Around the House: Making Room

It's Monday again, which sucks because yesterday pretty much felt like a Monday too. No bueno. It's one of those days where you were so busy the day before that you end up sending your children to school with cold hotdogs, no bread, and actually feel good about it because, "at least it was a hotdog with zero nitrates." Please tell me you've been there.

Yesterday was rainy and gross, so instead of going to the grocery store, I opted for finally (said with a deep sigh and eye rolling) cleaned out the spare room upstairs. It had remained our dumping ground for all things we didn't quite need to unpack yet... scrapbooks, photo albums, old tax documents, etc. You can see why they remained unpacked and really low on the totem-pole of my "to do" list. But I am overjoyed for the reason we suddenly needed to tackle said dumping ground. We are turning it into a sewing studio. I told you guys we are working on something really exciting and this is part of it. Now I just have to decide on the layout and other essentials. Desk against the wall? Floating? Rug? No rug? Storage? Displays? Inspiration Boards?

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It's all so very exciting. Here's the kicker...I'm trying to get this studio up and running, while spending zero dollars. Think I can do it? xo

top image via solid frog

Around the House: Staging for our Open House

Happy Monday! Yeah, it's here again. Over the weekend, the hubs and I did our first ever open house. Uh-huh...we're selling. And here's the crazy insane part - we're trying to go it alone. No realtor. To get things ready for our first showing and then the open house, we did a TON of work. Painting, cleaning, staging and a ton more. The room that needed the most staging help was my husband's office (my old craft room). He's creative, so he's messy.  

We started by packing up all my fabric and cutting table that had been sharing space with the hub's office.  Next up, bringing in a new desk and moving my computer back in. (I can't count how many iterations this room has seen.) Then the decorating began. This is the fun part.

A new rug, lots of light, and an inspiration board.

Mirror above the dresser makes the room look bigger.

I have to say, I'm loving having my desk in the hub's office with the white lamp and all the space. A girl could get used to this. xo

Around the House: Making it Work

The hubs and I received some pretty depressing news this week that dashed our future hopes just a bit. Since early this year my husband has been working out of the home. It's been such a great blessing that we decided to add a studio above our garage so he would have a place to work and shoot. The city put the big kabosh on our plans - no adding a second floor studio to our garage since it isn't attached to our house. Booooo!  Sometimes rules and regulations stink! After much prayer and being open to God's plans for us, we have decided to move things around here at home a bit. The hubs got the big office and I said bye-bye to my sewing/crafting room. I'm back in the closet - literally! Here's a look.

My "office" i.e. computer, now resides in our bedroom tucked away in a little Ikea desk unit. I think it will work out just fine. Until God shows another way. 

PS - see that awesome Coca-Cola crate, wood box, kitchen scale and green metal lunch box? The estate sales have been good my friends. Very good. Happy Monday. xo

Knock Knock...

Who's there?    Those are the kinds of jokes my "4 and 7/8th's" year old son is telling these days.  He thinks every joke is funny - before you even get to the punchline. But as I read last night in Seth Godin's small is the new big (yes, I'm still reading it. I have like 4 books I'm trying to finish.) it's the simplicity of the joke that makes it so endearing. He states, "First, you announce the joke. The jokee then chooses to ignore you or to engage. The exchange is that simple. And sometimes the jokee gets the joke and smiles."

That, dear readers, is my goal for Pure and Noble. Not to make you laugh. Because, as my husband likes to remind me, I'm not as funny as I think I am. (But I really am.) The goal is to give you a choice with each new post to engage or not. To be inspired or delighted. And hopefully smile. That simple.

my son's new desk found on craiglist for a steal

simple joy found in friends and popsicles

a small giggle

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I so enjoy writing this blog, meeting new people and growing daily. God's blessings are abundant! xo

Clutter Free

I spend a lot of time on the computer. I write my blog, send emails, do the books for my husband's business, look at/read other blogs for inspiration, blah, blah, blah. The point is that I'm in my office a lot. Here's the kicker - my office is a closet.  That's right, a closet. It's a decent size and I get sunlight from the small window on the front door, so I don't mind it so much.  However, when the clutter takes over I get more than a little anxious and claustrophobic. That's where this image comes in:

(source forgotten - help me out if you know)

When I saw the above image featured on one of my daily blog reads, I knew it was time for a makeover. Everything about it is so clean, organized and colorful! Not at all like my office where paper and post it notes were beginning to take-over.

Before

After

Ahhhhh...there's nothing like some early Spring cleaning. I love organization. Another happy ending! I love those too! xo