making changes

I'm itching to make some changes. I don't know if it's the Spring coming and the urge to clean out and rearrange and brighten up now that winter's ending - or if it's 'nesting' starting to kick in. I don't think it's nesting so much actually, because even though I like thinking of all the ideas, I'm still lacking the motivation to do a lot of them!

My current kick is repainting. Because of all the wood, our house can look dark. We're still working on figuring out lighting, but I think that lightening some of the paint will help too. I actually love the wall color, but it's just not working.

Here's the current paint chips I have up. Yes, they all look pretty much the same. And I don't think I love any of them. I'm planning on painting just the top part of the wall the lighter color. Though the past couple of days I've been a little obsessed with the idea of DIY board and batten. We'll see.

Here's our living room (see, lots of wood).

Most of the furniture in there was left to us by the previous owners. It's all gorgeous, either Ethan Allen, Stickly or handmade. And I love everything. But because we didn't put it there, it still doesn't feel like us. It needs a little bit more of our personality. We'll probably replace the couch in the next year or two. And the TV. And the entertainment center. We need a bigger couch for all of us to comfortably snuggle and a flatter TV to fit the bigger couch. So, we'll have to make due for a couple of years still. Seating is a huge problem in there though, not for visiting, just for movie night.

I know you want to see our couch. This is one thing we did buy - and the first real live adult piece of furniture my husband and I bought together.

 

It's kind of a mess, there's laundry on the chair and Christmas stuff behind the chair waiting to be put away. And a Christmas package still waiting to be mailed. Oops. Oh, and my 12 year old broke my brand new (last year) vacuum that I looooooved so now my floors are dirty cause I haven't replaced it yet. But actually, this is clean compared to the kids living room. Ick.

Anyway.

I painted our back door and window a couple weeks ago. Sorry no pictures.It's better that way, trust me. Here's a before picture sort of (it's the best I could find right now that showed the color well enough!)

They were dark red. A lovely red. But too dark with the dark wood. So I painted them what should have been a nice light Spring Sage. Instead it looks like mint sea foam nightmare. I have yet to fix that.

I also hate the laundry room re-do I did last year. But that's another post.

What about you? Do you start wanting to make changes to your home when the seasons change?

handmade holidays: gifts for men and boys

 Because I know my husband and kids don't read this blog, this handmade post will be the easiest to share, though even here there are a couple of handmade gifts that you'll have to wait until after the holidays to see!

I find that crafting for boys is sometimes pretty hard! Last year we did ok, but it felt like we used up all our good ideas! Here's a small list to kick off the handmade holiday season!


Handmade by others:

Beer Soap - search Etsy for all sorts of fabulous 'manly' soaps!

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I like this shaving kit. There are homebrew soaps and homebrew shampoos.   How about a chocolate stout soap?


Custom Guitar Picks for your musician. They're metal and it says they are easy to play with. I don't play guitar, so who knows. But they're still neat.

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You could probably make this on your own too, but inspiration deserves credit too! The Husband loves homemade popcorn, and I could see this going over very well.
Popcorn Spice Kit




The Husband also dabbles in making beer, but even if your guy doesn't - these Homebrew Ties are pretty dang cool!

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Handmade by you!



Sports Cans. I think these are a super neat idea. I think depending on the size of the can, you could stuff them with goodies and snacks, or maybe slippers and a matching team fleece blanket.


Pajama Pants are quickly becoming a Christmas Tradition in our house, last year just the little guys got them, this year The Husband will be getting a pair too. We do fleece, but you could make them in whatever fabric you wanted. There are tons of tutorials online, here's a fairly easy one: 15 minute pajama pants

I made all the boys heat packs last Christmas, but these are always a great standby. Mine weren't this fancy - just a standard rectangle, but here's an idea on how to make them: Homemade Heat Packs



Bookmarks inspired by Soulemama. You can find the instructions in Handmade Home or here


Of course if you knit there are many more ideas! Socks, hats, scarves, sweaters (oh my!).

Or, if you don't knit - how about making a hat from a recycled felted sweater? Or a brimmed hat from an old sweater?



Every time The Husband comes to the market with me, he remarks on the felted slippers one of our meat vendors sells (she also spins and knits). Now my knitting skills are beginner on a good day, so knitting and felting slippers is out of the question. But how about felted slippers from sweaters? yay!


I think it's possible that crafting for the kids can sometimes be harder than crafting for The Husband. They're always appreciative (and seem sincerly so!) with handmade gifts. But. They're boys. 12 and 7 now. Coolness is definitely a factor! Pillowcases, blankets, pajama pants - all safe handmade gifts. But not surprising, or super special. So, that list will have to be continued as I find and add ideas!

If you have any handmade gift ideas for men and boys, please share them in the comments below!

Can't wait to see what everyone else is coming up with as the Holiday season gets into full swing!

Outdoor Dining

I've been on the lookout for an old real wood table for the backyard since we moved in August - I wasn't having much luck though. Originally I wanted a patio set - but the prices are pretty outrageous, and there wasn't really anything I loved.

Not long ago I began keeping an inspiration file.

One afternoon, a few weeks ago, the husband and I were wandering through the restore looking for odds and ends for projects for the house. We were hoping for some beams or boards to start  building the back deck. We didn't find much for that, but we they did have a huge collection of wonderful old doors - and among those doors I found this:

I actually hugged it. In the store, put my arms around it and hugged it. I love it. AND it was only 10 bucks! So, we brought it home, I varnished the top - Kev built legs and now we have an outdoor table - yay!

And this morning - yes - that's snow. Hmph.

The plan is for next summer to have a deck where the pebbles are. I'm still working on the seating, eventually we'll have a nice mix of unmatched chairs too.


Because we found the wood for the legs at the restore too and the paint I already had, the total table cost less than 15 dollars - and each chair so far was less than 3 dollars. So way less and way more personal than a patio set.

We still have a lot of work we want to do in the backyard but this was one thing I was anxious to get done and I'm beyond pleased with the way it came out.

Now, if we actually had a day without rain (or snow!!) maybe I could use the table . . .