Random Creative Ideas

Here are some interesting ideas I have come across and really like:

Christmas Wreath from an Upcycled Spray Painted Frame

Spells "Autumn" with Different Black Frames

Bottom of a Table. Perfect for a Toddler Bed!

Spray Painted Mason Jars

Now That's Just Plain Hot!

I was finally feeling back to my normal self yesterday; I can say that I have fully recovered from last week!  The plan for the day was to clean the house top to bottom because it needed it.  At 9:30, I was getting ready to start on the list when James texted me that we had a house showing at 6:15pm.  Wonderful!  I had plenty of time to get all the deep cleaning that needed to be done.  I wasn't rushing around, but I wasn't going at a snail's pace either.

Then at 11:42, James calls.  We have another showing for today.  But this one is at 1pm.  A little more than an hour away!  I was pretty far along on the list, but still was not close to being finished.  I rushed and got the basic tasks completed.  James came home and was on dog poop removal patrol in the yard.  I was so thankful for his help.  Unfortunately, because of the time constraint, the kiddos did not get to eat lunch before the showing.  Nor did I have time to get their swimming gear so we could go to the water park.  I hurriedly packed a few snacks with water.  At 12:40, I was in the process of finishing the vacuuming when the prospective buyers showed up.  Are you kidding me?!?  They really only gave us an hour to get ready.  They all stood outside by the porch while I was finishing the foyer rug.  I didn't get to do the "once over" that I normally like to do right before I head out.

Once everyone was loaded into the truck, we headed to the park.  We are very limited to where we can go since George has to come with us.  We sat in the gazebo while we ate and drank.  IT WAS 115 DEGREES...no I'm not exaggerating.  It was really 115 degrees.  Of all days, why would 2 people be out house hunting in this miserable heat?!?  The poor kiddos would play for a few minutes and then come back for more water.  Their faces were red from the little amount of activity they did.  I could not wait to get back home.

Since I had ran around for the first showing, there were just a few things I wanted to do before the 2nd showing.  It was a much more relaxed atmosphere (well until I was finished and then the kiddos kept getting things dirty or moving something out of place!)  For this showing, we made it to the water park.  It was only 108 degrees now and for most of the time, we were the only ones there.  Hmm...no one else wants to be outside when it's that temp???  The kiddos had fun splashing, I had fun cooling off with some water, and George roamed around the park in search of treasure.

We made it back home and then I had a sinking feeling.  Because we were going to the water park, I didn't want to bring my purse. And I had forgotten to lock the door because we were rushing.  My purse had my keys in it.  My set of keys are the only ones that has our house key on it (James' is in the lockbox).  We were locked out.  GOOD. GRIEF.  So James called our Realtor and she hastily came to unlock the door for us.  Thank you Realtor Lady!!!  To my dismay, the Realtor who showed our house was the same Realtor who came to measure carpet and thought our house wasn't stable and recommended we low-ball the price to get rid of it. So my hopes aren't really high for anything to come from the last showing!  Oh well, life goes on =) 

Dream Living Room

I thought I would share my vision for how I would like to decorate our living room at our "unknown" new house.  As with Samara's room, a lot will depend on the size and shape of the room, but in the perfect world, this is what it would be.  I consider the "living room" as the room on the main level that is used for entertaining.  It's not the place where the kiddos would lounge around and watch TV (they could lounge and read a book, though!)  Ideally, it would have a fireplace, but I COULD survive if it didn't ;-) 

Throughout the main living areas of the "new house", I want to paint it a neutral light/medium gray.  I don't want it to be dark, but to be comfortable and homey.  The living room would be painted this color, too.

My vision for this room is Modern, Minimal, with some Vintage Fun.  I want it to be a place where anyone can come and just relax, but also a place with some character.

I would want to buy a new couch for this room. I like how this couch has the clean lines that I love and plenty of room for people to sit.  I like the color, too.

These chairs are currently listed on Craigslist for $85 for both.  If I knew how much room our "new house" had, I would swipe these suckers up. But, I have resolved that I will not buy until we have a contract on a new house.  I am confident that I will find exactly what I am supposed to have at that time.  ANYWAY, back to the idea: 

While the orange definitely is Vintage, it's not exactly what I had in mind.  I would reupholster these chairs in "Solid Wheat" color shown above.  I love the golden color and the lines.  Since a new couch and reupholstered chairs are costly, I want a neutral palate of furniture so that the room could be easily altered, if desired, by switching out accessories instead of big ticket items. 

One of the accessories that I love is a mid-modern coffee table.  The clean lines and simplicity of the piece is what attracts me the most to it.  Although the natural wood is pretty, I want to incorporate color into the room and this piece would be perfect for that.  I haven't quite decided what colors I would use.  Of course, I love red, but lately, I've been really liking the vintage green as well.  Oh well, I'll have time to decide and get opinions!  So here is a coffee table that I love so you can get an idea of what I'm thinking:

Here is a picture of a side table that I like as well. I would paint it to match the coffee table.

These Vintage lamps would add an element of fun.  I would use drum shades...possibly black ones.

For throw pillows/possible color schemes, I like these fabrics (I like the green or the red, not together, though!):

A round pillow like below is a must!

On the coffee table/side table/mantel/or possibly some floating shelves on the wall, I would want to incorporate a few pieces of depression glass in the appropriate  color scheme. I like the design of this:

 I hope you aren't on design/color/print overload.  I know I threw a lot out there, but I can see it in my mind and it looks perfect!

Shabby Chic

As I wait for our house to sell, I can't help but think about how I want to decorate at the new place.  I thought I would share some of my ideas with you.  Since our house was under construction while the kiddos were newborns/infants, we never had a completed nursery.  Therefore, I never fully decorated it.  Until about 6 months ago, the room we used as the nursery also served as the guest room.  While Samara's room is cute how it is now, I have a vision for her new room.

Of course, my plans will hinge on the technicalities of size, shape, etc of her new room, but this is what I'm thinking:  SHABBY CHIC.  By that, I mean I would like to incorporate comfy fabrics, florals, ginghams, but also have a smidgen of elegance.

The walls I want to paint a very pale pink.  But, I want an accent wall with pink and cream wide strips. 

Since the dresser she uses now actually goes with the guest bedroom set, I want to find an old, CHEAP dresser and "shabby chic it up".  I'm thinking about using a light teal color for the dresser, bed and an old mirror that I will be on the look out for.  Below is the color I'm thinking about and the type of mirror I'm looking for.

For lighting, I'm kinda digging this type of chandelier.  Depending on the color of the flowers, condition of the piece and how it looks in the room, I may paint it all one color and give it the distressed look (lots of variables, I know!)

 For the bedding, I want it to incorporate different patterns, but have the colors of the accessories throughout the room in it as well.  Something along this line (maybe with a little less pattern!):

 And finally, for some decorations. This wall hanging would be adorable with the letter "S".  These blocks I could get Samara's name spelled out.  I thought it would look darling on a shelf.

I want this room to be a place for her to celebrate being a girl.  To find rest and refuge from the chaotic world of brothers.

Now my challenge is to find the items to go in this dream room!

It's Official

*I wrote this post last week, but Blogspot was having technical difficulties so I am just now posting it*

As of May 9th, our house is on the market.  Two Saturdays ago was a big work day at the Dinkelberries' household.  A good friend agreed to watch Samara for awhile while I cleaned out a side of the garage so that our trailer could be parked inside.  This area has been James' workshop for the past 6 years and oh my what a mess it was!  There was a massive amount of remnant boards, sheet-rock, and a mountain of saw dust.  Since it was a mindless task, it gave me time to reflect on the MANY projects that this mess represented.  It represented countless hours of hard work, determination, and vision.  The result is a home we are proud of and while we are anxious for a sale, we are enjoying the fruits of our labor.

I would encourage you to take the grand tour. You can get a feel for the floor plan if you've never been to our house.

Whew! I'm Tired

Yesterday James emailed our Realtor to ask her to come to see our progress and to get her opinion on what other projects needed to be completed.  She was available to come today at 5:15.  This past week/weekend I have been busy deep cleaning all the areas (including window washing...wowza!)  I thought I was in pretty good shape for the showing.  I needed to do the normal household duties such as polish, vacuum, and sweep along with putting the final touches on a few places throughout the house.  I honestly thought it was going to take *maybe* 2 hours, but probably less.

Because I didn't want the do-list hanging over my head, I began working right after breakfast.  Our bedroom needed accessories on the vanity and nightstands along with a few throw pillows.  The kiddos' rooms needed to be picked up from their daily messes of toys and blankets.  Dishes needed unloaded/loaded, bathrooms needed cleaned.   I converted the mud room into the kiddos' "play room".  Their picnic table, art supplies, riding toys along with a container full of toys are now neatly contained in this area. And of course, I found another little area that needed painted because  no day is complete without some painting, eh? 

The list did not seem daunting, but excluding the 10 minute break for lunch I worked from 8:30 - 5:15.  It did not help that our big vacuum decided that today it was on strike and would not suck up the dirt. (and being that the kiddos ate popcorn in our living room yesterday and I discovered some dropped kernels, I was desperate for a working machine!)  Fortunately, I have a little Dirt Devil push vacuum.  It isn't the greatest, but it got the job done and I let the kiddos take turns using it so my living room should be pretty spotless!

I wanted James and the Realtor to be able to focus on business so I (at the suggestion of James...I was going to take them to McDonald's) packed dinner and took them to the park.  We had a wonderful picnic and the kiddos enjoyed playing on the equipment.  There was a little brown-haired, dirty feet girl who played with the boys and when it was getting time for us to leave, she came over and said she wished I was her Mommy.  And then a few minutes later, she said it again.  It honestly broke my heart.  How do you respond to that?  Not long after that someone yelled her name to come over to where they were.  I could only hope that I brightened her day at least a little.   

James texted me around 6:45 to let me know that the coast was clear...we could come home.  I was so anxious to hear the news.  Here is what I found out:  She loves our fireplace room (it's her favorite room in the house), she thought the floors looked amazing.  Everything looked really nice; she wants us to try to finish the projects we are currently working on, but regardless, she is going to officially list our house on Monday!!!  For reasons we do not know, she wants to increase our asking price by about $10, 000...OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! The comparables are still higher than our asking price which makes me feel more comfortable.  She also thinks we should be able to sell the house within 2 months which is our goal. 

So with all that being said...let the house showings begin (well, in 6 days!).  For now, though, this tired girl is going to bed. 

Let's Work Together!

Samara has been pretty naughty lately.  Earlier this week, James had worked all day on getting the wall ready for the trim around our bedroom window.  When it was bed time, Samara sneaked in our room and put a huge hole in the wall.  This resulted in James spending way more time on this project.  She also hid some of the screws James needed. Today, we had the blinds from our room drying after washing them.  She went and smashed the bottom of the blinds.  Then, during nap time, she busted up the curtain rod that her sheers hang on.  Sister-friend, you're not helping us get finished sooner, please stop!!!!

Before and After

Ok, I know many people are eager to see the Before and After pictures.  Most rooms are finished.  Our bedroom is waiting on trim around the windows and the outside needs some flowers in the white pots on the porch and then I'll update this post with those pictures.  Some of the pictures you have seen before, but I wanted  you to see the "Before's" along side of them.  Some pictures are not for the faint of heart.  Some are utterly disgusting... Enjoy!

The Foyer

Nice Tub to Greet You!

Ahh, Carpet on the Stairs

The Fireplace Room

It's Golden-licious

The Wall Had to be Removed

The Wall on the Left is Where the Piano Is

 The Living Room

NICE!

Not Completely Decorated  Yet

 The Kitchen

The Dining Room

The Only "Before" Pic We Have

The Floor Was Completely Removed

The Stairway

Still Playing Around with the Arrangement

The Upstairs Hallway 

Samara's Room

Beautiful Pink Flower Wall Paper with Gold Carpet

The Boys' Room

It took 11 Coats of Paint to Cover the Green

The Upstairs Bathroom (BRACE YOURSELF!)

The Room Was Completely Gutted and Reconfigured

This is the Wall Where the Tub Was At

Thanks for taking the tour!!!