hello there, summer.

small and simple reminders...

This small and simple reminder is the lyrics to one of my most favorite songs, called "When You Come Home" by Mark Schultz. To me, it expresses how I feel about my children...and how I hope they feel about mom and dad and the place that we have created for us and for them.

I found a free chalkboard background on Pinterest, you could try this one: free chalkboard backgrounds

Then I saved it on my computer, then cropped it as a 11x14 photo on Pic Monkey Photo Editing Website of Awesomeness, to which I added the text and some flourishes. I just played around with the different fonts and layout until I liked what I saw. Then I sent it over to Costco, had it printed crazy fast, and then rushed home and hung that bad boy right up. I am not going to lie, I get all warm and motherly when I let myself look at it and really think.

Here is the song, if you haven't heard it.

Quote of the week...

Quote of the week...

Stair remodel and doggy gate.

Well, my reputation for not having good "before" photos remains intact. But please do note the lovely, soiled, worn down carpet. Is adorable, yes? The hubby says this picture isn't fair, because I took it after him sanding the stairs down for several hours a day. For several days. The stairs were covered in wall texture for eternity, which he sanded off and then used wood fill to cover the holes from "millions" of carpet tacks. The trauma from this step of the process has scarred him emotionally. Painted out in 5 coats of super duper high gloss white. All painted out with the gray that I agonized over. At one point I thought, "Wow. I have the luxury of stressing for days over a paint color." I went with Seal by Martha Stewart, because it had a brown cast to it, and I wanted something that would not seem too much of a departure from the oak floors. You can see that we added quarter round on the edges and sides of each stair tread. It honestly made a huge difference. It looks much more "finished" with this step. This is the dog gate that I talked The Hubby into making part way through the stair project. It is simply a smaller version of the screen pantry door he built a few years ago, and I absolutely adore it. If we want to make it a kid gate, all it would take is to have a hook and eye attached to it. Of course, we had to paint out the screen door to match. Don't they make a lovely pair? Here's a close up of the back of the gate. We attached the trim around the open screen part with Command Strips, so that when (and I do say 'when' and not 'if') one of our precious offspring breaks a hole in the screen, it is easy to un-velcro the strips and replace it. Another project complete. I wouldn't go back to carpeted stairs if you paid me. It isn't much louder to live with (yes, clomping boots up the stairs is somewhat louder, but not horridly so) and we do have to sweep the stairs every day, but it is totally worth it. Next project? The kitchen.