Where to Start? We've Moved...

So, my last blog post was July of 2014. It is now April of 2015. Where to start. In fact it is just so overwhelming to know where to start that I've just let this blog sit. But, then it occurred to me that I miss this, I miss sharing with you. So, here I am and I still have no idea where to start.

Well, perhaps I'll start with the changes. I am now a working mom, part-time albeit but still working and, friends, that is a huge change. We are no longer living in the cute little house pictured above. We have a brand new home that we built and moved into a little over a month ago. As you can see, there are some big changes that have occurred since July of 2014.

Since this blog is called Simple Home Managing, I should start with our journey to a new home. It had been a dream of ours for quite some time to move to the "bigger" city just south of us, where our kids are in school, where we shop and the location of an adorable downtown and just so many conveniences and even more importantly friends that we wanted to be closer to (yes, that was a very long sentence). In fact, this medium size city was listed as the best place to live in a magazine poll last year and 2nd the year before that. This city would give my husband a super easy commute and we felt would overall improve our lives.

Don't get me wrong, oh how I loved the little house pictured above. Making that little house our haven was a labor of love for me. Yet, I longed to be in another place. I had scoped out Realtor.com for years, and tried to force the move when it wasn't God's timing and He prevented it each time. It is so interesting for me to look back on this because it is so clear to me that He ordered our steps and although it was painful at times to not have have things "my way" I can see now that it was for our good. Even though, it can be so hard to see that at the time.

Things fell into place and just how God has worked in the past with me, things moved fast. God led us to a new development in the perfect location, a ten minute commute for my husband and ten from the school, just five minutes from our closest family friends. We found a floor plan that in so many ways had everything that I loved about our little home, the natural light, the open floor plan, and yet it has more room to entertain, a space for a guest to sleep and dedicated space for our homeschool days, even a bonus space upstairs for a playroom. It.was.perfect.

Now, to sell our house. We spent the next few weeks preparing our little house, which meant painting the outside trim in the hottest month of the year and in Texas that is hot! This would also be right when I began my new job working at the kids school, eliminating my "kid free" time. But, all that said, our little house proved to be a dream home for a nice couple moving to be closer to grandbabies and the house sold in a weekend. 

We had four months from the time until we moved out until the new house would be completed. We put everything into storage except for the bare essentials and my parents graciously let us take over their house. I think I may have done one load of laundry and maybe cooked a meal or two in that whole time, because I have the sweetest servant-hearted mom. My dad also spoiled the kids with chocolate chip pancakes just about every morning. I'm pretty sure that I need to send them on a cruise!

Of course, I couldn't wait to get into our new home and nest! This home has proved to be everything I imagined, a perfect space for our family. Still not too big to maintain, but a great space for us and for friends! We hosted our first family holiday this Sunday for Easter, and it was so nice to have the island to seat the kiddos and more space for family at our table. I've found that people always congregate in the kitchen so the big island and open space are so nice. 

I guess my style for this house is cozy minimalist. It's kid friendly, not pretentious, airy (yes, we like the walls white), with a touch of artsy flair and color. Just like my old home, it will evolve over time. After all, a home is not built in a day. I've included a few iphone pics in the post, so not the best quality, but you get the idea!

The front, I've planted some of my favorite perennials that don't mind the Texas heat, but we do have a lot of hungry bunnies in our neighborhood that are eating up the plants:

The den with the little man watching PBS this morning:

My dream kitchen:

Of course, my little artsy one, Haley, couldn't wait to decorate her Paris inspired room:

Our guest room/office:

The upstairs playroom:

I'll add more pics as I have time, now off to get our schoolwork done! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Jennifer

Surprise Girl's Room Makeover on a Budget

I have been scheming behind my daughter's back planning a surprise room makeover that was indeed a big surprise, and now I get to share the results with you! I decided it would be fun to surprise Haley with a new room for her birthday. Since she decided to not have a party this year, I could allocate those funds to make a special new room for our special girl.

Here is a before pic:

She has recently branched out from pink and purple to expanding and adding turquoise and lime green to her desired color palette. So, those would be the main colors of the room. I found a great quilt set at Homegoods for $39.00 that had the perfect blend of colors to begin this makeover. The fun pink pillow was a little bit of a splurge at $20.00 from Target. I also found a great sheet set at Target with coordinating colors. I then matched the paint color to the bedding, it is Lowes Valspar Rushing Stream. 

Originally, I was going to paint the daybed lime green, but then I decided to just freshen up the room with a new Malm bed from Ikea. I just wanted the room to have a crisp, clean feel and this bed was perfect.

Since, one of the issues that I had with her room was the amount of nail holes in the wall with her ever rotating art collection, I needed a solution. My goal was to make this room easy to change out the artwork to make it really her own space. These art ledges work great from Ikea and at $12.00 a piece an inexpensive solution.

I also added this rotating art station on the wall adjacent to her closet. She already had the white magnetic board, also from Ikea. I simply bought a couple of cheap clipboards from Target and painted them with spray paint.

I was so excited to find some great free printables online (you can find links to them here on my Pinterest page). I simply printed them out in 8 x 10s and framed them with $10.00 white frames from Ikea. I instituted the help of my friend, Jackie, to make the curtain, I found the fabric at Joanne's.

I also used A LOT of spray paint in this makeover! The color I chose was Valspar Color Radiance Sonic Lime. I spray painted anything that I could find that would work for storage in her room. That meant pulling a couple of old things I had stashed in the garage. I painted the little side table that I picked up at a yard sale for about $5.00 a couple of years ago. The modern lamp is also from Ikea costing about $10.00. The mirror above the bed, also a vintage sale find from a couple of years ago costing about $5.00 was given a new look with the spray paint.

I cleaned up and organized her built in, but probably my favorite addition to this was the chalkboard contact paper that was added to the bottom cabinets. Another aspect to my theme of a changing art collection, that was a big hit and super easy to install. I found it on Amazon, you can see it here. I used some extra to make a label for the once red bin hanging out in my garage!

So, I managed to plan this makeover and keep it a surprise for well over a month. Haley was whisked away after school on Friday to my parents' house while Matt and I made over her room. She came home on Saturday afternoon to her new room. She was shocked and absolutely loved it! I'm so glad that we got her reaction on video! I really do believe it will be a day she will never forget!

Here is her sweet thank you note!

I hope you enjoyed this makeover tour! I sure enjoyed making a little girl's dream come true! 

Many Blessings,
Jenn

Editing

Spring has arrived in Texas (the best time of year in my humble opinion) and with that the urge to change things up around my house and mostly edit. We've been attempting to get our house down to the things that we really like and make it even easier to clean and enjoy. With that, we've eliminated a big chunk of furniture from our den and we absolutely love the results.

We're finding that the less-cluttered den, even with a big comfy "chair and a half" eliminated, to be much more inviting. We are even spending more time together as a family playing games and just enjoying each other's company in this simplified space. For those of you who are new here, our house is only 1275 square feet, yes, all of it. Yet, we've found it to be a wonderful home for our family of four. I do believe the key to this is editing our stuff from time to time and keeping the clutter to a minimum.

Here are the big results, sorry I have gotten so bad about getting my good camera out so these are cell phone pics. The new edited den: 

  
Here is a before pic with the big red chair set up for a birthday party. Doesn't the den look so much larger with that piece of furniture eliminated:

Our two thrifted chairs and Haley's school desk, also a garage sale find, refinished by my dad:

Our simple mantle, for so many years I wanted to paint this niche and even the room, but I'm so thankful that my artsy husband insisted that the room stay white. Now, I can put any splash color as an accent or in art and it seems to work, plus white walls are once again in:

Our clutter-free entry way, what do we do with all of our (bags, coats, shoes) stuff without a cluttered entry way you might ask, perhaps I'll write another blog post answering that question:

Keeping the coffee table clear of clutter has led to many games of Uno and Lego projects:

My little man had a bad mouth injury over spring break on his bike requiring 16 stitches inside of his mouth, so we've played lots of Uno while he's been on the mend:

I can also see that our family dog feels more relaxed in the space, ha:

Speaking of spring in Texas, check out this amazing sunset last night:

and the buds on our trees:

I hope this helps you to see the beauty in editing and making whatever space you have work for your unique family! I sure hope spring has arrived where you live!

Oh, I should mention, that my free eBook, The Intentional Home, is a 7 week guide to getting that clean clutter-free place you desire! 

Blessings,
Jennifer

Buying Great Art on a Small Budget

Friends who visit my house often comment on the various pieces of art that we have adorning our walls. I am blessed to have an artist husband and daughter, but a good amount of our art comes from thrift stores. You can find so many different types of art very reasonable priced at thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales. Some of the art pictured below costs less than $5.00 and all of it was less than $20.00.

Another great place to buy art is at art shows and festivals. The original pieces are most likely over our budget, but the prints are very reasonably priced. Many art festivals will have have a yearly poster with a featured artist, these are also probably a little larger than the prints the artist sell for a better price.

My favorite print painted by my good friend Betty.

Even framed posters can be fun to add life to your art. Like this vintage bike poster and poster from the infamous Weenie Dog Races in Buda, Texas.

Vintage signs, cross stitches and other quirky things like the vintage souvenir plate from Costa Rica can add a bit of fun to your space. 

Thank you for stopping by!
Jennifer

My Son's Room Update

After our trip to the thrift store and my dining room makeover, I had a few changes to make in Harrison's room. The chest of drawers in our room now works great in Harrison's room. Also, the rug that was under the kitchen table is now in his room. I think it works great for this Lego playing boy. Pretty much everything in his room has been thrifted or is a hand me down. That's pretty much the way the rest of our house works as well!

This bookcase belonged to my husband as a kid and works great for toy storage. All of our kids' toys are housed in their room as we don't have a separate playroom. This really helps keep the toys from getting out of control. Although, they can always be thinned out a bit more!

These great WWII paintings were also a find from our thrift store trip the other day. At $4.00 a piece, they were a deal!

And just in case you wondered what superhero lives in this room, it's actually Spiderman.

So, at what age do you think he'll make me move the flowered rug out of his room? Come to think of it, a white rug in a boys room won't last that long anyways, ha!

Have a blessed day!
Jennifer

Laundry Room Vintage Curtain

All of this moving things that I already own around for a fresh look got my wheels turning even more. My husband's aunt sent this wonderful vintage needlework about a year ago. I just adore it, but I hadn't had a chance to get it framed and if I did frame it, I really didn't have wall space for it. So, it just sat in the closet in a box. 

I thought it might be a crazy idea, but why not make it into a little curtain for the laundry room? First, I just pinned it up there. I thought it looked cute, but I knew that I could improve on the pins even though I'm not a super crafty one.

I decided to try some clothespins and a string. Well, it is a laundry room after all?!? Haley painted these clothes pins to be name place holders for her Tea Birthday Party. We actually didn't end up using them for the party, but I thought the colors looked pretty cute here.

Looking into the laundry room with my vintage farm signs above and now the vintage "curtain" makes me almost want to do some laundry! Why not make the laundry room a happy place, I spend enough time in there!

Thanks for hanging out with me in my little vintage inspired home! For more home inspiration be sure and like Simple Home Managing on Facebook!

Have a blessed day!
Jennifer

Linking up with Thrifty Thursday and Transformation Thursday

Changing Things Up

I'm at it again, moving things around that is! Did you happen to see my Summer Home Tour last week, if not, check it out! 

I needed to give the rug under my kitchen table some love and cleaning. With it missing from the room, I thought I might as well experiment with a different table arrangement. I really didn't think it would work with the kitchen island so close, but it didn't cost me a dime to move it and it can always go back.

I actually really like the result. I ended up moving the little chest and of course I had to move the paintings. 

It actually feels like we have more room while sitting at the table. So, I decided to find a new home for the rug which turned out to be Harrison's room (pics to come). I then moved some art that was just sitting on this chest over the kitchen sink window. I found the butterfly picture in the house that wasn't currently being used. Here's the result:

I have so much fun "playing" and changing things up that I already own. It doesn't cost any money and if it doesn't work, then oh well, you can always put it back! I hope this inspires you to "shop around your house" and freshen things up a bit!

Remember, it's not about having the biggest or "best" house, it's about having a house that's a home and a haven for you and your family. It's about having a place to come together, grow together, worship together, laugh together, and love one another. 

Blessings!
Jennifer

Linking up with Thrifty Thursday and Transformation Thursday

Awesome Thrift Store Find and a Garden Fresh Dinner

Saturday we stopped by our favorite thrift store that benefits a Christian homeless shelter. It is such a nice thrift store and we always have fun looking around. With no particular agenda we happened upon a chest of drawers that was just our style (mid-century modern). We actually found another chest there a couple of years ago with a similar style.

We got the price lowered a little with the expectation that we would take it off their hands that day. The problem was the store was closing in about thirty minutes and we don't own a truck.  Funny thing is we were practically guarding the thing so that no one would buy it out from under us and the only reason they lowered the price was that it had been there for awhile. I guess this means we have a "unique" style!

Here is the chest in it's new home in our bedroom. The chest it replaced (from the same thrift store) is now in Harrison's room.

I put a quick call into my sweet friend Robyn and she and her husband were so kind to let us use their truck. Robyn's husband also helped Matt get the chest into our house, my back thanks him!!! Then, we planned an impromptu dinner with combined resources of Matt's grilled jerk chicken and goodies straight from their garden.

We had so much fun fellowshipping and eating wonderful food. Of course, the kids loved playing with their two little guys. This one looks like he could be one of mine and oh I could just keep him and all his sweetness! 

Sometimes the best days are those that aren't planned and this was one of those days! So many gifts from God!

I hope you experience God's gifts everyday. They are all around you, you just have to pay attention!

Jennifer