Christmas!

Finally got a few pictures of the Holiday decor around here, although there are a few more I want to take.  The I am semi-happy with the tree this year, I bought lots of new ornaments.  I'm calling it my silver tree, but it could really be named my Walmart tree because most of the ornaments came from there!  With 4 young kids, I don't travel far from home!!  And they are all shatterproof, rather than having the bottom 1/3 of the tree bare, like usual.

 I feel like I really overloaded the tree with ornaments, which is what I wanted, but it photographed looking kinda plain and empty....here are a few close-ups to prove the ornaments really are there!

Over to the mantel...It is a bit plain, I added a bunch of votives and some stuff, but then it just looked cluttered.  So it is this way, this year.  Next year I will try to switch it up.

Aaand, over to the kitchen-

The above tree is the kids tree that they decorated themselves. 

And last for today, the dining room...

 

My attempt at a vignette...I like it, it has potential.  I might still fuss with it, the bottom is tricky because my little ones will play break whatever is there. Again I was surprised at how much plainer things seem in a photo than in person.

OK, this has taken about 5 hours to put together with all the interruptions, going to get this up before the bus arrives and things get even more hectic.  I'll try to get the other shots/rooms in another post soon.  Although with my track record....I couldn't even remember my url to start this one!

Fall Mantel

The fall mantel as it currently stands....

Styling is a challenge for me.  I can pick out ok things, getting it all together...not so much. I started with just the mercury glass pumpkins.  Found those at Marshalls mixed in with all the tacky Halloween decor.  $12.99.  Grabbed one and headed for the register and saw another tucked behind something.  So I bolted for the register and never looked back!  Then I added silver bar trays from the clearance section at Pier 1.  $4.98 each!  At that point things were looking pretty shiny up there, especially with the mirror.  I had seen the oval wood bowl at Target, so I went back to get it.  $19.99, full price, but it was my birthday present to myself!  Anyway, it was still pretty sparse, so I started browsing pictures for some ideas and added the rest.  The pumpkins were from Walmart a few years ago (the fall decor at Walmart is not so good this year, is it?)  The candlesticks were also from Walmart a few years back, a clearance find.  And the wooden box is a Chinese antique brought back from Shanghai.  I think it still needs some of those tall wheat bundles, but I don't know if it's getting too late in the season to find them....stay tuned!

A home tour promise

I am putting this up so that I can commit to figuring out how to put a home tour tab on my blog.  That is the first thing I look for when I look at any home blog, and I really want to get that set up.  I partially finished another room this weekend to add to it as well.  Of course I didn't remember to take before pics, but baby girl's room went from builder white white white, to Sweet Baby Girl pink ;)  I have to convince darling to put together a shelving unit tonight (ooh, it is getting late too) and organize her room tomorrow, then I can take pics, and hopefully upload the last 5 or 6 weeks of photos and get them over here!

Kitchen plans

Did I really miss all of July?  Oops. 

So my new kitchen in my new house is all of 1 yr old, and I want to tear it out.  I have such regret about it.  Sigh.  I blame all the blogs I read.  At the time we were building I didn't know I would have liked to have wood floors in the kitchen, or white white cabinets, etc etc.  But the reality is we spent many many thousands of dollars on our tile floors and wood cabinets thinking that we would never want to change them.  Hmm.

Well, what I can change is the counters for sure.  That was the one place we skimped, so it is just laminate.  And when those are ripped off, I think the backsplash won't survive, maybe change that, and I am thinking maybe even the cabinets could be painted (but this makes me nervous b/c we have soooo many, and did I mention they were expensive?)

So basically I think the only thing that is more or less NOT changeable is the tile floors.  Ceramic in the color "mushroom"  which is a medium beige with some gray tones in them.  I have an extra cabinet door in the garage, so I think I might paint it white and bring it in to see how the cool white looks against the warm-toned tile.

I have been shopping for counters.  I am thinking quartz or concrete with a butcher block top on the island.  Haven't researched the concrete much yet.  Found some great gray quartz options though....

A few years down the line for sure, but it gives me hope :)  See the original kitchen here, shortly after we moved in.

Think-of-a-dinner Thursday

Thursdays mean groceries are running low and dinner needs some creative thinking. 

Result = Cold Nachos

Tortilla chips topped with leftover (ie cold) grilled chicken, sliced avacado and chunks of jalepeno jack cheese.

Really good, so I am blogging it in an attempt to remember it.

Except even I do not read my own blog.....

Split Personality

I know people often describe themselves as having an ADD design problem, but that isn't my issue.  I have a design split personality, and I can't figure out which one to settle with.

I went into Marshall's yesterday because I was so jealous of all the HomeGoods talk (which we don't have around here.)  I hadn't been in there in about 6 years and didn't have high expectations.  But, I found tons of stuff I loved!  Came home with 4 pillows and 2 mirror-y things (wall art).

But thy conflict with each other.  The pillows are Pottery Barn-looking.  Casual, rustic-y.  The mirrors are so cool (not in perfect shape, but so unique!)  They have a very cool graphic shape and definitely a more modern shape.  I will definitely take photos and add them....sometime.  Have to take the baby to the doctors first.

I don't know, things are feeling disjointed around here.

Summer Project Goals

Need a permanent copy of this so that I don't get distracted.
1. CLEAN UP THE FREAKING GARAGE!!!!!!!!
       a) get rid of junk
       b) paint walls
       c) clean floors/windows
       d) paint step
       e) organize what is left
       f) park at least 1 car inside the 3 car garage

Crossing #1 off the list would be good enough for me, but just for the heck of it, here is the rest of the list
.2. dig out the huge bed in front of the house to use up the huge pile of mulch left over
       a) gravel around all drain spouts

Inside projects that might have to be fall projects
3. kitchen lighting and bar
4. Painting bedrooms

Lots more, but that should keep us busy for a while