house tour: living room, James' corner

From the moment you enter our home, it is no secret that we have kids. In our living room I have attempted to keep the kid stuff to one corner ("attempted" being the key word there).

The chalkboard is owned by every family with a child within a two hundred mile radius of any Ikea. The previously mentioned guitar has taken up permanent residency in James' corner also.

(Can you tell I didn't clean before these pictures?) I love the random assortment of things James collects in the chalkboard shelf. Pictured here: cards sent from relatives, guitar picks, chalk, and "wild animal cards" from his little kid National Geographic magazines.

I love kid art. But instead of framing it I wanted to have it on constant rotation as James created new pieces. These hanging cords are from Ikea and can be found in the shower curtain section, which, I believe, is what they actually are.

Work bench and Melissa and Doug car carrier. Every time I put these away they ended up back out in the living room. I gave up.

The basket of randomness I daily collect off the floor. Generally composed of: dinosaurs, cars, trucks, and small musical instruments.

Secretly, it makes my heart so happy that we are in a phase of life when toys litter the ground and crayon scribble adorns our walls.

This time, a year ago: a brunch menu... this makes me want to have brunch right now...

house tour: James' room

We begin the official house tour with a post of the little man's room (pictured here in his "monsta" feetsie jammies).

We painted his room a bright sky blue (pictures don't do it justice), to help balance the bright red accents. His big boy bed and colorful animal print bedding are from Ikea. Next to his bed is a large basket stuffed to the brim with stuffed animals and puppets. On the wall above is an original painting by our good friend, Mallory, given to James long before he was even born.

On the other side of the room is his Ikea book shelf filled with books (duh), toys, puzzels, and musical instruments. On top of the shelves are his Ikea moon light and three woolly animals. The elephant and giraffe were made in the Himalayas and the zebra was made by a small Mexican woman in Yelapa.
Hanging above on the wall is a picture of James with his first birthday cupcake and notes from all the family members who were at the party.

His rocking chair might be my favorite thing in his room. I bought it for five dollars at a church rummage sale. It's kind of falling apart, but it adds a little vintage-y touch to the room.

The window seat cushion and the curtains were made by my mom. Unfortunately, Sadie is under the illusion we put the window seat there as her guard post station. She lays there about fifteen hours of the day and growls at threatening things in the street, like squirrels and leaves. Thus it is almost always covered in her fur. We kick her out on garbage pick-up days when James and I eat breakfast up there so we can watch the trucks go by. Ah, the life of a toddler.

Coming soon: my first recipe since this one... and a little Eleanor style.

a (very) little Easter decorating

As I think it did for everyone, Easter has completely surprised me this year. The second weekend in April? Isn't that a bit early? Who does the calendar, who is to blame? Is the Catholics that decide?

At any rate, I have only myself to blame for letting it sneak up on me and doing pretty much no cute Easter decorating. I recall as a child having Easter decorations, but the ones that really stand out are the hundreds of plastic eggs my family used to hang from the trees around our yard. It sounds like a really odd idea now, but I looked forward to it every year.

This year I was able to dig up some Easter napkins and an adorable little chick candle I was given last year. We had friends over on Saturday who gave us a lovely tulip plant, and all together our little centerpieces make the table much more springy and inviting. (My grandma came over for lunch yesterday and informed me that I could plant the tulip when I was done using it as a centerpiece. "Oh no" I said, to the shock of my little grandmother who did not pass along her green thumb, "I'll kill it!" We'll see how that goes.)

Aside from the table decor, we received one Easter card from my mom which graces the mantel. And that's it. Am I totally behind the times? What do people do to decorate for Easter these days?

some chalkboard paint craftiness

It all happened very fast.

Yesterday a house came up on the rmls that our realtor sends to us each morning, and we thought "cute." By the evening, we had done a bit of research on the house and the surrounding area, and we decided we wanted to go take a look at it. I gave our realtor a call this morning. She said we could tour it on Lane's lunch break, but there were multiple offers on it by that point. It had been on the market only 24 hours, and that is how the market is in NE Portland right now. 

We saw it and decided to put an offer on it. Our fifth home offer, if you've been counting. I don't think we got it, and I have to admit that I'm getting a bit bummed out by our inability to find a home that will stay on the market long enough for us to purchase. So, to make myself feel better, I have been mentally decorating the house we don't have yet; finding inspiration, and making things.

Yesterday, it was chalkboard paint. 

First, I painted this frame, which was this awful brown wood and I decided very suddenly that I hated it and it must be painted. 

Also, I broke the glass in one of the picture frames above our key hooks. So, I wrapped the backing in wrapping paper and painted over the paper with chalkboard paint. I think it would be fun to decorate this little square with different kinds of wrapping paper depending on the occasion or holiday.

What do you decorate with chalkboard paint?