Day 2: My house, my plan

Everyone has a certain strategy when starting a new project... except me. My strategy seems to be rushing into it, and hoping that it works out great. The majority of the time it does work out; but there are times when mishaps and hilarity happen. Exhibit A: I forgot the doors to my Ikea shelf and then had to drive 90+ miles back into the city to get them...but I wasn't borrowing my parents' truck so the doors were perched precariously over the passenger seat. I drive a Mercury Sable and in a lot of instances every square inch counts. Then again my mishaps have created some great memories... my husband was picked up from the airport, we got the doors, everyone survived the trip home. Yay! Success! I want to be intentional with these house projects because I want to make sure that we are using all of our furniture and beloved objects to their fullest potential. I want our space to reflect who we are and our lifestyle. We are very casual/ informal people, who like to have fun, and want to use all of our space and belongings efficiently. We live in a house that is very small. I can never remember how much square footage our house has but it is tiny. We have a 3 bedroom 1 bath house that is super old. We need to get creative with the space that we have so that our family can fit comfortably. Today is the first anniversary of moving into our house. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of our stuff is still in boxes hiding into our closets because we are not any closer to feeling 100% settled into our house. I want to have made strides in getting us settled by the end of October. Week 1: 10/2/2013- 10/6/2013 Master bedroom Week 2: 10/7/2013- 10/13/2013 Living Room Week 3: 10/14/2013- 10/20/2013 upstairs office Week 4: 10/21/2013- 10/27/2013 Kitchen Week 5: 10/28/2013- 10/31/2013 Upstairs closets/ Front porch You might be looking at this plan of attack and wonder about the bathroom and the other bedroom. Part of the bathroom is a much bigger project than I am able to tackle by myself. So, I will be waiting on that one until the doc is able to participate more fully in that endeavor. The other room is the Doc's home office and so that it a space where he needs to be a more active participant in the organizing/ cleaning etc. of that space. We have different organizational ideas of setting up a workspace. These differences really do tend to balance us out. Are you a planner? Or are you a go-getter? Or are you somewhere in between? I would love to hear from you!

31 Days of writing: The Home Edition

I was cruising Facebook and found that a friend had joined Nester's 31 Day challenge. I decided to join because I need to get back into the habit of writing, I also want to focus on organizing my home, and I will document each project I do. I desperately need to transform our house into a home; and unfortunately there are no fairies that will take care of that! If only someone with a magic wand would come and transform our house.... This project will probably take longer than October, but I want to get a good start on it. I hope that getting everything in order will create a sense of serenity and productivity in our house. Right now there is often a sense of chaos and feeling overwhelmed. This month will consist of mishmash of home décor ideas, cleaning, organizing, meal planning, and probably some crafting. What good are my home themed Pinterest boards if I never do anything with them? Nothing! They are just taking up virtual space! Just so you know I am a novice at all of this homemaking stuff. I work, I volunteer, I am participating in a professional development cohort. All of that translates into being busy. Unfortunately I use "busy" as an excuse to procrastinate more. I am making this house transformation a priority because I want my family to have a place where we can recharge our batteries, not walk into our home and feel instantly more stressed out. I hope you join me as I venture into the world of part-time homemaking. The goal is to find out what works best for my family, which means there will be a lot of trial and error. If you are joining me on this journey and it doesn't work for you exactly the same way it does for us, tweak it! Every family has a different journey. If you are joining the 31 Day challenge let me know what you are going to be focusing on. I will continue to update this post to share links to a new post. Just click on "Day X" to be brought to that post. Day 2 Day 3Day 4Days 5/6

"I just want it to look like Charlie Brown's shirt!"-- My DIY Chevron painted pegboard

I have been wanting to paint my pegboard for my kitchen for awhile, but the weather wasn't cooperating! Our weather patterns have been so weird! Originally when I was planning out this project my plan was to make or buy a spoon stencil (I have kind of a utensil theme going on in my kitchen). It seemed the easiest for a hestitant DIY'er, but I wasn't totally in love with the idea. Inspiration struck-- what if I paint my pegboard a black and whiteish chevron? As I started contemplating what would need to happen... there were very few actual supplies that I needed to buy. A lot of it I had gotten for free or we had left over from all of our other house projects. I am not always a huge planner when it comes to my projects, and for this particular project I learned how not to paint a chevron pegboard. Those moments of frustration is where the the quote/ title of this post came from. Materials: pegbord- My pegboard came from my grandparents' house. My grandpa had made it to hold his tools or something. There are actually two pieces of pegboard attached to a regtangular frame made out of what look like 2by2s or smaller. I don't really know... and I wasn't going to take it apart. primer- I prefer latex primer (It dries in about and hour and doesn't stink as bad) I got a little can because we were all out, and don't have that many priming projects coming up. Paint- We had a leftover gallon for the bathroom. The color is called white on white. I use Dutch Boy Dura Clean (because it washes up so nice! Even if it is just a painting whoops) The Chevron stripes are called Black Magic (I think) I just got a little tester tub because my pegboard isn't that big, and what in the world would I do with a quart of black paint? painters tape- whatever width you prefer... I prefer wide blue and I think it have a nice contrast... roller brush, 2 roller covers, 2 pan liners- The normal size rollers/ pans etc. were used to prime and paint the first coat. Mini roller and extra rollers- This seriously was the best investment I made for this project... It made it so easy to paint the stripes and the whole little contraption only cost around $3.00. I didn't use the extra roller covers, but I now have them on hand for any little project I have in mind. Exacto Knife or Utility knife- I used a utility knife. Don't push very hard! I am going to show the pictures next and if you are interested I will give a step by step explanation of what I did with each picture below. (Technically Step 1): I set up my sawhorses while my incredibly strong husband lugged my pegboard from the shed. Step 1: Prime the the top and sides of the pegboard. Wait for it to dry (approximately 1 hour) Step 2: Paint on your base coat to the top, sides, and bottom part not being covered by the sawhorses. (I have 2 very classy stripes on the back of mine from where it was resting on the sawhorses...) After painting all of the sides make sure to smooth everything out so that there are not funny ridges in the middle of you board taht you didn't notice right away. Step 2b: After the base coat is dry, apply a second base coat to ensure that your pegboard is evenly covered and disguises the previously mentioned ridges. Step 3: Step 3 is what took the majority of the day, I knew how I wanted the design to look, but I didn't find tons of helpful posts, unless you were painting a wall. After trying a lot of different ways, and being super frusturated I just googled how to paint cheveron and a really helpful video was discovered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V1LMRfxW5Q That video saved me from disaster! I knew the size of my board because I had measured it countless times trying to get the pattern to work. After watching the video I made myself a template and started taping it off with painters tape. to get the next zigzag pattern you have 2 shorter pieces of tape that you keep moving to act as your guides so you get the width and consistency that you want. After I got started I just flew through the taping. The part that takes the longest is using your exacto or utility knife to create the crisp points for your design. It is putsy, but it is totally worth taking your time with it. Step 4: After you have your painters tape ready to go, make sure you press down on the tape to make sure that it is secure. Then comes the fun part! You get to paint on your contrasting color. I found out with black that it is best to just go one direction with a foam roller. If you go over it more than once you don't get as great of coverage. Since it is a dark color, the black will need more than one coat. Make sure that the paint dries completely before doing a second coat. After the second coat had dried, I did go over some spots that looked like they needed more coverage. Step 5: You will want to carefully start pulling up tape on your pegboard when it is mostly dry, but still a little tacky. The reason for this is that you don't want the painters tape to get stuck or to rip up more paint (I did have that happen.) Step 6: Bask in the glory of your completed project! Honestly I giggled a little bit. :)

7x7 in Arizona

I have been on a decluttering kick lately. This project mostly has had to do with my possessions, my "stuff" if you will. Some days it goes better than others. Even though my focus has been on my stuff, my attention has been slowly turning towards my closet in the fact that our bedroom closet is packed full of our clothes, boxes from our move , and quite honestly who knows what else. When I saw the 7x7 Challenge on Audrey's blog (I read it at least 3 times a week) over at www.puttingmetogether.com I was excited to participate because it was an opportunity to flex my creativity is a much shorter time frame and quickly see how I could rework my closet. For those of you who don't know what a 7x7 Challenge is-- you pick 7 articles of clothing including shoes from your closet, and then you make 7 outfits only using those articles of clothing... accessories such as belts, scarves, and jewelry are completely separate. It is similar to a 30x30 that are much shorter. I am going to be going to Arizona to celebrate my great aunt's birthday! We are going to be gone 4 days and 5 nights, which makes it the perfect amount of time for a 7x7 challenge. Since there is dinner, hanging out with family, the birthday luncheon, and church not to mention any other impromtu activity in addition to temps that are 100+ degrees. 1)coral pink cowl neck sleeveless blouse 2)plumish ruffle collar sleeveless blouse 3)teal fly away cardigan 4) pink and yellow v-neck tee 5) grey shorts 6)navy blue skirt with a side ruffle 7) shoes--I have to purchase a pair of sandals for Arizona. My sandals have to much metal on them for Arizona. I am going to buy a neutral pair of sandals for this trip.

Outfits 1-7: So I have tried this experiment a couple of different times and the outfits just felt wrong... until today I made some changes and one of m good friends came over to take pictures so I could bounce ideas off of her. So here it goes, my new outfits for Arizona! Outfit 1 I am excited about this outfit! I can wear this when we go out to dinner with the family on Friday night.

Outfit 2

Outfit3 I think this going to be my outfit for the flight home. My arms are always freezing on the airplanes, and I think we even have a layover somewhere.

Outfit 4

Outfit 5

Outfit 6 On Saturday there is a luncheon to celebrate my aunt's birthday. I believe that this will my outfit for that.

Outfit 7 We are going to church with my aunt, and then there will be punch and cake celebration afterwards. I think that this will be my outfit for that. At my church we are a little bit more casual, but when you are unsure of how dressy a place is, you can't go wrong with being a little bit fancier.

As you probably saw in some of the pictures that my legs kind of blend in with my shorts, usually this isn't a problem but there hasn't been much for sun here. What I learned from this experience is that it is good to have a completer piece. I just had t-shirts or blouses before and I felt like my outfits were really boring and didn't have a lot of interest. I kept changing my mind about my what bottoms I should bring, because I wasn't totally sure what I would want to wear, but I feel like a skirt and a pair of shorts will pretty much cover an occasion that could arise. I did sneak in a black tank top for the sake of modesty though :)When I did this challenge I picked colors that I most commonly wear, which are navy blue, coral, teal, and black. I was able to make things a little bit more exciting by adding different jewelry. I felt like I had much more variety the second time around. I just need to throw in my purple ombre scarf, my 7 pieces, accessories,pajamas and a swimsuit and I am set for the adventure! THanks for stopping by! What was your favorite look?

It was April 2nd.... and then it was June 1st.

April and May flew by! I was focused on my teaching and all of the sudden it was the last student day (yesterday). I felt like I didn't have anything to write about, because I was mostly just working. I did complete my 30x30 challenge. Everyday that I tried to take pictures I was exhausted or nobody was home or other some other excuse came up. I did enjoy the challenge, I feel like it did stretch my thinking about my closet. I had some pretty adorable outfits come out of it, and I really utilized my accessories. I wore necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and my scarves. It reminded me that I have some really great pieces in my closet that can do a lot of work. The one house project that I worked was in my kitchen. I found a saying online, with the help of black vinyl and my cricut I turned the saying into kitchen decor. I am in love with the project, I see it when I walk into the house from the kitchen. I am really excited about it. I have two days off next week before I start teaching Summer School. So, I am going to enjoy my summer time. Now if only the weather would cooperate and wouldn't feel like fall outside. I am going to make the best of this time of relaxation.

30 Days, 30 Outfits

Here is The Doc's awesome fashion photography. Maybe, at the end of the month he will decide that he doesn't want to be a dairy vet anymore (though, I doubt it.) As you can see Annie needs be where the action is at our house. Today kicked off my closet remixing project! I decided to take on this challenge because I want to rethink my wardrobe. I do have a lot of clothes. It is just a matter of being intentional and creative with what I have. My outfit today was pretty basic. I wore a black long sleeved t-shirt, black dress pants, denim jacket, and my leopard print wedges. My accessories for the day were my red/ gray necklace with my gray earrings. I'm still fine tuning my clothing pieces, but those 4 pieces are now solidly in my wardrobe. I have decided that I am not going to count jewelry, scarves, hats, and belts as my 30 pieces because they can add a lot of personality to an outfit. Also, this is an exercise in rethinking what I already own. One of those accessories might open up my mind to a totally different frame of mind. I will put up pictures of my remixes, but probably not everyday because it will hectic soon and I will feel horrible for not doing it every day. I want to figure out how to make picture collages, but if I can't I will just put up pictures individually. I'm thinking my recap day will be Sunday. Here's to a month of creativity! Tootles!

Good-bye 40 Days, 40 Bags??

Sunday/ Saturday was the last day of the 40 Days, and 40 Bags challenge. I don't feel like I finished strong... because work got really busy and decluttering got put on the bottom of the list. It unfortunately happens, but I did get stuff accomplished aI nd that was wonderful. I will keep working on my house projects though. Did I work on projects this past Saturday, absolutely! The Doc is bothered by how much stuff is kept in my car, so he emptied it all out of my car... except my glove box and my cds that I listen to while driving. I sorted everything as it came it. It got put in a pile, and I carried it to the room that it is suppose to go to. There are a few things that don't have a "room", so they are just hanging out in our living room until I get more stuff decluttered and organized. The Doc and I also got one curtain rod and curtain panels up! I have had them in my car, waiting for a golden opportunity to go up! We have one more window that needs to have the curtain rod and panels put up, but we are making progress! Apparently the curtain rod for the other window is too short, because that window is wider... I'm not sure how I missed that while measuring. I am really excited about the new curtains, not the measuring mishap! I think that they will look nice! They are a reddish-burgundy color. The color on the package said "sangria" I believe. I didn't wash/ press them. They are a little wrinkly, but I figured I would hang them up for a week.If the wrinkles or lines didn't come out by then I would fuss with them a little bit more. I learned a lot about myself during this initial project of decluttering. I learned that: I need a very flexible plan. I don't do well with tons of structure, because I need to be able to switch it up to meet my needs. I found out that I had no problems getting rid of "stuff" when I actually thought about the last time that I used it. I also learned to prioritize my "stuff", somethings just weren't useful to me anymore. It needed to go. To make room for things I really love. If you want to continue reading about my decluttering and the second phase of decorating/ organizing look for them under the House to Home label. As soon as the decluttering phase is done I will start adding photos of the rooms as we go into decorating mode. I'm still waiting to get all of the furniture into our house and putting it where it needs to go. I am glad that I did this project though, it was just enough motivation to get started working in our house. Until next time....