A Tour of my house: for Penpals and Venezuelan Family

While in Venezuela, I had several people ask me what my house was like and how things worked.  This is a complete tour of my house.  Please note that we are a simple family.  I don't like clutter and frequently will get rid of unused items.  We are also considered middle class so this is a pretty typical house.  We are not wealthy by any means.

If you have questions about something, please let me know!

The Baby's Room reveal!

This past week I have wanted nothing more than to reveal my new baby's room! After a lot of work (over several months before bed rest) and a HUGE thank you to my sweetheart for all the hard work the past few weeks, I believe this room is near completion!

Before the reveal, some before pictures from when we looked at the house last year.

Little Boys room with a car theme with blue walls.

Every closet in this house has some nice built-ins, except for this one.

Introducing Lucy's Room!

One thing that I wished is that I could get the photos to look exactly how I see it in the room. These photos don't do this room any justice! I started this room by finding the perfect bedding. I love the blue and purple together! The sheets and curtains have a paisley & flower print in them which gave me the inspiration to accent with flowers. I did paint the walls a different shade of blue that matches the blue in the bedding.

Curtains which I made from a queen size duvet that I found on eBay! Rocking chair was used in Olivia's room as a baby. I decided to cover the chair with a King size white sheet and accent with the purple crib quilt and a pillow that I'll use for nursing. The only thing missing here is a lamp and clock. (I still haven't found one that I like!)

A view of the crib and new artwork.

I LOVED the butterfly stamp pictures that I made for Olivia's nursery and decided to do something similar but with flower stamps from all over the world!

Inside view of the crib with the paisley sheets.

Above the changing table (Which I love by the way. People told me it would be a waste of money and I used it with every diaper change with Olivia!) is a white shelf that I painted, letters of the baby's name and below that this 8x8 framed picture. I found some pressed flowers in my craft things and knew that it would be perfect for this room.

A small view of white flowers that I painted.

Since this was the only closet in the house without any built-in shelves, Eduardo was determined to build some. I was more than happy to organize them!

I picked up the white fabric baskets at Ikea and knew they needed pretty tags to keep everything in order.

And for fun, just a tease of the beautiful blessing dress my mom picked up for the baby. The fun thing about this dress is that it is roughly 150 years old!

Linking up to Kimba's DIY Day.

Flowers for a little girl

I have been working on a project for the new baby's room for over a month. I work on it a little here and a little there knowing that I had plenty of time to finish it. I finished half of the original project before being put on bed rest and decided on Monday that I will not do the other two flowers on an opposing wall.

I have several other projects that I would love to complete before my little girl's arrival, but if the curtains are not hung or the art work made, oh well. There will be time later to complete her room.

I love the contrast of the white against the bright blue walls. I look forward to showing off this room once it's finished!

It's time--living room projects

Working on another project! This one will be worth the "time!" Sorry for the stupid pun, I simply couldn't help myself.

Before I show you the finished project, there is something else that I changed in my living room.

I love how sometimes the smallest projects make the biggest difference! That is how I feel with my living room curtains! I loved the designer green striped fabric that I picked out months ago and I especially liked how the fabric pooled on the floor giving it a look of elegance. I personally did not like the size of the rod or the top of the curtain. So time for a change! (The before:)

The change may be a small one, but each time I walk into the room, I think about how much I like it. That is truly where it all matters! I purchased a longer rod so less of the window is covered. Naturally this makes the window look larger and more open. I also added the drapery rings to the top and LOVE it! I'm a little sad that the fabric no longer pools on the floor, but I still love the way it looks.

A fun view of the curtain top through the mirror on my mantle.


Over by my front door I had a bare little wall. It once houses coat hooks that really did not get me loving the space. So down they went and a bare Harvest Gold wall remained. I thought for sometime what I would put in this space and decided I needed a huge clock!

I love how this clock is directly on the wall. I would like to say that it was fairly easy to install, but since my darling husband did the work I'm sure it was easy for him. The trickiest part is making sure everything is level. This was an inexpensive kit over at Hobby Lobby, normally retailing for $30. I took it home on sale for only $15!


The next project is to find a table and lamp to go under my new clock!

Linking up to Kimba's DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land.

Autumn Mantle Decorations

My most favorite time of year is autumn. I love the crisp feeling in the air, the smells, the colors of the leaves and the sense of being closer as a family. Summer is too busy (not to mention hot) for me. I love how autumn slows things down and I get to think about upcoming holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday!) and Christmas.

Bringing out the fall decorations is a huge treat for me. Being in a new house this fall has been both excited and a bit overwhelming on how to decorate. I love the decor from my old house and found a nice home for them here.

My living room mantle

A close up of the flower arrangement that I created last year.

You can see my favorite wreath here (hung on my old door) and some decor from last year.

I am linking up to the Fall Nesting Week over at the Inspired Room!

A cut for the baby's room

My sweetheart has been out of town for work for the past three weeks. I had intentions of completing several projects, crafts, and to-do items. My intentions were good but I did very little. I did manage to work on a large project for the baby's room.

The stencil is cut and the painting has begun. Check back soon for the completed project!

A finished room for my big girl!

I am so excited to finally say that my sweet Livy's bedroom is finished! At least until we get new carpet. It has been a slow process full of unfinished projects since December and I was determined to have it finished before I start on the new baby's room.

Livy's bedroom journey started out as yellowish green room with fish on the walls.

And soon turned into this......

Welcome to a room perfect for any little girl!

Fresh paint and bead board really make this room into a feminine space. The hanging butterflies above the bed are from her nursery in the old house. They give her room a little something whimsical.

Her dresser with the new inserts. (See below) I added some ribbon around the lamp and painted the once outdated frame.

This dresser was used when I did daycare to store diapers and such. In December we moved Livy to a toddler bed and no longer used her changing table/dresser. I pulled this one out for her use and hated how I could see the drawer organizers through the plastic fronts. (Only Ikea would think of doing that!) So I had the idea to put some bright scrapbook paper behind it. I love it!

Her custom butterfly pictures made by me before she was born. I changed out the cherry frames from white ones.

As inspired from this blog, I created a simple monogram for her wall. I decided to frame it so it can be used in a different room (far in the future when she moves to a room downstairs). This project was a HUGE learning process. I have taken very good mental notes on what to do differently if I do one for the new baby. I am happy to report this project cost me a total of $2.65. (.66 for poster board and 1.99 for the bright pink paint. Everything else I had on hand!)

A big project that Eduardo completed this weekend was a beautiful curio cabinet for Livy's pretty things. I was given this curio after we moved and simply didn't know what to do with it. It was oak, which is not me, and I truly didn't want it. Then I thought how special would it be for my little girl to have a place to keep her collectibles safe. Out with the stripper, and several coats of paint and polyurethane Livy now has a beautiful piece of furniture. (Book basket in the corner, which we rotate OFTEN. I am so grateful Livy loves books! And her precious baby.)

This was my bathroom mirror in the old house. A good coat of spray paint and it is perfect in here!

Finding good curtains was important to me. Not only do they soften the window but they truly finish a room. I love the pom-poms on the top.

Livy loves her new room. I can't explain how excited she was as we were hanging pictures and moving the furniture. I hope she will always love her room and that she will find it a place to play, explore, read, think and grow.

Talk about a new fridge

So after the old-truck-running-idle sound started in the fridge and quickly turned to a constant machine gun noise, we knew it was time for a new fridge. I don't mind, I hated this fridge from the moment we moved in roughly 3 months ago.

I, personally, do not care for white fridges. I like the look of black or stainless, but that is only my opinion. I am not complete prejudice towards white appliances. In fact, if this fridge was fully functional then I wouldn't have disliked it so.

My biggest complaint was that there was practically two shelves. You might notice the small partial shelf in the middle. I couldn't move it and it was only good for a carton of eggs or a package of tortillas.

This was one small fridge was an even smaller freezer. Thank heavens that I have a small chest freezer or we wouldn't have made it.

On Saturday this came...

Certainly a little modern for my taste, but once I saw the inside, I knew I had to have her! Plus she was on clearance for $700!

How about a tour of this fridge which really came will all the bells and whistles?!

I love the idea of the freezer on the bottom. Now everything in the fridge is at eye level and I can see exactly what I have.

I love the wine rack holder. We don't drink alcohol, but it is perfect for bottled waters and sparkling cider. There is enough room in front for left-overs (no more getting lost).

I love the drawer for the produce.

The best thing is that the compartments come out for easy washing.

Another great feature is on the door of the fridge. The shelves that you put the condiments on come out. I have never seen that before! Spill a little mustard and off to the sink for a rinse.

As I was reading through the owners manual, I noticed a very interesting feature. For practicing Jews it has a Sabbath mode where the interior light and alarm (more about that in a moment) will not sound. We're not Jewish, but still interesting.

If you leave the fridge door open for too long, an alarm will sound (not loud but enough to hear it) letting you know that you are letting too much cool air out.

This is the freezer. I like that it isn't one giant drawer to fish in, but rather smaller drawers to keep everything organized. It is currently empty. I simply haven't gotten around to hauling everything in from the chest freezer.

All three compartments roll out for easy access. The middle one is shallow and intended for ice cube trays. There is not an ice-maker which we actually opted-out for. With Eduardo's job, he has many claims for the water line braking and didn't want to take the chance. The containers, like the fridge section, also come out (without much effort might I add) for easy cleaning.

You might ask what I don't like, well there isn't a drawer for deli meat and cheese. But that won't get me down! I found a simple solution with a storage container.

For more Talk About Tuesday, head to The Lazy Organizer.

To love a pear

I love how things sometimes come together in just the right way that I feel joy whenever I see them. My pears make me feel this way. On Friday, after the furnace repair man came, I headed out to a favorite store of mine to use a gift card that Eduardo received from his work. I was on the hunt for decor for my kitchen, mainly to go on top of the cabinets.

Decorating the tops of cabinets is rather new to me considering my last house had beautiful custom cabinets (how I loved you!) that went pretty much to the ceiling.

After my personal opinion of a successful decor of the dust trap (plant shelf in living room) I figured that I would do something along those lines here. I needed one thing to start with to give me inspiration. Something that would help with colors and texture in the room.

I had recently painted the walls in the adjoining dining room chocolate and creme and Eduardo hung up a beautiful chandelier. There was also a red rug that has made it's home in several houses.

Once at my favorite store, I headed to the kitchen section to see what things would inspire me. That is when I found a bag full of pears; beautiful pears in golds and reds. I knew that would be a perfect accent for my kitchen. Just an accent mind you, I don't like to do themed rooms but something to carry throughout the room.

I still have a few more things to purchase and move around before I can call this space complete. Until then, I have my pears to bring me joy!

There's a machine gun in the house! Yikes!

At least that is what it sounds like. Yesterday evening the fridge changed its identity from the appliance that keeps food cool, to appliance that sounds like a beat up truck running in the driveway. This lovely model, from 2001, is more than meets the eye and takes a little practice to figure out. Anything too close to the back is frozen more solid then the top freezer and anything too close to the front ends up going bad. This should have been a sign to us, but we hoped to make it a few months before replacing it. I should say that I am grateful to have a fridge. Our last beautiful fridge (how I miss you!) was required to stay with our last house and the previous owners of our new house was kind enough to leave their elderly fridge behind.

All night we listened to the fridge and pleaded with it, "Please, make it through the night!" What a mess that would be to wake up to the entire contents spoiled. So far, it is surviving by a small thread until we replace it tonight. Multiple times Livy has gone into the kitchen, starred at the fridge and diagnosed it by saying, "broke."

Lucky for us, the President's Day sales are going on and we should get a good deal on something better. I'm making my list for what is on my top priority for a new appliance. More than 2 shelves inside would be nice, freezer with a little space, a silent model, one without the paint splatters from the previous owners, and anything but white.