Gallery Walls

The first thing I did when we moved into this house was hang photographs. Our previous home was on the market on and off for three years and was void of family photos per realtor recommendations and that is one thing I really missed. My upstairs hallway was a perfect spot for gallery walls. I already had a lot of frames in black and white and I decided to do one white and the other black. The white wall is complete and has milestone pictures of the kids: first portrait, dedication, and first birthday. I do not foresee this wall changing. Ever. I want to add to the black wall and get a new family portrait because that photo is missing someone really important to us, Luke! When I hung these I made templates of each frame and used painter tape to arrange and it was a pretty easy project.





The wall niche has an amazing vinyl decal that was made by Willow Creek Sign Company and I love to walk by it every day.





I will be linking up to The Inspired Room's gallery wall party April 6th!

Decorating Fail

Many weeks ago I got this great idea to recover my computer chair. I briefly mentioned the chair in this post, but did not reveal the pictures. Here is the "after".



I thought it looked silly and that it looked like I was trying too hard so off it went. I decided not to beat myself too bad over the wasted fabric because sometimes you just need to try something to see what your tastes really are. Someday when all my projects are finished I would love to copy this PB look.



Well, I thought I would throw out a definite fail for all too see. Everything on here can't be pretty, right?!

25 degrees

That is the current temperature and I am more than a little bummed! Last week the weather was so beautiful and my kids are really missing playing outside. I would like to stain our picnic table, but it is too cold in the garage to stain. Here is a sneak of the table pre stain. It has been sitting in my garage and last week we ate lunch everyday out there. I am sure my neighbors think we are nuts, but we were just soaking in spring.



Yesterday I listened to my favorite Deana Carter cd while I made cloth napkins for the kids. They are cute 9 inch size with leftover fabric that I had. These will also be used next year for Wyatt's lunch box.

My Kitchen

This is our kitchen. Standard builder grade kitchen. My husband hates it, but at this moment I love it because I have plenty of cabinet space, a pantry, an island with eating space, enough room for my table that seats 6 (we have 5 in our family so this was a must) and you know what? The linoleum can handle anything that my kids can dish out! At this time we have only swapped out the light fixtures and the stove. Here is the grand tour!



The computer area. I love this little nook. The featured art above is by my youngest artist, Luke. We usually change these once a month and most times all three kids contribute.






Here is my new chalkboard with hand crafted magnets made from covered buttons and leftover magnets. I hemmed and hawed over this $9.99 find at Target and glad I went for it. Thank you Mary for your patience!



These are not staged pictures, hence the garbage can. I think when we redo the kitchen I want the built in trash cans.



My pantry! This is my first pantry. At our previous home I had to cram all of our food into a regular cabinet and store the excess in a tote in the basement. Very inconvenient! I love this pantry and no, mine does not have labels, or wallpaper, or pretty baskets, but it functional and works for me.



Here is my "risk". Grass in numbered galvanized pails. The pails were One Spot purchase, the numbers were a Wonderfully Wordy Groupdealz and the grass was purchased at Old Time Pottery. This was the look I was going for. I am totally stalking Allison over at HoH!

Grocery Shopping

I love Fridays and I really love pay Fridays when I can grocery shop and plan a new two weeks worth of menus. Next week is Spring Break and my sister and her clan are coming to visit so I need to take into consideration because we so need Dunkin Donuts and pizza! I buy 80% of our food at Sam's and the rest at Walmart and I do this in one afternoon with three kids (ages 6, 4.5 and 2.5). We have been doing this forever and I have my system down. I get lots of comments that bug me like, "boy, you must be busy" and of course the "you are brave". Just to let you all know my kids are usually pretty good at the grocery store (always horrid at Jo-Ann's) and if there is a meltdown I just take it in stride and know that most moms have been "there" at one time or another. So happy Friday to you and to all the mom's grocery shopping with the kids today, just "smile and wave".

Wyatt's First Lost Tooth

Yesterday was a big day here! Wyatt lost his first tooth and was up early today to see what the Tooth Fairy left. The Tooth Fairy gave him a $1.50 and a little note of congratulations. I remember when Wyatt cut his fist tooth it was August 2005 and we were in New Hampshire visiting Matt's grandparents. The years have flown by!

Dining Room Reveal!

My not so random plate wall. It turned out exactly the way I envisioned and took only 15 minutes to put up using my templates and I only made 18 holes for 15 plates much to my hubby's surprise!




My chair print art that cost less than $15. I found these vinyl chair decals for $3.57 at Target and I purchased cheap document frames at The Christmas Tree shop. The most annoying part of this project was hanging them the way I wanted without making a million holes in the newly painted walls! Allison over at HoH also has these prints and did a bright version.



My large apothecary jar filled with bright green pears. I love this pop of color on the sideboard. I have a few ideas for this space and one of them includes a cheese dome and a candlestick.



The before and after chair fabric. Inexpensive, but took hours of The Secret Life and a large Coke to finish!




After many hours and gallons of paint the dining room is FINISHED!!! Many thanks to my sweet husband who put in most of those hours and for the surprise light dimmer. I totally recommend a dimmer in the dining room. It makes a huge difference. This is the one we purchased.

Here is the before we moved in "before". I am including this picture so you can see the original light fixture.



This is the light fixture that we purchased and our Craigslist dining set.

Spring Garden

The DillyDally girls are listing OOAK this week. OOAK means a One Of A Kind set that will not be remade. My set is sized 4/5 and is made with the last of my Heather Bailey fabric stash. I love yellow and I am in LOVE with this set! See it here!

Last Day for Sweet Skirt Giveaway!

Did you enter Magical Memories Room 6 Sweet Skirt giveaway? Hop on over for the details!



Oh, and Happy St. Patty's Day! I made green pancakes for breakfast for my little Leprechauns.

Plate Wall

Over the past weekend I purchased plates for the dining room plate wall. In the past I have scoured Goodwill for plates, but I just discovered that Old Time Pottery has three aisles of open stock white dinnerware! Not only was the selection vast, but cheaper than Goodwill! I have already made templates of each plate and a layout that I like. I ordered these plate hangers despite the high price tag of an average $2 a plate. I hate the traditional plate hangers with the springs on the back that scratch my walls.


I also picked up a large apothecary jar and some filler for $10 total at OTP.


I can not wait to finish this room!

Wonderfully Wordy Number Deal

Another great deal from Wonderfully Wordy! I have been wanting numbers 1, 2, 3, and I could not pass up this deal for $3 shipped. Click here to get yours!



Remember my first Wonderfully Wordy purchase? I love my menu and scroll and it is so easy to apply.