The reason...

Some might describe my Christmas decor as non-traditional but if you take a second to think about it, I mean really, really think about it, I'd say you can't get more traditional.

I was watching a show the other day and the host said, "Your entry is the place where you set the tone for the rest of your house. It should lead people to get a good idea about who you are simply by stepping foot into your house."

And that, my friends, is what I had in mind when I pulled out the Christmas decorations this year.

Plain, simple and the reason for the season front and center.

 Put your thinking caps on and see if you can guess the symbolism behind the 3 feathers placed in the wreath!

Ok, before you go thinking I'm all holier than thou, I must disclose that there's another reason behind my design. When I pulled out our Christmas decorations I quickly realized what once looked good in our Austin house, doesn't look so hot in our Dallas house. So, instead of buying all new things, I decided to shift my focus and remember the reason for the season. 

Master bedroom Before and After

Ready for a little crazy boldness? I debated waiting to "reveal" our bedroom because there's still work to be done. There are several layers left to add before we can slap a "finished" label on it. But for now, we'll celebrate that the painting is finished and boy was it a big, 'ol job!

So, let's take a look at the before shot of our belongings with the previous owners' paint/fan selection.

BEFORE:

SEMI-AFTER:

Isn't it wild what a little paint can do?! 

Other changes? The posters on our bed are adjustable so I took out the center pieces. The bed seemed a bit overpowering with the tall posters in. Did you notice the semi-missing ceiling fan? We thought we could replace the blades and save a little money by not replacing the entire fan. Turns out, that's not the case with this specific fan. So add that to the list of things still needed to complete this room.

As much as this space is SCREAMING for an amazing chandelier instead of a ceiling fan, it's just not practical friends...remember, we live in hot, hot Texas.

Anyone remember this architectural piece from Bryn's room in the Austin house? I was super excited when I realized it was the perfect piece for our bedroom. 

I'd like to add a plant or two to bring in a little, natural life and greenery.

The angles of the ceiling made for a fun canvas when it came to painting the black portion.

And, yes, it goes allllll the way across the ceiling. Insert neck pain here!

Here's the very unfinished other side of the room. Pretty sure that little bench will get some new clothes at some point. I'm not one for clutter, minimalism is my friend, so the dresser will likely stay free of "stuff." One of my goals with this paint design was to make the television disappear. Pretty sure I nailed that goal!

It almost looks like a piece of art when the tv is on. 

Let's round out the room with a picture from yesterday's post so you can get the full effect from all angles.

I'm planning to let the remainder of accessories slowly evolve in this space. I'll pick up a piece here and there as I see something that floats my boat. For now, I love that it feels like we're living in our room instead of the previous owners'. And, I also love that it's one-of-a-kind!

Picking a Pretty Neutral

The time has come to slap a little, okay a LOT, of paint throughout our house. We're saying bye-bye to the golden wheat color that's everywhere and taking it back to a neutral palette.

Here are my top 3 contenders from Benjamin Moore:

Samples have been purchased and randomly painted all over the house. Then, of course, the poll begins..."Which one do you like?" Then there's the, "Well, I like this one in the morning light and that one in the evening light." Hummm, what to do?

Have any of you ever noticed who many white/cream paints exist? I'm convinced there are millions! As a means of not driving myself batty, I've limited myself to only a handful. Not to mention, you could go broke buying samples and not have any money left to actually paint the rooms when all is said and done!

I'll keep you posted...

New House Pics (Part 3)

Okay friends, I finally got my act together and finished up taking pictures of our new house. Let me tell ya, this is NOT an easy house to photograph. Funky angles, small spaces, big windows...pretty sure I'm going to have to learn more about my camera if I'm going to keep this blogging thing up!

On to the important stuff...

 We're eagerly anticipating the first cool evening that calls for s'mores in the outdoor fireplace. See the cables and empty mount?...that's one of the televisions that was stolen before we moved in. :(

Across the porch is the "spool." Apparently that's what you call an oversized spa and undersized pool. We're new to this realm so our spool has a nice green tone that shouldn't be there. Yikes! Needless to say we haven't been enjoying this feature yet. Pool school here we come. Did you even know there's such a thing?

 Welcome to our master bedroom, aka, the green box. Have I ever mentioned that ceilings painted the same color as the walls is one of my pet peeves? I can't wait to slap some white paint overhead.

Speaking of overhead, let's take a second to admire the beautiful ceiling fan. Luckily, it's so hot that this baby is running 24/7 which means I don't have to focus on those ginormous blades. My parents will be acquiring this bad boy as soon as we buy a replacement. I'm finding as people come over, you either love this fan or you hate it. Guess which side I'm on?!

Brace yourself for the master bathroom. It's big, has cool angled ceilings and, well yeah, that's about it. The door on the right is hiding the toilet and tiny shower. I'm still scratching my head wondering why, in a space this large, must the shower be so little (and have a gold surround).

I'm thinking Laura Ashley meets Little House on the Prairie. Anyone else get that feeling?

Floral wallpaper's making a comeback, right? ;)

 Another long, narrow room that's hard to photograph, aka the guest bedroom. This room makes me sad. Seeing the "stuff" without the amazing wall of shelves we built just isn't right.

I'm convinced the previous owners had a wine fetish. That's a LOT of wine storage, my friends. And, be sure to take note of the wine bottle light switch cover in the left side of the picture. This is a bizarre, triangular space that currently houses our dogs' kennels, but will one day become a true closet. Right now there isn't a door. Immediately upon walking into the room, this smacks you in the face. 

This room has loads of decorating potential, but currently serves as the "catch all" room.

Ready for some more wallpaper? Here's the kiddos' bathroom. Really wish it had two sinks, there's definitely enough space.

Nothing more to say except...dated!

Loads of lights...ugly lights...10 to be exact.

I've relinquished control and allowed encouraged Bryn to decorate her own room. Remember, it's upstairs and nobody sees it, which will help you understand this next picture. 

 Taped posters of a boy band! Oh, to be a tween again. We'll get serious about her room once we've got this out of our system. But, she LOVES it and that's what really matters.

 We found giant canvases on sale at Michaels and she uses one of them for "Autographs" of anyone who stops by and the other acts as a giant doodle pad for "Drawings."

She has a fun, little window seat that overlooks the pond. How'd she get so lucky?!

Poor Reed got the raw end of the deal and his room is about the size of Bryn's closet. He said he's okay with this because he claims the pond as his room. ha!

I left it up to John and Reed to hang/arrange Reed's room and this is what they came up with. A little off balance, but the two of them were pretty pleased with themselves when they were finished. ;)

 Last, but not least, is the detached garage. It has a hidden surprise up top!

The deck is built around the tree. Love that!

 Welcome to the Man Cave.

 A place to play a few games, as well as watch a few games.

 Wine fridge...remember, wine fetish?

They also left this! My kids have had a blast seeing how we played games back in the day. Frogger, anyone?

Whew, that about wraps things up. Now, if I could just slow down my brain enough to figure out which space to tackle first.

New House Pics (Part 1)

Holy smokes, life's been anything but interesting around here lately, friends! For those of you following along, we finally closed on our house then moved in only to find out our air conditioner didn't work. Let me tell ya, unpacking boxes in an non-air conditioned house in the middle of July in Texas is NOT a good combo. Fortunately, our 5 days without air happened to be overcast and unseasonable cool. Thank you, God!

Then, we found out the house was burglarized before we moved in and the sellers' agents lied to our face about the situation. What'd they take? The 3 televisions and outdoor furniture the sellers were leaving us. We reached a settlement and the agent's broker came over to apologize to me in person. Glad that's behind us.

Onto the good stuff...ready to see the house? Well, I decided you need to see the exterior first so you'll know why we bought the house. The lot sold us!

This is technically our backyard. The house is oriented "backwards" on the lot so this view is enjoyed from our back porch instead of the front door. It's really confusing to people when they first come over because they feel like they're driving to the back of the house.

There are lots of cute little seating areas. Love this bench but it's not too comfy. Looking forward to adding some color in the planters to break up all the green.

Also, as you walk around the pond there are interesting finds at each turn. Check out these roots!

We have a duck! I named her Sally. I tell her every morning as I'm feeding her, that she needs to find a husband and make us some ducklings. ;)

Think Reed's enjoying this little area? He may or may not wake up and go directly to this spot in his undies and start fishing. Priceless!

The entrance faces the back of the lot. I'm guessing the previous owners chose paint colors that would enable the house to blend in with the surroundings. I think they missed the mark a little bit but that's an easy fix.

Think these doors will stay this color? I'm up for suggestions, no decisions have been made just yet. The inside of the doors are already painted white.

Okay, now for a few shots of the inside. Feast your eyes on our dining room. The only thing that's staying in this room is our awesome new table. I'm still deciding on chairs. They definitely need to be low profile and unassuming so the gorgeous live edge on the table can become the star of this room.

What's that...missing wallpaper? Yes, that happened the very first day we moved in. I couldn't wait to get this stuff off the wall. Bye, bye Tommy Bahama palm trees.

Next thing to be removed...heavy, very dated drapery. I didn't even get a shot of the long panels that adorned each side, but you can use your imagination.

Honestly, I don't even have a plan for this space yet. I simply needed to remove things so my brain could start with a blank slate. Now the fun begins!

More pics to come, friends.

I bought a new...

dining table this weekend. Here's a little clue as to what it looks like...

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Are you catching that live edge action?! Yummy.

So, here's the story. There's always a story, right? Our current dining table is too large for the house we're attempting to buy. Before we leave Austin, I felt it was a must to stop in my favorite store, Four Hands Furniture Outlet. Last week I measured a table but sadly learned it was the exact same length as our existing table. No dice. 

This weekend we were out and about and I asked John if we could stop in 4Hands so I could ask if the table even came in a shorter length. Lo and behold, when we walked in guess what was sitting there waiting on us? The exact same table in a shorter length. Yay!

But wait, we haven't exactly secured our next house yet and things are going slower than they should with our closing, so what if we buy this table and the house falls through?

I decided to ask the sales guy if there were any more in the back so I'd have peace of mind that I could wait on it and not make a dumb mistake. I explained that we haven't closed on our house yet and I didn't want to jinx anything.

He looked me straight in the eye and this is what he said, I kid you not..."Someone sure is letting the enemy get ahold of them and make them doubt, now aren't they?" I stood there dumbfounded. Had this complete stranger just called me out?! Yep. And, he was right, I've let satan rob my joy this last week. I went from proclaiming a miracle, to letting a few set backs during the closing process cause me to allow stress and worry creep back in. Man, what a shame.

I had a quick confession session with the 4Hands salesman then made my way to the cash register. ;) Can't wait to see our new table in the house God's preparing for us!