A Vintage Christmas

Everyone needs a white Christmas tree. Just my opinion, really.

But, ain't it so cute?

The ironic thing is that we bought all of these old ornaments at a garage sale. A garage sale in Shelton. We didn't even live in Shelton, nor had ever entertained the notion that we might someday live here. We were visiting my in-laws and we just happen to like bargains. We spent probably $3 on the ornaments. I LOVE me a deal!

Sweet little handmade doll. Tacky plastic ornament. So cool.

Cute, and kinda kooky, little choo choo.

Vintage glass balls in apothecary jars. I like apothecary jars. A lot.
I finally got around to papering the back of my hutch. I found this damask paper in the dollar section of Target and I think it looks FABULOUS! Thanks to Colleen, my fellow bargain-lovin' friend, for the tip!

I like it so much, I may keep it up all year. Or, maybe just a loooooong time, 'cause it was a pain in the patookie (whatever that is) to put up.

Bling for the drawer.

Found these glass door knobs at Anthropologie for 10 bucks for the pair. Did I say I LOVE me a good deal?Happy Christmas!

~ christa jean ~

DECOR8!

I would have to say that decorating is on my "top five" list of things I love.
That list would probably look something like this:

1. God
2. Husband
3. Family
4. Decorating
5. Baths

Hmm... there's no room for sushi in that list. Or friends. Or sushi with friends. Might have to tweak it a bit.

Anyhoo, here's a few more pics for ya! You could call this our "New House Tour."

{The Master Bedroom}

This mirror used to be gold, but I have a secret (or not so) love affair with spray paint and couldn't resist. I think the new dark teal colour is fabulous. Of course, the picture doesn't show the true colour. It looks black.


The bed. I guess I like throw pillows, because every chair and empty surface in my house has a pillow on it. The pillows on the bed are not complete yet. Mainly because I found what I thought to be a set of king sized shams at Ross. When I got them home, it was one sham. What a shame! I really like that sham! It was on clearance, so I called back at the store to try and locate the match. Nada. Tried another Ross nearby. Nada. Commenced searching online. Nada yet. But I will persist. I know it's kinda silly, but I just want one room to be finished! I did score on the shiny pillows in the foreground. I found two of those pretties at the GW for six bucks each. They still had the "Linens and Things" price tag on them. Can you believe they were marked at $39.99?

I've had my eye on these velvet shades at IKEA for a while now. Wasn't planning to buy orange. Wasn't about to pay thirty dollars for them either! But last visit to IKEA yielded great reward. We had a credit there and were able to get a few things. These shades had been clearanced down to $15! The orange ones wanted me to take them home, so, I snatched em right up.

This goofy fake palm tree has traveled from house to house with us. We shuffle it from room to room, hoping it will fit somewhere... but it may be time to say goodbye. Sniff.

The baby snuck into this photo. Love him!

This pillow is another score from the GW and, at first I thought it was UGLY. It kinda looks like someone's macrame' project from the 7o's. I tried to walk away, but I couldn't escape it. Now, in my room, it reminds me of the sun rising.

The seven year old (WHA?!) snuck into this photo. She is never far from the baby.

{The Living Room, Part 2}

My living room is slowly but surely feeling more put together. This arrangement is directly facing the front door. We painted the table and mirror to match. I had intended to hang that plastic chandelier in the girls room in our last house, but never did it. It had pink "crystals." I decided to unstring the pink crystals and spray paint them the same dark teal/peacock colour that I used in my room.

Dried hydrangeas from my Mom's yard. Glittery pumpkin from a sweet friend. I like bling!

A closer look. Again, the photo is not showing the true teal colour. Humpf!

Another sweet deal from IKEA... the rug. It was on clearance also, and for its size, it was a fabulous price. See the new pillows on the couch? They are actually a midnight blue and ONLY five bucks! I love deals! And pillows! We sold the blue swivel chairs and just threw some faux fur over some old wooden chairs from my grandparents. Not the most comfortable, but will do for now.

Pretty rug.

Another girlie snuck into my photo. This one has dimples! The silhouette in the background is my seven year old again. I love that she has stepped up and is now my dish washer!

I really debated about the rug because of this patterned loveseat. But after a day of doubting my creative eye, I decided I was gonna just go with it! Be bold! The colours are almost the same and the patterns complement each other. The pillow was made by my sweet sewing sis and I LOVE it! That mix of patterns is perfect, in my opinion. Pair a floral or organic pattern with stripes. It always looks good. In one of my design magazines recently, I read that every room should have one spot of black. Hmm... the black glitter pumpkin and my stripey pillow will do.

Thanks for joining me for another tour!

~christa jean

Long time, no see!

I've been putting off posting for a while now, not because I don't have anything to say, quite the contrary! I have TOO much to say and TOO little blogging time.

Since my last post, I had a baby. Yay me! Hence, the other reason I've been procrastinating. I wanted my first post back to be his birth story, but, alas, every time I think about sitting down to pen it, I get lost in thought about it all. I am still processing the whole experience.

So, as I drag my feet on that, let me just give you some photos to browse.


Here is the newest little man, born at... honestly, I don't remember what time, on August 27th (four days after my birthday, what a treat!). He was 8lbs, 13oz. and had a big noggin!

Welcome Baby Isaac!

They come out of the womb with such razor sharp little nails! Poor little face! But pretty blue eyes. Hope they stay that way!

Baby Bros. Big brother is very protective of him, but tries to pick him up when I'm not looking. So, I look.

Here he is, chillin' to tunes on Gracie's keyboard.

Now we come to some randomness. I look at these photos and chuckle. This is what you do when you are SOOOO done being pregnant. You paint random objects about the house. At least, that's what I did.

We found this chair at the GW years ago. I thought it might need a little "livening up."

This is the color I was gonna paint in our master bedroom. Decided to try it on a chair instead.

I don't much love the finished product, although, I think it's unique and even a bit whimsical. I have a pearlescent glaze I may paint over the aqua... not sure yet.

This cute towel stand was originally black (drat that I forgot to take a "before" shot!). I like it much better white. And I *heart* spray paint! It makes me happy.

I used these pom poms at a baby shower and then decided they would be super cute in my girls room. Makes the ugly ceiling light almost unnoticeable. Fist pump!

My youngest two girls sleep on the bunks. They each got to choose their own comforters from, can you guess? IKEA, of course.

This is my oldest's sweet bed. Can you tell that the walls are pink? I chose a pink that almost looks white. Love it! Still pondering what to put on the bare walls.

We finally got our "gallery" started in the hallway. Still waiting on the boy's photos.

Here is another paint project that I neglected to take "before" pics of. It was black, much cuter as white now.

Pour me some cold milk and give me a brownie. Perfection!

We bought this island at IKEA as well. The front is super cute, with lots of white drawers that, now, I'll have to take a photo of.

Here's my Hunka Hunka Husband attaching the top of the bar. I love him to bits.

I think I'm gonna paint the barstools something unexpected. Maybe cobalt blue.

The finished product!

This is me, right before baby was born, very large and too tired to put make-up on.

I am trying to model this new hairstyle that my sis showed me. My husband said I look like Pocahontas from the 70's. Not sure if that's a compliment?

This hairstyle is super easy. Just pop an elastic head band on top of your partially dry hair, all hippie like, then begin twisting portions and tucking them into the band, pulling them down under. It's best to twist away from your face. Wrap all the way down to the back and let dry. I braided the rest of my hair so that it would have that twisted look also.

The back looks like this! It's even cute enough as is to go out in public.

Couldn't get a great shot of the finished result (you know, the old "taking pictures of myself again" routine), but trust me when I say, it's an easy do that gives you flirty waves!

And that's that for now.

Be back soon!

~christa jean

Transforme

We have lived in our new house now for just over a month. In that span of time I've unloaded millions of boxes (more like 160 or something), while filling up more boxes for a G-sale. I've found that I kept too much stuff. Time to simplify!

I've also painted four rooms (with help!), ironed seven sets of curtains, organized (and re-organized) twenty kitchen drawers.

I have probably had a dozen meltdowns, mainly because, my house is in process.

Seems to be a sloooooow process.
Isn't that just like us? We are being changed from "glory to glory", only, I seem to be so impatient. I want it done NOW!

Take a tour with me through some of our house "process" and help me say "NO" to perfectionism.
Sweet little hutch we found on Craigslist. With my dishes here, I have more room for food in the kitchen! I have plans to paint the backdrop behind the dishes to make them pop. Gee, maybe that will happen by December.

This is the wall directly facing the front door. It's all jumbled right now, but once the mirror is hung, it will feel more put together. I'm thinkin' I will paint that table a funky color, like coral!

This is probably the first thing you see when you enter the house. I LOVE it, but haven't quite figured out how to arrange all the "tchotkes" or "neeners" or "knick knacks", whatevah you call 'em. I like that this gives the illusion of an entry way so that we don't just walk into the living room furniture.

Aaaannnnnd, then, there is the other area that you see when you walk through the door. These are the "last stand" of boxes. They were all hiding in the office/guest room/drum room, but we painted that room over the weekend and decided to put them right where I would pull my hair out every time I walked by. It's been working! The pile is half that now and, hey, I still have my hair.

I am fond of quaint conversation nooks. This is directly behind the cube shelf in our faux entry way. The fur is only temporary. I just draped them over the chairs because, dagnabit! I'm tired of them. They remind me of denim blue. If they don't sell on Craigs, they are going in the G-sale!

Not sure what to do with this corner and the beautiful antique, albeit, sad looking rocking chair. I soooooo wanna re-upholster it! But, I DO NOT want to attempt it on my own. I have some fabric I already like, if I could just find someone to do it for me, for, say $100. That would be stellar!

This funky little love seat was scored down in OR at the G.W. for a whopping 10 bucks! Not the most comfortable seat, but sassy all the same.

The lighting is off in this pic, but as you can see I have more blue "denim" in my living room than is acceptable. Although, I do still love the bones on this couch. I aim to keep it for as long as I can and just keep adding different pillows when the mood hits me. Hey, when the pillows are only 5 bucks (the blue ones), I think I can handle that!

Again, stinky lighting, but I'm trying to show you the panel curtains (which are only partly done) from IKEA.

Oh, so sweet garden stool, where to put you?!

I didn't take a picture of the whole living room because there were books and boxes still around. Drat, perfectionism! I loathe thee! But, you would be proud of me, I've actually had quite a few guests over, even in what feels to me to be barely organized chaos. That's progress, people!

Vintage inspired canisters that were super cheap at Tuesday Morning. I adore the crystalline blue soap that I found at fancy WINCO.

I think I like birds. They tend to pop up here and there in my house.

Hubby talked me into the curved shower curtain rods and I really love the look. They give you more arm room too! Towels scored on clearance at Tarjay.

And then there's me... trying so hard to figure out where to look that my eyes are going buggy and my smile is forced. Ah well, THIS is how big I am.


I'm supposed to just get bigger they say.


Two more months.


Now, if I could just get the baby room done!


~ christa jean