When we painted our upstairs a few months ago I was wanting everything white, just like I was planning for our main floor. When I looked more closely at our bonus room and saw the wood ceilings (that I love), the wood built ins in one corner, and the bar area built ins in the other, I thought the with all those cherry built ins I wouldn't get the solid white look I was going for and perhaps I should paint the built ins white as well. When we priced out painting all the walls, trim, and built ins it was more than I wanted to spend. I mulled over the idea for awhile. Finally the idea came to me to paint the walls black. I wouldn't have to paint the built ins and the bonus room would be a nice contrast to the rest of the home. I've painted black walls before so this wasn't a scary choice. I had loved them in my master bedroom in our Fern Street Home and still enjoyed the guest bath that we painted black when moving into our Farmhouse. So I chatted with Steve and the … [Read more...]
Farmhouse Mantel
Since we are living in our bonus room during this remodel, I decided to update the mantel in this room. I love the results. I purchased this sign over a year ago and I have been waiting until after the remodel to hang it somewhere. Well, I decided that it would look perfect above the fireplace in the bonus room. With all the walls painted black and all the wood featured in this room, I thought lightening it up with a large white sign would soften the room. I added some old thrifted books, faux eucalyptus in mason jars, handmade paper flowers in a thrifted vase, a sand dollar gifted to me from my oldest on Mother's Day, and a thrifted white bird to finish it off. Love mixing old and new, purchased, gifted, and handmade. Our dark fireplace mantel is all lightened up. … [Read more...]
Remodel Update
I just wanted to update everyone on the remodel. All the sheetrock is installed, mudded, taped, and textured. The electrical is all in and ready for lights. Our base cabinets went in and our countertops were installed. We will install our island and our 8x4 island countertop once the hardwood floors are in. Steve finished one of the sinks in the master bathroom and fingers crossed that he will be finishing the second one today. We (we meaning Steve) demoed the powder bath on the main floor and we are currently tiling the mudroom and bathroom. The stair railing is almost completed and we just need to finish putting the caps on each of the posts. The hardwood floors are scheduled to be installed this next week. After the floors are installed, the cabinets are next, and then our cabinet guy will be painting them onsite for a better paint finish. We have trim to finish up and shiplap to install on the main floor. We will also need to finish carpeting the stairs, finish the … [Read more...]
Simple Homemaking || Honor Your Unique Style of Homemaking
When we create a home we love and care for, it will become a place we celebrate. This will look different for each of us. I know as a homemaker I can ask myself a couple questions as I work out my own unique style of homemaking. Where am I at? My own personal situation and life stage. Who am I? My own personal talents and interest. I think we run into difficulties when we try to push against either of these two things. It is much easier to embrace who we are and where we are at then it is to constantly be fighting against these things in our lives. Change is good and working on improving ourselves and our situation when needed is a great thing, but I know that many of us can strive for change when embracing where we are at is a more helpful and sustainable solution. What is our situation right now? What life stage are you living in at the moment? Some of us are home with our children all day and some may have full or part time jobs outside of our homes. Some … [Read more...]
Master Bedroom
I refreshed our master bedroom a couple weeks ago and I wanted to share it here with you. I love this space, especially during this remodel. This small black couch we placed at the end of bed trying to find a place for furniture when clearing out the main floor and I'm liking it here. It does collect clothes, so we have to keep it cleared off, but I like the contrast. I finally put up a couple signs that I had purchased from Hobby Lobby and I love how they look mixed in to our gallery wall above our bed. That simple wreath was a dollar store garland from Target and I just circled it around itself to make a small wreath. The pretty flowers on the dresser I made and mixed with some faux lambs ear I bought from Hobby Lobby. Love this little space. … [Read more...]
Remodel Update
Wow! That last couple months have seen a lot of changes for our main floor and I think we are finally on the other side of chaos and will be finishing up over the next month. We tore into the main floor less than a week after spring break and while my mom and sister were in town. It was a crazy time to start, but we had been waiting for over a year to have our plans in hand and a contractor ready to go, so when it happened I wanted to get started right away. Steve had to walk away from the master bath and guest bath remodels to focus on the main floor. We are literally so close to finishing those two bathrooms, and fingers crossed we can work on them this weekend, but we wanted to get this main floor completed, so we jumped … [Read more...]
Simple Homemaking || Embrace Your Role as a Homemaker
Who are you? What do you do? What do you love? If you made a list, what would it look like? I'm a wife, a mother, a lover of chocolate, a reader, a person of faith, and a homemaker. My list could go on and I know yours could as well, and yours will look different than mine. My question for you today is that did homemaker make it on that list? Is being a homemaker part of your identity? Is it something you celebrate, something you love? Making our house a home can be a joyful experience and I would dare say that it should be. Maybe not always and maybe not everyday, but overall it can be something we love and enjoy. Just like a job in an office, at a school, or traveling from place to place, make your work at home something you enjoy. This may take effort to enjoy the work of homemaking. You may have parts of caring for your home that are boring or mundane, all jobs have aspects that aren't our favorite, but you can find ways to get those mundane things completed … [Read more...]
Simple Homemaking | An Office Space
It is so nice to have an office of your own, a place where you can care for all the office tasks that a homemaker must deal with. The phone calls, the computer work, the permission slips, the bills to be paid and all the other items that must be dealt with to run a household. These tasks vary for each of us. Some homemakers take care of all or some of the finances, some do not. Some of us may have a part or full time job outside of the home, some may work at home, some may homeschool, some of us may volunteer, some may have children in multiple schools, some may plan all the vacations or be in the mist of purchasing property. I find myself this year with many things to keep me busy in the office. Each year brings a minor changes to my routines and responsibilities. I have always managed all the finances in our home. I'm coordinating most of the planning, ordering, and purchasing of the remodel we are in the midst of right now. This year I have four children in four different … [Read more...]
Let The Remodel Begin
I cannot tell you how excited I am for this remodel to begin. At the end of this next month we will be celebrating our 2nd year in this home, which is unreal. I thought that this remodel would take no longer then a year to complete. Well, after two years we are finally starting, beginning this last month in our guest and master bathroom. Tile has been going in these last couple weeks. Steve has done all the demo and plumbing in both bathrooms, and building two new walls in the master bath. I did end up helping just a little with the demo in the guest bath one night, which I was very proud of myself for doing. We spent an evening together taking out the shower and toilet, chipping away at the tile. I've been working mostly on the design end. Visiting showrooms, choosing and rechoosing the tile and plumbing fixtures, and ordering and picking up items. Steve has had a lot of late nights working in the bathrooms with the demo, plumbing, and building. In the … [Read more...]
Simple Homemaking || The Power of a Minute
"The poet, Robert Frost, was asked, soon after his eightieth birthday, how he managed to crowd so many interesting, important things into an unusually vital lifetime. He said, "Learn how to do the things you HAVE to do more quickly and effortlessly - save minutes - and you will gain an extra hour or more every day to do the things you really WANT to do -- to see friends, listen to music, or look at pictures...help others in your community, civic, church, and religious activity...make the projects for which you're always saving plans...read, or perhaps even write a little poetry." --The Art of Homemaking by Daryl Hoole I absolutely love this. Saving those minutes each day really adds up. There are a lot of things we need to do as homemakers, those mundane daily task that we may not enjoy. Whether it is dishes, laundry, scrubbing a bathroom, or all of the above, if we can take those task, complete them quickly, efficiently, and habitually we can have more minutes … [Read more...]
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