Rearrange Mom's Collage

Hanging things on your walls takes preparation. You have to take a step back and stare at a space. Do you want it to line up with something else? Center it? Off center it?

I’ve had my fair share of experience with collages. And what I know of my preferences, is I like the outside of the collage to line up. That could be done different ways. All four sides could line up or just the top and bottom could line up.

I have not made any collages in this house, because I grew out of love with them, but Mom has one above her bed as a way to disguise how short her headboard it. She is using my childhood furniture in her room. When we bought her a new mattress set, it raised the bed to where the headboard disappeared!

Mom used the frames she had to display pictures of the entire family. My boys have all loved to sit in her bed and look at the pictures. They point out who everyone is. But while she was away on a trip, I took the time to rearrange the collage. I lift it up, used a few new frames and defined its shape.

Most of her frames were black with a few stragglers. I found some black frames with gold accent to tie in some other frames. I then made the collage be a square shape. All four sides have the frames line up the outside shape.

Now it raises your eye up even higher, so you take note of the tall ceilings. Just a little tweak to change things.

And as we speak, we are actually redoing the collage again. The space currently looks like this ...

I'll be back with an update when we complete it.
 

Staircase Pictures

The staircase has been pretty bare since we moved in, but I finally hung some artwork.

You may remember me talking about these watercolors here. Mom had come up with the idea to have watercolor paintings made of the two houses we combined to create JW Homestead. I had a picture of our old house and my parent's townhouse converted to watercolor.

I looked up tutorials on how to do this in Photoshop and did a couple of my own, but I really liked the app called Waterlogue that I had originally used. It had more "bleeding" imperfections that I liked.

Well, I never got these prints made or framed. I honestly couldn't figured out where I wanted them. I'm still trigger-shy on putting holes in my walls! I don't want clutter, yet want decor. My mom kept asking when I was going to do it, but I kept putting it off, but for Christmas, her gift was cash that was earmarked for the frames. This was her way of kicking me in the tail to get it done.

Before I could pick out frames, I had to see how big the print would be. I was unsure if the Waterlogue app had given me a print that could be printed large. Plus, I also had to go find the digital copies I had saved...somewhere. It had been too long. The Waterlogue app provided large digital files, so I was good. I printed 8x10's. I then found frames and used large mats.

Next up was placement. I still was unsure. I had a couple ideas. I narrowed it down to the staircase. I was undecided on where to center it on the landing... the step? the railing? the landing itself?

I ended up centering it with the two railings. This part took a little longer because the hooks on the backs of the frame were not identical in their height so I had to measure the actual distance of the two individual hooks and make sure they created a level frame!

I'm really happy with the placement. It finishes that space.

I liked the staircase before, but really like it now.

I do not plan to make another staircase of pictures in the last house, but this gives some interest and has meaning.

Every time I walk by the stairs now, I notice the pictures. I want to keep that feeling of my brain knowing there is something new. It's a great feeling.

Watercolor

With the process of building the new house, I didn't want to forget where I came from. My first house is very special. It was the house Mr. JCrew and I moved into together and raised our family.

I wanted to create a watercolor of our first house and hang it up in the new house. My mom has a wonderful friend in Florida that is an artist. This friend is a special one that was there for her when they both lost children to horrible accidents. It would be really special if she created a watercolor for us.

I inquired for her work, but she was reluctant because of her time availability. I said it was no rush and we'd wait. However, I was browsing on my Pinterest board over Christmas break and found a link to an app called, Waterlogue.

It's not free, but it's cheap. All I'd have to do is upload a photo and it turns it into a watercolor painting ready to print. It gives you over ten options that make the painting exactly how you envision it.

Since Mom is moving in with us, we needed a picture of her first house in Alabama. This house is a special house as well. It's the house my parents bought and made new beginnings in. It's the house my whole family stayed in while taking care of my dad in his final days. And it's the house we are currently living in and creating memories.

I used a different setting for each painting. That's what is neat about the app. The setting I used on one picture, may not be the best setting for the other picture.

I have the digital copies of the pictures ready to print on watercolor paper. I'm excited to print them and hang in the new house. I'll make sure to keep you updated on where in the new house they go.

Thanksgiving 2014

Our first Thanksgiving without Dad.

My sister from Florida came up to visit and brought her husband.

They also brought their pups. We had SEVEN dogs. Thank goodness they are small.

Anderson, Jackson, Colby, Hunter, Kates, Bosley, Charles

The house was full, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends. The kiddos had a great time at their own table.

Little JCrew even tried the cranberry sauce!

We didn't do any Black Friday shopping, but we did get out of the house. We went to Lowes! I really wanted to visit the subcontractors for the house, but they are good businesses and allowed their employees to have the day after Thanksgiving off. To satisfy the need to get something done, we went to Lowes. The boys liked cramming themselves into vanities.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Jenson side on Sunday. We walked in and were blown away with the setup.

It was perfect. Cole wrote out the name tags.

Mr. JCrew's sisters have the pictures with everyone sitting down. Grandpa J had all the kids at his end.

After dessert, we ended the night with Bunco! It was a fun game the kids enjoyed. It will now be a tradition.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. December is here and that's hard to believe!

Townhome Living

Well, we are all moved in to Mom's place and settled. We've been here a week and I love it. Mr. JCrew says we should have done this a long time ago.

It is a 1600 square foot townhome with one car garage. We are able to fit all three cars in her driveway without having to park in the street (against neighborhood covenants to park on street overnight)

I really do enjoy the small space. It forces you to be organized and clean up after yourself. If you don't pick up, the mess leaves you no where to walk or sit.

The kids share a bathroom and closet with Mr. JCrew and me. I like this arrangement. It is easy to get us all ready in the morning. Although I say this now as they are small children; I'm sure once they are pre-teen age and older, I will appreciate not having to share a closet or bathroom with my children.

The house is lined with our extra furniture, but it still doesn't feel cramped.

We all hang out in the living room and it's great.

I am so thankful for my mom for taking us in. I think we made her a little nervous when we first moved in, but we are settled in now and I think she is great. We even brought all of our outdoor toys.

We've always had a lot of people in the house, so I think it is what she is used to.

I mentioned we divided our porch furniture among my mom's neighbors to borrow. She still has our glider along with the kids' bikes, our grill and some plants I potted that I removed from our old house. (We will plant them at the new house.)

From a distance, it doesn't look bad. Even when you walk up, I'm trying to keep it from looking so red-neck!

This new adventure is off to an awesome start. We don't know our timeline or the exact plan, and shockingly, I am okay with that. I am open to whatever the future holds!

Appliance Moving

Alright (in the words of Mr. Brigglesworth)...

I have a house update. I wish it was exciting news, but it's not. I have come to the realization that our housing market is not so hot right now. To all my fellow in-town friends, now is not the time to sell... but it is the time to buy!

Remember when I said pricing our house was the hardest part we were still unsure of? Well, it was our only pitfall. We have had no showings. We've received advise from realtors and they say the only thing wrong is our price. I was so nervous to sell it low, and then to wonder if we sold it too cheaply. But that won't be the issue. We are competing with new construction and they are able to build cheaper than our builder could build back in 2008. The kicker... all that was considered fancy upgrades to us, is now a standard!

So, we've reduced our price to what we bought it for (no upgrades). And because we are doing that, I am looking at everything in my house that I could take with me to a new one. Even those plantation shutters!

I removed my fancy light switch that I love. I don't think the new buyer will appreciate it as much as I do.

And my gas stove was the first thing to be removed. When my mom and dad built their house, I paid for their upgrade to a gas stove. Once they closed on the house, we switched appliances. I got the gas, she got the electric.

I really enjoyed the gas stove and wanted to keep it. So, we switched them back to the original owners this past Sunday.

Mr. JCrew's dad came to help.

I needed to remove the gas stove before potential buyers thought it was what they were getting. Switching electric and gas means having to cut off the gas to the house and capping it off when not using it.

The electric stove helps draws your attention away from the fact there is no backsplash.

It now kind of feels like a new appliance to me.

Once we build, we will transfer the gas stove that is now in Mom's house to the new house and will buy an electric range to put into her house before selling it.

That's not the only appliance that will be replaced. We bought a nice dishwasher over the summer and sold our loud and small old one. We are also going to take the new dishwasher with us! I know it's starting to sound silly, but we can buy a new replacement dishwasher for $180. That's not even looking on craigslist or yard sale sites. The new dishwasher is only 6 months old, and I love it!

And if you look closely at the kitchen cabinets, you'll notice I already switched out the cabinet knobs to the original ones. They were never my style, and I wouldn't use them in a newer house, so I put them back on. It beats having to take them off and soak them to clean them had I used them the last five years. They look brand new and feel new to me!

So, at least some upgrades I did I can take with me. The upgrades I did won't get me any value in selling them, so I might as well. Helps with the costs in the new house as well.

Anything else I should take with me?

Vanity Lights

I’ve never been really fond of the bathroom lighting situation, but they weren’t ugly. I’ve lived with them for five years while I casually looked for something better.

It was very hard to find something that matched my taste. Once I saw these lights, I fell in love.

However, they were bronze. I had no plans to replace our faucets with bronze fixtures, but wondered how the lights would clash (or not clash) with the brushed nickel everywhere else.

I held out on buying the lights. At $99 each, I just couldn’t do it.

While my sister was in town, we were visiting Lowes and I wanted to show Mom and Kerry the lights I liked. I squealed when I saw the lights were on clearance…  $39!

I bought the three they had in the store. I then bought four more from the Lowes in Athens. (They were the only other store with the sales price AND had some in stock.)

I purchased seven because the plan was to use them in my dream house one day. That dream lasted three months and is now in my memory. Moving on …

I decided to put them up in my current bathrooms. I kinda liked them.

The bronze was not that appealing. It didn’t match.

I gave two of the light fixtures to my mom to use in her bathrooms, and they looked great! 

She has dark cabinets that made them work.

I lived with the lights bronze for a few days until I found spray paint in brushed nickel.

I quickly took the lights down and went spray paint happy.

My bathrooms are a little confused with chrome faucets and brushed nickel knobs, but at least there is not more bronze in there.

I was impressed with the spray paint job.

The bathroom now has kept the light and airy feel that I love.

I loved the bronze look on the light itself, but I had no resistance to paint a beautiful light when I got it for 60% off.

I’m much happier with the lights and they provide to much more light, too!

I’ve already found a new home for the old lights and sold the remainder. Details coming soon.