Living room re do

You know when you look at pictures of yourself from junior high and you're like what was I thinking wearing those skorts (yes, skorts) paired with a winnie the pooh shirt? Yes, I wore winnie the pooh in junior high. It was sad.

Or maybe you had a pair of cutoff shorts that you wore with a giant tee shirt of Michel W. Smith and on the back it said "Friends are friends forever." Maybe.

Anyways - it is the same thing with my living room. We moved in and I made some poor furniture decisions. Here's a little peek at what we were dealing with.

Now, hey certainly there is much worse out there. And I am super grateful for a house and furniture to put in it....but this was just not my style. I felt like these couches were a little bachelor pad - and in fact, we did sell them on craigslist to a bachelor...big surprise. The couch came with a chair that took up so much room in our little house and it only fit one medium sized booty. If you had a particularly small booty maybe it could fit two of you. But, that was not happenin in this house. If something is going to take up half my living room I feel like it should fit more than one person.

So here's where we are at today.
Much more seating and a little more color - which I love. I am in the process of recovering that coffee table/trunk...but for now - it's a bit unfinished. I am ok with that. Welcome to 90 percent of my house - unfinished projects.

Here is my blue velvet wingback I literally secured with packing tape in my trunk to get her home from Goodwill. And the vacuumed cat hair off of it for the next hour. Gross, I know - but I really do love blue velvet chairs, and the nailhead trim with tufting??? I die. I am actually blogging from this very chair right now. I love it.

Here is our new dining room table, I got it a garage sale and it was already painted and distressed - score. Plus it has a leaf, two more chairs and awesome claw feet you can't see from this picture. Sad. Don't judge our dinky light fixture hung way to high and dirty carpet. Man, I am an insecure blogger.

So yeah - just a little tour of what I've been working on lately. There has been more - like some dramatic fabric goodness hung on the walls but I couldn't get a good picture of it...here is a sneak peek of what is going on on the other side of the room....

Those are vintage curtains found in an abandoned house in Nebraska. True story. I nearly left my clothing in Nebraska so I could fit these home in my luggage.

So - just a few fun little things going on in our living room. It's far from perfect - but I think that's part of the fun:)

Creating

"If you pick up the Bible and start on page one, the first thing we see God do is to create.It was priority number one. It was not an afterthought. He had a purpose and a vision, and he made it come to be. If you tend to see creating art as a luxury, or if you feel guilty about your creative self, I want to urge you to reconsider. You were made in the image of Someone who places a high priority on creativity. To deny that part of yourself is insulting." - Emily Freeman, Chatting at the sky

I read this today and it inspired me to keep creating.

Keep trying to make my home pretty.

Keep trying fun new things in the kitchen for dinner.

Keep staying up late to make headbands for a little girl I don't even have.

Just keep creating.

I love that God is creative. He is even creative in the way he made people creative. Some are photographers, some are decorators, some are sewers. Some pastors I know would say they weren't creative - but I think delivering a message in a way that connects to an audience takes creativity.

I think creativity comes in different forms. It comes in how we relate to people, how we can uniquely encourage them, how we respond to texts and emails and make them laugh. I am a church admin full time, not exactly the world's most awesome outlet for creativity:) But maybe there is a way I can creatively serve the pastors, staff and students I work with - I guess I have to think creatively. It's probably a lie to believe "I don't have the chance to be creative because of my situation," but, I think your limitations often just allow you to push further. I really don't think I would have gotten so into decorating if we had been able to buy the perfect home with perfect countertops, updated light fixtures and fewer than 18 awkward plant shelves to work with.

Here are some further thoughts on the topic:)

Weekend love

We had a great weekend. The weather is finally cooling off which makes everything a little more bearable:) We had a little last minute date night Friday to see The Help and then on Saturday, I got to do a little shopping and see some old friends from college. I even managed to get a few crafty projects done! Here are a few weekend highlights....

Sneak peak of a great mirror I found for the next Vintage Market. Is it bad I want to keep it? Sigh. I had to put this mirror in the garage because it was making me stumble big time. Yep, mirror lust. It's a problem.

Have I mentioned I have awesome in laws? Yes, I do. Josh's sister Jen saw these shutters and got them for me. I am thinking of painting them bluish teal and making a little message center in the kitchen. They are nice and tall which I love. I hate small things on big walls....reminds me of the mini backpack trend of 1996. Just not a good look for those of us who had some chubbier years.... SCALE people. It's important.

I finally broke out my sewing machine to put to use some fun fabric I have! Of course I had to watch the instructional DVD to my sewing machine as I worked because I am so not a seamstress. I just made some little pillowcases. There is no zipper involved so don't be impressed. Just a little slit in the back and I stuff the pillow in. Gosh I love pillows.

Here is another thing I sewed....or rather hemmed. Just a straight stitch to make a table runner. And the stitch is so not even straight but I am learning to embrace the imperfect:) In this case, a crooked table runner is cuter than no table runner. Yes that is a mason jar of rulers. Weird or cute...can't decide.


And I just could not resist buying this vintage sheet at Goodwill for $2. I am thinking of making my own vintage sheet garland - like Liz. Did you see her tutorial here? Awesome stuff. Anyways, I am not really sure where I will put said garland....but I just love the idea and this sheet was whispering my name.

Here's a sweet $2 frame from Goodwill and a printable I found on Pinterest. Have you ever typed in "printable" into pinterest? There are some serious gems! I love this print. I am not really allowed to be buying frames because Josh says I never put anything in them, but look...Mission accomplished!

So that's my weekend!

Feeling blue

So, I've been kinda loving bluish green rooms lately -paired with pops of yellow and green I think it would be perfect for a little girl's room. Or a big girl's room if her husband would let her....Josh, are you reading this? Anyways - here are some pictures of some of my favorite bluish green rooms:)

I don't know my favorite part of this room. The bunting? The classic white Jenny Lind cribs? the mirror? The fact that two adorable adopted babies live in this room and their sweet story? Sigh. Love it all.

Gus and Lula

Can't get enough teal and coral these days.

Good ol' Pinterest

I don't know if I cold commit to such a large space of blue/green but it looks great here.

A La Mode

I love me some geography in the kitchen!!

Under the Sycamore

I can not even tell you how much time it would take me to decide how to hang all of these things. But it looks so effortless!

Stacey Willey Design

Look at those embroidery hoops. And the yellow chair. Gosh. Too cute.

Me and Wee

Love that this is a guest room and a nursery:)

Ohdeedoe

Um, can I live here? I will sleep in the crib. Please.

Lay Baby Lay

And probably one of my top fave room pictures EVER. The rug, the chandelier, the ceiling to floor curtains...it is just all too amazing!

Ohdeedoh

Flea Market Finds

So this past weekend, an antique mall near us was having a big flea market. Awesome. It began at 7 and I got there at 7:06 and the place was PACKED! I am so glad I got there early because I got some great stuff!

I brought my camera to document the awesomeness and while I was about to take a picture of a lovely green potting bench and the lady selling it came and yelled at me for taking pictures! It was so scary. I have never been yelled at by a stranger but I guess she really did not want me taking pictures of her potting bench - YIKES! Mean people are so...so mean! I really don't get them - especially when they are trying to sell stuff?! Ok, aside from mean potting bench lady I had a good time.

Here are some of the vintage treasures I found.

Loved this bench made out of crates - how fun.

Of course at every flea market you find some things that are totally not vintage and borderline inappropriate...


How cool is this old post office mailbox?

And of course I love pyrex bowls! And this ombre version of greenish blues was calling me.

I wish I only had cool pyrex bowls to cook with.

Loved this crate.



And then I found a pair of hot pink vintage suitcases. I am not sure how I will ever let these go, but I suppose I will have to. I used one to dsiplay my headbands at a boutique I did later that day:) So fun!

Light a candle

So today I went to the mall with my good friend Erika. It has honestly been so long since I have been shopping anywhere other than Target or Goodwill - so it was super fun and I felt very classy;)

We went to Bath and Body works and I got Josh a present....a mint chocolate candle. What boy doesn't love a candle? Well, it's his favorite ice cream so I think he did appreciate it. I seriously might taste this candle when I am home alone because it smells so delicious.

Anyways - I about died when I saw their new line of candle holders! So stinkin cute! And the silver ones were only 5 bucks. That's not all that much more than Goodwill peeps.

I didn't get any because I was already over my candle budget...but next month - I might need to stock up.

Anyways...just thought I would pass along the cuteness because I seriously didn't know that Bath and Body had anything more than cucumber melon hand sanitzer.

(the title of this post is dedicated to my sister and anyone else who may or may not get the obscure Point of Grace Christmas album reference. This song is one of our faves:))