extra pieces

As you may have already read in this post, our spare bedroom is going to become a nursery in November so we have slowly been figuring out what to do with all the things we store in there and extra pieces of furniture with no home. And when I saw 'we" I mean "me" since all of my folded-in-the-dresser clothes were housed in the spare room in my dresser from my college apartment (and most of my hangup stuff was in that closet). 

the messy spare bedroom before all the moving around

To begin the clearing, I sold my beautiful Lilly Pulitzer comforter, recovered the upholstered headboard with a maroon sheet to use in Sawyer's room, promised my sister my white desk, and took down all my girly pink & green decor. 

Then I had to figure out what to do with my clothes. Knowing that I couldn't sacrifice an entire dresser full of storage for clothes, I convinced my lovely husband to paint the spare room's dresser & nightstand (since my little sister is about to move into a house with friends in Wilmington and could use our old nightstand) to match our current bedroom furniture and then just move both pieces into our room. 

the master bedroom

The dresser got tucked into the corner behind our door where we had a wicker love seat, that served as a storage spot for Josh's discarded clothes usually (the below picture is from when we first moved in, hence the over-the-toilet shelf sitting on the floor). 

I re-painted the pink and green knobs that were already on the furniture and just moved some pictures I already had on my nightstand and in the bathroom, painted a glass container to match the knobs and hung up a bird picture that had just been sitting in my closet needing a home. 

Sadly, as an idiot college student I threw out the handles that went with this dresser convinced I could find some cuter ones to fit. I was wrong. The holes on the dresser are a weird distance apart so in order to buy some handles to fit the drawers I would need to putty the existing holes and then have Josh drill new ones. That isn't going to happen (aka aint nobody got time fo' dat). So for now, there is grosgrain ribbon in the holes serving as handles. And yes, those are the throw pillow and shams stacked beside the dresser, because making the bed is hard.

You see that big strip of black fabric behind the nightstand? That's a blackout curtain that is literally thumb-tacked to the window casing. We already had the curtains from the hold house and I really need to recover them to match our bedroom (not to mention hang them) but for now, they are keeping the room sun-light free in the mornings and that's all we need. 

I am so pleased with how the dresser and nightstand came out (and extra pleased that I wasn't the one who had to paint them). Now we have more or less cleared out the spare room, the fun crafty things for the nursery begin!

Naked Porch

This past weekend was spent introducing my girl Kate to Hobby Lobby (love at first sight, of course) and being as lazy as possible. And thanks to another sinus infection (because it can't be fall/winter unless I get at least four or five), it was just just what the doctor ordered, literally.

Since I was being lazy, I also found several projects that I want to do around the house on Pinterest.

With all the Christmas decorations gone, my front porch has looked exceptionally naked.

I loved how my porch looked with something on either side of the door and I am thinking that some lanterns would look great there, like they do at this house (except without the Christmas garland and such):

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But since lanterns that tall are super expensive, I think I would need to add a table or something underneath smaller lanterns to raise them up a little. I really would like to recreate the planters holding the topiary trees that are pictured below except enclosing the top and with a larger monogram, maybe in the same color purple as my front door? Then fill in the empty space with some greenery & hydrangeas

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Thankfully, this coming weekend I am making a trip to Raleigh to spend some Carter's Cash (Sawyer's birthday is in less than a month!) and visit my best friend Hope. There is a Home Goods and a TJ Maxx right next to the Carter's store so I do believe I will be making a stop to hunt for some cheap lanterns like the ones below:

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In the mean time, I am making a new wreath for the door like the one I made before (but had to auction off for Relay instead of keep). See that tutorial here.



I also want to do some galvanized buckets or planters with our house number and "The Edmondson's" on the front steps. I love the examples below and think I could easily re-create them!

except in the same color as our front door?

How do you decorate your front porch or front door?

brag letters

I don't know about all of ya'll but every year around Christmas I can hardly wait to go through the Christmas cards at my parents' house from some of their friends to read the brag update letters that are sent along with some of the cards.

Some of them are truly nice update letters about what is going on in that particular family's life and exciting things they've done that year while others are about how their kids are better than your kids, their vacations are divine and how they had a personal massage session with a famous person (okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but you get the gist).

Well this year, I decided to send out a letter with our New Years Cards (which I totally need to send out...) that is about stuff that happened this year. The main focus of the letter needed to be that we moved and why we moved and such, so I tried my hardest to make it not be a "brag" letter...

Here's our card (with a few edits to protect some stuff):

and our letter:

We’ve had a busy, busy year in the Edmondson household!

Sawyer turned one in February and seems to grow a foot each day. He thoroughly enjoys anything having to do with Old McDonald, farms, or animals and is usually singing “E I E I O” as often as he can. Santa brought him a tool bench, kitchen set, and grill so he is cooking and working up a storm.

Josh was named the new Planning Director for _______in September and is adapting well to his new position. Because of his new title, the family had to relocate to the ____city limits. We were so blessed (and surprised) when our home in Macclesfield sold exactly four days after the “For Sale by Owner” sign went up in the yard. While we hated to leave the home that we spent so much time renovating, we found a beautiful home in _____that also recently underwent an extensive remodel and we are already settled in to life in “the city”.

Lauren is still at ______________ serving as their Communications & Community Relations Coordinator. Her favorite part of the move into town is getting those extra 30 minutes of sleep in the morning! Her second favorite part was of course getting to craft and decorate the new place.

Lauren and Josh still enjoy tailgating and attending ECU football games in the fall (thanks to both sets of grandparents who are happy to watch Sawyer on those days).

We hope that 2013 is full of more blessings for our family, as well as for you and yours.

Wishing you a wonderful new year,

Josh, Lauren & Sawyer Edmondson

What about ya'll do you have those letters you look forward to reading each year to see just how "braggy" some people can be?> 

Decor Amour: Part 1.

When I discovered we had to move for husband's job, the feature that excited me most wasn't the bigger size of house we would be getting, or being closer to work (and more importantly, Bojangles), instead I was most excited about getting to decorate a new house!

Thanks to Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and spray paint. I re-decorated on a budget and I love the results.

Here are a few shots of the entry way at the new place...

as you can kinda see, my little silver tray on the table has become the drop-off point  for keys, wallets and etc.

by spray-painting old frames, printing out that little "Edmondson" sign and modge-podging it onto an old piece of wood and printing out some printables I made, this was a pretty cheap little entry way. Also, you can see my DIY Initial Art post here.

Directly to the left of the entry way is the living room and a little wall between the living room and play room, where I put some of our wedding pictures.

Then we move on to the living room..

The only new things in the living room are the chairs and couch (Hardees Furniture), green lamps (Target) and silhouette art (DIY project). I spray-painted existing picture frames, then brought the shelf from over our fire place in the old house to put over our new couch, and used our end tables and other furniture from the old house.

Then... there's the other corner of the living room.... that I definitely haven't unpacked. But I have a good reason: we plan on putting the Christmas tree there. And lord knows I don't want to unpack all the books that are filling those gray totes then have to pack them right back up.

Monday, I'll share my favorite room.. the kitchen!

#movingproblems

I am not a champion mover. I've only had to really move one time (unless you count moving to the dorms then moving to/from apartments three times). That being said, I am not claiming to be an expert on moving issues, but here are a few suggestions that I learned while moving recently.

1. Label your boxes on the top and the side.
When your boxes are all stacked up in the moving truck or car, you won't be able to see the tops, so for easy organizing and unpacking, label the sides too.

2. Use plastic storage totes instead of boxes if you can.
We were blessed that the finance director at work had recently moved using big plastic totes and bins, so we just used hers. They were awesome - durable, stackable, and didn't need tape.

3. All those hanging clothes? Just throw them in the backseat of your car.

Seriously, I just wrapped them in a garbage bag, pulled the hangers through and hung them across my backseat. So much easier than taking each one off the rack and packing. 

4. Leave your clothes in your drawers.

Yes, it may be a little more leg work when you get there, but just take your drawers out, pack the dresser in the truck, put the drawers back in and either wrap the dresser closed with that moving plastic or just put a blanket around it and something else close to it. Then when you get to your new house, you can just take the drawers out, move in the dresser and replace the drawers. 

5. Don't pack up your sheets and blankets. 
You may need them for the move to protect your dressers, tables and such.

6. Try to pack a little at a time.
Do not try to make a marathon of it. If you decide okay, today I will get all the fine china and kitchen stuff packed then tomorrow I will do the bedrooms, life will be a lot less hectic.

I promise to post some pics of our house now that we're all moved in and almost done decorating!

bittersweet move

We packed up all of our things Saturday and slept at my parents' house Saturday and Sunday and will be tonight too before the big move tomorrow. So, Friday night was my last night in our first home.

The house where I started my life with Joshua as a married couple. 

The house I painstakingly worked and worked over to transform it from my Mammy's place to our home. 

(read about there here – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7)

The house that I brought Sawyer home to for the first time.

And yes the home that I totally blew my knee out (and ended my flowering football career obviously) fixing.

Not only did it hold a lot of sentimental value because of it being our first home, but also because it was the house I spent many a Christmas in with my whole entire family when my great-grandma "Mammy" was alive and well. 

It the house we came to as a family when my great-granddaddy died in 1993 and where we gathered once again when Mammy passed away in 2009. 

I am so happy that the house is going to a great couple, and I am more than excited about our new home. But at the same time it's a little bittersweet.

I probably won't be posting much this week as I will be elbow-deep in all our stuff and trying to set up our new place in 2 days (the only time I could get off). So prayers please and see ya'll soon.

Packing: a tragic story of a family and all their crap

We have too much stuff.

that is just kitchen stuff, books and movies in the 6 totes you see on the right, not picture are three others on the other side of the dining room table which hold all my wall decor and more kitchen mess.

I realized this while I was attempting to pack up our kitchen Saturday. 

Why didn't I just exchange some of our wedding gifts when I had the chance? What normal family needs 13 mixing bowls in a variety of materials (plastic, glass, metal , ceramic...)? And also, why did we even move half of the crap from Josh's apartment when we moved into our house? Mismatched coffee mugs, chipped glasses and an entire drawer of cutlery from his college place that we don't need? 

Also discovered? Wine glasses I didn't even know I owned. 

So, that being said, I now intend on using this move as a way to clear out some clutter. Donating a bunch of our non-used kitchen items to the migrant program that is part of our school system and moving a few things to lower shelves in the new kitchen so I actually use them. 

Any advice on making the moving/packing process easier?

I can't wait anymore

As I mentioned in this post, we are moving just about 20 minutes from our current house to live in town where Josh is now working as part of his job requirement. I was going to wait and talk about the house when EVERYTHING was done (appraisal, inspection, closing..) but I am way too impatient to wait. 

So, here we go...

as I said, that door will be dark purple. 

I think my favorite part is that this house, like our old house, has old bones with upgraded qualities. Here's a shot of the house before a local contractor purchased and re-modeled it that I found on Google street view. 

see what a front porch, landscaping and shutters can do?!

It has all the requirements I was looking for and I am so, so ready to move in and start our new life there. Here's a little tour of our new place!

When you first walk in the front door, there's a living room on the front..

which opens into my favorite part of the house.. the kitchen!

The contractor also added a great garage and laundry room on the back, which includes a nice pantry too!

Then through the other door in the kitchen there's a second living room, which like I said yesterday, we'll be using as a rec room of sorts where Sawyer can play and I'll keep my desk. 

Through that door on the right (or just through a little short hall in front of the front door) is the long hallway holding the two bedrooms on each side the guest bath with the master bedroom "suite" at the end.

guest bedroom

Sawyer's room (and you can see the corner of the garage through the window)

guest bathroom

one end of the master bedroom

the other end with the sink in the room with the toilet and shower through one door and the closet on the other side

close up of bathroom counter and mirror

Josh's favorite part....

We close the day before Halloween, the exact same day as we close on our house we sold! So it is going to be a busy, busy fall folks!

Oh, How Pinteresting: Play Room

I am linking up with Michelle @ The Vintage Apple for "Oh, How Pinteresting"...

First of all I mean a legit children's play room, not like Christian Grey's play room (or red room of pain), so get your minds of out of the gutters ladies ;)

In the new house, Sawyer will have a play room, basically because we will have two living rooms - I think one is supposed to a "formal living room", but let's be honest... me and Josh aren't formal. So I have been trying to find ways to make this room...

yep, that's another sneak peek at our future home

... into a kid-friendly play room.

First step: Make the fireplace not so dangerous by making a colorful cushion for the length of it. Thank God for Clever Faeries and their fireplace cushion tutorial.

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Except in a more kid-friendly pattern like this:

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Second step: Store excessive amounts of toys. 

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that is just three bookshelves and a cushion between! How cute is that?
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Third step: make a place for Sawyer to color and sit

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Final step: Make this thing now that I will actually have room for it!

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What are you pinning this week?