Planning for the New Year

We hope all of you lovely people had a fantastic Christmas, we had a blast this year watching our little boy on Christmas morning.  I don't know who was more excited, us or him.  We also enjoyed relaxing, laughing and visiting with our families and friends and even more, worshiping the most generous giver, our Savior, on Christmas morning.  Such a special time.

Trying to get a good shot of your excited kid on Christmas is just about impossible...here are some attempts, just for fun....

Sitting still doesn't make sense

You can see the blur he has left behind in his frenzy

The best one we got, I'm just surprised he sat still for that long - 3 seconds.

So now back to house stuff----now that Christmas is over we are already switching our gears and thinking about the upcoming year - planning and anticipating things that are to come.  All of our Christmas decorations are down and put away - we can't stand to have anything up past Christmas day - as much as we love pulling it out- it's time to go, I know we are a little nuts.  And now we can have our house back and see the things we really want to work on.

We are finally going to give our little closet and laundry area some love and start working on some painting and other things back there.  It still boasts the awesome paneling that so much of our house was covered in as well as the fancy vintage floor the we so love - not.  Getting and staying organized is something I'm going to be working on this year.  It's really essential when you live in a small space and this area in our house really needs it.  I feel a purge and organize event coming in our near future.

So here is where we stand....I'm feeling very brave giving you a look at my closet, I will admit it has looked much worse than this in the past.

We really have a ton of upward storage space in here that needs to be better utilized.  If only I could grow 5 inches taller to access it.

And, we need a better way to keep clothes in their place.

Since our master bedroom really is quite small - I really wouldn't call it a master at all- we really don't have a lot of room for clothing storage so most of it is kept in here, hence all of the plastic drawers - chic, I know.

This closet needs major help and we hope to give it that.  Now on to the other area back here, the laundry space.  

I can't wait to get going and start transforming this space of our house.  We will keep you up to date on what we will be working on as we go.  We have a lot more house things we are planning for this next year as well, hopefully ripping up carpet and painting the house exterior will be in that plan - stay tuned.  So how about you guys, any spaces getting an update or organization in your homes in this new year?  Share with us!

Make A List

So over the weekend we realized something, we need to regroup.  There are so many things that we want to do that at times we can get off track and out of control.  We have several lingering projects that need to be completed but as far as the next big thing goes, we have got to get organized.  At the very beginning we started a list  - let me stop here for a minute and fill you in on a little Justin and Megan secret - we (as in Justin) love to make lists.  We make lists for everything - at least once a week we have lists for all kinds of activities, for example: what we want to do around the house, cleaning schedules, groceries, church activities, scheduling Roo refills (just kidding, that's just a mental list), etc. The first thing on any of our lists is always "make a list" - so we can immediately mark something off when we are finished.  Crazy?  No way, there is so much joy found in crossing something off that it pushes us forward and gives us momentum for the next thing.  Our lists are also very detailed, for example, if we are doing laundry the list will not read "do laundry"  it will read: "sort clothes", "wash all loads", "dry all loads", "fold all clothes", "put away all clothes", and so on.  Too much?  Maybe, but what a thrill it is to mark all those tasks off.  Ok, so now that you know how crazy we both are I will move on.  I will add that I never had this obsession with making lists before I met Justin, but his love for lists has definitely rubbed off on me - I have now embraced the love of lists.  So all of this rambling on to say - we made a list this weekend!  And it's not just an ordinary list, it's a doozy - detailed, budgeted, lengthy, it's got it all.  We are very pleased in our list and can't wait to start marking all of those detailed items off.  So here are some of the items on our list that we have supplies for already or are no cost projects that need completion while we prepare and save up for our next big thing - the exterior paint job.

(Ugly Plants)

Make A List
Remove old Mirror Cabinet in Bathroom
Hang New Mirror in Bathroom
Remove old faucet from Bathroom Sink
Install new faucet in Bathroom
Finish Painting Hallway
Paint Half-Bath Trim
Paint Half-Bath Walls
Create and Hang Wall Art
Removal of Ugly plants in the Front Yard
Removal of Old Landscaping Timbers
Cleaning out and Organizing Storage Shed
De-clutter and Organize Spare Room
Paint Trim in Spare Room
I think these things should keep us busy for a while and give us time to save up some more cash for future projects.  When remodeling your home staying organized is sooo important, otherwise you will be all over your house trying to work on things and spending money on stuff that it's just not time for.  Getting organized is key and we intend to stay that way, and I guess it doesn't hurt that we love lists anyway.

It's a Rug's Life

Rugs are on our agenda today and we have been on the search for a few to add some pizazz and style to some of our rooms.  Rugs can also add a feel of softness and comfort to a cold or stark room as well.  We have not only been on a hunt for rugs, we've been on a hunt for affordable rugs that we love.  We don't want to settle on something just because it's cheap, we want to like it too.  So after much searching and scouring we have found just what we were looking for.  

First off, our main bathroom rug.  I'll be honest, I debated like crazy about this rug - not because I didn't love it but because I thought I might be able to find something less expensive.  After going around and around my mom finally helped me realize I was debating over $3 and to just get the one I wanted.  And I'm glad I did.  I love the added softness, texture and style this rug brings to our bathroom.  This is seriously the softest rug we've ever stepped on.

For our kitchen we wanted to find a neutral rug in a a more rectangular shape.  Silas and Chatham both love this rug.  It's given Silas a little favorite place to play in the kitchen and Chatham a favorite place to sleep.

Finally we're stylin' up our bedroom with an area rug that ties in our curtains that we just added.  We love how it just pulls everything together.

We have been working on a lot more things in our bedroom so we will be sharing those with you next week!  We might even get to finishing our bathroom.  There is still time to enter to win two products from Etsy shop SweetsNThings, you can enter our giveaway here, we will announce the winner on Monday!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Bye, Bye Master Cave

We knew immediately when first touring this house that we would be painting the paneling in the master bedroom as soon as possible.  The paneling that existed in this bedroom was the cheapo fake kind - not real wood.  The thought of sleeping in a dungeon cave just didn't sound too appealing to us, but maybe for some it would - to each their own.  Our master bedroom - if you can really call it that is small to begin with, so the paneling wasn't helping the overall smallness factor.  Instead, it was making the room feel like it was shrinking in on you.  After buying the house we quickly got to work on painting our master bedroom and to my surprise painting paneling wasn't that different from painting regular walls, it was quite simple.  So, if you are thinking of painting your paneling don't fret, it's not hard!  And, you will be totally blown away at how much bigger and brighter your room feels after.  I actually feel like the painted paneling gives the room a beach cottage type feel and I love the beach so that is a plus for me (I promise -no beachy themed decor will pop up here.)  Here are the steps we followed for painting our paneling:

Step 1:  Fill in all those holes!  (We learned this the hard way from previous painting experiences)  Holes = ugly finished walls.  It's harder to see holes in paneling so do a thorough check and just fill them in with a putty and sand them up when dry.  After sanding you need to wash off the dust so your walls are nice a clean and ready for paint.

Step 2:  Prime them up.  We used an oil based primer, and I think you need it for paneling, so you can be extra sure you are covering up all the darkness and any stains that might exist.  Don't worry if it looks a little streaky or see-through, one coat will do the trick.

Step 3:  Get your paint rollers out and watch that cave disappear.  One issue with paneling are the grooves, so you will need a brush handy to fill in any spots that the roller doesn't get.  After you let your first coat of paint dry, give it a second - this is when it starts looking really good.  Just a note, we used Olympic no VOC paint and it worked beautifully.

Step 4:  High five, let out a sigh or a laugh, lay on the floor where your bed will be and admire you new walls (that's what my dear husband did) or whatever it is you do when you finish a project and enjoy it.  You're done!  It's that easy.

Now, on to the picture portion of the post - the before and afters.  Disclaimer - we are still in the early stages of decorating - aka we have no decor going on in this room.  We are however working on that so we will share new things as they come along.  But, in the meantime we are quite pleased with a new fresh wall color.

Before

After

This is the other side of the room (which also was our storage station while we were working on the kitchen)

And After (Yes that is a shell and it doesn't count as beachy themed decor, just saying)

 So the next pictures are part of a design dilemma we will be facing soon - it's called the pull down attic is in our bedroom and it is equipped with a chain pull.  Nice isn't it?  We have lots of ceiling friends here.

So what about you?  Have any paneled rooms you are itching to paint?  Do you possess awesomely wicked painting skills and would like to share them here with us?  Comment and share!

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