FINALLY!!!

I’ve spoken often of my disdain for the closed-in, burgundy monstrosity that is my dining room. Well, I can finally say that in the past tense. Ding dong, the red is dead!! For memory’s sake, here’s a fuzzy old picture. I tried my best to deal with it, really I did!

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Just. So. Dang. DARK.

Things take twice as long when scheduling around an almost 2-year-old, don’t they? Enter “bursts”, stage left. I took an afternoon to empty everything out (lots o’ crap in that room, I tell ya! One compound word: bookshelf), a full day to prime (with two coats of trim) and paint (again, two coats of trim for some odd reason), another nap time to prime the baseboard/built-ins/windows/kitchen door, still another nap time to paint the aforementioned stuff white…and let’s just say I haven’t put everything back in yet. Goodbye, Spring Break! πŸ˜›

I’m too excited not to share a couple of crappy iPhone pictures, though. πŸ˜€ Can you hear me squealing where you live? It might also be my husband, though. He didn’t want the red gone, but has since changed his tune and LOVES how open it is. I can’t blame him. It’s a huge, awesome change.

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In some light, it’s a light tan/beige with a gray undertone. In other lights (such as the weird, overly-bright shot here), it looks green. I promise you it’s the perfect shade of greige (read: beige + gray) with no blue or flesh or purple undertones. Actually, no green undertones, either. Just the perfect neutral.

I still need to (obviously) fill the room and bookshelf, find a rad new rug to replace my, um, attempt at dealing with the red (let’s just say that I’ve become gun-shy to decorate with red…at all…THANK YOU, dining room! *grumbles*), and do some styling.

And, yes. So far, the Boston Massacre has survived. At least until Hadley starts questioning why we have a crude drawing of people being shot on our wall.

So…what do you think? Improvement? When all is said and done, I’ll be sharing the color name and taking better pictures. Just couldn’t wait to share it so far!

Time to go celebrate with the family. This is such a weight off the ol’ shoulders eyes, and it’s time to enjoy the last couple of days of spring break.

Embracing Self Care – Peace in the Home

Welcome back to our third installment in the “taking care of yo’ self” series! (Not really; I just called it that.)

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This week’s “Embracing Self Care” theme involves peace in the home. Now, this can encompass many different topics — from finding peace through organization, surrounding yourself with decor that helps you find peace (or finding decor that helps you feel at one with yourself; finding your “style”), finding a schedule/routine that works for you, etc. See? It really can mean ANYTHING! Love that!

For me, this involves a couple of things. Obviously, I’m in the midst of some “low-stress” spring cleaning. (Taking it a day at a time, folks.) When I’m done with the “cleaning” part (ie the scrubbing, dusting, mopping, vacuuming stuff), I plan to attack on the organizational front. I’m weird that way. I see cleaning as more of a “must destroy dust bunnies!” and “wash windows” sort of thing; yes, things are neat and orderly afterwards, but more in a “picked up” way.

So, after things are spic and span, I’m going to address any organizational issues that we have. This will entail looking at areas where we’re falling short (like finding better uses for our closets and built-ins, and my bills…I pay them, then pretend they don’t exist ‘cuz, y’know, I don’t like them…so they just end up in random piles) and areas that just need our attention, like the basement and garage (y’know…the dirty places).

This is twofold for us. Yes, we want to have an organized, happy, serene environment…but we also hope to ready our house for a possible move. See? Two birds, one stone. πŸ˜‰ (Hate that phrase, but it’s relevant.) And, of course, I’ll share any tips I pick up on the way.

The second “peace in the home” factor I hope to work on (which goes hand-in-hand with readying our house for a sale) is our style. This is the week I’m FINALLY working on painting the red out of our lives dining room, with the help of my uber-motivated mom. (Spoiler: It’s already gone! Just got some trim to do before sharing.) The other rooms are relatively light and airy (our bedroom is a little moody with a green wall, which we may or may not keep) or at least neutral, and the burgundy sticks out like a sore, outdated, 1990s thumb.Β 

Aside from that, I’ve got some Pinspiration regarding other areas of the house. Our front room was a spot that helped sell us on the place originally, so I’m hoping to modernize it a bit with the help of some better window treatments (we still use the short sheers that came with the house…for shame). So, I’m on the hunt for some extra long white curtains to hang “high and wide” and a few more bamboo shades, for an effect kind of like this —

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I’m also excited that my stepdad has offered to help me complete the tub surround with a ghetto he-thinks-it’ll-work solution (I have my doubts), so that’ll finally be a done project. I’m not happy with the art I made for that space, so I’ve got my eye out for other DIY art solutions that’ll make me happy. Not to sound picky, but I’m not a huge fan of the word art stuff (“Brush your teeth. Wash your hands.” Uuuummm. No comment.); I guess I’m more into either a graphic or a vintage botanical print type thing.

Maybe something like this… (Different colors.)

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Not sure of original source πŸ™ Hate that!
If anyone knows, let me know, please!

Or this type of botanical…

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Original Source

I also recognize that a big part of moving will be weeding out things that we don’t wish to drag with us to our next residence. That can be a horribly daunting task, or it can be an uplifting “ahhh” getting rid of stuff we don’t NEED in our lives task. Probably 50/50, in all honesty. There’s a part of me that looks forward to taking all the wine bottles off the shelf and in storage, putting only the pots and pans that we need in our cupboards, and having less “visual clutter” around the place. I’m already asking myself how many mugs we actual need to have on-hand for guests and for ourselves, how many utensils should be in our drawers, and what food we truly need around cluttering up our cabinets. Maybe it’ll be therapeutic, who knows?

So, the only way that “schedule” really fits into this “finding peace in the home” concept is that we need to better schedule our “to dos” to actually, um, y’know…get them done! πŸ˜‰ The goal is to remember to keep the peacefulness of our lives while working on these projects and focusing on our future, and to make sure that the monkey doesn’t get his routine too knocked out of whack.

What about you? What “peace” do you hope to achieve in your own lives? How are you hoping to achieve it? Feel free to post a link to your blog (if you have one), or just share in the comments.

Β 

TThisWednesday, April 16: Peace in the Home

This can encompass home decor, fashion, organizing and decluttering, schedule and routine, etc. Whatever needs to happen in your life in order to restore peace and equilibrium will be represented during this week!

Wednesday, April 23: Taking Some R&R

This week we’ll dive into taking time to pamper ourselves, time to fully relax, putting aside the to-do list, etc. We will recognize that we need to find healthy ways of treating ourselves so that we aren’t tempted to bad habits that ultimately harm us (i.e. emotional eating of sugar, etc.)
– See more at: http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2014/03/embracing-self-care-community-blogging-project.html#sthash.aWSSQQGz.dpuf

Springing Back to Life

The show is officially done, after some wonderful audiences and far too much fun had on the part of the cast. And, of course, during the day last Saturday I started with the postnasal yuckiness, so by this point I’m part sad and part relieved that things have come to an end. I’m going to miss my buds (and even a new friend or two! Hooray for getting out of the house!), but I’m ready to get back to some normalcy.

While my head feels like it wants to fall off and my brain is having a tough time formulating, um, y’know, words, I thought I’d mention a few things that I’m jonesin’ to get into that I’ve put off over the duration of the show. Time has a tendency to stand still and life gets put on hold while a person does a show. Not complainin’; just how it is.

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So, yeah. When I finally get some rest and feel normal again, I’m hoping to turn my focus to SPRING (said in a sing-song fairy voice) and tick a few things off this ol’ list:

Spring cleaning. Ugh. I’m far from excited to get this done. I’m actually not sure the last time I actually COMPLETED a spring cleaning checklist. I get enough of it done, but not EVERYTHING. This year, since we’ve been chatting back and forth about making a possible move this spring/summer-ish, I’ve gotta find a way to actually get this fully accomplished. Even if I have to take it a week at a time, it’ll get done — and I’ll bring you along for the ride, of course. You lucky, lucky folks, you.

Spring-ify the joint. Kind of in line with spring cleaning, I’ve gotta turn my attention to the fact that I’ve still got winter-on-the-brain; at least, as far as my decor goes. We’ve still had FREEZING temperatures and snow, so the fact that we’ve got *gasp* temps in the 40s later in the week makes everyone excited even more for spring.

So, I’ll officially wipe off my “Let It Snow” chalkboard art (maybe I’m the jinx who has made winter stay put all along…oops) and take down my rustic winter scarf decor (a variation of which I’ve had since Christmas) and figure out a brighter, lighter, and probably simplified decor scheme. For my husband’s sake, if for no other reason. πŸ˜‰ Heck, I finally pulled down the Christmas cards last week, but I don’t think he was impressed.

(Pssst. You know what that means. I’m gonna be wasting more time on Pinterest soon!!)

Start a-paintin’. I think we’ve pretty much finalized the color we’re going to do the dining room (wait for it…), so I’d like to hit up Lowe’s and grab a buttload of primer to get the show on the road in there. I also need to freshen up our kitchen cabinets, inside and out, with our usual white trim paint…which opens up Pandora’s box since there’s probably a thousand other places that need a little touch-up while I’m at it.Β 

Hoeing out. Along with spring cleaning comes the inevitable urge to get rid of stuff. While I tend not to “spring clean” the basement, I’d like to take a stab at ours as far as organization and what we actually NEED to have down there is concerned. I may end up hosting a spring/early summer garage sale to help with the excess.

So, what about you? What are your spring plans? Are you already done with your spring cleaning, or is it not a part of your vocabulary? It’s hard for me not to get bogged down with the guilt of cleaning every square inch of your dwelling this time of year; my mom raised me with insanely high standards. πŸ™‚ Love ya, Ma!

Facing Our Home’s Imperfections

I love our home. It’s our first. We went from separate apartments to, for a short time, one apartment, to this starter fixer-upper. It’s the place we became a family and learned how best to live together. Where we brought in one cat after another until, one day, we cautiously – anxiously – carried in a newborn in a carseat.

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Sarah Beck Photography
and our pretty darn cool kitchen.

This is where he first smiled…gloriously rolled over on his protruding belly…danced like Fred Astaire (sort of)…tippy-toe walked…slept a full night…said anything resembling a real English word…got scolded for pulling one of those patient cats’ tails. This is his place. This is ours, and we love it.

But, we’ve always known it wasn’t our forever home. We’ve yet to find even a forever town or village. It has been a challenge – perhaps because we’ve been watching far too many Andy Hardy movies lately. There is no Carvel anymore. No white picket fences. No absolute security.

So, while we search and hunt and constantly adjust our mindsets, we take the bull by the horns (says the stubborn Taurus) and decide to take control of the factors that we do have control over. Namely, getting our current abode sellable.

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Walk-through day picture of the can’t-wait-to-paint-it dining room…


Ugh. When I say “I love my home”, I might want to attach a disclosure – I love it as a home, but as a house, it ain’t perfect. Hence our not staying here forever.

It is by far a different house from the one we purchased. Then, it was in pre-foreclose, so its pipes had burst and it was quite outdated. Some of our current, hopefully fixable quirks are thanks to those irresponsible owners. Paint – smeared on woodwork and a horrific red dining room – is my latest bane, but there are a dozen (that’s actually a conservative number) tiny issues from previous owners floating around.

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What our bathroom project USED to look like…


Then there’s the age factor. Funny thing is, I’ve always been the sicko who’d love living in a 200-year-old house. Yes, I know the cost of upkeep is high. Yes, I realize that the issues are greater than a newer build. But, much as with adopting a shelter animal, there’s a sense of selfless pride that comes from saving a house from poorly executed modernization, or worse. The fact that you’re that house’s steward vs. owner is pretty rad. Bring on the crooked ceilings.

That said, ours is a 1925 build. Love that era. Post-WWI, pre-Depression. Lots of great details. (One set of built-ins clinched the deal for me; for Dave, it was the “front room” aka sun room.) Of course, it’s small – around 1,000 square feet. Closets are pretty small, too.

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We do have a crooked factor. It’s darn near impossible to hang a shelf straight (although we’ve done pretty well a couple of times). We’re working to get our doors to close and shut. (It’s not being a mom that gives me zero privacy in the bathroom – it’s Winston + non-shutting doors.)

Paint is piled, so I’m going to be busting out my sander to take down some of the build-up on our kitchen cabinets before painting them (inside and out, God help me).

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From our walk-through. These aren’t nearly as grody.
The handle hardware is changed and it’s all been cleaned, but it needs a once-over again and, as mentioned, paint.

Then there are just those “lived here so long it’s hard to look at it with a fresh eye” things. Like, the aforementioned front room. It’s a bright, calming room full of windows and we can’t figure out how to best play it up. I think I may have an idea or two, but it’s not 100%. A few rooms have me stumped. Pinterest, here I come.

But, when we do leave, any of those quirks will fly out of my heart. All that will be left is the happiness that we’ve shared as a family here, along with those memories that happened in such fleeting moments. I know I’ll be quite practical about our pricing (our neighborhood is very working class), but will know that, no matter what we accept, it won’t be enough. That I’ll mostly be concerned that a nice family moves in – for the sake of our wonderful neighbors as well as the house, itself. That they’ll be able to appreciate it as much as we loved (and, some days, were frustrated by) it.

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Wow. Okay, NOW I see how he was over ten pounds. My “see how fat I get” pregnancy pictures were taken in the hallway outside of our door, near my beloved built-ins.
And, yes, my eyes are BUGGIN’.

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Where Dave learned to be a daddy…

As we roll along, I’ll make a wishlist for you of what we’d like in our new home. We like to think we’re not one of those high-maintenance HGTV couples (hopefully our realtor doesn’t think so!), and it sometimes bugs me when I’m reading what other bloggers want in a home — like, seriously, raise your hand if a multimedia entertainment room AND separate man cave are a must (not sure if it’s good or bad that you won’t be seeing much of your hubby…maybe good? Who knows) amidst two dozen other “absolute must-haves”. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

These guys get me. Thank yooooouuu, Buzzfeeeeeed!


Oh, and we also live in the Stone Age in our part of the country/state. We weren’t too affected by the housing bubble and its subsequent burst. That said, housing is supa dupa low in our county (like, a good house for under $100,000 – I kid you not). However, that brings up the idea of what type of area we want to raise our family. We’re not in the ghetto…but there are car break-ins all the time and drug crimes that were unheard of maybe 10 years ago. Not to mention, a recent article doesn’t paint our town in the best light (at the bottom…that little place you probably haven’t heard of…that’s where we live).

So, it’s tough to wrap one’s head around moving out of a relatively inexpensive (relative to, say, the 1800s…yeah, that’s our competition in the housing market) county for a nearby one (again, while my brain is in “get a good deal” mode) while paying up to 60% more for the house. I mean, as I mention to Dave quite regularly — some of these crimes are totally random and can happen anywhere and at any time, so who’s to say we move and will be completely untouchable?

It’s a good thing we have those guard cats…

Conversation to be continued, but any thoughts are (as always) welcome below!

Color Conundrum

Ohhhh, I love this pre-painting phase. It’s the “use your noggin” part (ie the don’t-lift-a-finger part). Just walking around the paint chip aisles, picking things that look good under their light, only to get them home and see how they look in your own space.

Then comes the “oh, crap” moment. The “I’ve gotta make a decision” moment. And we all know how great I am in such a moment.

I grabbed a bunch (about 19, to be exact) of swatches that fell in the “greige” (gray/beige) range to replace the atrocious red of our dining room. After sticking them to the wall with painter’s tape, I immediately knew I could subtract over a third of my selections. RIP Flaxseed!

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And was left with these…represented in a blurry arse iPhone picture. At least the color’s pretty clear…if not totally true-to-life.

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The bottom two colors are less greige and more…grayish-beige with undertones of other colors (blue and green, kind of?), which I will probably nix. But, they look pretty cool next to bright white (which will be replacing the current “dirty cream” of our trim…it’s clean, it just looks dirty to me; drives me nuts).

So, I’m asking for any opinions. Here are the colors in a truer sense (and are still probably a little weird since we all have wackadoo monitors):

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It’s kind of funny, this whole paint-picking thing. I can analyze the heck out of them and explain that the graphic didn’t even come out as true as the swatches (for example, the two “maybe, maybe nots” on the bottom left? Rope is way bluer and Travertine is way greener, and they’re ALL lighter.) So, when I ask your opinion — wait for it, I’m about to do just that! — feel free to mention “the one on the bottom left in the picture” or “Dove’s Cry on the ‘color options’ graphic!” or whatever works. Mkay? Mkay.

Can you pick one that you really like? Or three? Most of them would go pretty well, and coordinate to the colors in the accompanying rooms. (Heck, anything goes better than the outdated red.) We really appreciate any opinions on this one!