ruby's room at the new house

and by new, i mean, we've lived here 7+ months.
:)
i realized i haven't shown y'all around much since we've moved to this house so i thought i'd show you ruby's room.
it is honestly very much like her old room.
except that she actually lives in it now, so it's not quite so pristine.
and she has a closet in this room.
bonus.

welcome. :)

it should be noted that i did not stage these photos at all.
these pics are pretty much how it looks every day.

also, the walls are painted dolphin fin gray (behr) just like her old room.
that was the very first thing we did before we even moved boxes in.
also, we brought her chandelier. :) had to.

this is her reading chair.
we read her books there, daily.
her favorite is "no, no, noah." :)

chalkboard from her shower, hooks with her many accessories, fabric art from the sis-in-law, and baby dresses.

the top one was my mom's baby dress and the bottom is the one i made for ruby.
it was so big on her....hard to believe now.

i found the gold curtain rod at the walmarts on clearance. yes. please.
the curtains are a vintage coverlet, cut in half.
i didn't sew up the sides or anything crazy like that.
the little scrappy garland is from her first bday partay.

her bed....pretty much the same as our last house, except lowered down.
she refuses blankets 98% of the time, but we always go in and cover her up after she's asleep.

that vintage bassinet is one of my favorite things in her room.
all my kids slept in it, as well as my niece, nephew and little sister.
it now holds her many "babies."

okay, yeah, we hardly use that changing pad anymore.
but we do use it sometimes and i just can't bear to get rid of it yet.
i have used it for all four of my kids and i'm sentimental and i am no where near ready for her to have a big girl room.

the gallery above her bed is ever-changing.
i need to add some more current photos.....

ruby in utero.
mama and boy hands loving on her even then. :)

the little angel picture was a gift from my step-mom years ago and i've always loved it.

vintage botanical print.

i love this print from french press mornings.
{i won it through a giveaway on this vintage grove!! yay. hoo.}

and lastly but not leastly...her closet.
it is super nice for her to have an actual closet in this house.
which is chock full of her cutie clothes and shoes.

so that's her little room.
girly and pink and perfect for her. :)

more details of the specific items in her room can be found in the "ruby's nursery" tab at the top of the page. :)


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homemade laundry detergent because i'm granola like that

hi y'all! 

hope you had a great weekend. 

i sure the heck did. :)

okay, so i promised you deets on my homemade laundry detergent. 

here's the story morning glory....

i have been wanting to make my own laundry soap for like, ever.

i kept procrastinating because i am such a researcher and wanted to sit down and research all the different options and pick the best/right one. 

welp. i got waylayed by the end cap display at walmart.

it was a big tower o' borax calling my name. 

i'm such a sucker for marketing. 

anywho, i just decided to look up a recipe right there in the walmart aisle and buy whatever it said.

i'm so spontaneous. 

i knew i wanted powder so i just clicked on the first pretty picture of powder detergent i saw and went with that. :)

the stuff sat on the counter for a few days until i could get to it. 

in the meantime, i did sit down and research several recipes online.

i chose powder b/c it seems like less mess and less storage and i like the way it looks in a jar. :)

the recipe i landed on uses all of the ingredients in the pic above.

i did see many recipes that just used borax, bar soap, &; washing soda.

i may try that next time....we'll see how this works out. 

i also saw several recipes with different soaps like zote, ivory, etc.

so you can play around with that part. 

i will probably try zote out next time....which is hopefully a long time from now. :)

there are a bazillion tutuorials for homemade laundry detergent out there but if you want to try what i did, i used: 

76 oz. box borax

55 oz. box washing soda

4 lb. box baking soda {on the laundry aisle}

3 bars fels naptha

1.5 {ish} pounds oxi clean (i used about 1/2 of that 3 lb. tub)

i grated the bars of soap on the finest part of my cheese grater.
this was totally mindless and easy.
i did it while watching dumb television. ;)
maybe not the best use of my brain cells, but oh well.
i wanted it super fine so i put the shreds through my mini chopper.
{this is what i use to chop all onions with and it saves my sanity}.
you don't have to do this step, but i am particular like that. :)
i found that some people just did the grating and some people just put it through their food processor.
whatever you have will be fine, i'm sure....i just wanted it to be nice and fine.

also, every time i put some of the shredded bar soap into my chopper i added a spoon or two of baking soda to keep it from clumping up in there. this worked like a charm.

so this is how it looks all shredded and processed.
i poured the rest of the big box of baking soda into this bowl and mixed that all up.

to mix the whole batch up, i poured this and everything else into a clean kitchen trash bag.
i actually double bagged it just to be safe.
i used a wooden spoon to stir it all up and then i pulled it out of the trash can and rolled it around and mushed it to get it all mixed up.

it honestly was super easy and you only use 1-2 Tbs. per load so it should last me for a while.
which i need since there are six of us crazies in this house. :)

let me know if you try it or if you already do this and have some tips for the rest of us! :)


feel free to pin and share! :)

today's creative blog

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home. and a chair re-do.

happily we are settling into this house much faster than we have in past houses.
my antsy pants nature and aj's willingness to go along with my shenanigans have helped.  :)

it feels like home.
which is amazing considering we've only lived here just over a month.
also, it feels so good to know that this is our house.
for some reason, renting was really hard for me.
although we were so thankful for the house we were in, the amazing owners, the pool {oh we will miss that bad this summer} and the yard {already missing that}, it just never felt like home.
do you know what i mean?

this house fits us perfectly.
it's cozy and pretty and i love it. :)

so i wanted to show you my sweet chair that i finally updated for our bedroom.
it's a 1940's chair that i bought at a yard sale a few years ago with the intent to recover it.
it lived briefly in our living room and then was sent to our bedroom.
and i never recovered it the whole 2 years we lived there....possibly bc i was preggers and then had a newborn. . . possibly.


so here's the before {from our last house} . . .

beautiful lines and wood, not the right fabric.
i love the wood, but we already have so much dark furniture in our room, that i wanted to paint it white to lighten it up a bit.
sadly, the pretty wood design on the sides had to go.
it was cardboard thin and didn't make it through 3 boys.

i painted the wood white with some paint i had in the garage.

i recovered the cushions with a linen fabric that i found on the clearance table at hancock's.
i just laid the cushions down on the fabric, and cut around it using the cushion as a guide.
no measuring or anything complicated like that. ;)

okay the after.....

i love how she turned out.
fresh and clean and just so pretty, i think. :)

here's a little peek at this side of our room.

looking at this picture makes me think i need to get new frames for our dresser...too much dark going on up there.
our room typically tends to be on the bottom of the totem pole for decorating so i'm hoping to do better with that.

and because i love a before and after as much as anyone, how about a side by side. . .

oh happy day. :)

linking up with today's creative blog  & yolo mondays & 

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thrift store thursday and some laundry room cuteness :)

hey guys... so if you're new here....every thursday i try to share my favorite thrift store finds for the week. 

if y'all have fun finds to share...link up in the comments so we can all see. :)

okay so my finds this week. . . 

i had been looking for a big bulletin board for the laundry room.

i decided i was ready for a clean look for our fridge {after years of having it covered in photos...which i still love....just wanting to enjoy my first ever stainless steel fridge :)}.

so i wanted a big board to put all the photos of our family & friends on.

i found some beautiful ones at home goods that i thought i might go back for but you know, i am so. cheap.

last week i found this really big old bulletin board that looked perfect. 

i think it's probably about 2 feet by 4 feet. 

i think it may have been in an office or church or something. 

it has that berber carpet looking stuff stapled on that reminds me of an old church building. 

anyhow, it was only $1.75 so i snatched that baby up. 

i dug through my fabric stash and found a linen curtain that would be big enough.

while the kids drove their scooters and bikes around me, i stapled it on.

staplegunning is so fun, isn't it?! 

better, but still a little booooring. 

yesterday was a rainy, stay inside, kinda day so while the boys watched a movie i dug through my fabric stash again and found some fabric to hot glue on.

i just tore it in strips and glued it around the edge because i knew the pictures would cover the middle. 

i also whipped up some little rossettes from an old t-shirt that i had stashed. 

{i may or may not have a fabric/material hoarding problem. }

i added the pics and now i smile every time i walk by this sweet little room. 

it's so cheery and it definitely makes all the laundering a happier chore. 

i also added a white board to the back wall for chores & tasks and reminders. 

so handy. 

i like to have a little container of some sort handy to throw in treasures that i find in pockets. ;)

i've washed many a race car, rock & lego. 

i put all our extra magnets & photo magnets on the side of the dryer so that ruby has something to drag out and make a big mess out of while i sort laundry.  :)

so that's our little laundry room that makes this mama so happy. :)

okay a couple more thrifty finds today....

this awesome big ol' metal bin.
anytime i find a metal bin, i grab it up.
they are so handy and i love the industrial vibe.
this one is 2 feet wide so really roomy....not sure if it's going to the booth or staying here.....

some great vintage dishes:
 a milk glass loaf pan and pretty floral plates.
i hadn't seen a milk glass loaf pan so i definitely needed that and the plates are for a wall art idea i have in mind for the kitchen or dining room. :)

yay for thrifting! have y'all found anything fun lately??
{if there's enough interest in sharing thrifted finds, i'll try to start a linky. :) let me know if you'd be interested}.

also** the flea market where my booth is at {All My Treasures} is having a two day sale this weekend...everything in the whole store is 10% off on saturday and sunday. so if you've been thinking of dropping by, this weekend is the time!! :)


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welcome home

hiya.

oh it is so fun to decorate a new space.
especially one that is truly ours.

now that we're pretty much out of boxes i get to do the fun part.

so here's my pretty teal buffet all fluffed up.

can i just say again, that it's way more teal in real life...like the bottom of that oil painting than the blue that this photo shows??

speaking of the oil painting....it's so fun to have a place for it now.
i found it while thrifting in kansas over christmas for two bucks.
love. it. hello poppies. you make me happy.

bowl for the keys and a basket for the mail.
we love a landing spot right by the door.

speaking of door ;) . . . . .

sweet and happy. . . and i need a new fun rug. . . clearly.

slowly but surely this house is starting to feel like home.  :)

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unpack. unpack. unpack. repeat.

still doing tons of unpacking over here.
obviously.

it is so much work to get your every earthly belonging packed up and then you get to where you're going and the work continues!
little by little....we'll get it done.
i keep telling myself that i will find a place for everything soon!

i am working, working, working and never stopping...but that was my life anyway so what's new? ;)

i have already started on some fun projects that i can't wait to show you...but first....here are a few rando shots of the new house that i took with my phone when we had our final walk through.

that is the dining room, right when you walk in, to the right.
the floors are actually tile that look like wood.
love. them.
obviously i prefer the look of real wood, but with four young kids, three of whom are boys, this is perfect for us.

floors the color of dirt that are not affected by water or spills? yes. please.

these are not great shots, but you get the idea.
ruby, aj and our realtor chatting it up in the living room.
breakfast nook and kitchen behind them.

the kitchen cabs are white beadboard.
i love the kitchen so much.
i've always wanted white cabinets with white counters.
yay.

master bathroom...kinda self explanatory....and about 5 trazillion times bigger than our last bathroom.
the master shower is a-maz-ing.

the upstairs is a ginormo bonus room.
we are using it as a fourth bedroom/play room.
i'm not sure how we're going to arrange it all...it's such a big space....but i think that's a good problem to have. ;)

this house is about the same size as our last one {about 2200 sq. feet} but it is arranged much better for our family.

so those are the only photos worth showing you but i will be giving you room by room updates as we get them whipped into shape.
ruby's room is almost there. :)

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