My Bedroom This Week: Chocolate Covered Strawberry

After my epiphany the other day I decided that for now I need to make do with what I have. That doesn't mean I won't decorate, it means I will get more creative and pillage the rest of my house to make one room pretty, until I can purchase/decide what I want. So this week as I was standing in front of the linen closet I saw that I have only dark sheet choices.

Chocolate sheets it is. I fitted the bed and then added the blankets. Duvet cover? back to the linen closet, pulled out the Red Rose Ikea cover and two shams from the too-slippery-red-duvet cover. Then I went to the guest bedroom where all of my craft supplies are and found a piece of red fabric to pin over a couch pillow. Not quite the right color but I just want to get an idea of what a red throw pillow would look like.

While in the guest room I saw this picture, painted by my Great-Great Grandma. The roses are red and the vase is blue to match my little tea light holders. Plus it adds height to the dresser.

I also stole the sheers that normally hide my craft supplies as well as the brown curtains from the door-less linen closet. I still need to raise the curtain rod to the ceiling as suggested. I removed the white shelves, well most of them I can't get those two screws out of the wall so that will have to wait for My Beloved's help.

I changed up My Beloved's nightstand just a little.

And his picture shelf. I pulled the red vase out of storage to add some red to this corner. I wish I had something taller to put here since everything is pretty much the same height. I'll have to see what I can find for next week.

Now that that's done let me be honest. . . I hate it. I am terribly tired of red and desperately want something light and breezy. I have a few ideas for next week so we'll have to see what I can come up with. 

So here's to being content and you know, I have found myself a little less consumed with the desire to run out and buy everything for the room.  

What are your thoughts? 

~And So That's What She Did. 

What Kind Of Guest Am I?

I was reading in Psalms today and a question struck me. What kind of a guest am I? I wrote a while back about being hostile instead of hospitable, but how do I react to the gifts that God gives me.

Psalms 78 talks about the Israelites being discontent with everything God gave them. He gave them water and they griped about not having bread. He gave them manna and they said what, no meat?

So here I sit in a warm house with plenty of nice things around me. All my needs are met but all I can do is sit and pine for more things to entertain my eye.

Timothy 6:8 "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."

~And So That's What She Did.

Master Bedroom, Advice Please!

I would like to do a little update on our bedroom. It's pretty sparse at this time.

Okay here is what I am dealing with. Prepare yourself. . .

My nightstand has most of my favorite items from the room. I LOVE mother of pearl and add a touch of it in every room if possible. This picture frame is actually the third item in the room but the other two were so subtle I just wasn't satisfied.

I included this picture to show you the sea shell. I'm toying with the idea of adding purple to the room and this shell seems to be the perfect inspiration for it with both light and dark purple in one place.

You like the trampoline in the corner? There are a few items that have made their way into the room that do not belong there but space is limited and I think we were having guests so a few items were stowed in our room and there they stayed.

Also the position of some of our pictures and wall hangings are a little odd due to the different ways the room has been arranged. The bed used to be under our wedding picture and the shelf wasn't there. I've thought about moving the wedding picture over the bed again and re-centering the shelf but then there are more holes in the walls and well that's why things are a little odd.

I'm willing and happy to change out these frames and the curtain is simply a means to an end. Notice the touch of Mother of Pearl on the ends of the curtain rods.

Oh my, the closet needs new curtains to cover it but I don't know what color/style/pattern!!!

This is my other little stash spot. previous to putting this book shelf in our room my night stand was piled high with books. More recently I cleared out the second drawer in my nightstand for books. Until I have another child in which case the books will have to make way for nursing pads, diapers and wipes for night time feedings. But we have a minute or two before that happens, Lord willing. Another of my favorite items here is the elephant book end and the cream pot atop the dresser.

Okay so this is the base I am working from. My ideas include:

Painting the nightstands white

Either painting the walls or adding another coat (I suspect there is only one coat currently)

Throwing away the fake plant and replacing it with a real one

Here are a few of my inspiration pictures from pinterest:

I like the wall color here and the simple country feel.

I'm in love with white furniture, shapely lamps, and the vintage accessories in this room.

Here is a yellow-walled-room as an example. I wish against wishes that our room was large enough for a trunk at the foot of the bed but alas it's not. You know what they say, wish in one hand and . . . well never mind.

This one looks a little messy which fits us. I think I am leaning toward white duvet covers and pretty sheets, throw pillows and coverlets to add the color for the most part.

Here are my color options that I have found. . . Here is where I really need your opinion. I have wavered between a simple green, gray, blue scheme but that seemed too hotel and not enough country. I tend to lean toward green, blue, and yellow for the bedroom. But I'm also not against a little purple or pink to add a little something something.

http://design-seeds.com/index.php/home/entry/bloom-hues1

I like the blue, light green and dusty pinks but there's no yellow.

Like these but . . .something is missing

This one seems pretty complete but I'm not sure what to put where.  So please help!!!

~And So That's What She Did.

Snow Day or Should I Say Hour

So the snow came to Vancouver for all of one day. It started sticking late in the evening and by morning there was a delicious white covering on everything. . . and it was raining. However Ballerina ran from her bed in the morning hollering about snow. So we bundled her up and Daddy took her out to build a snowman.

Stopping to eat some snow

And a chicken tried to peck my leg just as I was snapping a photo. Silly things didn't go into the hen house night before, they just hung out on the back porch.

She came running in to get a carrot for his nose.

Elly really didn't care about the snow. Which was good because she doesn't have snow pants :).

~And So That's What She Did.

Lazy Lazy Lazy

I am feeling lazy.

 

The things I want to do are not the things I need to do and that isn't good.

I know what I need to do, I need to make a cup of tea, grab a biscotti, sit down with my bible and get things back into perspective.

 Which is what I will do, after I vacuum and dust the living room. After all it is Monday and that's what Mondays are for.

On a side note, and two completely unrelated side notes at that. I absolutely love cracking a store bought egg into a pan containing two eggs from our chickens. Can you guess which one is the store bought egg? Yep it's the itty bitty yoke on the left.

Second unrelated side note. Who knew when I built this shelf as a freshman in High School that my children would love it so and call it the barn for all of their animals and toys? Not I that's for sure.

Have a productive day :)

~And So That's What She Did.

Over The Last Few Weeks

We have been terribly busy lately.

My Beloved hasn't been working the last few weeks, one job ended and he's waiting for the next to start. It's a very nice time of year not to have work, so long as you know it's very temporary. The other night we pulled the couch across the living room in front of the computer, made some delicious hot chocolate and watched a show on Hulu. The show was good, the snuggling great, but the hot chocolate was Divine. We just used your run of the mill powder mix but then we piled it high with marshmallows and then used the Creme Brulee torch to toast them. Ooooooh it was delicious.

As a side note I also purchased all new dishes since none of my bowls or mugs matched and the bowls had definitely had it. This is a mug from my new set. Pretty much the same as my old set just a few minor differences.

Daddy built the girls a new tent, (another side note, I purchasedd this quilt at GoodWill for like $8, just sayin')

so I took the opportunity to join them.

My Beloved painted the bathroom and now insists that we keep it at a bare minimum in the clutter department. So we purchased new shower curtains,

took everything off the counter and shoved it into the cupboard ;). My Beloved also insisted on painting the drawer pulls black. I was thinking brushed nickel to match the light fixture that you can't see but, as usual, I'm glad we went with his plan. The milking stool is from my Great-Great Grandma's house it is our favorite stool in the house. Works great for the little one's to wash their hands.

Ballerina has taken over the guest room as her Doctor/Vet office. Here she's giving Penny a shot. . . She gives A Lot of shots.

Beloise prefers to hide under the curtains.

We had the privilege of watching HamHuck this past week, and Ballerina insisted on feeding him. She did pretty good but he did get hold of a few spoonfuls and rub it into his hair. So we gave him a bath after dinner.

He then promptly fell asleep on the couch with his FAVORITE uncle, (hehehe to all the other uncles out there).

New Years Eve My Beloved insisted that we go to a get-together in Troutdale. . . the girls didn't even make it to the freeway before they conked out. It was a good plan to have them in their PJ's already.

OOOh so after the bathroom was painted and everything was shoved into the cupboard, I went in and re-organized the cupboards and drawers. The only thing missing from this cupboard is the humidifier and I'm not exactly sure how it will fit but I'm sure I will figure something out. I didn't take a close up but all the bins are labeled so strange items don't wander into them. Although sometimes that happens anyway.

The top shelf of the bottom cupboard. This is everything that used to be out and visible previously.

Since we have a claw foot tub we have to find an alternate place to store our shower items, that's the bin behind my make-up bag. The kids bath toys are in another bin and everyday items like lotions, deodorant, hairspray, etc. are in the little basket to the left, behind that are the larger everyday items like mouthwash. The bins are great because they have drainage holes in the bottom.

Here's the full cupboard. I have another canvas tote that I am planning on using for the hand towels but it is otherwise occupied at the moment. Once I get it cleared for use I will label my bins.

Here's one drawer I was not utilizing to the max before. It used to have the toothbrush bin and a bunch of junk so I pulled out the valentines boxes I made and used them to house my nail polish, an old watch tin corrals the nail clippers and tweezers while a small wooden soap dish keeps my contact case, chap stick, eye drops, and dental floss at attention. There's even a small plastic container for safety pins to secure a cotton and wool throat wrap when one of us gets a sore throat.

Ahh the hair drawer, what a pain. I did this one a while back and was so proud of it but since every container is separate things fall down in the cracks, get mixed up and just become a bit of a mess again. But it's still better then what it used to be. I have a plan to create a crochet drawer divider that is all connected but that may never happen. ;)

There are also a few random items in this drawer such as the peepee shield for the kids potty, I haven't had to use that yet but don't want to loose it either. And since this is the closest drawer to the tub it makes sense to put the bath plug in here as well.

The painting was the insperation for the paint color. I eventually want to warm it up a little with some darker brown and perhaps some coral from the Vetriano over the throne. The glass jars were salvaged from my great and great-great grandmother's house.

And while Mommy is cleaning and organizing, my tornadoes are creating more havoc. Ballerina has figured out how to climb into Beloise' crib. She usually brings every soft item from her bed with her, this time she decided to throw it all out.

As a side note please take note of the bird mobile in the left corner of the picture. I made that!!! Sorry I just love it so much, even though technically it's not finished, and I just wanted to share that with you. Please do not look beyond the mobile at the messy shelves. Someday, when the girls room is pretty and a little more decorated, I would like to do a post and show you a few of the nifty storage tricks I've come up with. . . did that sound conceited to anyone else? Yes? Hmm I thought so too, sorry about that.

~And So That's What She Did.

Winter Decorating

Today we took our Christmas tree down. I'm still waiting for Ballerina to wake up and realize it is gone, and that she didn't get to help take it down. Really it's just easier this way. . . I hope.

But here is my dilema, I love holiday decorations, they cozy up the house and it just seems so empty without them. So what I want to know from you is:

How do you decorate for Winter?

After Christmas, or for those of you who don't decorate for Christmas, what type of seasonal decorating do you do? I have the hardest time with winter and summer but we'll cross the summer bridge when we get there.