Meet Flowers

 Flowers.

That is what my daughter's affectionately named the biggest stuffed animal in the house.
A big giraffe (who is apparently a girl) and stands at about 5 feet tall.

Ever since I first laid my eyes on one of these guys (after seeing them on a few blogs online), I decided right then and there that someday we would have one. Kind of random, I know, but also fun and a cute little accessory to any room! 

 Bathing suits in November?! 

Because why not?!

As soon as the box arrived, my girls squealed with delight. My oldest said, "Wow! That's a big box. It's almost as tall as our roof!" Not quite that tall sweet-heart, but it did come in a pretty tall box.

I had the girls guess what they thought was in the box when we brought it into the house. Both of them thought it was a toy train. I just love their imagination!
Nevertheless, once the giraffe was out of the box, they got so excited. We quickly put her up in the nursery where she will stay. 

This shows a close-up of the material she is made out of which happens to be super soft.

Ack! She is so cute and looks great in the nursery.
Someday I will get this room painted, but that's a blog post for another time.


And there's only 2 days until Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe one!

Color of the Year...

According to Sherwin Williams, their color of the year is.....

Alabaster.
   

(wish I could get a better picture, but this was what I could find online)

I wasn't too surprised to hear that SW color of the year was white. Benjamin Moore came out with their color of the year not too long ago and it was "Simply White" so hearing that Sherwin Williams chose a shade in the same color family was to be expected.

Before SW came out with their color of the year, I painted some of the walls in our home in Alabaster, our trim, and the kitchen cabinets. So hearing that it was the color of the year was kind of exciting since we had already used it plenty in our home. 

If you are looking for a great white to use that is not too stark or too creamy, I would recommend this color! You might be thinking that white paint is white paint...BUT believe it or not, like many colors, there are many shades of white and they all have different undertones. Alabaster is one of those colors that I don't think you can go wrong with. While I would most likely never paint a large room or bedroom in this color, I did paint our bathrooms with this shade and it makes other colors around it pop. It would also look great on furniture too.

So what is your take on this color? Do you prefer rooms with more color as opposed to an off-white?

On My Mind

To continue a little bit of my last post, I have decided to keep the wood trim in the living room AND keep the front door painted in a pretty dark gray called Ashwood Moss. As of now, the two don't go that well together. However, before I even think about painting over the original wood trim in the living room, I want to try one last thing: painting the walls in that room. I definitely don't want to make a decision I regret (especially when it comes to painting over nice wood trim) so because I love both the trim and the door color, I'm going to keep both for now.
Also, thank you to those who commented and messaged me about the change. I appreciate all of your input and thought about each comment. So thank you!!

Before we moved into our home a year ago, the original owners painted the upper part of the walls a light cream color and the bottom was a medium-toned brown. While I have nothing against those colors, it doesn't mesh with the rest of our home, so we will be painting over them. Plus, the painters they hired actually missed a few spots that are very noticeable and we have had folks comment about it because it is kind of obvious...so it is next on the list to take care of. 

I love Benjamin Moore's Horizon, Gray Wisp, and Sea Haze. Those are on the list as testers for the new wall color, but we might not get to painting that room until the new year (which will be here before we know it!)

In other news, we have a few packages coming in the mail soon. They are on their way and one of them is something I have been wanting to purchase for a long time.I know our kiddos will simply LOVE it.
Here is a "hint" as to what it might be! ;)



I'm hoping it arrives this week, and when it does I will be sure to blog about it!!

When A Project Doesn't Go As Planned

Ever since we moved into our home last year, I wanted a dark gray door. In our last house, all of our doors were painted in a dark gray and I loved it. We got so many compliments on it because it looked good. So I thought I would continue that trend in our new house and start with painting our front door. However, after doing one coat of a pretty dark gray called Ashwood Moss, by Benjamin Moore, it wasn't love at first sight. In fact, I'm not sure I even like it. I thought this dark gray would go so well with some of the wood trim we have nearby...but it actually clashed a little bit and once the first coat was up it didn't look that good. Such a bummer!!

When I crop the picture so the wood trim in the living room can't be seen, the gray door looks great and stands out...in a good way!

But when I took a picture of the gray colored door next to the surrounding wood trim it just didn't do it for me. Again, such a bummer because this gray is such a beautiful color. Good thing I only bought a sample!!!

Anyways, I'm left with either painting the trim in the living room white OR repainting the front door white. I would love to keep the door gray but have a hard time painting the trim in the living room white (which would probably have to happen in order for things to flow well from room to room)...OY! 
At least it is just paint.

On the Christmas Wish List

I know it is not even December yet and I am already talking about Christmas gifts, BUT yesterday my husband had the day off and some of the big toy stores were having a sale. 
So you know what that means?

I took my youngest out shopping with me (since he hardly has any opinion yet on Christmas gifts anyways) and the girls stayed home with daddy. The 2 hours I spent out was actually pretty nice and calming in a way and I'm glad I got the chance to do it because it doesn't happen often these days.

Here are some items that I was able to get (and some were on sale too which was an added bonus).

 

Melissa and Doug Medical Staff Outfit

To our surprise, our middle child simply loves playing doctor. No idea where that comes from, but she loves giving all of us a check-up complete with band-aids and medicine when we are "hurt" or feeling "sick". I think she will love getting to wear the hospital jacket so she feels legit.

 

Daniel Tiger Bath Toys

This one wasn't on any particular Christmas wish list, but when I saw it at the store I thought it was too cute to pass up. Plus, my girls actually LOVE bath time. I mean they LOVE LOVE LOVE it. They have a couple of bath toys but this couldn't hurt to add to the list. And since they also love Daniel Tiger, I figured this was a win-win!

I also purchased a few things off of a Dollar Rack at the store yesterday for their stockings. Little things like a pocket book with crayons, stickers, and some foam water toys.

This year, I am also ordering a couple of things online...one which I can't wait to write a blog about so you won't see it pictured here yet! 

However, one of the items I am ordering online is a V-Tech camera. I am only ordering one so our girls will have to share it (we will see how that works out!) but I know they will love it. We went to a birthday party last weekend and their friend had this particular camera and they just didn't want to let it go. I'm sure they would have taken it home with them if given the chance!

 

Amazon is selling this one for much cheaper than some of the stores I have already looked at so ordering it online seems like the best choice.

Other than that, they will be getting some things from family as well so we aren't going to go over board with gifts this year. Actually, I hope we never go overboard with gifts (not only at Christmas but birthdays as well) if you know what I mean. It is easy to do, especially seeing that as they get older some of the things they will no doubt want will come with a bigger price tag. Heaven help us when that happens!! 

What I Bought Recently

You may have seen these things out there called pom-poms. And we're not talking about the cheer-leading kind.

They are cute little balls of yarn that you can make on your own and I fell in love a while back.

Have you ever tried making these?
They aren't that difficult to create and there are a ton of tutorials out there that help.
BUT, I never had any luck making them fluffy on my own using a fork and some yarn like I've read you can do....SO, I caved and bought a Pom-pom maker with a gift card that I had at JoAnns craft store. 

And that did the trick....these little contraptions make pom-poms in no time and they turn out so full. Plus, they come in different sizes!

I won't go into detail about how you make one of these with a pom-pom maker since there are tons of videos and tutorials out there already (fyi- I did watch a few videos online) but you basically wrap your yarn around the pom-pom maker, cut it down the middle, and fluff the yarn. That's it in a nutshell! (but you will probably want to watch a tutorial/video about how to do it).
The pom-pom maker won't have you breaking the bank either...they are well under $10 for 2...not too shabby!

 

This is a photo I pulled off of Amazon of the pom-pom maker, but you can purchase them at other stores as well.  

We made some for the girls room in pink and purple (the color of their choice) and put it on the faux fireplace. Pictures to come soon of their poms when I can get to it.

In the meantime, we've been thinking about Thanksgiving coming up and Christmas and getting ready for the holidays. Can't wait!

Filling Your Home with Memories (starting with photos)

When I was much younger, I took tons of pictures. And when I say tons, I mean TONS ya''ll! 
For example, I remember a weekend trip I took with some of my girlfriends in college. On that trip, I took lots of pictures of what we did and I even took pictures of what we ate. Seriously. No. Joke.
Yeah, weird, I know! My friends laughed at it then and still do to this day...and I admit, it was kind of silly. But never-the-less, I loved documenting every little thing. I have the scrapbook of that trip and many others somewhere in this house. ;)

Fast forward about 10 years later- married with 3 kids- and here I am hardly taking any photos. I do document things my kids do and even have a baby album for each one of them with little quotes and milestones they have achieved, but that doesn't compare to what I use to be like when I documented everything going on in my life. This may have happened because things are just busier now and there is so much more I am interested in doing so it is hard to find the time to carry a camera around everywhere. Whatever the case, I have realized that I want to fill my home with good memories of my family and for me, that starts with photos.

In our last house, I had a gallery wall leading up the stairs. I covered both sides of the wall with photos. I do believe that was a bit much and did look a bit cluttered...so when we moved into this new home, I didn't want to overload the walls. I ended up redoing the gallery wall going up the stairs in our new home after we painted and added a few simple larger black and white pictures to it that I will share here. The house is scattered with photos now of our family and friends and kids art work and that feels like just the right amount of balance now. Not too much and not too little. Here are some pictures of what I mean.

                            FYI- I am seriously loving that view out our kitchen window!!


Wedding photos, trips we have taken, and family memories are what you will see in our home now when you walk around.

Living Room Progress

I also hope to grow this gallery wall in our living room someday. That will take time and I am okay with that. It doesn't all have to be filled up right now.

Wood Trim Vs. Painted Trim

I have seen so many pictures out there of painted wood trim...I did it in our home to most of our trim. However, there is something special about leaving wood trim unpainted that I really like. When we bought our home a year ago, more than half of our downstairs had wood trim. The trim in the rest of the house had already been painted over with with white. Since it felt that our home seemed a little mismatched for having part wood trim and white trim, I went ahead and painted most of our wood trim white so our home had better flow. I didn't end up painting our doors and trim in the kitchen and our fireplace trim (as you can see from the photo above) because I knew the wood trim would add warmth and would look visually appealing.

A new trend that is out there at the moment though is painting the trim in your home black instead of white. I admit, I do like the look when it is done right, but I don't think I could paint all of the trim in our home black. Ever. (ok, never say never, but it seems like a bit much to me) However, some of these photos below are quite inspirational because only some of the trim has been painted black and it's got me thinking about painting over the wood in our home. 
But don't worry, that hasn't happened and probably won't.  ;)
My husband can now breathe a sigh of relief!

 

 

 

 

It does look very classy especially when it is paired with white cabinets or surrounding white trim.
But here is why I love what we have going on in our home.

 

 

 

 To me, leaving wood trim left unpainted like this adds warmth and depth to a space instead of feeling like you are swimming in a see of white trim everywhere. It gives your eyes a place to rest. 

What do you think? Do you prefer one look over the other?

Ideas for Christmas

Well, we made it through Halloween and had a good time trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. The girls had a blast while our youngest slept through the whole thing. ;)

We decided to make the girls costumes this year. They both wanted to be "artists" (and this was decided at the last minute) so I scrambled to find some extra cardboard, paint brushes, and paint to make their paint palettes. We had a painting smock and a workers apron already that the girls wanted to wear and it all came together just in time for trick-or-treating. It may not have been the vision I had in mind at first, but with a newborn, I think we did pretty good! And the girls loved it...they thought their costumes were great! 


Now that Halloween has come and gone and we have now reached November (how did that happen so fast?!?) it's okay to start thinking about Christmas. At least I already am! :)

These images below have put me in the Christmas mood already.

                            

 Image

I would love to throw some pretty green garland on our mantel this year like the image above.

 

Image 

It would be fun to have neutral matching Christmas stockings....and personalized too!

 

Image

I would love to have a second Christmas tree in our home. I have the perfect spot in the living room for it!

 

Image 

I'm thinking of decorating our tree this year like this. How gorgeous, right?! 

 
Image 
Really would love to hang some lighted garland from our doorway.

 

Image 

I want to add a star like this to the top of the Christmas tree cones we just made. 

 Image

And I would love for the presents under our tree to look like the ones pictured above, but who am I kidding. Our girls already picked out their wrapping paper for Christmas this year and the winners were Minnie Mouse and Sofia the First. Maybe next year. ;)

It's an exciting time of year as more festivities await us around the corner!

How do you get into the spirit for the holidays?