it takes time for the christmas to come out and get organized.
lots of stuff to move around.
the last few years i have started to collect vintage blow molds.
it started with a small snowman and a santa…
last year, i added another santa…
today, i found this…
and, these…
it’s beginning to look a lot like, well, christmas.
home is…christmas collections {more to come}.
This year I have been taking “daily” photos of our backyard. You can see them in my instagram feed or #dailybackyardphoto2014.
I actually take a couple a week, but it is really fun to see how the yard changes with the seasons.
I get comments each time about how people love our yard.
It hash’t always been my happy place, but has evolved into my happy place in the 6+ years that we have lived here.
When we moved in it already had “good bones”. Awesome 80-100 foot tall douglas firs, a large deck, a flat grassy area held up by a rock wall that separated a lower “dirt” area that was great for the dogs.
The dog runs fit almost perfectly into the lower corner of the yard.
It stayed this way for 3 years. That was all we needed at the time. The kids were young and we didn’t need much to keep them amused…grass and a few toys and it was just fine.
About a year after we moved in we had some landscaping plans drawn up for the front and back yard. Eventually, I talked Ryan into an idea to build a platform between the two trees in the middle of our yard so that the kids could have a play/tree house.
Later that year we had the landscaping done. It was a bigger project in the front yard. In the back yard, we added a gravel path through the lower dirt, had some stone put in, and added gravel for our fire pit area.
Since 2011, the backyard has been my happy place. We’ve hosted birthday parties, backyard movies, impromptu late night fires with the neighbors, and spent hours and hours out there as a family.
It gets a perfect mixture of sunlight and shade during the summer.
After the leaves fall, it opens up to get more light during the dark winter months.
In late spring, as the leaves fill out the trees and the grass finally fills in, we can fully enjoy our happy place.
Here are more posts about the landscaping and playhouse:
{in our garden} the big dig…and move, and build, and fill, and plant
home is…evolution of a happy place.
Did you see this at Target?
Well, I did NOT and I have walked the Christmas aisles a couple of times already.
However, I did see it on Instagram, and went right to Target.com to see how I could get it.
It was not available for online ordering, but was available for in-store pick up.
PERFECT!
I set everything up to pick it up from my regular Target yesterday.
When I brought it home and opened it I was in love, but I knew it could be better.
So, I painted it.
Then I hung it on a piece of wood that has been outside since we moved into our house almost 6 years ago. It’s nice and weathered.
I thought I would like the “JOY” to be horizontal, but the letters were taller than the board.
So, I went vertical.
And, I love it!
This is definitely something that will stay in our house year round.
I started out styling it in our front entry as a Christmas vignette…then I decided against it.
I’m not ready to have Santa and Christmas trees out quite yet and the front entry already has A LOT going on.
So, I moved it to the family room, and styled it for fall.
PERFECT.
JOY full.
And, I can change some of the items out to style if for Christmas in a couple of weeks!
{FYI…I know a lot of the stores are already out of stock on this item. Best bet is to check online and see if you can do an in-store pick up…they will hold it for you for 2 days!}
Good luck!
home is…spreading joy.
If you follow me on instagram this morning you got a sneak peek of the rug I picked for our family room.
If you don’t follow me on instagram, here is the rug…
Last week I posted this photo on instagram…
and wrote a post with a link to my pinterest board with the rug choices.
I made the choice I did for a few reasons:
1. Price…this is a huge rug at a great price on overstock.com
2. Color…while some of the lighter backgrounds would have made the room brighter, we have two black labs and young children…light rugs would have shown more dirt and hair
3. Pattern…the floral rugs are BEAUTIFUL and I had a hard time steering away from them, but I subject my husband to lots of flowers and “pretty” things…this is a rug in the room (other than his office) that he spends the most time in, so I wanted it to lean a bit to the masculine side.
A grey day doesn’t help these photos much (I’ll have to get some better photos with good light), but I think the rug is perfect fit for grey days this coming fall and winter in the Pacific Northwest.
Can’t you just picture a fire in the fireplace, rain falling outside, and a football game on the TV?
Perfection.
home is…warm and cozy.
Thanks for your input on the rug…I promise to let you know which one I choose with a post here soon!
In the meantime I have been getting the house put back together…
Of course, it takes me longer than the “normal” person because I have to “restyle” everything as I put it away…in the kitchen.
Or, I decide to run to Target because our laundry room, which never had a rug, needs a cheery aqua rug!
Of course, trying to keep the kids entertained makes lots of new messes as we go along!
Ben needed a new rug by the back door so it wasn’t too slippery for his old legs (yeah, i need to clean the glass, too).
And, yeah, we needed a little back to school countdown decoration in the un-dining room.
So, you can see, it just takes me a bit longer to get things back to normal. We’re getting there…one mess at a time!
home is…always changing things up.
Last Friday we had new floors installed on our entire first floor. They turned out beautiful, but I am now on the hunt for a good area rug for our family room…
…something we can snuggle up on next to the fireplace…
…something that adds color and whimsy to a mainly beige room.
I tend to gravitate towards organic patterns like flowers and paisleys…
you can see my favorites on the Pinterest board I created.
Which one do you like the best? Let me know after you go check them out!
home is…something new under foot.
shortly after i returned from whatever craft weekend (which i promise to write about soon), i decided it was time to paint the red walls in our kitchen white.
i asked my instagram friends what whites they have used, but was too impatient to wait for all of the suggestions and decided to go with the pot of cream from behr (the sample on the far left).
reece was still in school, so lorelai and i got to work.
it was an instant transformation on the walls, so i thought, “why not paint EVERYTHING white?!”
soon, i was testing the paint on the cabinets and drawers…on the hallway walls…and in the playroom.
and, i LOVE it!
it has already made our kitchen seem bigger and brighter.
it’s been A LOT of work, though. i will not be posting any kind of “how to” about this project because i am winging it…i’ve watched videos, read numerous how to’s on my own, but until i actually got into it i had no idea what i was getting into.
the good news? the bases and drawers are all painted.
the cabinet doors have been tricky for me to get a smooth finish on, but i’m working on it…one door at a time.
i think we will be adding new floors to the first floor, too.
think oak laminate plank flooring.
this is one of those BIG projects that we didn’t have time or resources for that i wrote about in our home tour on life made lovely.
sometimes, you make the time and find the resources to get it done.
and, we are.
home is…hard work and patience.
Happy Friday!
Today I am taking readers for a tour of our home over at life made lovely!
I feel very honored to be a part of Heather’s inspiring home made lovely series.
So, go check check it out!
home is…sharing our home.
The saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” right?
Well, the showers started today after beautiful warm weather at the end of March and the first few days of April.
And, we already have some flowers.
Tulips.
Daffodils.
Mint.
Fiddleheads.
Hydrangea.
Daisies.
And, strawberries.
The back yard is beginning to come alive, too.
Raspberry and blueberry bushes are beginning to get their foliage.
The ground is sprinkled with wild cherry blossom petals.
My makeshift potting bench from our old picnic table.
Tilted pots inspired by Pinterest.
Pansies around the fire pit.
This is what the kids were doing when I was taking photos.
home is…new growth.
Just a few pics of our home decorated for the holiday of love.
And, the winner of the giveaway is Emily!
home is…love.
stephany taddeo 