home sweet home

Well I promised long ago that I would do a brief tour when I was finished with the boys room! I am never quite finished as I am ALWAYS adding and removing something in the house. The rooms never look the same week to week. But now is as good as any to show you where we are so far!

So welcome to my very humble home! It is quaint and cozy but it is home to the little loves of my life. I often dream of our own home and know that we will get their eventually. However in this season of life, especially with our recent life changes, this little two bedroom is where we rest our heads! I am so grateful to have a warm roof over our heads. So without further rambling.....home

The view when you walk in our front door. Living room, kitchen to the left, the little office nook behind the living, and the boys bath and bedroom beyond that.



I love these pillows!


This box was given to me a couple years ago by a dear friend. I love it!


I made a little chalk board for our bar. I couldn't resist as I have been seeing them everywhere! I have a large crystal vase with white flowers to the left of it that you can't see.



One of the little hurricanes I have on top of the armoire in the little nook area. Love the dollar tree!

A zoomed out pic of the armoire. The wreath behind is a work in progress. Trust me on that :)


One of my very favorite jars! It is on the coffee table directly under the bar. Not the normal place for a coffee table you say? Well have I mentioned how cozy and quaint my little home is :)

My second favorite jar. This is on the entertainment center to the left as you walk in. It sits next to our tv.

These little spaghetti jars sit on top of the toilet in the boys bath. Their whole bath room is blue and green. Still a work in progress as well!


A peak into my bedroom around the corner. Definitely the most neglected room in the house but that is changing! Matthew will room in with me for a long while :)

Now into the boys room!!! As you walk in the door...
The cross peaking from under the net was there before I hung the net up. I need to move it down a bit.

The bed area. Ignore the mess. Their room is never "perfect" and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Their bunk beds are from bunkbedking.com and after searching everywhere they had the best prices and the best quality. They also have free shipping! I highly recommend them. The comforters are from Target and are down. They are so soft.


To the left as you walk in. Ignore that unruly second drawer. It taunts me constantly and I have just learned to live with it :) Personality I say! I got it free off of freecycle and painted it red. Almost all of the basic pieces of their room are neutral and the decor was all made by me. This way I can change it often without spending money. Cause ya know with two little boys, it changes a lot!


And a blurry picture of their porthole :)


For Matthew, I got him a new crib as Ej's was recalled. I ended up getting the Europa Baby Palisades Lifetime Crib and I love it! Right now it is sitting to the left of my bed in my room. I took out the changing table that was in there in its place. Then I put the changing table topper on top of my night stand and it was a perfect fit! It is tight to say the least but it works! I just made Matthew a chalk board picture that is above the changing area. I'll post that later :)

There are some things I am working on. I would love a rug for the living room and a roman shade for the boys room! Also I need to make some curtains for my bedroom as well. Always something :)

So there you have it! A peak into our little corner of the world! It has come a long way but still has a way to go.

Im linking up over at the Decor Chic!!! You should join in too!

decor blogs give me a bad case of "the wants"

I have a lot to update on, and a lot to do blog wise, but instead I am rocking my feverish two year old. We have once again been hit by a bug and his fever is currently 102.4. This makes illness number 12 since December if anyone is counting.
Oh wait, that would be me.
I am so ready for this run of illnesses to be over. Summer where the heck are ya!? But I guess this is to be expected since I put Austin in private school earlier this year. Since then it has been one illness after another. This is why I had hoped to homeschool until EJ was stronger. Don't get me wrong, Austin LOVES his school. His class is small with only 8 children and he is thriving in a more social environment. But oh.my.word the illnesses!! Hopefully this summer we will get a break, and will start back in the fall with three boys! Oh boys!

Okay moving on.

So since I am at the computer, I may as well blog surf, right? And decor blogs are top of my list lately. They are beautiful, thought provoking, inspiring, but mostly they make me have "the wants". So to indulge this I am window web shopping and I wanted to share my current favorite things.

Most of my favorite things currently are from Pottery Barn surprise, surprise. If you don't know, I will tell ya! I love Pottery Barn. My wallet does not. Too bad the wallet always wins.



See that beauty of a table? That is my all time favorite table and chair set. Be still my heart! The extend-able table is on sale right now for only $999.99. I have no place to put a table and couldn't get it right now anyway but that price is fabulous for that table.



This is the Calvert Sofa and I love it. I would buy it in a heart beat if I could. Right now I have a beige microfiber sofa and love seat and although I can take the seat cushions off to machine wash, nothing else is removable. So it is in desperate need of cleaning. Seriously some spots make my skin crawl. A slip covered sofa would solve all of this and my next sofa set will absolutely be slipcovered...and machine washable. Hello pottery barn twill!
I also love the comfort series:


I have always wanted a sectional. Especially a nice big soft makes-you-want-to-cuddle one. Unfortunately since we move so much and have yet to land in our forever home (and wont anytime soon) I need more versatility than a sectional. One day though....

Also am I the only one who notices that these will hide all the little toys that inevitably get underneath. The things under my couch are amazing! With the slip cover, no one would be able to see a thing :) I don't know if that is comforting or scary!



I want this coffee table. The one I have now has a shelf underneath and spindles on both sides attaching the shelf to the table. It is one nightmare of a dust magnet. It is so gross.
This is simple and beautiful and I love the basket underneath idea!



This beauty would be perfect! Not only is it wide enough at 54 inches but it comes in a gorgeous mahogany color. As my "design" taste has changed I appreciate an armoire so much b/c it conceals the tv and all the equipment and wires when you don't need them. Much more stream line and simple. As much as any man would argue, I simply do not thing tvs are beautiful and they certaintly shouldn't be the focal point.



This is new and is such a beautiful color palette!

I think for me though, since I change my theme so much, I would have to go ultra neutral.
like this from restoration hardware


or this but in beige/ivory


And last but not least, I am obsessed with the all white bed!! Mine is currently "all white" but it is shameful and in desperate need of a redo!


And that concludes this window-web shopping trip! Thanks for tagging long!! :) I think it is important to remember that we don't have to have the newest and greatest to have a beautiful home. We can find ways to make it that way that are cheap or maybe even free. It is the love and laughter within the walls that matter most. But it sure is fun to look!

Now hopefully this little sick one will get better soon so I can actually get some work done around this house! We have a zoo trip planned for tomorrow (it will be EJ's first time going) and I really hope he doesn't have to miss it! Goodnight everyone!

Fall-Tacular decor- hurricanes

I love hurricanes. They are versatile and elegant. I especially LOVE these from William Sonoma

Gorgeous right?
What I don't love is their price tag! I was blog browsing one night and I came across this post and it changed my life. Decor Chick did a great tutorial on how to do dollar store hurricanes! Can you believe it? For only 2 dollars you can make your own!
And then this post by Thrifty Decor Chick. I was hooked!
So I went and bought 5 candle sticks (1 dollar each) and two vases, two candle holders, and a weird shallow circular dish (all for 1 dollar each as well). I just hot glued them together and filled them with goodies! (I wont do a tutorial here b/c the decor chicks have pretty much got that covered :)

And here it is!

Then you just fill them with all kinds of yummy fall goodness. (Remember yesterday when I mentioned that natural elements are key?) Well go outside and gather yourself some pine cones, berries, and whatever else you want to use! Or you could go to Hob Lob and have a heart attack at all the bliss. Seriously that store will be my undoing. Who can go in there and only spend a few dollars? I try to avoid it at all costs because of the greatness of EVERYTHING in that store. But I digress...
I used acorns, pine cones, candles, tiny little nameless berries that Austin picked for me, and crape myrtle seeds. I wrapped the largest two with some pumpkin ribbon I got from Dollar Tree. That's it!


Decorating our homes should be wonderful and should show your personality, but shouldn't have to break the bank. I just love getting our home ready for the holidays!

Sorry for the horrible quality of these pictures! The lighting is really bad today and I didnt want to use flash!

Fall-Tacular guest post- Candle Vases

Although these are very similar to the hurricanes I made, I LOVED the idea of having two separate spaces (one for the candle and one for the filler), so I had to share! My lovely friend Erin was willing to do a guest post to share her idea!

Hey there! I'm Erin, known in the blogging world as Mama Dub. You can find me over at "Life in the Dub Lane". I'm an avid blogger and a fellow Fall lover. I'm not exactly sure what draws me to Fall, but I have a pretty good feeling it's a mix of the cooler weather, the fragrances, the approaching holidays and the foods! What is there not to love!


I would love to share with you a fun fall craft that I recently created. It's fun, simple, cheap and very festive.
Meet the Dub Lane $7 Fall Candle Vases.





All of the items used were purchased at The Dollar Tree.
Here's what you need:
- 2 Large Hurricane Vases {$1 each}
- 2 White Glass Jar Candles {$1 each}
- 2 Candle Holders {brown} {$1 each}
- 1 Bag Moss {I chose bag with mixes of browns and greens} {$1}
- Glue Gun {I had on hand}






Now for the easy "How-To":
* Begin by hot gluing the bottom of the hurricane vase to the candle holder. {Simple}
* Sit the White Glass Jar Candle into the Hurricane Vase. {Simple}
* Pull some of the moss out of the bag and stuff around the Jar Candle. {I used a butter knife to poke it to the bottom}.
* Trim the wick on the candles and you are done!
{Note: You will notice that the wick on the candles are about 2 inches long. I recommend that you trim them to a more appropriate wick length before burning}.






When Fall has come and gone, just change it up a bit.... Halloween, Christmas, you get the idea.... the possibilities are endless!

Fall-Tacular decor- wreaths

A beautiful wreath can be so stunning, not only during fall, but year round.
However, fall and Christmas wreaths are my favorite! (no surprise there!)

This year has been a bit difficult as far as decor goes. With two moves in a year and one being across the country, I had to leave behind a lot of great "stuff". Now that we are a bit settled, I find myself having little to no budget for decorations and therefore have to make it myself with what I have on hand. But, they say necessity is the mother of invention (creation?). Or...something like that!
Anyway,
I have three styles of wreaths in my home right now.
One I bought, but it was from the dollar tree and cost me three dollars in supplies to make it.
The other two were free. Free. I love that word!
So in the event that any of you are not wanting to spend money on decor but would still like a little something, this is for you!

Meet my wreaths:




The first photo is of a scraggly little thing made of vines we collected on a walk. Austin was thrilled to help me collect them! He even helped me wind them together! It is still a work in progress right now but hey, it is something! That shutter was on freecycle and I painted it and distressed it and that fall vine was from dollar tree. I have another vine wreath started just like this one but I am saving it for Christmas. I am going to gather a ton of evergreen branches and glue them to the wreath come winter time! This year, decorating with natural elements is the thing to do. If you have a moment check out Pottery Barn's online tutorials and pictures for inspiration. Amazing!

The second wreath is a paper craft wreath. Truth be told, I used the cardboard from a cereal box and some beige paper with a bit of cardstock added. That is it! It takes all about 10 minutes to make!
I went ahead and made another for you to show the steps ;)

Get some cardboard (I used a box here) and two plates that will be the outside and inside edge of your wreath. You could also do a square shape if you want! Just trace the plates and cut it out!

Then get some paper or material and cut it into strips. My strips were about 1 inch by 5 inches. I really want to do this with burlap as I think that would be gorgeous!

Then heat up your hot glue gun (could use regular glue or even tape and staples if need be). Glue the ends of the strips together. Go ahead and do all the strips at once. Saves time! I used about 7 pieces of printer paper for this wreath.
Then you are going to place two strips side by side and glue them. Then glue a piece a little bit behind them in the middle. Repeat this all the way around.





And that is it! The key is that it doesn't have to be perfect. Then add some embellishments (I have plans for this little white wreath), add a little looped ribbon to the back and hang! You are finished!

Here are some other paper wreaths I have seen online that I want to try!

Have fun wreath making!

ps. Don't forget to enter all my fab giveaways!! They end 10/8/2010!!!

zzzz......

Okay, yall. So you know how Ej and I cosleep right? Well we do. Ever since he was hospitalized in October. (Before that he would sleep through the night in his crib!) I have tried everything and he just won't/can't sleep with out me. At this point I am not willing to let him cry it out, but I am considering all other options! Also, even with cosleeping our sleep is no where near great. He still wakes up every hour-three hours at night. Every night. Luckily he does nurse back to sleep quickly but I long for a good nights sleep!

So I set out to re-decorate and organize the boys room. We live in a tiny two bedroom right now so they have to share. This was a design dissaster b/c Austin has a full size bed, and more toys that Toys R Us! It is rediculous! At least they have a walk in closet and by a miracle, or my mad organizational skills (lol), I managed to make most of the current toys fit in there. Before this, they were in those huge tupperware bins lining the wall in the room. Horrible! The other half of non-current toys are in the garage. Geesh...

So anyways, I re did it and added some decor and lo and behold...
Do you see what I see?

I can get him to sleep in their! Ha! Now it is short lived but it is progress! Thursday night was the first crib attempt, and that night we made it till 5am in the crib. Granted he woke three times before that point, but I was able to put him down each time. At 5 he came and finished the night with me. Friday he took a 20 minute nap during the day in his crib! Hey, it is something! Then last night he only made it till 11:30 and I brought him to my bed. He was crazy and would not sleep at all in his crib. At one point I may have laid in the crib with him. Desperate times people...

Also his bed time is all over the place and more than not, it is after 10. This does not work at all for me as I am not a night person. I have no idea how to change this. Naps have no influence on this either. Unless he doesnt take a nap at all.
Sigh....

So in attempt to not bore you anymore, I will just show you the rest of my pictures from the boys room.
Not fab by any means BUT compared to where we started with blank walls and tupperware bins, I think it is much improved!
Oh and don't laugh at my imperfect wall art as I made it all in the wee hours. Again, desperate times my friends, desperate times :)



The porthole with his name is on the wall against the side of his bed, and the ship picture I made is above his head board. :)





I think these turned out pretty good for free hand!

So there you have it. My make shift ocean meets pirate ship room. Austins bed is a pirate ship equipped with a stirring wheel and everything. Adam helped make it! So all in all I think it turned out well! I would love to paint the walls a bright teal, but thats not going to happen until we move!
Also if you all have any tips on sleep training, PLEASE shoot me an email! I could use it!