Big purchase

Since we started building the house, I have wanted a seating area in the master bedroom.  For a few months I have been eyeing a sofa from Pottery Barn, specifically because it came in an "apartment size."  I think a regular sofa would be too large, and a loveseat has funny proportions (I think.)  So maybe a month ago I outlined the size with tape on the floor, then went to the nice mall that has a PB and looked at the fabrics in person.  Then, I asked for a giftcard for christmas from my parents.  Then Darling traded in our credit card points for another giftcard.  Then the PB catalog arrived for this month with a 15% coupon code!!  I have some Christmas money to put towards the balance, and for the rest, I have been trimming our grocery bill each week for the last couple weeks.  SO, last night I finally pulled the trigger.  I am so nervous, I hope I love it....should be here in approx 8 weeks.

I may or may not have tossed a crystal chandelier into my cart while I was at it....the total was so high anyway, might as well :)

Pics in a few months!

My New Year's Resolution

It seems as though a blog is a good place to state your resolution.  It took me a few days to think of one, but I realized that I need to stop being lazy at night!  
I have fallen into the habit of collapsing on the couch once all the kids are finally in bed, then I stay put for a few hours and eventually go to bed.  So, my new goal is to make sure that not only are the dishes done, but the sink scrubbed clean and maybe even wiping down all 23 miles of countertops each night.  Oh, and the family room straightened so that when I inevitably collapse on the couch, I am looking at a clean room! 
And a note as to why blogging is not working for me, I started typing this over 24 hours ago, and it took me this long to write this little.  Too many interruptions.

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.....