We're nearly two months in and instead of waiting for the end of the year, we thought it would be good to evaluate ourselves more frequently. Remember when you were 9 and your goals were grow your hair out, stop biting your nails and brush your teeth every day? Just me? Those were easy to […]
Before After Ha! While you may not be able to see a huge difference in the above pictures--trust us, it looks very different in person. Soft, warm, relaxing...all things a bedroom should be. Not convinced? I'll show you a few more pictures as I give you a tour of our in-progress bedroom (Oh, and those […]
I asked Chris this question as we were finishing up dinner. He said: "You. Watching Greta learn new things. Being with family. Providing for my family. Making a good meal. Those few minutes before we go to sleep when we cuddle. Relaxing." And then he asked me. And I […]
That's right, we actually had microwaveable hot pockets for dinner one night this week. See the menu on the right side of this page? The one that Julia so fervently updates each week? Well, it usually ends up being about 75% accurate. Maybe less. See, I'm a realist. No matter how much planning you do […]
Last week, when I finished the hallway with Mr. Poppin, an Ikea canvas, and an original piece, my mom called me up and said, "It's just so easy for you, isn't it?" I had to laugh, because although the hallway wasn't difficult to put together--other things are. It definitely isn't always easy for me. The […]
When we were on our weekend getaway--shopping, we stopped in Anthropologie. That was the first bad idea. There's nothing in there I don't love, but there's also hardly anything in there that I feel okay spending THAT MUCH on. You know what I mean. "Oh em gee, loooovvvvveeeee those mugs (or dress, or cardigan, or […]
Bowchickawahwow. We're moving this painting party to the bedroom. Now that we have had several days to recover from painting the front area of our house and the hallway, we are ready to revamp our master with a little bit of color on those walls...and art...and new pillows and maybe larger printed paneling for those […]
Instead of sharing my latest project around here, I decided to let you peak in on our early Valentine's celebration this weekend. Chris planned the ultimate Valentine's getaway for us on Friday night. He planned where we were staying, what we were doing and who was going to watch Greta overnight (my first time away […]
Today is that day. The day that we celebrate all of the days we have made it through this year, and all of the things our little girl accomplished, and the things we have accomplished as parents. That's what first birthdays are about. We are such proud parents. We are so blessed. We have an […]
Who's ready to win Kajsa Virkaaaaaaaa (in my best game show host voice)!!!!!!!??? Confused? Something about Ikea: the names of their products--well, mean nothing to me. I have NO idea what they are talking about. Maybe if I understood Swedish, I would have a leg up on the name game...but I don't, so moving on. […]
...I finished my curtains! It's one of those things that got really repetitive and I couldn't wait for them to be done. And now that they are--I am so happy with the result. Soooo worth it. Remember what it looked like before? Here's a reminder: Bleh! The bone-colored curtains started radiating a weird green once […]
Are you singing the very end of Blackstreet's No Diggity? "Nicky in full effect. Tomeka in full effect." Classic. Gotta love the 90s. Speaking of: Okay, total confession here-- I have never seen "Billy Madison" all the way through. When I was growing up, we rented it one night for family movie night and my dad […]
Remember how I had "finish painting the hall" on my big to-do list. Well, I checked that one off. Woohoo!! Our hall no longer looks like this: Monday night, during commercial breaks from The Bachelor I added two coats of Whitestone (the same color as our front room) to cover those beige walls. And then […]
A couple weeks ago, RC Willey was having a promotion where the first five people to send in a recipe for their favorite appetizer would win one of those big old fashioned popcorn makers. Everyone else who sent in a recipe would get a $25 gift card to the store. So, I waited about 45 […]
My to-do list looks exactly the same. But that's not to say I didn't do a thing this weekend...I just didn't do a home decor thing. Life has been go go go lately, and this weekend was no exception. The highlight was definitely the visit from my Mom. I just love hanging out with […]
Make that workS in progress. I realized today (as I started eyeing our huge windows in major need of cleaning on the outside) that I am working on a lot of different things right now. And every day I can usually think of at least one more thing that I want to do THAT DAY […]
I returned curtains to Walmart yesterday. You know, the ones that have been hanging in my living room and dining room area. 4 sets totaling just under $80! I couldn't possibly keep them with the new paint color: See? They are almost looking green, here. They are RADIATING! Ugh. It was, honestly, keeping me up […]
Yesterday, we did it! We painted the whole front area of our place. It feel so good and peaceful and fresh. Here's a reminder of how it looked before: Beige walls...no more! Although, Chris never referred to our walls as "beige," he is glad they are gone as well. "Well, honey, if they aren't beige--what […]
We picked up about a dozen paint samples from Home Depot on Friday night and another dozen from Lowes. We taped them up on the walls in various rooms all weekend and watched how they looked at all times of the day. For the main area (living/dining/kitchen/hallway) we wanted gray. For Greta's room, we are […]
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Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations