Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice in the Kitchen

I love spending time in my kitchen in the fall.  After a summer of spending long days outdoors, mostly grilling or eating out, I can't wait to start cooking comfort foods again.

Pops of Fall Color

Today I am showing you all our family/tv room.  In this room I added those "pops of color" everyone talks about.  I am not a big fan of pops of color as I find it distracting most of the time, but I really, really love it in fall. I only add color to our home for fall and Christmas.  Aside from that, I keep things pretty neutral around here. 

Decorating for Fall with Neutrals

The pre-fall weather has been incredibly warm and sunny in New Hampshire. It is a lovely gift considering so many parts are the country are experiencing extreme and devastating weather right now. We take it while we can, knowing there is a long winter ahead of us. Today I'm showing you all our living room decorated for fall.

Mid-Summer

Mid-summer, the height of summer in New England.  The flower gardens are at their peak now.  Our gardens are mostly reds and yellows with pops of purple and orange - the "hot" colors.  It is the complete opposite of the inside of our home which is white, neutrals and wood, with almost no color most of the time.  I especially like the inside to be all neutrals in the summer.  It just seems to make it feel cooler, plus it is an escape from the color overload outside.  

Teeny Tiny Laundry Room Solutions

Konmari Laundry Room

This is our very small laundry room which is the only downstairs bathroom, so it also serves as our guest restroom. 

New Shelves for the Coffee Bar

It has taken a lot of tweaking, but I think the Coffee Bar is finally complete.  We made the shelves this week and I think we found the balance it needed.

Our Great Big Summertime Yard Tour

These photos were taken over Memorial Day weekend.  We start getting the property ready for summer over April vacation (the last week in April for us).  I have that week off from school and we try not to make plans during that week, reserving it for getting the yard cleaned up.  After that, we really only have time on the weekends to work outside and there is a lot to do here after a long, snowy winter.

The End of the Rainbow

Spring - at Home

This week I have been off from school for April vacation.  Brian was able to take two days off during the week too.  We mostly stayed at home and got a lot done to ready our home for the spring and summer months.  Our home is small, but our property is pretty big, and there is a lot to do.

Yardwork and raking were done.  Edging was done. The birdbaths were put out and filled.  Birdfeeders were replenished and the Hummingbird feeders were brought out and filled. We put in another birdhouse that a neighbor gifted us with.  The outdoor furniture was brought out.  The flag was hung.  Brian built a large crate from scrap wood.  The garage was organized.  Easter decorations were put away.  And a huge landscaping project was started and almost completed.

Here's a glimpse of our week:

Decorating for Easter

The Easter decorations have finally made their appearance.  I have resisted decorating for spring because it is just so darn cold around here, and the snow never stops.  As I took these photos today we are experiencing yet another snowstorm.  We have well over a foot of the heavy, wet stuff which proved too much for our snow blower for the second time this year.  The wood stove is working overtime and the dogs are in husky heaven.

March - The Month So Far

  

Me, blogging with my 2 sidekicks

March 21, 2017, Tuesday

March is definitely roaring about like a lion in our house. 

A few weeks ago, Brian hit a HUGE raccoon while driving home from work on the highway at midnight.  It did quite a bit of damage to his car and took a couple of weeks to have it repaired.  Soon after we got his car back, I had my little incident.

National Puppy Day

 It is National Puppy Day and I just can't let the day sneak by without sharing a couple of throwbacks to my two favorite puppies!

Harley Quinn

Rey

Small Home Living ~ Kitchen

Recently, a sweet visitor to my blog asked to see my kitchen.  I really haven't posted much about the kitchen, mostly because there are still some changes I want to make.  I will be honest though -  I LOVE my kitchen as it is, and if we never get to make any more changes, that is ok with me too.

Small House Living ~ Dining Room

This is the tiny dining room in our cozy little house.  It is very, very small, and when people are seated, there is no walking space around the table.  Yet it still works really well for us.

The only furniture that actually fits in this room is the dining table, 4 chairs, and bench.  There used to be a wall between this room and the tv room and it was impossible to have any large family gatherings here.  One of my favorite things we have done is remove the wall between these two rooms.  

Small House Living - Master Bedroom

Do you watch House Hunters?  I love this show and have not grown tired of it after watching hundreds of episodes over the years.  One thing I know though, my house would not fit the criteria for most of the house hunters out there. 
 1.  Master Bedroom Suite - NO
  2.  Large enough for king-size bed - NO
  3.  Walk-in closet - NO
  4.  Master luxury bath - NO
  5.  Master bath - NO
  6.  Double sinks - NO

In spite of not having anything on this desired list, I LOVE my master bedroom.  It has everything we need to have in a bedroom, and it is simple, easy to keep clean, and comfortable.

Firewood ~ How We Store and Organize Our Wood

I'm not sure if you can tell how small this room is from the photos.  I recently had some friends from work over for a Ladies Night.  They had seen the  house on the blog, but had not yet seen it in person.  One friend said it appears larger in photos.  Because this house is so small, we need to get creative in how we use the space and especially in how we organize and store things we need to live comfortably here.

Decorating on a Dime - Old Window

This week I am on February vacation from school.  I have nothing exciting planned except a colonoscopy on Monday and a dentist appointment on Wednesday.  At least the weather is unseasonably warm, so there's that.  It was over 70 degrees in New Hampshire this week, in February!  That is unheard of in these parts so we will take the blessings where we find them. The snow is melting quickly, and mud is everywhere.  

A couple of years ago, I found two old windows on the side of the road as I drove to a medical appointment.  I pulled over and hauled them into my car.  They sat in my garage for awhile, and then I tried them in a couple of different places until this one finally landed in the dining room.

Ikea Ektorp Sectional Sofa Update - Lofallet Beige

We have had the Ikea Ektorp sectional sofa for at least 5 years now.  So far I have not grown tired of it and still love the way it looks,  It has held up great under very heavy use and a lot of dog activity as well.  

Christmas 2016 Remembered ~ Part I

Who doesn't want to read a Christmas post in February?

Since I didn't blog at all during Christmas, I thought I would add a few a ton of holiday photos just in case any of you wanted to see them, or at least so I would have them to remember Christmas this past year.

Here are the pups.  They are really in their element (and most photogenic) at Christmastime.

Rey & Harley Quinn

Cleaning Faux Flowers

I have some pretty faux flowers that I have had for several years. These flowers are made from some sort of fabric, not plastic, and of course they are white.  Lately I have been noticing how dingy, dusty, and dirty they were.  I thought they might be beyond saving, but I decided to try washing them first.  I'm embarrassed to say that I would take them outside and shake them, but I had never really cleaned them before.

The Closet Project - Beyond the Curtains!

When we moved into this 175 year old house, this closet had bifold doors.  If you know anything about old homes, you know that the floors are never even throughout the rooms.  They usually slope down somewhere and our bedroom floor is no exception.  There is actually about a 2" difference from one side of the room to the other.  If you know anything about bifold doors in tracks, then you know how the darn things never stay in the track even with an even floor.  You can imagine what a 2" slope would do to those bifold doors.  This was the situation we found ourselves in.

Frugal Ideas - Reusing Candles

Since about mid-January, my husband and I decided to have a "no-spend year".  Two weeks in and we have modified that to a "no-stuff year" after one of my readers commented and said her and her husband did that.  That is actually much closer to what we are striving for.  

My Neck of the Woods - Southern New Hampshire

Today was a gorgeous, snowy day in New Hampshire.  We had a 90 minute delay for school this morning and it continued to snow lightly all throughout the day.  The snow was heavy and sticky and clung to the trees making everything look magical.  After school, I grabbed the dogs and my camera hoping to catch some photos before I lost the light.  I drove around taking photos of some of my favorite homes, farms, and barns.  The dogs love to sit in the back seat with the windows open.  I crank up the heat and they stick their heads out as far as they can, one out each window.  You should see the looks we get!  

Early Morning Routine

Almost every morning I wake up at 5am, whether it is a workday or not. 

No Spend New Year

Jade plant my mom no longer wanted.  Rusty stool - yard sale $5

It has been a long time since I last blogged.  Over the last year I have found myself losing interest in blogs.  There are a few I always find myself going back to.  These blogs are usually a combination of decorating, recipes, DIYs, crafts, frugal living, a Christian perspective, and also some personal stuff so you get to know the person behind the blog.