home sweet home

   When we purchased our home 16 months ago, there was no back yard. And there is still no back yard. I know, anti-climactic. The idea was to get going on a brick patio this summer, fix the wonky fence, and throw down some grass seed. Instead, our upstairs bathroom leaked into our downstairs bathroom in June. We spent the summer repairing the downstairs bathroom. We decided to DIY it as much as possible and that is why we haven't finished the upstairs bathroom. DIY is exhausting and takes so much time. Not going to lie, it was a huge bummer. The house was remodeled before we bought it so we were not planning on any major overhauls, other than the back yard.

   I am trying to put on my gratitude glasses and shift perspective. I did hang twinkle lights. Everything looks better with twinkle lights. I did plant some pots and manged to grow flowers, herbs, and  eggplants.

   I did manage to sip tea outside on summer mornings when the hot air balloons were drifting overhead. I did manage to paint the front door a few times.

   (She told me she wanted to be red.)

   I did plant some lavender to trying to keep the neighborhood cats away. I did enjoy watching the boys mow and weed whack.

   I did savor many meals Matt grilled up. Or one of his many perfectly golden marshmallows in a s'more. I did enjoy hilariously told ghost stories around the fire and the sounds of Kaleb playing the guitar.

   I did go on stunningly beautiful walks through the nature reserve that is just blocks from our home.

   I did give our bedroom wall a moody makeover.

   I did hang up the #summerselfieseries I enjoyed with Koen this year. The laundry room has never made me happier.

   And lastly, I did relish every bouquet gathered from other people's gorgeous yards. Ours will come someday, along with a new upstairs bathroom. As the only female in this tribe, the days of two toilets can't come soon enough!

Pinterest in real life

During many hours of scrolling through Pinterest and not doing many of the projects I loved, I'm over it. More doing, less "pinning".  I found quite a few ideas for these plastic animal topped jars, like the ones on this blog. 

 Pretty easy, and straight forward. I even had some of the crazy strong glue around from attempting to make a cake stand a few years back. It also got Matt off my back about my hoard of glass jars.

 Not this: "³ And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

⁴ And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

This:

 One I started spraying everything gold I couldn't stop.

 And they are in Aden's room storing valuables or what an eight year old values anyhow. (btw, those may not look like much but that half jar of Squinkies is like $20...ugh...)

switch-a-roo

Another house update. The dresser that was in our bedroom has relocated to the TV room. This is a great little space right out of our kitchen. It gets the most natural light in the house, which in Seattle is a BIG deal. We do most of our living in this room. Here's a look before we moved in.

And after the famous "A" made it onto the wall.

 Then we made the jump to a flat screen. And the dresser from our bedroom moved into the TV room. (Megan, I thought you'd be relieved to hear we repurposed it.)

Now we just need to stash those cords in the wall, kind of like this.

a good start

This is our bedroom on moving day.

 We found it fairly easy to set up our things like they were in the house we were renting before.

 So much stuff! And the dresser is really old and hard to maneuver.

Does anyone else's bedroom get neglected as you build a house into a home? Ours does. Even taking theses photos required cropping out piles and laundry. 

As we try to plan and envision something better suited for resting and well, you know ;) I have noticed a kind of thoughtless dumping ritual that happens. Company is over so I move a stack of papers from the kitchen counter to the nightstand. Or there is a school project due that one of the boys doesn't want ruined, so I stash it in the closet. So being short on storage in the first place, this room gets chaotic quick. 

Here is our first move in the right direction:

A functional dresser. No busted drawers or missing knobs. Great shape and size and quality. She has a few surface scratches but $129 at the local St. Vincent's had us hauling her home and I'll admit, swooning a bit.

I did a good wipe down inside and out with vinegar and we filled her up. Pairing down what we had that did not fit. (such a wonderful feeling)

I love the way she looks with nothing on top (why is this post full of weird innuendos?) But alas, I have a bunch of girl things that have to be stored there for now.

A way to go but what do you think? Find any thrifty treasures lately? Refer to any of your furniture as a "she"? Is your bedroom a black hole of clutter? Anyone?