It's been awhile..

In the year (almost) since my last post, a lot has happened.  I helped my brother & his girlfriend with their wedding, we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico for 3 months, I got a new camera (yay!), then we drove across the country to Columbia, South Carolina. While there, we had the chance to go to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC; Washington D.C.; Charlestown, SC (where my aunt lives): and Wilmington, NC (where we used to live).

Then we drove back across the country to Portland, OR. We stopped in a little town about an hour southeast of Kansas City to visit with my daddy's family (who I haven't seen in 16 yrs). We were home for 1 night (after living in 500+ sq ft for 2+ months, I couldn't believe how much stuff we have!!!). We then spent 2 weeks in Portland, OR and a weekend at Lincoln City, OR. Then finally, to end our 8 month adventure, we drove to Reno, NV. Whew! That's a lot! So we have another 2 weeks here before going home for up to a year. At the end of that year, we move to wherever John is placed.

While I'm looking forward to being home for a year to see family and to get our house ready to either become a vacation rental or to sell, I'm looking forward to moving wherever and decorating a new home. :) First I have to finish up my projects on our current house and make it welcoming to all. Over the last few weeks I've been fine tuning the feeling I want our house to have when people walk in. Here's a few of my favorite inspiration pictures.

Via The Painted House

Via The Painted House

 Via Coastal Living

Via La Dolce Vita

Via Bower Power

I'm so excited to get home to start DIYing! Before that though, I'll post a bit about our various adventures around the country. :)

It's a Monday...

The girls and I spent last week in Portland with John.We had so much fun meeting his co-workers and doing stuff together! There is SO much to do, its hard to pick what to do sometimes! lol

Of course, we did some shopping at IKEA. I picked up this picture for my bedroom. I love it and can't wait to hang it! That will be will be after I paint, of course, which will be this week, finally. :)

I picked up some new dishes, a new chair cover for my Ektorp chair, and 3 duvet covers for the girls' beds. Nice bright graphic flowers. :) 

As for couch shopping, I think we have decided to look for a used couch, since we'll probably be moving in a two years and won't be here to use it much anyway. 

We went to the Portland Art Museum last Sunday and saw several exhibits, one being ancient Chinese art, which tied into our History lesson for the week.

We spent most of the evenings during the week in the pool, shopping or hanging out and watching movies.

The girls loved OMSI last year, so we got a membership and spent Saturday touring the new exhibits and saw a show in the Planetarium. 

 

The finale of our trip was hiking up to the top of Multnomah Falls yesterday. 

It was a long, uphill walk, but it was worth it for the view. Unfortunately, my camera died before we even started, so John is going to get pictures from the other people who went with us.

While it's good to be home, I think we'd rather be in Portland still. Next weekend I think we'll be heading back. :)

Big plans for my living room

I did something a little crazy. I sold my Pottery Barn Basic Sectional over the weekend. Without having a new sofa yet.

So here is how my living room looks now. (sorry for the poor quality, I was too impatient to take them with my camera)

{I ironed and put drapery hooks in my dropcloth curtains. I like them so much better. :)}

This is the sofa I will be getting from Ikea next week while I am in Portland.

It's the Hovas sofa from Ikea. I'm not sure what slipcover I will be getting it in. I'm not all that fond of the colors they show online. We'll see when I get there. I may just take a risk and dye the slipcovers gray. :) I think gray would look fab with my pillow material. 

I strongly dislike the lighting in my house. That big flower is turquoise and the dark brown looking flowers are actually the same green on my walls. 

I have a long list of things to look for while I am in Portland. There is so much more available there than here. Looking forward to shopping! :)

Change of Plans

I know I said in my last post I would be painting my bedroom last week. After I looked at my inspiration rooms, I realized the walls all had a color on them. I had also recently decided to make turquoise and white striped curtains and was afraid the white would blend too much with white walls. I thought gray might make an interesting color instead of my typical choice of brown. So I headed to Home Depot and picked up some paint samples.

I started with Martha Stewart's Flagstone (which Nester used in her bedroom re-do) along with Bedford Gray and 3 Behr paints. After going a little paint swatch crazy on my walls, I had a clear winner: the Bedford Gray. I have several projects for this week, so I'll be painting it in April. So excited!

I did get the bookcase covered with book pages, find a headboard/foot board for $20, and get my curtains ironed and put drapery hooks in. The cork board project will be waiting until I have a better idea what else I want to put up on my walls in my bedroom. 

So, all in all, it was a productive week. :)

First Day

Today was the first day of John's new job and also our first day of being without him. :( Unfortunately, the hotel in  Portland (where the training is) is not dog friendly and since my mother can not have Arthur for 6 straight weeks because of her allergies, the girls and I will be staying here for the majority of the training. Hopefully we'll head over to Ptown soon for a week or so, but until then, John will be coming home on weekends.

Of course, 6 weeks worth of evenings by myself (after the kiddos are in bed) means guilt free time to work on projects!! So this week I am hoping to accomplish:

• painting my room (I know I keep saying this, I promise this week is the time!)
• ironing and putting drapery hooks on my living room curtains to raise them and give more uniform folds (like what Janell from Isabella & Max Rooms did here)
• cover a bookcase with book pages (like what Emily from Jones Design Company did to her wall...just on a bookcase)
• paint or draw a design on some cork boards that hang in my bedroom.
• searching Craig's List and local thrift stores for a queen sized headboard & footboard, small round side table, and an old vanity.

Tonight I am prepping my bedroom (i.e. cleaning it) and planning. I have an idea board of how I want it to look when I am done, so need to go back and consult that and any inspiration pictures I've come across since then. I've noticed that since looking through Lonny and design blogs, my tastes have changed a bit so we'll see if I still like my ideas. ;)

Finally Home

After 2+ weeks, we are home!! Arthur was beside himself when we picked him up from my mom's house. He seems so small to me now since we've been around full size dogs for the past couple weeks. :)

I think the most memorable event for the girls about our trip was this

Now I am off to unpack and get our life back to normal before its turned upside down again. ;)

Our Vacation is almost over

 We've had so much fun visiting our family in Souther California and going to Disneyland, the La Bread Tar Pits, driving through San Fransisco and stopping at the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting our family in Northern California, and going to see the Redwoods. Tomorrow we leave for our 2 day trip home. It is only 14hrs, but we are dividing it up in 2 days so we don't go crazy!

After we get home we have 1 week to get ready to head to the new job! :)