our humble abode

mister blue bird {bird mobile}

2012-01-31T06:55:00.000-08:00

I made some little friends for Noah to gaze at while he's falling asleep in his crib... or let's just admit it, I made this for me to look at when I nurse him in his room. :)

I've been ogling bird mobiles for a few years now, and when I saw the pattern for these birds (here) I knew it was high time I get sewing.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out. The best part is, he actually likes it too. He likes to look up and "talk/sing" to them when he's having a diaper change or when he wakes up from a nap.
As far as sewing projects go, this one was pretty simple. I was intimidated before I started... at first glance I didn't get how the two parts of the pattern where supposed to go together (did I ever mention that I really hate sewing from a pattern? My brain is backward. I'm so much better off If I just make it up on my own. It's a personal problem.)

I pinned them together very "thoroughly"... I mean, seriously, you think I have enough pins here?
You may laugh, but it helped me to keep it all where it needed to be. The funnest part was matching up the fabrics. Mis-matching might be a better term. I love them in their non matchi-ness.

The hardest part was probably deciding where to put the eyelet hooks, so that each branch would balance properly. I also used a swivel clasp (fishing paraphernalia thing, I am the daughter and granddaughter of avid fishermen, after all) to help them move and bob a little better, if I tap it they do, indeed, have a "swivel" action... not a rotate in a 360 degrees action, that would have taken a little more ingenuity. But we like it just the same.

Little Mister seems to think it's pretty great.
It's still in progress, but here's a peek at the other corner of the room:
I'm thinking I'll give the legs on this chair some love, but other than that, I love her as she is.

I have a few more things in the works (painting the crib? gasp! curtains and wall art) and some ideas swirling around in the 'ol noggin that are not yet in the works, but soon this room will be done. I know, I'm slow. But it's not fair... bedrest from 24ish weeks on kind of foils plans, and now with three fellas five and under (and none in school yet) I'm a busy busy momma these days, my creative juices are having a hard time being concentrated on one task or project, but I'm happy and enjoying these simple days with my little ones. I'm a lucky momma! And maybe I'll actually get this room finished before the little guy is two, wouldn't that be amazing?

Check out the free bird mobile pattern HERE.

Better Homes and Gardens Feature!

2011-11-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

My Christmas Mantel from last year was featured on Better Homes and Garden's website!

It's been up since April and I forgot to post about it until I was reminded of it yesterday! Thanks, Better Homes and Gardens for the honor, I'm flattered to be featured and flabbergasted to be in the company of some of my favorite home bloggers. I've always loved BHG, subscribed to the magazine for 7 years now and never imagined any of my projects would be BHG worthy. I'm just a mommy.

This is me feeling awfully sheepish... :)

I've had a lot of emails asking how it held up to being stored. Honest answer is: I didn't even attempt it. It was so dried out by the end of the season, it looked pretty sad by the time I took it down. I'm deciding if I want to attempt it again or do something entirely different this year. We do Christmas colorful at our house and the wheels are turning...

I love Thanksgiving, and I think it deserves to be celebrated before busting the Christmas out, so I'll continue to enjoy the last of fall before a single light or wreath goes up, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it!

Go check out the feature for some gorgeous Christmas inspiration!

Enter to Win a FREE Seat at our photography workshop- A $150 Value!

2011-11-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

I tend to keep my photography business very separate from this blog, but thought I would let you all know that I'm teaching a photography workshop this month with my good friend Holly. We are doing a giveaway for a free spot, you've got about one hour to go over and enter for it HERE! I realize most of my readership is outside of Utah, but if you win and want to transfer it to someone who is in the area we are happy to do that!

Monogram Button Art

2011-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

I made a little goal for myself that the four hours a week when my oldest boys are at preschool, that I'll try really hard not to use that time for cleaning, or other household chores. I decided that I need to use that time for creating, since these days I don't get as much of that as I would like. The addition of our third little fella has been wonderful, I can't get enough of him, but I'm still working on achieving balance all over again.

This is one of my little creations during preschool/momma project time.

My favorite section is this little part with the little "n" that looks like a typewriter letter. See it down there?
Since I'm only working with a two hour time slot (they go for two hours on Tuesday and two hours on Thursdays) I didn't want to waste time taking pictures of the process, but here are the details:

I started with:
* a big 16x20 piece of art board or mat board. It needs to be thick to hold the weight of the buttons and glue.
* glue. I think it was 3m project glue or something like that. I bought it at Target. It dries in less than a minute. Bonds paper, plastic metal, etc. Tacky glue would work. Maybe hot glue, although it would make a stringy mess.
* Buttons and brads. lots and lots of buttons. A few scrap book elements and brads to fill in and add depth and dimension, and a few glass beads for fun.

I free handed a lower case "n" for my baby Noah. I just drew it on with pencil. Then I did a rough lay out of where the buttons should go. This took a while, but it was actually pretty therapeutic. Playing with bright colorful buttons is a great stress reducer!

It was pretty easy, and I love the playful color it adds to his room. I'm pretty darn close to finishing up the odds and ends and calling his room finito.

Idea from American Crafts, go here for more details.

Dresser Before and After

2011-10-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

A few years ago (right before we moved, actually) Scott's mom gave us this old dresser that belonged first to his Great Grandma Harris, and then he and his brother used it as kids. It even had red crayon marks to prove it, not sure if those are courtesy Scott or Michael, but it was funny to see that.

I was really excited to aquire it for it's history and for it's curves. I love the serpentine design of the drawers. It's really a cute piece of furniture.
Before:
After:

It was in rough shape. Well built, but had seen better days, for sure. The drawer fronts where coming apart at the joints and some of the back supports where loose, causing the whole thing to shift and the drawers to not be able to slide in. One whole side was barely hanging on. I really wanted to save it. It took me this long to get around to it, and to know what to do with it, but I basically took it apart and reassembled it, banged on it with a hammer and eventually got it all put back together and working. I'm proud to say, the drawers now slide in and out with ease and it didn't fall apart when Scott and I packed it in the house and down the stairs. Let's just say, the thing was dang heavy. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

I had to sand down the entire top to get around some water damage.

I then restained the top in a dark walnut and used the same white we have on all of our trims and wood work in the house. I think the white really made the hardware pop. I wouldn't dream of replacing those old tarnished brass knobs.

The plan is to use this dresser in the new basement to house all of our games and puzzles. Perfect storage, and it gives the space a lot of character. It really needed something "old" to mix with all of the new.

stair gallery

2011-09-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

It took a few weeks, but I finally got it done. I've been dreaming of this since we decided to open up the stair case! I've been collecting and saving these frames for about two years now.

Brace yourselves... and don't judge. I might be going for the world record in the category of "Number of Photos Displayed in a Single Dwelling". They're all over my house, but I like it that way.

Let's call this the before:

After:
We love it!!! I love the way that photographs instantly personalize a space. I had some helpers, who were so excited to see the pictures of our family and some of their art work go up on the wall.

I heard my oldest boy (he's almost five) tell a buddy as they were headed down to play: "Hey! Look! I made that house! It's my house I made for my mom... and she HUNG IT UP!"

It put a smile on my face to see him being so proud of something he made, and so pleased that it was on the wall for all of us to enjoy.

I love the pictures, but this little set of three little hands is probably my favorite part right now.

Most of these pictures where already in the frames, just waiting for a spot to be displayed, although, as you can see, I have a few empty frames waiting for new pictures. I'll get to that soon (I hope) I have a few in mind.

Gallery walls can be tricky. I kind of approached this in a haphazard way. I just dug all of my frames out of the closet where they were being stored and started playing with them on the floor. I made a newspaper template (a la young house love, what a great idea!) of each frame and then taped them to the wall before I drove in a single nail.

I ended up moving things around a little, but stuck with the initial placing I had come up with on my floor. The hardest part was starting (as usual) and once I got going it went up fairly quickly.

I love that it helps to tie the upstairs to the downstairs, it makes it feel a lot more inviting. Now I can't wait to get going on personalizing the basement.

I was initially planning to paint all of the frames white, or a mix of white, green and blue frames. My hubby votes to keep the whites and mixed woods just as it is. So far a few of my friends who have also seen it vote to keep the mixed look. I could go either way. What do you think?

the basement!

2011-09-12T20:59:00.001-07:00

When I was hospitalized in April, we were really, really close to finishing the basement. By the time I came home in May, the carpet was in and most of the left over things were done. I've intended to show a little peek of the basement for a while now, but I've been on a bit of a blog hiatus of sorts. I just don't have time to sit at the computer any more!

We have been enjoying this space for the last few months though! I LOVE the extra closet space, it's fun to have a place to hang out and play together as a family, and I look forward to making the space cozy and decorating it up, it's still very utilitarian and quiet plain right now, but it's another thing on my "things to do when life settles down and I have free time again" list. We have some loose ends, little bits to finish off here and there, but it's pretty much done.

Anyway... here it is!

The built in bookshelf shown below has already progressed. We finally found time to paint the bead board back. It's looking great! I'll share that another time.

The stairs are my favorite part of the whole basement!

Guest room/possible craft space? Still deciding if I want to take over a corner of this room for sewing and crafting. I made that comforter the year I met Scott (8 years ago) with my own two hands and my sewing machine. It's been in storage for most of our marriage. I pulled it out and decided I'm not sure if I'll end up using it anyway, but for now it's better than just a sheet.

Keepin' it real. This is what the toy room looks like 80% of the time. And it's ok with me. They've been having a lot of fun in there!

And here's a preview of the next big thing for us:
Yep, we're certifiably insane. This is just a piece of it though. Removing that door frame going down the stairs left a spot where there was no flooring. That's okay because we've got plans...

When we bought this house, we knew we would be wanting a larger dining area. The time has come. With three little fellas, we now need a larger table than the little 4 seater (with adorable x-back chairs) that was our very first furniture purchase together just after we were engaged. We are maxed out. We want and need a larger table with room for our growing family (and room to expand for when we have guests). So... we're adding on the the back of our house and making our dining room larger! It's going to change the whole look of the back side of our house, and I'm so excited for the possibilities it opens up for our kitchen.

I've disliked the tile from day one, and with the addition in the works, we decided it would be a good time to rip all of that tile out, along with the light colored carpet in the bedrooms, family room and living room. We'll replace it with a dark hardwood that will blend with the wood on the stairs. We had hardwood throughout the entire upstairs in our old house and we loved it. I can't wait for this project! We're in the planning stages right now, and hope to start sometime in the spring. But for now, back to the basement...

We love it, it's been so nice to use all of the space in our home instead of just living out of half of it. This was our second basement finishing in a two year time span. I'm happy to say, we'll be enjoying this one much longer than we did the last. The office still has some work going on, but I'll for sure share it as we get 'er done!

My best project of 2011

2011-08-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

I'm back! I kind of dropped off the face of the blogosphere, and for good reason! My baby boy was born on July 23! He is my very first full term baby, I'm so proud of that! He weighed 7 pounds and was 20 inches long.

Meet my baby Noah.

We love him so much, his brothers can't get enough of him. He is definitely worth every single minute of bed rest.

He has some very proud big brothers!

Things will be kind of slow around here for a while, but I'll be back sometime this week with some things to show ya'll... the basement is done and I've done a few little things upstairs. The baby's room is still in progress, but will hopefully be done soon.

I've missed being in project mode, but it's been nice to have a big break. I'm ready to get back to work (as much as one can with three little fellas under 5!)

coastal dream home {updated}

2011-06-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

{updated with more photos!}

Hi there! It's me here. Remember me?? I'm home and on bed rest, much better than being in the hospital, plugging along at almost 33 weeks and feeling pretty good about that! There is one thing I wish I could do, but can't, and that is go through a few of the homes in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes. One in particular caught my eye and I'm so obsessed that I show my husband the pictures over and over. I'm trying to justify a way to walk through just one house, I can walk through my house, why not tour this one, ya know? I go to doctor appointments twice a week right now... if my doc is okay with me walking from the parking lot and through the HUGE hospital and to her office I think it should be okay to walk through a pretty house, right??

This house is the epitome of beach/coastal style and everything that is home perfection. I love that they fused many different styles for an overall eclectic look. I love the fresh color all over. It's light, bright and airy. It's a happy house!

My "someday house" inspiration files just got an overload of ideas!

I am in love with the reclaimed oak flooring throughout the house! They did a different pattern in the piano room, I think it's gorgeous.

and "hello, mudroom!" Someone was really thinking here, brick floors in the mudroom are perfect, and the barn wood on the wall is about the cutest thing ever.

I'm so in love with this orange bicycle picture. Me thinks I need one of these.

I always love a good white kitchen, this one does not disappoint.

The master suite... swoon.

I've been trying to sell Scott on grass cloth wall paper for a while now, I don't know if I'll ever convince him, but I'm more in love with it than ever now! The ceilings are so gorgeous, this room is one of my favorite bedrooms ever.

The kids spaces are so fun and colorful.

And who hasn't dreamed of bathing the babes in a claw foot tub like this one? I want this bathroom! I love the tile work and the colors.

Adorable bunk room.

I think it's about the cutest thing ever! One more thing on my list. :) I've seen a few like this popping up over the last year or so and I think it's brilliant. And adorable.

And as if you needed more, check out the gorgeous work spaces!
The photographer in me loves the vintage camera display, I should probably do more with mine that just let them hang out on the mantel!

I love the office, it's a little bit masculine mixed with just enough feminine.

And of course the lovely laundry room, I love the blue cabinetry!

This home won two awards, best interior design and best master suite. Very well deserved. For Utah, this home is a real departure from the heavy "mountain lodge" style that is so popular around here. I'm so happy to see something like this, and it looks like there are a lot of others out there who agree! Throw out the stucco and dark and heavy stuff and bring in a little of the coast (even if we are in a state of mountains and desert!)

The home is built by Hatfield Homes, interior design is by Lindy Allen of Four Chairs Furniture, and all of the images used are by permission and most are taken by the home owner, Cristi Bastian. It's model #14, and if you love it like I do, you should go vote for it to win the People's Choice award!

When I emailed Lindy for permission to use their photos and share this home, she sent along a coupon for our lucky readers! Most of the furniture, wall paper, rugs, etc that you see came from Four Chairs.

Yay! Thanks, Lindy!

And thank you to Hiya Papaya for use of their gorgeous images of this home. Go on over and check out them out for more photos!

See more pictures and details on Four Chairs Facebook fan page.

Also, the ever wonderful House of Turquoise is featuring this home over the course of several days, go over to see even more house perfection.

So, what's your favorite part? Anyone else out there dying to see this house as much as I am?

pretty things

2011-05-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here going nuts, thinking about my basement being just a hair away from finished and ready to decorate, and the baby's room that I've been so excited to put together (and now I can't do anything but sit here in the hospital and think about it)
Being stuck in the hospital like this feels like prison, but I know we are blessed to have this baby still growing inside of me and I'll do what I've gotta do to get him here safe and healthy.

I had a better-than-expected Mother's Day today. Scott and the boys came and spent most of the day with me in the hospital. The boys made me pretty pictures and cards to hang on my wall. I need to take a picture of them, but they make me happy. Scott wrote me a very sweet letter and brought me nutella and strawberries (one of my favorite indulgences!) and a book I've wanted for a long time now:

href="http://www.thedesignfile.net/.a/6a0112793ddf7b28a40147e316fb60970b-pi">
"No Place Like Home" by Stephen Saint-Onge.

I love the room makeovers he used to do for Better Homes and Gardens. He has done some t.v. shows as well, but I don't watch much t.v. so I didn't really know that. The book has a lot of pictures of great rooms and his advice and thoughts on making a home a comfortable place for your family.

I snuggled up and started reading it tonight after my fellas left.I love his philosophy of surrounding your family with things that inspire you. The only problem is that it gets me so excited to go home and put the basement together that I start to get a little twitchy sitting here!

So rather than think about being twitchy in the hospital, here are some pretty and colorful things that cheer me up right now:

Baby Quilts!

via ETSY quiltrhapsody

If I can't be home putting his room together, at least I can keep dreaming about it. I love that hexagon quilt, so much!

via Etsy romeojulietdesigns

I can picture something like either of these quits in his room (here's that little idea board I made a few months ago)

Hubby votes for the dots, and I love the simplicity of it. I'll probably make my own version of something more that, it's a little more realistic for my skill level, and I think it's adorable! I think I would go insane trying to do something as detailed as the hexagon quilt.

Cheerful red door and living room:

via southern living

I can't get over Chris's toilet paper roll art (Seriously. Toilet paper rolls.) Who thinks of these things? She does!

Go look at the whole process and prepare to be amazed!
(and yes, indeed, we do have the same duvet set!)

And random, but adorable- colorful rainbow cake.

via martha
Do you think one could use natural vegetable dies and get the same effect? I don't know if that much food coloring would be good for the body. :)

a peek at the stairs...

2011-05-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

The pictures I posted this morning had some troubles, so here's a second try at the progress on the stairs. It's going to be Gor-geous!

way before:

after the drywall phase- we opened up that closed dark stairway:

current progress:
I mentioned in my post this morning, but to re-cap: the treads will be stained dark, the trim pieces and banister parts are going to be white, along with the column/post thing at the bottom.

I promise some better pictures when it's all said and done and baby and I are home and recovering. Until then, I'm afraid my posts will be sporadic and random... but it's all for a good cause!

basement progress update: post # 954... or something like that

2011-04-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

An explanation of sorts: I'm having to press the pause button on my whole life right now. Long story short- On Thursday, April 21, I started going into pre-term labor (my other two were early as well) upon arriving at labor and delivery found that we had a premature rupture of membranes, which means the water had broken and I was slowly leaking fluid. I was only 25 weeks at the time, so it was really scary. They got my contractions stopped, pumped us full of antibiotics and now I'm here on hospital bed rest until my baby boy is born. We are hoping that's not any time too soon. I'm having a hard time being stuck here, unable to care for my kids and my home, but it's important that I give this baby more time to grow so he can be healthy. So here we wait. My hubby is doing an amazing job of holding down the fort, we have lots of help from family, friends, and neighbors and we're going to be okay. I'm married to a most amazing man, who visits me once sometimes twice a day, is working from home and taking care of our kids most of the time, and holding our little family together. We have gained a lot of strength through prayer and appreciate any prayers offered in Baby Noah's behalf. He is strong and so far looking well and healthy.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the work has continued on the stairs. I had actually prepared a blog post that morning I ended up in here, to update the progress and obviously never finished it, so I'll attempt to do what I can from here, with what pictures I have available. Carpet is scheduled for this week and it's making me a little bit crazy that I won't get to see it all until after the baby is born and I get to come home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So here is what I intended to post about 10 days ago...

This is what I walked in to find while Scott was getting his tools rounded up last week to go down and work on the built-in shelf in the basement family room. The boys saw him gathering his stuff and quickly ran to get their tools too.

Scott and I were talking before bed the other night about how we've always had some big house project going on since we bought our first house, 9 months after we were married. We wasted no time ripping up the flooring in that house, re-doing bannisters, moldings, doing our first nursery, painting every wall in every room, painting the kitchen cabinets white, getting rid of blue counter tops, putting in a back yard, a garden... the list goes on. Then in our second house, it was our first basement finishing project, and a few upstairs things, but mostly downstairs. We finished that basement a few months before putting the house up for sale and moving on (because we're nuts) and then came this house. Our second basement finish in just over two years. Not to mention the endless projects upstairs, the painting, the bead board, the trims, the kids rooms, the shutters, the door, the yard... You get the idea. Talking about it made us tired to think about it. It might be insane, but we're just happy working on things together. I've said before that we often feel like the Pioneers. Always building, always working, making things work and getting it how we like it, then moving on and starting over. We say it jokingly, because I guess we get some strange fix out of all of it.

The whole point is that for the first time in over 6 years of house tweaking, I think I've finally found the one project that I'm just so tired of that I can hardly stand it... and that is this basement. I'm so tired of it I could seriously cry. We're so close, and have been for like a month now. We've had some crazy delays and it's just the last tiny bit left, but it seems like it's taking forever. Our stair parts where delayed by nearly two weeks because the parade of homes is coming up and the mill that makes the trim parts was really slammed with orders, the wood flooring for the office was on back order and had to come from China, it took forever, little things like that have really made what should be the home stretch feel like a marathon.

Last week we had some good progress, however. The door that goes downstairs got ripped out, and the stair parts came (hallelujah!) and the stair work finally started!

The first thing was the demolition of that door going down to the basement. We're going for "light, bright and open" and that door just doesn't fit the bill. By the time these stairs are finished and spiffied-up it would be a shame to hide them behind that door.
so... down it came! Don't worry, it's going to look great when it's all done, but being in construction mode is always ugly.
The boys sat at the top of the stairway and talked our neighbor-contractor's ear off for most of the afternoon that first day. They asked questions, but mostly told him he was making a big mess and that he was going to be in big trouble for "breaking" the walls and stairs. I heard him tell them "Sometimes you've gotta make a big mess before you can make it look pretty!" Carter didn't buy it, but I like the thinking behind that... pretty much the story of our lives.
They busted out their tool boxes and goggles and went to "work" right along with him. It cracks me up to hear them chattering his ear off.
My little workin' men have been having a ton of fun with all of this.

Here's a little in-progress peek at the built in that Scott's been slaving away over.
I had been picturing these baskets in the bottom, so he put that bottom shelf in first just to accommodate them. I plan on putting extra blankets and pillows in them for comfy movie nights in the family room. There will be two more shelves in the middle, the shelves and sides will be crisp white and I'm thinking about using some of my left over armoire paint for the beadboard back, just to make it pop a little. I can always paint it white later if we don't like it, but I can see it in my head and I think it will be great.

We officially ordered and paid for the carpet last week, it should be in any day. As soon as those stairs and the banisters are in, we're good to go with the carpet. Hopefully we'll wrap this all up in the next few weeks.

UPDATE:

Remember the before:

And here's what has been done while I've been here in the hospital:

Eeek! I'm so excited that it's making me crazy! The treads are gorgeous cherry, they will be stained dark, the trim pieces and banisters will be white. I'm loving it so much! My husband sent a bunch of pictures to my phone and I can't get the rest of them to work with blogger, if I were home it wouldn't be a big deal, but for now this will have to hold everyone over... not that you were all on pins and needles over this like I have been, but ya know.

We're so glad that we had this part hired out, with everything going on, it's so nice to know that work is still being done and that this basement will get done one way or the other. We had planned to do the painting and staining on our own, but decided that under the circumstances it was best to just get it done quickly and get that carpet in, since it's sitting in a warehouse ready to go.

I'll continue to update from here as much as I can, and it's kind of ironic that I'm not going to get to see it in person for a while, but it brings me comfort to have the project winding down. I need to get out of here and set up Baby's room, but it looks like that's not going to happen for a while.

custom slipcover

2011-04-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Remember that great chair that I found last spring? You know, the one I planned to learn re-upholstery on? It's still one of my goals to learn to reupholster, however, I kind of wanted that thing finished, and with all that's going on right now I didn't see that happening any time soon.

Besides, I had no idea what fabric I wanted, and since I'm famous for changing my mind (seriously, ask my husband!) I decided that a slipcover would we a great way to go... I tried making my own last spring and it turned out "ok" but not great. And it kind of gave me a headache.

In a random google search I found Shelley (Custom Slipcovers by Shelley) and decided to turn my chair over to her!

I found a cute pin stripe fabric that will go with anything (the stripes are charcoal gray and if you look close one of them has a bit of blue-ishness in it.

And here it is!

To say I'm in love with it would be a total understatement! I'm so happy with how it turned out! I'm such an impatient sewer, I would have gone crazy attempting something like this, it was so nice to just turn it over to her and not worry about it.

This chair was supposed to go in the basement, I still might do that, it would look so cute with sectional, but I'm loving it in the upstairs family room right now.

We have one more little makeover coming to it, in the form of some pretty new wood legs to replace the dated wheels. It's going to look even cuter!

Check out Shelley's blog for more of her amazing transformations! Pure slip covering genius!

office peek and our pillow picks...

2011-04-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

Progress news! We found the prettiest bamboo about a month ago that was exactly what we wanted for the office floor... the bad news- it was out of stock and it comes from China, so it took about a month to get here. The good news is it came in this week and Scott got right to work laying it...
It's beautiful! Slightly distressed and hand scraped, we love it! He's done a great job putting it down, all that's left are two rows you can't see in the picture on the far right of the room and the closet.

The other good news is that the carpet installer came and got an official measurement yesterday. As soon as the stairs are done we're ready to get the carpet installed. We're waiting on a few stair parts to arrive and then we should be good down there. If all goes well, we're looking at maybe another week or so. WAHOO!!!

And now back to the pillow talk...

I was so surprised to see the poll so heavily weighted to one choice. Not surprisingly, it was the one we liked the best too...

Yep, it's the orange, blue, brown combo! Reassuring to know a lot of you liked it too! I still like those bold red stripey pillows a lot, but might have to find some other place to use them. :)

I designed the red/blue/bold stripey scheme first, then for fun threw that orange one together. I was surprised when we both really preferred the orange. I wasn't really thinking we would go orange, but it works beautifully with that shade of blue, it's nice and warm, a little unexpected and just the dose of fun that our young family needs.

As for the votes, we had a little problem with our poll... for some reason it re-set itself yesterday, like started over at zero sometime late morning, so I don't know the exact number of votes, but I can say that when I saw it Wednesday and Wednesday night, B was winning by a lot. We were somewhere around 50-ish votes and B was winning with about 70% of the vote. This morning we're at 44 votes- 8 votes for A, 28 votes for B and 11 votes for C. Wednesday it looked like A was in second place, so I really wish we had the numbers for all of the days combined, but it's safe to say that choice B won with between 60%-70% of the vote for both of the days that it was counting.

Some of you mentioned you wanted to know the choice I didn't like at all... for me that was choice C. and it wasn't that I didn't like the pillows, because I really like the more rectangle pillows and the monogram pillow of course as well, I think it just didn't appeal to us because we're so "blue and green" everywhere upstairs in our main living area that I'm trying to do something different in our space in the basement. The blue is about the same blue I've used throughout the house, so it ties it in with the colors upstairs, but the orange is something new, and we like that!

Now I've got to get those fabrics ordered and get to work! :)

Thanks for humoring me and playing along! It was fun to hear from many of you, and fun to see what you prefer too!

It's here! And a pillow poll...

2011-03-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's here! Scott brought the sectional home on Monday night, I was so thankful they shrink wrapped it for us, it was a wet, rainy-snowy day here. It all arrived in great condition and it stayed clean. Here's a close up detail shot of the color and texture. I really do love it. I can't wait to get it in! I'm tempted to put it in our upstairs family room and kick the leather set out to the garage, just so my new baby can be inside... but I'm withstanding the temptation, because I know it's motivation for us to get the odds and ends done.

I talked in my last post about how I can't wait to put some fun pillows on it. I sat down for a minute last night and tried to pull some ideas together. Here are some hypothetical possibilities- the Hubbs and I already know which one we love the best, when I showed him the choices he agreed fully with the one I wanted... without knowing which one I had already chosen as my favorite, I love it when that happens!

We thought it would be fun anyway, to get your input! Check out the poll on the side and let us know which one you like the best... not that it'll make any difference... but just for fun! I can tell you there's one choice I pretty much don't like at all, but threw it in anyway to have a nice three choice poll. :)

Of course they all involve a bit of blue. I don't know what I'm going to do if I ever decide I don't like blue anymore, it's kind of "my color".

We found an ottoman really similar to this one that we both really like, and of course it will all look different when it's actually in the room and everything, but I'm getting so excited I can hardly stand it! This is the second basement we've finished in less than two years, to say we're burned out from being in basement mode would be an understatement, but we're finally in the home stretch now! Yay!!!

*disclaimer- some of those pillows are not "really" pillows... I just made some designs in photoshop using fabrics I liked and most of them I would be making myself... others I found randomly from stores I like online.

carpet and couches... getting closer!!!

2011-03-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

CARPET!!!!

I thought we would never get to the carpet phase in the basement, but I'm so happy to report, we picked some out on Friday! It's super soft, and I can't wait to finally be able to settle in down there and use the other half of our house! It's actually not any of these colors, so you'll just have to be surprised, but it is neutral, it's going to look great with the paint, and it's a good mix between "light" but not "too light to keep clean". We're going for light, bright and airy so I did go with a lighter carpet. The only things left to do before the carpet comes are install the bamboo flooring in the office and our neighbor contractor friend is doing our stair treads and stair stuff (banisters, ballisters and the like). We've been waiting for some materials to be made, but it looks like this week is the week, so hopefully carpet NEXT WEEK!!! Ahhhh!! Yay! My almost three year old chattered on and on yesterday about all of the toys he was going to take downstairs to play with when we get our carpet in. We're all just a little excited!

In the spirit of "almost" being finished with the construction, my mind is turning to the fun and pretty parts, decorating and furnishing. We had originally planned on moving our dark brown leather set down, but to be honest, I just don't love them. They were a mistake from the minute they were delivered to our first house. They're just a lot darker than I prefer... after talking to my (wonderful, supportive, patient...) hubby, we came to the conclusion that now would be a good time to invest in a sectional like we had wanted for downstairs and eventually we'll probably sell the leather set and go with something lighter and slip covered for our upstairs great room.

So, what do ya do when you're two weeks away from carpet? You start shopping for a couch! I should have just waited, it would have been easier and smarter that way, but I was too excited. I did some online shopping (homework.) and was a little discouraged at how much it would cost to get the one I would really love. I priced out Pottery Barn (for fun) and the total was about $3,400. OUCH. We've been saving up, we're also using some of our tax refund, but sheesh. That's almost as much as my first car cost. I priced out everything from Bassett, RC Willey, Ashley, Sofa Mart and Ikea. What I came up with was nada. The ones I really liked were crazy expensive, the ones in our desired price range where ugly (aka puffy arm sectionals that belong in the 90's). The Ikea option was definately more affordable, but they always seem a bit lighter and not as well constructed... I'm saying that because we do have the ektorp slip covered chair, I like it, but it's not the most comfortable seat in the house. It's okay, but it feels kind of hard, when guests sit in it they always make a comment like "Oh, I get the comfy chair!" then they sit in it and I always see this surprised look on their faces, it's really not as comfy as it looks.

Anyway, on a whim one day last week, I loaded my little boys up and headed to Down East Home. They have a lot of discounted Pottery Barn and other brand furniture, but you sometimes just have to get lucky. Right as I walked in, I saw this beauty, staring back at me:

Um... yes, please! Light, bright and airy! I was thinking something along the lines of cream, gray or a light tan would be perfect and there it was. The fellas and I sat on it and it was super comfy. Nice down cushions and of course slip covered and highly washable. The price tag had it marked down to $1399.00, yes, that's a lot of pennies, but if I had walked into pottery barn and ordered the same sectional it would have been close to $3000. And this is a piece of furniture we plan on keeping for a very long time AND we have saved up cash for this purchase... just sayin'... I'm not a furniture snob.

So I took this picture with my cell phone and practically skipped out of the store!

Scott liked it too, when I showed him the picture, so we made another trip in on Saturday to look at it. Right next to it, was sitting another, even better looking sectional that had just come in the day before:
I didn't get a picture of the "actual" one, because my kids were bouncing on couches and we were comparing every detail of the two sectionals. Something about this tan one just seemed "nicer" it seemed like the slip cover was less "slumpy" it just seemed to be a nice tight fit, the cushions seemed to have a little more support and everything about it looked too good to be true. Sometimes some of the furniture that comes in there looks a little like a floor model, it might have marks on the the upholstery, dings or small scratches in the wood, stuff like that, but this couch was pristine. It was an easy choice looking at them side by side. The tan-ish one just seemed better. The fabric was a B class linen/cotton blend fabric, where the other was an A class pure cotton. It was $100 more, but obviously well worth that $100 extra.

We left and I hit up one more store, just to be sure it was what we wanted. I went to my favorite, Down to Earth.
There I found an upholstery sale- 30% off upholstery items. This couch was marked down to $1399, so in the same range as the other two. The cons about this one though, it wasn't slipcovered, and it's actually just a huge sofa with chaise, not a true sectional. This thing was gargantuan though. The lady working there measured it for me, it's 138 inches wide... um, holy sectional, Batman! I'm sure it would have "fit" but it would have felt like too much furniture, for sure. It was comfy though, and that chaise can be moved to the other side, so unlike a lot of sectionals the configuration is flexible. I also priced out a sectional like the one at Down East, made by ROWE, and was sickened by the $3,000-$5,200 price tag. Yikes!

As we talked about it later that day we felt like that second tan-ish colored one was the perfect one. I went back to the store to have them put a hold on it until we can pick it up on Monday. They could only hold until end of day Saturday, and I was a little worried it wouldn't last, there was another couple there looking at it at the same time that almost put a hold on it themselves, but left to check out another store first. It would sit there for sale all day Monday before we would be able to pick it up. So we decided to just pay for it, have it wrapped up and taken off the floor and pick it up on Monday. I did ask the manager if she would take $100 off to make it the same price as the cream one, but unfortunately, since it was brand new to the store and it was a class higher fabric, she had no wiggle room. Darn, but it's never bad to give it a try.

I almost backed out as I was standing there in line. It kind of makes me sick to spend large sums of money. Buying something expensive feels like a defeat for my DIY, make it work attitude. I almost threw up in the car on the way home, no joke, it made me so ill. My hubby thought that was great, he loved hearing that I didn't like doing it! But he was sweet and tried to make me feel better by reminding me we would keep it forever and it was the best one we had found yet... etc...etc. What a good guy. :)

As soon as I got home, I put one in a hypothetical cart at potterybarn.com.
3 piece sectional, box cushions, down blend cushion, washed linen/cotton B fabric, walnut.

And then I felt better.
$3,399.00. Mine was $1499.o0 for the exact same sectional. We DO plan on taking great care of it and keeping it forever. I can't wait to snuggle up and have a family movie night on it, mostly I can't wait to just get it into my finished basement! I can't stop thinking about what colors of pillows I'll put on it.

I have to say this: I'm not one of those snobby expensive furniture people I hate spending money. I like getting deals. Most of what I have I found for crazy cheap, I have no problem with buying used things and fixing them up- I do it all the time. I was perfectly willing to buy something used and put my new favorite slip cover sewing lady to work. But we just decided it really was better for us to just invest in one that we would love and use for a really long time. We saved up our money and paid cash for it, I feel good about that, and I do love it... why do I feel the need to disclaim and justify this furniture purchase? Enough. :)

I told my hubby last night "I hate spending that much money."
and he reminded me "I love that we just saved some money."

I know he was just saying it to make me feel better.

So that's how I'm choosing to think about it. I saved us some pennies.... right?

We pick her up tomorrow and she sits in the garage all wrapped up in plastic until the carpet is installed, and then you better believe I can't wait to unwrap her and put her in her new home!

If anyone in the salt lake area is looking for a cream pottery barn sectional, the Draper Down East still has that first one, and it's a pretty comfy one too!

monogram pillow

2011-03-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

I never met a monogram I didn't like. I might possibly be obsessed, we have the letter B all over the house, but it's fun and it makes me happy, and my preschool age boys love it too! They like to trace this pillow over and over with their little pointer fingers. :)

Here's the quick how-to for those who would like to try working with an applique!

#1. What you need....

Print out a letter in a font you like and a size you like (I put mine on cardstock).

Felt- any color. Mine is black and the fabric I chose was a natural colored textured fabric. Burlap is cute, but not very cuddly.

Fusible webbing- wonder under or other.

A pencil, some fabric scissors, and an iron.

#2.
Cut out the letter, trace it backwards and upside down onto the fusible webbing. Make sure it's wrong side down, picture it like this, you want the sticky side to be the side that touches the felt, the backing peels off.

#3

Set the paper template aside. Now I'm working with the "B" that was traced from the fusible webbing, NOT the cardstock letter. Do a rough cut, a rectangle or whatever, around the letter you traced onto the webbing. Now it's ready to iron. You don't have to peel anything off for this part, when it gets hot, the adhesive in the webbing will stick to the felt.

#4.
Iron the webbing. Follow the directions on the package, make sure to hold the iron on the webbing for the recommended amount of time.

#5
The next step is to cut around the traced letter. The felt is now adhered to the letter. So felt on one side, the backing of the webbing where you traced is on the other side.
It will look like this when you peel it off. Peel the backing when you're sure that you've cut your letter out as close to perfect as you can get it.

#6
Position the felt letter on the fabric. (It might help to use some spray adhesive to stick it temporarily until it gets ironed on, you will be ironing from the back side of the fabric and it might be hard to tell if the letter has shifted or if it's still centered where you want it).

#7.
Iron from the back side of the fabric. Make sure to leave the hot iron on the area for as long or longer than the directions say. Mine took forever.

#8
Done! You might want to make sure that your applique is adhered everywhere, if not you can re-iron and stick it down good. That's the top part, from there it's just a matter of sewing the pillow cover. I chose to do envelope enclosure back so it can be removed for washing. I change my pillows out so often that it's just not sensible to sew the pillow form all the way into the pillow for me. It's nice to be able to easily change or wash them without loosing the whole pillow or taking it apart.

Enjoy! I have one more of these in brighter colors planned for my other couch, and a few more accent pillows ready to sew as soon as I get the time and energy to get it done! Spring always makes me feel like changing out my pillows.

Happy Monogramming!

colorful house

2011-03-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to share this for those who may have missed it, but this great house was featured in the February Better Homes and Gardens issue. The moment I saw it I was in LOVE with the fun and colorful spaces.

This stair case is one of my all time favs! I love the built-in shelving and how that hall just looks so perfect right there leading into the family room.

Little pops of Aqua and orange all over, even on the outside of the house. I love that it's mostly white, the white makes it classic and the bright colors hint at what's inside. And how fun is that front door??

Of course I always love me a fresh white kitchen. Commercial grade gas ranges always come in handy too. :) My dream house has one of those for sure. I love the color on the island in this otherwise crisp white space. It's perfection!
I ripped this whole story out and put the whole thing in my inspiration file. There are a few more rooms featured, but these were my favorites. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

So (in my opinion) why this works so well... the oodles of white trim tie every room together, the huge windows let in lots of natural light, the color palette repeats throughout the house, some rooms add in a few more colors, but they all have at least one or more of the colors in the main palette. It fits the family who lives there, and she created a space with meaningful things. Very well done. I'm taking mental notes. We can all do this in our own way with things and colors that inspire us!

CSN stores giveaway winner!

2011-03-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

The winner is Kelmarie!
Lucky #1! And here's the screenshot from random.org to prove it!

I'll email you with the details so you can claim your prize!

basement progress update!

2011-03-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

*Don't forget to scroll down and enter the CSN Stores giveaway, it ends on Thursday morning!*

We had a really productive, basement lovin' weekend! I'm just now getting around to sharing all of the stuff going on, but the good news is, most of the trims are cut, nailed and caulked. We have a ton of painting to do, but we can handle that! We still need to go carpet shopping, and our stair treads and banister parts have been ordered and work on that should start in the next few weeks (we hired that part out).

The playhouse now has a cute little door, we're re-working the plan for the play house a little, I'm not sure exactly how it's going to look when it's finished, but I think it will be fun. Notice the little doorway on the left, that doorway leads into a little hallway like a "tunnel" that connects into the main area of the playhouse, the kids already love running around in circles, in one door and out the other. We put little lights inside the tunnel area and everything (It's hardly a tunnel though, an adult can stand up straight and walk through it, but the boys think it's magical and that's all that matters!)

Scott has been hard at work adding craftsman details, and everything is going to be light and bright. This little built in was a last minute whim, it was supposed to be a closet with a door, but it's on the same wall that our TV will be on. We decided to turn it into a built in shelf and I'm so happy that we did! Scott built a base and trimmed it out, next come the inside shelves. I'm deciding if I want the back painted white like the rest of it, or if I want to do something fun with color on the back... it could be really great. Thoughts?

The biggest change down there has been the office. We took the covering off the glass door (details on that in another post) and taped off the area where the wainscot will be (I promise we measured, and it is on a third, although in this picture it kind of looks like half, I promise it's not) and selected a paint color and painted the top part of the wall.

Are you ready for this?

Waaaahhhh!!! It's way out of my comfort zone, I usually go for light bright neutrals, but I'm really liking how it's looking! The color is Martha Stewart School House Slate. We mixed it in Olympic low VOC eggshell finish. I freaked out when Scott put the first swipe on the wall, remember my painters remorse problem? In our first house I learned quickly that I really don't go for darks or even midtones. I like light paint. This kind of made me twitchy as I watched it go onto the wall. I don't know why the turquoise in Carter's room didn't bother me, it's a bright color, so I wasn't as nervous, but this is super dark for me. Lucky for all involved, I have zero painters remorse this time, I really love the color!

We spent Friday night down there, Scott painted while I peeled that horrible protective stuff off the glass doors. At one point, he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the wall behind me. I looked up to find this:
What a guy. :) We always feel a little nerdy when we admit to people that working on a project is as good as a date night for us, but it really is. We both really enjoy building things and making our house better for our family, and we have a fun time talking and laughing about silly stuff while we do it.

The plan is this: We are laying dark bamboo on the floor, we'll keep the same desk we have upstairs and I plan on bringing in some grays, lots of whites and who knows what else to accent it with, but here's a little idea board I threw together to kind of show where we plan on going with this:

A tiny bit nautical, but not overwhelming nautical. We want to display some pictures and maps from our favorite trips and vacations on the walls.

Here's the big question though. We are thinking we should paint the ceiling a muted down version of the wall color, a kind of grayish blue, just so it's not such a harsh transition between the dark slatey blue walls and the pure white ceiling, but at the same time, I kind of like the clean white ceiling and Scott is talking about doing some fancy trim work like this:

Which would be de-lish. If we did that, we would probably do a light gray toned paint inside the boxes to make the trim work pop. That's something we can add later though. Right now we just need to get to the carpet phase before I go mad.

The last and smallest detail is that we took out an ugly wall mounted globe light in the stairwell and replaced it with this beauty:
I'm dying over it. For the first few days I would open the door and just gaze at it (the door will come off as soon as the stair work starts for an open and airy transition to the stairs). We still have to touch up paint around it, but I couldn't bear to leave it out of the basement update.

Anyway, that's what we've got going on down there! When we first saw this house we were over-the-top excited with the potential we saw in the basement, it's a daylight basement, and it really is nice and bright down there, the big windows make it feel less like a basement and more like just another part of the house. We can't wait to get 'er done and start enjoying it!

CSN stores giveaway!!!

2011-02-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

Good Monday afternoon to you!

I have lots of progress to show on the basement, and I"ll get to that soon, but first, I'm so excited to share this with my readers today! The good folks at CSN stores are offering a giveaway for Our Humble Abode readers! The winner gets $20 to spend at CSN stores! I've been browsing the sight a bit, and this is going to be fun for the lucky winner! I can already see a few things we would love to put in our basement! Everything from couches, to gorgeous pendant lights to literally the kitchen sink! They also have smaller home decor and kitchen items, bowls, baskets and cooking supplies. The lucky winner has a big task ahead of them, there are over 200 stores to choose from, they even have stores that carry baby accessories and fitness equipment! We've been in the market for a swing set and I was overwhelmed with the amount of choices! Choosing what to get with your winnings will probably be the hardest part!

Want to win?
* One entry for a comment
* Become a follower of Our Humble Abode for a second entry (make sure to leave a second comment so I know to count you twice.)

Good luck! I'll announce the winner Thursday morning!

pretty windows!

2011-02-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I'm so excited about what's been going on down in the basement that I have to share!

My hubby has some serious skills and has been slaving away to make this basement the basement of my dreams!

I know it's nerdy, but things like this make me love and appreciate him more than anything else he could do. Some gals like flowers and jewelry, I'll take some trim work or house projects any day of the week over those things!

Check out these oh-so-pretty craftsman-y window casings that he built!
We've only done the first coat of paint, they need another for sure, but I love the way they're turning out!

They started out looking like this:
I would say he's come a very long way!

I'm so excited to be in the final stages of our projects down there! We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Happy Friday, I hope your weekend is fabulous! Mine is going to be great, it will be filled with more pretty trims and basement work!

small change

2011-02-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

My red curtains (seen here and here) were starting to make me twitch. I like red, but I got tired of these fast. I'm really trying to mix it up and not be so rigid with my color pallete in my home, but I like what I like... and I like green. :)

I did this about a month ago, and it makes our dining space feel cleaner and fresh, just in time for spring!

{baby boy nursery} idea board

2011-02-11T12:52:00.001-08:00

We found out a few days ago that our little one is a boy! He has two big brothers who are thrilled beyond words and can't wait to meet him and start loving him!

I had a lot of fun last night creating this little idea board for our little fellas room. The paint and the tree will stay the same, I'm planning to add in a lot of color with other things, bird pillows (etsy) to go with the birds in the tree on the wall, I found the little kite pillow(also etsy) and plan to make one similar to sit on the toy box under the window, and lots of bright and happy fabrics (tonic living and hawthorne fabrics mostly). I know it looks like a random sampling of fabric, but I want it to all go together without looking straight-from-the-store matchy.

This is just the first round of ideas, a jumping off point if you will, but I'm liking that it will be a bright fun place for him to rest and play. I can't wait to get started! (After we get this basement out of the way, which is making huge progress of late !)

It's a lot of the same colors as Owen's previous room, but now that he's been moved in with big brother, this room is the toy room until we get a new one set up downstairs. I really wanted to keep the tree, but we'll change it up with new bedding and some new colors to make it his own little place.

craftsman cottage

2011-02-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

My hubby gave me some homework today, to find an example of window casing styles I like for the trim work in the basement. He's about half way done with all of the trim work down there, most of the doors are trimmed, a lot of the baseboards are up, and it was time to decide exactly what to do for windows.

In my search, I ran across a tastefully renovated Craftsman style Cottage that has me drooling. The interior has all of the elements I want in our "someday" house, the wide plank oak floors, the door and trim styles, the knock your socks of classic white kitchen with vintage appeal and modern convenience, the glass tiled back splash, the whole thing is perfection.

Take a look for yourself:

Go HERE for the 360 tour of the kitchen.

Here's the exterior, I think they did an amazing job!

And the before of the exterior. You can tell that some of the elements are the same, but it's a whole new house!

All images and details came from Tar Paper Crane. http://www.tarpapercrane.com/2010/06/cottage-complete.html

I just expanded the file for my "someday" house, this cottage is right up my alley!