If you've been reading this blog, you likely already know that I have a tendency to be indecisive and obsessive about paint colors.  The dining room is one of those spaces.  It's smack dab in the middle of the floor plan and if I choose the wrong color, the feel of the WHOLE HOUSE will be ruined.  Ruined, I tell you.

Anyway, when we moved in I invented my own color for the dining room.  I told the paint guy "I wanted a mix between this color and that color, but please mix it at 50% strength, okay?"  He didn't even look at me like I was strange.  I bet he deals with people like me all the time.

But I am painting over that color today.  I like the color a lot but I wanted to unite the colors between the kitchen and dining room to make it feel like one big room.  At least I won't have to freak out  about it because I already love the kitchen color.  



Wish me luck, okay?  I hope to have some AH-MAZING photos for you tomorrow.... 

I've been working on our new front storm door.  I like quick and easy jobs because there's too many difficult and long jobs in my life right now.  Like raising kids.  

Two words, people: danish oil.  That's where it's at.  I've used it on a footstool, china cabinet, dining room chairs and now on the front door.

I asked the paint guys if danish oil would weather well for an exterior application and they agreed that either danish oil or a marine grade spar would work well.  They estimated I'd get 2-3 years out of the danish oil application versus a 5-6 year using a spar.  But if I used a spar, I'd have to sand the door before reapplying another coat and with danish oil, I can just rub more on without sanding first.

You had me at hello, danish oil.

There's different colors of oil and my two favorites are the medium and dark walnut.  I used the dark for this project.


I put a little on first to make sure I'd like it.




Here's one coat:

 Two coats and a kid:

I've been stripping, sanding and otherwise beating the crap out of the front windows and now they're reading for paint.

I am typically good with interior paint colors, but have issues with choosing a color for the outside.  Maybe because it feels more permanent?  Or perhaps because painting the exterior is a completely tedious, thankless job.

I've been scouring neighborhoods and Pinterest for inspiration.  I am the girl who swerves to the side of the road and snaps a photo of a home's exterior and drives on, which kind of makes me out to be a creep, but an inspired creep.

This is what I've been leaning toward:

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I am looking for a neutral that leans more toward gray than brown but can't be too white and definitely not cream.  And I am looking for a deep blue toned charcoal that is the perfect mix of not-too-blue-not-too-black-not-too-boring. My brick is not quite brown, not quite yellow (I call it brellow), and the grout has pink undertones.

I need to stop house stalking and commit.  Unless you guys know of a house I could drive past today...

Also, I need professional help.  Of any kind.

There's something about the change of season that makes me slow down, wear cardigans and eat soup.  It's written in my DNA. 

With cooler temperatures coming, we're all going to be spending more time indoors, so why not make our spaces AWESOME (on a budget)? I am not in the market for a rug right now but I like to keep my eye out for what's new and cool in the rug world.

All the options listed here are from Target and Rugs USA.  I like ordering rugs from Target because I know they're easily returnable and Rugs USA because of the free shipping and super promotions that they have (sometimes 80% off!).  I've ordered two rugs from them and have been very pleased with the quality.

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You're welcome.

We're in the swing of a new routine with the start of the school. Three of my four kiddos are now in school.  My initial project of the school year is to get the house simplified, organized and donate the items we don't use.

In other words, I covertly bag up the kiddos toys while they're not home and give them away!!! Mwa ha, ha ha!  The result is a cleaner house and happier Mom, which is totally the point.

Yet I am finding that even though the house is picked up, there's still these little items on the floor that I call kid shrapnel.  It's senseless little things strewn about without rhyme or reason.




Since the magnetic paint didn't work out, I used an adhesive velcro to adhere some of the papers to the board.

 Unfortunately my printer went a little wonky at the end line.  Oh well.  Moving on.



Today is day one of using the behavior chart and job chart.  I hope it works as a good visual reminder for the kiddos so that I don't sound like a broken record.  I also am working on a list of jobs to choose from if one of the girls should land on the  "Uh oh jar".  Doubt that will ever happen to one of my darling angels, but should be prepared for it, eh?  I also want to figure out the reward system for being a Super star, like popcorn/movie night, sleepover, etc.

And here's your very own printable!  Let's solve the shrapnel problem together, shall we?

This summer has been hard on our front screen door. The screen ripped a couple weeks ago and the girls began to stick their heads out as if they were working a fast food drive through. Pretty fun for them but not cool for the long term.  

We decided to get a new front storm door and the search began.  This is what our old door looked like.





 Plus, it has fancy British spelling.

So let me be honest.  I like diy projects but it's common that I have no experience with the project I'm doing.  I'll talk to people to have done it, watch You Tube videos on how to do it and then I'll give it a shot.

That said, I decided to strip, sand, reglaze and paint the front windows because they were in pretty awful condition.  The windows were painted shut and the paint job on them was terrible.  I figured there was nothing to lose but I had no idea how long this would take.

First, I sanded.





I left it like this for a few more weeks.  On Saturday I was motivated to tackle the rest and set out to glaze and prime the windows and storms.

I've never glazed a window before but figured it would be about the same as caulking.  I got some pretty serious caulking skillz, so I wasn't worried.




So glaze is waaaaay gummier and harder to work with than caulk.  It's difficult to get a solid bead and even harder to spread it evenly.  Note my scowl in all these photos.