Choices, choices

I need your opinion. Really, please. The dilemma is as follows:

We got a new rug, a new slipcover for the couch, painted the fireplace and mantel, and rearranged some accessories. Great.

But remember I said I like to change throw pillows often? Really often? The pillows I have are light and muted. The top colour is the new couch cushion. Then there is a lighter grey pillow (in the next pic), brown and two barely turquoise/light blue patterned pillows. But they are very light and muted.Then I found this fabric in my stash downstairs. It is bright and punchy and fun. The white with the stripes is a grainsack tea towel from IKEA that I painted to make striped. Cute right? The top colour is again the couch and the light grey pillows on the left will stay with either scheme.So here is the deal, I want to change everything up. I think it might be because I am avoiding other things I need to do. And I was thinking, by the time I actually sew this into pillows, will it be fall and will I be craving muted colours again? Do the bright colours look ok with the grey? Do the fabrics look good with each other? Should I just stay with the pillows in the top picture? So what do you think?

Still Working

I'm still working on that living room. Trying to decide what I must paint now and where everything should go. See the newspaper in this picture, I was still touching up the fireplace. My oldest is on a mission to make every puzzle we own at the same time so the floor in the living room looks like a puzzle museum right now. That is my excuse for no new pictures.

In other news, the paint colours need to be selected for the basement NOW! Priming starts today and my man is on a mission to get it done. So BM Revere Pewter or Balboa Mist are the main contenders.

We are going on a few short trips for vacation over the next few weeks so I don't expect much progress until August. I would love to take off and go somewhere warm where we can swim everyday for 2 straight weeks. Unfortunately, that is not the reality with all the kids being 6 and under... so one or 2 nights at a time makes more sense. It is also cheaper. Which makes sense too.

change for L's room too!

I had a brain wave the other day and decided to move a few things around. I am trying turquoise accents in the baby girl's room.

I like it since the pink in her room is on the peachy side. Somehow that looks good with the turquoise. I am sure if I knew more about the colour wheel I could say why they look good together, but I don't. That sort of thing confuses me immensely. All that to say I am changing the accents a bit in her room.

And I added these books my mom gave us. They fit very well with the vintage feel of the room.

This has become her prized teddy recently, her Daddy's bear from long ago. He has been well loved and is once again feeling the love.

What I Wore Wednesday

A few weeks ago I announced that I found a new cutie blog called the Pleated Poppy. Love her style, her house, and her real life "what I wore wednesday" linky party. Lindsey says it is a way to encourage oneself to get out of the pj's/yoga pants that are so common among moms. I find myself defaulting to a plain T shirt and jeans.

I know there are many (MANY) other blogs you can see what very stylish people wear, but I want to see what stylish moms wear. It's all a matter of practicality to me. I know I am not wearing the most trendy things, in fact I don't want to be. I didn't even want to before I was named Mom. That is not the point here. The point is making an effort, so here is my effort.

Anyway, I tried to pictures of myself a while ago but they all looked like this... remember?

So I tried another strategy. Let him be in the pictures and let the big bro take all the pictures. Ya, it worked, kinda. Focus is a bit tricky for a 6 year old I guess.

Sunday after church

Here are some pics from random days last week and the week before that I took late at night when the kids were in bed! Just because I would hate for you to click over here for just one outfit!

Making progress

I am changing things up a bit in my spare time. I don't have a ton of spare time so lately I am sacrificing exercise for painting. Not sure if it is a good trade or not...

Here is a sneak peak at what I am painting...

And thanks to IKEA we got a new life for my beat up couch. This in fact prompted many of the changes, it threw off the balance in the room and I am working to make it fit in and feel like it belongs.

That is the problem with changing one thing, it has a ripple effect. Now paint the walls, change the pillows, paint the furniture. I am not doing all that now, but I wish I was...

And a little bit of my latest purchase at the Antiques Mall in Cloverdale. It is not quite as I picture it either so expect a better picture in the future.

A little bit pretty

Quite a while ago I saw these little fabric flowers and decided I must make one.

They are not too girly and a little bit shabby so I fell in love.

It was easy to make using my favorite tool of all time - the glue gun! I found the directions off One Pretty Thing and worked it out from there with a scrap of purple fabric we had lying around. This little cutie has had it on her dress coat ever since. Easy and pretty, you gotta love that.

These pictures are a few months old and I can't believe how much she has changed. Yikes time flies.

Not so Pretty

One of the reasons I tend towards discontentment with the house is that our reno in the basement is dragging on and on and on. My loving husband is in the basement right now working on drywall. Still. I crave the finished room. I dream about how we will decorate it and what colour we will paint it. I LOVE before and afters.

But, that is not where we are at. A huge amount of time and money has gone to finish the not so pretty things like the plumbing, the electrical, replacing rotted studs, mountains of stupid drywall.

Very expensive new electrical panel

new plumbing for laundry and the new full bathroom

But it is all a part of the best part of this house. This house is safe and gives my little family shelter. I don't know why I am suddenly so reflective. It is definitely not my nature. But I want to acknowledge that the not so pretty things are important too. I am glad to have them.

I also now know if you are trying to decide on a lucrative career consider becoming a plumber or electrician. A little inside tip from me to you. That and bribe your friends to help you demo, it saves a lot on the plumbing bill.