{our home} home made lovely

Happy Friday!

Today I am taking readers for a tour of our home over at life made lovely!

I feel very honored to be a part of Heather’s inspiring home made lovely series.

So, go check check it out!

home is…sharing our home.

{in the garden} april

The saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” right?

Well, the showers started today after beautiful warm weather at the end of March and the first few days of April.

And, we already have some flowers.

Tulips.

Daffodils.

Mint.

Fiddleheads.

Hydrangea.

Daisies.

And, strawberries.

The back yard is beginning to come alive, too.

Raspberry and blueberry bushes are beginning to get their foliage.

The ground is sprinkled with wild cherry blossom petals.

My makeshift potting bench from our old picnic table.

Tilted pots inspired by Pinterest.

Pansies around the fire pit.

This is what the kids were doing when I was taking photos.

home is…new growth.

{our home} love

Just a few pics of our home decorated for the holiday of love.

And, the winner of the giveaway is Emily!

home is…love.

christmas unwrapped

I haven’t had the words to write lately.

I haven’t even taken as many photos as I would have liked, but I soaked up the holidays.

snow

christmas program

Lorelai didn’t want to stand up on stage and sing with her classmates.

Reece was an “old pro” as a kindergartner. He nailed his lines, kept his costume on, and even sang a little bit!

santa at playgroup

Reece brought a handwritten note…

and necklaces that he made especially for Santa.

Lorelai was brave and sat in his lap and told him she wanted a princess watch and a sleeping bag.

After eating and drinking, we went caroling…a new favorite tradition!

our home

And, just like that, it’s over.

Bittersweet.

Ryan and I decided that we need to have something to do on Christmas Day after the presents are opened.

We’re thinking of heading up to the mountain for some fun in the snow next year!

What do you do on Christmas Day?

home is…Christmas wrapped up.

{our holiday home} sneak peek

When we get a sunny day {so my photos won’t be dark} I will take some photos of our home decorated for the holidays.

Until then, here is a sneak peek…

My mom painted that bowl…isn’t it amazing? She needs to open an Etsy shop for all of her paintings, right?

I haven’t been doing a traditional green and red christmas the last few years…just lots of color!

I make ornaments for the family every year…this year it’s stamped salt dough!

My little elf likes to help me decorate.

Just subtle this year, but enough to make it feel like Christmas.

home is…merry and bright.

happy…

Friday.

Weekend.

November.

I’ve been trying to write this post for the last couple of days, but for one reason or another got sidetracked.

An awesome workout got in my way.

Then my computer did not want to work.

Lorelai got snuggly.

She fell asleep on the way to pick up Reece.

Errands had to be run.

Dinner had to be made.

Furniture had to be moved for carpets to get cleaned.

You know, normal stuff.

I went wine tasting with girlfriends last weekend.

The Willamette Valley was beautiful.

The wine was good.

The company was unbeatable!

I’m happy Halloween is over. I just didn’t get into it this year.

I love the pumpkin patches and fall, but Halloween just wasn’t a big deal to me this year.

However, I was thrilled that the kids decided to go with classic costumes…all their own idea!

The downpour that had been going on for two days stopped right after dinner and the skies cleared for a beautiful evening. Trick or treating was short lived as our ghost had trouble seeing and walking, but he was a trooper and decided that handing out candy (and eating candy) at home was a lot of fun, too!

 

The witch collection is put away and I will do a bit more rearranging and organizing before I get the Santa collection out.

 

I’ve started running again and it feels good.

Nothing crazy, but I am following the “Ease into 10K” app on my phone and it gives me a goal to reach for each run.

When the weather is nice I have been running outside and pushing Lorelai in the BOB. When Reece was her age I was still doing Stroller Strides 3 times a week and pushing BOTH of them! She is so happy sitting in the stroller, taking in the sights, and talking to whatever stuffed animal friend she brings along.

 

 

When I’m not wearing my running shoes I’ve got my boots on. It is definitely boot weather around here. My Frye’s and Hunter’s are my favorites. Lorelai loves the red cowboy boots I found at the Farm Chicks Show in 2011!

 

 

This is what November looks like in our backyard. It’s a little neglected, but still beautiful. My happy place.

 

 

When we are inside we are spending time learning, playing and growing.

Both kids love writing and drawing.

Our vintage books are always fun to look at and read.

I think I need to sign Reece up for more climbing classes.

Lorelai is my snuggle bug.

 

 

 

In Oregon, everybody votes by mail.

It makes it easy.

I voted.

 

 

I have added some fun vintage items to the shop.

Some of them are perfect for Thanksgiving.

Go check them out!

 

 

And, last, but not least…

 

 

I’m having fun with the vintage flash cards I have found and will be adding some flash card items to colton+cadence soon!

home is…finally getting this post done.

collecting

My name is Stephany, and I am addicted to thrifting.

And, collecting…

Vintage globes.

Vintage Pyrex.

Vintage toys.

Vintage scales.

Vintage map puzzles.

Vintage games.

Vintage thermos’.

Vintage children’s books.

Vintage school chairs and desks.

Vintage suitcases.

Vintage paint by number artwork.

Vintage afghans and quilts.

And my newest obsession…

Vintage flash cards.

I’ve got some fun ideas for these. You can see some of them on my thrifting Pinterest board.

home is…collecting treasures.

{our home} mad for plaid

One of the things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is that fall lingers.

The first signs start to show in September…apple farms, cooler nights, shorter days

October brings changing leaves, boot and sweater weather, and pumpkin patches.

Wait…it’s not over!

The leaves still change color well into November until the rain settles in and our thoughts change to winter on their own.

Given this fact, the quilts and afghans we used for picnics and outdoor movies during the summer have found their place in our home for use everyday…and I was inspired.

Specifically by the plaids in the quilts…probably somebody’s old ripped shirt that could no longer be worn.

I thought about making some pillow covers out of thrifted plaid shirts, but wasn’t having any luck. The shirts were too expensive (i.e. one shirt could cover one 20″ x 20″ pillow, but the shirts I liked were all $13-$19).

Then I searched the internet for pillows, but just couldn’t find something I liked.

Then, I went to Target yesterday. I found two large plaid pillows and thought, “Perfect,” but they were $30 each.

So, I wandered…thinking about my options…and stumbled onto some woven throws on clearance for $8 each. I figured that even if I could only make one pillow out of each throw that I would still get each pillow for only $8, but they weren’t plaid.

I bought five of them and was on my way home when I figured I should just stop in at the fabric store and see what they might have.

Plaid flannel was on sale for 50% off!

I found five patterns I liked and bought one yard of each.

We had 10 forms to cover.

I covered them all and have lots of scrap for more projects…

Our family room is ready to keep us warm through fall and winter.

In the end, I got 10 pillows for the price I would have paid for the two I saw at Target!

I have plenty of fabric for more projects…maybe something for colton+cadence!

home is…letting fall linger.

dr. suess inspired vintage school map

I recently found a vintage school map of Asia.

I love the look of the map, but have no particular attachment to Asia, so I thought I would get crafty.

I found this font online and downloaded it to my computer.

I typed out the phrase I wanted to use and enlarged it to 650, so there was one letter for each page.

I chose some pretty paper from a new scrapbooking pad I got at Michaels and printed the letters.

What do you think?

home is…inspirational words.

the un-dining room table

Thrifting, my new favorite past-time, has led to some fun changes in our home.

Last week I gave a preview of our un-dining room and promised to fill you in on where the table and chairs came from.

Well, here is the story of the table.

I have wanted a round table for the dining room for a while.

I did my research online and figured we could get a decent round table for $500.

Yeah, $500.

Without chairs.

I wanted something solid, all wood, that could hold up to the kiddos.

I also wanted it to have leaves so we could extend it for use when we had more than our family over for dinner.

One Saturday early this summer I took Lorelai to Goodwill…on a whim.

We did our usual route…looking for Pyrex, globes, and other fun stuff.

Then I made a spin through the furniture when I heard over the PA that all furniture was 50% for another 4 minutes.

That’s when I found it.

My round table.

Solid wood.

Two leaves.

And, a bonus…four chairs!

It was priced at $59.99.

Less 50%.

That made it less than $30!

I jumped on it…especially when I saw another lady eyeing it.

I texted Ryan after I left and said that I would need to use his truck to pick something up at Goodwill later that afternoon.

This is what I brought home.

Ryan might have been a little shocked, but I had a vision…for the table.

I promptly started to sand the thick speckled finish off the oak.

Every chance I got I would head out the the garage and sand.

I took all the pieces apart.

More sanding.

More sanding.

More sanding.

Until it looked like this.

Then I started painting the primer on.

Multiple thin coats.

After it was primed I put the base back together and painted.

Multiple thin coats.

I had help.

I would let each coat dry completely and then add another coat…alternating between working on the base and working on the top.

This was after one or two coats.

I’m not sure how many I actually ended up applying.

Sometimes I would just hang out and watch the paint dry.

Eventually, it started looking good.

I brought it inside and put a couple coats of paste wax on it.

This is what we ended up with.

I’m pretty darn pleased.

I love how the wood grain shows through.

You’ll notice we aren’t using the chairs.

They are currently in storage.

Anybody in Portland want them?

I’ll give you a good deal.

The story of the chairs will come soon.

Stay tuned…

For the record, I saw this table in the most recent Restoration Hardware catalog…

Source: restorationhardware.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

It’s $995.

home is…a little bit of do it yourself.