Wordless Wednesday

Decorating on a Budget

I have mentioned before that we have put NOTHING on the walls in our house since we moved in last October.  For a while I was okay with that, but then after taking down the Christmas decorations at the end of the year the house looked kinda barren.  It needed a little something to go with the cream walls, white trim and beige furniture.  Besides just the two robins egg blue walls in the dining room. 

I am not much of a decorator and I don't really have a style.  Jay and I agreed on everything when we built the house, like the windows, trim, door pulls, etc, but when it came to colors and walls decorations we needed some time to compromise.  We also had a strict self imposed budget to adhere to for each month so this meant taking baby steps and tackling one small project at a time.  I am really pleased with the direction we are taking downstairs.  We have decided to let blue and yellow be prominent throughout the open floor plan with some grey accents.

Here is what we have been up to the past 2 weeks of summer break with our house projects.  We had a $75 budget for the month of June to spend on house decorating and we stuck to it really well. 

 Dining Room

Buffet table: Hand-me down from family

Mirror: Was silver in the old house and we spray painted it yellow.  Cost of spray paint $4. 

Hurricane Vases: Wedding Present

Decorative shells: Marshall's $6

Table Runner: Target $17 (used a gift card) 

Pictures frames: Mine from college that we spray painted with paint from another project. 

Total cost to us: $10

Living Room 

Artwork: Bought in Gatlinburg on our last vacation pre-kids in 2009. 

Framed wedding invitation: Wedding gift

Framed engagement picture: Frame from a wedding gift and picture we had.

Book stand: Had from the old house. No clue where it is from.

Brown frame: Micheal's $6

Willow Tree figurine: Gift from friends at Trey's birth

Lamps: Bought with gift cards after our wedding

Lamp shades: Target $17 a piece 

Total cost to us: $40

Kitchen

Chalkboard Project

Artwork from Salvation Army: $2 (Seriously!!)

Primer: $4 from Lowes

Red Spray Paint: $4 from Lowes

2 cans of Chalkboard Spray Paint: $10 from Lowes

Total Cost: $20   Great deal considering most smaller ones go for about $60 on Etsy. 

We also bought this fabric to make curtains for the living room and dining room downstairs.  We purchased it 60% off per yard with an additional 15% off the total purchase so I don't think we could have gotten a better deal. 

source 

We still have some more projects we are working on and hope to finish up in the next few weeks.  I will keep you updated with more pictures when we finish!

Quick Roadtrip

Last Saturday we made a quick road trip down I-81 to see Uncle Stephen and the kid's cousin Halle.  Halle always spends a week with us in the summer and Trey LOVES to see her.  He even refers to the tiny seat between his car seat and Charlotte's as Halle's seat.  If you set something there or he needs something near there he says it is in Halle's seat.

Charlotte and Halle together last fall.

 They were having a festival there so we went to explore.  There were bounce houses for the kids and I was proud of Trey for going in his first bounce house.  There was a smaller one that he started in to get his feet wet.  There was only one little girl in it so he was pretty comfortable.

Then he moved up to the big dinosaur.  Trey is usually intimidated by things like this, especially when he doesn't know all the bigger kids, but he did so well.  He started out clinging to the side where I helped him go in, but then Jay was on the other side of the bounce house taking pictures so Trey made his way over there and didn't want to get out!

Charlotte loved being in her stroller.  She is kinda noisy so she was content just people watching.  Then she got out to dance with the music.

 It was pretty sunny so we tried to get the kids to wear hats in addition to sunscreen.  Charlotte was not happy when I tied the hat on her!

Sweet Summertime

This summer we have three weeks where all four of us are home together.  After the fourth of July starts summer school for me in the mornings, VBS for the kids and Jay and then Jay going out of town for work.  We are soaking up these lazy days at home.  Each day starts with a to do list that usually gets interrupted by play time.  Luckily, with both of us home, we can tag team playing with the kids and getting stuff done around the house. We have learned it is impossible to try to do both at the same time!

A new favorite activity has been "painting" the patio with water.  It keeps them busy and entertained for quite a while.  

We usually spend the morning and late afternoon/ evening outside.  When it is too hot to go out Charlotte is busy playing with her dolls and trying to take care of them. Trey has rediscovered his train set after he got a new James car yesterday.  The trains have been going up and down mountains all over the house!

This afternoon I got Charlotte ready to go swimming in the creek when we realized it might start storming soon.  I left her in her new bathing suit since she gets so wet playing with the water table anyways.  Trey did not want to put on his bathing suit, but he was happy to wear his new hat and mow the lawn all evening.

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Daddy,

You are the best.  

You loved us when we were just tiny babies who ate, slept, and cried. 

You love to help us build things and never get upset when we knock down your creation. 

You carry all our stuff without complaint, and we have a lot of stuff!

You were there when we were born.

And you make us feel so special with your hugs and kisses!

We love listening to you read to us.

And just being in your lap. 

 Thanks for being our daddy!

Happy Father's Day! 

Love, 

Trey and Charlotte

Evening Walks

 Most evenings after dinner we like to go for a walk.  Last night was no exception only we had to wait for the rain to let up.  We were playing outside when it started to rain so we came in to watch it fall.  I had to make a quick escape out the front door to save the bubbles from being drowned on the front steps.  They could see the bubble container from the window and were both very upset that it was out in the rain!

 

Finally headed out. 

 Trey was excited about being outside, but he did not want me to take his picture.

When we started on the walk last night the sky was pretty overcast.  This is Trey saying,  "Whoa, it's pretty scary down there!" as he was looking down the path.

 Jay found some moss to keep him interested. 

Charlotte is usually pretty tired when we head out for the walk so she enjoys being pushed along in the stroller.  In fact when we go outside after dinner she tries to climb into her stroller by herself!

Kitchen Tour

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life Home Tours.  This week the focus is on kitchens.  I absolutely love the kitchen in this house.  Jay and I got to design where we wanted the cabinets, the appliances, and drawers.  We also got to pick everything out from the faucet to the drawer pulls and I was very pleased when it all came together.

Here is the view of the kitchen from the great room area. 

I am standing in the same place, just a different angle so you can see the desk. 

 The desk area is a favorite for Trey to color while I fix dinner.  We try to keep our mail organized in the mail slots and it has plenty of storage for all the other odds and ends we need but don't want out on display.

 

 I have always wanted a place to keep my cookbooks near where I cook.  We had this bookshelf built into the island and it fits all my cookbooks perfectly.

 

 This island is the centerpiece of the kitchen.  Everything we do seems to revolve around it!  My mom likes to make fun off all the drawers we have.  She says she won't empty the dishwasher for us because there are too many drawers to know where anything goes!

 When we first were planning the kitchen I wanted to get one of those ceramic glazed farmhouse sink.  Our counter tops wouldn't support the weight of that sink so we opted for silgranite instead.  I am so glad we did! This sink is super easy to clean, can withstand extremely hot temperatures (like a pan right off the stove) and it won't crack like a ceramic sink.  We have a white sink just like it in the mud room and I am glad we got the bisque color for the kitchen so it doesn't always look dirty.

 The faucet sprayer just pulls down from the faucet.  I can't tell you the number of times I have tried to pull off the faucet of sinks when we visit friends, only to realize their faucet head is attached!

 I love everything we picked out, but if I could do it over I wouldn't necessarily get the under cabinet lighting.  It is nice for some projects like when I use the mixer, but honestly turning on the overhead lights are just as good because our kitchen is pretty open and light. 

 This is the view from the dining room.  One way we saved money is by not putting any corners in the counter tops.  All the counters are straight lines which makes them easier to measure, cut and install. 

 

Behind the door in the above picture is the corner pantry.  It is tucked away right in the middle of the kitchen.  The closet organizer guy could not understand why I didn't want shelves all the way to the ground.  I don't think he comprehended what I was saying about storing bulk grains and a bread machine at the bottom of the pantry.

 

This is the view standing in front of the pantry door.  I have a few pinterest projects lined up for the summer to help take care of these bare walls.  You can see the dining room off to the right, the downstairs bath, the basement door, and a peak into the great room on the left. 

 

 Finally, Trey's masterpieces.  He is working on drawing circles.  Whenever he creates a new drawing he likes to stick it on the freezer for everyone to admire.  I love that he puts them up all by himself!