A No-Improvement Project

Not all home improvement projects go as planned. Honestly, all of the time we're just winging it when we build something or install something else. Sure, I look around, see what I like, pin 102 ideas on Pinterest, but when it comes down to it... we're not really into following directions unless they come in the box.

My favorite projects around the house are quick, cheap changes that make an impact. I like being able to use what we have before buying something new if possible. Why replace a perfectly functional vanity if it's still in good shape? All bets are off though if there's a pedestal sink though, because those things are just pointless! I digress.

I seriously hate replacing light fixtures. Unless we're talking a chandelier, which will seriously change the look of the room, or an outside light, because light fixtures just aren't really something I LOOK at. So, I try to leave them alone, as long as they are working. Well, I have a plan for the kids' upstairs bathroom, and found these beauties at Lowe's. New light pendants! This is such an easy way to update a light fixture without replacing it and getting your husband electrocuted! (I've replaced them in the kitchen of each house.)

So, I picked up the new pendant covers for about $9.00 each. I knew that I needed 3 of them, not because I counted, but because I looked up our listing photos on Zillow while standing in front of the fixtures in Lowe's.

They have a huge selection, but I thought these would be a fun change from glass. I'm planning a black and white theme in the kids' bathroom, and already have black hooks for towels and a large sign I bought from a local store. ANYWAY! I was really excited to swap these out for an instant change!
Side note: If you don't have a 3 step step-stool, you need one. So much easier than moving a ladder around and great for a plethora of projects!

Well... to my surprise... our bathroom fixtures - yes, ALL of them - are different than ones that I've previously encountered. The pendant actually has to fit inside of it and then screws hold it on; unlike most pendants where the pendant has a "screw" in the middle that holds it around the lightbulb socket.

They don't fit!! Urgh. Then, we discovered Menard's and I found some cute glass covers that were a great alternative!! And - OMG - they had the little glass lip around them that the fixture's screws go into!! AND - they were only $3.00?!

I snagged 3 and booked it home to win the battle with the light fixture!! But, I lost. The rim on these are too wide to fit inside. So, as much as I don't like replacing light fixtures... we're going to get really good at it.

Not everything goes as planned for every home improvement project. Luckily we just discovered Menard's and they have an amazing lighting section! Sorry Justin.

Our Library

I don't know about you... but Belle was one of my favorite princesses, because she loved to read. (Second only to Ariel, because she's obviously the best princess.) And I totally squealed for Belle when the Beast gave her his library!! So amazing!

One of our hopes for our Ohio house was to have a library space in our house! I'm not talking grand staircases, or thousands of books, but somewhere we could display our books and have a comfy, quiet place to read. Well, we got one and it is finished! (For now.)

The bookshelves are full, so that's a good sign, but a bad thing for future book purchases! So, I have to decide how to fit anther bookshelf in this room. I would like to put them in the cut-out on this wall.

Obviously it's not ideal to have the dog kennels in the library, but you know... real life. We don't have anywhere else on the first floor - or even the 2nd - to put the kennels. The garage is problematic, because of the seasonal high and low temps in Ohio. We are in the process of building a large, indoor kennel in the basement for both dogs to have more room, but it's not done yet. (Or started.) So, hopefully another bookshelf will live here in the future, and maybe a cozy chair or a desk for the kids.

Our sitting area kind of fell together without much planning, but it works. The love seat... oh, the love seat. This was NOT what I was planning on in here. Maybe a Papasan chair, or a chair and a half to cuddle up in... alas, the love seat won. Basically, I ordered this love seat for our living room when we bought furniture. However, it was way too small for the room and we ended up getting a 2nd full sized couch for the space. (I'll show you later.) So, I had a love seat that I couldn't return and a room that needed seating.

I bought this lamp for 75% off - $20 pre-tax - at Meijer before we even bought the house. (Washington peeps, this store is like Fred Meyer without furniture.) I've always loved hanging lamps, and I think having the lighting above the reading material is good placement. We don't have overhead lighting in the library, but we have a ghost switch that I was able to plug the lamp into, so the wall switch turns it on. Plus, I'm a huge fan of adding different textures into a room, so this fit nicely.

I also ordered the hammered brass side table before we bought the house, because I just loved it.

The Harry Potter pillow was just the perfect final touch; thank you Pottery Barn Kids sale!

The desk area really stumped me. I knew how I needed it to function, however I didn't know to translate that into actual function. The desk and chair are from Ikea; we brought the chair on the move. I wanted the biggest desk possible, and I think we accomplished that for the space.

I settled on open shelving for the wall, because it was the easiest solution, with the most versatility and storage. I decided to move the printer up there from the desktop, to open up more space. I may pop the cords in the wall, but they don't bother me much, yet. The shelf brackets were purchased on Etsy from Modern Urban Metals and are secured into studs for maximum security! I also added a couple of puck-lights to the underside of the bottom shelf for additional lighting at night, since the hanging light is behind me when I'm at the desk.

I bought the gold envelope for the command center wall originally, but I grossly underestimated the size of the wall, so that area changed A LOT as we started assembling it. I was going to return the envelope, but I decided to use it for little greeting cards to send out. (I love picking these up in Bullseye's area at Target!)

I needed a GREAT spot in my house for this famed picture. My amazing family gifted this to us before we moved. I wanted it somewhere I could see it, and not just in passing. I kept the placement of this in mind when we hung the shelves, and I'm loving the result.

Aside from furniture (not including the desk chair) and the set of animal pictures, we didn't purchase anything for this room. I have never been able to put a room together using what I already have, so I was pretty pleased by that!

Jordan and I both worked and reworked this area together until we loved it!
I bought the watercolor lion picture years ago in honor of my fierce Leo girl that passed away.

These were originally purchased for the playroom, but I thought they worked better in here.

Justin's Army retirement certificate!
And we updated the thermostat to tie in to our home security system.

Justin brought this giraffe home from South Africa!
She's tucked away in this little spot for safe keeping!

Justin saw something similar to this at the Red Plantation in Pouslbo, but decided to think about it. When he figured out he wanted it, someone else had already snagged it! So, I found this look-a-like at Hobby Lobby and got it 1/2 off. Get it here!

I wasn't sure where our wall ruler would work in this house... I made it - two houses ago - and didn't really want to let it go. I've never actually put lines on it, but we've measured many children, many times up against it. I'm so happy it found a place in our new home! 

Doorway goes into the playroom, which also leads into the kitchen, which gives our first floor a nice design flow!

Overall, this room feels the most "lived in" out of the entire house. I love that the walls are crowded and not everything matches, because this room is filled with so many of our favorite things! Touches of South Africa can be spotted, favorite pieces from previous homes, family, friends, Funko... saltwater. It's perfectly us. My library dreams have been realized!

Operation: Dream Home #2

House hunting. Anyone that has undertaken this task will surely agree that it's more fun to watch others do it on TV. Even Jordan said so! I will say, though, it's been fun watching our big kids house hunt. They each have different things they look for. They are both concerned about where their room will be. However, they each have a few things they look for:

• Jordan - 
• Library space.
• Property for shooting on.
• Room for a hanging egg chair in her room.
• Joey -
• Basement for fun stuff.
• A fireplace for Santa.
• Remaining on budget. (LOL!) 

You all remember our Orting house:

When we started building this beauty, I started a Facebook album titled "Dream Home #1". I remember the moment I typed that, and thinking to myself, "Hmm... Why '#1'? Are we planning on moving before we've even built it?" God works in mysterious ways. He already knew that wasn't our forever home. 

Fast forward nearly 4 years, and we are house hunting in Ohio. We found a house with TONS of potential! I mean, OOZING potential. I could picture the shining beauty this house would become. 

Sure, it needed a kitchen remodel, every wall needed paint, every door needed to be replaced, the carpet smelled like dog and almost every curtain rod was installed crooked. But the property was amazing, and I saw how beautiful the house could be with a lot of love and even more elbow grease! Alas, it was not meant to be. We lined up every inspection, but only 1 ended up mattering; the septic inspection. As it turns out, the septic leech bed is too close to the well; meaning that the filtered septic run-off could get into the well water. Not only is that seriously gross, but it also doesn't meet code. So, we had to terminate our contract on this diamond in the rough. 

We hit the pavement to tour more houses, while battling the house-bummer-blues. It wasn't pretty. Bless our amazing agent Carrie for remaining upbeat and reminding us that we WOULD find an amazing home! (Seriously Ohio people, if you need an agent, call my girl at Buckeye State Realty!)

Pushing on, we expanded our search area. When we pre-gamed our house search from Washington, inventory here in Ohio was much more abundant. Unfortunately for us, the market here is on fire right now and needing a 4 bedroom has narrowed our options even more. 

The new search area led us to a much newer, nicer house. Very "Washington". Lots of space inside, not so much space in the backyard. It sat on nearly an acre, however the house was right in the middle, so not such a great yard in any one place. But, oh, she is pretty! 

Side-load garage.Wrap-around porch. Sun room. Loft for the kids. Giant basement. It is a gorgeous house! Unfortunately, the sellers want top dollar for it and they apparently aren't willing to negotiate. We submitted an offer - backed by comps in the area - and they refused to even respond. We slept on it and submitted a new offer in the morning, to which they called "insulting." They are under contract on a new house, so it appears that they are going to have two homes, because we decided not to increase our offer and the house is still sitting there, weeks later.  

After the big, pretty house didn't work out, I asked Justin to reconsider another house we saw the same day, on the same road. It was a little smaller on the inside and outside, needed paint in a couple rooms, but it was very well cared for and had everything we needed. He agreed and I took Justin's parents for a look while Justin started his new job. 

It was definitely love. The house was everything I imagined our TLC house could be! After a couple of counter offers back and forth, we were under contract in a couple of days! And, as of today, the house passed inspection with flying colors! Here's the official tour!

--------

Semi-wrap around porch! We originally asked for the homeowners to leave the porch swing, however, it was an anniversary gift and they will be keeping it.

Can we just admire the size of this kitchen for a moment?

...

And the fact that there isn't a sink or cook-top in the island?

...

Just a little paint to tone down all the yellow-orange-brightness and we're good to go!

We have already picked out a new dinning room table, chairs and buffet to hold Jordan's china from her great-grandma Donna. :) We can't wait to start hosting tea parties again! Not to mention, fully extend the dining room table to 112 inches to see how many Detwilers (and Dotsons) we can seat at one time! 

The living room portion of the great room. I have a feeling it's going to be set up just like our Orting house, which will hopefully make it feel like home right away! We are really happy to have an indoor fireplace, so Santa doesn't have to use his magic key to get in. The bookshelves are installed, but we're going to move them out of this room.

Now that IS a great room! I can't believe we're going to have THREE kids growing up making cookies, sharing family dinners and hanging stockings in THIS room.

Since our new dining room furniture will fit in the great room, we're going to use the formal dining room off of the kitchen as a playroom for Skyler. Hopefully, it won't look like Toys R Us exploded in our living room this time around! (R.I.P. Toys R Us)

The formal living room. This room is something I was really hoping for. This is going to be our library. Most everyone knows that I'm a book lover, and that I'm hoping to raise a few book lovers. So, we are planning on moving the living room bookshelves into this room. All we need is to unpack our books and get a comfy place to sit! 

Okay, have I mentioned that my agent is amazing? She suggested this foyer overlook area for a Christmas tree! You guys. I'm totally putting tree #4 here! 

(Don't freak out! 1 of the trees is a table-top tree. Jeez, like a would have 4 FULL sized trees. LOL!)

Master bedroom, complete with walk-in closet! Big enough for a king size bed, nightstands and dresser. I never understood why house hunters want a huge master bedroom. (Can you sneak a peek of that huge soaker tub in the bathroom? It's going to be covered in dust soon! LOL!)

Extra bedroom #1 - Joey's room

This one is the largest extra bedroom, and Joey gets it this time! He's hoping to paint grey and have a huge Nerf target on the wall! I mean, of course he is! Why wouldn't he want a giant target to shoot at?

Extra bedroom #2 - Jordan's room

Jordan decided she wanted a loft bed, and it will fit best with this room configuration, plus she won't lose any floor space, so it's fair that she doesn't get the largest room. She agrees. I think she is planning on painting it a light lavender.

Extra bedroom #3 - Skyler's room

Yay for no painting! I do have a paint project planned for this room, but it's going to be a surprise!

The basement!

It's dry. It's HUGE... like there is even more space than in these pictures. We can't wait to make the ultimate game room down there! 

So, we had really hoped to find a house on a couple of acres... with trees (for the PNW girl in me). However, this backyard is huge. There's some fenced in area, which will be nice for the pups, and then a huge area past that. The kids are excited to have room for a swingset, trampoline and pool next summer. There's no way we could have hoped for a yard this size in Washington, so Justin and I are grateful to have a little more space.

--------

Well... there you have it! For all the stress and aggravation it's caused, that was our house hunting in a nutshell. We ended up in Marion, Ohio... I'm guessing for a reason. God always has a way of surprising me. Thank goodness His plans are always better than mine, because I could have ended up drinking filtered poo-water in West Liberty! LOL! 

I can't wait to get the first few projects done in the new house (painting the great room and moving the bookshelves) and share them with you all! Now, I'm on the hunt for a few more furniture pieces! I'm still looking for a coffee table, a desk, and library seating! Maybe I'll get that Papasan chair I've always wanted... I am concerned I may no longer be able to get out of it though! 

Be on the lookout for a Dream Home #2 Facebook album to pop up soon! Though, I may title it "Forever Home".