{fill it up}

I think I might actually file our paperwork at home if I had this lovely piece...

Just maybe.

Or I could fill it with craft supplies.

Yep.

That sounds like more fun.

{and for anyone reading this that wants to celebrate the fact that I'm a mother....you could also fill it with chocolate and jewelry. Just sayin.}

{candy coma}

Happy Monday Friends! {I'm saying this with a tinge of sarcasm, but really, I'm trying to enjoy the day}

Just a little Easter recap today...the boys got to spend time with my parents and also my mother-in-law and the hubby's family, so needless to say they received, and ingested, A LOT of candy. I think more than they've eaten in their three years on this earth put together. Landon put down almost an entire large chocolate bunny sucker in one sitting. Yikes.

But kids can get away with that, so what the heck. :)

Here are a few pics from the weekend...

The boys in my parents' back yard...

With their papa...

 

Going through all of the loot in their Easter baskets...

 

 

Let the sugar ingestion commence!

Reading them a book on the porch swing...one of my favorite spots growing up...

 

And Easter morning they did a little egg hunt in our house {tooooo wet here to do one outside. Boo.} 

 

I put letter stickers on their eggs {B &L} so they would get an equal amount. They were really good about giving each other the eggs that weren't theirs. And I filled the larger ones with pretzels and teddy grahams. Those were actually a huge hit!

 

Ben dug in right away...

 

And a little tip for the parents...one pretzel + a Reese's pieces mini egg = heaven.in.your.mouth. :)

I forgot to take pictures at my mother-in-law's house, but there were plenty more candy filled eggs, lots of good food, and some Wii bowling to work off all of those extra calories. 

Hope you all had an equally great weekend!

{welcome home}

One space that I've really been itching to redecorate is our entryway. When we moved in I did a quick arrangement of some of my cottage and shabby chic items and it turned out pretty cute...

But that just isn't our style anymore. In fact, that cute green table has gone on to a new owner.

I've never been fond of yellow as a wall color, and our entire downstairs is yellow. Thank goodness the entryway is at least a soft shade of the offending color.

The tiny half bath is another story... {you might want to put on your sunglasses for this one}

Yeah...now that is yellow. But that is another project, another blog post.

I've been pinning entryway photos for inspiration and have found that I love spaces with a bench instead of a table. The only thing we use our current table for {a hand-me-down/space-filler from my parents} is to put our mail, keys and a lamp, which we hardly ever turn on. So I'm thinking a great shelf and maybe a few hooks would solve the surface issue. Here are a few images that are really inspiring me...

Love this color combination...

Source: sfgirlbybay.com via Mandy on Pinterest

This light fixture is pretty awesome...

Source: None via Mandy on Pinterest

These shelves are great looking and very practical... {IKEA perhaps?}

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Drooling over this wall color, and the art...

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Love the fun statement this Etsy piece makes...

Source: etsy.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Such a calming place to come home to...

Source: remodelista.com via Mandy on Pinterest

And I blogged about this before, but I think this coat/key rack is so genius and would maybe keep me from losing my keys...

Source: karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com via Mandy on Pinterest

So my main idea is gray walls + bench + shelves of some sort + fun art = entryway perfection.

My parents even offered to help us paint...I think I might have to take them up on that soon. :)

{lemon art}

You know how the old saying goes...when life hands you lemons...

Well, about 5 months ago, Target handed me some wall decals that didn't quite live up to their expectations.

If you remember they went from looking like this... {hello my little space ranger and sheriff}

To this...

in a matter of about an hour.

Not.cool.Target.

Instead of trashing them I decided to transform them into some super cute art for the boys' rooms. Both of their rooms have undergone a transformation from when we moved in. Landon's room started out with a guitar/music theme, but when the hubby brought home their adorable car bedding from Target, that theme went out the window.

Landon's poor room has been art-less for months now {partly because he was scared of pretty much anything hanging on them at night} but now he finally has some fun and colorful artwork like these two frames...
 

The smaller frame is one of the stick-less wall decals, and the larger frame is simply a sheet of scrapbook paper with a digital image {from Echo Park} on top. The frame is a 12x12 record frame from Walmart.

And he has this frame on the adjacent wall. I'm pretty darn proud of how it turned out...

The frame was in Ben's room before and is also from Walmart. I used scrapbook paper, the wall decals {tree, car, stoplight and some of the clouds}, and chipboard letters for his name...

 

I simply cut the car in half to make it fit the frame...

And finally, next to the first two frames, I hung a black shelf and used various letters for his initials...

The "L" came from Hobby Lobby, the "H" is a plain wood plaque that I painted, and the "F" is a chipboard letter with scrapbook paper mod-podged onto it. Both were super simple and very affordable. I made a similar wooden letter for Ben's room that I'll share soon.

And here is a wider view of the shelf, letters and two of the frames. We moved our IKEA Expedit into his room and most of their toys. It is pretty great having the bulk of their toys out of our kitchen/dining room...

And no...I did not try to organize/artfully arrange their toys for the photo. And his lamp still needs a shade. We are always a work in progress. And I kind of like it that way...much less pressure. :)

Linked up with...

   

{switch-a-roo}

So I have some sneak peaks of our new family room space for you today! It is still coming together and needs lots of decorative touches, but the main pieces are in place, and we are loving it. One thing I am really enjoying is having our sofa against a wall again. In the other space, we had to have all of the furniture floating and it felt very ungrounded and messy.

Since it is nearly impossible to have a photo without the boys in it, here they are modeling the sofa wall with their morning juice...

 

I think Tow Mater makes for a perfect pop of color, don't you?

{please ignore the baseboards in desperate need of a touch-up...something on the to do list that I've been avoiding, even though I know it won't take more than an hour to do.}

For side tables right now, we have my vintage {awesome} green typewriter table - with working lamp. I absolutely love this piece and it makes for a fun statement next to the couch. It is really functional too with the reading light, lower shelf, drop sides and even a little drawer. On the other side we have my grandparent's vintage suitcase. I'm thinking about adding feet to it, but for now it works as a place to sit a drink and a remote or two {or four}. 

 

The painting is one of my favorite things in the room. The hubby bought it for me at Meijer of all places and I just love the colors and the calming scene. I'm planning on doing a collage of other photos and objects to the right of it soon, including silhouettes of the boys.

In this wider view you can see your Lazy Boy recliner. It is a large piece but SO comfortable, so for now it is going to stay. And I do love the fabric pattern...

 

On the other side of the room, against the half wall we built before we moved in, we have our new Urban Outfitters chair {loooove} and a great midcentury piece that my mother-in-law gave us...

 

It needs so sprucing up, but it is working great for our TV and entertainment equipment. The three shelves were actually drawers that we removed. We're planning on covering the bottom of each shelf with a fun fabric or paper. We might also get a colorful knob for the door, but the current retro one works for now. 

I really recommend switching rooms around in your home if it is doable - it has given us a totally new perspective of our space and also more room, which really surprised me. Stay tuned for updated decor photos!

{pinned}

Recently I joined all of the cool kids on Pinterest. It really is amazing. I thought I would use it mostly for home decorating ideas, but I've found it to be a great resource for inspirational quotes. Some are warm and fuzzy and a few are funny and in your face {sometimes we all need that}

Thought I would share a few of my favorites today...

Source: eastbysouth.blogspot.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: s889.photobucket.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: None via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: asset.soup.io via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: summer-salts.tumblr.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Beth on Pinterest

Happy Tuesday Friends!

{sunday morning}

Trying out the "new" family room...

Watching a movie...

 

And cheesing for the camera as usual...

 

{We did the family/dining room switch-a-roo this weekend! It isn't quite picture-worthy yet, but you can be sure an update is coming soon!}