August Fields

the nursery

okay…time for a little house update!  we’re moving along quite well and still anticipating a june 1 completion date.  i can hardly believe that is only two months away!!!
so i wanted to do a little piece on the nursery before it’s completed.  this has been my inspiration picture from the beginning.  i cannot find the source but will link back when i do.
i didn’t love everything about this space but the overall look captured what i was looking for.
so i saved this picture and stuck with it for inspiration.
these are the elements i wanted to emulate:
1.  overall layering of basically two colors.  i am really drawn to tone on tone.
2. the separation of colors on the wall.  one color on the bottom, one on top.
3.  the painted white wood floor!
4.  the antique brass chandelier and the smaller scale of it. (i found one!)
5. white crib.
here is the nursery standing in the doorway looking in.  the small closet is to the right of the windows.
next, you can see the wood floor is down.  we went with a 5″ oak.  at final stage it will be sanded down about 1/8″ on sight then finished to specification.
we also decided to layer in a texture to the bottom half of the room.  what you see is board and batten before paint.
below you will see the nursery walls with the finishing touch of a little ledge on the board and batten.
i think it will be nice to be able to lean some artwork on (securely of course!) as well as adding a little more visual interest.
the walls are primed, sanded and nail holes filled at this stage.
the floors have been covered with brown paper to prepare for final painting.  
the bottom half of the room will be painted in benjamin moore’s london fog color.  
the top will be benjamin moore’s ready mix white color which is also the white we are using in several 
other areas of the house.
when we designed this space some of our thoughts were:
~ place this room right next to the master bedroom
~ design this room with the thought that when it is done being used as a nursery we can transition it to be an upstairs office for my husband.
~ therefore the closet was built out with more shelving versus rods for hanging.

pillow talk

a couple of weeks ago i won a giveaway from melanie over at pretties and posies!
i won the “H” pillow and the “No. 7” pillow….so cute.  
H is our family initial and 7 because we have 7 people in our family.
the pillows came packaged so pretty that i had to take a picture 🙂
i tried them out a few different places.
before settling on their final destination (for now)….our bed.
thanks melanie! i love them 🙂 
you can visit melanie over at her blog or her etsy shop.  

our life

piano lessons for the three big kids….love the fact the piano teacher comes to our house.  he definitely found a niche catering to homeschoolers! 
dubs usually plays “run away” during school time! 🙂
deanie has started the nancy drew series
hank is busy during his “blanket time”….that realistically only ever lasts 7 minutes.  tops.
bathtime.  hank, dubs, boone.  i love the delicious smell of just bathed babes. 🙂
deanie and dancy recently had choir and drama performances.
deanie was the princess (in the pink dress) and dancy was the messenger (all in black w/ a blue sash).
the homeschool performing arts in our area really pulls out all stops.  the shows are fabulous and 
the kids gain such great theater and stage experience.

Homeschool Room Part One

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the TRUTH.” 3 John: 4


this is the verse that is written on the doorframe to the school room.  and truly it is my prayer.
you can read more about marking our house with scripture here
a schoolroom.  as a homeschooling family this is a major deal for us.  a separate room just for school!
now,  i don’t think this is a necessity because i know many homeschooling families that do school all over the house.  
currently, we have a section in our basement designated for all of our school stuff.  
when we were designing the new house we put a lot of thought into the schoolroom.  
we came up with ideas such as: 
1. schoolroom should be close to the kitchen
  this gives easy access for drinks and snacks.  also, i am often in the kitchen so that would keep me in close proximity to the kids while they’re in the schoolroom.
2.  schoolroom should have plenty of natural light.
currently, since our schoolroom is in the basement, we have no natural light.  i wanted to be able to see the rain, the leaves and the sun.
3.  storage for supplies and shelves for books
this is pretty basic for any homeschooler.  i’m happy with our system now so we just needed
to incorporate something for the new room.  there will also be two simple desks (you can see built
against the wall below) for independent seat work or tests.

4.  an old school door
so excited that i actually did this! you can read about the great search here
the Bible verse is cased in now.  pretty cool to know that the WORD is forever in that frame.
the door came with plenty of ‘scribbles’.  the 3 big kids are trying to wipe some of it off. 🙂
5.  a checkered floor just because 🙂
edited to add this post to Met Monday over at BNOTP

beautiful chicken house

i was perusing my google reader and i stopped cold when i saw this picture….

it is a chicken. house.  a CUTE chicken house.  wow.  
you can see all the details over at heather bullard’s blog
as beautiful as it is…and it’s beautiful alright….it’s actually functional and practical!
side doors all around for accessing different sides.
Heather has all the details and more on her site.
i am definitely saving this in my “would love a chicken house someday” file 🙂