summer! [part two]

*** When typing this, I didn't know all the pictures would be links. I can't find a way around it. I'm very annoyed. Just wanted you to know that up front...***

It's officially the first day of summer. And I am thrilled!
Last summer, I didn't know I would be teaching the following school year and before May even began, I had a calendar FULL of weddings and photoshoots.
I just looked at my 2009 calendar.
I had 41(HOLY COW!!!) shoots and 5 weddings between June 1st and August 12th.
It wasn't the most enjoyable or relaxing summer.

Needless to say, this summer will NOT be like that. And I'm even taking the whole month of August off from Sprinkle so I can start the school year off right.

Anyway, I want this summer to be fun, creative and at the risk of sounding contradictory, productive!
i've got quite the "to-do" list brewing in my mind. I'm all about the to do lists, you see.
One of the major things I want to do this summer is help out my poor house.
I feel like I say that all the time.
I could probably find like 12 posts that say something like "I want to make my house a home...yada yada, blah, blah", yet, if you look at my house, you will see nothing has really changed in like three years.
"Not this year!" she declares shaking her fist in the air.
"This year, I have plans!"

Kylah introduced me to the website, houzz.com. She learned of the site from Sarah who is basically the reason any of us look at any site...she's like the website guru...without her etsy might just be a weird word...

...back to houzz. It's like a one stop shop for room ideas. You can search by room, color, style, etc. And then you save your favorite room pictures to your ideabooks.

I will now share some of my photos from my ideabook and I would like you to notice the common theme:


I LOVE THIS! And so want it in my classroom.


I am smitten with (by?with?by?) these frames on that yellow...with the pink flowers...sigh...


The door on the pantry makes me want to go to every antique store I can until I find one just like it. And then all the white...makes me want to make brownies.


Please. Please, someone give me permission to paint my kitchen this yellow.


I have a crush on the color red.


I would never leave my rocking chair.


Troy and I could be very content sleeping in that yellow bed... with all that randomness around us. Well, I could...troy might not feel the same way. Hmmm....


love.it. all.of.it.



Ladies, I think this girl likes COLOR!

Which would only make sense. I mean when I was a little girl i would carefully rearrange all my markers and colors in rainbow order as soon I opened the package.
When I play mexican train with the dominoes with the colored dots, i have to try really hard to care more about winning than making the prettiest train.
Choosing a font color is a life or death decision.
I have an obsession with paint samples. I have hundreds in a baggie.
When I buy shirts, I will buy solid color tees that look good together even thought they'll never be worn at the same time.
Color. It's my thing.

Yet! I never really used that in decorating! I mean, I have a few punches of color here and there, but for the most part my home is a very jumbled mix of tans, blacks, whites and some red.

But in looking at houzz, as i was just adding pictures to ideabooks based on what made me go, "ooooh! I like that!" without really having a room or idea in mind, I really think adding color should be my goal! It's what makes me happy.

There were two other trends I noticed though.
White. I like white furnuture, white cabinets, white frames. I think it's because the white feels like a breath of fresh air. Especially the white kitchens. Something about them made my heart tingle.

And the other trend was walls full of pictures. I bet you coulda called that one. I love hodge podge, yet somehow cohesive frames covering a wall.

So, the reason I went through this ridiculously long ramble about color is because I'm going to try to use that when I start doing things to my house this summer.

My first few projects lend themselves to color anyway -
~the boys' room (as in singular room - we're putting them together...is that the stupidest thing you've ever heard of or what?),
~the new play room (currently the "dog room"),
~and the laundry room (for some reason, when that room feels organized and clean the rest of the house does too...)

If I get those done, then I'll move onto more important things like the living room and the kitchen. But I think I need to start with less intimidating rooms. IN other words, should color not really be my thing then the children and the laundry are the main ones suffering. That's fair, right? :)

So, I'll try to keep you posted on my color adding goal! :)