The Rest of the Story :)

 Thanks to company coming this weekend, I got the rest of the house unpacked/cleaned...mostly! :) Here are pics from the rest of the house...

First up, the master suite (I love saying that). I went with a Paris theme. Romantic, classic, and it makes me want to go back to France...

 We finally have a bedroom that ALL of our beautiful furniture fits into!! (excuse the papers under the bed. I forgot those were there!). I got the fabric for the curtains at Hobby Lobby. I was going to go with a deep red curtain (to accent the main piece of artwork above our bed), but couldn't find anything I really liked. I was just about to give up when I spotted this material. Love!

 That door is to our huge walk-in closet. (there's no picture of that because it's laundry time and that means the closet is my sorting spot!) It's so big that we don't have to use very many drawers in our 3 dressers! To the left of the closet door is the bathroom (pics coming in a bit).

 The lamp--it used to be chrome and had a different shade. I bought the lamp when I was in high school, after I got back from my class trip to France & Italy. I found the perfect lamp shade at Walmart. Then I remembered I had some black spray paint in the garage...and viola! A "new" lamp that goes perfectly! All for $10!

 Our massive bed...it can be made into a canopy bed, but in order to put that painting at the head of the bed, we couldn't have those pieces up on the bed. I like it as a 4-poster bed, too. 

 My crafting corner! :) I still have some organizing to do (since I just inherited a ton of scrapbooking stuff!), but I'm excited to have a place for it all! And I love the poster listing all the big attractions in France (and I loved seeing the ones I've been to).

  Master bathroom (again...laundry day-excuse the pile!). The previous owners had the tile put in-really nice. It has a large walk-in shower. I still haven't painted or decorated this room. It'll match the bedroom.

 Sink. Exciting stuff, I know!

 Plenty of storage!

My side of the bed :)

Now the rest of the house that I haven't shown yet...

 This is looking from the TV room to the back door. To the left is the master bedroom. The door on the right is to the school room and through that is the garage. To the left of the back door is Isaac's room. Still need to hang up a couple things on that wall...

 TV room. The wall color doesn't look quite so orange in real life! These couches are another amazing find, thanks to Dad. Aaron found them on craigslist and I called right away about them--only a couple years old both ends of the couch recline and the "love seat" is actually two rocking recliners connected!--and he was only asking $500! It was just listed that day. Anyway, I called and he'd already sold them! We were bummed, but what can you do? They're sold. Aaron, the kids and I go for a bike ride. Mom & Dad were here helping us with some projects (this is before we moved). When we got home, Dad was gone. Mom was sleeping so she didn't know where he was. Finally got ahold of him and he was so cryptic about what was going on. He just said he was going to the farm and would explain when he got back. He assured us Grandpa & Grandma were fine but wouldn't say why he suddenly had to go out there. He got back the next evening. He came in (he had taken Seth's pickup) and asked if Seth had insurance. Not a good way to start a conversation. He basically insinuated that he had hit a deer and done some major damage to Seth's pickup. Of course he didn't actually say he'd hit a deer..he just let us make assumptions! I didn't believe him, but out we go to check it out. And there in the back of the pickup are the couches that were already sold! We couldn't believe it!! It wasn't like Dad had already seen them and bought them beforehand. Turns out, after we left for the bike ride, Dad called the guy back and convinced him to sell then to Dad! I guess the other buy hadn't paid or picked them up yet (he was trying to get a trailer). Dad told the seller that he would come right then. He promised to hold them until the next morning. So Dad drove to Dodge City and slept in the pickup!! He went to the guys' house first thing and picked them up. Incredible!

 Aaron & I made a deal when we cancelled our cable a few years ago--when we got out of debt and bought a new house, we would get cable again and he could get a flat screen TV. :) I'm not done with the canvases around the TV. I was going to do 5x7's but they're really not big enough and there are no canvases that size! So I need to get 8x10 copies of these prints and make the canvases. 

 Again, these walls are NOT this orange! Clock 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Amazing Grace sign from Mom. The only thing left for this room is to get a few more crosses for behind the couches and curtains.

Now for the kitchen...

 That doorway goes into the dining room. We got a new range and fridge. And it used to have brass knobs (fixtures? drawer pulls?) that I wasn't a fan of...so I got a $4 can of textured spray paint and painted them! New knobs are SO EXPENSIVE! I saved a bundle doing it this way! :) And I decided my kitchen is never going to be perfectly clean more than 5 minutes, so it's not the perfect picture :)

 Looking into the TV room. I LOVE having the bar counter there. It's perfect for serving the kids and when I find a highchair (cheap), we'll have enough stools for all of us to sit up there and eat.

I just realized I didn't take a picture of the fridge and pantry. Oh well. Those are to the left of this picture. This goes into the front room and down the hallway to the kids' rooms.

Another great garage sale find!! :) Might change the stickers on it, but I really like it.

Okay, that's it. Except for the outside, I think that's all of our new house!! I'm loving it! :)

(and I'm too tired to proof read this so I apologize for any typos!)

The Cloffice

 Since the office area of the house was turned into a school room, with no room to be an office and school room, I was trying to figure out where we could put an office. Thanks to Pintrest, I discovered The Cloffice!! We have a closet by the back door that we didn't really need to use as a closet. We have a good-sized coat closet by the front door, plus a storage bench. So, I decided we should make a cloffice! I liked the white-I knew it would help to make the space feel bigger and not so closed-in. I had plenty of paint left over from our bedroom, so I just used that (it actually matches the hallway pretty closely).

 Aaron took out the shelf. It was nailed in! And since Mom & Dad showed up unexpectedly and Dad can't be here without him doing a project, he got to finish it :)

We had a bit of debate (Aaron & I) about what to do for the "desk" part. I wanted to just cut the shelf down and repaint it white, Aaron wanted to get a new piece of wood and stain it. My whole idea was to use what we had and not spend much to create this cloffice. Aaron just really likes the true stained wood look. Well...Dad and I went to the lumber yard to price wood and it was going to be $50 (not to mention it was 4' x 8'!). I convinced Aaron to let me go with the white re-purposed shelf and if he didn't like it, we would go with the stained wood. I keep telling him he should never doubt my decorating sense! ;) I won him over...again.

 Aaron went through all his totes of memorabilia and found more than enough to decorate his side of the cloffice! 

 I got the floating shelves and corner shelves at Lowes (with THE dumbest directions in the world for installation!!!!). Those were the most expensive part of the makeover (maybe $50 for all 5 of them?) I already had all the paint for the desk top and walls.

We used the filing cabinet we've had for years to help hold the desk up and for obvious storage purposes. I just got a $5 can of spray paint and made it white! I also bought some office organizer stuff for maybe $20. All in all, it was less than $100 to create an office out of a closet! We have another chair in storage (at Grandma J's!) to use. And I'll probably keep my eyes open for another wooden chair to replace the roller chair.

I LOVE my cloffice! It turned out so nice! Thanks Dad for doing this!!

Isaac's Room

 I finally got Isaac's room done! It didn't take long, just a matter of getting in there between sleep times and doing it!

 His room is animal-themed. Mom got these stickers at a garage sale a couple of years ago! Coincidentally, they match the curtains and the crib set (which was from Jacob).

 I moved things around from where we put them to begin with. I felt like the glider was just out in the middle of the room, taking up too much space. I like it a lot better this way. I'm keeping my eyes open for a small side table to put next to the glider (which, by the way, was from a....you guessed it! Garage sale! Looks brand new. I love it).

 The shelf above the changing table was made by a friend of Aaron's and given to us as a wedding gift...it's worked very nicely for storing baby stuff! Maybe someday it will make it to a living room :) The canvas painting to the left is one that Seth brought back from Ghana for us! I just have it taped up right now...haven't figured out how I'm going to frame it yet.

 Isaac loves the clock (that's what he's pointing to). It also was a wedding gift. It plays music every hour and has clowns that go up and down kind of like a pendulum. He loves the music and kept hollering for more songs! It was funny.

 Had to do letters for Isaac, too! :) I was trying to decide what to put on them when I remembered these stickers. Perfect!

 These prints I'm going to make into canvases. Loving the "Kissables" black & white collage. Underneath is another Kris Goertzen canvas "For this child I prayed". I didn't think the 2 different shades of green would look very good, but I like it.

My poor baby has "borderline" bronchitis! :( Yesterday evening he started with a nasty, chesty cough (sounds like an asthmatic cough actually) so I took him in today. Thankfully his lungs are clear (it doesn't sound like it from my perspective, but their bodies are so little that it's nearly impossible to tell without a stethoscope.). So hopefully in a few more days, he'll be good as new and back to SLEEPING! Otherwise I don't think I'll survive!

Kids' Bathroom: Before

I say this a before photo because I think this weekend we're going to put tile down. Lucky for us, the previous owners left plenty of extra tile from the master bathroom! So it will be a fairly inexpensive re-do!! The only thing I've done to it is add the shower curtain and rug. I think I'll also get new knobs for the drawers.

 Mom has the coolest fishy bathroom and the kids just love it, so I decided to go with a fishy fishy theme :) No wall decor...not sure if I'll do anything or not.

 This cute decal was already here. I love this vanity because it's the perfect height for kids, but there's still the mirror above the sink that's tall enough for adults.

 It's a very small bathroom, but since it's not the only one...I don't care! ;) There's a floor to ceiling storage cabinet behind the door that holds a ridiculous amount of blankets and towels.

This little guy is a stinker! He loves playing in the bathroom, which usually amounts to a) trying to get into the toilet (GROSS!) b) trying to dump out any soap bottle he can grab, or c) trying to get in the tub! Speaking of which, I think he's eating a stick right now so I better go! Hopefully by next week I'll have the after pictures, as well as the cloffice pictures!!

One Room Finished...Almost

I say "almost" because, as you'll see, there are still boxes to be emptied/moved out of the room. But everything that belongs in this room(the dining room and "front room") is put away and it's all decorated except for curtains (haven't decided what to do there yet). I spent all afternoon hanging things by myself...not an easy task with the big, bulky, HEAVY things I had to hang!! But Aaron has been so busy at work that he hasn't had time to do it and it was just driving me crazy not to have it done.
There are no before pictures, because we didn't change the paint or anything. I wasn't really crazy about the color-it's more yellow-toned than brown-toned but once I got the furniture in and everything hung up, I don't think it's too bad.

My Great Grandma's china cabinet that was in our house growing up. It's a little more "retro" than I like but I don't want to ruin its "antiqueness" with refinishing it. I might just replace the handles. I just love having something handed down through the generations.

Our awesome "new to us" couches that Mom found at a garage sale SO CHEAP! They're perfect for this room. (the spots you see are just in the picture) I love, love, love my big picture window!

The entryway and dining room to the left

The dining room. The chandelier and wall sconces were already here-I love them. The table used to be my great-great Aunt's. The mirror I got 50% off at Hobby Lobby!! See the vase in the corner with the twigs in it? I found them out front and thought-hey, perfect! I put it together and Anna said, "Mom, that's not very pretty to me." HA!

I finally have a place to hang this (right as you come in the front door)! I guess I did have it above Isaac's pack-n-play the last few months. But now it's in a spot where everyone will see it.

So, that's the front room and dining room! I'm almost finished with the master bedroom (but not the master bath-still have to paint that!). I did a Paris theme and I LOVE it!

Anna's room

We've got Anna's room DONE! It helps that 1) we didn't have to paint it and 2) she was organizing and putting away as soon as she had boxes in there! She is absolutely relishing having her own room. Most of the time, her door is SHUT :) There have been a couple nights that she's had trouble sleeping because she's "lonely" but for the most part, she's done fine sleeping. Sorry for the poor picture quality...our new computer should be here next week so I'll be able to empty my camera's card and start taking REAL pictures!

Just inside her door-Aunt Cara made this for her when she was born!

Yes, she has a queen bed. When we have overnight company, she has to give up her room and sleep in the bunk beds with Jacob again (until Isaac is out of a crib, then we'll put the boys together and use Isaac's room as a guest room). Curtains are next up on the list...she got a couple of fuzzy lime green ones, but they aren't enough to cover all the windows, so for now I have the blackout curtains up with the not-working shades.

Her very own bookshelf...or should I say toy shelf?? She organized all of this completely on her own.

Her clothes cubby/dresser is in her closet. Of course if there's an empty, flat surface she's going to "decorate" it! :)

I didn't realize I hadn't gotten a full picture of the words on the wall...they were already there! "All you need is a little faith, love, and pixie dust"

Mom found these decals for her. Perfect :)

Her closet door. We put their nice, wooden toy box at the foot of her bed.

"So everyone knows a Cowgirl lives here" :) And a little Kris Goertzen art "You are precious in God's eyes"

The school room is almost done and so is Jacob's. I need to get decor for the master suite and Isaac's room, then it's mostly just hanging what we've already got in the family room, living room, and kitchen! Whew!!! Oh, and we're turning one of the large hall closets into a closet office! :) We are absolutely loving all the space and OUR OWN ROOMS!!!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

I'm Alive...Barely

I have so much posting to catch up on, but blogging is the last thing I have time for right now. We bought a bigger house!!!!! It's been a looooong time coming, but we're so excited. It's not the dream house, but I love it anyway! More than twice as much room-I'll be able to breathe! Still in town, just a few blocks away, actually. 4 bedrooms plus an office, 2 bathrooms (yahoo!!), 2 living rooms, great kitchen, dining room, 1 car attached garage, and a fenced back yard! We close August 25th, so in the meantime, I'm trying to pack up as much as I can so this house is much less "cluttered" (man, we've got a lot of STUFF!) so we can show it and hopefully sell it! We had planned on doing all the "finishing up" projects after we move, but a couple of people have already been asking about it, so we moved that timeline up a bit! It's a madhouse around here...I'm drowning in boxes and displaced stuff! :)

So that's why I'm not around bloggy-world much and probably won't be for another month! :( but :)