Entry Hallway Redo...Number Four

My entry has been through a few different changes ...and I am happy to say that it will most likely happen again and again. My husband jokes that we are loosing square footage due to all of the painting that I do...adding one more coat on top of the next! Oh well, you have to paint when the mood strikes you and when a paint color can put a smile on your face...I am all about that!!!

 Entry incarnation # 2 (I do not have photos of #1)

There have been a few different transformations of color that the entry has been through. I LOVE the color green, so I felt the need to paint the entry a sage tone with white accents. I have been loving white accents for the past two years it seems. I had also been loving fabrics with stripes and greens and blues in different hues and I was all about the black and white photos, especially with my kiddos in them!

 

 Incarnation # 3

I started to notice other blogs and wanted to add some blues in my house...before this I was all about different shades of green, so blue was a new challenge for me to decorate with (there have been some misses). The bench is a hand me down from my parents that I painted white, the mirror is also a hand me down and the frames are ones that I have had forever, they were black and I painted them white. My ultimate thought with the bench was that I was going to one day make bench cushions...but that never happened! 

 So....

 Incarnation # 4 - My favorite so far! 

I moved the bench outside and brought in my handy and trustworthy Pier One console table from a million year ago. It is a great shape and size for our entry, it is a small entry and the half round shape of the table is a prefect fit. I kept my mirror and white frames, but added some AMAZING new photos of the kiddos that a wonderful photographer by the name of Tanya Smith did for us before the winter holiday...LOVE LOVE LOVE her work! The wall color is the same as the last incarnation and really works with the color in the photography - a soft and subtle contrast. Pulled out one of my favorite water pitchers and put some super cute faux pink blossom flowers I found at Joannes last week. I also put some additional family photos (frames were on clearance and I painted the white one)  with some IKEA vases I picked up a few years ago. 

I love the fresh feeling that the entry gives right now. I always walk by it and smile. I love seeing beautiful photography of the kids looking back at me, the fresh and soothing blue color of the walls and the pretty pink blossoms that pop in front of the soothing wall color! I am so excited for the spring time and this little area is getting me ready! How about you???

Little Girls Rooms...Inspiration

It's that time again...time to redecorate my daughter's bedroom! 

First of all let me say that I LOVE my daughters room the way that it is, however, I went to home fabrics a few weeks ago and found the most precious fabric. I could not help but purchase several yards of it and with that yardage purchased, let the redesign begin! 

I have been on Pinterest lately to look for ideas for her bedroom focusing on storage, artwork, paint colors and above all the "wow" factor to continue the design process. This is what I have seen that I am loving for little girls rooms so far...

 Source

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There are so many different aspects of each room that I love. I do see a common theme from most of these photos...STORAGE, and how it can look cute and be functional. From the super cute wardrobe storage for dress up, to the fun primary colors and the tissue poofs...I think I have a few ideas from these photos that I can use as inspiration for a little re-design in her bedroom! Wish me luck!!! 

{Projects, projects, projects}

So...here are a few little projects going on around the house!!! 

To start off - I am working on organizing, designing and implementing a much more attractive and functional front living room which is also our office space for the hubby and me. One of the first things that I have done is taken of the frames that we have around the house and made a gallery wall of photos...next challenge is to paint all the frames black and select some new photographs of some of our favorite vacations (not sure if I am going to do color photos, manipulated color photos or black and white (what do you think)? ...One wall is currently a soft blue...so I think ALL the walls will be painted that color as well...More to come!!!

This is my current office chair - a damaged chair from a past design project...just love it because it was FREE (kind of), has a really cool zebra wood affect on the back and the arms and I love the modern square arms on it too! I just need to find a fabric that I LOVE and then I must upholster it! (I currently have a piece of wood as the seat...not even secured...but it sure is comfy)!

 

Lastly...this is another little project that I have been working on - a sideboard for our kitchen/dining area. Will be housing our current microwave and hopefully give us a little more storage! Just need to put it together...paint it, stain it and figure out if it will

really be functional!!!

So many projects...so little time...and so many ideas for other areas of the house that I want to work on too!!! Did I mention that I found new fabric for both kiddos rooms???

Next week I am going to share a tutorial on DIY burlap artwork and share with you the recipe tab of our family binder!!! Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!!!

Starting the year off organized...

I really don't make resolutions for a new year...I typically am back to the old ways within a week or too!!! With that in mind, I am taking a step to help our family become more organized...at least this is a concept that I am going to "TEST" out for the month of January and see if it works for us!!! 

My hope is that our new family binder will help our little family be more organized in our scheduling, tasks and fun! I have cruised the web this past week to see if I could find something that I could just order, it would be sent to me and I would be on my way to an organized life...but all I found were really great bits and pieces and a lot of ideas from different blogs on how to achieve this organization theory. After doing some researching I decided to put my own family organizational binder together. I am planning on using January as our "TEST" month to see if it does actually help in all of our organizational needs.

These are the items that I purchased to complete the binder:

- 3 Ring White Binder

- Set of 12 white tabs (I used left over address labels to print out my tabbed sections and placed them on the tabs).

- Pencil Holder (This was one that the kids had around the house...looking for something prettier...but this will do for the time being)

- My paperwork for organization - monthly calendar, calendar by week, menu for the month, grocery list (I made these in Illustrator to fit what I think our needs are and so I could choose my own color and design!)

Here are a few snapshots of the binder thus far...

 Front cover - made the front page in Illustrator using a pattern that I made up and a cute little font that states the purpose of the binder...

 My super cute pencil holder! Houses a pencil, few pens, highlighter, post-its and an architectural scale! 

Some of the tabs that I am using - I have left a few blank at the end so I can add as I go...

 I have labeled the tabs so far as follows - Family Calendar (full month view and week by week), Menu (Monthly Menu Plan and Grocery List), Cleaning, Karis-School, Blogging, Karis Kisses, Goals and Receipts. I am a work in progress so I have only filled out the first portion of our calendar, added all of Karis' important preschool paperwork (who knew), and a great blogging format I found Living Locurto.

 My attempt at the monthly calendar...here we go!!!

 My day to day calendar so far for the first week. I have included "Goals for the Week" along with space for each day of the week - incorporating family schedule and things I would like to get done around the house and for my crafty businesses when the kiddos are napping :)

 I hope to continue to share how the family binder is going through the month of January and if I find that it helps (I hope that it will) I will share February designs with you!!! 

My next item to complete is the monthly menu...hopefully if all goes well and I can actually plan a menu for the entire month (I will go for week right now...) I will share it with you!!!
 

 Thanks for stopping by!