It's a marathon

I've been cleaning my house today, which always gets my mind going 90 miles an hour. As I go from room to room I keep compiling lists of things I need to get and projects I need to accomplish. My ideas are endless. Then somewhere in the madhouse of my mind, a still quiet voice speaks... "it's a marathon, Leslie, not a sprint."
I needed to hear that. I get so caught up in what's next that I have forget to enjoy what I have now. We went 9 months living with my parents and not having a space of our own, I have a lot of pent of decorating to get out. But I also have to remember to just enjoy my new house.
I need to take a lesson from my kids. They are so grateful to be back in our own home. They have no problem relaxing. Yesterday, my 8 year old called me on it by saying, "You are too worried about hanging your pictures to help me," oh out of the mouths of babes. So I am going to try and be more present. I am going to enjoy the journey of this house and not just obsess about the final outcome. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, try to sit back and just enjoy it for a few minutes.

My Long Awaited Return

I have been gone for way too long. I miss writing...I miss painting...I miss being creative! But now I am back with a vengeance! Long story short: We took a leap of faith and moved from Mississippi to Oklahoma. We lived with my parents for nine months (yes, everyone survived). And we finally bought a new house a month ago! I wanted to blog and paint and create while we were "homeless", but it just didn't happen. Now though, I have HUGE plans! I have so many plans I can't even keep them all straight in my head.
This blog may change a bit. I still plan on sharing my furniture makeovers and other little projects, but I am also going to chronicle the transformation that is happening in our house. And I will probably throw in a few stories about the kiddos here and there because our family is missing them terribly. I hope you stick around. It is going to be an exciting ride!
Now, on to the reason most of you are here: pictures of the new house. We bought a ranch style house built in 1983. It has everything I wanted: four bedrooms, two living areas, and at least 2500 square feet. It also has a pool, which the kids love! And it was built by an architect, which is perfect! We have lots of light switches, lots of outlets, and LOTS of storage!!! We are about 15 minutes from my mom and dad. Perfect! We are absolutely loving having them in the same town. OK, enough chit chat...here's the house!

That's it! Pretty self explanatory! These pictures are from when the former owners lived here! I will try to get some with all of our stuff moved in. The only room not pictured is one of the kids bedrooms! Let me know what you think! I LOVE feedback!

UGH!!!

I have no internet! At this moment, I am bumming off my neighbors (don't worry I got permission) but I only can up on their signal if I sit in a certain spot and the weather is just right! I am learning to do without though! However, my blog is suffering! I just wanted to give you all a heads up as to why there havent been any new posts!

The house selling is going slowly, but it is going! People are looking and I expect that to pick up as the warmer weather slides in! Our hope is to have a contract by the end of May! But we will just have to wait and see what the Lord has planned. I really have not done any projects lately, so I don't have anything to share. I do have a couple of crafty things coming up that I might just need your help with.

My 7 year old is having "Fairy Tale Day" at school and he has to dress to up as character. This is not an easy task for a boy. Right now he leaning towards the Big Bad Wolf. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks for stopping by and for being patient with me!

Withdrawls

I am in serious trouble! I need to paint! I don't care what, I just want to paint something. I really think I might have a chronic condition. I like to have I have a project going on a all times. With our house in prime condition and on the market to sell, it is hard to pull out all the paint supplies make the mess that comes along with my creativity.
So, what's a girl to do? I need a creative outlet, it is good for my mental health. I am doing all I can to stay busy, but honestly, I just want to MAKE something! For now though, I am keeping occupied! The kids and I are headed to visit my parents on Saturday. Next week is Spring Break, so I will have a week away from the day to day tasks that drive me crazy! And when I get back, I do have a small project to start working on. It is going to be fun!
Sorry there are no fun pictures today, just the ranting of a project addict in withdrawls. Thanks for stopping by and listening!

For the Love of Home

I love Houses! I love that no two houses are exactly alike. Even if they have the same floor plan and identical builder finishes, once they become someone's home, they take on their own distinct personality.

I could look at houses everyday! I scour the Internet and decorating magazines looking for inspiration. I can sit and Barnes & Noble for hours admiring beautiful pictures of stranger's homes. I am THAT person who will hit every open house in town, just to look! I have a three ring binder that I have kept for years; it holds all the inspiration pages I have torn out of magazines over the course of my adult life. As if that's not enough, there is also a folder on my computer entitled "house ideas" for the images I find online. You might say I am a little obsessed, I just call it Love! Love of style, love of fabric, love of color and texture, love of HOME!


Lately, I find myself looking for inspiration even more. Perhaps it is knowing that a new home is my future, maybe it is because I know I am forever done decorating my current house, or maybe I just have TONS of extra time on my hands. Whatever the reason, I have been looking.


I has been 7 1/2 years since I bought a house. That's a long time. My entire life, the longest I ever lived in one house was 8 years. So this home ranks right up there. I have loved this house. I have decorated and redecorated it many times over. I have painted EVERY wall in this house (even closets), most of them twice, some even 3 or 4 times. I have grown my decorating wings here. Here, I have found my style! Thanks to this home, I know who I am, what I want, and what I do not want in future homes.

So, through pictures of homes, I thought I might share with you a little bit of who I am. (I apologize for not knowing where all of these images come from. Some of them I have had WAY longer than this blog!)

This one is from Southern Living. I love the natural wood in the room combined with the bold patterns on the chairs. This is the kind of living room where you feel comfortable enough to curl up on the couch, yet obviously it is visually appealing enough for a magazine. And the family pictures on the plate rack are a GREAT personal touch!

If it is at all possible for a laundry room to be elegant, this one is. I have no idea where I found this image, but I LOVE it! If you have to do laundry, you might as well do it in style, right?

This bedroom is FANTASTIC! Cozy and Functional! I love the neutral green on the walls and the simple curtains. It makes the bedding stand out even more.




This could quite possibly be one of my favorite rooms EVER!!! It combines so many things that I want, all in one room! I am absolutely in LOVE with the arched doorway and the ceiling beams. These are two things high on my list of a dream house! I am also coveting the card catalog on the wall! I have wanted one for years! And then there are the mismatched chairs! LOVE!!! They look like old teacher chairs, so out of place in a dining room, which makes me love them even more! Throw the industrial light into the mix and you have the perfect room!



This one is for my Funky side! This Cottage Living photo appeals to the part of me that wants to live at Anthropologie (you can read more about that here)! This would be a super fun family room! Eclectic living at its best!

And then there is this one, also from Cottage Living! This is for my traditional side. All the fabrics in this room draw me in! The variety of textures, colors, and patterns, is so appealing! And of course the wood ceiling doesn't hurt!

And I can't leave out the kitchen! A farm sink and unique cabinets are very high on my list of wants! This kitchen has both! I'm also kind of loving the rugs! A little rustic charm never hurts!

This one doesn't have the farm sink, but look at those cabinets! Beautiful! And the ceiling beams are phenomenal! I also like the unexpected elegance that the chandelier adds!

I don't know if you enjoyed this post or not! I have just had houses on the brain and thought I would share my inspiration with all of you! Where do you find inspiration? I love comments, so let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!

An Explanation

I've go some "splaining" to do! (Imagine my best Ricky Ricardo accent)!



As much as I torment myself over the lack of blogging I have done lately, there really is a good reason! We Are Moving! We have been working non-stop since New Year's, getting our house market ready. And now that it is officially listed in the MLS, I figured I can share the good news with all of you!

This is our HOME!

We have lived here for 7 1/2 years. We have laughed here, cried here, grown here. When we moved in, we had a 2 year old and one on the way. Now, they are 9, 7, and the youngest is 5. This is their childhood home, the only home they have ever known, and hopefully one they will remember fondly.

All of that said, it is time to move on. We have OUTgrown this house. My boys share a room, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but they would like to have their own space. As they continue to grow, we anticipate our home to be "the hangout" for all their friends, so we would like to have an extra living area. And with all of my furniture make-overs I could really use a work space (that is not my kitchen or garage)! And our biggest "want": LAND! We have done the neighborhood thing and it has been nice, but we are country to the core and would really like some room to stretch our legs.

So, after months of preparing our house for sale, now we have to maintain it. This means, I don't need to buy any extra pieces of furniture! So, for now I am sticking to custom pieces. I have a few coming up to show you, but I'm afraid the make-overs will be few and far between for a while! I will keep you all updated on our home search! And hopefully I will be back in the business sooner rather than later! Stick with me though. I am planning on finding small projects to work on. I already have a few that I have finished. I will post all of those for you to enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Go State!

For those of you who don't know me in "real life", we live in Mississippi. We are loud and proud BullDAWG fans! Both Mr. Rustic and I are alums (as is everyone else in my family)! And my kids bleed Maroon and White! In our opinion, Mississippi State University is the ONLY school!

Now, you may be wondering why I am telling you all this...I have been hard at work on this next piece of furniture! I hinted at it last time I posted. I told you I was working on a special piece for my boys' room. It started off like this:

This piece has been sitting in my garage for MONTHS! I kept putting it off because I knew it needed SO MUCH work! I finally got brave enough to tackle it!

I even got Mr. Rustic to do some of the heavy labor! We sanded, sanded, and then sanded some more.

Someone had painted it black, over red, over green. And at some point got some MAJOR drips in the finish! It was TERRIBLE, but what do you expect for $20?

You would think that would be the hard part, but then I primed it (twice)! And put 6, yes SIX coats of maroon paint on it! I don't what the deal was, but it was well worth it because this is how it turned out!

FANTASTIC! It has everything we love about the Bulldogs all on piece! My boys love it!

And it looks phenomenal in their room! Thanks for stopping by!