House inspiration

As of today, we have lived in our house four months and two days, and I still have not hung anything on the walls in the entry, living room, kitchen, hallway, bathrooms or Alex's room. I take that back, in the living room there is a wooden piece with Jeremiah 29:11 on it hanging over the back door. Other than that there is nothing...zero, zilch, nada. I am not sure why I am having such a hard time decorating this house. I want it to look simple AND cozy, but not overdone and cluttered. I want it to feel casual, not dressy. Everytime I go out to look for things, I don't find anything that I really like. I also know that this is not the most important thing in the world...it is a minor detail. It will get done, when it gets done!

That being said, in an effort to get myself going, I have been searching the great world wide web for inspiration. Here are some things I have come across that I liked. Nothing translates perfectly to our space, but at least I have some inspiration. (All images from Google, unless otherwise noted.)

I have a huge wall behind one of our sofas. It is definitely going to take a grouping of things to make it look right. I haven't found any ideas I really love, but here a few that I liked.


I like this one the best...it has similar blue walls and white trim work. Biggest difference, my couches are white.

(here)

(here)

Right now, our color pallet is pretty neutral except for the light blueish gray walls. I could keep everything neutral, but I would like to add in some color. Maybe start with a vintage quilt hung over the back of the couch and then pull colors out of that to add accessories elsewhere???

Here are some examples of pops of color...


(here)

I love this hook/picture shelf for the entry way. We have a bench already and I'm thinking maybe Chris could make this to go with it?!

And, I would love to find a spot to hang a couple of these vintage game boards.

(here)

So, if you have any ideas or opinions I'd love to hear them! Hopefully it won't be too long and I can be posting about all that we've done. Until then, we'll enjoy or uncluttered space! ;)


Lissa

What does it mean to be settled?

What does it mean to be settled? That question has been swimming around in my mind for the last few days. For years we lived in a state of unsettledness. Let me be clear, unsettled does not mean unhappy. We were very happy! However, we knew that life as we knew it would not be able to continue indefinitely. We knew that we did not both want to be working high-stress jobs with long hours forever. We also knew that at some point, if Chris continued at his current employer, we would need to move...away from family, friends, school...away from our corner of the world, the place our kids had known since the day they were born.

Step 1- I quit my job to stay at home. We took a HUGE leap of faith. God honored our decision and provided for our family in ways we could not have even imagined. Praise Him! So very thankful for his guiding hand and confirmation.

Step 2- We began the process of making the move to Euless. House was put on the market. We began homeschooling to see if it would be a long-term option for our family, since we knew that the schooling options in the new part of town were not favorable.

Step-3 The house sold. We lived with Mom for a short time. We bought a house. We renovated. We moved in.

Step 4- Get settled.

What does that mean? Countless people have asked me over the last few months, "Are you getting settled in?" After living for years knowing that things would most likely be changing, I am not sure I know what it means to be settled. Over the last couple of weeks I have been wondering, "Should we keep homeschooling next year?" I get anxious thinking, "Are we doing the right thing?" Am I teaching my kids what they need to learn, how they need to learn it? And, so as I have asked the Lord to show me what His plan is, I felt Him saying to me, "Get settled." Where He has us right now is exactly where we are supposed to be. In Euless, homeschooling and spending some really great time together as a family. I need to trust Him. I need to relax...and get settled.

Does that mean that all of my doubts and worries will disappear? Probably not. But I do know that I can lay them at His feet every day and trust that if something needs to change He will show us the way. I just need to live this out.

As we move forward, I'll let you know exactly what "getting settled" means for our family.

In the meantime, what's a blog post with no pictures?! Here are a few snapshots from our lives over the last couple of months.



Mom, Anna and I. Honestly, the very hardest part of moving...not seeing Mom every day.

Alex misses his cousins just about as much as Anna and I miss Mom. :)

Piano Recital

My sweet peas!

Blessings on you and your family as you navigate this current "season" of life,

The House- a before and after

So, as I mentioned in the last post, our house hunt was a bit of a doozy! The reality was this...the inventory of available homes in Euless (we had to be inside the city limits) in our target price range was extremely low. And those that we did find needed lots of updating. We finally came to terms with the fact that we did not want to buy a house near the top of our range that we would have to sink a lot of cash in to. So, we decided to go with Plan B...find a house below our target price range, allowing us to comfortably spend a little money on renovations, if needed.



Once deciding that this was our goal, it still took some time to find a house with a good layout, in a decent neighborhood. FINALLY, near the end of July, we found a house. It had good bones, but would need a little cosmetic work. No walls needed to be torn down, no plumbing moved, just basic updating and renovation. So, we went for it...even though the outside was painted bright yellow. ;)


We closed at the end of August and immediately began the renovation process. After scouring many design blogs and Pinterest, we felt that we had a good plan for what we wanted the house to look like. And, I must say, that it turned out even better than I thought it would!!




Below are some before and after pics of our new home. That being said, I still have some decorating to do...lots of bare walls!!



The Kitchen

-covered the beams in wood, panted walls and cabinets, new counter tops, new back splash, island and light fixtures




Before









After

























The Living Room, entry way and school area (not pictured)

-new fireplace, new floors, paint walls and cabinetry, add crown moulding


Before




































After


























































We also renovated the kids/guest bath with new floors, paint and fixtures. And painted all of the bedrooms.

And, now, I seem to be stuck. Because the house was so different from our previous home, and much smaller, we ended up going with a totally different look. While, I am enjoying the lighter colors and clean lines of our new space, I seem to be having trouble making decisions on what to put on the walls and what accessories to add. Hopefully, I'll get inspired some time soon and this place will start looking more like a cozy home...that's the goal!

Where have we been?

Where have we been...for the last eight months?

2011 turned out to be a year of change and transition for our family. Our house had been on the market since July of 2010, and we had become quite comfortable with the thought that it might sell someday and we might move someday. That someday came near the end of May 2011. With an offer on our house and a request for a closing date a mere three weeks away, we kicked all of our plans into high gear. With it being obvious that we would not have time to find (and move into) a new house in three weeks, we made plans to put everything in storage and camp out at Mom's for a short time.

So, on May 27th we said goodbye to our happy home of 5 years and drove away for the last time. Now, our focus (obsession, some might say) became the hunt for a new house in Euless, Texas. To say that this task was much harder than we ever imagined, would be a drastic understatement! Who could imagine that a short 25 mile distance would mean home prices more than 1.5 times higher than our old neighborhood...and this for homes that were 25 years older and needed renovation.

After much frustration and tears (after all, the kids and I weren't real excited about the move to begin with), we finally decided to buy a smaller, cozier home well within our budget. If we weren't going to get what we really wanted, we sure didn't want to be spending to the max of our housing budget.

So, what was originally supposed to be a month, maybe two, at Mom's house turned into four months. It was a good thing that we were all having so much fun there!! After closing on our new house, we spent a month completing renovations.

We had planned many months ago to go on a trip to the beach and Disney World around this time, so we took a break from house craziness at the beginning of September. We returned mid-September, finished up renovations and officially moved into our new house on September 23rd.

The last three months have flown by. We have been trying to get settled, move forward with homeschooling and enjoy the holiday season. And...we have had fun! I know that God's blessing comes with obedience and we continue to pray for His patience and guidance as we walk this path He has for us.

So with all of the Christmas decorations put away, Daddy back at work and the kids and I getting back in the school routine, we look forward to the year 2012. To finally hanging some things on the walls, making new friends and keeping the old. We can't wait to see what God has in store...

P.S. Yes, it's yellow! More on that later...