Sitting here

a bare, hard floor

The only light

The yellow glow from the hallway

And the earnest efforts of the moon.

All blurred by my unexpected and unrelenting tears.

This was always a bright room.

It embraced the sunlight.

Its four walls seemed to delight in their task of holding precious little ones.

It was the most cheerful room.

Now. It is silent.

But I hear many things:

The sounds of such precious years

Laughter.

Oh the laughter of sweet small voices.

The giggles as we made tents, or tickled, or played peek-a-boo, or danced…

Stories.

Read over and over again.

And then retold from the memory of a little boy.

Songs.

We sung so many songs.

The sweet simple songs of Jesus that you would sing along to.

Over and over I sang you hymns to get you to sleep.

And of course there was “I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living my babies you’ll be.”

Tears.

Many many tears.

Tears that well up and overcome me in moments like these - when I try to store up every single memory I can and treasure the incomprehensible gift of motherhood.

Tears of a distraught baby - hungry or cold, tired or scared - ones that had me up and running to meet the need and gently wrap you in my arms.

Tears of a distraught mother - brought to her knees in frustration, or worry, or simply not knowing the answer.

Prayers.

Oh, the prayers.

I am so glad there were prayers.

Prayers of that same distraught mother crying out to her all-knowing, trustworthy, loving God for help

Prayers of praise over these sweet children she was given.

Prayers entrusting those sweet children to a mighty God - for their salvation, for their character, for their protection, for their futures, for everything a mother hoped they would be.

Prayers of thanks from a dear little boy who learned to pray here:

“Thank you for Jesus can love us.”

And even where a baby girl said her first “amen” as her mommy prayed over her in her crib.

I think the prayers make this room the most special.

I hear questions asked, and “good night’s”, and “I love you’s”, and Bible stories, and conversations during nap time between a one-year-old and three-year-old…

This was a precious place.

So as I’m hear one last time I pray one more time

And I thank the Lord for providing for blessing for watching over for teaching

And I thank Him, because what made this room special is still with me.

And now I can go to a new home and kiss their sweet sleeping faces.

Good bye, Little Room.

Thank you for holding us.

Our condo sold tonight.  Sold.  Done. »phew.«  Thank you, Lord!

So I’ve popped in to post a few pretty pictures lately, but I’ve been largely MIA from blogging.  Lots of stuff going down that I hope to write about sometime soon.  But for now (while both kids are napping) I’ll try to give you an idea of what’s happening (while sprinkling in some Instagram pictures.  Cuz that’s what bloggers DO now.)…

…We are TRYING to sell our condo.  Suffice it to say that people are dumb with money.  Three offers so far, and no one’s been able to follow through. :P  More on that saga later.

…If not being held back by selling our condo we’re TRYING to look ahead to building our house.  That involves:

• Some cool changes to our floor plan that I’m stoked about.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with my pad of graph paper lately.

• Trying to really define what I want the house to look like.  Lots of it will be figured out when we actually move in, but there will be a lot of decisions that need to be made this fall when we order it.

(You can read about my house rules here, and maybe you remember my [slightly outdated, and still very “just dreaming” 20 Things series?)

• Learning about trees.  That’s right.  My little brother’s girlfriend Becky is super awesome (and has a degree in landscape design) and helped me get going on our shelterbelt plan for our farmyard.  She basically helped me pick the least terrible trees that the PFRA offers (Hey!  They’re free!) and think of a few ornamental ones we’ll add in the future.  She’s the best.  And now I’m really excited about our trees.

(I’m hoping the PFRA peeps will appreciate the drawings of tiny cows and colour coding.)

• Getting excited for travelling to Alberta this fall to order our house. (!!!  If only our condo will SELL!)

…Also I’ve gone back to work part time.  Mostly painting for VBS decorations these days, but I look forward to fall when the work of curriculum planning begins.

I’m a messy painter.  And sometimes it gives me cool neon modern art manicures.

…And I’m working on my first REAL (i.e. I have a budget and I get paid) design job.  Which is cool.  I can’ wait to share about it.  For now, though, know that I got this AH-mazing rug for a great deal, and even better customer service:

…And I’m working on a graphic design job for a cidery out in B.C., Canada.  Would I like to draw pretty pictures of barns and apples?  Why, yes, I would.

…AND it’s summer.  So.  Trying to enjoy as much of that as possible with my awesome, hilarious, getting-more-fun-by-the-day kiddos and my dear husband.  

We went camping.  And it was so fun.  And this moment of me cooking breakfast on a Coleman stove at a picnic table was pure bliss.

After a long evening of bedtime antics.  These two are so funny.

Paintings.  Baby L’s first.  I don’t want to speak too soon, but she’s obsessed with pencil crayons, markers, etc. these days.  Fingers crossed she’ll be an artist.  Fingers also crossed that she doesn’t draw on every wall in the condo before we sell it.

…Harvest is just around the corner, so I won’t see too much of Sean soon.  Actually, I won’t see a lot of Little M either, as he thinks he is integral to the combining operation. 

The hubster checking his crops.

Did I miss anything?  Hmm… a dear friend is planning a wedding, and we will soon be moving, and I threw my daughter’s first birthday party (one!! already!!!) and I’m reading through Romans, which is blowing my mind these days.  So that’s all cool too.

Catch up with y’all later.  

(And in the mean time I’ll try to share some pretty pictures.)

This week has been crazy.  Among other things we’ve been getting our condo finished to list it for sale.  The listing should be up later tonight, but I did get the photos back from the realtor this morning.  It’s interesting (and a teensy bit painful) to see the photos.

The photographer obviously has a super wide lens.  It distorts things a bit, but gives you a better idea of the layout.  The lighting is great and the colours are truer than in my attempts to photograph our place, but I notice all these little details that I would have zhushed - move that, tuck that in, take that out… etc. etc.  And obviously a realtor has totally different aims in photos - show layout, space, finishes (not cute touches and vignettes ;)).  But overall we’re quite happy!  I’ll share a few of the pictures with you:

(All photographs by James at MyVisualListings.com)

THE KITCHEN:

THE LIVING/DINING ROOM:
 

THE BATHROOM:

THE MASTER BEDROOM:

(Look at that too-short bedspread.  Eep.)

THE NURSERY:

So.  You wanna’ buy a condo? :)

Ready to show you my living room today! 

(That is… my perfectly clean living room that never looks like this.  No - the pillows are on the floor for jumping on, the ottoman is gaping open, the desk is piled with papers and books, there is no carpet visible beneath toys and books and endless Cheerios.  You get the idea.  But you probably don’t want a picture of that…)

Obviously it’s a combination space, with a home office area included.  That’s the bonus in buying an older condo - they were built with bigger living spaces in the 70’s and 80’s!

I worked hard to make this home office as functional and as aesthetically simple and unobtrusive as possible.  Really editing the shelves, using storage in boxes and in the hutch in the dining room, using the clear acrylic Louis ghost-style chair, and choosing a vanity table instead of a full desk help keep it all streamlined.

Its crazy to think that I reupholstered ALL of the furniture in the living room - sofa, chairs, and ottoman (and the Louis chairs in the dining room too).  Like seriously crazy.  I am insane.  They’re all at different levels of “doneness”, and I’m happier with some than others.  But overall they give the look I want for the room, and what they lack in professional finish they make up for in affordability!

About 2 years ago, when I settled on the idea that we were going to be in the condo for a few years I decided to really embrace decorating it - and I saw it as a chance to experiment and self-teach.  It’s been fun to figure out layering patterns, materials, which colours I like to live with, etc.  I love the paint colour - Woodlawn Blue from Benjamin Moore - but in the greyish light of our one East-facing balcony window it feels a bit too dark/cool for me most days.  I think it’s a colour I’ll use in a smaller space in the future (like a powder room or entry or laundry room).  And even though I love all things fresh and be beachy (you know blue + white, and painted furniture), I’ve discovered that I really need some wood tones, and a healthy dose of warm colours. (The punches of orange in this room make me so happy.)

The corner fireplace is not something I’d normally recommend, but it works perfectly in our space, since there are just two short walls in that corner.  It keeps the flow through the apartment easy, and makes the most of an awkward space.

We do 95% of our living in this room.  The kids play here, we read here, we watch TV here - it is the centre of our home for sure.  We store toys in bins beneath the couch and in the storage ottoman, and the ottoman can be pushed back out of the way or used to play on.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this room!

The preparation to list our condo continues!  Today I’ve got a peek into our dining room for you.  

Our dining room is the least finished room to me.  I’ve never been 100% happy with the layout.  We shouldn’t really have the hutch AND the sideboard - but we need the sideboard to hide all of the internet and phone cords and outlets.  And we need the hutch for book, movie, game storage, and Sean’s work stuff.  The room’s big enough to handle both pieces, but I feel like it creates an awkward corner.  I may take one piece out when we begin showing the place so that traffic flows more easily through there.  

There are half a dozen other changes I’d like to make, and I think our next dining room will probably be very different.  I’d love to use richer colours in my dining room, but this room is in the back windowless corner, and needs all the white to lighten things up.

But whatever.  Here you go!

When I first completed reupholstering the chairs in our living room My husband sat in them and deemed them comfortable, but felt like they needed something to put your feet up on.  I immediately began scouring UsedRegina and Kijiji for coffee tables to create a tufted ottoman like this project.  However, months went by and nothing fit all three criteria: correct size, reasonable price, AND good-looking. *sigh*

But one day I came across this storage ottoman on UsedRegina.  And it was only $20!  Why?  Because it was U-G-L-Y.  Their two-year-old had apparently destroyed the thing.  And it was covered in a cheapy microsuede fabric that did not hold up (covered in tears and stains).  But the rest of it was in decent shape.  I decided I would reupholster it.

I began by taking off the old fabric, trying to keep it intact, so I could use it as a template. My new fabric was a sturdy solid navy blue from Tonic Living.

I decided, though, that to recover it I would need to take it apart a bit - and since it’s basically a box, I could handle that.

I removed the lid -  more on that in a moment - and took the bottom off of the box.

I upholstered the bottom, wrapping the fabric around it and securing it with a few staples.  I didn’t go crazy with staples, because there would be more later when I put the ottoman back together.

(That black piece on top in the picture is the meshy fabric that covered the bottom before.  I kept it and used it to cover the bottom when I was all done.)

For the sides I measured each panel and cut fabric (with a bit of a seam allowance) for each side.  I sewed the fabric panels together on each corner and fitted it over the box and foam snugly.

Then, when it came to the top, I ended up doing a bit more work.  Though in good shape, the top only had webbing in a frame to hold the seat up.  This created a slight, but uncomfortable sag if you sat on top of the ottoman.  (And I knew ours would be sat on.  And climbed on.)  Also, I really wanted a tufted top, and securing the buttons into webbing just wasn’t going to cut it.  So, with some help from my dad, we added a board into the seat.  He cut the board to size at the hardware store.

Then we used small strips of wood to screw into the sides of the top to keep the board in.

The small wood strips created a ledge, keeping the board in place in the lid.

Once it was all in place I measured and drew out the spots where I would want buttons on the top and drilled holes in the board for them.  (I made the holes too small the first time, so I ended up making them bigger later.  You need a decent sized hole otherwise it’s hard to thread the upholstery needle back through when attaching the buttons.)

I use these little button kits from the fabric store.  They’re cheap and easy to use.  My fabric was a bit thick for the size of buttons I used, however, so I ended up securing a few with some hot glue.

For tufting, lay out your fabric over the area you’ll be working on (and you may need to pin it in place), but don’t staple it to your piece yet.  Wait until after your buttons are all secured so that you can get a nice deep tuft.

I start from the centre and work my way out.  On the back of the board the strings are knotted, then pulled to the side, and stapled a billion times.  Or you can thread the strings through a button and knot them (then staple them a million times, if you like).  I forgot to take a picture of this for the ottoman, but you can see it here on the back of my headboard. (Sorry for the terrible picture, there isn’t a whole lotta’ light behind my bed.  But you should get the idea.)

After all of the buttons were in, I stapled the fabric to the bottom of the lid.  For the corners I pleated them and pulled tightly - kind of like what you’d see on the arms of a William Birch sofa. 

After this, I reattached the bottom to the box using an air compressor and long staples.

When doing this I attached the bottom’s fabric, the box sides’ fabric, and the bottom covering fabric as well.  I then reattached the lid with the hinges (I screwed them in by hand into the existing holes.  I didn’t use an electric drill because I didn’t want to snag and pull the fabric.)

And voila!  

 There are still a couple of things I still want to do to this thing - I want to find some hydraulic hinges for the sides so that the lid lowers slowly (or even locks open, if needed), and I have plans to add a kick pleat skirt (You can see the fabric panels pinned in place in the picture below… whaddya’ think?)

But even without the skirt it’s a HUGE transformation - it looks higher end, and it’s far more durable.  (Only trouble is that the tufts are great Cheerio collectors…)  Now, when you sit in the chairs, it’s lovely to put your feet up!

Thought I’d show you our bathroom today, since I took all the pictures for listing the condo.  The bathroom actually went through two makeovers, I guess.  But first… here’s the original:

Yeeeugh.  Don’t worry.  That pink vinyl baseboard was in the bathroom too.

And that stone-look laminate counter top and mirror/lightbox unit?  They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

Originally I tried a nautical scheme for the bathroom - bright white with a dark navy blue stripe around the room.  I looked everywhere for a shower curtain with broad navy and white stripes, but none was found.  And the room has no natural light, so instead of looking crisp and fresh, the ultra white looked stark and blah.  So a few months back I changed things up, inspired by this picture from Martha Stewart Weddings:

I already had drapes (from my old office seen here and here) that were an aqua coloured paisley, and I had wanted to try Behr’s Fresh Day paint colour for some time.  Here’s how it looks!  (I tried my best to get true colours in the photographs, but in a windowless room, that’s always a challenge.  I think you get the idea, though.)

We replaced the vanity with an Ikea cabinet/sink combo and used the matching storage tower and medicine cabinet as well. (I can’t remember what it was called, but they discontinued it the summer we bought it.  Probably Klemtorpensopji.  Or something like that.)  I really love the wide sink, and the edge is wide enough to keep the basics that we need.  It was really the most affordable option at the time.  With the wide sink there’s no need to also buy a countertop, and the doors have grooves cut out for pulls, so there was no need to buy hardware.

The mirror is from Lowes.  We previously put up a square mirror, but everything looked too boxy with the square-ish vanity and sink.  I like the beaded detail.

The soap dish is a little milk glass dish I found at a thrift store.

I like having the woven baskets in there for some texture.

The shower curtains, as I mentioned, were once drapes in my office.  I hemmed them and hung plastic liners behind each one.  I love the look of two curtains - treating the shower like a window.  It’s really pretty, and luxurious feeling.  And symmetrical, which I’m a big fan of.

The pussy willows are courtesy of a sweet friend, Karri.

I added some punches of green (which is a little more emerald looking in real life.) with the green glass bottle, spray painting a bamboo tray and some cheap hooks, and with the gemstone art I’ve talked about here and here.

The flooring was a vinyl tile we bought for a good price - the thing with our place is we didn’t want to invest too much money, or we wouldn’t get a decent return when we sold.  It’s durable, easy to clean, and I like the look.

I like taking all of those bathroom necessities and placing them in jars or baskets.  They look pretty when grouped that way, and it’s nice that anyone can find them.

So there you go!  It’s nothing too crazy amazing, but it’s pretty and I like it!

One of the things we’ve needed since forever is some art to hang above our bed.  But that’s a tricky spot to choose art for, I think.  It’s your bedroom.  It’s awfully personal.  The subject matter has to fit the space.  And the size of the art needs to be fairly substantial.  (My general rule is that art should fill at least 2/3 of the width of whatever it hangs above - so in this case, our headboard.)  But usually, bigger the art = bigger the cost.  

The thing is, I can paint.  I just almost never do - it takes space, time, creative energy, and focus, which seems hard to come by in these baby years.  Furthermore, living with my own art can sometimes be tough (I’m my own toughest critic).  

But for the sake of getting this place “finished” to sell, it was time to finally get something hung there.

I decided, since it was for my personal use, and I didn’t have a photograph I wanted to paint, I’d copy a painting from an art book I have.  I liked this painting by James Whistler - it had all the cool colours I’d want in our bedroom.  And the image of the calm water, the sun setting, and (what I thought was) ships returning home, it seemed like a great image to see at the end of the day.  (Further research showed, however, that these are probably war ships that Whistler saw down in Chile, shortly before Spain began bombing them.  Hah.  I’ll choose to ignore that part…)

We managed to get the kids to bed early and I got straight to work.  It was lovely to paint again - it’s been forever.

And here’s the finished product:  

I still have bunch more stuff to finish in our bedroom - that throw pillow and that portrait on the side wall are place holders from other spots in the house.  And we have to install closet doors (there were none when we bought the place).  

And I have to do something with those lampshades - they’re especially ugly when the light is on.  I’m thinking I’ll spray them a matte gold or bronze, and then depending on how they look after that I may add linen to the outside.

And I’ll probably check HomeSense or Zellers for an affordable white coverlet or something to change up our bedding… but if none is found for the right price I think we’re OK for now.  In a perfect world I’d install a great light fixture, layered low just above the painting - but that won’t happen before we leave this place.

For now I’m just glad to get some art up!

Feels like the ole’ blog’s taken a couple knocks down on the priority list again.  We’ve finally emerged from the craziness that is tax season and seeding (my husband is an accountant and a farmer).  I’m so glad to have Sean back by my side.  And I’ve been really pondering my direction as a blogger over the last little while - as readership has grown, how much do I share personally?  What kind of format/content/topics should I have?  Do I stay with Tumblr or try something else?  Just a few of the things I’m still not sure about yet.  But for now, I’ll share a bit of a life update:

For starters, we’re selling our condo.  Very soon, hopefully.  We hope to put it on the market by early July.  But we’re not building our house yet.  Wait, what?  Yes, the plan is to order our house after harvest this year (praying for a good crop!).  And in September we’ll be moving into a house owned by our church, and we’ll live there while our house is built.  It’s a house that the church uses to host Sunday school classes, or house missionaries, interns, etc.  Or staff members like me!  We’re super grateful for the opportunity to do this, and especially so that we can sell our condo now (which we really feel is the right timing.)

That means we’re working away at getting our place ready to sell - purging, organizing, cleaning, touching up, and finishing those details that still aren’t done nearly 3 years later.   The good news is I have some new corners of my home to finally show you.  Bad news is, posting may be more sparse.

Back to the church house thing… (which is affectionately known as “The Pink House”, because it is a terrible salmon colour on the exterior)  …One of the many reasons we’re so glad we’re living there is because the church is right across the street, and I’ll be going back to work starting in July.  I’ll be working from home (but if “home” is right across the street from work, that’ll be sweet!)  I’m partially super excited to work again - my job description will shift and I’ll be mostly working on curriculum development (writing, editing, recreating), and artistic things.  It’s work I’ll really enjoy, and it will be an excellent creative outlet, and it’s work that my boss and I have longed to work on for years, but have never been able to with the week-to-week demands of ministry.  I’m 100% sure it’s what I should be doing.  But I’m partially nervous, too.  It’s one more thing to throw into our week, and I’ll need to work very hard to keep our home reasonably organized.  But when I went back to work after I had Little M we worked it out (though I should note my husband is especially gracious and laid back) and it was a really good thing for my family and for me.  So I’m hoping for more of the same.  And this time I’ll be working even less hours (a little bit more than 1/3 time.)  I’m beyond blessed that my mother-in-law will be watching the kids twice a week while I work (so my kids get to go to the farm and have grandma time.)  They’ll be loving it.

And those kiddos?  Growing like weeds.  Baby L’s almost a year, which blows my mind.  And Little M is becoming a young man before my eyes.  Ha ha!  They’re hilarious, and adorable, and amazing, and frustrating, and exhausting, and delightful, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Baby L’s a speedy little crawler, stands on her own, and is SO close to walking.  She has a fistful of words: Dada, Bi-Bubba (Big Brother), Babu (Baby), Puh-puh (Puppy), Uh-oh, and of course “Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma” when she’s whining or crying. ;)  She loves music and instruments, and grooves to anything… including the music in her head sometimes.  She’s nearly fearless.  And is in love with puppies, dolls, and stuffed animals (and may have a crush on Buzz Lightyear).  She’s starting to play by herself for longer stretches now - “reading” books, driving cars, or playing with a musical toy like the Leapfrog piano or guitars.  She’s more and more outgoing and curious with people, and LOVES to make people laugh.  She has a twinkle in her eye, and a coy little smile when she’s being funny..  She adores her Big Brother (he has always been the one who can get her to laugh the easiest).  And she’s shown a fierce independence and fiery spirit in the last few months.  Uh oh.  I have no idea where she got that. ;)

Little M is in the thick of “terrible two’s”, but I’d call it the “turbulent two’s” - in an insanely short amount of time he’ll have us laughing, then gritting our teeth, then smiling in adoration.  He is so active - loving all sports and games (even inventing his own).  His temper is quick and hot (hmmm… think I know where he got that, unfortunately), but he has a wonderfully tender side as well - gently hugging his sister and telling her she’s beautiful, or carefully cradling a doll being a “daddy”.  He’s very good at encouraging - cheering for Lucy when she does something new, or telling us “Good job!” or saying my dress is pretty.  He can at times be very stoic and serious.  Or try to act very grown up, telling people he goes to school, and rides dirt bikes, or laughing at whatever the adults are laughing at.  Other times he is delightfully silly - making faces and dancing around or making up crazy words or speaking in funny voices.  He’s sharp.  He is keen on learning and proudly names letters he sees and sings the alphabet, retells the stories in books he gladly gathers at the library, and we’ve begun learning some Bible memory verses because his memory is pretty darn good.  (I know that because he’s got lines from his favourite shows memorized…)  And his Daddy is his hero.  If Daddy does it, he should too.  He’s told me Daddy’s his “best friend”, his “favourite soccer player”, and that when he’s gone he “misses him SO much.” 

So.  That’s mostly where I’m at.  And as I finish writing this I realize again just how incredibly blessed I am.  Thanks for reading and following this blog.  Hopefully there will be plenty of good things for you this summer.

Last fall I wrote about my steal of a sofa I scored on UsedRegina.  It was vintage, electric blue velvet with an orangey wood frame. 

Seller’s photo on UsedRegina

But I envisioned it with a creamy white frame, a linen-y fabric, and modernized with one long seat cushion and no tufting.

I ended up working on it in my parent’s basement during the fall (space + free babysitting!)  It was a doozy.  It took time, sweat, and frustration.  And it’s done(ish).

I could try to give you the tutorial run-down and how-to… but honestly I was a little in over my head, so I forgot to take a lot of pictures of the process.  And how many of you are actually crazy enough to DIY a sofa?  (But in case you are, hopefully you can learn a bit from this post.)  Instead, I’m going to offer you a somewhat random assortment of reflections and tips from the process, and show you plenty of pretty pictures of the finished piece, OK? :)

So, in no particular order, here’s what I did/learned with some pictures interspersed:

DIY REUPHOLSTERY:

• Basically with every upholstery project I’ve learned: you take it apart and pay close attention to how they put it together.  Then you try to put it together in the same way.  And when you can’t, you improvise, experiment, google tutorials online etc. and take a break when you’re ready to toss the whole thing in a dumpster.
• One of the reasons I felt I could try and upholster this piece was because I understood how to do it - with the exposed frame I could staple the fabric to the frame then sew double welt cord to glue over it.  It’s a method I’m comfortable with (similar to my Louis chair and my barrel-back chairs).

CUSHIONS AND FOAM

• I originally planned on buying a new cushion for the seat (since I wanted one long cushion instead of three separate ones), however when I went to the only store (that I know of) in the city that sells upholstery foam they informed me that they didn’t have foam long enough (I needed 7 feet, they had 6), so they’d have to glue together two pieces.  Hm.  For that much money I’ll glue my own cushions together, thanks.  I briefly considered having two cushions (which is also a really popular look right now) but that crack in the middle just creates awkward seating situations, and I figured this would just end up being one huge love seat that only seats two people.  So I used the existing cushions and glued them together with spray adhesive myself.  Then I found a small (and cheap) duvet on clearance at Walmart and wrapped it around the cushions before upholstering them into the seat.  The result?  I have mixed feelings.  It works.  But you can still see the indents between cushions a bit.  However, the original foam is also super amazing and nice to lay on.  And this was way cheaper.  So… take that for what it’s worth.
• I actually originally tried to sew a cushion cover for all three cushions wrapped in the duvet.  It was… bad.  It was all saggy and wrinkly and looked like a futon from some guy’s college apartment.  So I ended up scrapping that and upholstering the seat into the couch (secured with staples).  It means now I can’t take it off an wash it.  (However, though I could throw the old one in the wash, it’s indoor-outdoor fabric that’s not meant to be thrown in the washing machine anyways, so it didn’t hold up well.)  So no more jam fingers near this couch.  I just have to stay on top of spot cleaning a bit more.  And most days I throw a quilt over the seat while the kids and I are playing in the living room which catches the mess, can be thrown in the wash, and makes for easy snuggling or tent-building. :)  One piece of advice I’ve heard is to upholster the piece yourself, but take the seat cushion(s) to a professional.  That’s something I’m definitely going to consider (and save my pennies for) on future projects.

In the new year I reviewed my 30 before 30 list and axed a few goals off the list since I just didn’t think they were really important to me anymore. So, in the back of my mind I’ve been mulling what my replacement goals may be. Well… here’s one: goal #6 - Become proficient with power tools.

To be honest I get a little scared around power tools. It’s like they all have an invisible label on them that says “Justine, don’t touch this.” But, in fact, they do not have that label. Part of it is that I’m not familiar with them (so, fear of the unknown) and the other part is that I have a sort of “full steam ahead” attitude with projects that can sometimes result in less-than-careful actions and less-than-perfect results - not an attitude you want when you’re wielding something that could amputate a finger. But alas, it’s time to put that fear aside (cautiously).

By “proficient with power tools” I don’t mean I will become a female Norm Abrams (Yeeugh… that would not be pretty), I just mean I won’t have to wait on Sean to do a job for me - I can up and do it myownself.

One project I tackled the other day (don’t laugh at me, Oh Professional Tool People) was installing hooks in our bathroom. I’d asked Sean to do this, but it’s tax season, so time to do stuff like this isn’t readily available, (and I don’t blame him for wanting to spend his small amount of time at home with me and our children). So the other day I thought, “I’m gonna try this. I think I know how.”

Rewind to how I got my pretty hooks: I bought the cheapest brass hooks I could find at the hardware store:

And spray painted them in the accent colour for the bathroom:

Tip: when spray painting hooks, screw them into some hard ground or a piece of foam so that you can spray all around them (including the tops of the screws)

But that part was not new to me. I’m quite spray-paint-proficient. THEN it was time to bust out the plugs, screws, and power drill. (EEP!)

I began by putting a line of painters tape on the wall and using my cute level to make sure it was straight.

Then I measured out where to put the hooks so that they were equidistant.

(I just mentally gave myself 10 points for using the word “equidistant” in a sentence.)

I held each hook up and marked with a pencil where the screw holes were.

(And I gained another 10 points because this was extremely hard to do and take a picture of at the same time.)

So each spot looked like this:

Then I chose the appropriate size of drill bit and drilled a hole on each pencil mark:

And hammered a small plastic plug into each hole:

After I’d drilled six holes with six plugs, I stood back for a moment and freaked out. “This better work, or this will be quite the mess to fix!” And then I proceeded to drill each hook into the wall, putting the screws into the plugs.

And I did it! I had a little celebration dance as I had not completely screwed it up (ha. Pun INTENDED.), aaand my daughter kept napping the whole time. Yesss… 10 victory points.

And now we could all enjoy the luxury of having our towels on hooks right beside the shower!

Up next, a similar project… that curtain rod in our bedroom! Onward, Fearless Power Tool Wielder!!

Tonight Sean and I were briefly discussing our plans for the future the gazillionth time and he said something pretty cool: “I’m liking how our place is looking.  Within these walls, I really like our home.”  I was pretty glad to hear that.  That’s how I feel too.  Sure we have lots to do - little finishing projects, closets to organize, paint touch-ups, etc.  And my love for design will always see one more way to make things prettier.  (I have a laundry list of DIY projects I’d love to accomplish…)  But I feel like we’re starting to make the most of our place in a decor sense.  And Sean’s trusted me with a few changes lately, so I’m glad to see he’s bought in.  It’s nice to feel like things are coming together.  

Sort of on that note… I really love a good home tour on a blog.  It’s nice to see real people’s homes that are really great.  Sure, some of these people have way more money or space than I do.  And most of them have Target, West Elm, and and a slough of other American stores I’m uber jealous of.  But it’s nice to see an average Joe can have high style!  So I’m sharing a few of those great homes with you this week.  Enjoy!