Making it home: the front porch and scratching an itch

I have a love/hate relationship with our dark front porch. It seriously hardly gets any sunlight which is depressing to me. I love planting in the summer and trying not to kill my plants until fall. Anyway I digress, I had an itch to be creative and a front porch that needed TLC. 

So on this rainy, cold day, I stopped at our local Habitat for Hummanity and found this half door for $8. I stopped at Michaels for the letters to spell welcome and the bless our nest sign. All those supplies came in at slightly underived $30. I made the hydrangea wreath about 5 years ago and have used it in so many different places! I have a ton of burlap so I used some of it for the letters. (I wanted to be able to change everything out as I wished.)

Here are the final results. More of the front porch once it is warm enough for plants!

Making it home: The breakfast nook

The breakfast nook. The kids table. Life giving table.

This area is where we eat breakfast together 5 to 6 days a week. Lunch 2 times a week. Supper 5 nights a week. 

We do our family meetings there.

Talk about the days highs and lows.

We are silly and serious here.

We do life together here.

Making it home: Mama sets the tone

I always thought that setting the mood for my family was such an unattainable goal. But I was trying to do it in my own strength and in my own way.

I am so thankful for ladies in multiple bible studies that I have been blessed to attend over the past decade. They have poured into me, encouraged me,  and held me accountable. 

While it is not perfect, I am thankful that each new day brings new chances to work towards it.

We started this study today and I cannot wait to see what it brings!

Making it home: Ben style

So our front room serves a wide variety of purposes. It is our "guest room." The family office. The man cave since it is decorated with Ben's military memorabilia.

We have had this ready room chair for oh I don't know....11+ years? It was in rough shape and was found in the dumpster. 

Finally this Christmas,  Ben received a custom recovering of it as a gift. Now we have our very own ready room chair.

It has been fun to hear all the pretend games that the Littles have played on it. I am sure that it has plenty of other stories from all the pilots that have sat on it at one time or another! 

Making it home: cooking lessons

Now that we have a bigger kitchen to spread out in, I like having little helpers in there with me. 

There Apron Christmas gifts must have inspired them because they have been in the kitchen with me several times for "lessons. "

Although it sometimes not super optimal timing,  I am trying to embrace these opportunities and make some memories.

Making it home: a simple scene

I love how big our kitchen is here. We had such a tiny kitchen in California that this is a breath of fresh air! 

It's sometimes the simple things that catch me each day like a clean counter, a basket full of fruit, and sunshine on my pretty Valentines flowers. 

Making it home: Possible new decor?/Bedroom make-over

For those who have been in our home and know our décor style, you know that I love items with personal meaning and significance. I am contemplating making this image into a sign for our bedroom. (we are currently in the process of redoing it right now! Pictures to come when it is done!)
What do y'all think? Just curious if you like the actual picture, if you think it fits us, etc! Thanks a ton!!

Make it home: one find at a time (volume 2)

Ok,ok I know that I am still in the dining room but it's one of my favorite places to gather with Friendsand family. (And it doesn't hurt that it's one of the few rooms in my house that consistently stays clean!)

My friend, Lauren, made me this beautiful tray before Christmas. (I will try to dig up the pictures with the Christmas greenery in it, because it was so pretty!) After I took the Christmas decor out, I redid it buy I wasn't in love with how it looked. 

Thankfully the base thrift store opened back up today. I found the candle holder and candles for $8! Can't beat that ♡ I have burlap in several other rooms in the house so the burlap flowers on the candle holder beckoned my name! 

Don't tell but I still have my Christmas runner on the table. I like the way it fits with the other colors in the room!

A close up of the candle holder and candles that I found. 

I love the hardware that Lauren used! The greenery on the sides came from a hobby lobby sale!

I had the cotton in the arrangement that I didn't care for but I was happy to repurpose it into the green mason jars that I already had in the cupboard. 

This was my initial arrangement post Christmas. Call me crazy but I love the burlap candle holder so much better! 

Making it home: one find at a time (volume 1)

No big secret, we have moved a lot in our 14 years of marriage. I have a few pieces of decor that I always want to keep and then it's also fun to add new pieces! 

Ben and the kids gave me this rustic shelf and window frame for Christmas that they found out antiquing. 

I had Ben change out the decor on one wall in our dining room so that I could combine them together. 

I am still looking for shutters to go on either side of the window and decor to compliment the combination for the shelf. I will probably get it perfect then it will be time to leave again. 

Here is the first project of the year!

A few of my favorite things......

I have dreamed of having an antique sewing machine for many years. My family made that dream come true this Christmas. This beauty is from 1910. It's a singer  (my favorite brand of sewing and embroidery machines) and looks fantastic in the entry way of the house.

I love walking past and thinking about crawling through the secret door from my great grandma's coat closet into her sewing room. What a gem to have in the house and a gem of a family for getting it for me! 

Day 2 of unpacking the office /sewing studio

I could just leave it right here with this picture. I am so beyond frustrated of box after box like this. My end of first day I hit 22 boxes. On the end of the second, I completed another 14. I have been able to organize a bit too. Hopefully by weekend,  we will be completely in business for good ♡♡ 

As for now, it's time to turn in for some shut eye!!

Day #1 Unpacking the office/sewing studio

So I will be honest, I have been dreading the time that I would have to tackle this room. Why you ask? Well for one, there are a million and 1 boxes in there! 2.....well the Packers were not very organized. It literally makes me want to pull my hair out!!! But, my Grammy has asked me to do something and in order to complete the task, I must unpack this craziness! 

Today was day #1 and I tackled 15 boxes. I am happy with the forward progress but not with how slow it is going!!

This is looking into the room from the French doors that I am very grateful to be able to close when not working in here!

 Some more of the madness ahem craziness um boxes to unpack!

This will eventually be my embroidery and appliqué corner.

This will eventually be my sewing machine station and Nomades work space.

Just so you don't think that I am exaggerating on how much stuff there is to put away!!

 14 of the 15 boxes to show you how puny it looks!

You must save 1 box to stuff paper in! Rules of unpacking from a PCS move!

Progress!! Can you see it? Please tell me that you can! !

So in order to get the boxes unpacked,  I had to make a huge mess because I of course haven't found the baskets to put the embroidery blanks in......

#unpacking #skidz#skidzwifecreations 

Old decor...new house

So like most folks, we have decor that moves with us from house to house. You know that makes it feel like home! This is one of those pieces. And of course we add to it with each new duty station too! I love to support other WAHM businesses so I just wanted to give a shout out to Perfectly Distressed. I have had many compliments over the years on this particular decor piece. I ordered the new board before we left California and it was waiting for us at the new house! 

If you want to check our her pieces, you can do so at.....

www.perfectlydistressed.com

New house ♡ new entryway

I haven't posted in awhile. I have a fantastic excuse! We just has a surprise party for Ben! I continue to try to unpack and set up the house to make it a home. It's hard to keep a time perspective. We've only been in the house for a month now so I am trying to persevere and finish strong. 

The entry way is one of my favorite parts of the house. I'm not 100% done with it but it is close enough to post a few pictures ♡

The main wall has our family picture, rules, names, and of course stars!

The French doors house our office/ the Skidz Wife Creations sewing studio. It is wall to wall boxes in there.

The rug was a purchase from a friend in California. We only paid $10 for a 5x7 rug!

Ben got me this sweet, little table for our anniversary at a local antique shop.

This entry way bench is waiting on Ben and I to refinish, rework the wood, and get rid of the broken mirror. I can't tell you how much I want to post after pictures of this!!

This is part of the shelf about the door. I have an idea in my head of how I want it to look when finished. Now I just have to be patient until I find everything ♡

The other side of the shelf. The wreath was made by friends of ours from their grape vine in the backyard.

Looking into the hallway to the breakfast nook/kitchen area.

Obviously the shelf is so not finished but I am happy with it so far!

            ♡ Home. Family. Life. Love. ♡