Adios Ripe Wheat Walls, HELLO, Calm & Serene!

(Above: After images)

When I first bought my house, almost 10 years ago, I splurged and bought 5 gallons of Behr's Ripe Wheat.

Now, I know what you're thinking; FIVE GALLONS?!

Yes, it was the first time I EVER painted. EVER.

Little did I know a whole gallon would have plenty done the trick.

But for 8 years, I've literally been in a love/hate relationship with the Ripe Wheat walls. Sure, they were beautiful, primarily in Christmas when I had  a rustic Christmas theme going, however, they just were NOT me.

So a few months ago, I took myself to Lowe's and purchased a new color, it's beautiful!

I can best describe it as a silvery sage color but VERY neutral. It's just..

I LOVE IT.

So here are the befores (gag):

(Below: Clearly, MUCH older pictures of my home,

my hardwoods actually looked decent).

 (Below: Picture was I'd say 4 years old judging from Ethan's infant bouncer,

I've since painted the entertainment center white).

 And, now for the during/afters :)) These are mostly cell images (sorry, I'll get it together one day)



AND the big after: I think I am going for a coastal cottage theme.

I purchased the Beach Sign at a local craft store, my hallway has my book page wreat I made and the lower picture shows the transition between colors. The curtians are NOT mine, but it's what I want in there. Currently I just have white sailcloth drapes. I will keep hints of vintage reds and minimal oranges alogn with coastal colors. I'll be sure to post more once I have it complete.

Birthday Portraits; My babies aren't babies anymore :(

I try not to make my blog too personal, and shy away from posts about my children, however, I just don't have the energy or time to invest in a "family based" blog, and so I am going to just keep to my original blogging platform and include my children in here as well. Besides, what fun is a blog with out a little bit of personality to it?

It has probably been a good while since I've posted photos of my children. MiMi turned 8 in March and Ethan turned 4 in April.  Both have grown so much since I started this blog venture.

I typically like to do outdoor photos, but decided I would have a hand at some indoor ones and since I was lazy, and didn't want to invest too much time into doing my own images, I stuck with my itty bitty studio kit and made the images simple with nothing more than a white backdrop, a number from Hobby Lobby and a bundle of balloons for the little misses.

Children grow FAST, enjoy it! :)) God has certainly blessed me.

                                             

Tales in Motherhood: The messy sock monkey room

I always think, most bloggers tend to post these beautiful images of their homes when they are already clean. I for one must admit, half the time, my own home looks somewhere between an episode of hoarders and me needing Nanny 911 to contain my 4 year olds messy ways.

Nanny 911? Okay, that was perhaps far fetched. My son, for the most part is well behaved - he has always kept to himself, but his room...well, that's another story.

This is how I spent an hour of my day last week. Yep, little man still has the whole sock monkey bedroom theme going for him. At some point, I am sure his above average height will force me to sell the farmhouse toddler bed off, but for the moment, it's far too cute to part with.

*ahem*..The befores:

(Clearly, a tornado has struck the 65 rancher, the youngest child's room was victim to the chaos) ;)

 AND, (sigh) the afters:

 (Below: Cute little sock monkey knock off scentsy warmer, huh? Wal Mart, LOVE IT) :))