The previous owners of our house did a lot of updating before selling - including new paint and flooring throughout. They went with a neutral tan (on every single wall!) that wasn't too obnoxious, so painting moved to the back burner while we unpacked and settled in.
Another big change around here has been the sleeping arrangements. We moved Cora's crib into Jonah's room a few weeks ago, in anticipation of Grandma's visit. Now our guest room is an actual guest room, and we don't have to put Cora in our bedroom when we have guests - especially nice during months like these when Brandon is on-call 24/7 and getting paged all night long. Having the kids in the same room has actually gone much better than I anticipated. They talk and giggle when we first put them to bed, but Cora quickly falls asleep and Jonah talks/sings/rolls around a while longer, before also falling asleep. We're still working on mornings, but usually I can quickly scoop up Cora when she starts to stir and leave Jonah to sleep a bit longer.
Fast-forward a few months....and I am so sick of tan! (Every single wall). Now...my friend and super-mom, Amanda, repainted the rooms in her new house with 4 kids running around, but I decided to call for reinforcements rather than try to multitask painting and child-watching. Grandma gladly accepted my invitation for a visit and spent last week with us down in Wichita. She mostly wrangled kids so I could get a few rooms painted (and run a few kid-less errands). Back in our condo, I think we painted about one room per year (usually when my sister Jenny was in town, oddly) - but last week I painted 4 rooms in 4 days!
I started with the toy room. It already had a chair rail, but the bottom and top halves of the wall (and the chair rail) were all...tan! I kept the top tan, but painted the bottom half navy blue and the chair rail white (to match the built in shelves around the fireplace. (Totally stole this color scheme/idea from Katie's nursery, although hers was a bit more teal than blue).
Then, the kitchen and both bathrooms all got the same shade of grey since they all have the same woodwork/trim and linoleum.
A few weeks ago, I also added a bench to our kitchen table area - my first IKEA-hack! It is actually a bookcase turned on its side, and I made a cushion to go on top. Plus the shelves/cubbies provide a little extra storage in our cozy kitchen. The bookcase fits almost exactly in the space between the wall and the end of the cabinet. (Stole the idea for a bench seat from my cousin Cheri's house, where they also have a cozy eat-in area in their kitchen, and two corner bench seats to maximize the space. But I couldn't find anything to work in our space, so I pieced together my own.)
Another big change around here has been the sleeping arrangements. We moved Cora's crib into Jonah's room a few weeks ago, in anticipation of Grandma's visit. Now our guest room is an actual guest room, and we don't have to put Cora in our bedroom when we have guests - especially nice during months like these when Brandon is on-call 24/7 and getting paged all night long. Having the kids in the same room has actually gone much better than I anticipated. They talk and giggle when we first put them to bed, but Cora quickly falls asleep and Jonah talks/sings/rolls around a while longer, before also falling asleep. We're still working on mornings, but usually I can quickly scoop up Cora when she starts to stir and leave Jonah to sleep a bit longer.
Grandma got in lots of playtime with the kids while she was here. She put Cora through her paces working on her walking. And read lots of books with Jonah. We did also manage to get outside a bit and enjoy the wonderful weather (still in the 70's and 80's here....in late October! I'll take it!).
Cora and Grandma were buddies all week, and Cora was pretty sad to see her go. (We were all sad to see her go!) It's amazing how much more I could accomplish with an extra set of hands around! Now I just have to decide on wall colors for the bedrooms and living room...we made a trip to Home Depot yesterday to pick up more paint samples!
Cora and Grandma were buddies all week, and Cora was pretty sad to see her go. (We were all sad to see her go!) It's amazing how much more I could accomplish with an extra set of hands around! Now I just have to decide on wall colors for the bedrooms and living room...we made a trip to Home Depot yesterday to pick up more paint samples!
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