Home Goals 2012

So I am not much for making "Goals" for my home.  I am kind of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl, but the Nester is having a Home Goals link party so I thought that I would throw together a list of things that I would really like to do this year.  (Disclaimer: This list is by no means all inclusive of the things that I will actually do, inversely this list may not be realistic as far as what I can actually accomplish.)

1.  I would like to redecorate/renovate all the bathrooms in my house.  We are talking 3 of them so now is a good time to refer to the disclaimer if you missed it!.
My master bathroom will take the most time and money, but it REALLY needs it.  We have carpet in the bathroom......UGH!  I know so gross...Don't judge me!!  I didn't do it, it was like that when I bought it.  Though I have lived here a while and haven't changed it.  But I have been having/raising babies and it was not high enough on the priority list.  Maybe this is the year.  Who puts carpet in the bathroom?  GROSS!!

2.  I want to get this house organized.  DUH!  Doesn't everyone have this on their list?  Pretty sure they do.   I am no exception.  To my defense, my house has like NO storage.  Aside from the attic(which is like a giant pain in the booty) and a couple of small closets I got nothin'.  So this year I want to figure it out and make it look nicer, and make it function better.

3.  Here is the big one.  I have to get all new siding done on the house.  OUCH!!  The estimate is around $21,000 I don't know about you but I don't just have that laying around.  So that is going to be big!  The good news is that I get to have the whole house repainted!!  Yay for new paint colors.  And finally I get to repaint the front door a cuter color.  It is currently blue....not my bag but whatever.

There are a few other things that I would like to accomplish, and obviously little crafty awesomeness!  But I am actually getting a little overwhelmed now looking at the task list in black and white.  Moving on!  Pictures!

                                                 Basement bathroom/laundry room.

                                   Master Bathroom...Don't judge me!!  This is real life.

                                   Boys bathroom...just needs to look cleaner, even if it is not!

                                   

She needs new siding and a paint job.

                                                   New paint for the front door too!

Again don't  judge...  sometimes a girl just has to make it "work".  I said I needed to work on it!

So there you have it, a short list of some of the goals for the year.  But who knows what will actually happen?  Thanks for looking!

Sunny

I am linking up with the the Nesters 2012 Home Goals Party.

I got mantel issues...

I have lived in this house almost 8 years and aside from during Christmas I am never happy with my mantel.

I like having a mantel but it has a few issues.  The biggest issue is scale.  My fireplace is HUGE.  The ledge of the mantel is taller than I am,  I am 5'7" so I am not a tiny girl.  This is a problem because most things that I try and put up there seem too dinky, they just get eaten up by the enormity of the fireplace.

The second problem is that the ceiling in my living room is vaulted.  Which is actually great because it makes my living space feel so much bigger than it really is.  The problem is that the ceiling peaks offset to the center of the fireplace.  Which probably wouldn't bother anybody but me, but I like things symetrical.  I got issues!  Anyhow I am determined to love my house and that includes my mantel.  So I started to scour the internets looking for inspiration.  It turns out that I am not the only one that doesn't know what to do with my mantel.  The majority of pictures were of Christmas mantel, but very few decorated non seasonal mantels. 

                                                                       source
I like this mantel.  I like the varying heights of the frames.  This may help to balance out the length of the mantel and the wonky shape of the roof line.  Yes wonky is a technical term.  I also like that little arty objects are tucked in amongst the frames.  One of the problems that I have been having is that normal sized objects get dwarfed by the wall expanse behind and the ginormousness of the fireplace, this would make a normal sized object work.

The problem with this is that I can see this sort of arrangement costing a lot.  Frames and art are not cheap, especially larger pieces.  "Sorry Kids, you can't eat this month...mommy is redecorating!"

I could alway leave the mantel blank with just a mirror on the wall.  This arrangement I saw a lot of when I was inspiration surfing.  However, I hate this look for my house because it looks like I am just trying to ignore the fact that I have a fireplace or mantel all together.  Lets face it my fireplace is 6' tall and 8' long there is no ignoring that baby!

                                                                         source
Don't all of the tiny objects pilied on this mantel look a little silly?  I love the mantel but this is not the look that I am going for.

I want to avoid having my mantel look like a piling of crap that just looks cluttery.  Then again I don't like sparse either.  So I am going to have to come up with a solution.

                                                             The Lettered Cottage
I love the mantels that Layla at the Lettered Cottage creates from thrift store finds.  I think that I will take a few pages from her play book this spring, but I kinda need something for now.  Plus it is hard for me to find things at thrift stores that have the scale to stand up to my fireplace. 

                                                                       source
Maybe something like this would work.  A couple of potted plants on one side of the mantel, being balanced by a taller potted plant on the opposite side of the hearth.  That looks good and not too overdone. 

Maybe what I really need to do is stop trying to force it and just see what happens.  Sometimes I just need to relax and let inspiration come to me.

I will keep thinking about it.  When I figure it out you will be the first to know, well after the people who live here.  Thanks for visiting, if you have any suggestions or beautiful inspiration...don't be shy!!  Feel free to share!

I am completely at a loss

Before the Christmas season I was on fire with the crafty/decoraty(?)/spray painty inspiration.  Now I got nothin'.  I haven't done anything this week to blog about...mostly cause I got nothin'.  I have no projects in my head, and I haven't been to Michaels or Hobby Lobby in like almost two weeks.  This feels strange to not have a list as long as my arm of things that I just cannot wait to get started on.  Am I the only one?  Do you go through droughts?  Is this what writers go through, writers block?  Am I having crafters block?  Could I possibly have asked another question in that paragraph?  Apparently so. 

I have been surfing the Pinterest, and desperately looking through the Internets for an idea to get the new year started.  I am stumped.  Maybe I already used up all of my creative credits.  Gosh I hope not.

It seems like all of the ladies on the blogs that I read are busy making wonderful and I feel like some kind of slacker.  Here is to hoping that I figure something out soon...or else I have nothing else to do but...clean...YIKES.

Any advice, feel free to share.  Like I said...I got nothin'.

                                                                     Via Pinterest
Sunny

Christmas Clean Up

It is hard for me to believe that another Christmas season has come and gone.  It also amazes me that every Christmas season leaves my house in such shambles!

I always clean before Christmas, and my house is usually spotless on Christmas Eve.  Come Christmas morning my house turns into a war zone that cannot be contained.  The mess inevitably spreads to every corner of the house until it looks like a scene from "Horders Buried Alive".  This year had an additional little gift, my dryer stopped drying on December 23rd.  Long story short, the appliance people had to order the part needed and my dryer just got fixed today.  Did I mention that I have three boys?  13 days without a dryer....you do the math.

Needless to say between the piling dirty clothes, and the Christmas mess something had to give.  I have been trying to clean up the mess but it seemed to just multiply and reappear in some other location.  Today was the day I took back my house! 

I took down my tree and cleaned away any reminent that Christmas had ever been here.  This always leaves me a little sad...down come the lights, the glow, and the magic of Christmas.  What is left is just an ordinary house.  It is so depressing, not to mention that here in Kansas about the time that the tree comes down is when winter really hits.  We're talking -8 degrees, YAY now that is something to look forward to. 

Doesn't she look sad?  Like a girl left by her date at prom!   She was a good tree but it was time to go.  She didn't leave without a fight though, I had needles everywhere!!  You know because I got lazy and only watered the tree once when we got her... umm....Fire Hazard?

Moving on...so my house is finally all put back together.  It got me thinking about what I want my next project to be.  Bum Bum Bum (moment of suspense).....what is it going to be?  I will let you know soon, I am still gathering ideas. 

Hope you had a great day, I am exhausted but happy that it is done!

A Great Idea That Wasn't So Great

A couple of months ago I got this great idea to make a live and growing centerpiece for my table during the Christmas season.

So I got together my supplies and posted about it here.

As with most things I learned a thing or two through the process.

I have to say that I loved the way that it looked, and my kids and I really like watching them grow and change everyday.

However, there are a couple of things that I have to warn you about before you try this at home. 

I don't know if I didn't read the package, or just glazed over the details but these babies get tall.  I mean like over two foot tall, not so good for relaxing dinner conversation (as though dinner at my table with my three boys is ever relaxing!)  I wish I had taken a picture from my angle at the end of my table.  Every time the mister and I wanted to talk we had to lean over to see each other.  Inevitably we would play hide and seek a few times before we both leaned to the right side....It was STUPID!

Secondly, and this is where I am doing a real Public Service Announcement.....these flowers do not smell pretty!  Not just a little unpleasant... they smell like urine. 

When the flowers first started to bloom, my five year old asked his dad to tie his shoes.  So the hubs sat down at the table to tie his shoes and I heard him whisper to his son "did you have an accident at school?"  Of course my son exclaimed that he had not!  Later when I realized that it was the flowers that smelled like a latrine I had to laugh out loud.

Needless to say I don't think that I will be redoing this centerpiece.  I still think that it is a good idea....just maybe a different flower.  Overall I am glad with how it looked, and I am glad that I tried it.

So there you have it, I like to think that I will just continue to learn by mistake.  But hey...we all got a Public Service Announcement out of it!

Have a Great Wednesday!
Sunny

A Recommitment

I have not posted in a couple of weeks and I wanted to take a minute to explain why.  Well first of all it was the holiday season and I was the perverbial chicken with head issues.  But more than that I was anxious of my blog. 

It is no secret that though I have the best followers I do not have many, and one of my followers dropped me from her reader.  This really rattled my confidence.  I felt like I had no reason to continue with this blog "nobody likes me anyway" (insert whiny five year old voice)

I am not the kind of person that routinely puts herself out there for criticism, in fact I tend to avoid it at all cost.  So this blog is a big step for me. 

Now I know that it shouldn't matter what other people think (insert my mothers voice in my head), but for me it does.

After a few weeks of thinking I came to a few conclusions:
I let losing one follower distract me from that fact that I am blessed with other amazing women who do want to follow me.
I don't want to be the kind of person that lets a little bump in the road stop me in my tracks, I am stronger than that.
Maybe part of the purpose of this little blog is to help me learn to be more confident, and help me put my self out there more.
I have things to share with the world.

So in this new year I am recommitting myself to this blog, to exploring my creative, and to you.  Thank You for following me and hearing what I have to say!

Sunny

Christmas Tree 2011

So there are a few trees that live at my house this year.  I have a "pretty tree" in the living room, this one is live and holds all of the ornaments that are precious to me.  The colors of my "pretty tree are white, gold, and silver, you know to match the rest of my christmas decor.

I also have a family tree which is also color coordinated in colors chocolate, green, and red.  This tree lives in the basement and is meant to be a little more fun and kid friendly...I still want it to be color coodinated though (control much?  I am working on it)  The problem is that in my life I want everything to be pretty and color matching and sophisticated, I have a hard time letting go.  I am working on it, maybe there is a color coordinated support group or something?

There is also the most adorable tree that lives in my oldest sons room.  He made all of the ornaments and even bought the tree with his own money.  It may be my most favorite tree in the house, and also the one that I had the least amount of input on....hmmmm, food for thought she said to herself.

I want to share my "pretty tree" and my sons tree with you today.

As long as I can remember as a child my grandmother gave me an engraved gold ornament that had my name and the year on it.  I still treasure these every year when I hang them on the tree and think of Christmas past and also of my late grandmother.  She made Christmas so special.

This cloisonne ornament is my favorite ornament on the tree. 

 This is my newest ornaments.  Nothing says Christmas like sparkly plastic pinecones!

 Letter H for my last name, I can't help myself.  I would monogram the whole world if I were allowed...can I get an AMEN?

This is a homemade ornament that I made.  It is white feathers that are hot glued to a plastic ornament, it is kinda fun.  Pretty sure at point I can clearly declare my addiction to hot glue.

 This is my mercury glass tree topper, I have had it for years and love it.  I got it at....wait for it....of all places.....Wal-Mart.  I know right?

 Finally here she is from above.  Am I the only one that doesn't worry that much about the back of the tree?  I mean it is against a wall. 

 This is my sons adorable little tree.

Complete with Charlie Brown tree star that no matter how you fuss with it will always lean off to one side.  How cute is that.

Like I said he made all of it by himself with things that he found.  I think that it is so cute and creative that I just had to share it with you.  All of the ornaments are figures from the nativity.

Thanks so much for coming by to take a look at my Christmas tree 2011.  Feel free to leave me a comment, it is such a wonderful surprise in my inbox.

Sunny
I am linking up to Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick