Welcome To Our Little Big House On The Prairie


Thursday, November 17, 2011

And A Little More Progress...

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need a good cry before I can jump back into things and get something accomplished.  I had one of those mornings yesterday and then I attacked the upstairs like I was on a mission.  I've been feeling increasingly frustrated and overwhelmed lately with my lack of progress here and wrestling season just adds more things to do on top of a huge list of things that need to be done.  If I had my way, I'd probably hole up in the house and not leave for the years I know that it will take to complete things. LOL!

But seriously...  All the beautiful homes/rooms that I see on the net and throughout the blogosphere just make me even more at odds with things and I'm not the most patient person to begin with (and that's an understatement).  So, I've decided to cut myself off from pouring over all the prettiness out there and focus strictly on the house and what I can do, not necessarily what I want to do.  Please tell me there are those of you out there that are also a deep shade of green with envy over some of the homes out there! (Thou shalt not covet, Laura!)  Besides, how can I get anything accomplished when I'm spending so much time online?!  Right?  Right!  :)

So...  Eva's room (Yes, Gina.  I have finally done something).  This sucker has been a nightmare from the get-go.  What started out as a simple paint job with new room accessories, ended up being a complete overhaul because the old paint started peeling off the walls in sheets. when we started the prep work to paint.

Before:
(It used to be the boys' room.)



In the midst of peeling all the paint off the walls...


Now granted, it still needs to be painted.  And I still need to figure out if I'm going to paint the floors, redo them, or just put carpet back in, but I just couldn't handle Eva not having a bedroom for another night.  The poor baby has been either sleeping in our room or bunking down with her brothers.  A girl needs her space!

The painting will be started on Sunday and I'll just move everything to the center of the room and cover it.  She, however, is super happy that she has a room of her own again and doesn't seem to mind one bit that the floors are a mess and the walls need paint.  Plus, I feel like I have accomplished something. BONUS!

All the items in her room, with the exception of her bed and bedding was picked up at garage sales, the $1.00 bin at Target, or was 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

Today:

No kidding, I got that little TV for $8.00 at a garage sale!
This corner actually has a hope chest with a padded seat that will go in it,
but I need Scott's help to get it up the stairs.
The little "crap catcher" is getting tossed.

I had her name embroidered on the shams, which she thought was so cool.  LOL!


I thought I might have a little bit of a problem with Landon because he and Eva shared a room until this summer and the boys' room has always been considered Greyson, Ian, and Noah's room (they are collectively referred to as "The Boys" by everyone).  But he took one look at the bedding and said, "I not slweppin' on gwurl polk-dot sheets!"  I got a good laugh out of that (while simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief that he now realizes that pink and polk-a-dots are for girls.  I was kind of getting worried for a while there when he went through a stage of wearing Eva's clothes to "dress up".  LOL!)

And I didn't stop with her room.  After I was done, I went into "The Boy Cave".  Their room, by far, is the closest to being completed.  The only thing left to do in there is to order their two bunk bed/futon combos and add a few more things to the walls.  Oh!  And I have to finish Ian's chest of drawers, but that's just a matter of taking the time to do it.  Its ready for primer and paint.  But until yesterday, they still had nothing hung on their walls and were using whatever bedding I could put my hands on (not to mention clothes baskets that were filled with their "junk".)

Before:
(It used to be Eva's Room)



"The Boy Cave" Today:

To give you an idea just how big their room is, that's a 46 in. flatscreen and it looks tiny!
The sign I made back in September will finally be hung tonight, since Scott wants it bolted to the walls.
He said my puny nails just weren't going to cut it.  LOL!


Poor Ian.  Still dealing with that dresser.  He's being so patient!
I probably should have organized their books for the picture, but oh well.  :P

This will eventually be two bunk bed/futon combos, but that will be after Christmas.
Santa is going to bring that to them
and then I can figure out what portion of the walls need something made for them.
So, this is where these rooms are at today.  I'm considering painting by hand athlete's inspirational quotes around the top of the black portion, so its not just nothingness between the black and gold.  We had an Iowa Hawkeye border, but these plaster walls...  Grrrrr!  The adhesive wouldn't stick and it all fell off within a month.  Don't you love it when that happens?  What a waste of $60.00!

This makes me feel a little bit better when I see I am making some progress.  Not a whole lot, but a little bit.  Now if they can only keep their rooms clean!

On the agenda today:  Cleaning up the downstairs that got utterly destroyed while I was in my frenzy on the upstairs.  Not to mention the huge mountain of laundry I found in the boys' closet.  I was wondering why it seemed like I wasn't doing much laundry.  UGH!  It never ends, does it?  LOL!

And on that note...

Don't forget that tomorrow is Friday's Finds and I'll be picking my favorite of the finds that you linked up last week!  Although we didn't have a lot of link ups (being new and all), the items that people shared are going to make it pretty difficult to pick just one!

Until tomorrow, y'all...


6 comments:

Shari @ turnstylevogue.com said...

What you DO have is a beautiful old farmhouse that most everyone out in the blog world would DIE for so hang your hat on that as you go along. Just focus on one thing at a time and things will get done. Nobody can do it all at once and frankly, doing it all once can cause you to forget the charm and character. It will happen!! And just so you know...anybody who likes design and loves their home is rarely ever "done." I can't tell you how many times I've started a project just because I wanted to, not because I needed to and I'll probably never stop. Neither will you - so get used to it! :) Oh, and I vote for painting her floor white (it will distress over time and blend in with the character of the home!)Pale gray walls? Whatever you do , it will be really cheery for a little beauty ;)

Tanya said...

Talk about envy! I want your home!!! :) I love all the original woodwork. The rooms are so cute. Total boy and total girl. Your kids are so lucky to have a Mom that can create such a nice living space and loving home for them.

Unknown said...

You did a wonderful job, Laura. No wonder Eva loved it! Remember you are NOT along. Most of us don't have the perfect home. ;) Baby steps. It'll happen.

love letters to e and g said...

u should paint her wood floors white...it would be so pretty. Ur house has so much history to it..
I hate my stucco box that looks like all the other stucco boxs from the outside...
keep up the good work...dany

Kammy's Korner said...

Laura, I'm SO WITH YOU on those first 2 paragraphs - totally been there and yes, there's a point where you just gotta quit looking at everyone else's and focus on what you can do! :) And you know what? Many of those big time bloggers have expressed the SAME EXACT thing and you think WHAT THE HECK?! They've got it ALL! And old farmhouses are the BEST - full of charm and potential! You're doing WONDERFUL!! How about painting the floor in your daughter's room? There are some AWESOME floor paint jobs if you look in the blog world - there we go again... HAHA!

Our Beaten Path said...

I am soooo with you! I look at other peoples homes and just wish I could have that. We bought a home that was built in the mid 80's and still had pretty much everthing original. In other words....UGLY! We can only do a few things here and there and I'm one that likes it all done NOW! There are days I feel like I'm getting no where but then other days where I think it's coming along. Your work looks great so far!