adding art...

So I decided I didn't feel like painting tonight but after playing the piano for awhile I was in the mood to do something and this is what resulted. The paintings were gifts from my beloved husband from his last 6 month. He brought them home as rolled canvas and then made frames and stretched them, followed by making decorative frames from molding which we stained. The large one was hanging above the piano but I knew I didn't want to keep it there so this was the perfect spot for it! I like that it fills up the void on the wall there and draws your eye upwards. Now I have to decide if I want to hang it's buddy on the same wall or somewhere else? thoughts? opinions? do share! :D

painting session #2

I finished the next section of my living room. I'm onto the main gray color that I first fell in love with. Montpelier Ashlar Gray by Valspar

here's the space all taped off and ready to go...

And here it is all done and pretty!
although I have work to do yet. I'm considering putting a large painting over the little window space and I still need to replace the nobs on my sewing machine table...and other things too of course! :)

The color is lighter than I was expecting but I am inclined to think that's due to me looking at my one dark wall for a week.

I LOVE it though! it's so calming and perfect. Now I'm itching to get the rest done and find some curtains to put up.

I'm also deep cleaning as I go along so I scrubbed the window sill and frame, washed the windows and even scrubbed the blinds since they were pulled down for painting. I was rather pleased with the difference as I'd attempted to wipe them down to no avail before. But what a lovely change!

Painting!

Lovely creamy gray goodness! happy sigh (the color is Eiffel Tower by Olympic)

boring white wall with nail holes patched and everything taped

finished product! Though I do need to go back today, now that it's dry, and touch up a few places. As you can see some of the patched spots still show through.
but I love the color and am pleased with the way it turned out. :)

Organizing my half...

I have been listening to some tapes on organization and becoming the Proverbs 31 woman that my mom gave me. the first session is introduction to the class and then gets you started on cleaning our your closet!
Here's my before pics

this one is where my half ends and my husband's begins...

kind of sloppy but I did know where everything was still! :)
However I used the 5 questions I was told to ask,
1) Have I used it in the last year?
2) Do I love it at least 70% worth?
3) Do I need it?
4) Do I want it?
5) Do I have room to store it?

And as I sorted through everything I also used her sorting system which wasn't difficult as it's pretty much exactly what I've always done but I'll share it with you anyway should you be inspired to tackle your own closet! :D
You are to have 6 bins/piles for sorting:
1) "it's out of here!" donation/garage sale bin
2) rubbish bin (trash)
3) take care of bin, for anything that needs cleaning, mending etc...
4) put elsewhere bin, for all the things that do not belong in your closet but somewhere else in the house. :)
5) memory bin. I was thrilled she mentioned this one cause I do this! I have a plastic bin for each of us that's for keepsakes, anything we want to hang onto but don't need in the house, out on display etc... I especially love it for the kids, I can put favorite items of clothing they've grown out of, their hospital things, baby memorabilia, pictures drawn...you get the idea :)
6)Keeper pile, everything you'll be keeping and putting back into your closet!

So without further ado...

my much more orderly and nearly 3 bag's lighter closet! The crazier part about the 3 bags is that barely a month ago I went through my closet and got rid of at least a bag then too. which is so silly cause anyone who is around me knows I just wear the same things over and over, lol.

I don't know why I was holding on to the stuff but it feels great to be rid of it. I even went through my shoes and got rid of old ones I hadn't worn in years, SO liberating let me tell you!

I'd say I'm a naturally organized person but my minimalism has only recently kicked it and it's just as addicting :D

I would love to get all matching white hangers, I have a nice amount already but I think I'll pick up a couple more packs my next trip to Target to give it all a more uniform look. And of course everything in me is itching to attack my husbands end of it but I'm a loving wife and would never go through his things without his supervision.

for more closet inspiration jump over to one of my favorite home blogs, This Young House they have their own closet post here.

Lots of new...

A lot has gone on in the past three weeks, first we got new carpet and so since the kids' room was empty decided to go ahead and paint right then,

I chose a pale buttery yellow, something with enough warmth and color to be cozy but not too bright as I want to add punches of color throughout the room and don't want it too be too overwhelming. Bright and happy but still somewhat calming as well.

We also purchased a toddler bed from Ikea for Gwendolyn and I was able to pass the crib (and some other things) on to my younger sister Erin for her baby, due in November! Gwen loves her little bed and transitioned pretty well. Though now that daddy has gone we are having some sleep issues but that's another story.

And this is the other side of the room, I did recently purchase two more of the bins for Gwen's clothes that were previously stacked on the changing table so it is more clean and organized, but as you can see I still have some work to do. We need to put the curtains back up, finish decorating the top shelves of the book shelf and I am also planning on hanging curtains in the closet rather than put the doors back on. So stay tuned for that!

Here is the before picture of a small corner of our room...

We moved our computer desk down into the living room and I scored this and one other cupboard on craigs list for $150 total! I haven't decided exactly what i'll be housing in this one quite yet so for the moment it's just some books and misc. stuff. But the main reason for the picture is to get a sense of the paint color we chose for our room.

And that's it for our room till I do some more in there :)

This is the second cupboard we got, I have filled it with all the books and supplies I will be using to teach Gabriel with in the fall, possibly sooner if I get motivated enough.

This is the before of the same corner, I moved the toy box and all the other toys up to their room. And I switched out their car rug for a more homey brown one I had.

And since Gwen naps still I left a shelf for Gabriel's cars and trains so he has something fun to play with when she's sleeping. pretty much all the books I have in there are ones my mom and dad just passed on to me. They are in the process of job hunting and moving so they shared them with me which saves me a ton of money and them a ton of space! (there are two whole boxes full that I won't even use for several years yet) Such a blessing!
And speaking of blessings...they didn't just bring me books.

I got to have this old sewing table with built in machine, it needs a little cleaning and tuning up but my mom says it runs great once in order. It came with all the attachments as well which is great since my other one is missing most of it's attachments.

This is it all closed up :)
And then... the crowning joy of they treasures they gave...

MY PIANO!!!! I am so happy to have it here in my home. This piano was my grandparents, who eventually passed it on to my parents. It's the piano I learned to play on and have spent ever so many hours practicing at. I can't even tell you how fun it is to have it as my own now! I have been enjoying getting back into practice, as I'm a little rusty, and can't wait to teach my kids on it one day as well. :)
So thanks mom and dad! I'm thoroughly enjoying all you passed on to me! (For no, what I shared was not all they gave me, but more on that another day...)