Remember those nekked kitchen windows? I loved how much light they let into our formerly dark space. I have lived, quite happily, with nothing on those windows for at least six months now.

I decided I was going to keep them that way until I found just the right covering, at just the right price, that I loved. If I didn’t find all of the above, they were staying nekked…FOREVA!!!

OK, that was a little intense. But I wasn’t going to force anything. I wanted it to be natural. To flow. Be cool.

And over the past few weeks…it all aligned perfectly. :)

It started when I found this purdy fabric a while back at Calico Corners:

I got it for another room, and LOVE it there. Love. (I’ll show you that soon!) But for some reason, I had a ton extra – I think I had planned on making pillows, but I had enough left for some mongo pillows.

So…the idea hit me. The colors would be so freakin’ pretty in our kitchen! I held it up to a kitchen window and was hooked. It took about 45 minutes with my hemming tape and iron and I had some cute cafe curtains:

I didn’t even line them. I might later, might not. I didn’t make a rod pocket either – I just hung them with the clips using this technique.

I live on the edge people.

Remember the pendant light I installed over the kitchen sink? I had taken that shade off to use in the living room and put another drum shade up. It’s not in the best condition, but it was a $1.99 Goodwill find last year, so I’m making it work!

It had black trim on the top and bottom of the shade, so I just took that off:

I found some double fold bias tape in a pretty green color (for less than $2!) and because the shade was still sticky from the black tape, I just stuck the green one on:

You can see how beat up the shade is in this pic, but from the ground it’s not nearly as noticeable. It may not be staying up anyway…but more on that later. :)

Finally, my little window makeover was complete! It’s so fun and fresh and springy!:

I played around with the height, and ended up with something a little longer than half the window. I used a dark tension rod to match the drapery rings, but I may try a white one too. Although I do dig the contrast of the dark rod.

I love the flowers in simple glass bottles on the windowsill:

Best part – the new curtains still let the light in, but if I ever go into freak out mode at night, I can pull easily pull them closed. :)

Awhile back I found a Target rug that pulled in the blues from the family room, and now I couldn’t be happier with how the rug, chairs and drapes are working together:

Because they aren’t right next to each other, (I think) they totally work. They all have the same shades of green and the fabric and rug have the same smoky blue color. All have a supa fun design too. :)

And my covered windows didn’t stop there! A couple weeks ago I came across some clearanced bamboo shades that were the perfect size for the bay windows:

Only $11 each baby!

The shades aren’t the exact tone of those in the family room, so I’ll have to see how they work on a sunny day. Hopefully it won’t drive me nutty.

You wouldn’t think it from this picture, but it was cloudy and rainy today:

Yay!! I still have my light and bright, but with some texture (and privacy if we need it). Can I get a hollaaaa?

I have some ideas in mind to add some color with accessories to the nook too. :)

Only a few more projects to go and our kitchen redo is complete! You know, the one I started almost a YEAR ago? :) Something about that year deadline is getting my booty in gear.

But so far, so good. Me likey:

:)

The cafe curtains are another P. Kaufmann fabric – I wrote down the name and now I can’t find it! I know, hate me. I do know it had the word “citrine” in it, but I can’t find this fabric online. I’ll call tomorrow and get the name to update this post.

So do you have any nekked windows? Like them? Hate them? Waiting for the just-right-treatments to come along? Do tell.

**I found the name! It’s called Spring Vine Opal from P. Kaufmann. And my lovely living room drapery fabric is called Retreat Blue Citrine, also from P. Kaufmann. (I got the names of the fabrics mixed up.)

Well hello there! I think it’s high time I fill you in on our search for a sofa in our family room. I wrote about the impending purchase a couple of months ago, and I so appreciated all of your feedback on that post.

As I mentioned one or 15 trillion times, our family room is an odd configuration of open layout, a wall of windows, a corner fireplace and a walk way into the rest of the house:

It makes for a very frustrating furniture set up. I may have mentioned one or eleventy billion times that we’ve tried every way possible when it comes to arranging the furniture. Except one , which I’ll tell you more about in a minute. :)

There’s a number of things we’re looking for in our new sofa – it has to be easily cleaned (I mean, with water and soap), comfortable, and oh yeah…EASILY CLEANED. :) That’s the biggie. It’s my biggest complaint with our current sofa.

At first we were looking into a Pottery Barn sofa with a chaise. My sis helped me out and did a quick count of the comments on the previous post, and 31 or so people LOVED their PB sofa. About nine did not. Funny how the negative comments make such an impact, eh?

If I remember right, the biggest complaint was that the back cushions get smooshed over time and end up…well…smooshed. I believe the PB folks suggest a fluffing ritual, but I know me and me would NEVER keep up with that. I know what I’m made of peeps. :)

I mentioned IKEA sofas as well, and about 24 of you loved your Ektorp sofas, and five weren’t thrilled. This time the negative reviews were more about general quality – some said they just plain didn’t hold up.

On a recent trip out to IKEA, I tested out the floor model, and crossed it off the list for comfort reasons only. If I didn’t sink into the model that thousands of people sit on a week, I’m guessing my tush isn’t going to sink into ours at home. :)

I would totally consider it for a less used space like our playroom though – the price, size and washable slipcovers can’t be beat!

So from there I did some more research – I went oh so many places and sat my booty on OH so many sofas. And then I found…the one:

It’s the Baldwin sofa from Arhaus. A few of you mentioned it and I had to check it out. We’ve had an Arhaus in Indy for at least five years now – probably many more than that. I’ve never stepped foot in the store before now, but as I mentioned before, this is not going to be a thrifty purchase by any means.

For the first time in seven years, we’re going to purchase furniture with cash, and it’s going to be a purchase we plan on keeping for (at least) the next ten years. Our other sofas have lasted about two years, at best, and we’re done with that.

And I gotta say…if you haven’t visited an Arhaus, you must visit just for the eye candy. Lordy, it’s gawgeous. SO many pretty things to look at, great decorating ideas, and plenty of knock-off projects as well. ;)

Anyhoo, the Baldwin had me at “washable slipcover” and I was a goner after I melted right into it – it’s that comfy. Oh my.

One little detail I’m looking for this time is a lower profile arm, and it’s got it:

You can see from the picture of our family room above that the current sofa’s arms take up about ten extra inches of valuable space in the room.

There’s also another option called the Lansbury:

It’s a bit more modern, a little more contemporary. But it doesn’t come slipcovered. I mentioned before that I really didn’t want to go with a microfiber, and I had two reasons for that – years ago when we tried them out we were nearly shocked out of pants. They were literally…shocking. :)

I’m also not in love with the way microfiber leaves imprints if you swipe your hand across it – you know what I mean? But I did find out that those two issues have be greatly improved on over the years, so I don’t think either would be an issue for me anymore – especially because they are so easy to clean!

So now there’s a few things to figure out – the first is how the heck to pay for it. ;) No really, it’s going to take months of saving, obviously. And we also need to make a decision on another big change in the room.

Last year I finally figured out a solution for the furniture placement. This is our current layout:

I used Homestyler to create this floor plan and I highly recommend it – it was SO easy, fun (and free!) to use.

It’s not perfect (I messed up the placement of the windows on this one), but it gives you an idea. Right now we have the sofa facing the corner fireplace, with the TV to the left of it.

My idea is to move the TV above the lovely Henredon (Craigslist!) dresser:

I was planning this before, but kept hesitating because the dresser that was there before (which is now in the Bub’s room) was just slightly too small – and moving the TV over there meant I’d have to lose my lamps. I LOVE those lamps. :)

The new dresser is super long, and the absolute perfect size for our TV and my lovely lady lamps. I have no idea how the TV will look flanked by lamps, but I’m hoping I’ll like it. Cause I LURVE.

Anyway, because our basement is unfinished, we can have all of our cable and surround sound stuff moved over to the other wall, which will free up the wall near the fireplace.

Initially we were thinking of a sofa with a chaise, and if there’s room, we’d add a chair next to the fireplace:

Moving the TV completely changes the orientation of the room. It makes it longer and wider, because in the past that area in front of the dresser didn’t really feel like part of the room.

Hubby’s only concern is that people may walk in front of the TV, but usually it’s just the three of us, so we figured it’s not a huge issue.

And yes, to watch TV, we’d have to sit turned a bit, but after some of my own private research over the past few months, I’ve realized we sit angled anyway. We gravitate towards the window end of our sofa and angle our bodies that direction.

So now I’m trying to decide if we should do the chaise, or go full-on sectional:

My only hesitation is putting a sofa in front of the window – I’m not avidly against it, but I’d rather not do it if I have the option. After seven years trying to figure out this room – I’ve realized there is no other option. :)

The pros: the sectional gives us so much more usable seating! (And no, the sectional can’t go the other way, longest part against the windows. Not enough room.) It still keeps the focus on the fireplace, but also allow for easy TV watching. It makes usuable space so much bigger – and with a slightly bigger rug (some day), it would be fantastic.

The cons: the sofa in front of the windows (which I think I could get over) and it may crowd the fireplace a bit. (It would be about three feet from the corner of the fireplace.) BUT, with the TV and stand gone to the left, it would open up the other side of the fireplace.

I’d love to be able to add a smaller chair and ottoman to the spot where the entertainment center is now – something thinner like this:

Or this (it rocks – literally!):

The chair would wait though – I’d need to live with the space to see how it worked out first.

So…two things I’m wondering about from you all – those of you with slipcovers, give me the pros and cons would ya? Love them or hate them? Do they always look messy? How often do you wash yours?

And I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether or not the Arhaus sofa is the same as the Ballard Designs Baldwin sofa. Arhaus and Ballard tell me no – but they have the exact same specificiations – construction, measurements, etc. Any insight?

Whew, you still with me? :) That’s where we stand now – no new sofa, yet. Lots of ideas swimming around in my head though. Honestly, at this point I’m hoping we’ll have a new sofa sitting in our family room by fall. Between saving and the time it takes to have it made, it will be (at least) that long.

Have I mentioned patience is not my strongest virtue? :)

 

P.S. I did a ton of research about what to look for in a quality sofa, and found this Good Housekeeping article to be the most helpful. The Arhaus option has won out for us because they incorporate so many of these recommendations.

P.P.S. And yes…we’ve tried arranging it that way. And that one. And…THAT one. :) We’ve tried it all.

Every once and awhile I like to pause and show you the “real” around here. Sometimes I show you in pictures, but today I also want to tell you how very much I don’t have it all together. :)

I’ve mentioned a few times that our house rarely looks perfect. OK, let’s make that never. Well, OK, maybe about five minutes before a party, but that’s it. So that would amount to about 15 minutes a year.

Fifteen minutes a year, it looks pretty darn fantastic. ;)

But the other 525,585 thousand minutes it’s just…normal. I’ve shown you our normal:

Uhhh…you don’t have a toilet seat sitting in your bedroom?

I was sitting in the office working on bills today, and this was my view:

Not awful, cause there’s a cute Bub smiling at me. ;) Just normal. This is actually pretty clean, really. The floor is cleared enough for us to walk through the family room.

What you can’t really see are the cluttered countertops, the island covered in shopping bags I haven’t emptied, two in-between projects on the windowsill (where else would I keep them?), the coffee table covered with toys and a pizza box. You can’t see the damaged spot on the floor, the messed up drywall on the ceiling from a leak in an upstairs bathroom.

I wanted to write this today because I neverevereverNEVER want anyone who visits this blog to leave feeling inadequate – that breaks my heart. But I certainly understand it -- even I read blogs and feel that green monster raising it’s ugly head. I wonder if the house is always that clean, the toys are always put away. How she does it all, with more kids, a bigger house, a full time job. And I’m lucky to keep one room completely clean for a day.

I’m here to inspire. I want to show you how you can transform your home and make it your haven. But I want to be real about it at the same time. Of course, I chuck the stuff out of pictures – and that’s just because I figure most of the time, you want to see pretty, not cluttery.

But beyond the not-always-perfect-house, I wanted to let you all know that there are so, so, SO many days where I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water – trying to do it all. Keeping the house picked up, let alone clean. Dealing with five animals – a fish, three cats and a puppy. Being a good Mom, an attentive wife, a supportive friend. And trying to post as much as possible here on my beloved blog, which has become my business. (Best. job. ever.)

At least once a week, I feel like an bad friend because I haven’t returned an email or a text or a phone call fast enough. There are days I walk into our house and just feel completely overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. Some days I wonder how it’s possible, as a stay-at-home Mom, I can’t keep our home and lives perfectly perfect all the time.

And then I’ll realize, yet again…dear LORD, it’s normal. As much as I want to do more projects and post more than I do, I choose not to. I don’t do it all – I don’t want to do it all. I crave a better balance in my life, but I’m guessing, hoping, praying this is normal? All mom’s feel that way at times, right?

But when I say I wouldn’t have it any other way, I truly mean it. Our sometimes messy home means I have a sweet four-year-old running around. It means I take time away from cleaning to work on a DIY project – my passion. It means I get to blog and share and write and (hopefully) inspire…as I am doing right now, with my feet propped up next to the pizza box on the coffee table. ;)

So I guess I just wanted to take a minute to say, I don’t do it all,  and sometimes I feel like I really stink at what I do do. :) But I love my life, all of it’s imperfections and messes. I’m just so completely happy to be doing what I’m doing. With the people I’m doing it with – including you all.

I wanted to let you know that. I never want you to think I’m capable of doing any more than you can do. I just show you the pretty more often than not, because for the most part, I like to see pretty on blogs and magazines and TV. I’ve got enough of the real at home. ;)

But I will keep showing you the messes here and there, cause it’s the truth. We’ve got the pretty and not-so-pretty around here, just like every home. :)

And I luuuurve it!!

Well, if spring isn’t going to show up, I’m going to WILL it here. I’m planting my herbs tomorrow (inside), I’ve refused to wear my coat for the past few days and gosh DARN IT, I am decorating for it.

And if you decorate for it, it will come. That’s my hope anyway. :)

I wanted to spring bling out our foyer and the first project was an easy one. The inspiration came from Pottery Barn:

Are you surprised??

Their mossy letters are about 20 inches tall and run about $80 each.

SHUT. UP.

Yowza.

Mine is 23 inches tall and cost me $7. Awww to the YEAH.

I already had one big part of this one project, so that helped the cost a bit. I made a fluffy green Christmas monogram a few years ago:

I unraveled the garland and used the honkin’ letter to create my new spring masterpiece:

You can get these cardboard letters in various sizes at Joann’s – I got mine years ago with a coupon so it was only $5.

For this project, I got a huge sheet of mossy stuff:

I got this at Joann’s as well – it was $15 but I had a 40 percent off coupon, and then another 25 percent off my whole purchase. Saawheet.

I used hot glue to adhere the moss to the letter, and kind of cut out the moss as I went. On the curves I cut it so it would fit against the sides flush:

I cut out little triangle shapes to make it lay flat, so I used those to fill it all in later. (You can’t even tell where I glued them on.) Then I trimmed it up and it was done!

Two things if you try this – the hot glue will bleed through the moss sheet, so watch your fingers! For reals. Yikes. And wow – just. WOW. This project is messy:

Thank you Mr. Dyson.

The mess was worth it though -- it turned out just as I had hoped!:

I hung it over the mirror, (with hot glue again) but it would also look fantastic on a front door! Because I was too lazy didn’t want to do the back, you could see it was unfinished when I hung it. I used some of that sticky gummy stuff (that you use to hang posters) to hold it to the mirror:

Ahh yes, much better.

I finished off the buffet by working (mostly) with items I already had. My friend Missy was so sweet and sent me some mossy rocks from the Dollar Tree:

I couldn’t find them at our stores and was thrilled when she found some for me!

I added a few to my iron candleholder from a recent thrifting trip:

I put a nest where the candle should go and perched a little bird inside.

Pretty bird. Yeah, pretty bird. (Name that movie!) :)

I put another nest (you’ll see this is a trend) under a small cloche and called it done for that side:

For the other side of the buffet, I used some Spanish moss under a cloche and nestled a small basket with eggs inside:

I am LOVING that Spanish moss! I’ve never used it before and it’s just beautiful. The little basket was a Pottery Barn splurge a couple of months ago – for $6. :)

I put some craft paper through our shredder to create another nest of sorts in an apothecary jar:

Hello?? Cauute and free!

The largest apothecary jar is filled with more Spanish moss, a small nest and more eggs:

ALL of these eggs were $4 at Joann’s last weekend!

My only purchases for this little vignette were the sheet of moss and the eggs:

I tried placing the three glass pieces on the left on a tray at first, but found I liked the simpler look of the glass on the black buffet:

I love it! Good thing too, cause knowing me, the eggs will still be out in July. :)

I was going for a springy moss look mixed with some glass sophistication:

All done in about an hour and with $10 of (new) supplies. Me likey.

Have you pulled out any spring decor yet? I don’t do much, but you really can’t go wrong with nests, eggs, some green stuff and a bird or two thrown in. ;)

I’m linking this up to my friend Kate’s spring party! (Late to the party as always.)

Thanks for all the great comments on my solution for our paper clutter! You can still enter to win the Sentry Safe here till Friday!