letting go of perfect – for perfectly o.k.

So one room I haven’t shared on the blog is our living room. One reason is because it never felt finished. Of course the reason it never felt finished was because of a purchase mistake I made that I wasn’t sure how to fix. At our last house we built this great desk/tv unit along one side of our tv room. It housed both my husband’s and my computer. Which worked great while the kidlets were small as I needed to be in the same room as them most of the time. An office just wouldn’t work.

At this house, we knew that the kids would be in school and that an office would be a great thing for me and so that was in the plans. I also knew I wanted my husband’s computer (the one the kids use) to be in the great room where we can all see it, use it and monitor it. So I decided right away to purchase a desk.

I wanted something clean and that I could hide away the computer, so I started searching for armoires. I ended up liking the Ikea corner Alme unit (no longer available) and purchased it in black. In black because the wood one wasn’t available at the time and I figured I couldn’t wait. SO I ended up with this:

the computer armoire after - ordinarymom.ca

The minute it was up, I knew it was wrong. I HATED that thing for many reasons:

  1. It was TOO dark. Just too big and too dark.
  2. The doors were never closed. Never. Ever. Mostly because the computer was in use a LOT, but also because if you closed the doors then you had to figure out what to do with the chair that couldn’t slide in. Do you flip it around? Drag it back to the kitchen? I couldn’t figure it out.
  3. Also when the doors were open (ALL the time, see above) they would block a portion of the fireplace and the window. DROVE me NUTS!

So for the last while I have been pondering what to do. Originally my idea was to save up and build built-ins like before but more of a bookcase nature on one side and computer deck on the other. The only problem with that, is I am not a knick-knack/display type of person. I have one in my kitchen and it took me forever to figure it out and I doubt I will ever change it. I don’t do bookcases well. And the bigger kicker was that our finances couldn’t handle it.

So I did nothing. Because if it wasn’t going to be perfect, I didn’t want to do it. I was at a stalemate.

This spring, my husband wanted to switch around the living room layout. He moved everything from the structured L shape furniture layout that was in my head as the only way for the room to work. He just said “let me try”. So I did and the new layout grew on me. While it may not be the most functional layout in terms of company, we don’t actually HAVE company that often and I liked the new open layout of it.

And by shifting the furniture, he shifted my mindset. Instad of doing things that way I thought that HAD to be done, I decided to just do what I wanted. So I removed the cabinet doors and this weekend, I did this:

the computer armoire during - ordinarymom.ca

It is almost done. And I love it.

But I would have never done this if I hadn’t been inspired by my husband’s desire to do something different. And once I gave myself that freedom and overcame any doubt I was able to see that although I didn’t LOVE the piece, it was functional and worked for us and I could make it look better. So I got some paint and primer and just slapped it on. Yup, no thinner, no desire to have a perfectly smooth finish, cause let’s face it, this piece is not one that will be handed down any time soon. I just needed it to stop making my eyes bleed. ha!

So while it isn’t perfect. I love it already. I have a couple more shelves to finish and then will be looking for others things to paint. And maybe even put a full shot of the living room up here.

:)

insta-friday

It’s Insta-Friday again. You can follow me on Instagram @ordinarymom.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

I painted the fan cage in our master bedroom and I must say I love it. So much better than white. Still planning on doing the base but one thing at a time.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

I am in full blown soccer mom mode. 3 days a week. But there is something about fields of grass and kids running around excited that makes me happy. This sport I like.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

There are rainy days that make you feel blah and there are rainy days that are soft and make you feel cozy as long as you are inside. This was a cozy rain.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

I am obsessed with Little Misses eye colour. We are told her eyes are like mine but she has this GORGEOUS ring of gold in the center that I don’t have and I hope she never loses. Hard to take a clear close up pic of a kidlet. She got cranky! ha!

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Replaced the mirror and board backing on my hutch with some white melamine board. Love the look and how my tea cup collection stands out now.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Was hiding the coffee maker from myself as I follow my self focused to-do list. Of course the corner shelf was only a HAIR to short to tuck it in. Which resulted in my removing everything from that cabinet, cleaning it and raising it up a notch. Now my mixer even fits in better.

Happy Friday!

teacher appreciation gifts

So I wanted something quick and easy for my teacher appreciation gifts this year. I usually send them in a week early as next week the kids have filed trips and we have had years previously where the kids got sick and then the teacher was away and I always want to make sure that I don’t miss them.

This year I really loved an idea online I saw by Lisa Storms. You can download her straw flags here.

teacher's gifts @ ordinarymom.ca

I picked up these great plastic straw cups at the grocery store for $5 each (President’s Choice brand) and created my own straw flags based on Lisa’s and attached them by double sided tape. I used brown paper bag and crunched it up and slid it in place to cover up the note and gift card for Starbucks I put inside. Last detail was adding a bit of washi tape flag for extra colour.

I love how they turned out. They were simple, light for the kidlets to carry and a great way for them to enjoy their iced coffee or blended drinks all summer long.

(side note: I did not buy myself a coffee or anything when grabbing their gift cards. 2 weeks without caffeine. I will be giving an update to how I am feeling after a month. So far, so good.)

our house: the dining room

So that to-do list? The one that I have broken down into bite sized pieces? Yeah! It seems to be working. :)

Yesterday I finished off the last couple jobs I wanted to do in the dining room. And I am sticking a fork in it and calling it done.

So the last time I showed the dining room fully, it was green:

And then I hinted at the changes on instagram a few months back:

And this past week, I was able to make one more change I have been wanting to make. I emptied out the hutch and it looked like this (these next few pictures are from my iphone):

working on the dining room - ordinarymom.ca

But the secret was it was actually black paper at the back:

back of my hutch - before - ordinarymom.ca

Which was hiding this:

the hated mirror back on the hutch - ordinarymom.ca

I hated the mirror back because it would reflect everything in the room and always looked cluttered to me. I didn’t mind the black but wanted a change and to lighten it up. And I have seen many nice black hutches with white inside so I bought white melamine painted hard board and removed the mirror and backing and replaced it to look like this:

new white board backing on hutch - ordinarymom.ca

I love how it looks and eventually will probably paint the full inside white as well but for now it is a nice and bright change.

Here is the dining room today:

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

our dining room - ordinarymom.ca

I love how my tea cup collection stand out more now. And a couple other hidden treasures like one of my bells I kept from my childhood bell collection and a Royal Doulton doll that was my grandmother’s that she left me because it was named Janet.

I love it when the little changes you want really DO make the difference you hope they do.
:)

mini tip: taking small bites

I have been learning through many of my changes I am implementing, whether on myself or on our house, that I work best in bite-sized pieces.

For instance, when I was working on painting the cabinets in my office, my original to-do list had exactly that written down – “paint cabinets”. But that was daunting and made me procrastinate. Once I broke the steps down into smaller chunks like “remove doors of hinges”, “remove hinges”, “prime doors”, etc. It was SO much easier and I finished the task very quickly.

So I have been doing the same thing for the rest of the updates around the house. One baby step I accomplished last week was this:

spray painted fan - ordinarymom.ca

I spray painted the metal cage of our fan in the master bedroom in Oil Rubbed Bronze. I love the look of retro fans but I don’t want to spend money on something to replace something that already works. We have had this fan forever and it works great and there is no reason to change it. But the white cage didn’t look exactly as I wanted it to.

I will probably paint the base of the fan aas well (not sure what colour yet) but because it is a bigger job requiring me to tape off the motor, etc. I may not jump on it just yet.

Baby steps!
:)

insta-friday

It’s Insta-Friday again. You can follow me on Instagram @ordinarymom.

This week was a SLOW week in terms of my house to-do list. I got a few small steps done but nothing completed. Hasn’t helped that the weather has been cool and damp. Hoping for nicer weather and more success next week.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

The kidlets and I went on an impromptu lunch date with Daddy. Yum!

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Started to work on staining the hope chest for my master bedroom. First step was wood conditioner. Taking my time on this one!

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Had a HOT afternoon, so I threw the sprinkler on for the kidlets. Love this weather! (as it rains outside while I type this! BOO!)

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Gave up caffeine and with it my morning coffee. Doing good so far. Embracing the new ritual of herbal teas.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

My honey and I just celebrated 14 years. This picture was taken WAY at the beginning of our story. Love him!

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Organized some sea glass and sea shells collected over the last couple vacations by the kidlets. Displayed them in a cute jar in their bathroom.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Took everything off the kitchen art wall. Working towards something a little simpler.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Flowers from my honey for our anniversary. Love them!

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Leave it to puppy to always find the coziest spot in the house.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Became a soccer mom again this year. :)

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Woke up with crazy amount of energy and went for a gorgeous run as the sun came up (this NEVER happens!).

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Little man got new glasses and for the first time they aren’t blue. Grey. But not blue. :)

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

Hanging outside with puppy waiting for the bus.

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

These two pictures sum up my week of messy beds….

insta-friday @ ordinarymom.ca

and unfinished projects!

Happy Friday!