06/18/10

Dahlias just beginning to burst forth with beauty.

Yes, I am still painting. Thankfully, Steve has joined in the fun a bit today.

We have had issues with the "Kilzing" in our bathroom from the bright paint. Leave it to our bedroom to be the one that has the issue. ha! It was like that eight years ago when we went from the original "clay beige" in the house to our splashes of color everywhere. I just don't know what it is.... whether it is because I want to make sure it isn't too "girly" for Steve or if we are just not so good with paint in there. Who knows.... as of right now we think we have it right. At least, if it isn't, we're going to live with it!

I will admit that I am dreading painting our bedroom. That room can be a catch-all because of where it is located in the house. There is a lot of stuff that has to be moved in order for that to be done. While I am excited for the change I know this will be challenging. Glad Steve is now going to help me on this one because I just can't move that furniture. ha!

Today we took a break from the craziness around home and went to see Toy Story 3. We surprised Wesley and Mikayla because I just love doing that. hee hee They just thought we were running errands to Walmart and Lowe's.... because we have pretty much bonded with those places in the last two weeks. I was glad they were surprised and tickled to go.

The movie was SO cute and the ending was precious. I realize your toys can't do like Woody, Buzz and all of the others, but it sure makes you think about why you are sentimental with what you have loved for so long.

Yes, I realize that was sappy.

Off to analyze more painting. I'll try to get more before and after pics up soon. When we get all of this done you all need to come on over and take a real life tour of the place. ha!

06/17/10

Dahlias - new to our household this year. Love them. :) You will be seeing more pictures of these in the near future!

I am still painting. We found that the color we chose for our room/bathroom was a bit too bright for our liking so we have had to add white and try to tone it down a bit. We'll see what works after we keep playing with it today. Glad I didn't paint the entire bathroom or I would be using Kilz all over again today!

I got outside and mowed a bit of grass this morning. I needed to do something different than hold a paintbrush in my hands for a time.

As we all know, sometimes life seems to throw us some "curve balls"... like when you are re-doing your house and then you find out the hot water heater needs replacing.

Yeah, that would be us.

On Sunday the pastor spoke on Psalm 37 and it was what I needed for this week.... and life in general. I've been re-reading that Psalm this week and it has given me strength when I needed it!

Psalm 37 has some great verbs showing us how we are to be with the Lord. As you read further you see these verses that are good indications of what will happen if we follow the "verbs" at the beginning of the chapter.

Psalm 37:23-24
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

The Lord knows our problems. He knows what "curve balls" life can throw us.... so what does He want us to do with those "curve balls?"

V. 3 - Trust in the Lord, and do good;

V. 4 - Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

V. 5 - Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

V. 7 - Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him;


How many of you have not been able to sleep at night because of a problem? I've been there!!
When we give our problems over to the Lord we can REST!!!

I am choosing to trust in, delight in, commit my way to, and wait on the Lord so that I can rest in Him through the "curve balls" of life.

What about you?

06/16/10

I'm still painting.... just call me "Petunia the Painter."

Since my time is short I thought I would share some clematis blooms with you today. Enjoy!

06/15/10

Wesley's room makeover is today. :)

Wesley's room was not originally going to be changed that much this go around. Once we painted and began to get our thoughts together on it we hated for his to not have some sprucing up, too. We did not really change the paint color. He originally wanted "John Deere green" on his walls. Uh... NO. We chose the neutral "Moose Mousse" so that his colors in his tractors would not be competing against the wall color. lol

His room has always been a bit comical. Wesley loves thumb tacks and loves to use them. If you notice, most of the things on his walls are crooked and it is because he has put them up himself. Usually it was at night... when he was supposed to be asleep.

We changed his room quite a bit so my before and after shots will not be the same as Mikayla's were. I forgot to mention in yesterday's post about Mikayla's room that we have gotten all new blinds in the house during this re-do/renovation project. They needed it.... the metal blinds that attract loads of dust and grime, and bend if you breathe on them, were in bad shape. Not to mention the kids blinds were broken from cats and the kids playing with them when they were little.

As with yesterday, click on any of the photos you'd like to view larger.

Before
Check out all of his wall hangings. We love his tractor/John Deere hangings.... just not always where he chose to put them. It was our fault in a lot of ways because we kept telling him we'd put them up later. He finally took matters in his own hands. lol
This was as you walked into his room.

After
This is now how it looks when you walk into his room. :)

He has a wall space right when you walk in that we spruced up, too. I love it!

Before
This was his wall to the left of his bed in its original spot. Notice his wall hanging abilities above his chest of drawers. lol The barn in the right corner was given to him by Mom and Dad when he was three. Daddy had it made for him and we painted it to be as close to "John Deere green" and also for our farm name of "Greenview Farms." That is a treasure he just loves.

After
Most of the same view.... chest of drawers were moved to where the head of his bed used to be. We painted the frames on his tractor pictures and moved them above his book shelf that had also been moved.

That is my old desk that he uses. As you can see in the before picture it held a lot of collectible tractors. Now he can show off some different things.

Before
Closet area.... his John Deere collectible tractors all reside above the doors on the shelf.

After
Everything stayed the same for the most part with the tractors, but the wall hangings were appropriately hung on the wall. lol

Before
Bed in the "old" position.

After
Bed in the "new" position.
If you read yesterday's post on Mikayla's room I talked about her shelf that was over her closet. We took that down, sanded it and spray painted it black, added new brackets and "voila", Wes has another place for his collectible tractors.
The photograph above his bed is of Daddy's tractor - Ford 5000 series. I took that a couple of years ago. We had it blown up to a 16x20. Wesley picked it out. It looks beautiful with the shelf above it displaying his other tractors.

These last two pics are just closeups of the pictures of tractors Wesley loves.

The first pictures are ones I photographed a few years ago of one of our friend's Farmall tractors and of Daddy's Ford tractor front. Wesley picked these out, too. I loved how they turned out in the black frames with white matting.

These were the other pictures Wesley had before above his bed. These are the frames I spray painted black... and I love how the tractor pictures "pop" now.

At this time I don't think I am going to do any window treatments in there. I can always change my mind, but his walls have so much on them and he will be having more shelves for tractors in his future so I want it looking more crisp around his windows. He also has two wall hangings coming that he doesn't know about (so does Mikayla) and they are surprises. I will show those when they arrive. :)

Wesley is so excited over his new room. I asked him what his favorite part was and he said the picture and shelf above his bed. He layed in there yesterday just soaking it all in and enjoying the newness. Simple things make him happy. It makes me happy to know he loves it and that his room is neat and all together now.

06/14/10

So here they are... Mikayla's makeover pics. :) I'm going to try to do before and after pics as best as I can. I couldn't remember all of the angles I took of the "before" when I did the "after!" Click on the pictures so you can view the picture of the room bigger.

Mikayla Girl loves butterflies, bunnies, horses and flowers. We painted her room "Bo Peep" yellow eight years ago when this became her room after we took her out of the nursery with Wesley. The butterflies have been on her wall since then. We really haven't done much more decorating in her room since then.... except she has added various posters, stickers, etc.... to her doors and walls. lol We have changed her bedding a couple of times.

Are ya ready? :)

Before

After

Before...
that was my curio full of my collectible dolls in the corner by the windows. We took that out and it will now be in the dining room.

After
We put one of my antique tables from the dining room in the place of the curio. It allows her another cozy area and a table for pictures or what not.
Her new bedding is a quilt we found at Target. The bedding we had ordered online was not available any longer so we had to go to plan B..... which I think I like even better than the one we couldn't get!
You can also see my old baby doll crib at the end of her bed. This was also my Mom's as a child. It is neat to hand it down to her. Hopefully the Lord will allow her to have a daughter one day so she can do the same. :)

Before...
notice all of the stuff she had hanging, etc... She reminded me so much of myself when I was her age!

After
Nice and tidy now... those are three pictures of my photographs on the right. She picked them out and then I framed them for her. Her window treatments we found at Lowe's of all places.... purple sheers with sparkly circle thingies all over them. They are beautiful!
Before....
she had a shelf over her closet doors for her tea sets. We took that down to be used elsewhere because we bought her the other shelving for those. She can now open her closet doors all of the way!
Her calendars were thumb tacked to the wall. We shared with her that we will not be putting thumb tacks in the wall any longer. lol

After
Now she can display above her closet the beautiful butterflies Kevin had brought her back from Mexico a few years ago. Could you find them in any of the before pictures? lol They definitely didn't get to "shine."

Her doors look so much better. There was a lot of scrubbing with "Goo Be Gone" by yours truly.
Her wall hanging I made is beautiful against the pink. She is so excited. :)

Her shelves up close. It is nice to finally see her tea sets she collects being displayed where others can see and cats can't destroy. lol

She has now slept in her room for two nights and loves, loves it. I told her to enjoy it for a LONG time because it would be a LONG time before we did anything like this again. lol It is now a place we all go to just enjoy the peaceful brightness of our home. She knows what was put into it and it is teaching her to value what she has and to take care of it!

06/13/10

Psalm 9:1-2
I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

06/12/10

Poppies.... always makes me think of the Wizard of Oz where the witch looks through her glass ball at the four almost at Emerald City and causes the poppies to make them sleep. Can't you hear her now "Poppies.... Poppies" as she moves her hands around the ball?
More of the same around the house today. My body is realizing how much I have been using it in different ways this past week. I am feeling muscles I forgot I had.