Last Christmas

This Christmas week, has been very merry indeed. Its been filled with family, friends, food, laughter, presents and love. But, its also been bitter sweet.

I've spent nearly 30 Christmas' in this home, and this year is the last one I ever will. My parents are retiring in 2015, and they are moving to another town to be closer to family, which is wonderful and exciting. But these past few days, as we've helped my parents clean out the attic and sort through the stuff, there have been moments where I felt nearly paralyzed with sadness as I was overcome with memories and emotions. 

My parents close on their new house on January 9th, but won't retire until the summer. But, that weekend in January, they plan to begin moving things to their new house each month, to make the final move easier. The next time I step foot in this home, there will not be a bed in my room, or things in my closet. The end is very near. 

Last night, Christmas eve, we went to our final Christmas service at church. The church were I was baptized, where I met Jesus, and went to Sunday school. The church where I made friends, played on the lawn, spent countless hours. During our final song, I stood quietly looking at the alter, taking it all in, just wanting to remember the church, because its been exactly the same since I was a child. 

And last night, I woke up after everyone went to bed, and wondered the quite rooms of this house.  A lot of life happened between these four walls. Good things and bad. Memories and moments that we treasure, and a million others that we have long since forgotten. Dreams came true, hearts were broken, fights and make up's occurred. First kisses, slow dances, parties. They all happened here. It is just a house, just brick and drywall, but somewhere along the way, it became home. A refuge from the storm, a place where love always prevailed. 

We leave tomorrow afternoon to head back to Dallas. So this, my final night, in my home before everything changes, before everything is different, before normal is no more, I will take a moment to thank this house. Thank it for always being warm and inviting. For always keeping me safe from the storm, and for being more than just a house. 

In these last few hours and days of the only "normal" I've ever known, I'm reminded of the quote by Steven Rogers. "Beginnings are usually scary, endings are usually sad, but its whats in the middle that counts. So when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will."

Around the House: The Hallway

We have been quite the weekend warriors the past few weeks. About 2 months ago, we got the urge to work, and we've been getting after it! 

We knew when we purchased our home 2 years ago, that it needed a little TLC. It was built in the 1950's, and had great bones, but there were some flaws that needed to be addressed.

This weekend, we decided to tackle the hallway.
Before:

Looking down the hall from the living room. What? You don't have a red industrial fan, I mean, air mover at the end of your hallway that you turn on every night to make noise so your husband can sleep? What's wrong with you?

Looking down the hall towards the living room. Fun fact, that pocket door was not there when we moved in. We actually bought the door, stained it, and installed it ourselves. 

During:

Just so you know, I HATE painting. I cannot stand doing it. But, it is cheap, quick, and transforms a space, so I do it. But, I do have this weird obsession with taping. I just adore taping a room prior to painting. I'm not sure why, but taping is my favorite. It is so relaxing to me. 

The Result 

Again, where is your industrial air mover? #classy

Just sayin' hey! 

I know it is hard to tell, but the paint before was a cream/khaki color. It was old, a bit dirty/dingy, and tired. We ended up using the same base paint we did for the back bedroom, the Behr Revere Pewter. 

Y'all, this color is amazing, and I could paint every room in my house this color and be happy. 

As you can see, we also went to Home Goods and purchased some photo frames and small mirror for the wall. This was a big step for me. I am a minimalist, and always looking to declutter. But, P and I made this small cluster, and I like it. Sort of. 

The last thing we did, was change out the door knobs. All of the knobs were nasty, old, and worst of all, gold. #notmystyle

We replaced the gold with a dark bronze. Again, another cheap and simple repair that looks so much better. 

We still have a few more things to do in the hallway. We want to add crown molding, remove the attic fan, and paint the ceiling. Those will be done in the coming months, but for now, I am happy with how it turned out. 

Given that I have no sense of style or know how to decorate, what do y'all think?

Around the House--The Back Bedroom

These past few weeks, we have been working hard on our back bedroom. We have lived in our house for 2 years now, and this is the only room that we have never done anything to.

When we moved in, the room looked like this.

The lighting in this room is not great, and it is hard to tell, but it was a weird mint green color.

First, we put up crown molding. We found this particular molding at a builder supply store for about $.80 cents, a foot, so we were able to install crown molding in the entire room for less than $40.00, including caulking, primer, and paint. 

Next, we began painting the wall. 

The main wall color is Behr's Revere Pewter, which is a soft grey. (thank you Pinterest for the suggestion)

Next, we painted the back wall with stripes. Again, Revere Pewter is the softer color, and Behr's Rockport is the darker contrasting grey. 

Finally, we painted the ceiling a bright white, and now, it looks so much cleaner and crisp than it did before. 

We have a few more minor adjustments to make. We need to hang curtains and then get to work on the closet. We plan to install some shelving units and create some better storage areas. For whatever reason, this closet is the largest in the house, so we want to make most of the space we have.

This has now become my favorite room in the house! I have some furniture that I am working on refinishing because I want to have all white furniture in this room. I'll show y'all that once I am finished!

What do you think, do you like it? Any projects going on at your house?