House of Order

Life gets crazy.  My life has been crazy for so long, that I stopped thinking "when things get back to normal" and instead told myself that crazy IS my normal.  I think the final straw was when I found the not-so-clean toilet that I had paid my cleaning lady to clean, the toilet that my exchange student used for 9 months, a new-ish toilet that had barely been used at all before he moved in.  I paid her to clean it (and the rest of his room) after he had left, and let's just say that she didn't do a very good job. She hadn't really been doing a very good job since we moved to this bigger house.  She just didn't have time to clean all of it each time, so I would have her clean the worst rooms, but as a result, nothing was getting done well.  And then she went to Lithuania for a month (as she does every summer) and I eventually had to clean the house myself, which was a reminder that I actually really DO like to clean my house!  And when I actually do it, I do a really good job!  So, I figured, if I do it myself, I can 1)save myself some money, 2)get my cardio in (because honestly, I don't like to work out.  I only do it because I don't like to have flabby arms.) and 3)my house will be a lot cleaner and I won't feel like I get nothing done all day!

A long, long time ago (when we lived in Utah, 8 years ago!) I found a system that I really liked and used it and then adjusted it to fit my life.  It's creator is Marie Ricks of House of Order.  I happened to actually live in the same town as her, so I emailed her and she invited me over to pick up the book and cards, asked me in, (her house is immaculate, by the way!) and was so nice!  Anyway, check out her website, I think her system is amazing!

I actually created my own cards, because the days that she had set aside for certain tasks didn't work with my life.  I set it up so that I have 2 days a week where I'm out running around, and 3 where I'm at home. (I love to be at home, if I could just have my hairdresser come to my house, and have my groceries delivered and have people bring me clothes to try on and buy, that would be awesome.  Maybe someday when I'm rich and famous I will hire someone to bring me everything I need so I never have to leave home.)

I also put together a planner using a mini binder (they're like half the size of a regular binder).  I haven't used a planner in YEARS, I kept trying to do it all on my phone/computer, but I just think I'm one of those people who needs paper and pen.  I still use google calendar because the whole family can  communicate about what's going on (at least that's the idea) but I add the dates into my paper planner each week.

I spent the last three days creating my card file box and my planner, and I've gotten more done this week than probably all summer (including blogging! ha!) I think one of the best things about it is that I don't feel that constant "I should _____" (guilt) when I look around and see something that needs to be done.  I just know that it will get done later in the week, when I pull the card for it!

time for a (water feature) change

This is one of the things that bothered me the most about the front of the house:

See the pile of boulders in the middle of the ring of pavers?  Well, its a fountain.  Someone drilled holes through the middle of these big boulders and put a pump down underneath, and voila, a fountain.  Except that we weren't sure how to winterize it so during our amazingly cold winter, the pump broke.  I figured, hey, since we have to pull those giant boulders out to get to the pump anyway, why not just leave them out and put a pretty fountain in instead?  

Here's the beauty that I've had my eye on for years.  (Restoration Hardware sells it, but I found it at a local garden specialist for less.)  It was too big for my last house (anybody seen Analyze This?) but I love it in its new home!

I love that it's low enough for Tess to drink out of.

guest house - after

Dining room

Living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

guest house before pics

One of my favorite parts of our new house is the guest quarters.  A one bedroom, one bath condo with full kitchen, laundry and one car garage.  It shares a wall with our garage, but has a separate entrance and utilities.  Perfect for guests, grandparents, or even renters!

BEFORE:

The walk up to the front door of the guest house.

Kitchen - dated pink white washed cabinets and RED walls!

This is a little breakfast nook/office area.  Perfect for a craft room!!

Living room and dining area with vaulted ceiling!

Bedroom - it gets lots of light and has great vaulted ceilings, too!!

Even though redecorating the guest house wasn't really our first priority, it is still one of the first areas to be done.  While we were remodeling the kitchen and four bathrooms in the main house, we did most of our "living" out here.  The red and chocolate walls started to really get to me, so of course I painted and then kept going from there.  When we found out my mother-in-law was going to be coming for a stay, we really put the pedal to the metal trying to make it really nice for her.  Turns out, her Alzheimer's was bad enough that we didn't feel comfortable having her that far away from us, but it was nice to have it mostly completed for when my mom and dad came for three weeks in June!

What I've been doing for the last year or so.....

 Apparently, I've forgotten to blog in a really, really long time.  About a year ago, we decided to buy a new house.  I know, crazy.  REALLY crazy.

My mother-in-law moved in with us for a few months, and it got me thinking a little more about the long term.  We weren't sure how long she was going to be with us (she has Alzheimer's) but we soon realized that if she were to have her own space (aside from a bedroom) everyone would be happier.  And even though she wasn't here very long, I started thinking about my parents.  What happens when they get to the point that one or both of them needs extra care?

So, anyway, we contacted our favorite real estate agent, and she started keeping her eyes open for something with a bigger lot and a mother-in-law suite or guest house.  To make a long story short, we sold our home in a few days (WHEW!!!) and then moved into our new old house on Halloween.

We knew from the moment we looked at it that it had a lot of potential, but would also need a lot of work.  And yes, I frequently ask myself "What was I THINKING?!?!?!?!?!"

Here's a picture of my (7 years!!!)"old" house:

And here's the "new" (23 years old) house:

It's got lots and lots of yard and woods:

And a pool:

And of course the guest house:

We've been hard at work on it ever since we moved in.  I'll show you some pictures soon.

birthday chairs

thanks, mom and dad, for the birthday money. this is what i got with it:

they came all the way from hong kong, and got here a few weeks ago. i love them! and i love you, too!

i'm a giant challenge - master bedroom

chinoiserie secretary - ebay

ghost chair - wedding supply

rug - craft fur

glass jar - jewelry finding, hobby lobby

pillow, books - made by me

blue urn - vintage limoges

teacup, brass goblet - ebay

mirrored tray - hobby lobby

garden stool, perfume bottles, artwork, shelves, books - made by me

rug - craft fur, hobby lobby

purple ombrey coverlet - joann's

curtains, pillows, bed, wallpaper, lamps, mirror - made by me

LED battery powered mini-lights (in lamps) - in the wedding aisle @ hobby lobby

I'm a giant reveal - bedroom peek

was up til way late last night making a bed, lighting, drapes, etc.

still not done. the bedroom is done! at least it's habitable - done enough to show. we all know people who try to save money when building a home by doing some of the work themselves. i personally know of at least 3 families who decided to do the finish carpentry themselves, and then 3 + years later, were still living in a home with no baseboards or trim. well, if there were a family moving into my dollhouse, they would have no trim. well, some trim.

but they have drapes and furniture and accessories and even working lamps! (battery powered).

so, here's a sneak peek. the pictures have to upload and then require a bit of editing (i.e. poor lighting in my basement) so i'm going to bed.

O'verlays

fretwork panels to dress up your IKEA or goodwill furniture.

have you heard of this? where have i been? is this not the coolest thing ever?

(caroline? annette? )

check out their website: o'verlays

dollhouse: table, stools and baseboard

with everyone home from school and most of our various activities cancelled, i was able to work on the dollhouse a lot over the last few weeks. it was my escape from the 6 extra people around all day.

baseboards and windows in the dining room, as well as paper on the ceiling.

wallpapered the master bedroom, and made a cute linen upholstered headboard.

made this cute garden stool, and another just like it in fuschia. i got the idea from littlevictorian.

there's that other stool, and the wallpaper and shelves in the niche in the master bedroom. it was supposed to be the closet, but since there will be no dolls living here, there is no need for clothes storage. i also made that adorable mirror (from warmhotchocolate's tutorial)out of toothpicks.

my favorite piece, the dining room table. this is actually the second round of this design, the first one was a little short for the ghost chairs (which are not really 1:12 scale, they are a little larger). i LOVE the way it turned out, just deciding on a paint color/stain.

oh yeah, the fireplace. i made this very modern looking concrete fireplace to contrast with the very traditional architecture of the living room, but i'm not sure i love it.

also, note that i added links to some of my favorite mini blogs on the sidebar, in case anyone's looking for some awesome dollhouses.

dollhouse: paneling and furniture

thank goodness, the deadline for the dollhouse challenge has been pushed back to february. i still may not be done by then, at the rate i'm going, but i may at least have the one room i've been focusing on finished.

i redid the paneling in the living room this week. i had finished it a few weeks ago, but really didn't like the way it didn't meet in the corners. there were also a couple of spots where the bay windows connected to the square walls of the house that overlapped and looked really sloppy, so i wanted to take those off and clean them up and fix them so that i could get the wallpaneling to meet up right. this really explains why it is taking me so freaking long to finish this - not only am i a perfectionist, but i am working with a dollhouse that was put together somewhat sloppily and in the wrong order, so i have to keep "fixing" various parts. well, and i've never done this before, so i am learning as i go. but, oh well, i would rather take my time and do it right and maybe not finish by the deadline. when it starts to become stressful it stops being fun, right?

so, back to my paneling. i made it out of cardstock that i embossed using a stylus and a lightbox. i printed the shape of the paneling on the back of the cardstock and then embossed it, each wall on its own sheet of cardstock. after my first mistake of not overlapping the panels, i went back and left a bit of overlap at each corner, which worked MUCH better.

don't worry, baseboard, crown and window molding will cover up all that sloppiness.

a have also been working on the copper roof, but stopped without finishing when i realized that there was NO way i was going to be able to finish the whole house by dec. 15 and instead focused on the living room.

i also installed a porch light. it works, it just doesn't want to stay on the wall.

the whole house as of this weekend:

i also got some more furniture:

LOVE this piano, it is SO adorable

chinoiserie secretary striking a pose with adorable ghost chair.

these pieces are a little small scale for the house, but i think the chair at least will still work. i am going to paint it with fabric paint cuz that beige is blah.

anyway, stay tuned, hopefully once school is out etc, i will have a little more time to work on it. if i had my way, i would stay in my pjs and dollhouse all day.