Tray-tastic

(bonus points if you can help me figure out where "tray-tastic" is from...it immediately popped in my head...as a variation of some Disney Junior song I believe...and now has been driving me crazy because I can't place it!  Amended: finally figured it out!  The original was "traintastic" in the Chuggington song...phew!)
It's funny how certain elements of your house seemingly go unnoticed.  Or maybe it's just me.  But take our living room tray for example.  I bought it eons ago, put it on the coffee table, and decorated it.  Despite the fact that I look at it many, many times throughout the day (it is in direct eyesight of the tv after all), I never really look at it.
Until I spotted a fresh, new tray at Target and immediately knew my old, outdated one had to go!  So I quickly ditched it, and in doing so, I also realized that many of the former tray's accessories were also blah!  Luckily I also spotted a really fun yellow mason-jar candle at Target.  And then I decided to try my hand at a little DIY terrarium of sorts.

My terrarium is probably not 100% legit.  I think it's supposed to have gravel and/or rocks on the bottom and again on the top, but I didn't have those things!  So I just put some soil in a container, added a few succulents, and called it a day!

And now my little coffee table centerpiece that I used to blissfully ignore is now worth of centerpiece placing!  I love having something fresh and alive in our living room...now, hopefully I can just keep up with it!

Under the bed

I told you guys my parents moved, right?  Well, if I didn't...they did! And the lucky side effect for us is that they have some things that no longer fill a need in the new house that we get to inherit.  Like this fluffy, white rug that I have loved for years!

It was offered to us, and I knew I wanted it, but I couldn't figure out where to put it.  The two options were in our dining room and under the bed.  In the dining room, we reasoned it would get destroyed pretty quickly (Levi is still a tornado, especially when he eats!).  Plus, my parents had cut a tiny corner out of it a few years back and it would definitely be visible out there.

We knew it wouldn't completely fit under the bed, but we also knew it would be an improvement over our Flor tiles that were there and having a hard time staying in place lately!  Plus, that cut out corner would totally be hidden!  So, it landed under out bed...

                              

And so far I'm much happier with it than I was with what was previously there.  Sure it would help if it was larger, but I think it works.  What do you guys think?

Changes in the Bedroom

It struck me as I wrote the blog post title that it made the post seem much more exciting than it is! Have no fear, folks, this post is certainly not risque! It's actually quite a literal blog post title.  You see, it was just a week ago that I did our annual house tour photos.  Here was our bedroom then:

And now it looks like this:

In case you don't feel like playing the comparison game, the chair and mirror are both gone, and neither of them were really planned moves.

The chair had become Levi's climbing place. And after climbing up on it, he would frequently explore/destroy everything he could get his hands on.  Well, that happens to be where Josh stores his loose change, business cards, and other pocket junk that he doesn't want to throw away. And I guess one night he got sick of the fact that Levi was getting into the stuff.  Instead of cleaning it up and/or putting it away, he decided to get rid of the chair. 

At first, I was pretty annoyed because I kind of liked having the chair in there.  Plus, we really don't have anywhere in the house where it can go.  And honestly, Levi even outsmarted him the very next day by going to get a stool from the playroom to climb up on instead!  But then I kind of started liking the  less crowded feel, so I've gone with it.

Plus, it got Josh to clean up some cords that had been been hidden behind there since we moved in.  I didn't take a before picture (because I really didn't even know he was doing it!), but just picture a tangled mess of cords...most of which weren't even functional.  We just shoved them behind the chair, and let the one that we did need run freely all over our floor. But removing the chair meant removing the cords...and finally getting a handy cord hider for the one we actually need.

Just when I was settling into those changes, our mirror was suddenly gone as well. I really have no idea how it happened...I was going to the bathroom, Josh was washing dishes, and the boys were running through the house when all of a sudden we heard a loud crash followed by Colton announcing the mirror had fallen. Thank goodness neither of them were hurt, but it was a big mess! And our mirror most definitely was a goner!

So now I'm left with a blank canvas of a wall again. I'm definitely digging the decreased clutter over there, but it's just too bare.  And plus, I need a full-length mirror (it was our only one in the house).  So now I'm brainstorming less bulky ways to fill...or at least take up some of...the space.  Any suggestions?

House Tour 2014

Wow! We moved in to this house exactly four years ago. It's crazy how time has flown, and how much has happened since we have lived here...primarily the births of both our boys! When we moved in here four years ago, we were just a couple with a dog, and now we're a full-fledged family! I'd say this house has definitely been good to us.
As we enter our next year here, though, I can't help but wonder how much longer we will call this place home.  For one, I've never really thought of this home as our forever home...just our next step of a home.  At this time next year, Colton will be about six months away from starting Kindergarten (!!!!), and I would love, love, love to get him into a different school district in hopes that he will stay there for the entirety of his schooling. With that being said, we're in a pretty good district as it is (just not the best!), and I would rather wait to move until we can get in a home that meets every wish and need we have...and to do that we have to be in a really good financial place...sooo it may be longer than a year.  We'll see!
I guess we'll continue to take the evolution of our home one step at a time. It's amazing to see how much progress we have made not only over the last year, but especially since the day we moved in! And here's to hoping there's even more progress (maybe even getting it real estate ready?!?) in the year to come. So let's begin...
Front of the house

Accomplished this year: landscape redo, front door paint, front porch accessories, new mailbox (thanks to the texting driver!), new house numbers...so a lot actually (woot woot)!

Goals: shutters, new storm door

Once in, you first get to the entryway

Accomplished: gallery wall expansion, ruffle lamp shade

Goals: new console dresser

To the right of the entryway is our dining room:

Accomplished: new buffet

Goals: lighter, brighter color scheme, new chandelier

As you continue forward, you get to our kitchen:

Accomplished: new rug

Goals: lighting fixes (need to redo some electrical and then get better fixtures)

And then again as you continue forward, you get to the living room

Accomplished: curtains, new artwork above couches

Goals: slipcovers for couches, lighter, brighter pillows

And then you could exit from there to our backyard:

Accomplished: playset, putting away all the crap in a storage shed, some landscaping

Goals: outdoor living space of some kind (concrete, patio)

And our screened-in back porch:

Accomplished: new accessories, rug painting, tv hung

Goals: seasonal clean up, new pillows, more decor

So now that we're all the way out back, let's come in and go back to the kitchen where our house splits in two directions.  To the left, we first get to the boys' bathroom

Accomplished: new rug (not that you can see it!)

Goals: possibly a total redo...it hasn't really bothered me until I saw this picture but now I'm thinking the boys need an update!

Across from that bathroom, we have Levi's room

Accomplished: big boy room!!!

Goals: official reading bench/corner, ditch the changing table (as we ditch the diapers!)

And next to Levi's room is our room

Accomplished: new end tables

Goals: new bedding

And our master bathroom:

Accomplished: nada!

Goals: new towel/storage unit

OK back to the kitchen.  Going in the opposite direction, we first get to Colton's room:

Accomplished: new curtains, stuffed animal zoo, new tee pee

Goals: add the c and the s to the zoo (they fell off!), new lighting fixture, get more effective storage

Across from that is the guest bathroom:

Accomplished: total redo!

Goals: nada...woot woot!

Beyond that is our junk yard laundry room/coat closet/storage area.

Accomplished: new washer/dryer, toy storage by back door, roman shade

Goals: yet another clean up, new paint color in laundry room

And last but not least, we have our playroom

Accomplished: created a desk nook, smaller tv, more storage

Goals: clean/organize once again, new desk chair, finish off desk nook

So there it is: the state of our house.  Honestly every time I do this little update I'm pretty amazed at just how much I get done in a year.  Can't wait to see what we're posting next year!

DIY Ruffled Lamp Shade

So you've probably heard we were snowed in this week.  As I was confined to the many walls of this house, I began looking around at it and analyzing all the problem areas.  Uh, we need new grout in the bathroom, to touch up the paint throughout, to do some major, major reorganizing in the craft closet (again!), etc.  With most, I just saved them in a mental tally list of things to conquer...one day (maybe!), but there was one project I realized I could quickly/easily accomplish.

See the little lamp there on our console table (ignore the dreidels...the shot is from back at Hanukkah).  It's a $15 Target lamp I picked up about 4 years ago.  It's cute and all, but just a little blah, right? I figured a quick little lampshade makeover could really do this poor guy some good.
I debated a few options including some of the usual characters: covering it with fabric, painting it somehow, etc.  But then I remembered some fun ruffled lamp shades I had seen recently.  Truth be told, I'm helping a former party client with her daughter's nursery, and I had loved the idea of doing a ruffled lampshade in there.  And I figured that before I offered to do one for her that I should probably attempt one on my own first.  The results:

I think I like it!  I would probably play around with bigger ruffles next time...or even make them more vertical or even circular or something, but I do think it's a fun upgrade for our old, boring lamp.  Plus, it was incredibly easy to create with the added bonus that I had everything on hand!  I just cut some white fabric into 2-inch strips, folded them in half, and then hot glued them on to the lamp, making sure to gather them a bit as I went.  The whole project took me about an hour...perfect entertainment for a snow day!

Hasta La Vista Paint Spots

January is floor month around here.  Exciting, right?  Just in case there's any confusion, it really isn't! Basically, it just means that I spend about a week spending all my free time on my hands and knees scrubbing our floors back to clean.  I've been at this for a few years now, and despite all my best efforts our floors have never really gotten back to 100%, mainly because of marks like these:

Confession: I'm a bad, bad DIYer.  I'm patient/lazy, and I never take the time to prep a room before I dive in and start painting.  As a result, there are several paint spots on our floors.  In fairness, most of these are from about 4 years ago when we first moved in (so at least my painting skills have improved considerably), but that also means most of these spots have been on the floor for almost four years.

Obviously, I have tried getting rid of them in the past, but none of my efforts (water, goo gone, scrubbing) have done the trick.  Until now (in case you didn't get the hint from the post title)!  

The magic solution?  Good ole rubbing alcohol!!!  Yep, $1 at the drug store (or even grocery store) and a tiny bit of elbow grease (really, not much though) and my awful paint spots are finally gone once and for all!  

So floor month may not be my favorite time of the year, but at least there was one exciting by product!

Updated

Believe it or not in all this time I have been so busy detailing every second of our holiday season, we actually had some non-holiday stuff going on!  I know, crazy, right?!?
Most excitingly, I managed to win my league's Fantasty Football Super Bowl!  I was most excited because my brother and Josh, both of whom consider themselves "experts," are in the league!  But as an added bonus, I got to take home a $400 prize!  Not too shabby, eh?!?  I decided it was high time to change out our living room lamps with my winnings.  So here's what we're working with now:

I'm actually really happy with the lamps.  The lamps are fillable, and as Josh commented when he noticed that "opens up a whole new world!"  I'm sure I'll get around to filling them seasonally, but for now I'm really enjoying the clear glass.  In case you're wondering, the  lamps are from Target (of course, right?!?) and were only $29.99 each (plus the shades).
More recently...as in just a couple of days ago...we also managed another big score:

My parents are moving and didn't want these from their new house because they were used.  Right, but they are also almost brand new, top-of-the-line, etc, so Josh and I immediately said we'd take them!  It turns out the timing couldn't have been more perfect considering something went wonky with the spin cycle function on ours just about a week before we took possession!  I'm sure it would have been a simple repair, but why deal when you can just inherit something better?!?
Our final recent update is far less exciting than the above two, but...

Yep, a new kitchen rug.  I had actually spotted that at Target awhile back, but when I went to buy it, it was sold out...and remained so for months!  When I spotted it there again recently, I immediately scooped it up!  Now that it's home, I'm not sure I love the color in there, but there's no doubt it's a huge upgrade from the old, ratty one we had had since we had moved in almost four years ago!
So there we have it...we're barely a week into 2014, and our house is already looking much better than it did in 2013!  Go us, right?!?

Every Day We're Shuffling

Last week, I showed you Levi's new big boy room, most of it courtesy of my sister's move.  With the new furniture in place, we had to figure out what to do with the stuff that was already in there!
The crib and glider ended up out in the shed for storage.  I will probably try to sell the glider (along with a bunch of other stuff we seem to have collected).  But I plan to hold on to the crib.  No, we're not planning on having another baby!  But I have seen a bunch of cribs repurposed on Pinterest, and considering this was both boys' crib, it's a pretty sentimental piece I would like to hold on to and do something with eventually!
 We did take the dresser out of Levi's room (because it was white and we were inheriting a dark bed...and dresser!), though, and are now using it in the dining room as a buffet.  I am in love with it in there, and yes, it is the exact same dresser that is now in Levi's room (the Hemnes from IKEA)!

We also took the little bookshelf out of Levi's room (again because it is white), and moved it down to the playroom where it matches with the rest of the furniture down there and gives us more storage.  Oh, and it also gave us a place to store Gigi's old tv that she also gifted us!  Quite the upgrade from this dinosaur of a tv we used to have down there, huh?!?  Plus, it frees up much more play space down there...well once Josh finally gets some guy from work to come pick up the old clunk of a tv that's still down there ( and at least until Hanukkah/Christmas rolls around).

And finally, our back porch also got a bit of an update due to all these changes.  Levi's former side table is now out there as end tables for our seating...along with another matching table that was already out there.  Levi's is still white, and the other one is blue, so I have to figure out which option I like better...or go with another choice altogether, but I figure I have a few months to work on it!

Our old buffet also landed on the back porch as well, but I'm not positive it's staying there.  What do you all think?  Does it work?  I'm thinking it, at least, needs to be painted or something, but I'm not sure that will even make it work!

So one Saturday morning and just about zero dollars spent, four rooms in our house have now been updated!  Talk about a productive morning, huh?!?  Thanks G for the loot!