Confession: I’ve taken the “before” pictures for this makeover no less than five different times. Every time I walk through the living room (which is every time I go upstairs or check the mail) I am underwhelmed by its boringness and uselessness. We live in an old house, designed for formal entertaining (you can see the house tour here, although we’ve changed almost every room since then) which is fantastic when it comes to throwing parties but not so great for every day life. We don’t use the front door and we almost never use the dining room, so the front of the house has become a catch-all for junk. There isn’t even a couch in the living room – the free one I got off Craigslist went out with the trash before Evan’s 1st birthday and I haven’t found something I like/can afford. Which means for the last year (and then some), our living room has looked like this:

I know it was built for afternoon teas and dinner parties, but living in half our house is stupid – why feel cramped when we have an extra 300+ square feet of EMPTY SPACE to spread out in? And why do I keep insisting on using it as a FORMAL living room, when almost none of our living is formal?

So my mission was two fold:
1. Make our living room both more functional and more fun and
2. Don’t spend any money

Enter Pinterest.

{handprint art, chalkboard table, bright colored room, fabric garland, covered canvas, button letter}

And here’s how it looks now:

Breakdown:
-I bought the canvases from Michael’s when they were on sale AND I had a coupon, to save for a day when I was feeling creative. The striped ones are tissue paper attached with spray adhesive.
-All the paint, felt and ribbons are from previous projects, especially Caroline’s Nursery.
-The bright colored pillow covers are from Life’s Candy, my wonderful friend Mae’s shop. I relocated them from our entrance bench.
-The fabric on the garland was tablecloths at Little Evan’s 2nd birthday.
-The plates are straight up dinner plates from our cabinet, purchased at Walmart in 2001.
6. The empty frame was in our basement.
7. I bought the vases at Target for $3.24 each back in March to fill in the empty mantle.
8. The coffee table was in the basement, the blue chair was in the attic and the toys were in the toy box.

Since the coffee table is black you can’t really see the chalkboard paint unless I’ve drawn on it, so all it takes is a quick swipe with a damp paper towel and we have our grown-up piece of furniture back. The baskets underneath neatly hide all the toys and the chalk.

So paint, buttons, fabric, and some repurposing turned our boring wasted space into a cute, usable room. Now I just need to find a small couch, some big comfy floor pillows and a DVD player for that TV and we might actually start spending some time in there!

Of course I finished this just in time to change it all again for Christmas. Maybe we’ll go with a rainbow theme for the holidays this year.

Lots of food and baby face photos this week. Both are delicious.

Sunday:

It must have been E's morning to get up with the kids because there's no way *I* dressed the kid in stripes and plaid.

Wii Basketball counts as both exercise and toddler entertainment

She looks vaguely distressed at being naked. HOLD ON TO THAT FEELING, at least until you're 30.

Monday:

Bossing everyone around after Stroller Strides

Caroline really looks up to her friend Maddie. BA-DUM-CHING.

FaceTime with Daddy, who was out of town for work.

Pasta with herbed butter, goat cheese and heirloom tomatoes. My FAVORITE summer meal (especially since I had actual fanct heirloom tomatoes!) but E hates it.

Tuesday:

I wasted a dollar on the merry-go-round in exchange for my kid putting his shoes back on.

HEY MOM WHATCHA DOIN???

Fun fact: E and I had one of our first dates at Sticky Fingers in Charleston, so I always buy the sauce when they have it at Stop & Shop.

Wednesday @Mystic Seaport:

The Amistad. Like from the movie. I think. One of my friends was the only woman to help build it. I think. Wow, I am FULL of facts. Maybe.

Playing pirates with Maddie in the children's building

This game is called Skittles. It's really dumb. E was OBSESSED.

Thursday:

Stroller Strides. NO PICTURE PLEASE.

Feeding the ducks at Oldeeee Mystickeee Villageeee. The extra "e"s make it AUTHENTIC.

I guess she got over her issues with nudity.

Friday:

Look kids, this is what we used in the old days, before Pinterest. YES PLEASE FALL.

What are you waiting for, a written invitation? It's nap time Mama!

Squash at the CSA. For eating, not just decoratively arranging as a centerpiece. Which is what I do.

Baby Faux Hawk

Saturday:

Sponge Bob Coma. Blame the husband.

Vanilla french toast for breakfast

Finishing up my living room redecorating

The recipe for Monday’s pasta is ripped out of a Rachel Ray magazine, but here it is online. E was gone Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, which might have made this the longest week of my life. By Friday I had given up on leaving the house and succumbed to endless Nick Jr for the toddler and nursing for the baby. The rest of this weekend will be spent on the cleaning and laundry I neglected in favor of naps and hiding in the bathroom taking deep breaths. I’m hoping to have my colorful new living room photos up on Monday, a new recipe later in the week and video of Caroline being adorable somewhere in between. Cross you fingers for a tantrum-free Saturday so I can get my sanity back!

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

This is what we looked like for the FIRST half of Saturday:

On Caroline:

Dress – hand me down, tag says Circo from Target
Leggings – Splendid Little for Target

On Mama:

Shirt – Calypso for Target
Skirt – Target
Nursing tank – Target (wow I’m boring)
Flip Flops – old and unnamed
Felt poppy headband – Uff Da Designs

Super pale and sort of squishy, but at least decent for human eyes.

And this is what we looked like for the SECOND half of Saturday:

On Evan:
Shirt – Hand me down, untagged
Shorts – Carter’s
Boots – Target
Tiny Shovel – Target

On Mama:
Nursing Tank – Target
Blank Tank – Hanes men’s undershirt
Shorts – Target
Bandana – Stolen from someone in college
Big person shovel – Ace Hardware

Still super pale and squish but now also saggy and dirt covered. As Little Evan would say: MESS!!!!

The digging continues. Anyone want to come over and help? I can promise lots of beer and burgers on an awesome new patio, but you don’t get paid until Friday. What, no takers? I’m shocked.

After trips to three different real furniture stores and a few half-hearted searches on our local Craigslist we ended up buying a twin sized bed for Little Evan at Ikea. I don’t know why we even bothered looking anywhere else when the bed I had pictured in my mind was clearly modern, minimalist and Swedish while all the furniture at the traditional stores was heavy and tall and wooden. The salesman at our local store tried to convince me we shouldn’t get a twin bed at all, because eventually he’d need a full sized bed anyways so why not buy one now? Along with the matching dresser? And hey, how about this $400 mattress too? I tried to point out that 99% of college students I know sleep in twin sized beds so Little Evan’s “need” for a full sized bed was sort of subjective single bed with tv. Besides, my little 27 lb toddler still fits just fine in his crib. It’s not like he needs the space of a full. Heck, I can lie in the twin WITH him and we both fit fine. So basically, I told the salesman to shove it (politely) and we went to Ikea. Besides, I had already ordered super cute sheets from Garnet Hill in twin and I hate returning things. Flawless logic, that.

We bought this bed:

ODDA bedframe with drawers

I love that it’s low enough for him to climb in and out himself and the extra storage space underneath. You can NEVER have enough places to hide toys and stuffed animals. So we bought the bed frame and the least expensive mattress they sell (my theory is between now and full potty training it’s going to get so gross we’ll end up tossing it anyways) and E swore his way through their wordless Swedish instructions and now it’s all set up and ready for Little Evan to start sleeping in it. Which is going…not so well.

Sunday night he lay on the bed but asked to sleep in the crib when it was time to turn the lights out. But for Monday nap time he climbed right up, lay down, asked for his milk and and kiss and told me night-night. I tucked him in, made sure he had his eight zillion different blankets and stuffed animals and left the room.

I listened outside the door. All was quiet. I came downstairs and listened over the monitor. I could hear him babbling a little and rustling his sheets. Then there was complete silence and I did a little happy dance of joy.

I texted E to tell him how I was AWESOME and that our kid was a big-boy bed genius and that when he got home we could totally take the crib apart for good because who needs it?! I made plans to hem curtains and move bookcases and blog the awesome new toddler room because the redecorating was totally going to be done super soon!

Ten seconds later, a little voice said “Hai!” and Evan peeked around the corner of the kitchen.

My heart totally stopped. My genius big-boy bed sleeping toddler was instead a genius room escaping (EVEN THOUGH there’s a child-proof cover on the door handle) toddler who managed to get out of bed and climb down the stairs in complete silence.  I am TERRIFIED of letting him climb down the stairs on his own so the thought of him doing the whole flight without anyone there to spot him almost made me pass out.

So. No more big boy bed until we get a gate for the stairs. And any recommendations for door handle covers that ACTUALLY KEEP CHILDREN FROM OPENING DOORS are appreciated.

Adorable bebehs in the adorable bed

Final room makeover results have been officially pushed back until we can take the crib down for good. I’m hoping some time before June.

He asked to have Caroline lie in bed. I think he’d sleep with her all the time if I’d let him.

Uh, ALSO needed: a way to make that outlet/cords a little less dangerous. Because right now I can imagine about 4000 ways he could kill himself either accidentally or because he’s a toddler and doesn’t seem to remember playing with outlets is danger! no matter how many times I scream it at tell him. Unfortunately, that’s the outlet that the light switch works not using it at all is the worst possible option. Well, worst besides some sort of terrible tragedy, so maybe not really WORST worst. I’m just hoping there’s a solution besides never having light in Little Evan’s room.

“OK Mom! Go away! We’re good without you!”

Yeah kid, that’s what YOU think.

Also known as: I’ve started buying stuff with polka dots on it for Little Evan’s 2nd birthday party because his theme is going to be Bubbles, Balls & Balloons Edition.