Finished accent wall

It is finished. One tedious week later, and I am in love.

This took longer than I anticipated because this week was nuts.

So here it is, my labor of love....

The stencil was very easy, and I just painted in between the lines with an OOPS sample paint from Lowes for $1.00. Yep... this wall cost me a whole dollar!!!! I am hoping to get a small table and mirror to go across this little wall.

So here is the before...

And the after....

Bliss!!!!!

Hold up, what???

So things on the accent wall front are at a stand-still. My husband, in his infinite wisdom, awoke from his slumber from working a ridiculous amount of days on graveyards to the light pencil drawings on the living room wall.

Then he said the thing that brought my total happiness and excited attitude to a full on WTH, sour face, head turning, "I KNOW you aren't talking to me" halt.

"What is that? I really wish you would leave the walls alone."

Are you kidding me???? Our walls are ALL THE SAME COLOR BEIGE!!!! Beige walls, beige couches, beige tile, beige fireplace surround, beige bathrooms, BEIGE. I seriously feel like I am living in a giant cup of cappuccino with too much creamer.

I decided that he must be delusional from his lack of sleep and grumpy from his 8 days on, 12 hour day graveyard schedule, and tried to shake it off. But the sad fact is, I can't. Because right after this conversation, another argument ensued regarding his meal...to which I prickled...and yelled.

Was that right of me? No. my husband sacrifices a lot so that I have the luxury of staying home with my children.

So now I am left with a dilemma. To continue the wall because I love it....To continue the wall just because he told me not to (because unfortunately, that is my first instinct)....or to discontinue and paint over all of my hard work. My labor of love.

I feel disappointed.

Sneak peak #2

Today I was able to work on the accent wall I have been planning for about two hours off and on. It is amazing how a job that should only take an hour, can taken double or triple that time when you add children to the mix.

I have been wanting to do something with this wall since we moved in almost 4 years ago.

Within the last few months, I have been looking at inspiration rooms, hoping to find a pattern that was interesting without being too fussy.

Last night, I found it and I love it. That's right. Love, true love.

Tonight, I finished much as I could without a ladder. Our ceilings are so high and I am dreading being up there without holding on. I need both hands to trace with this stencil.

Can you see the light pencil tracing???

It is surprisingly relaxing once you get in the groove of tracing, but it is still pretty tedious. I cannot imagine having the patience to do this in a whole room.

Anyway, that is where I stand. Tomorrow is such a busy day, I am hoping to get all the tracing done and MAYBE get to the store for a small can of high gloss paint. I think the extra shine will give it that little something special.

Sneak peak....

So here is a quick sneak peak at my most recent project for the week. Seriously, this is going to take a week to complete, no joke. With all the activities we have going on this week....well, it's a work in progress. In looking at it, my major decision currently is single or double??????????


Single.....no wait, double. No, single. Yeah, single. Single is good.

Tissue pom poms

The kids and I are stuck in the house today because of the storm, and on top of that, the hubs is on graveyards. So we have to find some quiet projects to do today.

Traditionally, I am not a big Valentine's Day lover. I guess it's cool and all, but I don't feel all giddy inside like when I decorate for the winter holidays. Usually, I don't decorate at all for Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's day, but I do spruce things up for Spring and Easter.

This will probably be the extent of my Valentine decor...pretty non-specific. No hearts and glitter, although I LOVE all the cute Valentine crafts out in blog land.

So we made tissue paper pom-poms, and attached them to some small pillar candles.

I love that they are so big to almost completely cover the candles. And there they sit, perched atop my mantle. :)

Side note: my cute oldest son with Autism, Caleb, continues to learn many different social "rules". As I type, I hear the following from his room.

THUD (Jansen trips and falls on his hand)

Caleb: Oh, Jansen are you ok?



Jansen: Yes, I told you I am always ok.



Caleb: Yes, but Jansen when you fall down, I say, "Are you ok?" I do not laugh when you fall. It is not funny. You could get hurt. So, I will ask you again, "are you ok?"



Jansen: Thanks Caleb. I'm ok. I think I will go eat lunch now.

Caleb is so matter of fact. He always has to repeat a rule, or repeat the guidelines. We are now trying to teach him how to make a "mental note" of things, and let the rule play in his head but not out of his mouth. Work in progress ;)

Kids and Valentines

Both of my kids were given the choice of making Valentines for their class or buying them. Surprisingly, both chose to make them.

So we went in search of fun and easy craft to make that included a little candy. It's a Free Food day at school, which means they can eat whatever they want that day.

Jansen chose to make two different Valentines for the girls and boys. Butterflies for the girls and green aliens for the boys.

We went with construction paper for him, because it is easier for his little Kindergarten fingers to cut construction paper than cardstock. Really, cardstock would have worked better, especially for the butterflies, but they turned out super cute anyway.

Caleb chose cherry lollipops and cardstock flowers. We found these great glitter pages at Hobby Lobby and Caleb chose a pink version for the girls and a blue version for the boys. A little cutting, some glue, and they were finished. He was really proud of them.

The lazy mom in me wanted to just go to the dollar store, buy a bunch of boxes of candy hearts and have the kids sign them. But the kids said no. Craft time it is!

Glad they are done...there are a lot of kids in their classes!

In other happenings, this Arctic Blast has made it's way down to the coast. They are forecasting snow tonight and tomorrow, and since we are beach people and have no idea to do with snow, school is closed tomorrow!!! The kids and I are going to play games in our jammies, drink hot chocolate by the fire, and bake cookies. No cookies for me because I am in a weight loss competition going on until mid March.

Backpack organization

All over blogland I have seen great examples of organizational tools...and let's face it. I am organizationally challenged. But, I did make a little piece that marries form and function beautifully, if I do say so myself.

Some of you might remember the HANGER that I made from cabinet doors from the corner shelving my mom gave me. Although I love hanging it in my room, I don't like the cluttered look it had from all of my purses. Now those purses hang neatly in my newly organized closet.

And for a while now, I have been wanting to get rid of this....

Just because that kind of clutter is driving me crazy. It is the first thing people see when coming into my house from the garage. Actually, our tiny and oddly shaped laundry room is what people see first, then this cluttered mess.

This is the picture of said tiny and oddle shaped laundry room. Please disregard the laundry waiting to be washed on the floor.


That far wall is seen when you walk into the laundry room from the house, but when walking in from the garage, it is hidden behind the door. Perfect place for some storage for the backpack issue.

While I thought of creating a beadboard wall with hooks, and then I took a look at my bank account. I have to find ways to create for next to nothing. So I rummaged around through my house looking for something free or something that I could make on the cheap.

Enter my former purse hanger :)



It wasn't serving any other purpose than being a decorative item on my bedroom wall, and in the laundry room, it fits perfectly.

Also, I went through my little sock basket. See this basket...


This is where I put all my lonely socks. You KNOW you are always left with that stupid one sock that doesn't have it's mate when all the laundry is done. When this happens, I throw it in the little basket and after a month, I go through it and start matching. I can usually make about 5 matches. Today I made 6 and threw away 4 lonely socks. Actually, those socks go into my dusting drawer, but they are no longer taking up space in the lonely sock basket.