Working on the house

Skylar turned 10 months today but her letter will have to wait until tomorrow. I've been wanting to post house pictures (as requested by a few of my WA friends) for a few days now so here goes.

Here is the family room as seen from the kitchen table. We bought a new TV, TV console and curtains. We managed to use the sectional from our old movie room but just left off part of the L. This family room feels about a 1/3 the size of our old family room and we love it. Its so warm and cozy.

When we first moved in we set up our formal dining table in the front formal living room (saved the formal dining room for the toy room) but we decided we just wouldn't use it enough. When we have family dinners here the 6 adults sit at the kitchen table and the kids at the bar. I had the dining table listed for about a month on KSL (used here rather than Craig's List) and finally sold it. Kind of sad to see it go but it just didn't work for us anymore. Plus I would have been nervous having the kids use it.

So we put our other couches in the front living room and you can see this view from our foyer also shows the play room. I need to finish the living room at which time I'll post a full view photo.

I bought these awesome storage containers at Costco and already had everything else. On the wall to the left I hung ribbon and will hang Brooke's art work and below are number, letter, shape and color learning posters. Having this play room off the kitchen has been perfect. Our family room is too small to accommodate toys and its nice keeping the spaces separate. I think in the future, if we are still living here, when they outgrow the toys I'd like this space to have a couple of desks or maybe a table for their school work.

Here are a few pictures of it being used to its full potential!

On to the next project. The picture below is the den off the foyer opposite the living room. Naturally this is the room Jason took as his office (don't have a picture with him set up in it). Jason works from home but has meetings out of the house everyday which was the same back in Woodinville. But the girls were at daycare 3 days/week and that house was bigger so the office worked, usually. In this house and with me and the girls being home everyday Brooke would not leave him alone! I could put a movie on for Brooke so I could take care of Skylar upstairs or shower and Brooke would go bug Jason, sometimes while he was on the phone, then Jason would get irritated and I'd stress...just wasn't working. So New Year's weekend we decided to move Jason to the basement. There are 2 bedrooms down there plus a long family room that just wouldn't work for a movie room so Jason decided to take the family room over. So we moved everything out of that room because it was being used as storage, painted and got him moved in! Its almost finished so I'll post pictures soon.

Anyway back to the main floor office. I was originally going to set up my craft room in one of the basement bedrooms but now this room was free so I was very excited to take it! The previous owners freshly painted the whole house in this neutral beige color which is fine but our last house was all the same color too and I am bored with that. I used Emily's interior decorator to help pick paint colors for the bedrooms and this room.

Here is the before.

And after! I am so happy with the green. It only took me 1 week to paint, decorate and move my craft supplies in. The only thing I had to buy was this table that I found used on KSL and a curtain rod. 

This wall holds so many sentimental things. Starting on the right, my mom made the paper doll some 30-40 years ago, the wreath hung in our old bedroom, my best friend Heather painted the picture from a photo my best friend Tiffany took in London, the clock hung in my old office at the City of Monroe, the vase was a wedding present and the lavender in it is from WA, the leaves hung on our wall in WA, the dotted book is the wonderful photo album Brooke's old sitter Jaime made, the framed piece is from my sister-in-law Jill and says "The love between a mother and daughter is forever", the shelves hung in Brooke and Skylar's old room but originally hung in our first house 10 years ago (also in Sandy), the hanging lantern hung in Brooke's old room and finally the plant I bought at my favorite nursery, Molbak's, in Woodinville for Brooke's room which I chose after attending an indoor house plant class while I was pregnant with Brooke. Whew...that was a lot. The dresser still holds my stamps and I am using the same sheer curtains from my old craft room.

I loved my old craft room, especially the view of the trees and the fire place. But this house is very different and I love this craft room just as much if not more. I am learning that with each new place we live we make it function better. Each room is set up and purposed better. It has taken us a few months with moving furniture around to finally find that perfect fit.

My happy little stamping buddy. :-) I know we will get a lot more use out of this room here rather than the basement. If Brooke isn't crafting with me she can play with Skylar in the play room which I can almost see from this table.

Next on the agenda are the bedrooms. Like I mentioned before, I'm bored with monochromatic, I want color! I started painting Brooke's room tonight. I originally thought it would take 6 months to be completely settled but at this rate I should beat that, at least for the house. We plan to make some changes to the yard this summer. One thing that has really helped me accomplish this is Brooke is now in preschool 2 afternoons/week. She was just getting bored around here and I needed a break. It was getting difficult to grocery shop and run other errands. Plus I think its good for her to be with other kids and in a different environment occasionally. So Skylar is my errand buddy and I paint while she naps.