Favorite Home Friday {forever cottage}

Happy Friday friends!!

 

I'm stopping in for my Favorite Home Friday feature!

 

The last couple of weeks have been super busy and I have been lacking on

 

the posts but today I have one of my favorite blogger homes to share with

 

you. It's the home of blogger Jill Hinson from Forever Cottage.

 

Jill was a tremendous help and influence to me when it came time to

 

update my living and dining rooms!! I adore her style and her home is

 

gorgeous and cozy all at the same time!!

 

Here is a peak at my favorite spots in her home....

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see more of this lovely home and to see more of Jill's

 

interior design work go here....

 

Enjoy your weekend!!!

 

 

Our Home {Before and After ~ Part I}

Have you ever looked back on something and wished you had paid more

 

attention to detail or wish you knew then what you know now??

 

When it comes to our home and how we went about things I totally

 

wish Pinterest existed six years ago, for if it had I'm pretty sure I would

 

be totally satisfied with how we did things and the décor decisions I had

 

made... In any case a home is a work in progress and tonight I'd like to share

 

our work in progress with some before photos of how our home looked

 

before we purchased it, during and now... To me it still needs a ton of

 

work, but that is more on the décor and organization end more so than

 

anything. When I look back at exactly what we took on we really have

 

 come a long way. I just wish I knew then what I've learned now....

 

Not only about my design style, but about the ever growing needs of our

 

family....but then again, I guess my styles and ideas will always be

 

changing. Hopefully for the better!!

 

So here are some before and after photos (progress I like to call it). I'm truly

 

 never done making up my mind!

 

It truly took vision to put the pieces of our home back

 

together from where it started!!

 

Our hallway before

Our hallway now

Hallway/kitchen wall before

Hallway now

Kitchen/Living room before

Kitchen/Living Room now

Although I love our home as it is, I can't help but wonder, "what if"?

 

What if I had left the sliding doors and replaced them with French

 

doors going into the four season porch? What if I had opened up the kitchen

 

completely and combined the kitchen and dining room for a completely

 

open floor plan?? What if this?? What if that??

 

 I can drive myself mad trying to think this way...

 

So instead,  I'm just going to be thankful for what we accomplished and

 

let it be.... Rome wasn't built in a day, nor will my home ever be as

 

perfect as I would like... But it's perfect for our family at this very moment

 

and that is truly all I can ask for....

 

They only thing I really need to work on is filling up all the empty walls!

 

More on that and part II of our before and after coming soon!!

 

Check back tomorrow for my Favorite Home Friday feature!!

 

 

Easter Decor Craft {thankful tree}

Hi friends!!

 

What a gorgeous day! Finally a real spring day!! I almost lost it on

 

Monday when it was freezing and we had snow showers! Today defiantly

 

made up for that!!

 

Hope you all checked out this weeks Wednesday Wish List!!

 

If you missed it you can find it here and check out my summer essentials!

 

Today was a half day of school for my little lady so I decided to do a

 

special Easter craft with her. Easter is my favorite holiday.... I have

 

so many fond memories of going to church, Easter egg hunting and of

 

course brunch!! This year I wanted to celebrate Easter for more than just

 

one day... So I decided Gracie and I would make an Easter

 

"I am thankful for...." tree. I came across tons of these trees on Pinterest

 

in the fall for Thanksgiving, so I thought what a great way to start

 

teaching my Gracie about Jesus and what he sacrificed for us and all the

 

things we have to be thankful for because Jesus gave his life for us....

 

It's kind of a complicated situation to explain to a five year old, but she

 

knows about God our Father and Jesus his son.... We say our prayers and

 

I have tried my best to instill the faith that I was instilled with as a child.

 

This Easter "thankful tree" was an excellent way to get the conversation

 

started about Easter and Jesus and why we celebrate the holiday...

 

We went on a long walk, talked and picked up branches that we

 

could use for the "tree"..... She actually picked out a small "tree" that she

 

thought we could "pick" and take home, but we stuck to branches instead!

 

This craft was super simple and all the items I had on hand...

 

 

Supplies:

 

Easter egg template

 

Water color paint

 

White card stock

 

Black Sharpie pen

 

Small whole punch

 

Yellow bakers twine

 

Branches

 

Directions:

 

This craft was super simple and was perfect for my kindergartner. 

 

1. Trace Easter egg template on to the white card stock.

 

2. Paint the eggs with the water color paint.

 

3. Cut out and with your black (or colored) Sharpie write on the opposite side what you are thankful for.

 

4. Use  your small hole punch to make a whole for bakers twine.

 

5. Tie a hoop with the bakers twine.

 

6. Place branches in a vase or what ever you have handy that will work and hang away!

 

Here is how our Easter "Thankful Tree" turned out....

 

 

 

I am so proud of my little lady....

 

She really thought about all the things she is thankful for and none of

 

them were materialistic! She chose things like her family, teachers and yes..

 

God! And she even spelt it correctly all on her own!!

 

This was a great little craft that was simple and makes for the perfect

 

Easter décor!!

 

See you all again soon!! Have a great rest of the week!!

 

The Porch {Inspiration Board}

Hi friends!!

 

Hope you had a great week! Not to much going on around here.... I'm

 

slowly making my way into our master bedroom to paint. If you haven't

 

noticed I am a procrastinator in every way, especially when it comes to

 

making over a room. I think it's pretty much summed up to fear of not

 

loving what I'm about to conquer.... This happens to me all the time!!

 

The fear of not loving the end result and the thought of having to start all

 

over just takes over my mind. I can't begin to tell you how many times I

 

have changed my mind on the paint color of our bedroom; mind you we

 

just repainted last spring! It's a problem I must get over if I'm going to get

 

anywhere with all the updates that are needed in our home! So right after

 

I share this post with you I'm headed to the paint store!! Yikes!!!

 

Wish me luck!!

 

Today I am going to share the inspiration board I have put together for our

 

four season porch.... For the last six years this space has been used basically

 

as a storage room. This is the one space in our home that truly gives me

 

anxiety. You see we don't have a garage or shed at the moment so this

 

lovely space houses all our outdoor needs as well as any other items

 

we can't seem to find room for. If I were to snap a picture right now you

 

will find all my outdoor pillows, a couple of bikes, a small 4-wheeler, tons

 

of boxes, a few lacrosse sticks, tons of shoes and probably a partridge in

 

a pear tree!! Haha! just kidding! But seriously lord knows what else is

 

hiding in that adorable little space with some huge potential.

 

Here are a couple of photos that I took of the space right after I had all new

 

windows and the hardwood floor installed.

 

 

Not the best photos, but you get the idea.

 

This space is on the top of my to do list this summer.

 

I envision myself sitting in here with a good book and a nice hot cup

 

of coffee while I watch the kids run about in the yard....

 

Ok... enough of the dreaming.

 

Here is what I put together so far....

 

 

 

The only thing missing is a nice little cozy love seat....

 

What do you think??

 

Do you have a space in your home that's screaming for an update?

 

If so I'd love to hear about it!!

 

Happy Weekend!!

 

Kindly Refrain from Whining {what i made}

Happy Sunday friends!!

 

I'm here today with a cute sign I made that didn't cost me a dime!

 

I had a little sign in my kitchen that I had put in the corner a while back.

 

I loved the saying when we first got married but six years and two

 

little ones later I wanted to change it up a little bit.

 

Here is a picture of the sign before.

 

 

I love the saying and it still holds true, but I really wasn't feeling

 

the black and red lettering anymore. I decided to paint it and give it

 

a makeover with a new saying that I think is highly appropriate.

 

Here are the steps and finished product.

       I used Martha Stewart craft paint in Gray Wolf for the frame and a
        mix of Americana craft paint in Light Buttermilk & Snow White for
                                          the inside of the frame.

  Then printed out my favorite font is the appropriate size and penciled over
                        the back of the paper as the transfer method.

     Then I traced over the letters with pen and painted them with a black Sharpie paint pen. I used free hand for the word Mom to give it character.

 

 

What do you think? Cute right?

 

This saying goes for all who enter, but I thought I would sweeten it up

 

with a little love from mom in my own signature!!

 

Ok, back to painting.... Still haven't decided on the perfect paint color

 

for the master bedroom so I'm going to finish up the panty door and cross

 

it off my "to do" list!!

 

Enjoy your Sunday!!!

 

 

The "Mini" Home Tour {enter here}

I'm back!!

 

Two posts in one day!! I'm so excited to show you this before and after

 

that I just could not wait until tomorrow!! I finally finished our other

 

hallway wall today. I am so pleased with this transformation. It took some

 

time for me to figure out what exactly I wanted on this particular wall.... It

 

is the very first wall you see when you walk into our home and I wanted it

 

to be special... I want people to feel welcome and at home when they see it.

 

I didn't want just "any" thing on this wall. It took thousands, ok hundreds of

 

pins on Pinterest for inspiration and I finally decided on the most perfect

 

layout for this wall. Here are two before pictures to give you an idea

 

of exactly what type of wall I was dealing with here.

 

BEFORE:

 

 

That electrical outlet was a real issue for me. Every single time I

 

would look at this wall it was all I would see and it bothered me to no end!

 

The first thing I had to do was change the paint color. The color in the first

 

photo is Wheat Bread by Behr. It's also the color in our dining room and

 

living room... The color is great in our living room, but I just do not love it

 

in our dining room and I hated it on this wall...

 

So, with inspiration from Bre at one of my favorite blogs, Rooms for Rent,

 

I decided to go with Horizon by Benjamin Moore. I love this soft blue, gray

 

color!! I can not wait to paint the dining room in this color!!

 

So.... now that I had the perfect paint color for this wall it was game time!

 

Here is what I decided on and I hope you love it as much as I do!!

 

AFTER:

 

 

What do you think???

 

I love the white frames with the colored photos! I was going to do the

 

photos in black and white, but I really wanted them to stand out... and not

 

to mention the pictures are just breath taking.....

 

Now it's not the electrical outlet my eyes are drawn to, its the brilliant

 

photos and the X & O letters!! I could not be happier with the end result!!

 

Ok, on a whole other note how about my "pink" cabinets??!!

 

That is my first summer project!! Those babies will be painted and I have

 

decided to tackle it myself! I vow they will be white by the end of the

 

summer if not sooner!!!

 

We have so many other things to get done, but here is just a glimpse of what

 

I need to accomplish before I can even think about getting started on the

 

cabinets!! I want all the little things completed first and here are just a few.

 

 

 

And this is just what needs to get accomplished in this little area!!

 

I still have the master bedroom to tackle too!!

 

I thought I would share some more photos of this area of our home....

 

It's the very first room when you enter and it's the most high traffic area.

 

I'm glad it's coming together, but as you can see from the photo above,

 

I still have much more to do!!

 

 

That's about it!! Hope you enjoyed this mini tour of our entry area...

 

I'll be back soon with more updates and photos!!

 

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!!