good intentions

We have lived in our house for 8 years now.

We moved here in the fall of 2002, when I was pregnant and on bedrest with Sydney. We bought the house, and then found out we were expecting... so it was a huge blessing, as our first home was quite cozy.  By the time we sold our house and moved, Austin was 9 months old.  We knew that this house would need some serious updating...as the sweet orange shag carpet in our bedroom, and pealing linoleum in the kitchen would testisfy, but we liked the layout, location, and size. The plan was to work at it slow and steady, as we had recently discovered that we liked doing home remodel projects together. Upon moving in, there were 3 of us.  We had an extra bedroom upstairs that was home to my computer for a very few short months, and a bedroom that sat empty in the basement.

Fastforward 8 years...the house has changed a bit.  Aside from updating/painting, knocking out walls, re-doing flooring, and adding on to our kitchen...we have certainly done the bedroom shuffle over the years.  And our free time to work on house projects shrinks a little bit more every year.

Initially, Austin and Sydney each had their own bedroom upstairs.  A crib set up in each room.  When Dylan was born, he gained Sydney's room and crib, and the 2 "big kids" shared the other room.  It makes me laugh now when I think back....they were 2 and 3 years old and we had them in bunk beds. At the time they seemed so old!

This room scenario worked out really well for a few years.  When we found out that we were expecting again, we finished out the bedroom in the basement, and moved the boys and bunks downstairs to share. Austin was 6 and Dylan 3.  Sydney gained her original bedroom back.  It was painted pink, and the room with bunks was converted back to a nursery.  We left it the cute blue and green checkerboard theme I had painted on the wall years earlier when it was just Austin's room.... because we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl.



Stella was born, and the checkerboard was first painted lilac, then yellow, until I finally settled on a pale shade of pink that I was happy with.

And when Stella was 1 years old, we found out the good news about Ellery. I spent the better part of her pregnancy on bedrest, and in a "take it easy" state, so I never really had a chance to do much with rooms, or prepare much at all for that matter. 

What to do with Elle?  Would she be an Ellery or an Elliot?

On a side note, our baby's don't have a very good track record for sleeping at night.  They stay mixed up for a very long time, don't really like their cribs much, don't stand for being put down in those early morning hours....and consequently force us to ignore their cries once in a while. So, I knew I did not want her sharing with one of the kids.  I also wasn't ready for Stella to share with Sydney as she was still only 21 months old, and awake @ 3am most nights as well.  I didn't really want to put the babies together, because I didn't want them to wake each other up, on the off chance that one of them was actually sleeping.

After much debate, Sydney and Stella each maintained their own rooms, and we set up a pack-n-play in our bedroom.  We had never had a baby in our room before this, and we were a bit hesitant to do so.

Well, this scenario worked for a bit, because most nights were spent holding Elle out on the recliner in the living room.  She wanted no part of being set down between the hours of 11pm and 7am.   After about 4 months, this situation started to get old.  I could not let her cry it out in our room, and I was tired of not sharing a bed with Tim.  So, we moved Stella's crib into Sydney's room, and moved Elle's cradle into Stella's room.

Are you still with me?

This worked out well for the summer.  When fall came around, I realized I didn't want Stella and Sydney sharing once school started, because Stella is a very light sleeper.  It was also very clear Elle needed her own room, as she was still awake most nights.

So, we moved Sydney down to the basement, and she currently shares a room with the boys.  Both Stella and Ellery have their own room upstairs.  We are currently in the process of finishing out a room in the basement that we gained with our kitchen addition for Sydney.

Okay, I apologize about the long-windedness of this post if you are still with me.

Where am I going with all of this?  We have moved rooms around a lot.  The combination of the whirlwind of getting pregnant with Elle when Stella was 1, being on bedrest and trying to keep up with 4 kids, and the fussiness that defined the first year of Elle's precious life....I feel like I just haven't been on top of all things household for a long while.  I hastily dumped our dishes into our new kitchen cabinets 2 years ago while on bedrest, and I still have yet to go back and re-arrange them.

I've also come to realize that I have good intentions....way too many unfinished projects, rooms, ideas, etc.  And I've learned that I try to tackle too many things at the same time, only to leave me overwhelmed, and nothing completely finished.  I'm learning I need to stick with one project at a time.   So far I've stuck to little things...cleaning out the linen closet, the pantry, painting the trim, and sorting through and getting rid of a ton of clothes, etc.  Now that our family is complete, I feel like I can move forward with confidence in decorating and re-doing bedrooms.

And so, I've decided  to tackle them, one room at a time.

First up, Elle's room.  After we moved all of Sydney's junk out, removed all of her pictures from the walls...it was clear that it would need to be re-painted.  I chose a lime green color.  Sorry, my pictures are pretty poor, and make it look much more yellow than it is.  Join me on a journey of "getting it done"....

 

I have had this sweet old quilt in my closet for several years now, not knowing quite what to do with it, but knowing that I love it. It goes perfect!  I made curtains for the window, and some quilted letters to spell her name on the wall.

 I saw this idea on another blog, so I bought a bunch of hoops and began filling them with colorful fabric.  I'm very pleased with the way it turned out!

 I bought this picture from Ikea about 7 years ago, because I loved it so much, but never knew just where to hang it.  It goes so perfect!

 My helper :)

Next project- Stella's room.  Stay tuned :)