Our (rented) House - part 2

As promised, here is the part 2 of our before and after photos of our (rented) home in Houston.
There's not necessarily anything special other than how I set up house for the time we lived there. I painted all the rooms, I'm sure I was out of my mind, but we thought we would be here for a few years at least. Plans change. Anyway, here it is.....enjoy!

Master Bedroom Before:

After:

The Twins Room Before:

After:

 

 

Nursery/Guest Room Before:

 



After:

Boy's/Guest Bathroom Before:

After:

Our (rented) House / Part 1

It's been almost 4 months since we moved back to our hometown in Florida from our city life in Houston, Texas. Seriously...........4 months??!! The days drag on but the weeks fly by. Or something like that.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share the before and after photos from the house we were renting in Houston. I put a lot into making it feel like home because we planned to stay a while. Although, I can say that by the time I finished painting the living room area, I was wishing I had never started the painting process. Being pregnant and needing to wear a mask while painting was not a fun combo. Yet, in the end, when I look back at our photos, they look awful nice with those freshly painted walls in the background. *There may be just a hint of sarcasm there, just a little. wink.
..............................................................................
We'll start our tour outside.
Before:

Weeding and trimming these bushes in October while being 7.5 months pregnant was something else, I'll tell you. But I do love how nice it made the front of the house feel.

After:

*the boys wanted in on the fun
....................................................................................
Living Room/Play Room

Before:

After:

..................................................................................
Kitchen/Dining
Before:

 

After:

That's all for now. It's late and I'm ready for bed, folks.
I'll follow up with part 2 to complete our tour. Thanks for hanging out for a while!


Around here....

Hello. Thanks for hanging in here with me and my sporadic blogs posts over the last year.
It's been the kind of year that was so full and crazy that we lived it, tried to enjoy it, and at the same time just made it through. All this to say, I want to blog more, I want to be here, and I'll work on being here more. (probably saying this last bit more for myself than anyone else) *wink

The last four months went a little like this:

.Our third precious boy was born.
.I had a long recovery from my C-section.
.We drove to our hometown in Florida for my sister's wedding with our 3 week old.
.David and the twins caught the Flu on our last day traveling home.
.We had major car problems on our drive home, which long story short, resulted in trading in our current vehicle for a new one.
.Our 4 week old caught the Flu.
.Two trips to the ER because he was 4 weeks old.
.One of the above mentioned trips was spent in the NICU overnight.
.Everyone finally recovered.
.Still healing from my C-section.
.Our twins turned 6. What?!!!
.We celebrated with friends at the park and cupcakes at home.
.Trying to settle into life with a newborn again.
.Feeling like I was failing miserably and recognizing that things don't have to be perfect. Let it go!
.David and I made some decisions for our future.
.After looking for a new job, with a few interviews but no hires, since moving to Houston, we knew we needed to make some changes.
.His employment there had not turned out the way we expected when we moved to Houston.
.Deciding to move back to our hometown in Florida was a rough decision.
.We really liked Houston.
.Florida was not our plan.
.Sometimes plans need to change. Even if they feel like one of the hardest things you have to do.
.Our landlady let us out of our lease early.
.We had a clean house almost all the time because of potential showings.
.This was not easy with two 6 year olds and a newborn.
.The house was leased.
.My parents and youngest sister came to help us move.
.We would not have made it out of there without them.
.Loaded a U-HAUL and drove two days home.

(traveling. starting our second day. my three boys.)

.We are currently living with my very gracious (and wonderful, I might add) in-laws.
.Our new plan is to get on our feet again.
.David is still taking the BARR in July.
.He's currently looking for employment and had a 2nd interview with a company this morning.
.We are still settling in here.
.Being back is something I could have lived the rest of my life without but I do love being close to both our families again. That is something good.
.I'm looking for good everywhere because sometimes it still doesn't feel that way.
.I miss the busy-ness of Houston or city life in general.
.St. Augustine feels like home though.
.We are on the countdown for warm enough weather to make our first trip to the beach as a family of five.
.The twins can't wait. They love the ocean.
.That's all I've got for now.
.Thanks for hanging in here with me and my crazy blog writing.
.Sometimes it's easier to get out what I want to say if it's in a fragmented, small sentence, type form.

p.s. My baby is 4 months old today. I. Can. Not. Believe. It.
But I love him so very much.

Oh, Boy.

Liam Bennett arrived in December. He's precious, sweet, and has stolen our hearts.
I'm head over heels in love with this little man.

He has made our family even more wonderful.

...............................................................................................

I'll be back soon. Adjusting to life with three has been challenging and I'm still trying to find a good balance. Attempting to stay on top of select things around the house as well as caring for three boys has left little time for anything else. It also doesn't help that my emotions have been on a roller coaster, (as is likely to happen after having a baby), and I'm not quite back to feeling like myself. So, thanks for hanging in there with me.

Oh, and Simple October shop will be reopening with a few Valentine's Day goodies on Wednesday, February 5th.

Wordless Wednesday / New Workspace in Progress

Master bath (before and after)

When we moved into our new home in May, I knew I needed to paint the walls. They are all the same creamy, off-white color. The walls, baseboards, trim, doors, EVERYTHING is the same color.
I started in our master closet, since I had yet to unpack everything. It was nice to start that process with a clean, freshly painted room.
Then I moved onto the master bath. I used the same paint I used in the closet, Dolphin Fin by Behr

I love how it turned out! If feels fresh and sort of spa like. Especially with the white accents.

After:

Before:

Shower curtain: white waffle weave from Target (except I bought the standard size not the long)

Shelf: Ikea shelf & wall brackets

Paint: Dolphin Fin by Behr