Home Improvement

I love doing stuff to our home. I suck at fashion and design, but I know what I like. I don't have any problem picking things up here and there for the house, but putting it all together just isn't my forte.

We I usually do a lot to our home right at the first of the year, you know, after Christmas and Christmas money. But this year I started even before Christmas. Something had to be done with the kids bathroom. It was dark, uninviting, and just plain ugly.

Since it is the kids' bathroom, I decided to let them help me with the design. Immediately Blaine, of course, wanted New York Yankees. At first Kylee said that was fine, but soon changed her mind. As usual, though, she had no better idea. I started asking around on Facebook (before I discovered Pinterest). I had friends who had amazing ideas to stick with the NYC theme, just not the Yankees. Since we had just been to NYC in June, I thought it was a great idea and an amazing way to showcase our pictures from NYC. I decided to go with black and white photos and found a great NYC skyline shower curtain. Then I decided to let the kids pick the color to paint the walls. This may have been my greatest mistake, but it is just paint and it is their bathroom.


I love the pictures and shower curtain, and the color has actually grown on me.

New Year's Eve, Christmas bonus and money in hand, we went shopping. Our living room the kids hang out in had no seating, just a couch, a recliner, and Blaine's baseball chair. There was also a play kitchen in this room that I convinced the kids they didn't need or play with anymore so we could take it to Terry.

(This is an iPhone picture I'm not even really sure why I took. I didn't think to take before pictures.)

While we were shopping, I found the couch, but it wouldn't be available for six weeks. My microwave and garbage disposal had both gone out, so we had to replace those, too. And while we were shopping, I just happened to find a chandelier I loved and decided my entry way chandelier was ugly. Joey and Derek put them in for me.




Finally, my couch is in!!!

I really think it needs a rug with some color to add to the room. I show Kylee a picture of a rug I finally found that I love. She hates it. We even have a big fight about it. The girl was mad!! I think she was really more mad because I didn't care that she didn't like it. She told me that she spends more time in that living room than I do. I told her it was MY house, and I loved it, and I didn't care. She was so mad at me. The rug finally comes in, and I love it even more in the room.

She was at dance when it came in and I put the room together, so I text her a picture. Her response was simply, GAG! I still didn't care.
When the boys got home and saw it, they hated it, too!! Blaine said, "Really, Mom? It's so ugly, like an Indian lives here." Joey said, "When y'all had the fight, I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but it is awful!"
I don't care. I love it. I decided I wash their chonies, cook their meals, and clean up after them, and they can give me my rug and keep their mouths shut. The rug stays. Part of that statement is true, the part that about the rug staying. The part about them keeping their mouths shut, not so much. They complain about it pretty regularly.

The wall where the play kitchen was, I redid also. I always buy picture frames from the places we visit, and I'm running out of places to put them, not to mention the blocks Joey got me for Christmas.

I love it, and they agree. I figure out of all the home improvement projects of done this year (and one last), if they only hate one, I'm doing pretty good.