Sofa Musings

I've been wanting a new sofa for the family room for awhile. Here's a reminder of what we've got now...



We've had these two brown, leather monsters since 2005. They were six years old already when we bought them, so you could say they've had their day in the sun. I am so over them. Leather was a good choice at the time - it's durable and that's important when you've got kids. Which is probably why you'll think I'm crazy when I tell you that I'm head over heels for the idea of a white, slipcovered sofa. I love how bright and clean they look. But is it even possible to keep them clean? Don't worry, I asked myself that question and I did my homework. The answer is yes! There are tons of online reviews and blog posts about how much people *with kids* love their white, slipcovered couches. I mean, yes they're going to get dirty but you can wash them!! Here are a few of my white sofa inspiration photos....











Right now our budget is pretty tight, so we're looking at three different options - all of which are from Ikea. Here they are in no particular order:

Karlstad


I love the look of the Karlstad sofa, but the legs are a little cheesy looking so I'd definately want to change them. That's not such a big deal. The only thing I'm unsure of is if this boxier shape will work with our style? I did the matchy matchy thing for way too long, so I'm not trying to make everything "go". That's where a lot of rooms go wrong. But I do want it to make sense with our other pieces. If I had to give my design style a name, I guess I'd call it modern farmhouse. Not sure if the Karlstad is toooooooo modern?

Hovas


The Hovas sofa has a nice, classic shape and looks really comfortable too. I love the tailored skirt and the big back pillows. I'm not sure about the way the arm rests are set back further than the edge of the seat cushions though. You couldn't really lay back on them at all. On the other hand, it would make the sofa less intrusive which is what we're having issues with now. Hmmm.

Ektorp


I think everyone knows someone who has one of these sofas. The Ektorp is pretty popular. I love it's rounded rounded shape and like the Hovas, it has the tailored skirt. I feel like it would compliment the furniture pieces we already have. But is it too safe? I want something different than what I'd normally choose. Ektorp is pretty much the same shape as our leather monsters except it's not brown. Sigh.

See how hard this is? I've never been great at making decisions, but picking out a sofa is really hard. It's right up there with buying a car and getting married. Okay, maybe not as big of a deal as getting married but pretty close. You have your sofa for a quite awhile so you want to get the right one. I do know that right now I just want one sofa for the long wall. I can't decide if I'm going to get a big chair for in front of the window, two smaller non matching chairs or if I want to get a non matching loveseat. We'll worry about that after I figure the sofa thing out. At this point it might be never!

What do you think? Help a girl out! Which sofa gets your vote and why?

Work It Out

I'm in a huge rut. A work out rut. This happens to me every year around February/March and it sucks. It's cold (although not as cold as it could be), I'm tired, and I care way more about my next meal than I do working out. I have no idea why I have so much trouble staying motivated. I know how much better I look and feel when I exercise on a regular basis, but it's so easy to talk myself out of it. I mean, let's be honest. I just want to be able to bake and eat whatever I want, and look super hot and feel awesome without having to do any sort of moving around. Anyone else feel the same? I can't be the only one.



Last night out of sheer desperation, I sat down to rework my work out. I started thinking of some things that I love, other than food. And then it hit me. I need a playlist! Music can be a great motivator, so I started working on a pretty epic work out playlist. There are tons of great sites online with suggestions for songs to ramp up your exercise routine, so be sure to check those out. But I have to be honest and tell you some of the suggestions are lame. Come on, there are way better songs than "Let's Get Physical." I was able to come up with about sixty songs for my playlist! I pretty much covered it all - eighties hair bands, old school rap, new stuff, dance stuff.... you name it and it's on there. Hopefully this will keep me from getting bored anytime soon. Take a listen! If you like what you hear, head on over to itunes and download your faves. Be advised: some of these tracks aren't kid friendly, so put those ear buds in when you crank it up!! And if you beat me to it and already have a soundtrack for your sweat sessions, I'd love to hear what's on it!!!

Holy Crap, it's February?!

So I guess I took a little break from the world of blogging. Seriously, one minute it was Halloween and I turned around and it's almost Valentine's Day (check out my awesome playlist). How does that happen? We've been super busy around here with school, homework, jobs, dance, etc. And you know there's always a project (okay, three or four) going on. Here's what we've been up to around here:

Master Closet Reno - mostly done
Kid's Bathroom Reno - in progress
Stairway - DONE
Girl's Room - in progress
Guest Room/Second Family Room - in progress

We have crossed a lot of other things off the list!! Here are a few picture updates of what's mostly finished...

Master Closet Before:


Master Closet After:

We will have to find some more wall hooks, a mirror and some baskets or bins to hide some other stuff.... but it's so nice to have a place for everything! It is so much easier to keep organized. It's been several weeks and it's still not messy!!!

Half Bath "during"


Half Bath After:

It's super hard to get photos of this room since it's so small. But you get the idea!


Sink and mirror.... contemplating a little shelf for below the mirror.

Fireplace:

Still need to get trim on the columns. I am thinking about changing the mirror out for a bigger one? Not sure yet!

TV Shelf DONE:

We finally have a shelf in this little spot next to the tv! We still need to come up with a solution for the cords and I need to get a basket or something to put movies in.

Stairs Waaaaaaay Before:

I can hardly remember when this used to be a half wall!!

Stairs After:

Black and white finally done right!!!

We've accomplished a lot over the past few months! We're still working on the kid's/guest bathroom upstairs. I will definately be posting about that whole process and probably about the closet reno too!! So stay tuned... I promise I'll be back soon!!

Fall Is Here - Fall Mantle Decor

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the baking, the apple picking, the cooler weather, the leaves changing colors and Halloween. But my favorite thing about fall is decorating for it! I don't put a ton of stuff out, but I like to add a few touches around the house that look more fallish.

In honor of my favorite season, I thought I'd do a series on fall decorating in October. Today I'll be sharing some autumn inspired fireplace mantles. I know not everyone has a fireplace, but it's always nice to look at pictures of them right? Here are a few of my favorites from pinterest:


I realize that this is a piano - and a very cool, old white one at that - but this same look could be used on a fireplace mantle. I love the banners!


So spooky and old school. Love the black and white and silver!


Hit up your local thrift store or salvage yard for some cool, old shutters and you've got yourself an amazing looking Halloween mantle! I love how they hung them off balance.


Further proof that Halloween decor doesn't have to be scary!! I love this simple, black and white decor.


Really digging this perfectly balanced mantle in black.


A very fun, casual take on fall


More formal, but I love it


Who says you have to save all your bling for Christmastime?? LOVE this one!!

I hope you found some inspiration in those fun mantle photos! Here are a couple of shots of my fireplace mantle dressed up for Halloween. I will probably add a few white mini pumpkins, but for now this is what it looks like!!





Happy Fall!!! Stay tuned for some outdoor photos tomorrow!!

House Tour - Family Room Before & After

I think I'm finally done enough with my family room to post a few pictures of it. The pictures are terrible because it has been so dark and rainy outside today AND also because my camera stinks AND also because I probably don't really know how to use it very well. Now that I've gotten all those disclaimers out of the way, here is the family room before. And after.

BEFORE:
There wasn't anything wrong with the family room before. There were just too many colors happening. And it wasn't really our style. Here are a few before shots taken at different times. You can see we had carpet at one point. And the fireplace wall was open too!!











AFTER:


Neutral wall color, new pillows/art/rug. Looking for one more sofa pillow in the perfect apple green color. You can never have too many throw pillows! I'm also thinking some sort of ottoman or coffee table might be nice in here? But it might be too much....


We have so much more room with the television over the fireplace. We still plan on adding decorative molding to the columns and building a shelf over the components for more storage.


A view from the kitchen area


A tall bookcase houses baskets for dvds and magazines

And that completes our tour of the family room! We love the way it turned out. It matches our personalities and suits our needs perfectly just the way a family room should! Thanks for stopping by to check it out!!

Want to know where we got everything?? Here's a break down....

Paint - Benjamin Moore's 'Shaker Beige'
Sofas - Sam's Club (we'll eventally replace these but for now we're good!)
End Table & Bookshelf - World Market
Throw Pillows - various etsy sellers
Wall frames and ledge - IKEA
Area Rug - Target
'LOVE' print - MadeByGirl on etsy
Home print - FREE printable you can find here http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/05/filler-print.html

To Catch A Hamster

Cats supposedly have nine lives. How many, I ask you, do you think hamsters have? In our case, at least two. My kids' little hamster Lucy escaped from her cage in the night, ate mouse poison, got stuck to a sticky trap (DON'T even flipping ask) and lived to tell about it. Bad ass, right?

Just when we thought things were about the get boring (hahahahahahaha), she escaped again. We still have no idea how, but she did. We noticed she was gone Thursday night last week. We turned the entire house upside down looking for her furry little butt. No luck. I figured she was gone for good this time. But the kids put food out for her and in the morning it was gone. Sooooooo we knew she was still around.

After a couple of days of seeing absolutely NO trace of her, we decided to pick up a live mouse trap at our local home improvement store. It didn't work. She didn't go for it. Two days later, but still no hamster. Things weren't looking so good for Lucy.

And then just when we were about to give up, we came home this afternoon from running errands and who should we see hiding out behind the dryer but our long lost little hamster!! Thinking and acting quickly like Chris Hanson from "To Catch A Predator", Kevin grabbed a shoe box and sprung into action. WARNING: THESE NEXT FEW PHOTOS ARE VERY GRAPHIC AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN











Success!!!! We are happy to report that Lucy was apprehended quickly and that no hamsters OR husbands were harmed in the process. We have a new and improved, escape free cage where Lucy is now resting comfortably with her sister Fat Phoebe. Reunited and it feels so good!!

Abby's Room

I have been waiting to post photos of the kids' rooms because they're not really done yet. They still need quarter round for crying out loud! I'm constantly changing and adding to rooms anyways, so I figured why not post a few!! I have plans for these rooms as far as how to make them more efficient - think storage. But anywho, here is Abby's room. Her room actually used to be Ethan's room. We switched them around last summer because it made more sense this way.


Bad picture quality! When you enter her room, this is what you see... usually with more toys on the floor, but I just cleaned! :) I'm planning on adding a band of material to the bottom of the curtain panels that coordinates with her bedding. And we still need to hang some more things on the wall.




Her bedding is from Target and the headboard is actually from Walmart online. We got such a great deal on everything!! The entire room was themed around the stuffed monkey you see on her bed. The very talented Sarah Mock aka Odd Dotty made Molly Monkey for her birthday and she adores it. I am thinking of ditching the little bookshelf in between the windows and doing white, floor to ceiling built ins on either side of her bed. Maybe like this?

You know how much I heart construction. :)


Her dresser which is about to be painted white. She has her own bulletin board for photos and drawings. Notice the disco ball. ;) Dance parties happen in here quite often!!


The incredible wall of closets. Sooooooooooo not sure what needs to happen to make this better looking. I've thought long and hard about opening them up OR taking the doors off and putting curtains up instead. I thought about painting them a differnt color?? I don't know what to do. Abby's clothes, etc are in the closet on the right. Kevin's entire drum set is in the closet on the left. Dilema.

So that's my little tour of Abby's room!! Have you made any changes to your kids' rooms lately? How do you cope with storage/closet issues without making the room look too cluttered? I'm open for any and all suggestions! I need all the help I can get!!