September Acres

Sometimes there's not a lot going on even though we seem really busy.  It's just an ordinary day when we do things like: Enjoy summer strawberries Put babies down for naps Head to Starbucks Hit the pool Purge our closets Just an ordinary day....

A while back I bought some door knobs at Hobby Lobby.  I bought this green-ish one and a brown one.  They were 50% off and I really liked them although I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  So they sat for months in my office.  I thought about painting them but didn't know what I'd do with them after I painted them.  So they sat a bit longer.  Then one day, out of no where I thought that one of them would be perfect in my bedroom to hang the clothes I would be wearing the next day. I hung it on the wall next to my closet which was not only the perfect place for the knob but the only place for it. It's the perfect place to hang the outfit I'm wearing the next day or to hold an outfit I am wearing right after ironing it. Such a simple but useful way to use the knobs.

I am linking up to Show Us Your House @ Thrifty Decor Chick today.  Today's feature is family rooms.  There are some fabulous ones over there and I have oodles of ideas churning in my head. We have one family/living/great room in our house.  It's a decent size but I always like a formal living space (we've only had that once & I am sad to say that we used it for a pool table).  My husband says there's no need for a formal living room - I guess not if it houses a pool table! :) Our family room is to the left of our front door.  This is the view as you walk into the house.  I think the lighting is horrible in the room.  We have two large corner windows  & a tube skylight (hate it) over the red chair, so you'd think there would be plenty of light. It just always feel dark to me.  When I open the blinds it's too hot with the sun in the summer, although the winters aren't too bad. The view as you walk in from the front door....

I was going through some old blog posts looking for some pictures of my kitchen before we re-did it a few years back.  I came across this one and my first thought was "That's my old kitchen.  I can't believe I lived with it like that."  Isn't it funny how our taste evolves over the years? This is the before. Yuck. This is what it looks like now.  Cabinets painted, new counter tops, new back splash, under cabinet lighting (maybe it's just as well we didn't have that before).  Hard to believe it's the same room.  Here's the entire post on the backsplash reveal .  You'll notice the wall was brown, not yellow, before we put in the back splash.  We painted it after the cabinets were painted and the counter tops were replaced. I sure do like my new kitchen better.  You agree, don't you?

While my husband was out of town a while back I did some moving of furniture and other stuff in an effort to open things up in our house - specifically our bedroom on this mission.  I moved out a dresser and a love seat and moved my dresser to one of the open spots.  It's so nice to be able to move around better in this room.  When I was doing all of this I noticed that our mantel had become a hodge podge of all kinds of things.  All things I like and want to keep but didn't have a new home for.  I started here: With some editing I ended here: That waterfront print was in our room on a wall that housed the short dresser I moved into LM's room (are you still following me?)  When I moved my tall dresser to that wall, this print no longer worked there.  But I am loving it over the fireplace. I bought nothing new for this makeover.  I put away a lot and pulled a cute little frame out of the closet.  I love the transformation and...

I tackled my first re-upholstery project a couple of weeks ago.  It was really more like re-covering since it was super simple and no-sew.  I have to apologize for the poor quality of these photos.  They were taken on my phone.  I really need to get my camera out from now on. I have had this little bench for almost twenty years and the entire time it's been covered in this fabric.  I've never been in love with it but only recently did I decide I wanted to do something about it. I went to Hobby Lobby to look for some fabric.  I had something bright and geometric in mind.  But I don't always  hardly ever end up with what I have in mind.                                            This black, grey and brown circle print is what I ended up with.  My husband actually pointed it out saying he liked it so I decided to give...

Today is the last day of the first week of school.  It looks like it's going to be a good year:  wonderful teacher, nice group of kids in LM's class, new principal (hooray!) & uniforms (the kids are quickly getting used to this).  LM's teacher doesn't believe in a ton of homework just for the sake of giving homework which, after last year, is a good thing.  If they don't finish work in class, have an upcoming test or have a project to work on they'll have homework.  She wants them to read for 30 minutes each night, otherwise it will be pretty limited. The weekend ahead will have us doing very little.  Maybe a trip to Hobby Lobby for nothing in particular but other than that we have nothing planned and nothing pressing to accomplish.  It's the first weekend like this since the spring.  Crazy to think, isn't it?  We have movies to watch that we bought and never had a chance to watch.  Games to play that haven't been to...

LM starts school tomorrow.   Fifth grade .  She is excited to start a new year but also a little sad that summer is over.  I, however, am a lot sad that summer is over.  As The Mrs. said 'it gives me a stomach ache'.  I couldn't have said it better. We are ready for school.   Shopping is complete - and on a written budget for the first time.  School supplies dropped off.  Orientation night is over.  All that's left to do is get there on time in the morning.  That we can manage. What I am finding a little more difficult to manage is the whole summer ending thing.  Weather wise we still have LOTS of summer left.  But the easy, breezy lazy days of summer are behind us.  What makes it hard is that I never felt easy and breezy this summer. There was just too much going on.  Some of it lots of fun: Disneyland , a road trip to Northern California to see family and friends, hockey camp and golf camp.  Some of ...

School starts here on Monday.  Less than a week.  I could do an entire post on 'where did summer go?' but the fact is, it went and now it's time to prepare for back to school.  There's a lot more to going back to school than shopping  though.  Preparation is the key to many things and getting the kids ready for school is no exception. Here are some tips to prepare for the big day (in no particular order). I am only experienced with the younger grades (we will have a fifth grader this year) so I'm sure some things will be a little different for middle and high schoolers. Communicate Our school does a pretty good job of communicating with parents via email, texts, the school website and newsletter.  As parents we need to do our part as well by reading the communication ( I know that sounds painfully obvious but as a room parent last year I realized that not all parents do this) and passing on what we  should to the kids.  Make sure your sch...