We are here.....

well...we made it to bahrain and this has been our view for the past 6 weeks...not too bad! we are staying in a nice two bedroom suite so that makes hotel living a lot easier. (so does having our room cleaned every day:)) we have been busy getting settled, adjusting to a new country, starting the kids in school and looking for a place to live. we found a place and i will be sure to post more on that when we get ready to move at the beginning of october. most of our activities have been indoors so far because of the HEAT! here is a picture of the kids in front of one of the many malls here in bahrain.

as the weather cools down and we really start exploring the island i will definitely be sharing more!

for now i wanted to make good on a promise from my last post ...that i would show you a shoe/book shelf that kevin built (almost 2 years ago!). it all started because he was sick of having so many of his shoes on the floor of his closet....

he came up with the idea to break through the wall (!) and add a built-in shelf accessible from the inside of the closet. here is the hole.....

however...the wall wasnt thick enough to hold the shoes so he decided to make a box for them. then on the bedroom side of the wall there would be a "cool box shelf"...ummmm....no. when i came home and saw this i said told him it was not "cool":)

so he/i (i cant remember who) sugggested making this box into a book shelf....now we were getting somewhere!

after a few more weekends this is where he ended up...

then it was time for paint....

here is the final product with more trim work! it looks even better because i painted the room and hung the window treatments. i loooooove the way it turned out and made our whole bedroom more cozy.

let's not forget why this whole project started....for the shoes!?!? all of that work and this is what he ended up with inside of the closet ...a place for about 12 pair of shoes!! the rest still ended up on the floor. here is the only photo we have of the inside...he did patch the holes and paint eventually:)

so that is the story of our shoe/book shelf. looking at these photos makes me miss our "stuff'...i cannot wait to move in and get unpacked!

jodie

girls room re-do

hello strangers! remember when i talked about liking the color yellow way back in this post?  well...i finally did get a chance to use in in my daughters room. ava wanted pink walls and  i know you are supposed to let your childrens creativity shine through and all of that, buuut...i just gave her a gentle nudge in another direction...a yellow direction. luckily we are both happy with the outcome! i finished this little re-do last october...so i thought it was about time to share it.

here is what her room looked like when we started...



it was on its way to pretty...but with a few small changes...look at it now.

boy do i need to take better photos...but you get the idea! obviously the furniture placement didnt change...but the walls and some pieces of furniture were painted. we also added the pom poms (ava helped me make them) and the window treatments.

here is a photo of it last fall that my friend desi took when she came over to take my blog photo.  the old comforter was on the bed...

thats how you take a photo! i hadnt really "styled" it at the time...so it looks a little messy. nothing like its usual state! (ava takes after her daddy in the cleaning up department)

these next three are some other photos that desi took....you definitely need to go and check out her blog she is a very talented and creative photographer.

 

here is part of the other side of the room that isnt so photogenic...but ava loves to read in her bean bag chair.

here is a closeup of the back of the book case that we stenciled...

and another little spot...

sometimes ava does clean her room (when i ask) and this is where she takes after her mommy...she makes a list! this is what i found on her bed the other day after i told her to clean up...so cute!

ok..here is one more shot of the room...just because.

last but not least a photo of the girl who lives in the room...another desi photo. that is paint on her hands:)

ok....i hope you enjoyed! i will try to take some photos of ethans room soon...i re-did that last fall too!

jodie

big wall idea

i have been meaning to post about this for a while becuase i think it is a good alternative for a gallery wall when you have a big wall to fill. kevin made the first version of this shelf (not sure what to call it) about 8 years ago. we originally used it in our foyer in our old house...and it had a bunch of his black and white photos on it. when we moved to this house we waited until the basement was finished to break it out again. as usual, after we put it up, kevin thought it needed a little tweaking. it was only the inside frame at first, then he decided to add the outside frame. it looks so much better and sturdy!  now we call it "the flange".

you can see i used more of my gas station numbers here...i cant seem to get enough of them!

i am thinking of starting a new series called "take aways", for quick little tips and ideas like this that you can use in your home in some way. thank you janice for this great suggestion and name:) whaddya think? should i?

ps. feel free to comment:) i like to know people are reading!

jodie

its the little things

i finally got around to painting our bedroom a couple of weeks ago and i love it. we have been living with white walls for over 2 years...yikes! it is yet another shade of gray for our house, but this time with some serious blue undertones. this is a total departure for me because i usually lean towards more green/grays. so this past weekend i was able to pull it somewhat back togehther,  and everytime i look at this little corner it makes me so happy!

this is a seriously fuzzy picture...bad light in there in the morning. anyhoo...those window treatments (from ikea) were in the hall by the stairs, but once i painted i knew they had to come in the bedroom. you can also see a sneak peek of the bookcase/shoeshelf my husband built. more on that to come....it needs its own post!

there is still more to do in our bedroom. when it is finished (enough for photos) i will be sure to share. but for now this will have to do.

happy thursday!

jodie

photographer shout out

remember when i posted about giving my business a boost at a local event in november? well one of the highlights of doing the event was meeting desi of desiree angelle photography. she is a super talented photographer who specializes in newborn, infant & toddler photography. desi has a wonderfully creative eye and her photos are beautiful! after seeing them i asked her if she would take a photo of me for my blog...see the new picture to the right. she made me feel totally comfortable and was able to get some really good shots (and i never like photos of myself!). while desi was here she also took some other pictures around my house. i didnt even know she took the one above...and it is my favorite!! she got some great shots of ava's room...but i am going to save those for a later post:)

so...when you get a moment please be sure to check out desi's site. if you are local and need beautiful, professional shots of your children...she is your girl!

jodie

kids craft cabinet makeover

i loooooove getting little projects like this done. they are quick and easy and full of instant gratification (my favorite).  this cabinet is near our kitchen table and it is the perfect spot for all of the kids craft needs. we have been in the house for 2 years and i have been talking about organizing it for just as long! so with some extra time over the holidays...ava and i decided it was time to tackle it.

of course i have a before and after for you. are you ready?

wow...that is embarrassing! btw, i didnt even ask ava to pose like that:) after dumping some unneeded things, taking a trip to ikea, the dollar tree and office depot, it looks like this...

ahhh much better!! the inside of the doors stayed just the same...one side is a height chart for the kids...and the other has sentimental photos that arent coming down. i cant tell you how much this kind of thing excites me...i have been opening it for no reason in the past few days just to have a peek!

after living with it the other way for so long i learned a few things. kids need items in open containers...so they can put them back right where they found them. i think the my favorite improvement is having all of the paper/notebooks in stacking trays...that has been a huge help! here are some close ups...

i have this wire basket next to the cabinet for homework items. ethan and ava each have a box for their school things, and then there are a few books that can be grabbed when reading is required.

i am sure kevin would want me to point out his beautiful, handmade, 6" base molding (on the left wall) that he made and installed for our entire downstairs...right after he installed all of the hardwood! lets see if he is reading....because this kind of post does not usually catch his interest:)

lets look at one more before and after shall we?

that is some good clean fun right there! lets see how long it lasts...so far so good!

jodie

holidays at our house

we decorate for both hannukah and christmas at our house. last night was the first night of hannukah and it did not disappoint! the kids were so excited and i made my yearly latkes (although they turned out looking green? they tasted good:)) and my in-laws were here for dinner.  here is a photo of the little center piece i threw togehter...and notice the tablecloth is the one i made for my business event:)

my favorite part of the night was this card that ava made for ethan

let me translate "ethan you are the best brother i could ever have". this seriously brought tears to my eyes...i am a total sap! i had no idea she made it and gave it to him with a handmade snail she had made! anyhoo, a good time was had by all!

here she is finishing up the gift with a big hug:)

we rarely take photos of the four of us so i had to share a decent one!

here are more photos of some decorations around the house. first up...the front door....

some little details from inside...

here is our tree...the kids did most of the decorating this year...and i sort of love it!

so there you have it! i will post another clients home that i decorated in the next couple of days. thanks for stopping by!

jodie

 

before & after laundry room

who doesnt love a good before and after? i thought i would share a project that is finally finished in our house. it all started way back in june. we purchased some cabinets for our laundry room from a habitat for humanity re-store (i love scouring these places for some good finds). i think we got 6 cabinets for $60! even though they had about an inch of grease on them and were yucky wood....i knew they would clean up well:)  of course i forgot to take photos of them before....but you will see the after....in a minute.

we originally had wire shelving in the laundry room that came with the house. as i am sure many of you know...wire shelving is the pits!  everything falls over, a total mess. of course i dont have before photos of these either! what i do have is this before/during photo of the laundry room...

this is after sanding, priming and painting the cabinets (i was still working on the doors). if you look really close...under one of the left cabinets you can see a hole? that was our first set back. when kevin put them up, he had a nailer below to keep them all level...when he took the nailer off...a nice chunk of the wall came with it!

soooo....one week this summer when kevin was travelling for work...i decided i was going to really finish this laundry room. and i did...or so i thought. until i discovered about 3 weeks after finishing that kevin had (accidentally) screwed into a pipe when putting up the cabinets!  (ahh...live and learn) it had been slowly leaking behind one of the cabinets for about 2 months. so down came one of the cabinets... the pipe got fixed...new drywall went in....and the cabinet back up. and that brings us to october:)  but as most DIY projects go in our house....5 months is about right!

now that you are all caught up and on the edge of your seats! here is the after...

ahh...much better dont you think? here is another before and after of the other side of the room...

this little power house laundry room doubles as a mudroom:) here are more details....i added some lucite knobs to the cabinet doors. my sister-in-law gave me the idea of adding the fabric behind the washer and dryer to cover up all of the plugs and wires...thanks Liz!

i have a bunch of these old gas station pricing numbers. i decided to put the year we got married up...

i am noticing a definite pattern with me lately...i like painting on burlap!  i love the way this sink skirt turned out!

oh and this chandelier was from one of my clients who didnt want it for her daughters room....it was white so i gave it a little face lift with dark gray paint...and accented with gold.

last but not least here is the valance i made out of a ticking stripe. i cannot sew...but i can work miracles with stitch witchery!

i hope you enjoyed this little tour. i love my laundry room now:) it was worth all of the effort. unfortunately it hasnt helped me do the laundry and better or faster:(

i have been getting a lot done on my house list lately. stay tuned for photos of my kids bedrooms....

jodie