Goodbye Purple Walls

We finally finished the walls and ceiling in the boys room. It's so much nicer in their room. Pictures don't really do it justice. Their walls were dirrtty!

Ahh nice smooth ceiling and clean walls.

Garden winter harvest

I've never grown parsnips before until this year and have been really surprised at how hardy they are. I dug up the last few today. Just like all other veggies from a home garden the taste is so much better than the store! I would love to do cold frames someday, winter gardening is kind of fun!

Garden plans 2015

Winter is the perfect time to plan out the garden! I'll be ordering seeds I need soon so I had to figure out what is going where. I also took an inventory of seeds I already have. I'm trying to focus on growing things we eat a lot of this year.

I will also be experimenting with growing winter squash up a trellis since space is limited.

Living Room Updates

 Let's play the spot the differences game! My kids love that one.

Did you guess it? :) We added some woven shades on the windows a few months ago. And over the break I finally filled in those last empty picture frames. I will tell you, if you want people to talk about what's on your wall just leave some empty picture frames up. I think 90% of the people who come in our house commented on them.  

 Here's where I'm happy I have a little drawing experience. I took some old paper from a drawing class and drew a botanical print from a book I have (see below) with some permanent marker. The book is 11x14 and the image size I needed was 12x16- otherwise I probably would have just cut out the print.

 image from here.

The other frame was filled with a Sacred Grove print. It's hard to find good LDS art for little money. But I do like this print and it was inexpensive. Maybe I'll have to paint some of my own someday...

Coming up...The Boys Room!

Next on our list of fixing up and decorating is the boys room. The little guys (Cruz especially) were jealous of all the work going on in Noelle's room. And I don't blame them! Here is what there room looks like right now.

Yes those are purple walls! Removing popcorn, painting the ceiling and walls are definitely first!

 British flag area rug will stay.

 It is tight with three beds. We are looking for a triple bunk bed to maximize space. This room is a few feet larger than Noelle's but still small. In a few years we may add on to the house and expand this room in the process. But for now we have to make do with what we have. So for bunk beds we're thinking some thing like this...

Image from here

I'm surveying Cruz for his "wish list" (the others don't care) and then I will put together a plan.

Noelle's Nursery

Welcome to Noelle's room! Here is how it's looking now. It's a happy place for me to be because it's pretty much the only room in our entire house that is always clean. I love that!

Just for fun, here is a picture of this room from the previous owners mls listing. It makes me realize what a big difference small things like hanging your curtains the right way can make.

 You may remember all I had done in here before was the relaxed shade. I added blackout curtains and sewed on the pink pom pom trim. Notice the finished window bench! I picked up the Nate Berkus fabric on the bench from Joann's on sale for only $8 a yard! We wrapped it over 2 inch foam and added a layer of batting, then fabric, and stapled it to a board.

 This is the dresser we painted in this post . Above is the painting the boys did for her. I think it turned out great! To make it, the boys worked on the red underneath first. After it dried, I gave them yellow, pink, and they mixed some grayish purple. I had to restrain myself but I didn't touch it- it's all their art! It turned out nice and abstract but I'm happy it goes with her room and has some meaning too.

Her crib is a Baby Mod crib from Walmart! I love it. I didn't do any decorating around the crib because dangling mobiles and even frames on the wall make me uneasy to have right next to her. It looks a little bare but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

And last, a picture of the little lady herself... snoozing away...

A bench for Noelle

We are just finishing up the last project in Noelle's room. A window seat bench using the fabric above. Stay tuned... tomorrow I will be sharing pictures of the final product and Noelle's finished nursery!