A New Season

Not sure today what brought me to this page, and yet I am so very thankful for whatever it was.  I feel as if I am looking into the past at some beautiful moments in the early stages of our marriage and our first home.  Our house on Charles Street was such a huge blessing to our little family, and a great adventure for Dallas and I.  We are so thankful for the time we spent there and the memories that we made.  Looking at that last post, I was pregnant with our now son, Miller.  Miller came into our lives on his own schedule... :) and spent his first three nights of his life in our little house on Charles Street.  

I'm not sure what made us think that it was a good idea, but we moved out and sold our home within Miller's first month in the world.  We said goodbye to our home and opened up the lodge for the season.  

Fast forward to today.  I sit here writing this as Miller naps, and my world is forever changed.  Two years ago I couldn't tell you what Roseola was, or gentian violet, or child led weaning, or the difference between attachment parenting and cry-it-out, and I can't understand how I wasn't more productive back when I slept the entire night long.  This incredible little man has taught us so much in such a short time.  I am so honored to be his Mommy.  

 There is another big event that has been in the works in our lives for the better part of this year.... our own little fixer upper that we purchased in Florida.  

 This beauty started out as a foreclosed home that had seen better days.  I am so excited to share with you some of the before pictures of this home and where we are now.  From drywall, to paint, to planking, to concrete counter tops, this house is becoming a home for our little family of three!  Stay tuned for room by room reveals........ 

Here are some before pictures....

 

Can't wait to share it with you!

Blessings,
Kari


 

Real Life & New Beginnings

Wow.... I'm not sure that I know how to explain why it has been almost a year since my last post.  I can't really.  I CAN say that this year has been a wonderful one.  Since last April we have been through some trying times with heavy hearts, as well as so many beautiful and exciting times with hearts so full we can barely stand it.   

Shortly after my last post in 2013 my husband and I experienced the great joy in finding out that we were expecting our family of two to grow by one.  Several weeks later we went through the excruciatingly long process of a threatened, and ultimately full miscarriage that brought us both to our knees.  In going through this I can't tell you how many families we spoke with that had been through the same experience and how much it helped to have them there to talk to, to have our family there for us, and how much we leaned on the LORD to help us understand and heal.  Jeremiah 29:11 -- 

" 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

As we went through the healing process (both physically and mentally), we learned so much, and after a summer of working at the lodge and welcoming people from across the country, we were in for another surprise in September 2013.  :) 

On a weekend trip to a wedding we found out once again that we were expecting!  We had so many emotions, from total excitement to cautious worry about what was to come...  this brings us to present day! 

We are now almost 34 weeks pregnant with a healthy little one that is supposed to make his or her appearance on May 8th.  We truly feel so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to experience this together and also so incredibly nervous that we are becoming parents!  I can't explain the emotions and excitement that comes with hearing the heartbeat for the first time, or feeling the little kicks (or big kicks) from Baby M.  So... it's looking like our guest room/office is turning into a nursery after all... and I can't think of any project in our home that makes me happier.  

Blessings! 

K

 

Spring cleaning.... Building... And adding... :)

Wow.... Here I am again, slacking more than ever with my posting. Today has been a big day... Dallas and I decided that we get going to start the first portion of our kitchen redo this morning! I love how it turned out.... But it was a little bit of a tricky process with this old house being a little crooked. :) it was worth it I think!!! Here is the before.... 

I always thought that this wall was really plain... So we thought we'd add a little summin-summin. :) here is what it looks like this afternoon!

Yay! I absolutely love it and can't wait to put up a couple of goodies on the top to finish it up. 

Dallas is the man.  

:)

So after the project it was of to the dump to get rid of the drop cloth and a few other scraps... And what did I find but a crazy awesome old ladder!!!! Made my day... And it's now sitting in our living room looking fantastic.. There was a man at the dump looking at me like I was crazy dragging this thing out, and Dallas came to my rescue... "We're shopping..." Ha it was really funny... Ah well if that man could only see how we'll it went in our living room he would be singing a different tune!

Anywho, we can't wait to finish the rest of our little spring projects... Fun fun fun! As always thank you so much for reading, and many many blessing to all!!! 

Sew much fun! :)

Hello all!!! February is almost over... can you believe it!  It seems like this month has FLOWN by. I stopped by a local fabric shop the other day and found some fabulous upholstery fabric for a little project I wanted to do.  

Dallas' lovely Mama gave us a beautiful ottoman when we moved in to our house.  It is made of this awesome brown leather, and our little pups love it!  However, they also love the leather, and there was a small rip in it that they happened to find, and happened to start to pull out the badding underneath. :( 

SO... the plan: cover up the ottoman with new fabric in hopes to thwart their attempt at de-fluffing the ottoman.  

Here is what I found.

Loved it.  

I sewed in elastic around the bottom edge so that the top is removable (washable)....

Then I added a strip around the bottom, and tried to match up the lines.... (OCD)... :) 

I am really happy with it... here's a side story... 
I had extra fabric, and who doesn't like throw pillows! So I threw together one... and added some buttons on the front.  I had these old buttons that were made out of deer antlers (awesome right!?!?!). So I grabbed a couple and sewed them to the front... 

Funny part... all was good until I went to sleep and woke up to a small Kassie dog chewing off the buttons... (Dallas has been training her to find deer sheds in the woods... should have known).  

 

 Needless to say, the pillow now has no buttons, but I still love it... and I love the ottoman too, just freshens up the whole area... add a slip cover from Amazon, and Maizy's chair is LOOKIN' GOOD! 

 
 I do hope everyone enjoys the rest of February and thanks for reading!! 

Blessings! 

K
       

Bedroom Switcheroo :)

Well HELLO all! The sun is shinning... which is a pleasant surprise, and my dogs are celebrating the nice weather by doing hot-laps in the backyard, and digging a tunnel in the snowbank. :)   

Last post I said that I would post this week about our new bedroom look.  Well it`s still a work in progress, but I really like the way it`s coming together.  

I started by moving our bed to the other side of the room, and added a shelf that I picked up at a consignment shop for $3!! :) I added a few pieces on top, and a screw in the center to hang our fun little sign.  :)   I will say that the first time I hung it up I may or may not have used too small of screws into the studs, and the result may or may not have been Wood Wick incense oil on my freshly washed sheets, and some potty language..... maybe.   :) Second time's a charm... and long screws.... this time she`s indestructible!

 

Love. 

 

   
Next on the docket was to build a little bench for the foot of our bed, I`ve been inspired by everyone who has a really great chaise lounge or funky upholstered bench there.   BUT, we aren`t quite ready to spend that kind of coin for something like that just yet.... 

Priorities people! :) 

Sooo... what do you do when your in the mood for some simple DIY  carpentry..... go to ANA-WHITE`s blog of course!!! If you`ve never been, you are missing out... I love her, and her blog makes me feel substantially less inept.  :)  After pouring over some of her clever plans (be careful, you may not be able to leave the site), I found a simple bench plan that I thought would work perfect.   

I honestly only used junk wood scraps that we had leftover in our shed, and tweaked the plan a little for the fabric I had.  I made the aprons for the bench (basically just a box)...

 

I had a wonderful helper on the project, but unfortunately his form of helping involves ONLY me petting him... and he accomplishes this by throwing himself on every project of mine.....

   

Can I get a collective AW! What a good little helper. :) Anyways, it probably isn`t as nice as some, but for now, I really like it and a huge shout out to ana-white for being awesome! 

  

That`s all for now... and I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying the weather, and are just as excited as me to make your home a little more hand-made! :) 

Blessings! 

K

Sneak Peak

Just a little teaser of our kitchen project... :) can`t wait for the reveal!! 

 

No more pistachio green! GASP! :) This is just the start... I`ll keep you posted, and let`s just say the rest has to do with a little something called beadboard.  :)

Winter Mantel Decor

Hi everyone... well I would really love to tell you that there was some huge glitch in my system and I have been posting all month to no avail! 

But ALAS, I have not....  I have been snapping pictures of projects and saving them with every intent of writing a new blog at night, and then I fall asleep....  Thank you for baring with me and I promise I will do better this month!!! I've got so much to catch up on! :) 

First project of the new year was covering our TV wires under our new mantel.   I LOVE our mantel and for Christmas it was easy because we had garland... etc.  But with the Christmas decorations gone, I've been left with these heinous little wires that are not at all my favourite.  

GAH! (it`s embarrassing)

Anywho, Dallas' Grandma gave me three old window frames that she had out at her cabin, and I had them just sitting in the shed, well I grabbed one, cleaned it up (not too much), and hung it up with trapping wire.  Then I attached one of our decorative stars to the front with some burlap I had.  I stood back and took a look, and... well it wasn't quite enough, you could still see those yucky wires.  

 

Hmmm... well I went back out to the shed, and remembered that about a week before I had made a little barn door-esque piece that I was going to put up in our room.  It was made from some extra wood from my Great-Grandparents homestead that we gathered for table centerpieces at our wedding.  I grabbed it because it looked about the right size... and it was.  Almost like it was made for that space.  I was so happy! And I'm pleased with how it turned out!

To finish it off, my sister gave me an old trappers bag to use, and I got some birch posts, again from Dallas' Grandma and Grandpa, and threw in an old lantern, and viola! I'm happy with it, and it feels somehow wintery.  I don't know, but I do like it! 

Well next post will be about our new bedroom arrangement.... there are not a whole lot of options as our room is quite small, but I think the change was well worth it, and makes the space seem a lot bigger! 


Hope everyone has a GREAT Wednesday, and we'll talk to you sooner rather than later this time!! I PROMISE!! :) 

Thank you for reading and blessings! 

K

Acts 7... Steven = wow... if I could only be that brave!