A great door

I got this door from the neighbor.  It was old and kind of tired.  A couple coats of chalkboard paint, some fabric with modge podge and I've got a cool new piece of decorator art.

The above drawer is a representation of all my drawers in my kitchen.  Maybe not that messy, but for sure not neat and tidy. I was bloggin' around one day and found a blog that had the following idea on it:  Self-made organization!

Balin constructed dividers for all the messy drawers in my kitchen and I love them.  I love putting the silverware away now 'cause it all fits!  Organization makes me happy.  Little by little we are making this house a slice of heaven.  Starting with the drawers.

The Muddy Money Pit

The Before Pictures....

The during the process pictures...

And so it begins....

We are coincidedly installing the hardscape in the front yard so that I can start planting this spring, while also beginning the garage so that Balin will have a man cave. (I guess he's tired of sharing my craft room with me.)  The footings are dug and hopefully will be poured by Friday.  Hopefully this project will be done...soon but I doubt it.

The Big Snow

Not much has been going on with the updating of the Park House.  The front garden is supposed to be installed tomorrow...but there's still a couple of feet of snow so I don't think that's going to happen. 

I did get most of Perrin's room finished, except the photos on the walls and the headboard.  I am hoping this week I will have time to get the head board finished and hung.

We got the plans approved for the garage and mother-in-law.  In the plans it actually is called a craft room....does that mean I get to do crafts there?  Hopefully we'll get the foundation laid as soon as the snow melts.  Balin and his friend Chad Dougan are hoping to do a lot of the work themselves.  Hopefully that works out well as it will be significantly cheaper.

We bought a "new" to us dining table that is at a friend's garage waiting to be distressed black.   I am going to redo the upholstery also, but not sure if that's a do it myself job. 

And we are going to buy a 15-1 game table for the front room and turn that room into our game area.  A friend gave me the idea and both Balin and I think it's brilliant.  I am thinking to repaint the walls in a basic white and accessorize with color. 

Things are coming along, one room at a time.  I will post pictures of Perrin's room hopefully this weekend.

The Park House at Christmas

 The stairwell is another project that is half done. The picture frames are hung, now to get pictures in the frames.  I'm thinking a series of sepia toned portraits of friends and family.  The stairwell is gorgeous with the Christmas tree lit. 

A little adjustment to the flower arrangement - poinsettias.  This is definitely a project that will progress as it's lacking...but for now it works.

Art Wall for the kiddos

 The first finished room - the landing upstairs between the bedrooms, bathroom and office/aka Judy's mess.  I was really excited about doing this project as the kids really into art, especially Sam.  He brings home all sorts of beautiful pieces, from still life to native sand drawings.  It's delightful what the art teacher, Ms. Von, is doing at the school.  And then there is Perrin, who literally spends hours coloring.  She has a stack of coloring pages an inch high!  What oh what to do with all of this art?  I decided that this wall was their display case.  I bought 4 frames from Ikea for a couple of bucks a piece. I change the art about once a month, though the current self portraits are adorable.  The black board is a leftover from Balin's old office.  It went from Balin's office to a white board for Sam's room, until someone used permanent markers on it.  It's hopefully last life will be this magnetic chalk board.  I painted it with special magnet paint, then spray painted chalk board paint over it!  Oila!  A place that is beautiful and funcitonal.

The entertainment center.  The book shelf is brimming with books is a great space for the T.V. to visually rest.  We are actually finding that we rarely watch T.V., even in the winter.   It's still a treat, though this T.V. is hooked up to Netflix streaming, Pandora and instant Pay Per View movies so it does make it pretty enticing.  We got a blue ray player and I have to say I can't stand watching movies on it.  They say it makes it look three dimensional, I say it takes away all the yummy effects of Hollywood.  It's so bad that I don't watch T.V. on them, I still watch my little computer screen.  Sad but true. 

The first blog....

I was inspired the other day as I was perusing blogland.  It's one of my favorite amusement parks lately, blogland.  I went to one of my favorite rides, theinspiredroom.com and found such inspiration there.  I got to thinking that perhaps I should write a blog about this house - or that actually I should write a blog about the more creative things that I think about in life.  I almost feel guilty writing about my projects on my other blog JudyinPrescott.blogspot.com as I know the people who are reading it want to know more about my family, life than what paint color I used in the bathroom or what cool bar stools I found. 

I want to have a space - I want to create a space that I don't feel censored in my dreaming.  I want to just write and dream and create.  And not feel bad about it.  So for now, I'm keeping this space sacred.  You're welcome here but realize that this space isn't about anyone else except me creating a home.  Join me in this process of learning to live in the chaos, beauty and never ending projects.