Day Twelve: And Then it Gets Better { Weekending }

Remember this??

 I left you with a post about things getting worse, before they get better.  

 Well, welcome to our version of "better."  It's not amazing, there aren't color coordinated baskets or something incredibly inventive.  I switched it up and put Trav's stuff on the left side and mine on the right, simply because my stuff was often in the dark and out of sight.  I guess his is now, but he doesn't really linger in front of his clothes while deliberating about an outfit. He operates with your basic "grab and go" philosophy and most importantly, I knew he wouldn't care where things hung as long as I promised not to change it back anytime soon!  Our shoes also have a new home on the opposite side of the closet and our pants now hang where we can see them better too.  

 After everything in chaos for the last two months, sometimes it's just as simple as neatly folded piles and clothes on hangers.  That's all it takes to make life a little bit better.  

 This is my favorite view of the closet.  Doors closed and everything out of sight...ahh, doesn't that feel nice??

I finished up our closet this weekend and on Sunday morning I found myself home with two kids who weren't feeling so well.  While they were resting I looked around at our room and decided I had the itch to make a few changes in here too.  

 I get this itch every few months and usually it's just a matter of moving something around or introducing something different.  I love the splash of color in here and all of the natural light that streams in, but as I was looking outside and pondering the change of seasons I had an idea.  Maybe I've had the idea for awhile, but this time I decided to do something about it. 

 Unlike the commercial on right now about the ticket oak, there is no money tree growing with our name on it.  With all these changes we've been making, I knew the cash flow that has been gushing needed to dry up and therefore anything I wanted to do differently in here needed to be done with $0.  

 So I started shopping my house.  Do you ever do that?  Move from room to room, pondering what could stand to go or coming up with new ideas for different spaces??  It my favorite kind of shopping to do.  I started by removing the patterned quilt and the colorful throw pillows.  I do love them but I think I'm going to save them for the Spring and Summer, when they get to really show off. With winter coming, I've toyed for years about going to all white bedding but the realist in me has avoided it for several reasons.  

#1- We have kids, need I say more??

#2- Our furniture is kind of a yellowed cream and I never could wrap my mind around bright white blending well with all that cream.  

#3- Until last week, we've always had ivory carpet in here, which again, felt like a whole lot of creamy competition with nothing pulling it together.

#4- I like color. 

#5- Travis might kill me if I bring up my desire for "new bedding" again.  Seriously, he's a patient man.

But as inspiration often does, it began burning in me and with the introduction of a darker carpet and the browns as an anchor, I began to love the idea of white.  

I knew I could test run this idea with things I already have.  I grabbed two white king shams off of my kids beds and swapped them for the green shams I had on here before.  Interestingly, the green was much cuter in their room than the white.  That may have just become a permanent thing. The white shams on here were a little big, but for now they are fine.  The looked the best in the back, simply because they are so big and they were out of place in the front.  I solved that by moving our pillow cases with the blue ticking to the front.  

I had a white cotton blanket folded in our closet from our old guest room bedding. I added that to then end of the bed and then found a throw from our living room, that never really worked in our living room, and guess what...it worked perfectly with the lamps and sheets!  Gotta love when a plan comes together.  I've decided to just live with the blend of some white, browns, and robin egg blue until I can get my head around how I want this to look.  I'd love to add a prettier white quilt, some cozy white and cream pillows and some navy too.  The thing above our headboard is ok for now, but I'd also love to swap that for something else in the Fall and Winter.  I'm thinking of some DIY ideas involving wood or something dark.  I'm going to try my best to keep this as free as possible, although I just might see if I can score some clearance pillows or a quilt down the road.  Maybe with some Christmas money?  

 When it comes to accessories and layering pieces in my house, I try to buy things that I know can be used in several places.  So that I don't accumulate a bunch of things and waste tons of money, I like colors that work together all over my house and things that are multi-functional.  But I also love clearance sales, close-outs and Craig's List.  Or my Mom and sister's houses.  We've all down some swapping before! I've not always had solid color bedding but I think I'm making a case for choosing that again in the future.  It makes it easy to change things up from season to season or to just go for a totally different look, just by swapping out pillows and art.  

 What is it about freshly made beds (or recently picked up rooms) that makes kids want to throw themselves in the middle of them and start playing right there??

 Good thing he's a pretty cute bed crasher, huh?

I'm blaming my recent love for blues and particularly navy again, on this new rug in our living room.  I am SO glad we chose it, I love it so much and I love how it is influencing the rest our house too.  That's how you know it was a good buy! 

So as it stands today, here is our "better" master bedroom.  That flower thing definitely has to go for awhile, in person it doesn't bug me so much but in this picture it stands out like a sore thumb.  I am loving the chocolate pillows with the pops of white and blue, and of course I love our new carpet!  We both get out of bed in the morning and the minute our feet hit that soft floor, it's like a gift all over again.  We are easy to please, really :)   

I'm searching for some headboard ideas now, which in today's culture means one thing: 

Pinterest, here I come...

This was day 12, in case you're counting.