Peek-a-Boo! A Peek at the new house!

I have felt so accomplished in the last couple days, the simple fact that I can tell my kids to "clean up" and not feel that terrible amount of guilt and shame because I really need to be doing the same HA. Point being, we are getting to the point of being unpacked.

Now, let me make this very VERY clear. Unpacked just means that we are in a functioning state, it does not mean we are "settled in" or "good to go" I have very very lofty dreams for this old house, so consider what you are about to see the basic "before pictures" for every house based project from here on out :)

The Kitchen

*snort* remember my super lofty dreams of DIY face lifting my new kitchen the weekend I moved in? Needless to say, that didn't happen and I have been learning to live with my 1992 oak and emerald kitchen ;) 

My kitchen table looks super cozy in the little nook, and I'm not going to lie...I <3 it. (dare I tell you that this is a walmart kitchen table that the bf bought 3 years ago when he moved to his first apartment?) Its amazing what a little silverware caddy (Target summer decorations) and a metal flower bucket with recital flowers will do when it comes to charm. (please ignore that hideous light fixture..........)

You can think of this as my very own version of "Mission Control" because of its location (this is directly across from the kitchen table, next to the back door) its not exactly a "launch pad" but this is home to some of my most important stuff. I've got a really big plan for this little corner and its going to get all done up sometime very soon.

The Living Room

Hah! I so thought I had decent pics of the living room, I was wrong...all i could find were these pics that I snapped the other day from the catwalk upstairs. The living room is really nothing more than utilitarian at this point...I'm not going to spin my wheels trying to make it all pretty and fancy while I have 2 kids at home all day tearing it up. 

But you get the basic idea...its your standard issue shared space between adults and kids...I did my best to mask the kids toys, The white toy box was made by my ex father in law, I absolutely love it, it holds all of those bulky toys like 15 baby dolls, dump trucks, trains, race cars (99% of which belong to my silly little Skylar, shes all over the place when it comes to her play interests and that's A-OK with me) The small black cubes (you can't see the third one) hold dress up clothes, baby doll and American Girl accessories and all of the furniture and dolls for the doll house that you see peeking out behind the couch. I couldn't really do much about the baby changing table or the American girl doll bed that is tucked near the fire place, but they are played with on an almost daily basis so I don't mind them taking up real estate in that room. My Coffee table also has 6 little cubby holes in it that hold art supplies, DVDs and games.

The rest of their toys (mainly the big stuff that is only brought out on occasion) are currently stashed in the closet under the stairs. This is also the current home to all of my cleaning tools and all of the decor & wall art that  hasn't made it on to the walls yet. In good time my dears.

Skylar's Room

This room is sadly sparse at the moment...we are in the in between stages of bed and crib...until we install gates on the stairs we just arn't comfortable with our little dare devil being able to freely escape her bed whenever she wants so she is still sleeping in her crib. Eventually that crib is going to clear out of there and she is going to get a super fun Grey & Yellow Sunshiney Girl room. It will fit her personality to a tee (not to mention she is obsessed with anything yellow so it works lol) For now she's got some of Samantha's old bedding that I got from Target about 4 years ago......See that little table? $5 at a garage sale :) I sanded and primed it at the old house so all it needs now is a new coat of fun colored paint and its going to be a great little piece for this space.

I am not really a fan of letting the girls have too many toys in their bedroom, but I just couldn't stand how plain the room looked so we moved her little kitchen set and a basket of play food up there. This has been great because she really enjoys playing with it when I am trying to get stuff done upstairs. The metal bucket full of stuffed animals is where all her "friends" live...........each "friend" has a name and there are many nights that all of them end up in bed with her :)

her closet is pretty sparse as well...or at least it looks that way. The two bins on top hold clothes that are too small and clothes that are too big or out of season, the bins in her cube dresser all hold various articles of clothing as well as a couple bins of toys. I have a big fun labeling project in my future :)

Samantha's Room

My big girl is notorious for always having the coolest room, and usually hers is the first that is decorated and finished....I'm sure its because I tend to relate to her sense of style and find myself living vicariously through her love of hot pink and shiney things ;) Obviously her room is not even close to being finished, but its one of the rooms that is starting to look pretty close to the way I envisioned it...with the addition of some paint, art, lighting, and window treatments it will be pretty much complete. 

I LOVE her new bed. (all the bedding is from Target) She got our old Queen sized bed when we moved so she got to pick her own bedding. Her wishes for this room was: "Something fancy, and hot pink, with lots of sparkles and stuff" So the GLAM GIRL room was made. 

This desk is actually going to be turned in to a vanity with the addition of a fun mirror I bought and some other little knick-y knacks. She loves to primp and style herself, a glamorous dressing area for the glamorous girl only seemed fitting. 

(sorry about the quality of this pic, it got messed up during editing and the original was deleted from my camera :( )

One thing you should know about my big girl is that she is a true Mini Me. She appreciates and thrives on organization.........and she has a small obsession with school and craft supplies supplies. Her closet doubles as a space for her clothes as well as a place to keep all her markers, note books and craft accesories.

Her cube dresser is just like Skylar's...each bin is filled with a different article of clothing. Once I get these labeled, I am going to show you my favorite trick for keeping my girls clothes organized. its one of those big time sanity savers :)

On the right door I hung a regular shoe rack and we stuffed it with various art supplies and tucked her belts, scarves and other little goodies in to the bottom pockets. 

On the left side I took a hanging file holder (I got this at Mardel...I'm sure you could find this at any teacher supply store) we separated her notebooks by type and grouped them in the according sleeves. 

The Master Bedroom

This room is another one of those rooms that is "getting there" when it comes to being done. The vision for the space is clear, I already had many of the major pieces, now its just a matter of paint, window treatments and lighting. 

The bedroom at our old house was much much larger than this one so all of our furniture looks huge in this room, but I must say, I enjoy a room that looks full and cozy to one that looks cold and sparse. 

Do you see those terrible blinds?! ickkkkk its like an apartment from the 80's. And whats worse, when the ac comes on and off at night they will randomly click around and scare the bajesus out of me making me think someone is walking around my bedroom! The TV on the TV stand is temporary as well...I'm on the hunt for a big Armour to house it...........or maybe just a cool piece to put under the TV and mount it on the wall...I'm not sure just yet. 

The Man Cave

Ha alright...now we are getting to the spaces that haven't had much attention. This is Jason's office and right now it is a hodge podge of old desks (the desk the computer is sitting on is Jason's old desk from when he was in high school...the other metal thing is the frame of an old L shaped desk that I bought about 3 years ago. (its got a frosted glass top, it just wasn't on when I took this picture...as a matter of fact, it didn't get put on until literally 15 minutes ago, so we lived with a skeleton desk for about a week. Keepin it real kids!)

Eventually this will be a "No Girls Allowed" zone...somewhere Jason can come to get away from all the glitter and giggling that goes on throughout the rest of the house. He has dreams of painting it dark colors and wiring every inch of it for some kind of electronic automation. I told him he could have this room..............I get the rest of the house ;)

The MOM Cave

Ouch! isn't that the way things always seem to work...Momma goes last? Yup...underneath all of those boxes and bags is what will eventually be my office. It looks the worst right now, but I'm almost certain that its going to be one of the prettiest spaces in the house when I get a chance to work some magic in there :)

So there ya go! A sneak peek! Like I said...we are unpacked...(minus my office..) the house is livable and I don't cringe and break out in sweats when someone asks to drop by my house for something...Next up. Project Pretty :)