Category Archives: before and after

Boy’s room

It took me a few years. Yes, YEARS. But I finally remembered to take a picture of the boy’s room after a cleaning. Because in real life our rooms get used and lived in so they are real life messy.

Also I cannot for the life of me find a before photo of this room. ๐Ÿ™ But let me assure you that it’s much better now post blue animal bathroom carpet removal. Holy EEWWWWWW! Serious cement cleaning and kilz ceiling to floor.

***HEY!!! I found a picture of the master bedroom carpet. So you can see the ewww. Cats and dogs doing the business inside all over all the floors. Still have no clue where the before of this room is. But it was in the same condition, just a different shape.***

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IMG_1121 New flooring, paint, and fan.ย  IMG_1124

He wanted a hero themed bedroom. We (I) went with scripture heros. I got these scripture hero cards and we read all the stories and talked about all sorts of real life heros. THEN I let him pick out his three favorite heros to get giant posters of.IMG_1125Jon and Josh built safety rails for the bottom bed for use when we have tiny sleepers. They were a life saver when we had R this last year. The rails are awesome. One goes the entire length of the bed, and the other has a gap for easy access into and out of bed. R used the bottom drawer as a step and could get himself in and out of bed from day one (14 mo), but never accidentally fell out of bed. Basically the rails turned the bottom bunk into a giant easy access crib. I love having handy men in my life. ๐Ÿ™‚

IMG_8546He was so little! Little R. I am surprised by how much I really do miss him, even with our fire and ice relationship. He really is SUCH a great kid and I am SO happy he has a Mom he likes and loves ALL the time now. ๐Ÿ™‚

I modge podged the small Hero cards onto painted boards to add more color to his room. He also wanted a world map. So that’s over his bed. He’s getting really good at placing countries. We hear lots of “_____ is next to ______ in South America. But we live in North America, and Babushka is from Central America.” He got super into Europe earlier this year when I was gearing up for travel. Lots of “London Baby!”IMG_1126I LOVE that he chose Hannah as one of his heros. We talk a lot about birth moms and how strong they are and how much trust and faith they have. I think Hannah’s story really resonated with him because of years of placement talk. He put it together himself that she did a REALLY hard thing, and that the right thing is not always the easy thing. He wanted her poster to be the first one he saw when entering his room.ย  IMG_1127Our best friends gave us a very cool Captain America canvas print that is now in the boy’s room. IMG_1128Things I love about this room: The colors. Regan picked it all and it’s awesome. The spiritual lift I get when I have a second to spare while in there and I read some scripture passages that are all over his walls. His personal artwork that his pre-school self did just for this space. The bedding that he picked out. Because, “orange is theย  best, but not too much okay?” The rugs he picked because they had all the “right” colors.

Measuring at Papa’s

We made my parents a ruler so they can measure the grandkids. It’s actually super helpful because my Mom was convinced that Kaylee just doesn’t grow. Ever. Our sweet Shrimpy McShorty is a slow and steady kinda gal. No major growth spurts for her. So having visual proof of growth is comforting for those who don’t get to see Kaylee’s growth charts and stuff.
IMG_0426Regan was a little more generous with his self measurement than Kaylee was.IMG_0428Typical shenanigans. IMG_0430 IMG_0433When you can’t find a ruler to mark on your ruler….. notebook.IMG_0436It’s ruler official. Regan is taller. Good thing his big sister is a bundle of concentrated self confidence. She doesn’t need to be taller because she’s older and always will be. IMG_0445ย We need baby Logan’s measurements up there asap.

Back yard stuff

Keeping busy and slowly making progress on the back yard. A few months ago we decided to frame out the windows. We finally had the time and energy to get it done. The workshop has a super simple fame around its windows and so that’s the style we went with.
IMG_9691Parts of the back yard fence’s paint is chunking off. So getting the trim paint color matched was SO easy. I just walked over to the fence and yanked a chunk of paint off and then sent Jon off to Home Depot. IMG_9693ย  The simple frames make such a big difference. We love them! I used the nail gun for the first time on this project. IMG_9698IMG_9695I picked up this cute little wall art to put in my sitting area. And then backyard art kinda snowballed. Jon totally teased me about my initial piece. He was all, “It’s a back yard. Why does it need art?”ย  “Because it’s fun. That’s why.”

But then he WAY jumped on board with the idea of backyard wall art. “You know, I do have leftover plywood you can use……”

IMG_0893So the house in blue paint has two quotes from Harry Potter.

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I teased him about wanting a window flower box. But I’m so glad we did it anyway even though I wasn’t totally sold on the idea… The window box. I LOVE it. I’m so glad Jon had this idea and that we went with it.

IMG_0894The play side of the workshop has in purple quotes from The Princess Bride. And Regan calls dandelion puffs wishes so I had to…. IMG_0897

These two on the BBQ side of the workshop in green are Firefly quotes. Yet to be hung. IMG_0898 Jon also extended the play set shade and finished stringing the outdoor lights. Now the swings are always shaded from the devil sun. ๐Ÿ˜‰