{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!

{Mr. and Mrs. Lovely}

We have a new couple in the house...

First up is Miss Lucy.

Isn't she beautiful? Don't ask me why I chose Lucy...just fits for some reason. I love her clean lines and how she looks like she is almost floating above the floor, thanks to the legs being inset quite a bit. She also looks very at home with our already owned pillows and my DIY Orla-inspired artwork.

Here is a better full shot including a toddler, some tennis shoes, and the cup from the boys' potty {no worries...that thing hasn't been christened yet...for now it is just a toy like everything else in the house}

She really does look like she is floating, right?

And now meet her much more grounded side-kick...

Hello there handsome.

Name is still up in the air on this one. But it is definitely a he, don't you think? I especially love his back...

It would be a crime to put that against a wall, right? The hubby said it took all of three minutes to put him together and minus really crappy packaging, it is a home run from Urban Outfitters, especially for the price.

Our house looks like a furniture warehouse right now, with two sofas in the family room and our recliner that is yet to be sold sharing space with Mr. Sexy Back in the office area. But we'll get it all re-arranged soon enough. No matter where they sit, they both look darn good! It is so exciting to see our modern furniture collection coming together.

Stay tuned for a post about side tables to go with these lovelies, one we already own and hopefully a DIY project to create a one-of-a-kind {and toddler friendly!} table with lots of storage and vintage style.

{a change will do you good}

I was thinking this morning about some very recent changes that are going on around both our house and with me, and this Sheryl Crow song immediately popped into my head.

I've never been a fan of change.

Keep things the same! 

It makes life SO much easier!

True. But is easy always what is desirable when we think about our future, our goals? We never get anywhere by doing things the same over and over again, do we? Unless we started out doing things perfectly from day 1, but how many times does that happen? Probably never.

So with that in mind here is a list of the changes going on around the Ford house. All of them are positive and are helping my husband, the boys and myself get out of some ruts we've been in...


1. We bought a Roku and canceled our Direct TV.

I know I've shared this before, but we are on a very tight household budget. When we first purchased Direct TV we got a package deal through our phone/internet provider that made it very affordable. That ended a few months back and the price more than tripled. After thinking about it...and thinking about it some more...we finally broke down and bought a Roku player, which is a cute little box that lets you stream Netflix, Hulu, etc. onto your TV...

We are on day three without our DTV and honestly I'm not missing it at all like I thought I would. I'm embarrassed to admit that I did shed a tear when I canceled it - I love my comforts and once again, hate change. But I love the extra $100 in our checking account every month even more!

I have also already noticed that it is keeping me from mindlessly watching TV. I have to be more intentional about finding something to watch, and I've already found myself choosing a different activity, like reading before I go to sleep, over surfing the channels.

2. We bit the bullet and purchased new furniture. 

I know - this one probably sounds a little counter-productive to #1. Yes, we are on a tight budget. But we are also bargain shoppers and we got a great deal on both the sofa {which arrived yesterday! Woot!}and this lovely chair from Urban Outfitters... {which is on sale WITH free shipping right now people!}

And once we sell some of the furniture we are replacing to family/friends/random Craigslist hunters, we'll have recouped most of the cost.

Here are the boys breaking in the sofa...

Better pics to come - promise!

I'm pinching myself over the fact that we will actually have furniture that fits the mid-century modern vibe that we are going for in the house. SO excited. The chair is supposed to arrive today so this weekend will be filled with furniture rearranging {and lots of staring by me - I love to sit and admire pretty new things.}

The next two on the list are totally me related and super recent...like as of yesterday...

3. Washing my face at night.

This one is a no-brainer, right? Well, since I had the boys I've gotten bad about my nightly routine. As in...I don't have one... other than brushing and flossing my teeth. But I've noticed lately that my skin isn't looking as good as it used to, and I'm sure I owe some of that to the fact that I've been sleeping with my makeup on. Sooo, last night on our trip to Target, I bought some of these...

...and I love them! I scrubbed my face and went to bed feeling so much better about myself. And the fact that when I got up in the morning I would have one less thing to do made me very happy...and gave me more time for this...

4. Morning journaling.

I came across this post yesterday about "morning pages", which is basically journaling every morning before you begin your daily routine. It spoke to me right away like this is something you should be doing. Here is an excerpt that I found especially powerful:

"...morning pages give you permission to be who you are. They are a radical form of self-acceptance. By being true to yourself and fully expressing all of yourself without judgment, you honor the truth of who you are."

I'm not a morning person. I'm like the antithesis of a morning person. And when I wake up on work mornings I'm usually feeling groggy, grumpy and anxious about starting the day. So last night I bought a cute notebook {complete with owl on the cover} at Target, and this morning I got up 10 minutes early {GASP}, sat on our new couch {ahhhhh} and journaled for 10 minutes. And you know what? It really did help me get out of that early morning funk.

So there you have it. Some big and some very simple changes that have been taking place in and around my life these days. The more changes I go through the more I am realizing they are doing me a lot of good.

What changes have you been going through lately friends? I would love to hear about them.

{hold me}

My husband and I aren't ones for impulse spending. We tend to think, and think, and then think some more when spending our money. Which is usually a good thing, but it can lead to missed opportunities.

Having said that, I'm still a little shocked that I just purchased this...

Yeah...that's a sofa. A beautiful mid-century modern lovely piece of gorgeousness. And I bought it online, sight unseen. {with the hubby's enthusiastic support of course}

What would lead me to make such an impulsive and so un-Mandy-like decision?

It was $500. Yep. And $10.95 shipping folks.

Who would offer such an insane deal? A little site called The Foundary.

I look forward to their daily emails to see what kinds of bargains I can deliberate over before I finally decide not to buy them. But not this time. This time I pulled the trigger!

Ahhhhh! SO excited. And a little nauseous.