{pretty, happy, funny, real} - Rooms, Rain, and Randomness Edition

{pretty}

(That flag was left here by the previous owners hanging on the garage!  I should do a whole post on the treasures they left for us.  A lot of crap but a lot of great finds, too!)

Brian brought me home a bouquet of fresh picked from the side of the road black-eyed susans today!
  


He also picked us a full pint of raspberries the other day from the vine we (he) transplanted into the back last year!  Not quite as photogenic but much more tasty.  He's like a picking machine.

Cari's prompting us with rooms today which is quite convenient since the last two days I've been on a mad organizing spree throughout the house.  I spent this morning moving some of these shelves around and sorting through some things to get rid of.  Which means once I finish the rest of the reorganizing I can then start sorting out our school plans for this next year.  Because that makes sense.  (I swear in my head it does.)

I really like this room in our house now.  It was totally different before and I think I may have to put up a before and after pic in that "This Old House" tab up top.  This room serves as our library, sort-of school room, prayer room, and on gloriously wonderful days my wake up with coffee and prayer room.  Also often functions as wrestling room. 

{funny}

I'm not quite sure how but John Paul's team made it to the championship game!!  It started last night but then right at the top of the fourth a monsoon struck.  Oh my.  It was coming down in sheets and as many people as possible crammed into the dugout under the tarp.  We were drenched dripping soaking wet.  The game was called and will be finished this evening.  

Fun times in the dugout.

{happy}

When we got home the rain had stopped and we had some happy puddle jumping boys:

 







That really is his cheese face now.  Weird kid.  It totally looks like he was having a fit!

Now back to rooms!  Since we've lived here I've wanted all the boys to just share one bedroom all camp style like.  In theory that's really cool.  In reality when one child chronically wakes up the others and same child keeps another one awake late into the night, not so much.   It was also getting really crammed in there.  So I finally gave in yesterday and pretty much got rid of the play room.  John Paul had been sleeping in there for the last few months but it was time to just figure it out and redo everything.  So now the older boys sleep here:

This was the room that was eventually going to sleep all four but for now we'll just try two.  I LOVE that it feel so much bigger and more organized!  I put the majority of the toys we are keeping in their closet and we'll use this room for when people need to be separated upstairs, especially during lesson time.

John Paul and I managed to take one of the beds apart and finagle it through the narrow hallway that just fit it and now it's in here the former playroom, now David's room:

This room doesn't photograph all that well.  Oh well.  Those curtains are red gingham, not pink.  I even dragged the dresser all my self into this room and brought a whole bunch of stuff out.  Quite therapeutic.

Once Luke is older and stops waking seventeen times a night the plan is that he'll move in here, too, but we may have to bed swap as need be.  
And now that the upstairs is moved around obviously I can now begin my curriculum planning.

{real}

This was supposed to go under {pretty} but then I realized all the daisies I picked las week had keeled over.  I have dead daisies in random places all over the house that I should probably dispose of.

What this room will really look like most of the time.  Because I am not above making my house look like a crack house from the outside in order to try and get my kid to sleep past dawn.

  That shelf at the top has been empty since we (Brian) built them.  Because of the window it is only about 8 inches high so it doesn't fit most books.  (The other side does hold our Harvard Classics series that I got passed down from my Grandpa.  They fit perfectly!  Hello, high school homeschool curriculum!)  As long as I've got you here, got any great suggestions on something I can put on that top shelf?  It can't be something I need to get at often, obviously.  Oh, and I've killed too many potted ivies in my day to try something like that again.  Because it's so short and high most things I can think of you wouldn't be able to see anyway.  Care to brainstorm for me?

Oh, and don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to enter to win our fantastic giveaways for Sarah's shower!  

Linking on up with Cari and Leila and the girls today!

22 comments

  1. Wow. I love your house. I love love love your house. Yay for baseball championships! Hope the weather's better today. Those are the bookshelves I will have some day. We have sort some built ins now, but I have high hopes. I am going to show my husband your room as a hint!

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  2. You need a tab up top called "how I keep my white house looking so good with so many children in it".
    Shoot, make it an e-book. I'd gladly pay to reap your wisdom.

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  3. found you on LMLD and wondered why I haven't seen you before because I would have totally subscribed. I've corrected that now. Love your white furniture, always wanted them xcept I got chocolate loving kid. AND my blog,patron is St. Raphael and consecrated to the Sacred Heart. So,glad I found you!

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    1. Awesome! Thanks for stopping by! I *try* to keep the kids in the kitchen with food so most of the stains that do happen are from me...which means I can't get angry when I have to wash them :)

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  4. I love how I can see your decorating style through all the rooms. When I place and space, nothing is symmetrical and you have a very clean, symmetrical aesthetic....which is why your house looks like a Pottery Barn catalog and mine looks like the before pictures in those "My mom is a hoarder!" shows.

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    1. If this was facebook, I would "like" this comment :)

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    2. Lol! Yes, I am definitely a fan of symmetry. It makes me feel like the world is a safe and happy place to be. And your house is awesome. Except maybe that laundry room of death. Cannot wait to see it done!

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  5. Oh wow...I admit to envying you today! I really, really would like rooms that organized, a reading/prayer room that serene, flowers the hubby picked for me, and those berries!!! Yum! Thank you for the inspiration today!

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  6. I am always amazed that when you change your rooms around you come up with still another great arrangement. I think Dwija's comment about being symmetrical is the trick to your rooms. Your house always looks great. You could make a book of how to do your rooms. each chapter could have a series of pictures of all the different ways you have done each room. Great pictures of the kids and great job Brian on the flowers and berries.

    Grandma & Grumpy

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  7. Mary, if I fly you out here, will you come make my house look as magical and beautiful as yours? C'mon...free trip to Oregon...

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  8. Beautiful home! I still wonder how you keep those curtains so white and pretty. My son would have already pulled them down and would be using them like a cape.

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    1. Too funny! It IS weird that they don't notice that stuff! (Couch cushions, however, are a totally different story.) I'm not sure why that is! It's the darn cat, however, who likes to rub against them and get her nasty hair all over them... I'm going to admit that I have NEVER washed those curtains (even though they could definitely probably use it). I'm way too afraid of ironing them!!

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  9. Oh my! I LOVE your house!! I LOVE the living room most especially with all of that white and the books everywhere. Those skinny shelves are tricky. That's what I'm up against in one of my rooms. Let me know if you come up with anything. LOL. Love the bit about the crack house!

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  10. Wow! I am amazed. Beautiful home. Stopping envy....NOW....no wait...NOW... oh, forget it.

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  11. Your home is so lovely! Your bookcases are super fabulous wonderful! Really awesome bookcases! You certainly don't seem like the type to have a bunch of short little doo dads to put on the top shelves - what about just a few more books here and there in short stacks, perhaps some really old vintage tomes you'd like to display together.

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  12. You are so skilled at decorating!!! Inspirational actually. I'd LOVE to see a before photo of your library. As for the top shelf, what about a few books lying down?

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  13. I enjoyed seeing your décor - it's so summery and refreshing! And the flag in the first photo - I love it.

    How about little thrift-store knick-knacky things on the upper shelving?

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  14. Such a beautiful home! My dream is have to have a prayer room just like yours. :)

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  15. Are those icons? Or the stations of the cross around your window? And for pre morning daylight blockers, I swear by the room darkening roller shades from Penneys. I have some short shelves, I keep the paperbacks and the puzzles there.

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    1. They're icons of our family's patron saints. (Well, really just cheap icon prints inside frames.) Funny, another friend just emailed me and recommended the Penney's shades, too! I looked at Walmart for some but was too cheap to spring for the "high end" blackout ones! I'll have to check the Penney's ones out, thanks!

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  16. 2 suggestions- small framed prints of your family in black and white or vintage looking alarm clocks.

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  17. love your house and your photos!

    Maybe put books laid on their side on those shelves up top? Just a thought.

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