DIY ENGINEER PRINTS, ROUND TWO

Well, after being totally thrilled with my first DIY Engineer print, it only took me a year to get around to doing more, hahaha. I knew where I wanted to hang more large prints- on either side of our downstairs office window- but finding an affordable set of white frames and deciding what to put in them took considerably longer. The heat really turned on when I found out we were moving away from the states and away from Staples, where I have these done for four bucks a pop, so I figured I'd better get to it while I still could!

There's a song by the David Crowder Band on their Give Us Rest album that's a simple, folksy, and stunningly beautiful tribute to the fact that Christ wrapped Himself in humanity and came for us. That he was "faint and weary" when He sought us. That He worked hard, sacrificed much, and ultimately poured Himself out for our sakes; a reminder I need every day as I meet weariness of my own.

So, here's a big praise for our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, and for the David Crowder Band for glorifying Him with such beautiful music. Listen to the song here! You'll be blessed.

A SPACE FOR FINN

Hi friends! It's been a very busy couple of weeks with a new baby in the house, but we're finally starting to get back to a new normal {and all three boys are asleep right now} so I wanted to post some photos of the little space we put together for Finn. These photos were taken before he was born, but as much as I wanted to share them then I didn't want to give his name away!

Anyway, I already talked about not putting a real nursery together here because of moving so soon {plus Silas is still happily in the crib}. But I couldn't bring a new baby home without some kind of special little space for him! So the dresser in our guest bedroom became his, complete with his diaper changing supplies, some graphic prints I made for him, and all of his clothes and gear.

Other than the fact that I had to clean my craft stuff out of here {it's where all the magic happened for Asher's last birthday party and Amber's baby shower}, it started as a pretty blank slate...

I got away without buying much. Other than the black frame, the little white container holding the Q-Tips, and the white vase on the nightstand, everything else was either gifted or scavenged from other spots in the house.

Here's a little peak of a crossword puzzle with his first and middle name spelled out in it {thanks Photoshop! I'll try to show the whole thing in another post} plus a close view of the print hanging over the dresser. Phinehas is an Old Testament bible name and the "then stood up Phinehas print" was inspired by Psalm 106:30-31; "Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgement, and the plague was stayed. And that was reckoned unto him for righteousness, from generation to generation, for evermore."

I have no idea how little Finn's room will come together in our next home, but it will probably be similar, only with the crib. Anyway, thanks for taking a peak at Finn's little space! It's simple, but it's all his.

SILAS' WALL OF FINGERPAINTINGS

Here's a question for all of the moms- what do you do with your kids' art once once the space on the fridge runs out? Ours piles up and gets stuffed away somewhere, too precious to just throw away but not really fit for many other uses, either. I came across one of our many stashes of old finger paintings a few weeks ago and decided to do something with it. The wall over Silas' changing table in his nursery was totally bare, so up these went. I love how it turned out like a gallery wall! Super simple, but so much happier than the plain, sad wall that was there before. Next we might try to recycle some old art into Eric Carl style cut-outs of animals or something else fun. What about you guys? What do you do with all of your kids' masterpieces?

OUR UPDATED SITTING ROOM

Our time in this home is really ticking down and I'm finally getting around to photographing it. Mostly because I have to...  Our house is being listed in less than two weeks {ah!}, and I owe at least some basic room shots to our real estate agent. But I'm glad that it's necessary and that there's a deadline. Otherwise I'd keep putting it off, and then the baby would come, and then who knows if it would happen. And I'd really regret packing it all up without capturing all of the little details that have made this house our home for the past two years. So, I started with our sitting room. This is actually one of the rooms that I'd already done, with the original photos here, as well as a post on the DIY oversized engineer print here. But since then, we've replaced the rug and added a few other details, like a painting that my Grandaddy did, a yucca plant, and new accessories on the fireplace mantel. And since it's my favorite room in the house, I didn't have to work up too much motivation to get it done. I'd love to have all of our rooms photographed for memories' sake just like I did before we moved out of our home in Georgia, so that's the goal for these next few months. I'm so grateful to God for blessing our family with this beautiful old house and for the friendships it's helped to cultivate!

ASHER'S ROOM

Getting Silas' nursery tidied up inspired me to do the same for Asher's room. It's very orange. Even the paint has a peachy tinge to it. But orange seems to fit his happy, energetic personality so well, so it works for now! Just like Silas' nursery, there's no real theme in this room. But some of my favorite details are the plain white bedding, the vintage animal-print pillows, the white-washed pine crates stacked next to the bed {they're a very easy DIY project}, the globe, the {$20!} graphic rug from IKEA, and the orange piggy bank. A lot of this was either in his original nursery, thrifted, or items we already owned. So I really never put a whole lot of effort towards this room, but you know what? Kids wreck their rooms! Constantly. And if there's any doubt in your mind about that, just come over and see what it looks like right now, hahaha. Anyway, I would have loved to put up real curtains over the thermal liners and add some vintage maps and some burlap accents to play off of the cork boards hanging over the bed {don't ask me where I get these ideas}. But with another move around the corner and the fact that Asher and Silas will most likely share a room in whatever house we live in next, I'm going to wait. Window sizes will change, so why worry about the curtains...and we're pretty sure we're going to trade out Asher's queen sized bed for two stacking twin beds. So there will be a lot of changes. Not to mention that I have no clue how things are going to work when the new baby comes and Silas is still little enough to be his crib...but eventually the two bigger boys will get their own twin beds. And I'm excited for that! I love the idea of them sharing a room so much that I'm almost tempted to move them in together now. Probably shouldn't do that for a variety of obvious reasons, ha! But I can't wait to see how their shared big-boy room comes together wherever we land next. In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy every ounce of this beautiful old spacious Victorian home. We'll probably never live in a house quite like this again, and that's okay, I'm ready to downsize. But what a blessing this house has been!

SILAS' CHARMINGLY UNFINISHED NURSERY

It's been nineteen months since he was born and I've finally come to terms with the fact that Silas will never have a finished nursery. I spent hours upon hours tending to every little detail of Asher's first room, but very little on Silas' despite having every intention of doing so. I wanted a mostly black and white theme with this cute mustache print as an accent. Then we moved in the later months of Silas' pregnancy, had to set up a new house, had him at a time that was sandwiched in between Thane being away for lots of training, spent another month or two at home adjusting to life as a family of four, moved away for a couple of months, came back for two weeks, said goodbye to Thane when he left on deployment #2, then the boys and I moved again. In other words, life went bonkers for about a year and a half, and Silas' nursery just never quite came together. The mustache blanket never got ordered, the walls didn't get painted, and the old carpet didn't get replaced {I'm not crazy about the blue on blue}. And now we're about to move again and it's almost time for the two big boys to transition to a shared room when little boy #3 arrives this spring. So, the ship has sailed on the room I'd envisioned for Silas.

But the other day I got motivated enough to organize it, give it a deep clean, and hang a few things on the wall. And guess what? I got a huge surprise in the mail when my sister-in-law sent me the mustache blanket! {See it in the crib?} Ah! And wow, what a difference it's all made! It's definitely still a bit of an eclectic, mix & match kind of a room, and the walls above the crib and the changing table could use a little dressing up... But if only I had some photos of what it looked like just a couple of days ago! It was a cluttered mess. Mostly because "doing it right" seemed overwhelming and it was just easier to keep it relegated to the back burner. But I guess it was good- and definitely ironic- to finally let go of my grand plans since it led to a few small, easy improvements that made a huge difference.

And to be really honest, this is a good lesson for me. Design and aesthetics are a passion of mine, but more often than not I just need to get over myself and be okay with less-than-perfect. After all, there's no such thing! So it's high time I start living that way and embrace the freedom in that. 

Have a great day, friends!