Adventure, whimsy, and a little bit of crazy!

 

Despite all the chaos of packing up our house and downsizing with two toddlers and a cat with severe anxiety, July has been awesome. Amidst inevitable disfunction that comes with  move, I've been editing, reorganizing, and attempting to stick to a tight schedule. Sometimes, that schedule doesn't include fun for the kids, so I'm trying to be flexible to accommodate their need for adventure, whimsy, and terror willingness to help mommy. This normally consists of dumping legos all over the floor, unpacking boxes that were just packed and placed by the door, stomping all over decorations, or riding all the cars and "tractors" aka lawn mowers at Lowes, and that's ok. On top of everything, I injured myself last week while carrying a large mirror up our basement steps in our Pitman house, and long story short, needed several stitches in my knee, and have been moving extremely slow, which has effected the entire process. Patience is not one of my strongest qualities. In fact, my lack of patience is a weakness with which I struggle daily.

Here is a photo of Clara and her friend Aribella, who we ran into at the mall, one afternoon that we had to take a break from house stress. What a fun surprise! (What a fabulous pic!) I had a chance to chat with two friends, Karly and Jill during our play land session. Below, a photo of Clara with her favorite princesses outside of our new home, taken while they were setting up for the 4th of July parade. There were literally ponies two houses down. It was amazing for them to see, which is why we enjoyed breakfast from McDonalds from our front porch, and the parade with cousins.

 I'd planned on posting about our wonderful trip to Ocean City, but never had a chance. Here are photos from O.C.

 Last but not least, Clara's dance recital was at the end of June, and was adorable!

Wanted to capture a little bit of summer before it swiftly flies away from us! Can't believe we're nearing the end of July! The bulk of our time is spent packing, renovating, designing and decorating, not that I'd have it any other way. This balancing act has been challenging, time consuming, but exciting none the less, and I can't wait to show you where we are in our renovation project, and create a post about our new kitchen reveal, now that our tiny but charming modern farmhouse kitchen is almost finished. Stay tuned and God Bless! Have an inspiring day full of adventure, whimsy, and a little bit of crazy!

 

Closet love, Big girl room plans, playroom, and happy painting!!

I never neglect the importance and potential of our closet space. Although we’re downsizing in many areas, closet space is ample – exciting! Many rooms in the home have walk-in's, allowing me the space to create well-functioning beautiful zones that can include decorative baskets, bins, clever storage etc. 

One of the 1^st projects I tackled was Clara's closet. Even storage spaces can be loaded with fabulous shades of color and lots of function, and my goal is for our closets to become bold decorative accents to their rooms and great storage places for clothes, shoes, hair accessories, dance outfits, bedding, maybe even some toys, although I’m not a huge fan of toys stored in bedrooms – easier to clean with less toys, and more functional!

My plan for Clara’s closet was: Mint/teal green with either polka dots or a French stencil on the closet walls. Decorative baskets to hold her bathing suits, sandals, hats, hair accessories, and a glam accent rug. I want everything to be fresh, bright and vibrant, and go along with the overall feel of the bedroom. I wanted to make her closet (and bedroom) a beautiful sweet cottagy sanctuary. Here is the before and progress (before I've added storage, decorate baskets, clothing etc.)

Now, plans for Clara's beautiful captivating big girl room. Backing up to almost 2 years ago when I moved Clara into her current nursery, we went with a teal and pink shabby chic whimsical feel. For her new room, we are sticking with a similar color scheme, but making it a little more elegant, and pulling in more of an emerald green than teal. We chose a beautiful shade of light pink called "pink ribbon" for Clara's walls, an adorable pink chandelier, and are in the process of creating a big girl bed, utilizing her crib which transitions into a headboard for a full bed. 
Here's her old nursery:

Here are a couple photos of Clara painting her built-ins in our new house (which only lasted 2 minutes) and the chandelier that we chose and installed in her new big girl room.

 

The kids will also have a playroom on the 1^stfloor. Along with Clara’s closet, we painted this room “Whirpool” by Olympic. Fell in love with the color swatch while browsing the paint swatch section at Lowes, and with the color when it went up on the walls. I plan to go with a vintage bold schoolhouse feel in the playroom, greenish aqua with accents of red, navy, and gray and use artwork from our current basement such as these pieces:

Can’t wait to have some time to create these cute closet and play spaces for my chickadees!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed reading about our renovation projects and plans! Have an amazing day and God bless!