Find the Good

A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram while I waited for the kids to fall asleep.  I started following the news station near my sister’s place last year during hurricane season just to see the damage pictures they posted and haven’t unfollowed yet for no reason other than I haven’t thought about it.  Well, usually I’d just scroll right past a post like this on that news station’s feed but something made me stop.  And usually I’d remind myself not to read comments on things like this because there are bound to be some negative Nancy’s in the crowd, but I did.  And it was horrifying and eye-opening.

Dresser + Runner

I’m popping in here quick-like to ask you a quick question.  Do you own a dresser that’s not looking so hot on top?  Maybe one-to-many perspiring drinks have been set atop it or maybe your kid forgot they’re only supposed to color on paper or maybe you bought it as a project piece (my hand goes up) and then life gotcha?  That all happens and someday you’ll get around to making things right but today is not that day, right?

Well, that project piece of mine has been painted a thousand ways, brought back to her old glory, and sits gleaming in our living room…in my brain.  In reality though…

Whomever dropped this off at the thrift store, I’m going to assume, had cookies and milk every night before bed.  Why?  Isn’t it obvious?  While they ate their cookies right next to their dresser, their glistening cup of milk sat on that dresser, was emptied and still sat ‘til morning when it was carried to the sink and readied for the next night.  We all have our routines, right?

Where We Eat

Rooms are starting to flow a whole lot better around here and I feel like it’s just added a greater sense of (superficial) peace when we’re constantly moving from room to room…which we do A LOT.  Of course that sounds ridiculous and you can’t really gleen peace from a house, right?  Or maybe you can?  Who knows.  Either way, I might be crazy but here’s the old view into the dining room from the “new” kitchen:

It’s like there was an invisible line at the doorway in which all the fun stopped and all the boring started.

But now, NOW it’s one continuous space where decor harmony flows in, out, and all around:

White walls did the dining room good.  I painted them the same Pure White (Sherwin Williams) as the walls in the kitchen which was key in getting this pretty choppy room layout to feel, well, not quite so choppy.  Maybe cohesive is the word I’m looking for…

Here’s a better view of the whole dining room taken before we moved in:

Old, heavy curtains, tan walls, and all.

And here’s what we’re currently working with:

Two-Toned Walls

I know I told you I was working on our dining room/multi-purpose room and really, I can’t wait to show you the progress but I’m still waiting on fabric for one more curtain panel to reach our doorstep and so I’m just going to slide in with a quick distraction!

Surprise!  I’ve already moved onto sprucing up another room – the play room!  This house is a three bedroom/two bath and right now, the kids are all sharing a room (it’s been awesome!) and so we’ve designated the third bedroom as a play room.  We’ve got a functioning office space (which we really needed) in our multi-purpose room so, since we didn’t need a space for that, one room to corral all the kids toy’s in seemed like a great idea!  And it has been!  The only place we keep toys is in this room vs. a little bit here and there like in our old house.  And as happens with kids around, messes get made, toys get strewn, but the great part about having a toy room is that the mess is usually contained to that one room…usually.  ;)

Here’s what the third bedroom now dubbed play room looked like right before we moved in: 

Just like the rest of the house, it was covered in tan.

Here’s what it looked like after we moved in:
And here’s what it looks like at this very moment:

Living Room Tour

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I really enjoy decorating our home.  I’ve always found a good bit of fun in decorating – my mom decorated my room when I was younger based off of one of my favorite characters, Minnie Mouse, but I didn’t really play a starring role in the whole process.  She bought everything and was really good at styling and so she did it all and I lived with it for several years.  I tweaked things here and there though, nothing major, but what I really loved is that feeling when it was spotless.  Don’t get me wrong, I was very good at leaving my clothes scattered on the floor for days/weeks and clutter on my dressers and desk but I thoroughly enjoyed decluttering and placing the 3957 pillows I had on my bed perfectly once in that blue moon.

Fast forward to college when I really got to take decorating my own dorm room by the reins and went all out.  I spent $70 of my own, hard-earned money on a comforter I had to have at Linen’s and Things (now defunct) and made sure any other accessories I bought for the room coordinated. 

That passion for decorating still stands but I’m finding that I’m enjoying the process a little less than I did before.  I don’t think it’s that it’s just not as fun anymore though.  I think it’s kids.  Haha!  I decorated my entire dorm room in two whole days, ceiling to floor, and now it takes me weeks to get one room done.  Kids.  The satisfaction of decorating for me is more in the end result than the process anyway so when that end result is akin to the tiniest light in the longest tunnel, it feels overwhelming at times.  BUT, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I know that’s cliche but it’s truth.  These four chicklets have given me more satisfaction than the final reveal of a million decorated rooms.  :)

On the same note, my reasons for making our spaces pretty have changed a lot.  Whereas before I just wanted a pretty dorm room/first-home-before-kids to come home to, now changing up spaces breaks up the monotony that my life can sometimes be.  I’m a big routine kinda gal.  Growing up I would have said I leaned more towards the unplanned/spontaneous side of life but I think having twins pulled me full circle to the other side.  No routines/structure when you have newborn/toddler twins = lots of stress.  I can’t say that’s a fact but I can tell you that the days where we at least tried (even if we failed a little) to stick to our routine were a heck of a lot easier than days where we completely disregarded it.  And so, structured and rigid I’ve become and that I’m guessing I’ll stay until we’ve got four independent children running around vs. the current dependent ones.  The routine-based life is wonderful and I thrive in it but it can get boring day after day after day after day.  So, adding some new pillow covers here or slapping up a new paint color there, spending naptime making something to hang there or building this to fill this space brings a much-needed surprise visit to that routine and a happier mom makes me.

With all of that, we’re switching gears!  Strap yourselves in for a living room tour! 

I took this before we moved in and started tweaking things:

Covering up the one and only window in the room were some heavy, light-blocking curtains and it looked like there was an eruption of tan everywhere.

I couldn’t get those curtains down fast enough!  Let there be allll the light there can be, I say!  Here’s where painting the walls white and adding in our furniture has us so far: