This weekend Craig described me as follows:
“You’re like a shotgun. You shoot all your little bullets at once and then take a really long time to reload and shoot again.”
This is pretty accurate.
I’m kind of unmotivated in general when it comes to tasks around the house. I’ll go as long as humanly possible before washing a load of laundry and I’m pretty terrible at washing sheets as well. I hate sweeping and I’m generally pretty bad about keeping little piles of clutter about (the clutter is in organized piles…but cluttered nonetheless). BUT….when I get an itch to do something I go big. It doesn’t happen super often, but when it happens I’m kind of manic. As in, I just might consider re-roofing my entire house at 11:30 at night if the inkling struck. This weekend was one of those times.
Our house is a 1960’s ranch and as thankful as I am that we have a house, I kind of hate it. Maybe it’s because I’ve always lived in ranch houses, who knows…but mid-century modern is not my thing. I’m more of a bungalow, craftsman, cottage kinda girl. I love a good tchotchke and I am definitely not a minimalist which is pretty much the premise of mid-century modern style. Since we’ve had the house I’ve always kind of just fought against it…trying to turn it into the bungalow I’ve always wanted. But recently I’ve been developing a love for mid-century design and been craving more clean lines in my life. I’ve been realizing that instead of fighting my house I should embrace it and maybe I’ll grow to love it.
SO…this weekend we revamped. I painted a wall, de-tchotchked, made a memo board, painted an old lamp, got new rugs and Craig put in a new light fixture and made us a gigantor chalkboard. Have a look!
{our dining room with new grey accent wall & chalkboard}
{new warehouse style pendant light…not sure how high to hang it yet}
{close up of my new tchotchke grouping…edited to a few favorites and in one spot. I figure if I keep my tchotchkes curated and in one spot, it’s a collection, if they’re everywhere it’s just junk!}
{new IKEA plant + crespedias}
{ugly brown lamp, now painted white}
{art grouping}
{art wall}
{DIY memo board}
That is all.
I wish I had taken before pictures, because it would be much more impressive and you would realize all of the clutter I got rid of. It would also probably help if you could see the house as a whole so you could see how it all goes together. My friend Becca is helping me come up with ideas for my craft room, so maybe once that is done and I finish up my organizing and spring cleaning I will do a video tour, so you can see the whole place. That will be a little while from now though, since I’m like a shotgun after all and I pretty much used up my productivity for the next couple weeks this weekend :). If you have any ideas for creative organization or inspiration for my craft room/the spare bedroom I’m re-doing, send it on over!
Hope you had a good weekend. We had friends over for dinner Sunday night so I’ll be sharing our yummy dessert recipe tomorrow. Super good and easy!
What did you do this weekend?
xo
{Lauren}
You did a good job! Love your chalk board, the fun you can have with that haha
I love your living room! wow!
Lauren your house is adorable. We’re getting ready to buy one and I love having some inspiration for how to decorate!
http://www.markandjamiewalker.blogspot.com
So in love with your DIY memo board! How did you make that?? LOVE the idea. 🙂
~Anna
It looks great! I’m totally impressed even without the before pictures.
I am TOTALLY like you… I’m horrible at chores but then I’ll get an itch and just go with it.
Love what you’ve done, the pics are awesome.
So cute, I love it! 🙂
i am in love with your house!!! so cute. and did you make that “lets stay home” canvas?! it’s adorable and i want to make one!
I really love how simple and clean everything looks. And I may steal your chalkboard idea! Your wall art is really sweet too.
I’m right there with you on going BIG on something… I could stay up all night doing a project that just pops into my head (and I have before…). When I get an idea, I totally run away with it! Your projects look great, too! I love your art wall!
I’m excited to see what you end up doing with your craft room! I love mine now that it’s organized, but I still can’t figure out how to make it look less cluttered. I just have so much stuff for that tiny room! I know you have a lot of crafty things, too. I hope you come up with solutions that will help me with mine 🙂
Lo-lo-love your art wall! Heart.
I love your dining room, especially the furniture (I see the craftsman influence). I’m kinda the same way when it comes to spurts of energy.
This weekend… I tried your rosemary feta stuffed chicken! Last night actually. So good. I kinda messed up the “pockets,” but live and learn. I’ll do a post later in the week on it. 🙂
don’t you just love those weekends where you get a bunch done? it’s so nice to wake up knowing your house is clean and decluttered. i love that feeling.
kuddos to craig on the chalkboard too! super cute.
xo monica
Everything looks great! I get that way too: all of a sudden, a burst of energy and inspiration…usually at 10 pm. Love your cute Matryoshka dolls too, (I’m assuming they are the measuring cup ones? I got those as a wedding gift!) I just did a whole Russian/Matryoshka themed post too! Gotta rep my new last name:-)
what a fantastic weekend!!!
I love all your fun diy’s!!
I love keeping busy with little {or big!!} projects!! 🙂
xoxo
gracious, i just adore that hanger collection!
i have one wall in my room that is sitting open, waiting for a good collection. i love the idea of one so easily swappable, because i’m forever rotating little things.
I’m kind of like this…I’m super unmotivated about housework. My husband is like the shotgun though…he comes in and decides that things need to be de-cluttered….because I don’t notice that I clutter things up and then he just decides to completely rearrange our entire living room before I get home from work. True Story. your house looks awesome. I really like the grey wall.
Atta girl! You know I love some good mid-mod decor! So does Becca, so I’m sure she’ll be great at coordinating a super craft room for you!
If the light in your dining room aligns with the center of your table, I think general rule for length of light is 30-35″ above the center of the table…. If the cord reached that far!
And, I tend to be the same way… I hate cleaning but sometimes I’ll just get this itch and I HAVE TO CLEAN ALL AT ONCE. Whatevs!
everything looks great lauren! love the art wall! and i have really wanting that abby tries again print with the Christmas lights for some time now!
i too am a craftsman kinda girl.. i dream of owning one one day! your house looks cute though!
In one weekend? Wowzers! I’m duly impressed, as a neat pile gal myself. I imagine it feels great walking into that space now. I’m still living in the glory of that rampaging cleaning that we did a few weeks ago. A few piles crept in this weekend that I need to tackle tonight, but overall, the clean feel is good! Thanks for sharing!
Please come decorate my house. I’ll pay you handsomely (with cookies). Seriously, that is some impressive interior decorating, woman. And in ONE weekend? Jeez, my accomplishment for this past weekend was waking up before noon (for once).
I can’t wait to see it in person!! OH MY GOSH it looks amazing and I love the chalkboard and the little EAT sign. Way to go Lauren it looks amazing!! XO!
I love Craig’s description of you! Too funny, sounds just like me!
Everything turned out so well! I absolutely love that gray wall and chalkboard! Oh how I wish I had a dining room!
love the new improvements!
lamp yes!
hanging light fixture yes
chaalkboard duh!
good job friend!!!!! I had a decluttering day yesterday it felt amazing. I cried 3 hours before and cleaning was just the remedy.
XO
B
How lovely – everything looks fabulous!!
I feel very much the same as you – I’m kind of an all or nothing kind of girl – especially when it comes to getting things done around the house! 😉
I am definitely impressed even without the “before” pictures. Your house is so pretty! I wish we were visiting again soon so I could come and see it in person. Not to mention, Olivia LOVES dogs now, so I think she and Marley would be BFFs.
I love the chalkboard! That is such a fun idea and I’d love it in my living room 🙂 This looks great!
Did I ever tell you that I love your home? I like the way you have decorated it. Very nice!
Is that the table that Craig made?