justem: little bits of this and that

Our New Old WI Home: Living Room

Hi! If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we've been busy with a lot of home updates the past couple of weeks!  Now that my husband is finally home from work, we have time to get some things accomplished! My mom came down last week to hang out with the kiddos so I could do a bit around the house. It's so fun to see it all starting to take shape and feel like "our" house!  I previously shared some photos of the living room room built-ins.  Today I have some photos of the rest of the living room! I took the photos a few weeks ago, and things already look different!!!  First, here are the living room listing photos...

This room is SO much larger than our old living room. I feel like our current furniture looks ridiculous - we don't even have a full sized couch in here!  It looks a little better in the photos than it does in real life - it just looks really bare.  There are so many things I want to change.  I have visions of a fun, colorful space.  If you've ever checked out my "Living Spaces" Pinterest board, you know my style is colorful and crazy.  Here are the photos of it right now (and by "right now" I really mean "a few weeks ago"). I'm keeping it real in these photos - yes I picked up the toys, but please disregard the table covered in fingerprints and the baby. ;)

While the green paint is not my ideal color, it's totally fine in the living room for now! Eventually I'd like to paint it a shade that's similar to the current one, with only a few more blue undertones! Nothing was up on the walls in these photos, but we have a few things hanging now, including my best-ever Craigslist find, a vintage map of the Roman Empire. It's pretty much perfect! The rocking chair was purchased from a local antique store.  I like the idea of a bunch of mismatched furniture, and this piece was just calling my name!! The rainbow pillow is from Target.

Our loveseat (which we bought because the old living room did not have space for a full sofa) is basically destroyed. The leather has pretty much disintegrated. Eventually, I want to get a new couch that is a lighter neutral. I would love a funky colored couch, but I think I would be vetoed! I've opted, instead, to just get a ton of colorful pillows.  Not everyone understands my obsession with pillows. ;)  I also think a rug would look great, but right now it would probably just be destroyed in a week!

Our current coffee and end tables are hand-me-downs from my mom.  They are not my favorite. ;)  We actually bought a new (old) mission style coffee table from Craigslist that we sanded and re-stained. I also committed to buying some old-school end tables from a woman on Craiglist.  I contacted her over a month ago, and I still don't have the tables, so I'm starting to think maybe it's a lost cause. She was a bit...unusual...to put it mildly. ;)  Should I ever actually acquire them, I hope to paint them a deep blue/green/teal color. 

The sheer panels on the windows in this room are new. The previous owner had cats and her window treatments were full of cat hair. After washing them, they were still rather unappealing, so my mom helped me find the cheapest possible treatments to just give us some privacy. There are a lot of windows, so I wanted to just find something to get up quickly. For about two weeks I felt like we were a spectacle to all the neighbors!! These are definitely not great. The quality is very poor, but hopefully I will replace them with something I like better someday!  

There also about a billion other things I want to do with this room, a few of which have already been accomplished since I took these pictures!! I have a Pinterest Board dedicated to this room, if you'd like to see more of my vision for it!  As I've mentioned before, when we first moved in, I walked around to every room and created a giant to-do list for every room. Nothing was too big or too small to go on the list!  Here was the list for this room - I have checked off everything that we have done so far, even though some of it is not evident in these pictures:

• Repaint/Touch up Paint
• Sheer Panels for front windows
• Curtains for side windows
• Refinish floors
• New light fixture - get rid of fan!
• Outlet covers
• Pictures on walls
• Bins for bench storage
• New Couch
• Painted Tables
• Coffee Table
• New Lamps
• Pillows!
• Redo piano bench cover
• Rug
• Repaint Radiator

I am liking this room more and more everyday! I will continue to share photos of the progress! Have a great Friday!!  It's Birthday weekend for two of my three kids here!!  I am so not prepared... ;)

**to see more photos of our "new old home" click here!**

The Story of the Heart Rocks

My "Pinspired with Gossamer Blue" challenge went up on the Gossamer Blue blog a bit ago, and I'm finally getting around to sharing it here!  The story of the heart rocks was one I've been wanting to document for awhile!  I was inspired by a pin with lots of circles - you can see it in the original post. My favorite part of this layout is the wood veneer sheet that I used as my background.  I wondered if I could run the veneer through my printer - the answer is YES!  However, as you can see, my printer was a little wonky and a bunch of ink and printing got on the bottom.  I actually kind of like how it looks! I was wishing I could find a way to get some messy type on the rest of the layout!! ;)

Muffin Tin Monday

Last Monday, it was "warm" out - and by "warm" I mean it was above freezing!  It was probably about 45 - which felt like a heat wave!! The kids wanted to go have a picnic in the backyard for lunch, but I told them it was too cold and too muddy.  I'm such a party pooper!  All on their own they came back and suggested that perhaps we could sit out on the sun porch and have Muffin Tin Monday (although they called it - "where you put all the food in the little cup thing.") ;) I couldn't say no to that!! I scrounged up a bunch of little foods and we had our very own indoor picnic!  I'm super excited about the sun porch on our new house, and I can't wait until we can use it on a more regular basis!!

They were all..."Mom...it's so RUDE to take pics of poeple eating, duh!" ;)

Mom & Miri {Gossamer Blue March layout}

Happy Thursday!  Two posts in two days?  It's crazy! ;)  I am finally getting around to sharing this layout on my blog, though it's been in the Gossamer Blue gallery all month.  The March kits featured a lot of great "little" embellishments, and I really wanted to try and use up a lot of them. I was inspired by this pin, which was an ad for Two Peas.  I chose these four colors because they were prevalent in the kit. In fact, I was really impressed with how well all the different colors went together considering that there are four or five different manufacturers featured on this page! It's definitely a little wild and different, but I like it!

After I finished, I spent some time trying to decide where to put a title - I didn't want to cover up any of the goodness, so I opted to just skip the title!!  A user at Studio Calico saw my layout and used it as inspiration to create a similar layout of her own. Both were featured on the website Use Your Stash. It's always nice to know that my work inspires others! :)

#workspacewednesday

I'm so sorry for the lack of posting lately!!  I have three layouts to share and about ten other posts that I want to write out!  For today, here's a quick look at my workspace.  The biggest "'problem" with my awesome new scrap spaces is the lack of storage.  I had SO much built-in storage in my last house - though I was down in the dark basement, so this one is still leaps and bounds better! ;)  I've recently become a little obsessed with thrifting and Craigslist! I've gotten a few pieces for my scrapspace, including an amazing old set of drawers (that I will share once I get them up and running in the space - you may have seen them if you follow me on Instagram) and also this cute little vintage appliance cart. I paid about $15 for it, and after seeing similar (and, quite frankly, less cute) versions for a lot more money on the internet, I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase! ;)  It works perfectly to store my 12x12 paper holders and some other items.  I'm sure its contents will change over time, but for now here's a peek at it in its new home next to the oh-so-famous Raskog! ;)

5 to love and hate...

I did a "things I love and hate" post last summer...wow a lot has changed since then! I thought I'd do another one as part of my "Lists with Friends" challenge!  Here it goes...

1. Togetherness. My husband is coming home tonight. I know I never really  mentioned that he wasn't home. I don't talk about it on social media, but this is his busy season at work. He has been working non-stop for the past two months. We were seeing him for at least a single day on the weekends, then it turned into a few hours a week (one week he was literally home for 10 hours), and now he's been out of town for 16 days. This is up there in the top 3 of "Longest we've gone without seeing each other." So yeah...him being home isn't really something I like...it's something I LOVE.

2. Spring. The weather is finally starting to warm up!!  The last few years at our old house in IL there were flowers blooming next to the house at this time of the year! In fact one year they were all bloomed out by Miri's birthday. This year...there's still a foot of snow on the ground!! But, it's slowly warming up. The sun has been out, and it just FEELS like spring. You can tell it's on it's way!  I can't wait to get outside, though I'm a little nervous...the backyard of our new house is a wreck!!

3. House of Cards.  I'm totally not a TV watcher. I watch one show. ONE.  That would be Parenthood. ;)  But last week after I realized that my Tivo didn't tape the newest episode I was bummed and wanted something else to watch. Everybody raves about House of Cards, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm hooked. I'm pretty sure I now know the ins and outs of government...because Kevin Spacey taught me.;) And I can't help but wonder if this is really what politics is like. Holy cow!!

4. Chef Earl's Hot Giardinera Hummus. I was totally the sucker in the grocery store that tasted the sample and bought the product. But can I tell you...this is the best hummus I have ever eaten in my entire LIFE.  I don't even like spicy food, but this stuff is incredible.  I may or may not have eaten an entire tub...in a week's time of course! And let's just go ahead and blame Justin for that...because had he been here to help me eat it, I would never have eaten the whole thing! ;)

5. Craiglist.  I have a new obsession...buying stuff on Craiglist. The first week I started checking stuff out, I bought a coffee table, some huge metal home decor stars, a very cool antique school bench, and I'm committed to buying some rather hideous end tables that I'm hoping to paint, if I can ever get them from the owner. I've sold a few of my things and made a little money, and last week I made my best purchase yet: an old pull-down school map...you know...the kind that sell on Ebay and Etsy for hundreds of dollars? It's in perfect condition, and I paid 45.  I'm slowly putting together my "eclectic" (aka: random crap that hopefully looks good thrown together) living room. It's going to be sooooo awesome. ;)

1. Razor sharp baby nails. Ollie loves to snuggle with me...but I kind of look like I was attacked by Wolverine. Face. Neck. Chest. Other parts that shall remain unspoken...except for when I say they are unspoken. ;) Trust me. It's not pretty.

2. Laundry. A friend in Chicago once paid a service to wash and fold her family of seven's laundry. She said it was worth every penny.  I swear this sounds like the best idea ever...except that it would probably take about 3 days for us accumulate another massive amount of laundry and then I'd feel like it was all a waste. But if I ever win the lottery - laundry service - every day.  

3. Errors in books. I posted an Instagram photo of a mistake in one of the books Miri brought home from school. It said "alot" instead of "a lot." It was on the first page. At first I thought perhaps it was like that because it was written from a child's perspective, but no...it was clearly an error.  I've also noticed a ton of punctuation and grammar errors in other books of hers.  That drives me crazy. I realize that I'm like the queen of the typo, and I have all kinds of stuff spelled wrong and a mad love of the ellipsis and the comma that is just not right. BUT...I am also not paid to edit my blog. Nor is it published anywhere but here. In fact, I can use whatever fandangled grammar and spelling I want. But if I was writing or editing a book for print? I'd be darn sure it was error-free!!

4. Censorship and Hypocrisy. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my reposted image last night protesting the banning of The 4th Trimester Bodies Project from Instagram. I am (still) a member of a very large network of "natural-minded" moms in the Chicagoland area, and through these women I became very familiar with The 4th Trimester Bodies Project.  In fact, if you go through the photos on the site, I'm willing to bet I "know" (or really "know of") at least a third of them.  Personally, I am not comfortable enough with my body to put on some black undies and let the world see it all. Honestly, I wish I was...but I'm not. That being said, I think this is an amazing and wonderful project, and it infuriates me that Instagram (and Faceobok) would consider these images to be inappropriate.  As I stated last night, I cannot even use the Instagram "Explore" tab in front of my kids because there will inevitably be some scantily clad woman in a sexual pose whose photo got 12,000 likes.  And that's okay. But, feeding a baby is not.  It kind of makes me want to bang my head into a wall.  What is wrong with the world???

And on a lighter note...

5. Temper tantrums.  WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T WEAR THE RED SHIRT??? I WANT THE RED SHIRT!!! But dearest little angel child whom I never lose my patience with, the red shirt is wet in the washing machine right now. BUT I WANT THE RED SHIRT!!! Do you understand that you can't wear the red shirt right now because is is wet, and it is in the washing machine, and you cannot wear a wet shirt that is full of soap? BUT I WANT THE RED SHIRT!!!! NOT THE BLUE SHIRT!!! THE RED SHIRT!!!!!  As soon as the red shirt is clean and dry you can put it on, but for now you can wear this shirt instead! RED SHIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRTTTTTT!!!!!!! Enough said. ;) 

So - what's on your love/hate list right now?? I'd love to hear it!! Have a great Monday!

**Disclaimer: I've recently learned that there are some people who are very much against using the word "hate" - in any circumstance. Some, in fact, consider it a "swear" word. My feelings about the word "hate' are not that strong, though I do admit that it is not a word that I use often (if ever) around my children. If, by chance, you are deeply bothered by the word "hate," I sincerely apologize. It just...well...let's face it..."Things I Like and Things I Really Strongly Dislike" just doesn't have the same ring to it. ;)** 

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This list is brought to you by "Lists with Friends," which is a collaborative effort between a number of smart, talented, and fun women that I am lucky to be a part of. Throughout the year we will all be posting various lists on our blogs. This is one of them.

Our New Old WI Home: Playroom

Hi there!  Happy Saturday!  I decided that it would be okay for me to show rooms in our house that are not perfect - only so when I finally share the "finished" look (which, really, could take years!) you will be even more impressed, ha! ;) So - the playroom, which is very much "in-progress!!" Here is the photo from the realtor listing:

This a unique room, because it includes a door that leads to to the second-story sun porch (a favorite feature of the home that we can't wait to use when it warms up!).  The house has four bedrooms, and we were already planning on having the two big kids share a room, so we decided to turn this "extra" room into the playroom, so that we will be able to go in and out to the sun porch at any hour and not have to worry about waking the kids up.  This room was originally white and was at the bottom of my "to paint" list - until we moved in and realized that the walls were really, really dirty. It quickly jumped to the top of my "to paint" list!  

We ripped off the wallpaper border, only to discover some totally awesome stenciling. I'm kidding. I hate the stenciling. ;)  We have yet to paint over that because one section needs a little repair, but one day on a whim I decided to just paint a little white over it to see how it looks - even with one see-through coat, it already looks better!!  

In true Emily fashion I quickly chose some paint (without testing a sample), and away we went. I will admit, the Emily style of choosing paint doesn't always work, ha!  And, truthfully, the "lighter" of the two paint colors is way darker (or maybe I mean brighter?! Clearly I am not a paint expert!) than I thought it would be.  I like the darker color on the wall with the shelves, but I am now wishing I would have painted the other three walls one shade lighter!!  I feel like the colors are very misleading in these photos, too. The dark blue is really not as bright as it looks in most of the shots.  These were all taken with my iPhone, so they are not super great quality.

Everything in the playroom came from our last playroom...and pretty much everything in the room came from IKEA (book shelves little table, little chairs, rug, kitchen) or Land of Nod (all the bins and the stuffed animal bin, which is really a ball basket). The blue in this first photo seems to be the "truest" to the real color.

At some point we will hang our family photos from the picture rail. We have four that hung over these shelves in the old room, and I love them!!  Although, I might need to update them since in them Henry was a baby in them and Ollie was non-existent!  We have some vintage toys that I've found at various shops and flea markets that sit on top of the shelves.  Sadly, the last few crayons in our crayon melty art were tragically ripped from the canvas, never to be seen again. ;) In these photos you can get a good look at the fabulous stencil job as well as the place that needs to be repaired.

The wall opposite the shelves is long and blank. ;)  In our old playroom we had art wires where all the kids' artwork hung.  I don't know that it will be possible to do that in this house because it was quite a process to get those wires up, and we aren't totally comfortable putting ginormous holes in the lath and plaster.  I was thinking, instead that perhaps we could hang some large bulletin boards from the picture rail along that wall. We shall see!

Look how much better it looks without the stenciling!!

There is one serious design flaw in this room, which is that the closet door and the bedroom door hit each other, and you can't open one without opening or closing the other. This wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it's a playroom, so the kids are constantly going in and out of the closet. We are thinking about just removing the main bedroom door for now so that it's less of a pain! The blues in this photo are definitely not true to color!

We tried to maximize the space in the closet by using a shelf that had previously been in my scrapspace. That big silver thing is our space-age air conditioning in-take. ;)  

There are still a lot of things I want to do in this room. When we first moved in, I walked from room to room making lists of things (even the tiniest things) that we wanted fix, and we are slowly crossing things off of them.  Here is my list for this room:

• remove wallpaper
• paint walls
• repair section of wall above picture rail
• paint ceiling + above picture rail
• paint all trim and doors (Right now it is cream in all the rooms but one. That needs to change!)
• paint closet
• closet organizer
• replace outlet covers and light switches
• new light fixture (It's a white fan right now...totally fine for the time-being.)
• colorful curtains for the window
• hang pictures/wall art
• hang artwork wire or bulletin boards 
• hang poofs (old playroom had cute colorful poofs hanging from the ceiling...would like to do that again)

Hopefully when Justin is done with his busy season we will be able to knock a few items off of this list (and all the others)!!  Can't wait to share with you more photos as we get things accomplished! Have a great weekend! :)

Book + Meal {slacker mom style...}

I've seen a lot of great book + meal ideas on Pinterest.  This is something I've been wanting to try for awhile, because we love books here...and some of us love food - some of us, not so much (ah - the troubles of being two!). ;)  So, one day a couple of weeks ago, in our effort to beat the winter blues, we had our very first book + meal collaboration. I have seen some really fantastic book + meal ideas.  Some families go all out with food and decorations. Yeah...you aren't going to see that here. ;) The book we chose was one of our all time favorites: The Blueberry Pie Elf by Jane Thayer.  The obviously food choice?  Blueberry pie!! We could have made a blueberry pie by scratch or tried all the different pies that they make in the book (blueberry, cherry and apple), but instead I just bought the only frozen blueberry pie available at our little local grocery store. Gotta start small, people...! ;)  We read the book and ate the pie and it was a hit.  

Somebody could NOT wait to dig into the pie. ;)

On this particular day she chose to wear her Halloween costume. Totally normal in our house... ;)

Have you done a book + meal?? I'd love to hear some book suggestions!!  Next time we will try an actual meal!

#workspacewednesday

It's blurry - but here is a look at my table right now. It's a big old mess of Gossamer Blue leftovers, including some Teresa Collins and Chickaniddy goodies!!  I finished up my projects last week and haven't sat back down to clean it all up yet! Maybe tonight... ;)

Rollie {Gossamer Blue March kit}

Good Morning! Sorry for the long delay between posts! I'm back on the wagon this week after a LONG week last week! ;)  On Saturday, the March kit from the greatest kit company ever was revealed! The Gossamer Blue March kit is filled with a great color this month that includes pastels, navy, woodgrain, and lots of fun metallics!  This is my "Main Kit-only" layout.  I had this layout finished for about two weeks but it sat title-less on my desk as I pondered what to do for a title. I originally wanted to use my Cameo to cut out a title, but I tried about three different things and wasn't happy with any of them.  Finally I decided to use a little play-on-words...Rollie = Rolls + Ollie, since this photo is about his cute little baby rolls!  Can you believe this guy is going to be 6 months old this week?!  Stop the insanity!! ;)

I don't have any close-ups right now because my camera was near dead when I took this, so I quickly shot it, and uploaded it before the battery went completely kaput on me! ;)  I'll try to get some close-ups today and post them!  But, as always, I feel like it's pretty self-explanatory!!!  Be sure to hop on over to GB to check out this month's kits and the work of the amazing design team! Have a great day!!