Nature

My kids love being outside. They love hiking and biking and picking berries and exploring.

Ian drew a picture from a memory of a hike to Multnomah Falls a while ago.  That picture is very important to him. I think it must be associated with some special memories, because it always makes him smile a certain way when he talks about it.
This is the picture he drew:

When I asked him what he wanted on his walls, this is what he gave me. I told him I wasn't sure I could do it. He said he didn't want anything else if he couldn't have that.

Well, it's not identical, but it's the best I could do:

The blue is the original color- that worked out so nicely!  He didn't want the tree trunks filled in, because he drew them so well with the markings- and I had no other dark brown to re-create it. He said he doesn't like it.  He said he REALLY likes it. :)

Happy kids make for a happy mama.

Horsing Around

Ever since we found out we were moving and might be, possibly, able to paint the house the way we wanted, my daughter has had big plans for her room. We finally got to do it.

Before: (this looks very blue. The walls are actually purple.)

Now, we only did one wall. She likes the existing purple, and her plans work best for just one wall. She is also, at this moment, using up my leftover red on 2 walls in her closet.

During:

Completed:

She seems to be a very happy girl this afternoon. :)

And I am happy, because the only paint we bought for this was a small quantity of brown. The rest of the colors are leftovers from other rooms that were painted before we moved in. I love leftovers!

Now I have to figure out how to copy Ian's picture that he wants on his wall....

Busy, Happy Days

It has been crazy! I thought it would start slowing down a bit... I was wrong.

Last week, Joel was in Canada for the annual Skatechurch trip.  The kids and I went blackberry picking and made ice cream and cobbler with the delicious perfectly ripe berries. We had friends over, went to the library, all sorts of fun things. Then I painted the little boys' room.

Cutting in: (for contrast)

After:

I love the way the curtains my mother-in-law gave me fit this room so perfectly. This room is now the same color as our "spare" room.  So nice to get to use leftover paint!  It worked out so very well, both Asher and Milo wanted a "green room, mom, a dark green room." Well, there ya go. :)

So that was last week. Then on the weekend, we got to host family!!! Lots of family! Almost all of our families!  Because my beautiful daughter was baptized on Sunday, and they all came to celebrate with us. :) It was so wonderful in so many ways. We had a most fantastic weekend.

And the highlight:

An absolutely wonderful weekend. :)

Now on to more painting, unpacking, organizing, and (drumroll, please) school preparation!

One More Room

Done!!! Well. Almost. There is one more little detail I want to do, but it is going to have to wait. It's time to move in to the whole house. :D

So, this is what I started with-
This first shot is actually the stairs AFTER the refinishing, but before I did my thing:

This is looking south at the top of the stairs- BEFORE the refinishing of the floors:

This is standing at the window in the above picture, looking north- again, before refinishing:

And this is what I have now- Stairs:

Looking down the stairs:

Looking south at the top of the stairs:  (yes, I'm excited. I've already started moving stuff up. That's my massage table in the corner close to the window. And my wonderful husband put in the A/C last night, too.)

And this is standing by the window in the above shot, looking north:

Now I get to move in!

Getting There...

We haven't been using the whole house yet. There is an upper level that will eventually be Parent Space. Well, probably mostly my space, as it will contain my massage table and sewing machine- but there will be room for Joel's stuff too.  But we wanted to do a bit of work on it before we got all moved in.

Not that we really had to, but we wanted to. When Joel pulled the carpet (which had to be done because of my allergies) he decided he did want to refinish the floors because there were some splintery spots.  This is what we started with:

This is what my floors look like upstairs now:

And the stairs- from the top:

Didn't he do a great job?! I absolutely love the look. The color is so pretty!

While he's been doing that, I've been doing my own work.

On the living room. This is a contrast shot, so you can see the difference between what it was and what it is now. The lighter color is what I put on.

This is the end result- contrast color walls on either side of the chimney, the other 3 walls a light beige:

To tie in the contrasting color- I put some on the back wall of the built-in storage alcove on the wall opposite the fireplace. And it just looks all homey now that I have some books on it too.

What is it about unpacking the books that makes a house turn into a home?

Now that I'm done with my painting in the living room, and Joel is done with the floors, I get to turn my attention to my room. Tomorrow, more painting. Hopefully this weekend, I can start moving the unpacked boxes to the upstairs and get them unpacked too!

Just Playing Around

We're moved!!! Thank you so much to everyone that came and helped!  You made our life so much easier; we really appreciate it.

We've been here for almost a week now. It is hard to believe that it's only been a week, and yet also hard to believe that it's already been a week. It has been a very busy week.

There are still boxes all over the place, but I have a few rooms that are box-free and look organized. It's a bit crowded still, as there is still one entire level of the house that we are not yet using. Joel is refinishing the floor as I type this. Then we will paint, then we will re-arrange; and then I will feel like I have tons of room!

I'm taking my time with the cleaning, unpacking and organizing. I am having a great time. In the midst of all the unpacking this week, I took some time to use some paint leftovers to do a little shelf makeover before I unpack the boxes of stuff that go on this shelf.

This is in process, but you can see the pink that this covered this little file shelf when it came to me:

 This is the almost finished product:

 I put some patterned Contac paper on the back, just for something pretty.  The inside of the shelf is a light green, and the outside is a dark green.

 With the shelves in it. You can't really see the patterning of the paper in the back here- my flash washed it out, but it's there.  It now fits the color scheme of my home better, and I had so much fun playing in the paint!

Now to get back to more mundane things- like cleaning the bathrooms....we have been here a week, after all. ;)