Hello 2013! We started the new year full tilt. Over winter break we took some time to start a semi-large project. The corners of our walls on the main level have taken a beating over the years. I could blame that all on the kids, we do have four in a very modest sized home. Though if I was honest I think the vacuum cleaner and I are more to blame. We had a canister vac and I yanked the body over to me which in turn rammed into the corner of our wall knocking the dry wall off and denting the metal frame. Nice one. At any rate the need for protected corners was in order. After some brainstorming we decided wainscoting was the way to go. It took us about three weekends, with the kiddos under our feet and needing fed, but it looks great! Josh did the bulk of the work—measuring, cutting, gluing, nailing, caulking, sanding. I mostly kept the kids out of his way and pointed out places he missed (I'm good at that). My job was the painting. I'm the finisher. I vacuum up all the dust and make things look pretty. It works out because Josh hates to paint and I happen to really enjoy it. I love the instant gratification of giving something a new pop of color or making something look nice and finished. We also went to IKEA and picked up a few items to boost our organization. That was incredibly fun. We don't go to the giant blue and yellow airport often (it would be detrimental to our family budget), but it is my happy place. So many fun and lovely things to look at, and the prices! Makes updating and decorating your home feel tangible. It's my Disney World, a place where dreams come true. Okay that may be a bit much.
Without further ado, or rambling from me, here's a peek into our home and the beautiful work my husband did on our walls.
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| Here's the view of the wainscoting as you enter our home. A couple of large frames are to be hung over the mantle shelf, which was made by my grandfather. He also made our TV console, based on a design by Arne Vodder. |
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| View from the dining room. |
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| we carried the wainscoting down our little hallway and around into the kitchen. |
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| My new sewing cart! Sharing a desk wasn't working out too well, so now I just grab my machine and work at our dining table. Nice to have a place close by to put my things away. Works out great! |
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| Wainscoting underneath the kitchen bar. |
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| New organization from IKEA. Aprons easy to reach and handy. Which means they actually get used, which means less grease stains on my clothes, which means less work for me. Wish I had done this sooner! |
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| More IKEA organization in the kitchen. Hanging utensils=clear counter tops and more workspace. |
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| Our living room/family room complete with handmade furniture and a hand-me-down sofa, love it! The side table made by my grandfather also inspired by Vodder, the storage bench another wonderful gift made by him, the pillows made by me, Josh & Kate prints hanging on the wall, and the lovely sun print by Lab Partners. We also have this one that needs to be framed and hung. |
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| Dining room with my sewing cart and another bench made by my grandfather, yes he is awesome. The seat lifts up and there's lots of storage underneath for the kids coloring/craft supplies and also table linens. |
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| Our sweet ones. Photos taken by my sister-in-law. If you're in the Indy area give her a shout! |
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| The awesome Darth Vader spatula, worthy of a photo spot on the blog. The same before mentioned sister-in-law got this for her brother for Christmas. Perfect since he's the pancake maker in the house :). Williams Sonoma doesn't carry them anymore, but if you simply must have one you can purchase it on Ebay in the next 14 days and 21 hours. |
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| Here's a close up of my husband's beautiful work. The total height was three feet I believe. The baseboard was about 5.5" tall and we got all of our supplies from Lowe's—Just in case you are swooning over how fabulous this looks and need to talk your husband into protecting the corners in your own house ;). |
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It feels so nice to be able to fix some things that needed fixing and to make simple changes that upped our homes organization and function. Plus it's nice to spend the majority of my day in a space that looks and feels nice. We still have some decorating projects we'd like to do here and there and we'd love to replace our carpet with beautiful wood floors. Why did the builders put carpet in the dining room!? That I will never understand. The day we can finally pull up this carpet and get it out of our house will be a happy one!
If you are still reading, thanks for sticking around for such a long post! It's our smallest sweet one's birthday today! She's two! after celebrating her I'll be posting the rest of the Christmas goodies I made and more detail on the gifts I posted earlier.
Have a lovely rest of your week!
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6 comments:
What a great solution. We could use the same treatment, our doorways are all chipped and dinged and I do take a lot of the blame with my vacuum. I don't like to vacuum very much, so I take it out on the walls sometimes.
Your house looks fabulous! So many wonderful touches, lovely colors. I am VERY VERY JEALOUS of the sewing cart. Had my eye on that for a while.
Thank you so much Larissa! I love the cart too. I swooned over that when it came out. We have zero space for it in our kitchen so I thought we wouldn't have use for one. It was my husbands brilliant idea to create a convenient and nice looking space for my sewing things in the dining room. I had been working out of a cardboard box all through Nov and Dec working on gifts :). My machine just BARELY fits in the cart though. If you were thinking of using it for similar reasons make sure you measure! I was starting to sweat when I first put it in. It slides out easily and goes in fine, you just have to set it down in there the proper way. Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Lovely to hear from you as always :).
beautiful! And you are so right about Ikea, it's my special place too, my kids point out that I ALWAYS smile there... lol... :) I've seen the cart/trolley a few times but NEVER imagined it with a sewing machine on top - I am LOVING that idea!
Your home is amazing - what a lovely, lovely, inspiring space for kids to grow up in. That's so important.
Hope the b'day went well. :)
I feel exactly the same way about Ikea :) I'm so pleased I've discovered this blog as you are a very talented lady. I love the sewing cart featured in this post. Is it designed for the purpose or is it a general storage cart? Could I ask where you bought it? I don't sew at all, but it looks like a good way to organise things :)
Claire
Hello hello! And thank you so much! If you're thinking about using this cart for your machine make sure you measure and be precise. Mine just barely fits and it's 15.25 inches long. It comes out easily but putting it in takes the right angle. It's been a good solution for now though. The birthday went just fine. Birthday girl fell asleep in her lunch, haha. Worked out because I was behind on the cake :). Fortunately she wasn't upset over either. Have a great weekend!
Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by! The cart is an Ikea buy. It's actually meant as a kitchen cart. But as you can see you can really use it anywhere. It's nice and sturdy, something you'll be able to use for years.
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