Picnic table... In a dining space??

While googling images tagged "decorator table" and "dropcloth"  I somehow stumbled upon this fabulous photo.    A little odd, since it doesn't include a decorator round, or a dropcloth.


Are you as in love with this as I am???

A PICNIC TABLE????   IN A DINING ROOM???    I am LOVING this.  I'm quite jealous that I never thought of this on my own.  Especially when searching frantically for an affordable breakfast table a few months ago.

Oh.. and with end chairs.  SO cute.

Can I completely steal this idea even though I have two tables already???  Would it be completely wacko to sell a perfectly good farmhouse dining table (it is counter height which I'm not too crazy about anymore) and pick up a picnic table for my formal dining room??   It certainly isn't that formal is it?

Oh, but it is charming.

And donchaknow (Texan girl here pulling out the midwestern accent LOL) they just had to use pumpkins to completely and fully win my heart over.   SIGH.  

What do you think?  Completely wacko, picnic tables are outdoor items only?  Or undeniably charming??

By the way, these photos are from CountryLiving.  Found HERE

Where do you blog??

Joining the "Where do you blog" party, over at Centsational Girl.

I do all of my blogging here:

Since I do most of my work on a laptop, it works.

I prefer to work like this:

*TV off* Quiet, Me time.

But, often it is done like this:

Notice the cartoons on, and the two little blond heads keeping me company.

My favorite spot is here:

I usually find myself here in the mornings.  I have a wall outlet beside me, cords for my camera in the baskets behind me, and a soft cushy place to prop my feet up  (a MUST with less than 10 weeks until Baby Three gets here).

If I blog in the evening, I usually move to here:

Hubby likes the corner when he's home, and he often turns the lights out to watch movies, so those green glass lamps come in handy.

What I like about this space is that it is our family room right off of the kitchen.

Any sneaks into the kitchen for a little snacky-do, or a cup of hot tea are all the easier.

The room is tinier than most family rooms, but it is cozy and I can't wait until our first winter here so we can light the fire.

I do plan on redoing that tile around the fireplace, but that will be another project for another time.

Maybe one day I'll have a set up office space, or a dedicated craft room in which I'll blog, but for now this works.  This open space with our family room, our kitchen, and our breakfast nook truely is the heart of our home.

Linking up to the Where Do You Blog Party at Centsational Girl.

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/

Have a great one!

Happy Sunday!

We spent yesterday lounging around the house.  For the first time in a long time, it really feels like a weekend.  When you stay home everyday, the days begin to merge together.  Getting up and getting our kindergartener to class has given us some structure, and for once I wasn't bugging my husband to "go and do something" on Saturday.

I spent a large portion of the day, yesterday, sewing and I've FINALLY gotten close to finishing the bedding for the new baby.   The only thing left to do is hand sew on some ties to the corners.  BUT, to do that I have to run to the store at some point today and buy a new needle.   I LOST my last needle, somewhere in this house.  Not good. 

After watching my beloved Cowboys lose last night to my new crush, the Texans, I was left feeling sorry for ol' Wadey Boy (my pet name for Coach Phillips)   :p.   There was an insane amount of fighting and aggressiveness on the field last night, and I'm predicting the boys won't do all that well this year. 

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." - John Lennon.

A lesson we could all learn from, even off the field, don't you think?

Extremely Simple Laundry Room Re-do

Now, in the past few months of my becoming obsessed with the blog world, I have seen some absolutely amazing laundry room transformations.   I'm talking about ladies ripping out shelves and installing new cabinets, building risers for washers and dryers, replacing flooring, and on and on.   You guys really do amaze me.

Having said that, I completed a laundry room makeover of my own a few months ago, so I thought I'd share.  However, my "makeover" was really just an organization project and really isn't all that exciting, so don't get your hopes up!  Mkay?  :)

This is what it looked like on closing day.

The walls, shelves, and trim all received a new coat of paint before we moved in, but that's about all that got done.

Before I started my little project it looked like this... prepare yourself.  LOL

Insert cheap slasher movie sound effects here.

And... after:

Added a little organization via banana leaf baskets on the top shelf.  One holds my little boy's breathing machine and supplies, one holds nothing but lightbulbs (tons of them), and the last one holds our iron and spray starch - because it rarely gets used.

On the more accessible shelf, hidden behind the curtain, I have my heavy duty cleaners that I don't want down low, detergents, stain removers, and a few crafts supplies for the kiddos that I also do not want down low.  ;)

The curtain is hung with a simple pressure rod.  What could be easier?

I brought some iron wall hangings out of storage (that I'm not too fond of anymore) and hung them in here.  I thought it needed a little wall decor, and I didn't want to hang these out in the main house.  LOL. 

Simple makeover, but it just goes to show that even small changes can have a dramatic effect.  :)

TGIF- we survived our first week of kinder here.. Yay for that! 

Walk Down Memory Lane...

So, this post is completely self indulgent, is filled with photos of my sweet babies, and has absolutely nothing to do with Home. 

It does have EVERYTHING to do with this upcoming fall season, which I am beyond ready for!  Psst... I even did a little pumpkin display in our family room yesterday.  It's okay though, right? Because no one who comes to the front door can actually see it.  So, if a pumpkin display happens in a forest and no one is there to see it, it doesn't really happen,..  right?   LOL.

Awww Sweetness.  The photo qualities on these are horrible, but nothing is better than babies and pumpkins.. especially TOGETHER!  :)

So thinking about fall has gotten me thinking about Halloween.  I love dressing my boys up and coming up with cool costumes for them.  The first few years I just bought something off the rack, but the last 2 years I've tried to make them myself. 

Halloween 2005

A Lion- Roar!

We're skipping Halloween 2006 because apparently I don't have a photo on this computer. (They were Elmo and Dorothy the goldfish, but if Rylan asks, Dorothy is a boy.  LOL) 

Halloween 2007

Dallas Cowboys

Halloween 2008

Ignore me in my black and orange Halloween goodness.  haha!

Pair of Dice

And finally, my favorite so far- Halloween 2009

Thomas the Train and an Owl.  (they picked their own costume ideas)

I was so enamored with them, I made them do a photo shoot.  Yes,... that's right.  All they wanted was candy and mommy made them pose for photos.  Over and over again.  LOL.  At MANY locations all over the small town where their Nana and PawPaw live. 

Psycho?  Yeah, probably.  But hey, they're only little once.  And I can be psycho now, and maybe they won't remember when they grow up.  :)  hehe.

And because I had JUST stopped working, and JUST sold a house.. I had way too much time on my hands and made them little coordinating goody bags to trick or treat with too.   

PSYCHO.... yeah, I know.  LOL.

So who is excited about not just fall, but about Halloween???   A few weeks ago my youngest told me he wants to be Toast this year.  The crazy person in me is hoping he hasn't changed his mind to something boring and super hero-ish.  I could really rock out a toast costume.    :)

Shared Bedroom for boys

I'm taking a little detour from the Nursery project, basically because my next step is to finish the bumper bad and it's become a royal pain in the you know what.  And, procrastination is indeed my middle name.  Okay, not really, but you know.

So.. here is a tour of the bedroom shared by my 4 and 5 year old sons. 

When we bought the house, it looked like this. 

Lavender and Rose border isn't really our style, and it certainly wasn't fit for two boys.

Below is how it looks now... We replaced the worn out light fixture with a new ceiling fan.  Notice the twine pull, so that they can reach the light!  haha!

They have some-what of a feminine rug, because I confiscated their old rug for the Nursery.   Below is an older photo (older by a few days! ha!) that shows their older, more boyish rug. 

My Step-mom and I found that rug at a Pottery Barn outlet over 4 years ago, when I was busy decorating my 4 year old's then nursery.  Oh the memories.  :)

Anyhoo,

This room is a mishmash of things we already had, with exception of the beds, the duvets, and their dresser.

The beds were an inexpensive bunkbed purchase from Walmart.com.  The total cost was around $190, and for TWO beds (two extremely stable, solid wood beds), you can't really beat that.  They easily hold adults and we've actually used them for visitors before.

The duvets are from IKEA, as is their dresser (from the as-is section.  Cha-ching for almost $100 off sticker).

All of the firetruck decorations were originally used in one of the bedrooms at our old house.  I finally brought them all out of storage a week or so ago. 

When I bought the following picture, I originally saw it in an online store, beautifully framed and I fell in love with it.  I HAD to have it for our firetruck nursery, at the time.  However, at $200+ it was out of my price range.   I searched ebay, and found someone selling the poster for around $15.  Then I just bought a frame to fit.  The old frame actually broke in the move, so this is the second one, but it was still SUCH a bargain.

Every little boy has to have a night-night flashlight, right?  :)

Thanks for looking and for any comments!

Nursery Project 3

This will be a short little post, because this project is pretty straight forward.

I took a quote that I love and that goes nicely with our Nautical theme, and framed it.

I took some frames that I purchased a few years ago from WalMart, and just framed the printed out the quote on 4 sheets of paper. 

Wa-la!

I was originally going to order the quote from a vinyl wall quote place, but I think the framed look is a little unexpected, and it goes well with the frame collage on the other side of the room (No photo of that yet).  Plus, once again...Free!  Gotta love using stuff you already have and a little creativity.

Speaking of creativity, I recently stumbled upon The Nester's blog.  http://www.thenester.com/

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

I think I'm going to 'copy' her... or, use her idea as inspiration (that sounds better) when it comes to window treatments for my bathroom.  http://www.thenester.com/2008/01/window-mistreatment-101.html

Once again, LOVE it.