Day Twenty-Eight: The Great Tornado

I've done quite a few posts about the ways we've adapted our kids' rooms as they've grown and I don't think I need to rehash that again.  But I thought I'd share a little bit about how I organize their stuff and keep this very small space functional for my kids.  Have you all seen the very funny post that was circulating around Facebook recently about the Warped Childhood, Restoration Hardware Style??  If you haven't, please do yourself a favor and read it!  Excuse the unfortunate language choices here and there but seriously, she has a major point.  The people who design those amazing catalogs for "kids" and sell us the ideal of what a kids' room should look like???  I'm willing to bet they don't have children of their own AND if they do, their own homes look nothing like that.  

Because really?  Kids are little tornadoes and toys rarely come in one general, coordinating color scheme.  It seems so charming doesn't it?  A house of vintage, wooden toys and beautiful maps lining the walls?  I went for that look twice, in the glory days of my children's nurseries, when they didn't actually play with anything and they never messed their rooms up.  And oh did I love that look!  

But then a funny thing happened and they grew up.  And the toys they never touched, suddenly they drug them all over the house.  Birthdays, Christmas and then the invasion of plastic took over when all the people who love them began showering them with toy after toy, all in brightly colored shapes and sizes, effectively ruining the color scheme of their rooms!  ha! 

 But as I listened to them giggle and get lost in make believe, I no longer cared so much about everything looking so amazing or magazine worthy.  I cared a lot more about the time I got to spend with them, about the way they played with one another or the freedom to put my feet up while they simply played like the kids they are.  

I started looking at their room and their play space with different eyes.  Rather then making everything beautiful for my benefit, I wanted to make it fun for them.  I have the challenge of a small space, this room is basically their playroom and our family room and while perfection isn't my goal, function and organization is.  

 I move things around in here all the time.  As they grow and go through seasons of play, I change things up and swap things out.  I like things they are into to be accessible, on their level.  Trav has given them a love for books and our shelves are overflowing with them.  Still they have their favorites they gravitate towards...Ava always reaching for a princess book and Carter, anything with a truck.  But I hide them sometimes (don't tell them) and put some new books in front of them too.  I always have this idea that we're going to spend a day reading all the books we never have...it's yet to happen but it's a goal!  

 I'm probably the only one who knows where everything "goes" but in order to make this room work, I do have a place for everything and I'm always showing the kids where things belong.

 Since Ava has been in preschool, I've sort of shrunk her floor space in order to make more room for Carter.  He's home the most now and without Ava to boss him around or dictate what they do, I am watching him learn to play on his own and to get lost in imaginative play.  I've gotten an education in the ways boys play!  Cars, trains, trucks, airplanes...always spread out, every surface a possible road.  

I didn't want Ava to lose her space too, but as the older one she's always had the most real estate and now she needs a little less.  Thankfully she hasn't noticed a bit and she is great at rolling with anything "new."  Her castle is usually where she lands when she gets home but it makes me smile when I occasionally find Carter sitting here too :)  

 This room isn't as pretty or as cute as it once was.  

But that's ok.  

 Truly it doesn't look this clean on most days.  I usually put my foot down and insist on one day a week when we put everything back, vacuum and re-group.  I always say to them, "Isn't this so nice to have a clean room to play in??"  They always agree and laugh, eager to set some new toy out or to dive into another imaginary scenario.  

And then they do what they do best, they turn the room upside down again, leaving it as if a tornado has blown through.  And I sigh, cringing at how long it took to clean and how quickly it got dismantled!  But I see that little face and I think, this is exactly how being a kid should be.  

Manicured, pristine places were never meant for kids and although I am a lover of all the magazines and companies who make gorgeous things, I love my kids more.  I want them to remember all the crazy ways they played together and the make believe things they created.  Sometimes that means I can't walk by their rooms without shuddering or that I don't have moments when the mess sends me over the edge and I freak out until they help me regain some order.  But knowing that seasons come and go and soon so many of these toys will be "too little" for them, I make myself take the good with the bad and embrace reality.  

It's good for them and it's good for me.  I love it when this room is picked up and in perfect order, sure. But seeing the disaster too reminds me of a Proverb that never made much sense to me before.  

Proverbs 14:4

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest."  

Like living with kids, if they aren't around the house is empty (clean).  But when they are full of life and present, the harvest is abundant and the manger?  Full (and likely, messy).  I can long for a clean house but in order to maintain that, I'd have to long for an empty house too.  I'll take the mess and I'll praise the Lord for the abundant harvest if it means I get to have oxen in my manger!  

The more kids you have, the more you realize you aren't an expert on raising kids.  This is what works for us, maybe you've found something better or something that works for your kids?  I don't know anyone who has Restoration Hardware kids, but I do know a lot of oxen who make hearts full and homes messy and in the end, I think those homes are the most beautiful of all, don't you? 

Day Twenty Seven: Working From Home

Here I am, plugging away in November, trying to wrap up this series from October.  I just have a few more posts to go and then I can write about something else other than this condo!  Ha! I'm actually missing posts about my kids and food and I don't know, random thoughts.  But I want to finish this because I know someday I'll be glad I did!  AND today I've got some fun pictures to show you as I share one of the ways this little home has worked for me.  

 For several years now, I've had a little side business that has ebbed and flowed with the seasons of my life.  In my pre-children years I worked in many a flower shop and developed quite a love for art of floral design.  Even when I moved into my "career" field of Interior Design, I found myself still itching to create beauty from nature.  Interior Design helped work my mental creativity but there was something about working with my hands that made floral design so appealing.  And relaxing.  

 Over the years life has changed, my responsibilities have grown with each change and specifically each child, but interestingly enough flowers have remained in some capacity or another.  This little "hobby" has been a great side business and it's really grown right out of my kitchen.  Some years I've done a wedding or two, or had a baby and didn't do any, or I've done seven...like this Spring/Summer.   In each season I've been so grateful for the way the Lord has made it clear that I was to take on what I wanted to or that I needed to step back. I've never spent money or time advertising or looking for work but time and time again brides have contacted me and I've kept this little engine that could, running.  Well actually, the Lord's kept it running.  

  People always wonder where I buy the flowers, where I put them together, who helps me, etc.  And the truth is, 80% of it I do on my own and from my kitchen.  Occasionally I hire some friends to help me deliver on the day of the wedding or to help me crank out a few things, but usually it's me and my favorite helper, Trav.  This summer was a busy one for me and I found myself moving from one wedding to another as the weeks just fell off the calendar.  I had six weddings from April-July and then I ended the summer with a bang in September. I haven't shared these photos yet but I've been dying to! I LOVED the color scheme for this wedding and the flowers were SO fun to put together.  

 The main colors of the wedding were a grey and blush pink and I suggested we add some pale peach, ivory and some silvery greens.  The bride wanted a very romantic, natural look and I think we were able to achieve that.  I know I say this after most weddings, but truly, this one might be favorite! 

 The bridesmaid's bouquet.

The girls were in a light grey, structured cotton dress and this was just the pop of color they needed. 

 The Bridal Bouquet.

I used some of the same colors in the bridal bouquet, just added quite a bit more ivory.  I love mixing textures and colors, this bouquet had some really unusual flowers which created some great interest.  

 This is a better shot of them after wrapping the stems.

I just loved the softness and the subtle pops of blush and pink throughout it.  

The peach was also a nice addition, it helped mix things up and keep this from becoming a "spring" like color scheme.  I think the peach was a fun nod to September, bringing a little bit of "fall" into this without doing a typical fall color scheme.

 I repeated much of the same in the corsages and bouts.

 It was fun to deliver to such a beautiful place where the girls were getting ready.  I always love a shot of the bouquets all lined up! 

At the Church we kept it simple but soft.

 The Unity Candle arrangement

 The stage is always a great place to use inexpensive flowers.  From the pews you only see color so I like to be able to give brides more for their money by using "cheaper" flowers while still getting the size and impact they were going for. 

I didn't want a traditional spray that was symmetrical with the other, but per the bride's wishes,  I wanted it to look like they had just pulled some flowers together themselves. 

 Those candelabras aren't the most beautiful I've ever seen, but it's amazing what some flowers will do to make you forget! 

The bride wanted a simple, candlelit aisle and I thought this was beautiful.  

 I've done those cylinders so many ways, with ribbons and flowers and rose petals, etc. but there really is something about water and a floating candle that is elegant too.  This was a 4:30pm wedding and I thought it was a great look for that.  

 I didn't do the reception, simply because Travis was the Pastor officiating this wedding and I knew I could only handle so much that day. But the bride had great vision for this look and I loved how they pulled it off!  

 Just lots of candlelight in different sized mason jars with some pink rose petals I ordered for them.  Again, simple and beautiful.  

All of my work was done that day around noon, but until the ceremony was over and Trav's work was done, I didn't really relax!  He did a great job, I love when he gets to do weddings, but I did forget how much work they really are for Pastors too.  Thankfully my parents had the kids for us that weekend or we never would have survived!  To make the whole thing extra fun, this all happened in the same week our tile floors got installed and just days before the new carpet went in. It's no wonder I got sick after this was all said and done, huh??

The cute new Mr. and Mrs!  

I'm so grateful to have lived through this summer and now to be on a break from weddings.  But I'm also very thankful that I've been able to still do a little of what I love, in addition to my real life and the people I love.  It's amazing that my kitchen has "housed" my business, what a blessing to work from home!  Never would have guessed I'd be using our home for this when we moved in but I'm glad it's worked out so well!  

Day Twenty Six: Bathroom Makeovers (Part Two)

Yesterday I showed you the transformation that our main bathroom has undergone this Fall and today I thought I'd show you our second bathroom and it's changes too!  Really this is the master bath, but since our kids live in our master bedroom, we just refer to it as the kids bathroom :) Aren't we clever??  

I can't seem to find a great pic of this bathroom before but this sort of shows you what it looked like.  The walls were white when we moved in and this is the only room that never got painted.  You can see the ugly linoleum that was also in our other bathroom and more of the oak trim and a very similar vanity.  What you can't see is the shower on the right, but basically this bathroom has been extremely plain for years.  I've had rugs and artwork and all of that in here, and naturally it's changed several times over but I pulled all of that out recently in order to begin phase one of this makeover...painting.  

I haven't had a great track record in judgement when it comes to painting bathrooms recently.  This bathroom doesn't have natural light from its' own window like the other bathroom, but there is a good deal of sunlight that streams in from the windows in the master.  I originally brought the same color in here that we did in the kitchen, the living room and the hallway in an effort to stay consistent.  But as it was going up on the walls I felt like history began repeating itself.  It was a lovely color but with way less natural light, it was just too dark.  

I was not thrilled but I knew I had to make yet another trip for more paint, this time in a much lighter color and that is how I landed on the stone color that you see on the right.  

I was motivated to just get this bathroom done so I managed to get it all painted in a day and began putting the kids stuff back again.  

And thankfully I really liked it.  It was just enough to stand out from all the white but it also gave a great neutral backdrop and made that bathroom feel nice and roomy.

All was well except the ugly floors.  

But I didn't have to hate them much longer the tile people were scheduled to be there in a few days and we couldn't wait!

 A week or so later, we got everything out of the bathroom (again) and prepared for the tiles to be delivered the day before they would be installed.  When they arrived on a Tuesday and I began checking the boxes I realized immediately that they had made a mistake.  I had asked for the same time that we used in our main bathroom to be installed in here (the tile on the left) but they had instead ordered the tile that we chose for the entry way.  I panicked a little and they scrambled to see if they had enough on hand to make it work, knowing that if they didn't it would push back everything, including that carpet that was coming a week later.  I told them to just give me some time to think about it, wondering if maybe this would turn out to be a happy accident and I might actually like the brown tile instead?  

I laid out a million pieces in both colors and deliberated for hours, texting my Mom and sisters to weigh in too!  In the end, Travis really loved the brown tile and I was leaning that way too.  I worried it might be took dark but there was something about it on the floor that made me curious.  I liked that it was different and that it would help tie in what we did in our entry.  I took a deep breath and called them back to tell them that we could keep the brown....and then prayed that we would love it! 

Before I knew it they were back in the morning and this project was rolling, ready or not! 

I was nervous but excited. Thankfully the installer kept telling me how much he liked it, which was making me feel better.  

It didn't take too long before they had it all done...

And I knew I loved it.  This is pre-grout so the lines are very dark, but in real life we chose a brown grout that just seamlessly blends in.  

I drove my kids to meet my Dad while all this was going in, so I was anxious to see it when I got home.  

Travis and I were in the middle of the craziest week and we were re-installing this toilet again at midnight that night!  Which was great (we'd been without toilets all day) and also a new experience for us.  We were so tired and really praying we were doing it correctly.  Thankfully we were! 

It's pretty lame that this is my only picture since it's all been done, but you can at least see the main highlights of the room.  We love the wall color with the new floor and we're SO happy we stuck with the brown!  It looks great from the bedroom looking in and it's SO easy to keep it clean and looking nice.  

It's a huge pain when your bathrooms are torn up and in process but it's oh so worth it in the end! We are very thankful we could do these things and that we're now done!  Mostly.  I still have some detail stuff to finish in here and we need to replace the faucet but the big stuff is done.  Better yet, I don't have any more painting hanging over my head.  That may be the best news of all.  

Who knew bathrooms could be so exciting? This girl now does...