Four Steps to Fixing Your Space

Y'all ready to start fresh?

I know I am!! I have been dreaming, thinking, and processing all week and I think I have a detailed enough plan for this little bloggy-blog of ours. I'm excited. I'm feeling inspired. I'm just hoping that between work, a baby getting ready to make his grand entrance, and everything else going on, that I have the time to stick to my plan!

Will you guys still stick around if my blogging becomes sporadic? Oh heck, who am I kidding...it already is!

Love me anyways? 

Ok? Ok. :)

Today's topic is a bit of design advice that I want to share with you. It is no secret around here, that I absolutely HATE our master bedroom. You may be wondering what the heck I'm talking about, but the hubs hears about it on a daily basis. I'm just not digging it anymore. The color is off. It feels too unfinished for my taste. It doesn't reflect out taste/style. It isn't romantic. bla bla bla.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't horrible. I just think we can do a lot better. I'm blaming it on a combination of nesting, feeling the best I have in my entire life, and a seemingly endless bought of energy--I'm ready to tackle this room. If this is what pregnancy is like, I will just plan to always be pregnant!!! Don't freak out Jonathan, you will get used to it! :) 

Of course, this is easier said than done. The reality of the situation is that this room, along with the rest of our house, needs some major work done to it. Eventually we have plans to gut our living room, dining room, kitchen, and entryway. We also plan on adding on the rest of our second story--think at least two more bedrooms and a bathroom. Finally, there may be a two-stall garage in our future--something that would be perfect to house all of the tools Jonathan uses for his business, all of our yard maintenance stuff, and maybe my car. 

But the reality is that those construction projects are a long way off. We have a plan to tackle those things after we pay off our house and we aren't going to get into that stuff today. Today is about our master bedroom!

So, what is one to do when there is no money to put towards changes, but the urge to fix something is overwhelming?

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Oh. You didn't? Well maybe you should have....cause I have some great ideas. Yea...you want to stick around for this!

Today I am going to share some of my thoughts on how to cost effectively tweak a space to your preferences. This is just a list of the things that I mentally go through before I start to change a space around. Next week I'm hoping to share with you some of the changes I made. I think you will see that even with no money, you can significantly change the feeling of a space. All you need is a bit of creativity.

Let's get started!

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How to tweak a room for little to no moolah:

Step #1: Take it all in. 

One of the biggest problems I see with some of the rooms in our house, is the lack of consideration for the 'big picture.' When I chose furniture, paint, a rug, etc for the room, I didn't consider what it may all look like together. So, when I decide that there is something about a room that is bothering me, I immediately take a step back. I analyze the space and try to determine what it is exactly that isn't quite right. Usually, it is a simple tweak that can make a world of difference, but I don't act on anything until I take the whole space into consideration.

Step #2: Start small. 

Don't stress out about changing everything all at once. Instead, start small. Try something, first, that doesn't cost very much. For instance, does the floor plan need to be changed? Would switching out or rearranging your accessories create the fresh new look you are going for? Can you swap a chair, mirror, rug, etc. from one room for one from a different room and get a more cohesive look? Try removing things and stepping back to see if that does the trick. This point of advice is all about not rushing into a change that will cost a lot or be made rashly. Sometimes all it takes is something small to completely reinvent a space. 

Step #3: Come up with a plan. 

Ok, so you have figured out what is bothering you. You've played around with the stuff in your space and pinpointed what you think needs to be changed. Now is the time to come up with a plan. If you are going to need to spend a few bucks on paint or a new piece for the room, make a plan as to how you are going to go about saving money, figuring out exactly what you would like, and where to purchase the item. If you decided that the floor plan for you room is driving you crazy, sit down and decide how a new one might look and be sure to MEASURE! If you want to switch out your accessories in one room, for those from a different room, go for it!--but maybe think about it for a second and come up with your plan for the new look. Coming up with a plan of how to execute things  can help you foresee any issues that may arise. 

Step #4: Execute with an open eye. 

With your plan in mind, execute your new ideas. But don't fall into the trap of sticking to your plan, if it doesn't seem to be working out. Go with your gut. If something doesn't feel right about the new furniture arrangement, try a different idea! Better yet, have a friend come over and help you--they may have a different perspective that you never even thought of! If an accessory just doesn't seem to fit in, get rid of it! Don't think that just because you have everything all planned out, that it has to end up that way in the end. Some of the best things I have done to our house have been on the fly. They come out of my willingness to try something out of the box or unconventional. Ironically, those are always the things that my friends comment on most when they come to visit. All that to say, decorate with reckless abandon :)

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So, stay tuned!  My plan is to walk you through these tips as I work on our master bedroom over the next few weeks. I can't wait to show you some of the ideas I have! 

A Fresh Start

I'm feeling the need to, sort of, start over.

In a sense, I'm thinking it's time to get down to this business of blogging, in a whole different way.

I have ideas...lots of them.

I miss writing about decorating and little projects that you can do around the house to spruce things up.

I want to do that again. 

I want to share with you cost effective tricks that will allow you to create the home you have always wanted. Let's see if I can do that, shall we?

To be honest, for the past few months, there just hasn't been the money to do projects. THIS IS NOT ME COMPLAINING. God has taught me a lot about myself in the last few months--mainly that I need to really have a better perspective on what my "needs" are. He has provided everything that Jonathan and I need, and then some. I'm still in awe of how perfectly He provided and still provides for us.  SO just because there wasn't any extra money around for house stuff, doesn't mean that a need of mine isn't being met.

In the words of Darius Rucker (tweaked a bit):

Cause I've got a roof over my head,
the woman man I love laying in my bed
And it's alright, alright
I've got shoes under my feet
Forever in her his eyes staring back at me
And it's alright, alright
And I've got all I need
And it's alright by me

But, I digress.

Moving on.

My amazing brother (miss you Parker!) once said that you don't need money to become successful. He instead stressed that it was all about having the right attitude.

A freakin' MEN!

Ok, so maybe I already knew this, but hearing it coming from him really hit home for some reason. Maybe it's because he is realizing this at the age of 21--and me being his older 'hem wiser 'hem *yea right* sister is still having a hard time grasping this.

Anyways, I then started thinking about the joy I get from decorating. I realized that the joy I have comes from creating beauty around me. God has created all human beings to intrinsically enjoy the beautiful things in life. Sunsets, the beauty of thick spring grass, tall trees, blossoming flowers...all of them created by God. Our earth was His perfect canvas.

Think about it.

I began to look around me. Our fixer upper...when we first started...was disastrous. I remember having some friends stop by when we were in the thick of things. Oh was it ever funny! You could see the looks of panic on their faces. I know they were thinking, "What the heck are you thinking?!"

But Jonathan and I pushed through the dirt and grime and found the diamond crystal in the rough. It doesn't gleam as brightly as a diamond quite yet. But with a bit of paint, some strategically placed furniture, and a few accessories here and there...it has turned into our house. A place that I truly love and look at as the biggest art canvas I own.

I am constantly driven by the need to surround myself with beauty and eye-catching things. Whether it be working on a document at work or decorating a room in our house, I feel blessed and most joyful when I can see the beauty in something. A perfectly spaced Word document, an aesthetically pleasing furniture arrangement, the perfectly contrasting art arrangement, the most wonderful shade of blue for our little one's nursery...all of these things make me so excited!

I know...you're thinking, "A perfectly spaced Word document?! You're crazy."--Yup. I have accepted the fact that I am. Deal with it. :)

I still see a lot of possibilities to what our space could become, but I also see what this space is now: our home. I have tons of plans, but they don't need to cost me an arm and a leg to implement. I'm starting to realize that with a little creativity, I can make those plans a reality. I don't need to wait to have the money necessarily, I need to have the right attitude and perspective. Beauty is everywhere, I just need to creatively capture it. 

SO

All of this to say, let's start over shall we??

Allow me to introduce myself...and a new blog of sorts. Welcome to Liz's new version of A Wife and Her Carpenter. A blog filled with practical ideas for your home and maybe a bit of personal stuff thrown in there. A blog that is a mash-up of everything that is beautiful, practical,  realistic, and totally brilliant ;) I mean...it's a blog about real life decorating.

Want to join me?

Let's do it!

A Conundrum.

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update.

But here is the thing. While I love blogging, I have been feeling a bit torn lately.

I originally started this blog to update family and friends about the renovations that we started doing on our tiny, little fixer-upper. Most of my immediate family lives across the country, my husband's immediate family is flung far and wide, and many of my friends from college/high school are also spread across a couple of countries. It just made sense to have one way for everyone to keep updated on all that we are doing. It was the easy thing to do.

As I continued to blog, I started having dreams of becoming the next YHL blog. I thought it would be so much fun to host a blog about decorating/renovating with a bit of personal stuff thrown in there. I also thought it would be really cool to maybe earn a bit of money off of it. After all, I LOVE writing and  could totally see myself blogging for a living. It would be perfect! So I started working towards that goal. I started posting regularly. I focused on doing projects that I could blog about and making it a point to sort of treat the blog like a job. That lasted for a couple of months.

But lately, I have transitioned to a different mindset. I started realizing, in my personal life, I was having a hard time dealing with blog-envy. I read fifteen or so blogs, on a regular basis, which all made money off of their websites. Soon I was lost in that dangerous world where you think everyone else has a better life than you. You read their posts and hear about their seemingly perfect lives and suddenly you are casting a view of self doubt on yourself. You see all the perfection in their lives and start to magnify all of the negative things in your personal life. You start to think, "If that person has time for all of that, I should be able to do the same!"

Expectations of one's self increase. Everyone else's life starts to look perfect. Self doubt starts to take over. Soon, the expectations you have on yourself are so high that no rational person could ever achieve them! Life becomes full of unrealistic goals and suddenly one becomes consumed with trying to be the perfect wife, friend, mother, daughter, etc. It is such an ugly path that social media seems to induce subtly.

See here is the thing: blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other forms of social media allow us to portray our lives in any way that we want to. Sometimes the bad comes out, but I would say that 75% of the time, we are bombarded with stuff that portrays a 'my life is better than yours' message. It may not be intentional, but that just seems to be how things work. Let's be honest here. We want the positive (and even the negative!) feedback. We need validation--whether it comes through the number of comments, likes, etc. Feedback, positive or negative, means that someone is paying attention to us. Someone "cares."

I don't want to be part of this. I never want someone to question their self worth or the beautiful life that God has given them, due to my blog posts or my facebook status'. My life is far from perfect. But, I love to focus on the positive in my life and try VERY hard to eliminate the negative thoughts and feelings that creep into my self talk on a daily basis. You can make a decision to let negative self talk consume you, or you can move on and give life to the positive things around you instead.  Abraham Lincoln once said, "We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

It is all about the perception you have. 

(I prefer to just focus on the top one ;) ) 

Trust me, this is something that is relatively new to me. I still struggle. But since I decided to work on my attitude and focus on the positive, things have completely changed! My relationships with people changed. I started having days filled with the beauty of God's blessings instead of focusing on the things that just seemed to always be going wrong. I realized that every day had blessings, I just had to be ready to embrace them. I went through my blog list and cleaned out those that really weren't encouraging for me. I changed some settings on my facebook so that I'm not receiving every. single. update. for all of my facebook friends. I just recently logged out of my Pinterest account and don't have any plans for signing back in anytime soon. I'm just going to take a break for awhile. I'm just going to try to focus on my life for awhile--looking for the positives and creating the positive.

So anyways, I'm off on a bit of a tangent....What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to be the reason for another's unrealistic expectations. I want my blog to be God-honoring. I don't want it to be a place for me to just show off all of my accomplishments. I want others to gain from it, not feel discouraged by it.

So thus is my conundrum. Where does my desire for blogging fit in to all of this?

I'm just not so sure anymore.

What do you think? I would love some feedback!!! :D

A Personal Challenge

We are all sinners right? We have all fallen short of the glory of God right? (Romans 3:23) 

Well, lately I have been feeling that God is calling me to work on my sinful nature. Maybe it's because of the new pressure of becoming a mom. Maybe it's because God has given me the strength to tackle one of my weaknesses head on. Maybe it's because I've started to notice the negative impact it has in my life. Whatever it is, lately I have really been working on my lack of self discipline. A sin that isn't so obvious all the time, but something that I struggle with constantly. 

There are two sides to self discipline. 

One side involves the ability to make yourself complete tasks. If you don't struggle with self discipline, you are able to accomplish things on a daily basis without struggle. You may not even think twice about doing something and just dive headfirst into the day's tasks. For me, everything is a challenge that gets categorized into easiest verses hardest. I may put-off a specific thing until the very last minute and avoid it like the plague. It's a problem because, often, when I finally tackle the "dreaded task" I realize that it really wasn't that bad after all and I've wasted a lot of valuable time and energy avoiding it. 

For instance, right now I'm avoiding making dinner (might I add, a certain dinner that has been on my menu for the past two weeks)...an easy task, but something that I don't care to do.

The other side to self discipline is the lack of ability to say 'no' to something. For me, this manifests itself in my eating habits. I can't say no. I always want what I shouldn't have and very rarely keep myself from indulging. This can also be known as gluttony--a frustrating sin to say the least. It becomes complicated because we all have to eat to live right? 

So lately, I have been working on the first side of self discipline. I have been making lists of things I  need to accomplish and forcing myself to do them. I'm not waiting until the last minute. If it's on the list for that day, it needs to get accomplished. This is helping. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. SO many things that I have been procrastinating on are getting done. It feels awesome. 

Next will come dealing with the second side of this sin I'm struggling with. I have no idea how to tackle my food issues when pregnant, but I'm working on a plan. I know it will be significantly harder for me to tackle...but I need to do this. I don't want our child coming into an environment where food is abused. I wish that I was able to work on this more before getting pregnant, but God's timing is perfect and I'm convinced that this pregnancy has given me a clearer perspective on my whole gluttonous situation. 

I see things differently.  

Now I just need to figure out how to act on this new vision. 

I'm so thankful to work on riding myself of these burdens. While I know that I will never be perfect and I'm sure I will continue to struggle with these things from time to time, I'm blessed and excited to know that God is fighting with me. Thank goodness for a Heavenly Father who has never let me go. I truly don't know how I would get through this life without Him. 

Little One's Nursery: Part 3 -- Paint!

Well, it has been awhile since I blogged about little one's nursery. When we last left off, we were talking about inspiration for a boy nursery and a girl nursery. After a hesitant ultrasound tech revealed that he thought we were having a boy, we decided to roll with it. Both of us felt, in our hearts, that is really was a boy...aaaand now we have another ultra sound to confirm it. 

Anyways, about two weeks ago, Jonathan did a whole bunch of work in the nursery while I was on vacation visiting my family in California. He is just so sweet isn't he?! It was wonderful to come home to most of the hard work done. We He still has a few more things to do, but it is definitely looking a whole lot better and different compared to this before picture above. 

Behold our paladian blue nursery: 

And check out the amazing ceilings that we decided on as our 'wow' factor. Don't they look phenomenal all whitewashed and with a bit of cove added to finish them off? Oh I cannot WAIT to get a light fixture up there!

Things are starting to fall into place for sure!

We still have a lot we need to do--buy a dresser, purchase decorations, figure out a rug--but I'm just happy to have freshly painted drywall in there. It means one more room is "crossed off" our to-do list.

I'm sure we will be back with more updates eventually, but y'all are going to have to be patient as we figure out and purchase the rest of the stuff we need. We aren't in any hurry ;)

What do you think of the color? I'm in love.

19 Weeks--This Pregnancy Thing is Awesome!

I officially hit 19 weeks today! I'm almost halfway there! This freaks me out a bit as I feel like this is all just flying by! I remember having this huge plan, before I found out we were pregnant. It involved all these projects that I wanted to do once I found out we were expecting. You know--weekly photos, fun crafts to do in preparation for the little one, a whole house organization plan, etc. But now, I'm almost halfway through and I'm realizing that I have done very little of these things I swore I would do. 

You know what, I'm OK with that. Instead, I have been indulging in sleep--because I won't get it later. Enjoying time with my husband and by myself--allowing myself to really let this soak in and enjoy it while I can. I have been finding fun recipes to experiment with--in hopes of having a go to list once the baby arrives. And slowly making a list of things to accomplish before little one gets here--things like making a couple of quilts, crocheting cute baby clothing, and a small list of stuff to organize around the house. 

Other than that, 19 weeks has hit and I'm feeling great! I feel better than I did when I wasn't pregnant! I have a decent amount of energy now--though I do have my moments, hence the extra sleep. My cravings are still there, but are easily managed with a week full of fun recipes to try. I have officially outgrown my pre-pregnancy jeans and now am wandering into the world of maternity jeans (blech!). I find that Old Navy maternity clothes seem to fit the best, but if it were up to me, I would stay in yoga pants and a hoodie all day.

As far as baby goes, I think I have started to feel little bumps and kicks. I'm still not sure, but I don't know what else it would be. They are just so subtle, and sometimes so few and far between, that I doubt if it really is little one moving around. I guess time will tell! Other than that, according to our sonogram on Tuesday, everything is great! Baby's heartbeat is where it needs to be, he is measuring appropriately, and he is breathing, eating, and peeing well! A mom can't complain :)

Now to be as patient as possible as the next 21 weeks go by!

The Big Announcement

Dear Little One,

At 6:30 pm, last night, we had our ultrasound to find out if you are a healthy 19 week old baby. And the good news is that you are perfect. The ultrasound tech said that whatever I'm doing, I should keep up, because you look fantastic. Your heart was beating around 150 beats per minute, your head size was on par, and you weighed approximately eleven ounces. He said that he could see you breathing, eating, and peeing. This made me ecstatic. Our healthy little baby. That is all I could ever hope for. I want nothing more than a healthy little one to be growing inside of me. 

Then I ventured the much anticipated question. 

The question that we waited all day to have answered. 

"So, is it a boy or girl?" 

He replied by saying, "Well I'm trying to figure that out. If you look at the screen the view we have right now is of the baby's butt. See the two legs sticking out here and how they are attached to the rounded area." 

Your daddy and I both voiced our understanding. 

I waited very impatiently for him to go on. 

Then, after what seemed like forever, he said, "Well it looks like a boy! I'm having a hard time getting a really good view. But, from what I can see, it looks like a boy!"

He continued to explain to us that he was about 75% sure that you were a little boy, but to remember that there is a definite possibility that you could be a girl upon delivery. 

Little one, it doesn't truly matter. You are healthy. You are growing as you should be. You are such a gift from our Heavenly Father, that no matter what gender you are, we will welcome you with open arms. 

As your daddy and I walked into the doctor's office last night, we both shared that we were mostly excited to see you. To see your little arms, watch your legs move around, and check out that adorable profile again. 

You are ours.

You are an answer to so many prayers.  

We will never take that for granted. 

Your mommy loves you and cannot wait to hold you. Keep growing little one and know that we are (not very patiently) waiting for you. 

Love, 

me