Eva's room

Thank you ever so much for your nice comments about our bath renovation last week! Just for that, I have another before and after post for you!

We completed this project in just over a week. We didn't do any major design back flips or murals in this room though. Like I said before, our goals became a little more practical, and a clean canvas is a great place to start. 

We already had everything just as it is—we just scraped and textured the ceiling, patched and repainted the walls, put in new flooring, and replaced all the trimwork—then moved it all back in. Oh- we did add a new light fixture and rug. 

My before photo was taken back when this room functioned more as a nursery and Eva was still in a crib, but you can see that everything was VERY blue. The carpet was original, and we were pretty anxious to get it out of her room because Eva was suffering from what we thought might be dust allergies.

Here is an even earlier before photo—back before we moved into the house. Pink and blue!

The built-ins used to have doors in the lower portion, but they were difficult to slide open. We removed them to make the shelves more functional for toy storage.

 

And after—whew! Relief from all that blue. And this is a north facing room!

The room still needs window treatments. I have white linen and all the supplies to sew roman shades.

Her bed is a Craig's list find from quite awhile back, though I never blogged about it. I was saving it for this post! I love LOVE both girls' antique beds!

The shelves took for-ever to paint. I lost track of how many coats it took to cover the blue with white. 

But they sure are great for storage!

The mirror was a prop I purchased for a photo I styled at my former job. I always loved it so I was able to buy it back from the photo department a couple of years after I left!

Simple, clean, and fit for a princess. One more room completed!

SOURCES:

  • flooring: Ikea Tundra in white
  • bed: vintage
  • quilt: Land of Nod, no longer available
  • bench: Land of Nod, no longer available
  • mirror: vintage
  • school chairs: vintage
  • Chandelier: Ikea Kristaller
  • Rug: Home Decorators Collection, Cozy Shag Rug in Hot Pink
  • Closet curtain: custum sewed by moi
  • Mirror in shelves: Ikea
  • Artwork: Etsy, prints from Tiny Fawn
  • suitcases: vintage
  • Paint colors: Walls–Benjamin Moore Silver Sage, Trim—Behr Powdered Snow

 

 

Buy this

If mid century is your thing and you live in the Great Falls area, here is a beauty listed today.

While it lasts: http://greatfalls.craigslist.org/fuo/4375330393.html

Bathroom reveal

I had grandiose plans for this bathroom at one point, including adding a walk-in shower and a clawfoot tub. I even purchased an old tub to refurbish. But 4 years into our renovations we are feeling a bit burnt out—or more practical. Either way, I decided to edit my plans to just a tub/shower combo and keeping everything in the same locations. I was going for FINISHED. We had a list of other projects to tackle once this was complete, so FINISHED seemed like a worthy goal.

(For previous posts about this project and to see my inspiration pics, go here, here, and here.)

I will list the sources at the bottom of this post.

I searched high and low but could not find a vanity that lived up to my inspiration and expectations. It took a bit of arm twisting, but I was able to talk my Dad into building it. (I found a builder on Etsy as a backup option, but doing it ourselves definitely saved us money). I chose this insanely gorgeous walnut for the project, and we went for a mid century design that resembled a piece of freestanding furniture. (I would have loved to use an actual vintage dresser, but it would have been a challenge to find a piece that met our size specifications. My search over the past 2 years yielded no options.) I gave my dad a rough design, and he helped me refine it. My dad did all the construction and I did the staining and finishing. It turned out just like I'd hoped!

We built the mirror to match, and saved even more money. 

The light over the vanity was one I had seen ages ago and loved. They were sold out online, but I ended up calling multiple stores and tracked down one of the last ones in stock. When it arrived I was surpised by how big it was... but the store had done me a special favor tracking it down and it didn't seem like a good idea to send it back! The inside is gold, so I carried those gold/brass touches throughout.

We kept the existing ceiling fixtures, although we shifted one so they would be lined up. The spacing was odd before. I adore these lights, and love that we were able to keep something from the old bathroom.

We had several boxes of tile left over from our kitchen/dining/entry/laundry spaces. We calculated it to be exactly what we needed for the bathroom, so we ordered one extra box to be on the safe side. In the end we had one box left over. Go figure. :)

Here are the juicy side-by-side before and afters:

The observant will notice a few structural differences: We removed the soffits above the tub and sink. We expanded the width of the wall between to accommodate the niches in the shower wall. The wall heat register is gone, replaced by a floor vent (we put in forced air heat throughout the house). 

Not exactly the same view here—sorry. The new shower is very light and bright. We chose simple 6x8 white tiles from Home Depot. Cheap and classic. We chose to stack them rather than stagger them subway style for a more contemporary look. 

Sorry- this view is shot at a different angle also, but I wanted to show you how we replaced the doors on the built-in shelves. Dad built these out of the walnut as well.

 

This before photo of the vanity is after we affectionately bid adieu to the red shag carpet and installed a cheap piece of sheet vinyl to tide us by.  And you may wonder—what could possibly be wrong with this delicious brown 70s tile and brown shampoo sink? If you are crying a tear over their demise, let me assure you they were past their prime. The tile was staring to fall off the front of the vanity, the sink and shower faucets leaked (horribly). Okay, we could have kept the shampoo sink, but I think it was time for a new look.

These shower niches were my brain child. I wanted something to look at other than a blank shower wall since you see this spot first when you walk in the room. Also, I like to keep things off the tub ledge. I think it was worth it, even though it added some challenge to the tile-laying process.

I had a small obsession with finding pretty shampoo/conditioner, but I couldn't seem to find any that fit the design scheme like I wanted. I was able to purchase the empty amber plastic bottles from Specialty bottles, and then I searched for some white vinyl lettering to label them with. I had trouble find the perfect letters, so when I saw these gold letters I thought- perfect! More gold! Tom thinks they look mail boxes now. Whatever. 


I had a couple of unused white frames on hand, so I scoured Etsy for some art to put in them. I ended up falling for these little watercolor dresses from Mary Catherine Starr, who did a "dress-a-day for 100 days" project. These are two of her originals. I thought it would bring a bit of femininity to the space since it is used primarily by our girls. 


We actually ended up replacing the toilet also. The old one was still pretty new—an expensive wall mount toilet with a power flush feature that scared the kids. I think it scared a few grown-ups too with it's sonic flush. Luckily we were able to access the plumbing through a closet in the basement and move the sewer pipe in order to put in a standard toilet. 


The faucets are fun and modern, but I'm finding the chrome shows. every. spot. The countertop is cut from a Quartz remnant I found in a local stone yard.

Finally, I added one last piece of art. I found this perfect frame on clearance at Target, so I just added a gold mat I found in my stash and a sweet photo of Sarah shot by talented Darla of rozephotography.com.

 

SOURCES:

 

 

 

 

I would buy this

Hello blog readers! That is, if there are any of you left. I am hoping so because I am planning a bit of a blog blitz to catch up. As I write this, I am downloading "after" photos from my camera of our bathroom renovation to share with you. Soon! 

Until then, I felt compelled to share a few Craig's list treasures with you—since I can't justify buying them myself. Even in our small little town of Great Falls we have a few things great things pop up. And far less purchasing competition. If you don't live around here, well, maybe you'll be inspired to find a few treasures of your own somewhere else.

 

First up, this vintage green sofa.

 

I like the low arms and tufted cushions. It's difficult to tell, but if it has a skirt, I would remove it to reveal more of the legs. Not bad for $75, if the upholstery is in decent condition.

Green Vintage sofa, $75. Here, while it lasts.

 

Next up, I am completely tempted by this sectional:

Yes, obviously it would have to be reupholstered in some crazy amazing fabric. The ad says you could get it done for $30 yard plus fabric, but I'm not sure about that. I was recently quoted more than double that for a chair I looked into having done. Should I be shopping around? What do you pay in your area? There would be a ton of yardage here and it would cost a fortune even at $30, but not nearly what it would cost to buy a piece this size new. 

I think this scale of this could be amazing in my living room, but I'm not 100% sure the look is right. It might be a little too much retro with my orange chairs, even in a different fabric. What do you think? I am ALL for retro pieces, but I do think they look best mixed with a little modern also.

70's sectional, $200.

I have a thing for antique beds (both Eva and Sarah have them), and if I had a boy I would buy one like this and paint it a fun, bright color. 

Vintage steel full-sized bed frame, $120.

winter projects

If you've been around me or followed this blog for very long you know that this time of year means one thing—house projects. And I'm past due with a project update. I get caught up in the remodeling chaos and put off posting in hopes that a finished project, a clean house, and a tidy little "before and after" post are just right around the corner. But I realize this blog would be a lot more interesting if I would show you a little in-progress reality along the way. 

Have I even told you what we are working on? 

After we finished Sarah's room in October, we had a stretch of good weather and mostly worked on outdoor farm projects. We also tore up our deck and side yards to start on some patio work... just before the snowy weather moved in. Now we have mud yards. That's how we roll. Instead we moved inside and gutted our upstairs bathroom—right before we had a whole string of company. Again, that's how we roll. It wasn't that having one less bathroom was such a big deal. It's this:

Construction supplies—everywhere.

 

Drywall dust...everywhere.

Laundry and dishes pile up. Blogs are ignored. But hey—things are getting DONE!

If you come see us right now our house will be a disaster and you might be handed a paintbrush. Consider this your warning.

We tore out the tub, all the tile, and the soffits above the tub and sink. (And by we I mean Tom.) Rather than just scraping the popcorn from the ceiling and retexturing, Tom and Dad installed new sheetrock on the ceiling so we could do a completely smooth finish.

 

This is a couple of phone snaps of the tiling progress. We had quite a bit of tile left from our kitchen/hallway, so I ordered one more box to make sure we would have enough. Now that we are done we have one box left. Go figure.


Here my dad is holding our backsplash tile next to a Quartz remnant we found to use for the counter top.

Since I couldn't find the perfect vanity, I talked Dad into building one. It was extra work but we saved a bunch of money. And just wait until you see it. This photo was snapped when I was working on staining and finishing the drawers and drawer fronts.

I now have a fully functional bathroom that doesn't leak at every faucet and is at least 100 times less ugly. It isn't done yet however—the finishing touches are taking the most time. Because we like to start new projects before we finish the old ones (who else does this?), the guys are now working full time on a unit in my parent's four-plex. The tenant moved out before the holidays, and the unit needed some updates. (Some updates = gutting the entire unit and starting over, basically). Time is of the essence because they want to make sure it is rentable before spring farm work kicks into gear. 

Therefore, my house projects are taking second fiddle (cue big sigh) and I expect you to feel very sorry for me. I kid. But you will have to be patient while we chip away at the last few details in our spare and rare time. We have a mirror and backsplash to install, some new cupboard doors to build and install, and trim to caulk and paint. 

In any case, THIS...

...is a thing of the past!

Note: You might enjoy this post of the bathroom before, this post of a few small improvements we made, and my Pinterest board full of inspiration we used for the new design.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from our house to yours! It's hard to believe that tomorrow is a new year. With it will come many new adventures, I'm sure. I've never been much of a resolution maker, but I've dubbed 2014 as the year of photos. I want to get caught up on my photo books and get all of our family movies organized and recorded to DVD. It is an easy project to move to the back burner, but hopefully if I can keep the goal in mind everyday it will be easier to make it a priority. 

What are your goals for the new year? I'd love to hear! 

everything old was brand new once

I recently came across some photos of our house while it was being built. It is so much fun to see these photos and imagine the excitement my grandparents would have experienced as they watched it progress. I know our house really isn't that old by many standards (it was built in 1971-72), but it is older than me!

The shop was built before the house was built. You know. Farmer priorities.

This next picture is funny to me. The house isn't yet finished and there is already a garden out back! (Even though the old house is right down the road.)


The builders and my Grandmpa—presumably celebrating a job finished in the new kitchen!

I love this next photo also. This furniture followed them over from their old house, but it really fit this atomic ranch. I'm not sure when my Grandma upgraded her furniture, but her next choices were much more Victorian in style.

With spring came the landscaping projects, and apparently a new color camera.

Tom was quick to point out the yellow tractor that is still being put to use on the farm today. (Dad says it isn't exactly new here, either.)

Mixing concrete for the terraced flower beds.

And these next photos must be from the next winter. There aren't any big trees around the house yet. It's fun to see the house when it was brown. It is back to it's original color again! (Well, most of it.)

The new garage door looks just like the old one. Especially today with all the snow piled out front.

These photos are taken in our backyard where they apparently flooded an area for ice skating. Sweet!

And here someone is about to bite the dust:

We started to tackle some exterior updates this fall, but we didn't get very far before the cold weather hit. As I mentioned, we have painted all the blue trim back to brown. We tore down half of the deck and have plans to redeck the rest and update the railing. I'd love to show you our plans—and when we finally have a chance to see them through it will be fun to have these true "before" photos to compare to!

pies and pottery

Happy Monday everyone—hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! We hosted dinner at our house again this year. It is definitely my favorite holiday to cook for. Typically I delegate the pie duty to others since I have one boring glass pie dish in my drawer. 

But this year, when the team at my favorite pottery studio, Mountain Arts Pottery in Bozeman, Montana contacted me to see if I would like to help promote them for the holidays in trade for some product, I immediately thought. . . "pie dish"! 

What their marketing help didn't realize was that I was already well stocked with their pottery and that I would happily say nice things about them all day for nothing in return (shhh :). 

Dave and Jenny, the owners of Mountains Arts, happen to be cousins to my father-in-law. They are also some of the most generous and kind people I know. I've had their pottery on their Christmas list for years. Currently my count includes a gravy boat, a gorgeous red batter bowl and whisk, a pasta bowl, and their amazing coffee mugs. (The beautiful casserole dish at the top of this post belongs to my mom, who also owns several pieces.)

The mugs are the favorites at our house.

 

I have had one for years that they gave me as a college graduation gift. When it accidentally met my tile floor a year ago, Tom immediately ordered a replacement to give me for my birthday. At one point we bought one for him, too. They are a generous size, which is great for these coffee lovers, but for me the best thing is the large handle. They are much easier to hold than most coffee cups. 

The pie dish they sent is beautiful. I requested the charcoal red river color that matches my pasta and batter bowls. I decided to make this Meyer lemon pie from Smitten Kitchen and it turned out pretty good for this pie novice if I say so myself!

The prettiest part is the red river of glaze running through the bottom of the dish.

If you live in the area, I highly recommend you stop by their shop in Bozeman to see all of their pieces. It is on your way to Bozeman from Yellowstone park if you are visiting from there! While you're at it you must order a cinnamon roll and cup of coffee from the Coffee Pot Bakery Cafe that they run along side their pottery business. Melt-in-your-mouth amazing. 

If you can't afford that luxury, at least take a minute and check out what they have available on their website, www.mtartspottery.com. They have gift certificates too! I've noticed a huge push in the blogging world to buy independent, and this is a fantastic option. I promise—a gift of pottery will disappoint no one, and its often a great gift for that particularly difficult person to buy for. Even the men in your life will love a coffee mug like this.

Stay warm out there!

Benny

Yikes. I have a lot to catch you up on.

Let's start with a pooch update.

Why would you care about our pooch? Well, we've had an interesting turn of events. You might remember almost a year ago when we bought the girls their first puppy for Christmas. 

And then, eight months later I shared the bad news of his untimely end.

By now you might have guessed that we have a new puppy, even though we said we were done with that business. What you don't know was how serendipitous it all was.

About a month after Ben died I got a text from my cousin/closest neighbor.

"Guess who's pregnant? ........Molly!" (Their dog.)

Considering our distance from neighbors, there was only one logical explanation to this. We were rather naive in missing why our eight-month old puppy might occasionally like to visit the neighbors. Yep, daddy had to be Ben. He had left a little gift for all of us.

Of course, then we had no choice but to plan on welcoming a little Ben puppy back into our lives. It was just meant to be.

Tom decided we would pick a boy and name him Benson (Ben's son)! Molly (an English lab) had 7 beautiful golden.... girls. All 7 of them. Just Tom's luck. (Ha!) Their was no doubt they came from Ben. They definitely had a mix of Molly's light short hair and Ben's longer red hair. A great mix.

We attempted to pick the most mellow of them to bring home, and in the tradition of Ben's we named her "Benny".

 

It gets better. Tom's dad took one of her sisters and named her Benadine. (What? You think we might be taking this Ben thing a little too far?) Tom's sister has a Golden in London and they named her Benita. After a history of about 7 male Golden Retrievers named Ben, we now have 3 females in the family.


Even though we really had absolutely no choice in the matter and had to take one of these puppies, we really couldn't have asked for a better puppy. We adore her. She still has plenty of energy, but in general has been easier than Ben was. (It's because she's a girl. Don't tell Tom I said that.)


For a while I wasn't sure if a puppy was really news I was excited to share. But now that she has been with us for a few weeks I can happily say we are very happy to have her. But now I'm curious. In your experience, are girl dogs more calm than boy dogs?

 

a new business venture

I've had a little something up my sleeve for awhile now, and I'm excited—and a little nervous—to finally shout it from the rooftops. 

Since our move from Utah 3 years ago I have really enjoyed taking a break from working and focusing instead on settling in to our new life on the farm, staying home to raise our little Eva, and working on our home remodeling project. 

Though our house projects are nowhere near complete, now that Eva is going to preschool it seems like a great time to ease back into the workforce. (Not that staying at home is any less work—I've definitely learned that! Cheers to the hard-working-stay-at-home-mom workforce!) In any case, I have missed designing and am anxious to take on a few projects for others.


Although I will always love doing Graphic Design and intend to keep doing so, this time I am really excited to add interior design to my repertoire, and maybe even some photography! (I am not a professional photographer—I've worked with enough amazing photographers to know my limitations, but I do enjoy doing creative photography projects and can hold my own.)

From a young age I have had a huge passion for interiors. It was only because our in-state colleges had dropped their Interior Design programs that I decided to branch out into Graphic Design instead. I have no regrets, and I believe my Graphic Design training was great for both disciplines. Since I have moved back to Montana it has been the Interior Design opportunities that have fallen into to my lap, so I am just embracing the chance to do what I have always loved! 

My portfolio mostly consists of projects in my house at this time, as well as few display rooms I designed while working at Stampin' Up! I hope that will soon change, however, as I have been hired by my first client to help remodel her entire house. We have been working on this project for several months and I hope to be able to show you more as we near completion by the end of the year!

I hope you will take the time to check out my website www.joellynclarkdesigns.com, and recommend me to your friends!

Sarah's room details

Thank you for all the super nice and validating comments about Sarah's room (both here and on Facebook)! I thought you would enjoy a bit of info about the process.

But first, my sources:

Wall Paint: Behr Sandstone Cliff, Behr Possibly Pink (closet and niche), Behr Powdered Snow (ceiling and trim)
Mural colors: (All Behr colors) Possibly Pink, Egyptian Nile (green), Gallery Red, Contemplation (blue), Dusty Mountain (gray from my living room), Donegal Tweed (yellow from these projects). I mixed colors together and with white to acheive the different shades I needed.

Flooring: Ikea TUNDRA laminate (white wasn't listed when I went to link so I'm not sure if it is still available...?) We choose this because it was only $1.15/sf. At that price we can change our minds in 10 years and we don't have to feel guilty about it. For now, it brightens the space tremendously and I'm pretty happy with it! It isn't real wood, which I would have loved, but it was significantly less expensive.

Rug: Cozy Shag Rug from Home Decorator's Collection. I'm totally impressed with this rug. It is super soft. I got one for Eva's room also.

Chandelier: Thrifted, Craig's List

Bed: Thrifted, Antique Barn, Bozeman, MT.  The bed is a 3/4 size and I had to buy a custom mattress, which I found at US-Mattress.com for less than I expected custom would cost. It did end up making the bed a little more expensive than I initially thought, however. 

Bedding: Target, Threshold Collection

Desk, Chair, and Mirror: Thrifted, Craig's List. I bought these as a set. 

White cupboard: one we purchased a few years ago and Home Again in Utah. 

 

The Mural:

You may remember that I based the mural off of a paint-by-number painting I found on Etsy ages ago. I saved the digital photo—I don't have the painting. 

I took a photo of the wall in Sarah's room after it was mostly empty. Then (in Photoshop) I pasted the painting in the file and determined the layout. To get it to fill the wall I needed to repeat the image, but I didn't want an exact mirror. I flipped the image, rotated, and rearranged it a bit. 

I then borrowed a projector to cast the image on the wall. I had to do this in two sections because I couldn't back the projector up far enough (something to be aware of if you want to cover the entire wall). I then traced the image as well as I could and marked each area. (I used a simple code: LP, MP, DP= light pink, medium pink, and dark pink, etc.) I tried to keep the colors as simple as possible. I purchased 4 colors of paint, and used gray, white, and yellow that I had on hand. I mixed the rest. (See paint colors listed above.)

 

This is the cutest picture ever:


Eva wanted to help paint so I gave her a paintbrush and a cup of water.

This is what it looked like after I painted the background. I traced the roses but free-handed the background. 

 

Mostly this project was fun, but it did get tedious after awhile. I can't imagine doing a more complicated picture. I used latex paint for mine (not sure if it would be easier to use acrylics or not) and each color required two coats. Doing everything twice definitely made things more tedious. If I did this very often I would want to find a type of paint that would cover in one coat. I used a smaller artist brush for much of it.

Painting the furniture:

The desk sat in our garage for some time, so it was pretty dirty. Aside from that, it was missing hardware and was scratched up. 

The matching chairs and mirror were in similar condition. 

I decided try Annie Sloan Chalk paint for all the furniture. Her paint isn't cheap and it is somewhat hard to come buy. I bought the paint at the ONE place it is sold in my whole state, four hours from where I live. (Don't worry, I was going there anyway :) Unfortunately they didn't have one of the colors I wanted and I had to find an online retailer that sold in the US (the Annie Sloan site doesn't). 

I painted the desk and night stand in Pure White. It definitely requires more than one coat over darker colors. I painted the chair, mirror, and bed with Duck Egg Blue, and it covered well in one coat. You have to apply a wax over the paint, which wasn't difficult, but I did think it left things feeling a bit... waxy. It might be better after time or with a good buffing.

The bed took forever to paint. In hindsight I might have been better off trying to spray it. As it was I went over each and every spindle 3 times with white, then duck egg, then wax. This paint is ideal for a distressed finish, but I wanted a cleaner look and didn't want any of the wood to show through. 

Here is the desk with it's new coat of white and adorable new knobs. I think it turned out great. The thing I've learned about kids is that they love to collect "things". This is a great spot for her to display her treasures. It is contained to one spot instead of all over her room, so it satisfies my minimal tastes and her treasure-seeking heart.

I just got word that the curtain fabric I ordered has arrived. Hopefully I can get those done soon. And then onto Eva's room!

Sarah's room reveal!

Sarah's birthday came . . . and went. Sarah was gracious enough to allow us until her birthday party this weekend to finish and we just made it by the skin of our teeth. She moved in on Friday night, 10 days after her birthday. (Refer to the previous post for before pictures.)

This project was all-consuming. At least Sarah can't say we don't love her-ha! My house has suffered for it. The piles of laundry and layers of dust are highly embarrassing. It was good to have a deadline to keep me motivated though it. The mural and furniture painting took the longest, so I am hoping Eva's room will go a little faster without so many of those types of projects. For now, I need a break. 

 

Loving her huge new window! I've ordered fabric to sew curtains (you know, because I apparently can't do anything the easy way in this room).

I took these photos before we moved all her toys back in. I love it all minimal and sparse, but it isn't a very fair representation of reality, I'm afraid. This corner with the mirror now holds her big Barbie house and castle and baskets of toys.


This niche is where the sink used to be. Sarah adores her new desk. 

I plan to sew a curtain for the closet as well. I would LOVE to build (or buy) a closet system to make this space more functional, but that will have to come later. 

The white floors are so clean and fresh and they make the room look huge. Having one bed instead of two helps also. Another favorite is her new rug. It is unbelievably soft—so soft she wants to sleep on it!

I'll do another post with a few sources and details. Chow for now!

Sarah's room reno begins

Actually we have made very little in the way of progress aside from moving her things out of the room. Today marks 2 weeks until her birthday. Yikes!

Here is her room before:

Not long after this photo was taken we moved a second twin bed into this room. It only gets used occasionally for sleep overs and when we have extra company and need to move one of our other girls into this room. The twins needed new mattresses terribly, so about a year ago we invested in two new ones. But more on the beds in a bit. 

This photo shows the old casement window. You can't tell from this photo, but one of the glass panes is broken, and the others are cloudy from condensation between the panes. When evaluating what to do we pulled the trim off and discovered the cranks no longer functioned. With the cost of replacing the glass and trying to find cranks for old windows, we opted instead to replace the entire unit with a big picture window (since there is another functioning window in the room). We have the new window in and it is so light and bright!

We purchased white laminate flooring from Ikea last spring to replace the carpet with. You can't tell here, but this carpet is original and quite stained and dirty at this point.

Also on the list: scraping the popcorn ceiling and retexturing it, painting everything, and adding new baseboard and casement to everything. Much of the baseboard was missing anyway due to the heat registers that were removed 3 years ago.

We are keeping the chandelier! I am definitely going modern in this house, but I like a few ornate and girlie touches mixed in. I don't think it hurts to mix styles to make things more interesting and lived-in. 

The closet doors don't work well and stick out so far into the room, so I plan to remove them. I would like to make grommet curtains to hang (with tie-backs) there instead. I would also like to add more shelving and rails and more functionality to this wide open closet, but that will have to wait for another day.

The built in drawer unit is awesome and means we don't need an additional dresser. I was undecided on whether or not to try to remove the trim and change the hardware to make the look more modern. I'm leaning toward leaving it as-is (besides freshening it with paint) because I think it fits the girlie rooms. What do you think?

This built-in vanity is going to be pulled out and a desk will go in it's place. I have some fun ideas for this area and I already have desk that I purchased on Craig's list. It came with a chair and mirror also. I think every kid needs a place to display their treasures and special art, and this nook will be her space (rather than tacked all over the walls)! With a bathroom right next door, I feel a desk area is way more important than a personal sink.

This photo was taken after we started stripping everything out, but it highlights one of the dilemmas I was fighting with. While I liked having 2 beds (and we had just invested in new mattresses for them) it just made the room feel crowded and furniture-heavy to me. Removing the closet doors to the right would help, but I still felt like it was crowded. And it is really a big room. 

We have an old farmstead here with a mobile home parked on it. While we've had a couple of people stay there off and on, it has been vacant for the most part. My dad had purchased it from an old couple and they left quite a bit of junk in the out buildings. One thing I noticed several years ago was an old iron bed (sort of like this). I knew it could look great painted a fun color but I didn't have a good use for it at the time. 

But wait... I could make it Sarah's bed, and make a trundle for underneath and use the second mattress! (Buying a new bed/trundle combo would be expensive, and you have to use special trundle-sized mattresses). Alas, I could not find the bed. It had disappeared! To who-knows-where...

So, I decided to push forward with the two twin beds. I wanted to paint them white and thought this would be the perfect excuse to try Annie Sloan chalk paints. The one AND ONLY source for these paints in the entire state of Montana was in Bozeman at the Antique Barn. Well, as it happened, Mom and I were planning a trip there this past weekend for the Parade of Homes tour! Perfect!

After I found my can of paint and wax, we of course took a few minutes to peruse the store. They have such a great selection! The back room was dark but I still peeked my head in for a look-see and.... uh-oh. LOOK at this beautiful turned-spindle bed!!! Only $165! 

I wisely left it behind, only taking a little phone photo with me. 

But then I couldn't stop thinking about it! It was the answer to all my problems! (And the source of a few new problems, as it turned out). We had brought my mom's car with us and it was too small to carry the bed. My brother-in-law was going to be working in Helena (halfway between Bozeman and us) this week, however, so I was able to talk him into picking up the bed for me. While I waited for him, I discovered the second problem. It was a 3/4-size bed (slightly smaller than a full), as antique beds sometimes are. But with Lee on the way I decided it was too late to back out so I asked her to shave $15 off the price and bought myself a bed.

Yesterday I met Lee in Helena and brought the bed home. I had considered trying to modify it to accommodate a full-sized mattress, but in the end I decided to order a custom mattress online. It will cost me a little bit more, but in the end I think I will be happy not to have to change the bed shape.

Speaking of changing the bed, I got the side-eye from my dad when I mentioned I was planning to paint it. Sorry! But the wood look isn't what I'm going for! I'm going for something like this:

Jenny Lind from Land of NodIt's going to be perfect! It will give Sarah so much more floor space, and we she can still share it with a sister or friend when she needs to. I was planning to sell the twins to offset the cost, but they were given to us by my in-laws and it turns out they can use them again. We are still hoping to the sell the almost-new mattresses though. After seeing Sarah's old quilt in one of her baby photos and realizing her bedding was almost 8 years old, I had decided it was time to replace that anyway. In fact, I had just purchased 2 new duvets and duvet covers and 2 sets of sheets. I returned it all and traded it for one full-size set, which saved me money as well. With that the custom mattress doesn't sound quite so bad! Now I'm just crossing my fingers that it will get here quickly. They said 2-3 weeks.... 

One more thing:

I have been inspired by paint-by-number murals like this one and this one:

Camp Wandawega nursery muralI want to do one in Sarah's room based on this vintage paint-by-number I once found on Etsy:

Should be a breeze to complete by my Oct. 1st deadline, right?

This is what is on our list:

install new window
remove sink vanity and demo out soffit
figure out what to do with plumbing stubs
raise vanity light
scrape popcorn ceiling
retexture ceiling with mud
patch walls above vanity
paint ceiling
paint walls
paint closet and desk niche different color
paint mural
lay new flooring
install new baseboards and casement around doors and windows
paint trim
paint desk, mirror, chair, and bed with chalk paint and wax
cross-fingers and hope Sarah's new mattress arrives
find a rug to buy
sew new window treatments and curtain for closet
decorate! 
Somehow plan Sarah's birthday party in the midst of it.

 

We have started fall seeding and are planning to tear up our yard also. Nothing much. Wish me luck! And please do weigh in on my dilemmas. 

 

first day of (pre)school

 

Today was Eva's first day of preschool! It is hard to believe that only 3 short years ago I was delivering Sarah to the very same school with a baby carrier in tow. 

I suppose I should be teary and sad that my baby is at this milestone already, but really I am just happy and excited for her. She is so ready for some new experiences. She will just be going two mornings a week for 3 hours each morning, so she won't have too much time to miss mommy.

So how did she do? Great! She was a little scared when her dad left her there... "Stay! Please stay, Dad!"....but got over it quickly. When I picked her up she marched up to me with a big smile on her face, then turned around and gave her new teacher a big hug and a kiss. So cute. 

I completely neglected to post the obligatory first-day pictures for my older kids as well when they started a couple of weeks ago:

 

 

They are both enjoying their new teachers so far. Abby is in 5th grade and Sarah is in 2nd. Growing fast!

In other news, we moved Sarah's things into Eva's room a few nights ago. She wanted to stack all of her mattresses together to sleep on, and even requested we tuck a pea under them. Request granted! She has been a little cranky these last couple of mornings... so just maybe we have a real princess on our hands... ?

This move means Sarah's room is all cleared out and ready for a big reno. We are really hoping to have it done by her birthday (October 1st) which is approaching much too quickly. Wish us luck!

So for those of you who stick around and read this blog for the house posts, I promise lots of juicy details for you starting next week. We have more than one project up our sleeves! 

Happy weekend!

Big Sky Country

They don't call this Big Sky Country for nothing. I took so many sky photos this past month that they warranted their own post.

August life in photos

I was enticed into doing a photo-a-day challenge on Instagram for the month of August, and it turned out to be so much fun! It was so fun to have prompts to take photos of things I wouldn't normally think of. As such, I have more photos than I normally do documenting our life last month, which turned out to be a good thing since I didn't blog or use my big camera much at all!

Here are all my photo-a-day photos (and then some. I marked the photo challenge prompts with hashtags):

1. Stocking up for harvest dinners. 2. Ty pulled a snake out of the shop! Fortunately not a rattler. 3. Hail storm devastation near Bozeman, MT. Disheartening. #yellow 4. Swathing canola #faraway below our house  5. we call this #red beast "Frank". 6. Playing in the back of the grain truck 7. The power went out right when I was starting to cook harvest dinner. I cooked it on the grill instead and it was awesome! 8. Cutting the mustard #midday 9. At the end of the rainbow is a field of gold! We were almost done when this photo was taken. 

1. Abby's 4-H sewing project 2. Eva's #closeup 3. Back to school shopping #diagonals 
4. #selfie  5. I #love this kid! This was taken in Belgrade at Tom's 20th class reunion picnic. He's getting old!
6. We had an awesome visit from Tom's Aunt Tari and Uncle Pete and had a blast showing them around our farm and hometown.  7. Our Missouri River  8. #taste  9. Slowly painting all of our blue trim brown. It's going to take awhile. It's a big #home!

1. Cousin sandcastle contests! #play  2. Ilona and Sarah  3. Hannah and Abby and their matching H&M shorts
4. Sacked out #stillness  5. A very hungry caterpillar #touch  6. Fun to decorate with these old Reader's Digest #books and their colorful covers.  7. My rock garden #floral  8. My grandma's old typewriter #something old  
9. Eva's #smile

1. Eva has grown nearly 2 inches since I made this growth chart! #numbers  2. Iced coffee #my fave thing  3. I love this Olivia book. Eva's favorite lately. #white  4. The endless cycle of laundry. #circles  5. Off-ramping for the weekend to celebrate the end of harvest. #sign  6. Eva again (oops) just because she's cute.  7. Farmer Tom brought me flowers. Straight from the field. 8. Sunflowers from our cover crop.  9. Harvest arrangement. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, September.

Today I am going to force myself to sit down and try to remember how to blog again. I have so many thoughts—plans—ideas floating around in my head I hardly know where to begin. Dreaming can feel very unproductive and I guess at some point a person has to just buckle down and do something. Anything. Lots to do. I'll try to get into some of these plans/projects in upcoming posts. 

I am honored and amazed how many people have told me that they read this blog. I therefore feel terrible when I've neglected to post for so long and dearly hope all you of you will stick around through my dry spells. My absence here is easy to sum up with just one word—harvest. It might just be that August will always be a month of hiatus on this blog. But don't give up on me!

So, harvest. 

This year will be remembered by the seemingly constant stream of breakdowns we encountered. It left everyone feeling a bit cranky and anxious about being behind. Five or six weeks of harvest drags on long enough, and everyone gets a bit edgy trying to get the crop in the bin before bugs/wind/hail gets to it first.

Imagine having one of these tires go flat. It cost us a day's work and a few grand$$$. Ouch.

This was before harvest but (Tom is going to kill me) imagine getting stuck so bad you have to go fetch the wife and the tractor:

 

Despite all the hiccups, in the end we got the job done!

I spent the last week (plus) of harvest on the combine because our hired help had to go back to school. Truthfully, I enjoyed this reprieve from the long days of playing housewife, house mom, and slave to the kitchen. My mom carried the extra burden of watching my kids and doing all of the cooking. At some point I helped harvest each of the following crops:

 clockwise from top left: mustard, lentils, spring wheat, and canola

Cool, right? Here is Abby posing in front of a mustard field: 

And Eva eating dinner in the field: 

The kids are always happy to see their daddy for a bit during dinner. Heading out for a combine ride:

All in all, we had a good outcome. The worst of the hail storms missed us and we had enough rain to make things fair pretty well. Now we are working to get our hay sold and delivered and will be prepping to do our fall seeding soon. Never a dull moment!

Back with more soon!

Stampin' Up! Convention Part 2

It was a huge highlight just seeing old familiar faces staying the course and smiling as ever. With that many people I missed seeing a few.

In this post: Fun to see what my ex-coworkers and amazing designers did with the fabulous main stage graphics (color-changing LED screens hung like banners) and 25th anniversary themed decor.
A new product was released called "Undefined" that allows one to carve their own stamps. It was fun to see what other's created and my favorites were the dog and minion right next to each other.
Lots and lots of inspiring samples- one could spend their entire time photographing them all and I think many did! I however, spent (too much) of my time at the City Creek shopping center across the street. This Montana girl misses the selection.

And finally, slightly unsuccessful selfies with Charlet, but at least we have something to remember our time together. Thanks again, Charlet, for inviting and hosting me! Your craft/guest room was the bomb and so are you!

Stampin' Up! Convention

I am going to attempt to post more from my phone since I tend to use my phone camera so often. I am limited to 8 photos this way, however, so this one will come in two batches.

When I left Stampin' Up! to move to Montana, I signed up as a demonstrator in order to maintain some contact with the company I'd dedicated 10 years of my life too. I casually sold enough to meet my minimums but was starting fizzle out and wanted to put my time toward new passions. Before I could drop, my long-time friend and ex-coworker Charlet had contacted me to ask if I wanted to attend the 25th anniversary convention with her. So, I persisted for one more year and registered!

Many of my 10 years working at SU! we're spent beside Charlet, but often our time together was filled with stress and obligation. It was so fun to have this time with her with no other agenda than fun (and shopping!) We both had earned some time to ourselves without toddlers in tow and made the most of it.

The convention had nearly 6000 attendees this year and it is difficult to describe what it is like to be among that much energy. Even though I wasn't really there for business reasons, I still found plenty to entertain.

In this post I've featured: Crowds! Giant main stage! It was so funny to see how many have embraced technology in such a few short years. Tablets and phones abounded and when a cute project flashed up on the big screens, thousands of small screens were in the air taking photos of it. Tweets and Instagrams flew and we navigated our schedule with an app. Loved it.

Also in this post: nail polish in the newest ink colors, and pictures beside some of my earliest catalog accomplishments. Lastly, lunch at Settebellos (always a favorite of mine). I didn't get a photo but we also had dinner at my all time favorite Thai restaurant (Pawit) with dearest Friend Paula. Food tastes soooo amazing when you don't get to have it very often. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

rough week

It has been a rough week on the farm. 

It kills me to report that our sweet Benton pup was run over and killed. He had the unfortunate habit of following us out of the yard sometimes. We would often have to stop and load him up to bring him back to the house. This time Tom was in the big grain truck and didn't realize he was still running along side. An all-to-common but devastating side-effect of farm living. 

 

It was very hard on Tom, as you can imagine. And Abby took it especially hard as well. She has such a tender heart. I suppose in a way its good for kids to learn about the brevity of life this way. We all have to learn that lesson somehow.


You may remember we brought him home at Christmas time, so we didn't have near enough time with him. Darn it— we didn't even really get him past the annoying puppy stage! We were nearly ready to have him fixed and were talking about enrolling Abby in dog obedience for 4-H. He had the makings of a great dog.

I did do my fair share of fussing about this dog.

I didn't really want a puppy to start with. We paid through the nose to get the breed we wanted. Then there are the vet bills and extra dog food expenses. We suffered through a lot of night wakings and cleaned up the usual puppy messes. I couldn't stand the extra dog hair and had to kick them outside. Our yard was constantly littered with junk he would tear up and drag all over. He got into our garbage. He dug holes in our grass. We could barely walk out the door without fear of almost getting knocked off our feet from his exuberance. I would take him on runs with me and constantly feared he would be bit by a rattle snake becuase he would run nonstop through the fields chasing birds. I had to pull a swollen tick off of him (ewww!) My windows were constantly smeared with mud and dog slobber. I don't know how many times I said to myself "never again will we have another dog".


 

And yet. 

Here we are with a big hole in our hearts. How is it we fall in love so fast? We are worried for our dog Mia and are sure she will miss him dearly. She was the reason we got a second dog. She was scared of riding in the truck, scared of going in the garage, refused to use a pet door, and barked at everyone who drove in the yard, especially the UPS man. With Ben she was a different dog—slept in the garage, rode in the truck, and used the pet door with ease. When the UPS man comes now she doesn't bark (she just stands and watches as Ben climbs into the truck to get his dog treat. Then she happily excepts her own treat.) It will be interesting to see how she reacts to those things now. 


 

Forgive the sappy post. This is my photo tribute to our sweet Benton.


 

R.I.P. sweet buddy.