now that this project is done I am itching to paint the master bedroom!  In a perfect world we would have painted the bedroom before this project, but there just wasn't enough time.

That beige on the walls will become a very light, cool grey.  And I want to use a dark shade of blue/green (in the same color family as the tiles) on the wall behind our bed.  Our bed & bedding are white so it should look really cool.  A nice pop in the room.

One of my favorite parts about the fireplace is the white trim on the base.  By trimming out the "bench" and filling in the empty space with white paint it makes the entire unit look like a built-in piece.  More substantial and intentional.  I like it.

I would like to install a mantle like the one in my inspiration photo.  But that will be a project for another time.

For the hearth I chose these porcelain tiles from local tile shop (at $2.50 each).  It is a perfect base because it doesn't compete with the glass tile

At first we were going to use the glass tiles on the hearth but then I got to thinking about how easily they might scratch or crack if we dropped something there, or threw our keys on the bench or whatever.  Makes me cringe just thinking about it.  So I'm glad we switched to this.

My dad did such a wonderful job on this project!  And can I just tell you how fun it was to come home from Hawaii to find this in our bedroom?  What a great gift after a wonderful vacation.  So spoiled!

And now I get to enjoy this view from my bed.  It is pretty amazing.  Thanks dad!

 One last look:

 

 

 

Christmas decor 2013

My long-time bloggy friend Katie over at Creole Wisdom is hosting a Christmas decor link-up right now.  She lives in a cute 1-bedroom apartment and puts deliberate thought into the way she decorates her small space (at Christmastime and year round).  It's pretty cute (classic / clean / shabby chic) and she takes amazing photographs -- you should check her out!

Anyways, back to the link-up party . . . . I thought this would be a good excuse to share some photos from around my house this year.

Things are looking pretty Christmas-y around here!  And I love it - and need it - because outside it is 60 degrees and doesn't feel like Christmas at all!  (I know, like I should really complain about 60 degree temps.) So, I fill my home with Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and an unlimited supply of egg nog* in the fridge to compensate for un-holiday weather.

*We are on our 6th half-gallon carton of egg nog this year, thanks to Payton.

This year we bought a new Christmas tree.  We have had a fake tree since 2004 and Scott's allergies thank us for it.  The new tree is a 9 footer and oh baby, it is huge!  We wanted a bigger tree for the front room which has 20 foot ceilings and we thought our old 7 footer would look pretty dwarfed in that room.  So the old tree has now become the "kid tree" and we set it up in the family room.  The kids get to decorate a tree and I get to decorate a tree.  Everyone wins!

Darth Vader still resides on my tree, though.  It's tradition.  (Here's the story of how he came into our family.)

A new ornament this year from my mom

Last year, I took advantage of Lisa Leonard's after Christmas sale and ordered this ornament to commemorate our move.  Now I'm kicking myself, wishing I had ordered one for each of the cities we have lived in as a married couple -- she no longer carries this particular ornament design.  Our list would include Provo, UT (1999), Beaverton, OR (2000), and St. Helens, OR (2002)

So we got the bigger tree but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on more ornaments.  Here are two solutions I found to fill in the green space:

1) This awesome JOY sign, which I already had.  Big and bold, front and center.

2) Clear glass ornament balls and that I filled with white craft feathers.  (I saw the same thing at West Elm selling for $6 each!)

I always enjoy the muted tones of this nativity set in contrast to the vibrant reds in the rest of my decor.  It just feels calm and peaceful.  As it should be.

Those Santa mugs are a dear favorite of mine.  My Grandma Margaret purchased them when she was a newlywed (late 1930's) and at some point she gave them to my mom.  And now I have them!  I feel so lucky.

I love things that have a story.  My mom came to visit for a few days last week and she brought this old apple cider jug that she picked up in a town nearby their new cabin.  Then she had my brother, Sam, drill a hole in the back so that we could fill it with these beautiful fairy/starry lights.  (You can find the lights at Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie, or search online). And the jug is placed on a slice of wood from one of the redwood trees on my parents' property (they had a few trees die this year, so they had to cut them down).  See?  Every part has a story.

I have a set of gallery frames in the hallway nook.  I printed up a bunch of 8x10 photos of the kids wearing their new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve over the years.  Rather than go to the effort of removing the frames, inserting the pictures, and hanging them back up, I simply taped the new 8x10 photos directly to the glass with washi tape.  Easy peasy.

I love my Christmas card wall.  It usually stays up until Valentine's Day.

A wider shot . . . we've got some mixed up holidays going on.  That's pretty typical for me.  There was that one year I printed up a huge vinyl ghost and adhered it to our kitchen window for Halloween.  He stayed there until the spring.

This collection/display of trees is always a favorite of mine.  I've had the gold wire trees forever.  And the wood veneer trees came from West Elm last year.

A little garland love

And a wider angle, to show you what life really looks like. 

** Linking up at Creole Wisdom

the mill house

About 10 years ago my parents built a house in the foothills that sits on a few acres and has tons of room for gatherings and family and grandchildren.  But, when the commute to my dad's work became too taxing (1 hour) they purchased a second home - a small house that is only 10 minutes from the nut plant.  They call it

The Mill House

That is where I stayed while the kids were at cousin camp, and I expressed in an earlier post just how much I loved it.  It is small (2 master bedroom suites, 1 living area), but it is perfect.  And my mom, as always, has done a great job decorating it.  

Here's a little peek into The Mill House

and follow THIS LINK to all posts related to The Mill House over at my mom's blog

(Margaret Andersen is my grandmother)

Now, wouldn't you like to stay at The Mill House too?

on a saturday in may

I made plans to get out and get to work on the yard as soon as we were awake, to beat the heat. The kids were reluctant to get started on the job (I had to send someone to fetch Anna when she disappeared into the house a few times), but they were good workers -- weeding, picking up sticks and branches and leaves.

Payton and I worked on the side yard together, pulling weeds from the massive rock bed.  He began complaining about how dirty (un-pretty) our yard was.  Payton is my boy who really takes notice and appreciates when things are nicely done, in order, and are aesthetically pleasing.  He said, "Our yard in Oregon was so much nicer."  I had to remind him that both of our Oregon homes started out with ugly & messy yards and that we had to put in a lot of work to make them pretty.  Remember THIS?

After a few hours of weeding, blowing, sweeping, trimming, and pulling shrubs we were sitting in the gazebo when he looked around and said, "wow, it looks good out here."  I asked him, Can you tell a difference?  "Yep."  See, that's what it takes -- from time to time we'll put in some work and it will keep looking better and better.

Payton then went on to plan all of our backyard landscaping. And boy, he has plans.  It includes a treehouse with stairs that go through the wall in our house into the living room.

Here's where we are at right now.  Clearing out all the shrubs from the left flower bed was the big task of the day

So far we have not planted anything in the yard.  We have spent all of our time clearing out weeds and removing dead, ugly, or randomly placed shrubs.  I still have a few shrubs that are on my kill list.

I have a love/hate relationship with the trees in this corner of the yard.  (Note: all the trees are planted in our neighbor's yard or on the walking path behind our yard.)  I love the shade they provide and I love that they are beautiful, green, mature trees.  I hate the junk that they drop on our yard and pool from November to April.  Right now we're doing good.

Don't you love our lounge set-up?  I bought an outdoor rug and my mom treated us to lounge chairs and a side table.  All I need now are some flowy white curtains (to block the late afternoon sun) and we are total resort mode!

Yes things got cleaned up.  Getting the backyard "summer ready" is high on my list.  And we're just about there.  A full-blown re-landscaping project is also on my list, but that will have to wait.  For now it's a work in progress and we are really enjoying the variety of spaces that the yard provides.  Pool, trampoline, table for eating, gazebo for lounging . . . 

pillows and side table from Target; lounge chairs from Lowe's

Once the work was done, this is how the rest of the day went and I hope that we have many, many summer days just like it.

Step 1 - Slather up with sunscreen.  I have a basket of sunscreen on the porch and the kids know to take care of themselves.  Messages written in sunscreen are also appropriate from time to time.  "I am awesome" and "I fight evil"

Step 2 - Swim!  Creative uses for indoor toys is part of the pool fun.

Step 3 - Warm up on the trampoline.  The pool is only 70 degrees right now.  And the trampoline is hot.

Step 4 - Swim again!  They like to play taxi with the lounge floaty -- they gave Scott a ride and then he returned the favor.

Step 5 - More trampoline!

Step 6 - Swim and repeat the swim/trampoline cycle until mom and dad say it is time to go inside.

We really do have a great set-up.  Scott and I sit on the lounge chairs under the shade of the gazebo (with the ceiling fan blowing).  Music is playing from the ipod docking station (thank you builders for placing outlets on the gazebo).  I have a bag of Twizzlers that I pass out to the kids as they come by.  Oh!  And we finally tested out the misters above the patio.  They work!  It is perfect.  And I'm looking forward to many, many summer days spent doing this exact same thing.

I just have to say that it warmed my heart so much to see this day unfold.  The kids are re-living my childhood summers to a tee.  Growing up in California we had our own pool and we literally lived in that pool.  We wore our swimsuits all day long.  Everyday.  Prune fingers and toes is an understatement.  We would lay on the hot cement to warm up our bodies.  We would swim up to the edge of the pool to eat snacks and otter pops.  We listened to the Beach Boys and 80's pop music through the outdoor speakers scattered in the flower beds.  We had wacky diving contests, we made music videos, one year we invented the Baby Olympics . . . . we were always coming up with something creative to play in the pool.  And I loved it.  Like I said, it warms my heart to see my kids experiencing the same thing.  

I think it's going to be a great summer.

My childhood pool - sometime in the mid-90's.  My family lived in this house in Gustine from 1986 to 1999.

a tale of three bathrooms: part three

Since we are moving in less than 2 weeks, I thought it would be a good idea to wrap up this series.

First there was the kids' bathroom.

Then came the master bathroom.

And finally, I give you the guest bathroom.

It's tiny, but the ceilings are tall.

I took advantage of the tall ceilings and moved my collection of B's to this bathroom.  All the way to the ceiling!  As you may or may not notice, I also painted a few of the B's.  I decided to go with a grey and yellow color scheme and made that happen with a few cans of spray paint.

It's such a small space, with very little light so I needed a paint color to brighten things up.  The creamy white wall & ceiling color is Marscapone -- Pottery Barn for Benjamin Moore.  It looks yellowish in some photos, but I promise it is white.  The lighting in this bathroom is just horrible.

After seeing something similar on pinterest I picked up another one of my favorite IKEA frames, spray painted a yellow B, and attached it to the front of the glass with Command Picture Hanging Strips .  They are pretty awesome.  

And that, is the guest bath.

 

jewelry organizer

For the longest time the art of accessorizing has alluded me.  I always like the look on other people, but couldn't figure out how to do it on me.  Slowly I've figured out what I like and in the process I've amassed a large (for me) collection of jewelry.  But in that process I have not figured out a way to organize or store it all!  For a while my dresser has looked like this . . . 

and that's just scratching the surface of what resides in various boxes here and there.

Using inspiration from online I decided to make a wall organizer for some of my necklaces.  I bought the basic materials months ago, and last week I decided to finally make it happen.

Nothing fancy, but it works.

Here's how I did it.  And believe me, there is really nothing fancy going on here with the assembly.  Duct tape was involved.  Lots of it.

I couldn't find hooks in silver, so I was stuck with brass.  I used some spray primer and metallic paint that I already had in the garage to pretty them up.  (I only used the primer because the metallic paint was running super low and I wasn't sure how much coverage I was going to get out of it.)

I envisioned using a piece of plywood or MDF as the backing for this project.  But I had neither.  What I did have was a foam core poster-board.  So with my trusty xacto knife I cut it down to 12x16.  This was after using the poster-board as my painting surface.

Then I laid it down on a piece of burlap, snipped the corners, and proceeded to affix the burlap with duct tape.

The burlap-covered foam board fit perfectly inside the picture frame.  But there was no way I was getting the frame backing to pop back in.  Enter more duct tape.

And thanks to my beautiful prop assistant.  As you can see, the foam board is help in entirely by duct tape.  I considered gluing it in there, but I didn't want it to be so permanent.

Next comes hook placement,

Now that I see it on the wall, with necklaces, I wish that I had put my top row up a little higher.  There's just a smidge too much white space.  But I can deal with it.

I knew the hooks would screw easily into the foam board, but I wasn't sure if they would hold over time with the weight of the jewelry.  Only time will tell.  To give me some insurance I added a few drops of E-6000 glue (the best, strongest, all-purpose glue ever) around the screw before installing it.

Everything is lining up well . . . 

And now it's time to hang it on the wall!  But wait, the thickness of the foam board wouldn't allow me to get the frame backing (with hardware) to pop back into place.  How will we hang it on the wall?  Don't worry, I have a little secret.

BEHOLD!! . . . 3M Velcro picture hanging strips!

They are awesome.

And now I have a pretty jewelry organizer hanging in my bathroom!

I really like it.  And I especially like that I have enough necklaces to display that coordinate with my bathroom color scheme.  Coincidence?  :)  Silver and aqua/turquoise are my favorite colors for accessorizing.

just add paint

Here it is.  The master bedroom before and after.

Ahhh, heavenly.  That's the word I use to describe it.  I love the airy, fresh, clean, relaxing vibe that it sends out.

What's amazing about this sprucing up project is really, all I did was add paint.  The decor is exactly the same.  Just a new lamp from Target.  I purchased the bedding last summer from Pottery Barn, so it's been around for a while.  And moving things out of the room for the paint project gave me an opportunity to edit what came back in, which helped eliminate some clutter.

But the paint color.  That's where the transformation lies.  It is Polished Limestone by Glidden.  I also repainted all the baseboards and window sills which really helps things feel polished.

We both love it.

Now up for debate:  Do I hang something on the wall above the bed?

If so, it has to be something simple so as to not interfere with the vibe I've got going so far -- a mirror, large piece of art, photo on canvas, maybe something black and white, etc. . . . . 

Or keep it bare.

What do you think?

a tale of 3 bathrooms: part two

{refer to this post for the reasoning behind my desire to rejuvenate all 3 bathrooms in my house.}

The master bathroom was number two.  It was just blah and felt so heavy and weighted down.

We have this wonderful, large bathroom with a great sky-light and window.  It just needed to go on a diet and lose about 80 pounds of visual weight.

Before:

and After:

Ahhh, now that's more like it.

And it only took 11 months to finish.  Here's what I did.

1.  Prime and paint the bathroom.  (September 1, 2010)  There was some color mixing drama at Ace, but we eventually got it figured out.  The paint color is Waterfall by Benjamin Moore.

2.  Paint the bathroom cabinets.  (A couple weeks later.)  My mom was visiting and was a huge help in this project.  Really, she did all the painting and I just assisted with touch-ups.  We removed the cabinet doors and drawers and did a very light sanding.  Then we painted everything with a coat of Bullseye 1-2-3 Primer -- the can says that it will stick to anything, even slick surfaces.  Hence, the need for little sanding.  Then we painted everything with some white cabinet & trim paint.  2 coats, I believe.

3.  Install new light fixtures.  (At the same time as number 2.)  My mom walked me through the process -- she is a pro at all things diy. It was pretty straight forward, but it was definitely a job that needed two sets of hands.  I ordered the light fixtures from Lowes online.

4.  Add frame around mirror.  (Also in September 2010).  In a moment of pure serendipity, after I made a comment about desiring a frame around my bathroom mirror, my mom received an email from her editor (she used to write articles about home & decorating for a blog/website) offering her a Moen Mirrorscapes kit in exchange for a review.  Crazy, huh?!  So she had them send the bathroom mirror frames to me, we installed them, and I wrote up a review.  It was really easy to do and I love the end result.

5.  Add art.  (February-ish)  These are photos that I took in Hawaii.  I had them printed through Canvas on Demand.  They are both 16x20.

6.  Install cabinet hardware.  (March-ish)  I'm not crazy with the knobs, but they'll do.  I had intended to install the pulls on the drawers, and knobs on the cabinets.  But the construction of our drawers made it impossible to install pulls there.  And the "drawers" that don't have any knobs? . . . I refuse to install knobs on fake drawers.  That's just a cruel joke.

So really, the project only took 6 months, start to finish.  Not too shabby.

I love the color.  I love the white cabinets. I love the lightness, but punch of color, that it gives to our room.

a room just for me

When we first moved into this house my scrapbook desk, shelves, and computer shared the guest room.  It worked, but after a year or so I moved stuff into a small empty bedroom upstairs.  Ever since then I have had grand plans of showing off this space on my blog because I just plain love it.  But then I'd start a project and the piles would grow, eventually I'd find the time to organize and get through about half of the clutter, and then it would grow again, and so forth and so forth.

Basically, my visions of getting this room to a state of neatness where I felt I could take pictures to show it off have never materialized.

Then my mom asked me to take a few pictures of my workspaces & decor for an article she was doing on Blissful.  I'm always happy to help.  So to get my room picture ready I employed the following tactic -- Move piles from point A to point B - take a picture of A - return piles to A.  Move piles from point B to point A - take a picture of point B - return piles to B.

So, because I don't see a massive overhaul of this room in the near future (maybe a project for next fall?) I'm sharing the pictures I do have.  Because this is as good as it gets.

You come into the room and on the right wall you see this:

I love this work table from IKEA -- it's a stainless steel kitchen island, the UTBY.  I use it for stand-up work.  Love the open shelves, the industrial look, the sturdiness.  The bucket/rail system and picture frames are from IKEA.  Baskets are from assorted locations.

I love love love this black scroll frame.  In fact, I have 2 of them in my house.  I got the idea for the photo collage from Heidi Swapp's blog yonks ago.  The top wood frame includes several phrases and sentiments from Ali Edwards for encouragement in the creative process:  it is ok // embrace imperfection // simplify // don't make it more complicated than it needs to be // have fun // celebrate the everyday // share yourself. tell your story.

The bottom wood frame includes a quote and a little piece of ric rac:  Every morning is a fresh beginning.  Every day is the world made new.  Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come to this day. This moment - this day - is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day - each moment of this day - a heaven on earth. This is my day of opportunity.  -Dan Custer

Then in front of you and to your left I have two desks that come to an L-shape with the printer in the corner.  The right desk (not pictured) holds my computer.  And the left desk has more crafty purposes.

Desks and shelves are from the Container Store.  I tried to keep the room mostly neutral - white, black, cream, grey - and add a few punches of red and pink.  I had plans to make a new cover for the vinyl machine, but I changed my mind.  The blue will stay.

And in case you were wondering . . . . . wall color:  Mascarpone (Pottery Barn) and black chalkboard paint.

Ironically enough, my mom's Blissful article was titled, "How to Organize Home Office Clutter."  I definitely need to take her advice and put it into action.  I especially like this tip

Helpful things to gather before tackling the project --   A friend - that can help you stay on track and to have fun conversation with.  Even the worst jobs seem better with a friend to help.

Love it.  Does someone want to come over and be my de-cluttering friend?  :)