October Glory

October has been such a beautiful month! Mostly great weather, and a wonderful time with my family visiting from Idaho. :-)

Our "October Glory Maple" in all it's splendor: More front porch decor. The "mums" are a late housewarming gift from our realtor friend. :-)

While my family was here, we went to a few houses in the local tour of homes. My sister and Nathanael posed for me in the girl's nursery in my favorite house of the tour. :-)

The leaves on our maple tree were so beautiful, but shortlived. They are already half dropped off now. :-(

At the American Girl Store in Overland Park, Kansas.

I still love these dolls. ;-) "Rebecca" is my new favorite.

We had a nice little tea party on the back deck, after which we played "Authors", which is my little sister's favorite game. It is quite fun when you are as fond of books as we are. :-)

It was a little sunny outside. Ha

Last pics before the visit ended yesterday:

My dad was here for a week of my family's visit, but I didn't get any good pictures of him. :-/I think he would rather I didn't publish the ones I did get. Haha

Have a wonderful last few days of this beautiful month!

Jessica

Big Boy Bunk Beds!

Teddy was outgrowing his crib, so it was time for a big boy bed! We decided to get bunk beds to save space in their room, plus kids love bunk beds. ;-)

Nathanael and Teddy, all ready for bed.

We did a little rearranging of wall decor, as well as furniture, since the Peter Rabbit quilt was hidden behind the bed. The room seems really spacious now!

Making the bed! :-)

We had the "N" and the "T" on the wall before, and Ben came up with this good idea to put them on the beds instead. I think it looks really cute. :-)

Changing Up The Family Room :-)

The first two pictures are how our family room looked until about a week or two ago. My sewing area, etc were mixed in with the boys' tent and table at one end. And most of the boys' toys were with the sofa and chair at the other end. So, pretty much what you saw when you walked in the front door and looked downstairs was toys. Not so good, expecially when they weren't picked up like they are in this photo. Ha

I changed the furniture around so that there are now two distinct "rooms" in one big area.

This is now the view to the downstairs from the front door. :-)

Much better!

The toy and school area are at the other end now, where it is also easier to keep an eye on things from upstairs. ;-)

At the other end is the family room seating area as well as my sewing stuff. The seating works much better now for viewing the TV, too. Which didn't matter before because we just recently put a TV down here.

The whole effect is much cozier now, too. Before it seemed like everything was just scattered around a huge space.

The sofa and the pillar divide the "rooms" nicely while still having an open plan feel.

My sewing corner, and the TV cabinet.

The boys love their new play area! :-)

I just started Kindergarten with Nathanael and he loves it! He is doing really well, too. Teddy has even been picking up some things, which is so cute. :-)

Jessica

Seasonal Decor Changes In The Master Bedroom

As we are heading into the colder months, I put our warm comforter on the bed instead of our light Summer quilt. Of course, then the curtains didn't go at all, so I bought some new ones at Lowes. I actually love their selection!

This is the Spring /Summer look in our bedroom. :-)
I also got a lampshade from Lowes and paired it with a dark lamp base I had in the dining area previously, for Ben's side of the bed. It ties in nicely with the blue upholstery on our chair, I think. ;-)

I love the puckered detail on the curtains! They remind me of silk taffeta. (They reminded Ben of shower curtains at first, but I like my description better. ha)

And they "puddle"on the floor perfectly....

All warmed up now for the cold weather that is comimg soon!

Jessica

~An Autumn Welcome~

Well, it's been a while since I last posted! We had a fun Summer, ending with my brother's visit from Idaho. :-) The day he left the temperatures dropped, and with a couple exceptions, have been more "Fall-like" since then.

Since it seems Autumn has arrived, I put up our Fall decorations yesterday.

I don't think I have shown any pics of our entryway yet, so thought I'd include this pic of where our "Give Thanks" sign is. ;-)



The "mantle-scape"....

And, our best Fall "decoration"- our new October Glory Maple tree that the boys were helping Ben to plant last night. :-)

I will show more pictures of the tree when it is in all it's deep crimson glory. ;-)
Enjoy the cozy days of Autumn!

Jessica

I am linking up to Melissa's Fall Party at http://theinspiredroom.net/2011/09/15/fall-nesting-party-2011/

Tour~ The Deck

I decided to do the back deck next in my little home tour, since we just got a table and chairs for it. Pier One has all of their Summer furniture on 1/2 price clearance, so I bought the set I've had my eye on since Spring. We only bought 2 chairs for now, but we have a wicker chair that we use with it, too. Makes it more eclectic, right? ;-)

You can see Ben's trusty little Weber BBQ in this shot. He loves it!
Nathanael, Teddy and I love eating our breakfast and lunch out here. So relaxing.

We drag Teddy's highchair outside for these occasions. My favorite thing about our back deck is the lovely view! Living somewhere that looks like this outside has been a dream come true for me. Missouri is beautiful!

Closeup of the new table and chairs.

The weather hasn't been so hot the last week, so we've been enjoying being outside a lot more.

Hopefully it will stay nice for my brother's visit next week! We are so excited to be able to spend some time with him. :-)

Jessica

Room by Room Tour ~ The Kitchen

Our kitchen is on the small side for our house size, and a little short on storage, but we love it and it works well for us. :-) Although I love white kitchens, I also like the warm tone of our wood kitchen. It provides a contrast for all of the white and cream furniture in the living areas around the kitchen.

The dishes in the rack are not drying. I display them this way. This has sometimes been misunderstood. ha

I do decorate above my cabinets, but I understand why some people choose not to.

(Sorry about the blurriness in a couple of these shots.)

Well, that's all for today, folks. ;-)

The boys and I explored a local thrift shop today, and I picked up a couple things to decorate/use in the laundry room. So I may be doing a post on that project soon. :-)

Jessica