Challenge Space - The Home Office

I'm obviously not embarrassed to show off my extreme messes.  This is my home office.  It's attached to the master bedroom and you actually walk through it to get to my closet, or the screened in porch.  I actually do work from home a couple days a week, so I spend quite a bit of time in this room.

It's an absolute mess.  It has looked like this for years.  My office needs to serve dual purposes as being the place I can actually work my professional job and be the family command center.  You know a place to store all the school papers that come home and pay the bills.

This is the space I picked that I wanted to do a complete overhaul.  Both design wise and cleaning/organizing wise.

So here is what I am planning to do over the next month or so:

1.  Purge the space.  Letting go of old documents and books that are severely outdated.
2.  Deep clean the space.
3.  Paint the walls.
4.  Hang photos/artwork.
5.  New curtains....TBD.
6.  Rug?

To anyone else out there fighting the battle of school papers, I have some organizational ideas I will share with you later this week.

For today, I can share with you the progress I made on the first step, purging.  Here is how the home office looks after taking down 10 baskets full of recycled paper.

Now it's time to deep clean and get things moved and prepped to paint.

Displaying Family Photos and Children's Art

Am I the only one who struggles with pictures and art.  I love all types of art, but I have the hardest time purchasing and hanging it in our house and then changing my mind later.  Which is why I don't often wan to pay a hefty price tag, just to take it down later.  I've also been known to say I will make a piece of art instead of buying it.  So it's been a slow process around our house.

So the easy way out is to put up family photos if you have them.  And with the new canvas photo prints, it makes it super easy.  I have ordered many different types of pre-printed art.  There is the normal canvas prints, metal prints, photos that I have framed, or had professionally framed.  I have used many different companies and haven't had a complaint yet.  I would say a great time to order is near the Black Friday sales, or to just keep your eye open for deals.  Canvas on Demand has great deals, so I would keep them on your list.

There is a case to be made for having too many family photos.  So the key is to find a couple of places in your house where you really want to display them.  I grew up admiring my grandmothers house and all the family photos she had up on the stair case walls.  She was rocking the photo gallery long before pinterest.  It has always stuck in my mind and so, I have followed suit by putting up our family photos in the stairways and upper hallway.

We also have a few family photos in the family room, although I am slowly leaning towards taking some of them down.  Especially the older ones that don't include the youngest child :-)  She might mention it all the time.

The next best thing to family photos, or sometimes I think this suggestion is even better, hanging kids artwork.  I love my kids artwork.  And framing them in simple white frames with a bold paint background really makes them pop.  We just recently painted our hallways with black paint on top, and I love it. 

My white frames happen to come from two different stores.  I like these Ribba Frames from IKEA (12"x16"size), but they keep switching out the back of their frames and how they are hung, so it can kind of be all over the place.  I also got these from Michaels a few years ago.  The frames themselves are a little bit thinner and they were a little pricier, but easier to hang.

We also repainted the entryway white.  We had some drywall damage from foundation settlement issues that needed to be fixed.  Plus the original paint color, while lovely in the natural light, turned a little neon with interior lighting.  The entryway itself has therefore gone through quite a few changes.

Entryway when purchased - 2009

Entryway after first remodels - 2016

Current Entryway - 2019

One of the next big projects on our radar is changing out our front doors and adding a porch and discreet handicap ramp this spring.  We love the double front doors we added years ago, but unfortunately our daughter's wheelchair barely fits on one side.  And opening both doors every time she goes in and out is not practical.  So stayed tuned for more changes.

Looking at Front Door Currently - 2019

In Progress

We got hit with a major "weather story" ice storm a couple weekends ago.  I say that because the ice storm was predicted but did not come to fruition, at least not as much as they claimed it would.  What it did do.  It canceled school and it also canceled our holiday party.  The holiday party has been rescheduled and I am still slowly working on my new dress.

The other new project we have been working on around here is our basement stairs.  And my we I mean my husband has been doing more of the working and I have been watching the kiddos and trying to keep them out of his way.

Here are the stairs as they currently stand.  All primed and ready to go.

Now the question is.....where to go from here.  I have a few ideas and my husband has an idea of his own.

My husband would like them to stay all white, matching the trim color, and then adding either a runner or carpet stair treads.  And if I can find the right runner for the right price....I'm on board.  But I also want to look at just painting the stairs.  Or you could paint the risers either in different colors or using some type of pattern.

So for now we sit with primed stairs, just waiting for a decision.

The Kitchen Reveal

The kitchen.  The heart of the home.  We worked on this space for well over a year and it's time to show off all our hard work.

I had to dig pretty deep to find some old pictures of the kitchen.  The walls were originally painted an orange-yellow.  Once we moved in, we used some left over paint and changed the wall color to brown.  It stayed that way for 6 years.  The kitchen was not the worst room in the house.  There was plenty of storage space.  The main problem was that it did not function.  The majority of the appliances were slowly breaking down and there was no counter space.

So let's see the before and after photos and then we can talk a little bit about what we did if you are still following along.

Looking into the main part of the kitchen:

Picture taken before we moved in.  Gratuitous picture of my mom.

Picture taken during one of the many phases of trying to make the kitchen work

Our new kitchen

Looking at the door to the back deck and family room:

Picture taken before we moved in.

A few years into owning our house.

Sliding door changed to single door to accommodate refrigerator.

Looking into family room where we removed the column.  Real children playing in background.

Looking at kitchen sink/window and oven/stove corner:

Original double oven feature was nice, but so skinny I couldn't use half my sheets or baking dishes.

We went with a slide in range that still has a double oven feature.

We also went with a counter top/built in microwave.  I love that it is no longer above the stovetop.

Looking into the kitchen from the front door:

Taken before we moved in.

Probably my least favorite fix as now you look at our refrigerator instead of the back deck.

We definitely gutted this kitchen down to the studs in order to change the layout as much as we did.

 We moved the refrigerator across the room and replaced the double sliding door with a single patio door.

We removed the soffits and widened the opening to the dining room.  Found out we had faulty wiring to our oven.  Had to figure out how to vent the new exhaust hood.  And added a lot of additional lighting.  I was told I was crazy by my loving husband and had too many lights.  I still stand by my decision.

 We went with IKEA cabinets and counter tops (quartz).  I love them and highly recommend them.  I was able to put the majority of the cabinetry together myself.  Jesse and I installed them and I would say the only reason it was tricky was because we were going all the way up to the ceiling and our ceiling was not level.  The majority of the other products all came from Home Depot, whether in store or online only.

And lastly I want to thank my husband for all his hard work in making my dream kitchen come true.  He worked so many hours on this project.  I love you.

I shared my project here: Thrifty Decor Chick Best of 2016

4 Weeks to Go

We have been super busy trying to get ready for the baby.  Which for my husband means finishing up our remodel projects we started months ago.  And now as the time gets nearer it means going through all our old baby toys, baby clothes, baby swings, car seats, etc and getting everything ready for the arrival of baby #3.

We have officially gotten Oliver moved into his new “big boy” bedroom.  It’s almost all complete, except for the bare walls.  Which lets’ be honest, they probably won’t be tackled until after the baby arrives.  This means the nursery is the sorting place for all the baby stuff.  Yesterday the kids joined me as I went through everything.  I just had to share these pictures of them watching me.  Oliver actually requested I grab the camera to take a picture of the two of them.

Lately Oliver has been concerned about being a big brother to the new baby and wanting to be a good helper.  In the process he has taken an interest into Bella and wanting to hold her hand, make sure she is happy and that she likes him.  He will still sometimes steal her toys, but in general he wants to make sure she has something to play with.

Bella has meet this new found interest in her with mixed emotions.  Sometimes she will give him smiles and loves the attention.

Other times she will get fussy, especially when he is in her face too much, or holding her hand for too long.

As for me…..I’m miserable.  You can stop reading now if you don’t want to hear about the joys of pregnancy.

I pretty much don’t sleep more than 5 hours anymore, which isn’t even good sleep, but constantly tossing and turning sleep.  For the most part my kids are actually sleeping, it’s just me being in pain keeping me up.  This morning was no different and I have been awake since 3am.  Which means I have to nap each day in order to function.

I didn’t want to buy a bunch of new maternity clothes, and I didn’t really get around to making/modifying many.  So between the lack of maternity clothes and this hot muggy weather, I’m just not comfortable in anything.  I can’t wait for cooler weather, as I think this part of my problem might actually have a solution.

I can’t stand for very long or my feet and ankles start immediately swelling and getting painful.  My back can also be in pain when I stand, and is especially painful if I have to lift/carry Bella multiple times in a short time span.

I can’t walk for a very long distance or I start having contractions, plus the swelling problem.

I can’t sit for very long or my left thigh starts going numb, my back can still hurt while sitting, and I also have this little problem called pregnancy hemorrhoids.

I can’t lay down on my back because I can’t breathe.

I can’t lay on my stomach obviously.

I can’t lay on my side for very long or my hips start giving me tremendous amounts of pain.  I also have pretty bad heartburn that is around all the time and even worse if lying down.  It’s actually the hip pain and heartburn which keeps me up most of the night.

So that pretty much sums up my life right now.  There is absolutly no position that I can be in that doesn’t give me pain.  Plus with my 40 pound handicap child and my overactive 3 year old that is constantly asking me to play with him, I’m so so so so very ready to be done with this pregnancy.  Except of course I really don’t want the baby to come this early.  So I guess I’ll suffer through for a few more weeks and then start praying for the baby to come.

Main Floor Bella’s Room–Week 11

We finally got Bella moved downstairs into her new room this past weekend.

Her bed currently resides in the middle of the room, as we still need to finish installing all the door trim and baseboards.

I did get her curtains made and we actually got them hung up.

After we finish the baseboards and trim, we still have a lot of work that needs to be done in the bathroom before it’s usable.  It’s currently a construction storage spot.  I did get a closet system ordered, so that also needs to be installed once it arrives.

 

And since Bella got moved downstairs, we have started converting her old room into Oliver’s new bedroom.

So far we have gotten his new ceiling fan installed and one coat of gray paint up on the walls.  He is very excited to move into his new room and has given us 4 days to get it complete.  Going off of past experience, I’m thinking that might not happen.  We already had a little snafu with the blue bed we painted not really working well with the new mattress set we bought.  We are currently brainstorming ideas on how to make it work.

As we already mentioned it looks like it’s going to be a lot of work to get everything finished up before this baby arrives.

Main Floor Bella’s Room–Weeks 9 & 10

I haven’t even bothered to get out our good camera to take pictures of the progress yet.  So I thought I would post some snapshots from our phones on what has been going on these past couple of weeks.

The walls got painted and the ceiling fan got installed.  While we were waiting for carpet to be installed we used the bedroom as a painting spot.  First up was a big boy bed for Oliver.  We promised him a blue bed.  He decided he wanted to help again, so he put on dad’s flip flops and helped me roll on the primer.

He took his job very seriously.

You may notice in the photo above I chopped off my hair.  Here is a recent image from a concert Jesse and I went to (sorry for the dark image).

The carpet in Bella’s bedroom did in fact finally come in after being backordered a couple of times.  A certain younger brother seems to think this new room is his to take all his toys into.  Also worth mentioning is the color on the walls.  I went with a “dusty coral” color and my final hope is to have a vintage girls bedroom for Bella.  While Jesse was painting the walls, he mentioned multiple times he did not like the color.  When Oliver got up from his nap and first saw the bedroom painted he claimed “Ohhh……I don’t like it”.

Although now that the carpet is in, drapes are hung and Bella’s bed has been moved into there, he told me yesterday she had a fancy room.  He also cracks me up because most of the time I wear “workout” type clothing.  Or anything remotely comfortable with my ever expanding belly.  If I do happen to dress up, fix my hair, and actually wear make-up he never fails to tell me I look pretty or beautiful.  And then usually ask me “Where are you going?”

Other big things happening this week, the fact that school finally starts tomorrow.  These last 5 weeks have been a little difficult with both kids home all day long, but I somehow made it through.  Oliver gets to start his brand new preschool and is pretty excited about it.  Here is part of the new playground setup at school.

And lastly Bella is having minor heart surgery this Friday.  She has a small PDA hole that never closed up, so they are going in with a cardiac catheter to close it up.  It’s supposed to be an outpatient surgery, so hopefully it all goes smoothly.

And I’m just hanging on myself as this pregnancy nears its end and makes life pretty uncomfortable.  Sleep has been my enemy of late.  In fact most nights I can only get about 4-5 hours.  As you can tell it makes getting things done around here pretty difficult, as in our progress is at a crawl stage.  But with less than two months to go, we do have a few things that need to get done before the new baby arrives.

Main Floor Bella’s Room–Week 8

This weekend we started the process of painting Bella’s bedroom.  The ceilings and walls were primed, and the ceiling got it’s final coat of paint.  All that we have left is painting the actual wall color on the walls.  Oh and finishing up the trim work, and getting doors and lights installed.

But as far as painting goes, we are getting near the end.

Since we have been painting so much, Oliver has been begging us to let him paint.  He really wants to help.  So I figured since Bella’s room has bare floors and we were just painting with primer.  This would be the only time we could actually let him paint the walls.

The kid loved it.  And his outfit cracked me up.

Bella got the enjoyment of watching everyone work on her room.  We made Oliver wear shoes, as it’s still drywall dusty on the floors.  And of course we made him take off his clothes so he wouldn’t get paint on them.

And one more time to catch Oliver in action.

That definitely looks like a payback picture for when he is in his teenage years!

Bathroom Curtains

I did a post a few months back when I was trying to figure out what we were going to do with our bathroom window.

Well, the bathroom looks good, but it definitely needs some color added to it.  And curtains can certainly accomplish that.

I received my fabric order yesterday, so here is a sneak peek of the window and fabric (plus you can see the chandelier is finally installed, and the fabric is sitting on the tub which is also installed).

Now if I can make myself stay up past my kids’ bedtimes, I might actually get these sewn in a couple of days.  Which I know my husband would appreciate, finally having something covering the window.  We also need to find trim to finish out the window itself.  I guess we can call it a race to see who can get their piece accomplished first…the curtains from me or the finish trim from Jesse.

Main Floor Bella’s Room–Week 7

It’s been busy around here.  With summer in full swing we have been busy with extracurricular activities on the weekends.  This means is getting harder to fit in finishing up the renovation.  But we have been slowly getting some things accomplished.

I’m also entering my third trimester of pregnancy.  If I haven’t mentioned this before, taking on a huge renovation project while pregnant is not the greatest timing at all.  Between not feeling great, taking care of the kids, and fitting in a little bit of work on the house, my days are shot.

So let’s look at what we accomplished this week.

First up is a look at our new light fixtures in the family room.  I am excited about the addition of these sconces in the back of the room that gets absolutely no light.

We put the sconces on a dimmer switch so we can have some mood lighting for watching movies.  I really want to replace the ceiling light fixture at some point soon.  The bulbs always tend to burn out quickly and we have the hardest time changing them out.

We finished painting the new hallway and are making progress on painting the new section of family room wall, which was added to lessen the doorway width into the hallway.  You may also notice Bella’s large stroller sitting there.  We are going to have to come up with some type of storage system for her stroller and wheel chair, and most likely it will be in this hallway.  I also have plans to add some type of toy storage system in the hallway.

In the main hall bath the toilet and sink got installed.  You may notice the door is missing.  So this bathroom works for our family in a crunch but we really need to get the door installed to truly make it functional!  Of course the door was currently unpainted wood, so it only needs 8 coats of paint to be finished.  Only 3 coats left to go.

Speaking of the door, while it’s getting painted we are also busy painting trim.  Bella’s bedroom is currently untouched.  We are basically using it as a work station for now.  We did get her carpet ordered and it should be installed sometime late this month.  That gives us a couple weeks to get in there and paint the walls and ceilings.

Bella’s bathroom is almost finished.  The toilet and sink/vanity got installed.  We still need to figure out a mirror and lighting for the vanity area.

Also remaining on the list is getting a closet system purchased and installed.

Our contractor is officially done, so now it’s all left up to us to get it done.  I’m still hoping to get Bella moved into her room at the end of this month (as long as the carpet gets installed in time).  I think that should still be a pretty realistic goal.  As I get bigger with pregnancy I am definitely looking forward to not having to carry her upstairs anymore.