Pumpkin Patch 2013

Last week we visited the Spooner Farms pumpkin patch! I was fighting a cold but sucked it up so we could enjoy the last beautiful day of the season and capture some memories of Cru's first pumpkin patch adventure!

Mt. Rainier was out and looking handsome next to my studly men. :]

Cru was highly distracted during most of our photo ops but I think he liked it!  It was definitely a sensory overloaded experience for the little guy!

Be still my pumpkin loving heart.  This kid is so stinking cute!

We sat Cru down next to some little pumpkins and decided the first one he grabbed we would take home!

The farm had a cute height chart we stood Cru up against.  Justin said he's going to make him pose there, every fall until he's 18.  HAH!

We visited the animal barn which had some chickens, turkeys, piglets and bunnies.

Outside we found a giant spider.  At least he was a happy spider!

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen a little photo collage I posted. It was such a fun evening and we look forward to doing it every year with our little family!

It's Fall Y'all - Outside Edition

I already showed you our fall decor inside the house, now step outside with me for a quick look at what we did out there...

We didn't decorate very much, only around the front door area.  I grew up in a home where the decor was always autumn related instead of Halloween related so that's what I like to do too! 

Here is the front door area. Just a couple of potted mums, some pumpkins, a home made wreath and a couple of home made signs.

The pumpkins came from Spooner Farms.  We went on a family pumpkin patch outing this past Monday (more on that later this week :]).  Our front stoop area isn't very big so we stuck with some more modest sized pumpkins.

This also home to a quick DIY sign I made a couple weeks ago.  I have a full tutorial on that coming soon too!

I love white pumpkins.  I think they are so pretty and they compliment our screen door so well!

I also made a "No Soliciting" sign for our front door to keep all year round.  We have a lot of door to door people in our town so hopefully this will end that! :]

I hung my home made wreath on our newly painted screen door.  I didn't document how I made it but it is a wreath form from the dollar store, some extra ribbon and an extra fall garland I had on hand.  I also had the "d" lying around so I fastened that on there to add a personal touch.  It was free, easy and adds a lot to the front of our home!

Between the paint color, screen door, brick chimney and fall flava happening here, I am in love! I think it looks so good!  Next spring we will be getting a new roof and adding some landscaping that lasts all year round so it will just keep getting better!

Happy Fall Y'all!

A Room for Playing

You may remember the office I showed you not too long ago.  Well, it's life as an office was short lived because in reality, we're not office people.  We don't need an office, we don't want to sit in an office, so we decided to get rid of the office....

Now it is a........

PLAYROOM!

Since all the bedrooms are upstairs and the toys were starting to overflow in the living room, the office was the perfect room to create a kid space.

I told Justin about my idea and he rolled his eyes.  You see, I'm changing things... all the time...  I can't help it.  I get bored with things and need to switch it up.  So he reluctantly agreed to me changing it when I told him I would do it all for free.  I promised to use only things I have and that I wouldn't buy anything.  

This made the whole process pretty easy since everything I needed I had on hand.

The bookshelves used to live in Cru's room. I loved them there but I thought they would be better utilized in the playroom, especially when he get's older and wants to read more throughout the day. The chest is an old (beautiful) chest from Japan that a great uncle brought home from WWII.  I threw in all my old dress up clothes and costumes thinking that maybe in a few years they would all get used again by little ones. :]

The couch is the same one that was in here while this room was an office.  I put a quilt that was made for Cru on the back of the couch and threw on some brighter throw pillows I had on hand for some color.  The curtain panels were given to me a long time ago.  I only had two panels so I cut each one in half and hemmed them up to create four panels.  It worked out perfect and now the room is so much brighter than before!

One of the great things about this room is how central it is.  Whether the adults are gathering inside or outside, the kids are close by and can be seen.  I really love how this room came together!

When it came to storage for this space I knew I wanted an IKEA Expedit shelf for toys.  In my promise not to spend any money I asked my sister-in-law if she wanted to do a furniture swap!  I gave her the two bookshelves that used to reside in this room in exchange for this one and it was a win-win!  My shelves fit her decor better and hers mine! 

I also did another photo wall...  Justin told me it makes no sense but that was kind of the point.  I wanted it to be random and just full of kid-like things.  The needle point of the black lab is cool because of our Abu and Ace.  I've had that for a while and paired it with cru's 20-week foot prints, a map of the US, a vintage Disneyland attraction poster, a Walt Disney quote, some knitted shoes and a couple other random things.  

We don't have a ton of toys, but I know they will accumulate in the coming months and I am so happy that we have a space to put them as they come.

My plan for this wall is create a space to display homemade art.  I'm not sure exactly how yet but that is my plan!

I feel like this room came together perfectly! The best part is that it didn't cost a dime! These are my favorite kind of makeovers. Many times furniture pieces find new life just when moved into another space! 

Time to host a play date!

Paint it On!

Three years ago it was my wonderful idea to paint the house an olive green...

I don't like it. The grass is green, the plants are green and the house was green.  I had nightmares about green...

This summer we decided to add some color! I turned to Pinterest for some color inspiration and out of the millions of choices there are, charcoal gray got me all excited!  I think it such a great neutral but adds a modern flare to whatever you put it on!  It's not the most exciting color choice but I knew I was going to pair it with a bright color on our screen door.

We decided to go with a light butter yellow for the screen door. I looked at both the house and screen door paint canister to catch the paint colors but they aren't on there! So sorry I can't share those with you. 

Anywho, I love how the screen door turned out.  I'm still startled by the brightness when I pull in the driveway but it's very fresh looking and has a cheerier presence.  Another change we made was to move the house numbers from the right of the door to the bottom of the screen door.  The black numbers are a great contrast to the light yellow and I think it makes the numbers stand out more. The yellow on the door matches the center of the mums I recently planted for the fall season!  It's the little things... :]

I also made a quick DIY fall wreath for our door.  I used a wreath form from the dollar store and some ribbon and festive fall garland I had on hand.  It turned out simple yet cute and I like how the orange looks with the yellow and gray of the house!  Once I add some pumpkins and a cute yard sign I'm making, it will all come together!

Down the road we have plans to extend the entry and add some more curb appeal but until then I am very happy with this!   I also have to shout out to the hubs for working so hard on this! You rock babe!

It's Fall Y'all!

And I am super excited for it!  Don't get me wrong I love me some summer but by the end of it I am ready for hibernation.  We are usually really busy so I love a quiet September and October before the holiday season and basketball start. 

I spent some time (nap time) yesterday putting up my fall decor.  Every year I do it a little differently and I'm liking how it's looking this year!  

Here are the shelves in our dining room.  I took everything off of them and started over with all things fall. 

If you follow me on IG you probably saw that I posted my first stab at some chalkboard art.  I browsed Pinterest and copied some art I found from there and put it on my chalkboard in the kitchen...

This fall colored table runner was given to us as wedding gift and it is perfect for the fall season!

I am obviously very thankful with all my 'give thanks' signs... I want to change up the one that is in the dining room to say something else, I'm still figuring it out.

I have a bunch of fallish garlands that I dispersed around the house and I tried to display all my decor that feels like fall.

I still would like to get some gourds, scented pine cones and a couple of fall candles to finish it all off.  I am so ready for this festive time of year so BRING IT ON!  

Are y'all ready for fall?

Our Backyard

For a while, our backyard looked like this...

It has definitely been a work in progress for the past couple years but this summer we finally got somethings completed.  Three major projects we finished have completely transformed the way our yard looks.  The painted house, patio and back deck have made our yard go from boring to waaaayyyy better!

The gray paint really makes the house pop where the green blended into the grass and trees.  The deck really makes the french doors the focal point of the back yard, and the patio really sets the tone of the space by creating a hangout area where before it was all grass.  I failed to plant anything in my pots because it got too late in the season, but next year I hope to have lots of color in them.

The gray really makes the windows stand out too. We obviously need a new roof.  We are hoping to do that next spring/summer.

Here are some detail patio shots...

The eating area...

The deck.  We wanted to create long steps to double as extra seating for people.  We didn't want to make the deck big because from the top landing you can see right into our neighbors yard so wanted to keep the patio and entertaining spaces on a lower level for more privacy.

BBQ.  We plan to build a nice built in outdoor kitchen area along the edge of the basement stairs you can see behind the BBQ.  It will double as a guard for that scary edge.  (don't worry mama friends, we will build a temporary fence till then)...

On this wall we have plans to build a pallet bar to place drinks or whatever else.   You can never have enough serving surfaces!

Another plan we discussed is running the patio all the way over to the dog run. 

The dog run is still awesome. We love having this space to put the pups if people are over or when we're gone during the day.  They have access to the garage too so they can be warm and dry.  We built them an elevated pallet area to lounge (see left end of dog run).  We used all scrap wood and I wanted to build this so that they weren't laying in their own poo poo.  They like to sunbathe so it gives them a potty free area to hang.

The elevated flower beds are a new addition as well.  We haven't landscaped (obviously) but I want it all year round green and I will just plant a few perennials to add some color.

We're going to add gravel along the side of the house where the scaffolding is in this picture and all along the fence line between the fence and grass.  We also need to stain the fence but that will all have to wait until next year...

Until then we have a great hangout space for us and the pups and whoever wants to join us!  We had a great summer with lots of outdoor projects but I'm ready for fall and to hibernate.

We have a few little projects around the house we'll do but I mostly want to organized, sell and donate all the stuff we have in our basement and garage.  Until all that I feel very accomplished in our summer projects and am so thankful for a husband that works sooooo hard!