Christmas Decor | 2014

This year I was actually anticipating dragging all of the Christmas boxes from the attic. It's been two years since I've seen any of my decorations since we were moving and living with my parents at Christmas time last year. And it was kind of like opening presents again. In more ways than one...I also had to decide where everything would go in our new house. Practically nothing is the same as it was in our old house, including furniture. But it was a fun kind of puzzle.

I like to decorate for Christmas, and obviously, the boys love it. But I like to keep things pretty simple too. This year, I snapped a few photos of how I used our decorations...this is by no means everything. Just a glimpse.

First...the tree. I had thought I'd want to put it by the stairs again like I did in our old house. But I wasn't sure if it would fit in this space. As you can see, it did. Perfectly. 

We have our little elf friend sitting on the stair banister keeping an eye on things. The boys helped me hang the "special" ornaments this year. I put the generic ones on first and then we all add the meaningful ornaments. I love looking at our ornaments as we put them on the tree. 

If you know me well, you know that I don't put things on my fridge...except during the holidays. I love to display the boys' works of art from years past and this year too. This is something my mom always did (and still does) so I guess it made an impression on me. 

I did something new this year and added a ribbon to the door of my pantry. I used some tiny sparkly clothespins that I got at Hobby Lobby to attach photos of the boys that I've taken of them at Christmas in years past...this year is up there too. I LOVE this and I know I'll continue to do it. I love to see those photos and their cute little faces through the years. 

Every year we decorate gingerbread houses. And one of the reasons I love to do that is because I love using it for our decor. We do it every year because it's a fun activity instead of keeping the houses from year to year. This year I made one myself too, and I plan to keep it. I love our little row of houses right in front of my sink where I seem to spend a lot of time. Right next to our gingerbread-decorating Santa. 

In our old house I used to have a metal wall hanging that I would use to hold Christmas cards during the holidays. Since I no longer have that art, I was looking around for an alternative, which I did not find. But, I did find an idea and made it my own. I took chip board letters, covered them in different Christmas scrapbook papers and then glued them to a square dowel rod. I added the ribbon and got little clothespins to attach the cards. I love the result. I hung it using a command strip, and it's right next to our TV in the living room...very visible from the main part of our house because I love looking at the cards. 

And lastly, the fireplace. I think the fireplace is my second favorite Christmas decor spot...after the tree. I love hanging the stockings and I think the fire itself contributes to a cozy Christmas feel. 

So, our halls are decked now and we are ready for this holiday season!

Moving Out

December 9 was moving day for us. It was supposed to be Friday, the 6th, but let's just remember that Friday was the day that the huge ice storm hit our area making moving pretty much impossible. I have lived in Dallas my whole life and I've never seen ice like this. Huge trees snapped in half because of the weight of the ice on their leaves and branches. The roads were covered in inches of very solid ice. Parking lots...death traps. Nasty stuff.

What I'd love to be doing during an icy weekend is sitting in front of the fire, cuddling the boys, watching movies, making hot chocolate, and reading books. That's what makes ice storms even remotely bearable. Moving and stressing about getting all your stuff into storage during an ice storm is not on my list of things I'd like to be doing.

Sunday afternoon, Casey and I scraped the very thick ice from the walkway leading up to our house and Monday morning, the moving truck arrived. This is the first time we have hired movers. Suffice it to say, I'm never moving without movers again. (Actually, I'm not moving again...ever, so never mind.)

And yes, the faded "Christmas Trees" words on the side did give me pause. After all, these guys are loading our entire house into a truck and then putting it in storage for us...you want them to be legit. Turns out, they did fine.

When I was packing, I used the dining room as a staging area. This was about 1/2 way into the move. Lots of boxes...and random stuff. It's the random stuff that doesn't fit in anything that annoys me. Ironing board. Pool noodles. Bean bags.

And here's the living room with the furniture all wrapped up. The couch wasn't wrapped because we were selling it to a friend who picked it up later that day. The house is starting to look really weird, but you don't really have time to stop and notice because of all the activity going on. I didn't even take many photos that day....literally less than 10 total.

Toward the end of the day, when the crew was unloading the second (and last) load into the storage unit, my mom brought the boys over to the house to day goodbye. They were so excited to see how different it looked.

They went up to their empty rooms and said goodbye, then we took one last family photo in our house. Which we now refer to as "the old house." Goodbye house. I pretty much raised my babies here. We moved in when Ethan was exactly 1 year old. Logan came home from the hospital to this house. And we had wonderful, sweet, exhausting, and very memorable years with our little boys here. I will always love it.

Time to start a new chapter. Beginning with waiting for our new house to be finished.

October?

Here I am posting two days before it will have been a full month since my last post. What happened to October? It's one of my favorite months. And we had a good, albeit super busy, one. Well, one major thing has derailed my blogging...

That is our new house. And as of today, we are under contract on our current house. No one is more surprised by this turn of events than us. When we bought our current house almost 5 years ago, we envisioned updating/renovating it to our style and staying here for a very, very long time. For various reasons, we very recently decided that there might be a better course of action that made more financial sense.

So within the last three weeks we have searched for and found a spec home that is currently being built, signed a contract on it, prepared our home for listing, and put it on the market. That may not sound like a lot when listed like that, but it has turned my world upside down and completely erased my sanity. 

Occasionally times in my life turn out to be really stressful and busy, but thank goodness they are usually short times or seasons. I cannot live in survival mode forever. And that's where we've been for three weeks. I can't remember the last hot meal I cooked. We have been in the car and in meetings a lot. I have had to say no to previous obligations to get things done that became priority. I am tired and ready to move beyond these harried three weeks. There is an end in sight now and it is getting closer every day.

And right now, as things have slowed down just a little bit, I am back to editing the piles of photos that have added up these past few weeks: our visit to the Rory Meyers Childrens Garden at the Dallas Arboretum, my 10 year college reunion at ACU, a trip to the Arboretm's pumpkin displays, a day at Grandaddy's farm, a Halloween photo shoot, and Trick or Treating. So, I may be posting about Halloween at the beginning of December, but I'll get it done eventually. Exciting times ahead for our family, but there's definitely some work getting there.

Logan's Big Boy Room

Logan's room has been transformed over the past few months from his nursery to a big boy room. I can't believe we no longer have a crib in the house. I have been collecting things here and there for almost a year now. I didn't want a theme, but I knew I wanted some vintage or antique items in here like in Ethan's room. In fact, there will be a few things that look similar to big brother's room. Here's what Logan's room looks like from his door...

When I moved in the bedding and drapes, I kind of wanted to paint the walls. But, I thought since they were neutral that I'd leave them for now and just paint next time...when Logan has more opinions about his room.

The striped bedding and the bed itself are both from Pottery Barn Kids (Ethan's bedding is navy striped). The "Logan" pillow is from Ballard Designs (Ethan has one in red). Navy quilt and sheets from Target. The green drapes are black-out panels from Target that actually matched the green of the bedding perfectly, which was awesome since they were only $15 a piece. The navy shade is from Bed Bath and Beyond and came with black-out lining too. We are big fans of making our boys' bedrooms dark.

Ethan has a grouping of three photos over his bed too. The thing is...I like it so much and the way it looks over the bed, that nothing else fit the bill for Logan's room. So I just did the same thing. And those are three of my very favorite photos I took of Logan.

Logan's bedside table was a Craigslist find (a steal, actually) that I spray painted in glossy navy. I didn't do anything to the hardware because I loved it. The lamp is from Home Goods and the trusty sound machine finds it's home here too.

This little barking puppy was a gift long ago to Ethan from Nonnie. So, it was in his nursery, then I used it in Logan's nursery (on a shelf), and now it's in his big boy room. I just think it is so cute.

To the right of the bed is a hanging rack that was in Logan's nursery (I had three sweet baby outfits hanging from it). I decided to just leave it and find some fun things to hang from it.

The first thing I found was the vintage Cricket bat. My mom and I ran across it while browsing antiques in downtown McKinney. I wasn't looking for it, but when I saw it, I knew I wanted it in Logan's room. It speaks to the British influences in my dad's family. Then, I hung a soccer (or football) jersey on the middle hook...that my dad and my brother brought back from London.

And rounding out the hanging trio is one of Casey's old baseball gloves.

I had originally thought that I'd sell the rocker with the crib and changing table, but Logan had other plans. He still likes to be rocked before nap time and bed time. It's a tough job cuddling with your son , but dutiful parents that we are...we do it. And we will savor every moment that he wants to be rocked until he decides he doesn't want that any more. At which point I will cry when we get rid of the rocker because I rocked both of my babies in that chair. That, and it may be the most comfortable chair we own (seriously, it's SO comfy).

My mom and I picked up these antique metal train cars in Asheville when we were antiquing. It sounds like we go antiquing all the time, but we really don't! We've just gotten pretty lucky the few times we've gone. We got these train cars for an absolute steal and I knew I wanted to use them in Logan's room because he loves choo choos. But I didn't know how I'd use them. Somehow, I came up with the idea to make them a wall display with shelves (from Home Decorator's Collection). I think it shows them off perfectly. Logan is thrilled about these in his room.

On the other side of the room is a book shelf (from Pottery Barn Kids) and a wall gallery.

I almost didn't fill up his shelves yet because I was afraid that he would play with all of the stuff instead of sleeping. There's nothing on that shelf that is precious or breakable, but I didn't want them to be distractions. But Logan really pretty much stays in bed when he's in his room at nap time or bed time. It helps that we don't store his regular toys in his room.

The wall gallery evolved over several months. I purchased the racket and the Norman Rockwell framed football print (bottom left) at the same time as the cricket bat in downtown McKinney. The number 2 was a find at an antique store in Frisco when I was browsing for photography props. The small bat is Casey's. Not sure where he got it, but he's had it for as long as I can remember. The other two frames are from Ikea.

One of the frames is a shadow box and it holds the little sail boat my parents bought for Logan in St. Thomas. He has played with it and broken it already (it was rather fragile), but Casey glued it back together and I decided to put it in the frame to keep it in his room but also keep it from getting broken again. Logan thinks it is so cool that there's a boat behind the glass.

And I searched through Casey's truck of stuff from his childhood and found this soccer patch from 1991. I didn't know if I would use it or not, but it worked perfectly in the Ikea frame I spray painted navy (same color as the bedside table).

The book shelf items were collected over several months also. I found the vintage books at Half Price Books and also on Etsy. The white trophy and green jack were both Target clearance items that I found at separate times. The "L" is from Hobby Lobby and I spray painted it green (like the "R" in my office...same color). The football and baseballs are new...from Target. As is the glass jar. I stole the blocks from the playroom. Logan has a red coin box just like Ethan does on his shelf. They are from my parents. The vintage locker basket was an antique store find.

And the little baseball was Casey's from one of his years in Little League. It is signed by his whole team. I love it! And it sits in one of his old baseball trophies.

My mom bought me the bowling pin because she thought it would be cool in here...and I love it. The teddy bear was a gift from her before Logan was born. She and Ethan made it for baby Logan at Build a Bear. I love that it is still part of his room.

And that's it...a big boy room for a big(er) boy. I had a lot of fun collecting things for this room. And even more fun is seeing how excited and proud Logan is of it all.

Pantry Facelift

At the beginning of this year I launched into full-on organizing mode. I don't know that I do spring cleaning as much as January cleaning. I have an urge after Christmas to take stock of what shape our closets and storage spaces are in. One of the projects I've been itching to do for a while is our pantry. It was not in bad shape, really. But considering I am in there about 50 times a day, I just wanted a little more organization and functionality. Plus, I knew it was time to clean out some things too.

It is so hard to show a small space in photos, so there are about a million of them from every angle. However, one of the things this pantry has going for it is space. It's not tiny and it's one of the things that sold me on this house.

Again, not bad, but I'd get frustrated about a few things and knew it could be better. One of those things were the wire shelves. I really prefer not to have them, if possible. It was just the top row of shelving on either side of the pantry because they were add-ons to the original shelving, so I knew that replacing it with wood would be a fairly easy and inexpensive thing to do

This corner was just a huge waste of space.And more wire shelving.

I had three things I wanted done to the pantry:  1) paint the walls (because everything is coming out anyway and there were old nail and screw holes...why not?).   2) replace wire shelving with wood.  3) fix organizational issues on shelves with more containers, tools, etc. 

The process started by turning my dining room and kitchen surfaces into dumping grounds for all pantry items. Seriously, when it was all spread out like that, I could not believe how much stuff fit in there.

We were without our pantry for about a week, so it was a bit comical when I'd try to cook...I had to clear counter space, find my ingredients (no small task), and then kick myself every time I walked into the empty pantry out of habit (which was a lot). It was an interesting week.

I'm skipping the "during" photos because there's already a million photos in this post. But, the walls were painted (a soft, bluish-grey), the wood shelves were added and painted, and everything was loaded back in. As I was deciding what would go back in and where, I took the opportunity to get rid of (throw away/donate) several things that had either expired or I just never used.

Putting the pantry back together took me a good 2 days (on and off, of course) and it was probably the most fun I've had this year so far. I had the best time planning the space and putting everything in it's place. Some things got new containers, some got moved around. But I had the advantage of 3.5 years using this space to know how I wanted things.

New wine storage was on my list and that was accomplished. The lazy Susans in the corners of the shelves really maximize the space and allow me to see things easily. ALL my spices got moved into here. I used to keep my "most used" spices in one of the kitchen cabinets, but I found it easier to have them all in one place so I'm not having to think about where a particular spice is. And I alphabetized them.

My cookbooks were trimmed down to the essentials and baking supplies got their own containers. Recycle bins and laundry bin were relocated to below the bottom shelf because the corner in which they use to reside got the biggest makeover, in my opinion.

This corner now has a kitchen card (from Ikea) and the new wooden storage shelf (for holiday stuff that can't go in the attic). I love having some of my most used appliances on the cart so I can grab them quickly and easily.

Oh, one of my favorite things I added are the fruit and veggie bins. I didn't have anywhere to put them before and I love having them so visible and accessible now. I think I should note that I take most things out of their packaging before putting them in the pantry (or fridge, for that matter). I hate packaging....it takes up so much room and then you have to unwrap things when you need them. I prefer to take a few more minutes after going to the grocery store and tackle it all at once.

(PS - I have to store my laundry baskets in my pantry because it got all the square footage and there's absolutely no room for them in my laundry room!)