The New Place

The New Place, such a clever name isn’t it? Ok, not really but it’s one of like five styles of houses people in this neighborhood had to chose from, we live in one of those cookie cutter type of places.  Anyways, maybe I’ll come up with a more clever name after we’ve been here a bit. I’m also open to suggestions so if you can think of something, let me know.

Here is the Exterior, I am planning to take some new photos soon seeing as the for sale sign is gone, our grass is green not brown and I’ve already ripped out some bushes in the front walkway.  Why do people always plant barberry near the walkway?  Have you ever fallen into one of those bushes?  All I can say is, OWIE!!!  Especially with small and often times clumsy children running around, it’s just not a good idea.  I mean really, is it supposed to deter burglars?  Or maybe it’s cheap and that’s why people buy it? 
I am also trying to convince hubby we should paint the front door a fun color but so far he’s not on board.    I also think a cute little table and chairs and maybe a few pots of flowers would brighten up the front some.  

I will be posting interior pictures and updates very soon!  Can you say home in progress?  That’s the name of this game for a while here so come back often!

Girls Bedroom

This afternoon I’m working on my blog and updating some pages and things on here when I realized I never blogged about the girls bedroom in the Colonial. When we first purchased the Colonial we had three beautiful girls and we were pretty sure we were done. We figured that two girls could share a room and one would have their own room until we moved the Master Bedroom to the main floor in a few years. This worked out well for us until we found out we were pregnant. Then we just knew it would be another girl so no big deal, two kids in each room for a while. Well that all changed at the ultrasound when we saw something between the legs that didn’t belong to a girl. So for a while the bubs hung out in our bedroom but that was getting old after about six months so we finally broke down, bought some bunk beds and made all three girls share a room. This room was a beautiful pale green and pale pink color scheme to match their shabby chic bedding. They didn’t like it and so we found some bright and ugly interesting duvet covers at IKEA so I let them repaint their bedroom. They picked out a loud pink color that took three coats on the wall. Here it is, the bedroom that three girls lived in for a year and half!

The closet was pretty small so we added another bar on the bottom half of one side for E’s clothes and then we ended up purchasing an adjustable clothes rack on wheels for the other side because as you can see in the next picture, it was blocking the door to the attic. So this way, we could easily wheel the clothes in and out of the way when we needed to get up to the attic.

I’m not sure how much longer the girls would have lasted in that bedroom, maybe another year or so before it was just too hard with our oldest wanting her own space, different bedtimes, friend’s sleeping over, etc.  I’m sure we would’ve figured it all out but now we don’t have to.  Everyone has their own room at the new place yet they still sleep together at least once a week!  I love that they can have their own space yet still choose to sleep together sometimes.  This room was in no way done and I was kind of just letting it hang in this stage until we knew what we were doing with rooms and well, our life! And on a side note, I did offer to repaint the pink room for the new owner but his daughter loved it so I didn’t have to.  So far everyone here has neutral walls and it’s staying that way, for a long time!

The Colonial

When we originally looked at the colonial, she needed a new roof and the price was ok but not what we were looking to pay.  When we finally did sell our home, the colonial had a new roof and the price had dropped $20,000!
A lot of people thought we were crazy to buy an old home that quite frankly was not the cutest but we didn’t care.  We live in an AWESOME neighborhood where the neighbors have become great friends, the kid’s are within walking distance to their school and the street is not busy with traffic at all.   We have been able to redo the kitchen, we put new siding on and the great thing is, financially we are much better off!  

Here are all the rooms we have remodeled and some we didn’t in the Colonial.  Just click on the picture to take you to the posting(s) regarding that room. Enjoy!

Well that’s the tour! I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for posts about the New Place.

My Thrifting Finds and Spray Paint

Hello everyone! I’ve been busy the past few days spray painting furniture and other things, my husband was really afraid he’s next but I think he won’t get a coat of paint until he has some more gray hair. Ha! I kid, I kid.
Anyways, living in a bigger city definitely has its advantages. The craigslist finds are awesome along with the Goodwill having a great selection of items as well. Then there are some great resale shops around here and even a feed store with two backrooms chuck full of antiques and treasures. I haven’t even ventured to a garage sale around here yet but maybe this weekend I’ll give that a try too!
Here are a few of my treasures I’ve found for the home in the past few weeks.

I picked this beauty up the same day I bought the dresser for the family room and this cute side table was only $5.

I can’t believe this globe was still there at Goodwill on Saturday and for only $2.50. It is so perfect for the living room, I love it!

While at a resale shop a few weeks ago this caught my eye and I picked it up for $16. I was going to repaint it but I’m actually bringing some blingy gold back into my decor so she’ll stay this way. At least for now.

I was really on a roll yesterday, the decorating mojo was flowing I tell ya so I was spray painting everything, rearranging, found a few things in the basement I totally forgot I had and well, I’m quite pleased with how things are coming together around here.
Remember this thrift store lamp I picked up for $10?

Well after a few coats of Night Tide, look at her now. All she needs is to be rewired and maybe some ribbon trim around the shade and she’ll be good to go!

Next up, I had a little brown table that had seen some better days, much better days in fact. I couldn’t even take her picture she was so abused and worn out. Nothing a few coats of Night Tide couldn’t fix. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

Then I had an old mirror frame that I found in the basement. Here is her before:

And after wearing her new coat of Eden.

Remember this oval mirror?

I thought maybe she’d look better in gold.

So that’s what I’ve been up to the last day or so!  I am also going to start working on our master bedroom because the dark brown walls are just too much for me.   Every night before bed I look at them and shudder.  I’m on the look out for a headboard of some sort, maybe iron, a pallet, a door or an upholstered piece of plywood?  We’ll see!  Have you found any awesome treasures lately?  Where is your favorite place to find them?

Check it out

Beth over at Home Stories A2Z
is posting today on cloffice Insiration and my little ol’ cloffice was featured as one of the inspirations! Go check out the other fabulous cloffices and get inspired!!!
Thanks Beth for thinking my cloffice worthy enough to include in your post!

Project Fail!

So after finding this inspirational picture on pinterest:

So I thought if would be fun to do this on a wall in my kitchen. So here is what it looks like after 3 coats of paint, being “seasoned” and wiped down with a damp cloth:

It’s not looking the best so I sanded the wall down and am going to try again.  If it doesn’t work again then I will have to rethink this wall.  AUGH.  Have you had a project fail lately?

Sneak Peek of the TV console/cabinet

I finished spray painting the TV console/cabinet and LOVE it! You can go check out a few pictures on The Blooming Hydrangea fb page. I hope you have a great weekend!!!!

Family Room furniture

Hello!

The other day I shared with you the great debate going on at our house in this post.   So we’ve decided that for now we’ll just use a dresser/buffet dealio for a while and maybe do built-ins this winter after we’ve passed the 6 months of no projects rule we promised the kids when we moved. So I have had my eye out for something to use and looky what I found on CL for $60.  I think it will look great after a few coats of spray paint, maybe in lagoon?

I also moved the Ektorp into the family room and moved the leather stuff into the living room.  Here they are both in the family room, which do you like better?

I totally love the white in here but hubs likes the comfort of the leather better.  We’ll see who wins the battle of the couches.  If we put the leather in here I would find a chair to go in the corner between the fireplace and the dresser just like the ektorp is above.  I think my inspiration piece for this room is this green and blue flame point material.

You can see the updated console here, sorry for the bad night picture but it’s all I got to go with right now. I love how this turned out and everyone always comments on the color and how pretty it is.

Where is your TV?

Alright friends, I need your help. We have a living room and a family room that’s connected to the kitchen which is that technically called a great room? Anyways, there is a fireplace in the family room and our TV is currently above the fireplace. The debate is on, keep it over the fireplace or not. If we do, I say we need to do some sort of bookcases/built-in type things so that the components and wires have somewhere to go so they aren’t sticking out and looking like components and wires. Here are some ideas I found on pinterest this week.

The next option is to build a long wall of bookcases on a different wall, like these examples below.

 The third and final option is repainting/repurposing a dresser and making it into our TV cabinet, like the ones below.

I’d love to hear and or see what you have done in your family room, so leave a comment, link or email me! I am leaning towards the dresser option simply because I like to move furniture around,  it gives me some fun options for color and it’s best of all, it’s not permanent!

And while we’re on the family room, I have been looking for a square ottoman or coffee table. Craigslist possibly came through for me today, I found this ottoman for $10.  I would like to reupholster it but with the attached pillow top on it, I’m not sure if I can.  So if you know of any tutorials on redoing this type of ottoman, please let me know!  I figure for $10 if it doesn’t work out, I can always put it in the basement playroom for the kids to use. 

So there you have it, not much going on here, trying to get the family room started and would love your feedback!  Hope you are all staying cool in the heat wave and enjoying the end of your weekend! 

Life and Love: Miscarriage and Ectopic Pregnancy Losses Part 2

If you missed it, you can find part one here: Life and Love:  Miscarriage and Ectopic Pregnancy Losses Part 1.     To give you a little background, I was diagnosed with GAD or General Anxiety Disorder in May of 1999.  I have struggled with anxiety and fear for many years, even as a child.  I do not like elevators, airplanes, driving alone or anything medical among the 743 other things I worry about.
In May 2008, I had my wisdom teeth removed, which was a big deal for me. It was a victory in an area of my life that I have struggled with a lot. I remember feeling so excited I had finally broken those chains of fear. So excited in fact, that I’m pretty sure we conceived that night after having my wisdom teeth out.  I did not need to have them surgically removed, they just pulled them right out so I was not high on painkillers or groggy from anesethesia.
Towards the end of May I have symptoms that make me think, maybe I’m pregnant. So I took a test and yes, I was! Wow, ok, four kids, we can do this!  This picture was taken at a wedding we attended the very end of May.  I remember thinking maybe I was pregnant right before we left for the wedding.

I called OB and they drew my blood just to see how far along I was because I think it was the night of my wisdom teeth but I really  have no idea.   OB calls and confirms, yes, I am pregnant and they want me to come back in a few days and make sure the numbers were doubling. I did, they called back, the numbers didn’t double but they did increase so they weren’t too worried. I am uneasy about the answer they give me and ask them about it but they tell me as long as they increase, it’s fine.  I try not to worry about it. A few days later we went to the park and before we left I went to the bathroom and when I wiped, it was orange. Well that’s weird. My friends tell me, don’t worry about it, I”m sure it’s nothing.
The next morning, it’s a Tuesday and I’m about to sit down and write a blog post when all of a sudden I have a horrible cramping pain and a wet feeling.  I run to the bathroom and there’s blood. I remember this moment so clearly even now while I type this. Yuck. I start crying, shaking, call the hubby to come home, call the OB, they want me to go in. Hubby gets home, I call OB back and tell them I think I’ll just stay home.
They insist I come in so I do. They draw my blood. The nurse walks in and I already know what she’s going to tell me. I don’t remember when exactly but I do know I told my husband and my friend that I thought I had an ectopic pregnancy and they both thought I was nuts. We need to do an ultrasound to check the placement of the pregnancy. Sure enough, I have a tubal pregnancy.  I go back down to OB and talk to a doctor I’ve never met before.  He tells me that I qualify for a shot of methotrexate which is a dose of chemotherapy and alternative to surgery. I don’t like this doctor, who has no compassion or bedside manner other than to tell me that my tube could burst and I would need emergancy surgery or I might bleed to death internally.  Great, thanks, just what a person with anxiety needs to hear.
The hubby manages to work from home for the rest of the week, I don’t want to be left alone with the kids and this tubal pregnancy that I’m freaked is going to explode within me at any moment. The week passes by so slowly, it’s horrible waiting to see if the metho is working, if it will eventually shrink the sac and dissolve it or if I’ll need surgery.
Sunday is Father’s Day, we go to church, we come home. I have hardly eaten all week because I don’t have an appetite and I’m afraid to eat anything in case I need emergency surgery. We decide to head to Culvers for the free Sundae for dads. As we are walking out to the vehicle I feel a weird pain in my side. I call the OB doctor on call and talk to him. He tells me to go to the ER. We dropped the kids off at the neighbors and head in to the ER.  I am sure it’s nothing, I tell hubby.  I am probably freaking out about nothing.

 

To be continued……….

 

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