Let the home projects begin

Okay,
So I have been promising home projects and because it's summer and nice out, not much time is being spent indoors to get things done. However, I did find an hour or two to spruce up our upstairs bathroom today.  A few things to know about it:
- The only room in the house that hasn't been totally redone
- It's very 70's ish - complete with shell sink (see below)
- My color scheme was off

So, everything in my house is warm fall colors (rust, mustard, sage, etc.) except for the bathroom. It's tan and I had a green blue shower curtain, sea foam green rugs, and some really old pictures.  Probably had this bath set for about 6 years.

My mother in law recently shopped for a new shower curtain (and by recently I mean 9 months ago!) and gave me one she purchased and couldn't return, because she didn't care for it. I love it, it matched the rest of my decor and I have just failed to put it up because I knew I had to then get new rugs, towels and artwork - which can add up.

Cue birthday money (gift card to Target) and a few good clearance deals and we have a NEW Bathroom.  Granted, we still need a new vanity, sink and light fixture, but our house (like almost everyone's) is a constant work in progress.

Here are some before pictures:

Baby Blue, Sea Foam Green, and White Curtain/Green Rugs

Pictures are nice, but very water spotted as they are in the bathroom and have no glass on them

This picture is well.... outdated but it matched so I kept it up

This is the lovely shell sink. In person it's like a faded nasty yellowish color

And the simple light fixture - both the sink and fixture stay for now, but will be replaced some day

And here are the AFTERs:

Colorful curtain in my classic decorating colors, new black rugs which bring out the black diamonds on the floor

These mirrors were on Clearance at Target. I subscribe to some design blogs and apparently decorating with multiple mirrors of all shapes and sizes is all the rave. I wanted to do this in the bathroom so felt really blessed when I got to Target and found the last two mirrors on clearance! I thought about antiquing these as well but have to research how to do that!

This wall now has no picture. I have ideas but haven't found what I like, I would love to buy some fabric that accents the curtain and frame it on this wall.... still searching. For now, it's a blank canvas.

Stay tuned.... I hope to paint my pantry and closet this weekend. If I get to it. I promise to post pics!

Other things we hope to accomplish: Staining the deck in the next month. Finishing our wood floors on the stairs and hallway upstairs.  These are both more involved!

Hope you all had a GREAT July!

The Pool

I love the pool! The weather has been super duper hot here the last few days. The only way you can play outside and enjoy it is if you go to the pool! So, that is where we have spent our evenings. It's so fun to see Eli jumping through fountains and sliding down slides.  He is much more outgoing in the water this year. Last year he was a little "cautious" which was a bit frustrating for me, I must say. I just wanted him to swim and jump because I knew how much fun he could be having.  So, this year, it's awesome to see him enjoying the play areas and even the other kids.

One thing he totally doesn't get is lines. At the sides, I say "Get in line honey"  He just stands there and lets all the kids keep walking in front of him and when there is a brief break in the action, he finally brings up the rear and is the last kid down. Although he doesn't seem to mind! I jsut tell him, "Stand behind this little girl/boy and after they go, you can go." But if another child approaches, he just moves out of the way and lets them in!  It's really quite sweet that he is thinking of others (at least that's what I like to believe!) but it also leaves me a bit baffled because the other kids are pushing, shoving and cutting in line, which is what I fully expected him to be. That's just normal kid behavior.

Anywho, I know I promised home projects and they will come. On the list, painting pantries and closets on the main level, a step we skipped when we moved in. But I am really looking forward to this one: Painting Eli's dresser. May sound boring to some, but I bought a nice oak dresser at an antique shop. It was inexpensive and little beat up, but very sturdy and I thought it would be a good starter for him.  So, we use it and it works great but I have been inspired to paint it a sunny yellow (Banana Split is the paint color).  There isn't a lot of yellow in his room, just hints of it here and there so I thought that would be fun to accent with.  And it sits in front of his window which dons chocolate brown curtains - so it will really pop! I subscribe to a few home remodel, design blogs and seeing what some have done with dressers got me thinking.... It may flop, but I will journal all of my progress.  More on that in a few weeks!

Tim is gone for a week. He is chaperoning our youth group to Youth Camp in Oklahoma.  We are in between  youth pastors and since he used to be our youth pastor, they asked him to fill in.  It's a lot of work driving, overseeing and being the man in charge of the teenagers for a week.  He's fully capable, but it really is exhausting. So, please keep them in your prayers this week if you think of it.  Also, the heat down there is in the 105 degree range and they do spend time outdoors in the afternoons.  So, pray for safety, strength and SLEEP!!!

Bad Blogger

I just thought I would take a moment to confess that I am a bad blogger because I haven't posted in several weeks now.

So, here is quick fill in on what's been happening.

Coming back from vacation in June was like the harshest reality check I have had in a while. I am not sure what caused it but was thinking that it was the first vacation I took since taking on two part time jobs. So, I think coming back and getting into the swing of both jobs and house cleaning and all the other mom/wife duties just took me for a loop.  Which also testifies to the fact that we really did a whole lot of nothing on vacation, exactly what was needed! But my mind wasn't ready to engage so quickly into a normal routine!

After that it was just busy! Tim and I both have been busy at work and putting in extra hours, making our time together pretty slim.

And before we knew it the Kole Family Reunion had arrived!  That was a great time of connection and fun! It was so good to catch up with family and see the kids play.  Rook was my favorite, so a huge thank you to the youngest Roskamp cousin for bringing cards! I hadn't played in years and it's one of my all time favorite card games!

So, since then, we came home to a very sick puppy. She is finally on the mend.  Stella stayed with Tim's mom over the weekend of the reunion and she ate their doggies food (which she has done many times before).  The vet said she just had a reaction to it which ensued uncontrollable diarrhea for several days. Poor girl!  She was quarantined to the outdoor areas for several days.  I think she is finally over it, on an antibiotic and special rice/chicken diet!  I gave her another bath today (fourth time this week!) and think that should be the last one for a while.   I have some friend that are groomers and they are going to supply me with some ointment to help with the "rawness" factor (enough said about that!)

Hope you are all amazing and that you have a very happy Fourth of July! We plan to chill out as much as possible this week because Tim is leaving next Sunday to take 9 kids from our church youth group to Oklahoma City for Youth Camp for a week!  Back in the saddle of youth ministry for a week :)......

Much love,
C

p.s.  I am going to take on some remodel projects here soon (some of them firsts!) so will post pictures and progress!