Master Bedroom : Progress

It doesn't seem like much has happened since we moved in... until I look back at the before photos.

We painted everything white when we moved in.  After looking at the room, I decided I wanted black doors (which has always been on my wish list for a home anyways).  Ben got me the dresser from EBTH for a steal and that's pretty much where we're at right now.

TO DO:
+ Replace fan. (done, just need pictures)
+ Build bed/side tables.  I have some ideas for this, but no official plans yet.
+ Build/upholster headboard
+ Hang pictures.  Planning a wall of pictures (kind of like Ashley's)
+ Get rug or FLOR tiles.  This is a tricky room since the bed is covering half of it and the other half is essentially a cut through for the bathroom and man cave.  Thinking FLOR tiles may be the way to go.
+ Mount TV.  Still deciding if I want it in it's current spot or if we want it above the dresser.  Once we decide, we'll put it up since we already have a mount.
+ Redo closet. Paint whole closet and put in to place some kind of organization system
+ Make art for above the beds.  I'm thinking of some kind of wall hanging or even hanging some african baskets.  I have a bunch of ideas so I'm putting that off until the bed gets done.
+ Figure out something to do with the giant blank wall.
+ Curtains? Or some other window covering?  Still undecided on this.

Kitchen : Progress

As a reminder, here are pictures of our kitchen before we moved in:

Not too much has changed in the room.  We got a new (to us) fridge when we moved in.  The old one was moldy and we just didn't want to make the effort to clean it.  We found this fridge at a scratch and dent store for an amazing price.  There are a couple noticeable scratches on the front and a dent in between the handles that you can only see when the fridge is open.  We spent a bunch of time cleaning all of the cabinets inside and out, lining the drawers with contact paper, and starting to organize.  We put our old dining room table in there and it's where we share most of our family meals.

Since I've taken the pictures, we've taken down the sconces above the sink, but otherwise not much has changed. I'm not sure what we have planned for this room yet.  We'd love to redo the backsplash and paint the cabinets, but we may just wait until it's ready to reconfigure the room with new cabinets. Another room we're putting on the back burner until we get a bunch of the other necessary tasks completed.

Slowing Down on Weekends

I'm a person that loves to be busy. I always have an activity planned for the day or a project on the list, but I've been trying to change that.  I'm working on slowing down life by making sure our days aren't full of activities, not scheduling our evenings out, and really just listening to the kids and current family mood when we're deciding what to do. This has made our time together a lot more relaxing and open to finding those sweet moments like picnics next to the garden or impromptu ice cream dates.

My favorite part of the long weekend was the amount of one-on-one time I got with my kids. Cora slept in Saturday, so Ida and I got to go on a walk and pick up some donuts to surprise Ben and Cora. We spent the rest of the day working in the garden with the girls and hanging out.

Sunday, Cora and I got to go on an ice cream date.  We had fun chatting and she loved meeting every other person that was getting ice cream. I'm always surprised by her outgoing-ness and how easily she makes friends and comes up with things to chat about.  I love how many people I've met because of her friendliness.

Cora went over for a sleepover at my parent's, so I got a lot of time hanging out with Ida.  She loves to crawl around, giggle, and climb onto my chest to cuddle. She's been doing this wrinkle nose smile lately and it makes me so happy. She hasn't been sleeping well lately, so I enjoyed the extra cuddles.

The weekend may have been full of things and I got a lot done in my garden/yard and around the house, but I loved taking it slow and seeing where the day went.  It was the perfect slow weekend.