nothing is more discouraging then....and then I remember

a sink FULL of dishes!

Ever had those moments when the dish washer if full of clean dishes and the sink full of dirty ones-just from today's eating/cooking??

Yes, today was one of those days. I DO NOT LIKE dishes in my sink-it makes me feel as if my home is unkempt, dirty, untidy-even if the rest is clean! Just one of those things that gets me.

(but I won't judge you if you have dishes in your sink...after all mine was FULL today!)

And for the record I put away the clean dishes and just turned on the dishwasher full of dirty ones to be clean in about an hour. Whew...that chore is done....GLAD for a working dishwasher!

ps these moments make me miss 'our college girls' that would unselfishly do the dishes for me when I needed. Miss you girls-you have NO idea how much that ministered to me. :)

And then I remember this song and I choose to feel blessed and content in your plan for our home, even in the dishes!

by: Francesca Battistelli-This is the Stuff

all in a day.

I didn't sweep my floor multiple times during the day and this is what has gathered in ONE day on the floor. Gross. Plus since we don't wear shoes in the house it is very annoying to have crumbs on your feet! Agh~! So back to sweeping at least quickly after every meal. :)
This season to will pass and I am sure someday I won't mind or even will miss the crumbs from little fingers! Until then working hard to have grace in both keeping it clean and letting it go so I can spend time with my beautiful kids.

House: ways we do our small space

Our laundry closet is small. I love that it is next to the bedrooms so it is easy to get and put clothes away...but all to often I have found folded clothes sitting on top of the dryer, not in drawers like they should be. So I invested in a small laundry basket. This way it doesn't take up a lot of room, but I can leave a few things folded in there until I get a free moment. If you have a small space try something small and cute and multipurpose!

In order to save on closet space we have a lot of these around our house. They have been great! They hold aprons, lunch bags, coats, extra bags etc. If you have a tight space, give them a try! But one word of caution...not every over the door hook hanger is equal. Shop around until you find one that fits tightly over the door frame. I have taken a few back because they are to big and they scrape the paint.

Since our house is small, which I am loving right now, and we have to be creative with how noisy it is during sleeping. Justin and I drink coffee in the morning-I bet those that read the blog didn't know that-hehe and the Cuisant is much to loud to run before the kids get up. The kitchen is right next to their bedrooms=loud and would wake them up EARLY which we don't want. Our solution??? Have it in our bathroom! The smell of fresh coffee is a plus and it is nice to have before the kiddos get up. Thank you bathroom counter!

Chair to compare

I just found out that UrbanOutfitters sells apt. type furniture. I have always wanted to get Owen a chair (when he is older a bit) like Katie's since it is easy to get climb in and comfy for reading books.
Looky what I found! I LOVE it, but the price tag is $449.

My version and the cost was 20 hours of time to redo the chair and $20 in materials. :) Right now I will keep my eyes open and settle for Katie's!

Our House: Katie's room

I love how Katie's room turned out! We have made it sweet and cozy for her and our guests.
Please come and visit us!

She loves her reading corner and sweet flower light-from IKEA and my friend Hollie-thank you! This is the chair I redid for $25! I am so glad Melissa helped me with it before Justin threw it out...but for my husbands sake, it did sit untouched for 14 months!
My other favorite part of her room is the 'k'. Around the 'k' are the words, "In Christ alone, my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song." One of Katie and my favorite hymns.

No little girls room is complete without a baby doll section!

To add some more space in her room we took the doors off Katie's closet and added these gingham curtains. It is also the perfect hide and seek spot for our kiddos! I was glad to find them the exact length I needed off of Craigslist! (thanks Robin for picking them up for me!)

This closet also makes a great semi nursery as our friend Nahum slept in it with the curtains drawn-perfect!

Wonderful!! Katie's 'office' is in her closet. :) (And Owen's restaurant too...and do you see him climbing on the shelves??? That boy is a climber-whew!)

Sweet bed....complete with Stitch and Bunny...one to cuddle with for each arm at night. :)

Love you big girl-thank you for sharing your room with our guests and for helping me with your room.

PS...what you didn't see was the pile of stuff I removed from K's room so that I could take photos of it clean. There was a PILE of clothes and toys that needed to be put away. Oh well, just like our wonderful kiddos-busy and creative! :)

A weekend project-the pantry

I love the pantry. Don't get me wrong. I love my Jesus, my family and my friends more. But what space or closet gets opened zillions of times a day. It is a closet in demand by everybody in the house. Hear me out, I am so thankful to have a large closet for food stuff. It is really large, for our size of house and I am glad. But I have been reorganizing it every few days because it is hard to use well. The shelves though they are deep and hold plenty of things, are hard to use quickly and without making it messy by constant rearranging.

So Justin kindly took on my project for the weekend. I wanted a few shelves moved, it painted and to buy a basket or two. It took about 6 hours with two kids 'helping'. But I LOVE my pantry even more! It is great that by spending about $20 and a simple changing of the shelves can make something SO much more usable.

Katie helped paint, Owen cried because he couldn't help paint (we did try to let him help, but he immediately put his hands in the paint!) and I tried to keep both kids OUT of the paint and OUT of the food on the counter while Justin did the work. Thank you LOVE for doing this project for me! I know you liked the outcome too. Oh, and Katie opened the pantry door and said, "it looks amazing!" Yep, it does! :) Small things make this mom joyful.

Before

Rearranged shelves-only one set is wide now which is at waist level.

Final product!

Our house: living room

I found this photo in a decorating book and have always loved it. We have never been able to get this look because we have always had carpet in the living room-amazing how much flooring plays into the feel of the room. But not anymore! I love the simpleness of the white and neutral colors. I love that it seems warm and inviting-but basic. I love that it is kid friendly, entertains well and works well in this stage of life. I am excited to change it up a bit during different seasons with pillows making a splash of color or on the mantel placing different items from around the house.

This is a view from our front door. It was taken at night so it is very warm in color (sorry still working on my lighting!), but the couch is a honey color, the walls a dark cream, the rug a honey color also and then the dark pieces like the leather ottoman and table and chairs. The trim is white as is the mantel. ...And the wood a walnut color.

We saved all our Craigslist money and bought the set that we really wanted from PB. (I think I seriously searched every furniture store in Raleigh, plus Craigslist and then the outlet stores too, but nothing measured up for small spaces!) I hope and pray that it will last a long time. It is their set that is the most tailored and for small spaces. So far it is super comfy and we are GLAD to finally have something after being without for 6 months.

This view is from our hallway looking straight into the living room, or as the kids call it, the play area! We have been able to really use just about everything that we have, only buying about 6 things to finish the house. We thought that was pretty good.

Again, it was SO helpful to have the PB staff come out and answer my amazingly long list of questions about how to do home decor! We are glad we got their recommended size of couch, glad to raise our dining room chandler to about 42" and also glad to think about how to do small spaces with the 'experts'. Keep the colors in the same color spectrum was also a helpful thought!

Our new beloved couch! Right now the pillows are paisley in blues/greens/yellows, but I might make some in reds/pinks/greens for the summer time!

A view from our dining room.

That's it and that's all folks! Thankful to have a home. Thankful to have a husband who supports my desire to make it inviting and to wisely spend money on items. Thankful to a God who has given way more then we deserve.

Now...wanting to have you peeps over for dinner and coffee!

Our Home-Owen's room!

Our little guy's room is now finished! Hip Hip Horay! We have used most of the same baby items from Katie rooms and made it sophisticated and boyish. I love the calm that the room brings to our home, because Owen himself is a ball of energy!

Here is the wall decal that I bought from Etsy which I love. Isaiah 61:3 is a verse that I WANT to be true of O's life.

(Thanks Nana for the birthday gift!)

The bookshelf...yeah....it was a work of Owen. He LOVES to put things away. So after I had straightened his room and uploaded the photos, I noticed the shelf rearranged. Ha! I guess this is a truer photo then my original intent!

To make space in the kids rooms, we took off the doors and added curtains. Owen's dresser and changing pad are in the closet. It does add extra space to have it open.

So our baby boy's room is now complete...that is until I get an itching to add something or to change it up. :) ...Probably in another year or so when the crib will be replaced for the toddler bed!

Our home-guest bath/kids bath

Here is our bathroom. We have two bathrooms (other one is the master bath) and this one gets used a lot! It is right off the kitchen and next door to Katie's room. I do like how it turned out-Cheery! It has a little bit of personalization for the kids, but not overly kiddish. We went with green/black/white. But then some pink and blue peeked their heads in since we have a boy and girl. :)

And if you look in the mirror you will see the pink flowers I added to the top of the shower curtain. That's one of my favorite things! I also love the collage of photos on the back wall of the kids. I saw that design in a PB category, then found two sets of photo frames at Home Goods and sprayed them white. Yay! Oh and a big thank you to Nana for the "Our Story". It fits perfectly!

We also got some green spray paint and painted this small stool. It is a life saver for our backs as we bathe the kids!