Fix It Week

It’s been fix-it week around here.

A few years ago, we put a second story addition on our house. While we love the addition, we don’t love the extra shade that it’s giving our already shaded backyard.  Moss is a common thing here in the northwest. And in our shaded backyard, it thrives!

This is what our grass looks like in some places…

mossy grass

Yes, it’s mostly moss.

So we had the aerating guy came look at the grass.  And then the moss killer guy came to look at the grass.

Then that led us to call a sprinkler complany to move a few sprinkler heads to properly water our newly planted grass. And of course it turned out that a number our our sprinkler heads were leaking and needed to be replaced.

new sprinklers

Today they finished replacing the sprinklers.  Here they are in the {muddy} ground! And they’re properly marked for the lawn guys that are coming to start their work tomorrow.

We also had mulch delivered and spread in the garden this week…

fresh mulch

And while that work was being done, we were reminded of a huge crack in one of our fence posts.  How was I reminded?! I head a giant ‘THUD’ as the post hit the ground.

broken fence post

How in the world does something like that split in half!?  Seriously! We wonder if maybe a deer ran into it? Who knows. Regardless, it too needs to be fixed. So the fence guy comes tomorrow as well.

I’m ready to have my yard back to us again! Tomorrow marks the ten day mark of workers here at our house.

The highlight is that now our yard is all set for summer!  And the highlight for the kids….

extra flags

…the sprinkler guy left a ton of extra flags.  It turns out they make really cool spears when you throw them into the grass!
They are in hog heaven.

Here’s hoping for no more repairs.

jen

A New Bookshelf {and a project}

I’m working on updating Emmie’s room.  When she turned three, she got a big girl bedroom.  But four years later, I’m feeling the need for an update.  After noticing marker on her comforter {what kind of mom let’s a child have markers in her bedroom?! Ahem, me!} and lack of storage space, it’s time for some changes.

Lately I’ve been looking for a taller bookshelf and have come up empty handed.  Then the other day, I found this white bookshelf.

Screen shot 2013-03-15 at 10.00.15 PM

via

I like the clean lines. And I like that it’s white. But I don’t like that it looks like it’s out of a box.

So I have some plans….

bookshelf

Here are a few inspiration photos.

Look at what a little crown molding can do to an otherwise plain piece of furniture!

Summer 2012_thumb[2]
And see how much character a planked background adds!
via

via

Now to get the bookshelf assembled!  And after a few trips to Lowes for supplies, I should be in business!

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for progress updates!

jen

My Front Porch

My Christmas house tour continues!

Today, let’s take a look at our front porch…

 As I looked at last years pictures of my front porch, I realized that this year doesn’t look all that different!  But there are a few slight differences, and that alone warrants new pictures!

I picked up the red toolbox a few years ago. Christmas is one of my favorite times of year to put it to use!

I cut some fresh greens off the bottom of our Christmas tree and some from our yard.  Then laid them in the toolbox and arranged a few pine cones and faux berries on top.

Gasp! Is that yet another lantern!?

The greenery was cut off the bottom of my Costco garland {that hangs around my front door}.  I wrapped it around  the lantern and twisted some wire around the ends to form the circle around the lantern.

I love pulling up to our house.  With the Christmas lights on the house, and our front porch decorated, it feels so festive!

Have a great weekend!

{to see more of my Christmas 2012 house tour, click here:  entry, mantel, vignettes}

jen

linking up to:

a thoughtful place, home stories a to z

Christmas Around the House

Last week, I showed you my entry and the mantel, all decorated for Christmas.  Today I’d like to show you a few vignette’s around my house…

…the family room…

I bought that santa in Amish Country before we left the east coast. I love pulling it out every Christmas.

And oh dear…is that a lantern? {I mentioned last week that I may have a bit of a lantern obsession.}  I love the red color…It adds some color sitting in front of my lit branch arrangement.

…kitchen…

What’s that? Another lantern?? It’s filled with small pine cones and faux red berries.  I also have my ‘joy to the world’ chalkboard and advent tree displayed in our kitchen.

…bedroom….

We have the red bedding year round, but it’s even more season appropriate this time of year!

The Ikea wreaths are hanging from red Costco ribbon.

…dining room…

I love those little trees {also purchased at Ikea}.  Pinecones and faux holly brighten up the base of the trees.

And old books tied with striped ribbon {ribbon is from Michales}.

…powder room…

And I can’t help but leave you with one last lantern picture…

Thank you for taking a quick tour around my house!

jen

linking up to:

southern hospitality,  savvy southern style,  a thoughtful place, at home in the northwest

Christmas Entry 2012

I always enjoy decorating the shelf in our entry. It’s much deeper than our mantel which gives me a lot more options when decorating!

Lately, I’ve left my old weathered window frame up there to hang wreaths from.  I change out the bow, depending on the season. Or the wreath if I have a season appropriate one.

Here is the view as you enter my house…

I didn’t realize that Elfy snuck into the picture below.  That sneaky little guy!

After decorating for Christmas this year, I realized I have an issue with lanterns…apparently I love them!  I counted 8 lanterns as I decorated. EIGHT! Doesn’t that seem a bit like overkill?! Maybe I need a lantern intervention. Even though it seemed like a lot, I did put all of them to use throughout my house and front porch….

The lanterns in my entry are filled with pine cones. The red bow at the top adds some needed color.

The cubbies are simple.  Very similar to my mantel….fresh greens from my yard with fake berries. And a candle for a little evening glow.

And on the bench sit a small collection of Christmas pillows. One of my favorites is the belted red santa pillow

I love how my entry ‘mantel’ turned out!  Very fresh and fun. Here’s one last look…

jen

linking up to:

uncommon designs,  ten june, the lettered cottage, on sutton place, embracing change, its overflowing, home stories a to z, savvy southern style, a thoughtful place

Christmas Mantel 2012

We’re all decorated for Christmas in the Gilday household.  So today I’ll share my mantel with you. Over the next week or so, I’ll share the rest of our house.

It’s a fairly simple mantel this Christmas.

Remember the trees that I got on clearance last Christmas?  They made appearance on my mantel this year.  I love the height that they add.

And some fresh greens from my yard with pinecones and fake red berries are all laid at the base of the burlap wrapped trees….

Here are our hand knit stockings hanging from Pottery Barn stocking holders….

The stockings are stuffed with newspaper to give them some shape {which really threw my kids for a loop. They were sure that Santa paid us an early visit this year! Sorry to disappoint!} I also added some fresh greens sticking out of the top of the stockings…

I use a lot of fresh greens in my decorating. Click here for a more ideas about using fresh greens in your holiday decorating.

I’m happy with how my mantel turned out! I have more exciting holiday decor to show you later this week! So please come back!

jen

linking up to:

the lettered cottage, ten june, uncommon designs, embracing change, its overflowing, home stories a to z, savvy southern style

My HGTV.com Personalized Doormat Project

It’s up and running!  Click here to view the HGTV.com feature of my $7 personalized doormat.

Thanks for all of your support and excitement about this project!

jen

What a weekend!

On paper, this weekend probably looked dreamy.  Cozy days at home. Hanging Christmas lights. Homemade comfort food for dinner.

But the reality was a weekend of strep throat, whiney kids and a meatloaf dinner that didn’t turn out.

Friday night Jack came down with strep throat. And I think Emmie kicked into high whine mode from the attention Jack was getting. Then the new recipe I tried tonight was a bust so we had waffles instead.

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the Christmas lights….

Despite being sick, he got all bundled up and helped Dan out with the lights.

And Emmie lost her front tooth during the festivities {which was fun until the tooth fairy forgot to visit last night! Oops!!}

 Yes, we are blending holidays {you can see my corn stalks AND Christmas lights both on our porch}.  But the lights will stay off until after Thanksgiving.

Thankfully tomorrow is a new day. And it should be a day with healthy {and hopefully not whiney} kids.

jen

Favorite Things…Windex Wipes

If you have little kids, it’s quite likely that your bathroom mirror resembles mine.  The kids rush a brush job and seconds later, there is toothpaste splattered all over the mirror {see below!}.

We often brush our teeth in our powder room downstairs and there isn’t a lot of storage.  Keeping windex and a roll of paper towels isn’t an option.  I’ve used baby wipes, clorox wipes and a wet paper towels…..and they all leave the mirror a streaky mess. {Yes, I’m just too lazy to actually walk and get the windex from the other room.}

Fortunately, Windex is a few steps ahead of me.

These small packs of wipes easily tuck away in our small cabinet in the bathroom.

So after one quick wipe….

…the mirror is clean again!!

Are you going to add Windex wipes to your shopping list?!

jen

New Porch Swing

The kids catch the bus in front of our house. And let’s face it, it rains plenty here in the northwest. So a little swing under my covered front porch seemed ideal for us. Getting it hung up seemed overwhelming to me though.  Would it stick out too much onto the walk way?  Would it hit the house when someone was swinging?  And what if I can’t find studs in the ceiling in just the right place?

Finally this summer I decided to go for it. I bought a porch swing.

After much planning {and stalling}, I got to work.

The studs were indeed in the wrong place.  I located their exact location {with the help of my drill}.

I primed the 2 x 4 to match the ceiling color and used long bolts to secure it in place.

And once the 2 x 4 was secure, I hung up the porch swing!

Isn’t it perfect?

I love the colors of the flowers against the white swing.

I picked up the outdoor pillows at World Market earlier this summer.

They sure help brighten up our front porch!

I know where I’ll be sitting next week as my kids wait for the bus on the first day of school!!

jen

linking up to:

funky junk interiors, my uncommon slice of suburbia, home stories a to z, between naps on the porch, the southern institute, nifty thrifty things, todays creative blog, i should be mopping the floor, sew much ado, the shabby creek cottage, house of hepworths, miss mustard seed, aka design, shabby nest, at the picket fence, chic on a shoestring decorating, serenity now, six sisters stuff, serenity now

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