well hello there! happy new year! we are starting our new year with a bang, i have three out of four of the noisemakers home from school due to a little bug they’ve managed to pick up from…yup you got it, from the only kid that made it to school today. i’ve so far have managed not to get anything probably because i have 409 in my blood system and i use Lysol for deodorant and hairspray…knock on wood. but i think i paid my dues a few weeks before Christmas. here’s to holding my breath…okay so i promised a while ago a few more before and afters of the house.
okay
before of the family room downstairs:
after:

keep in mind nothing has been bought for the downstairs, so it’s a hodgepodge of things. someday maybe yes, but for now we are good with what we have. the couches were free (left with the house, whoot!) the rug and the star were in the boys’ room before i changed it to star wars themed.

on the other side, when you come down the stairs there’s a kind of awkward little under the stairs area…i turned it into katie’s kitchen. i’ve still got some work to do in there in finding a few more kitchen decor like things…and i’ve even dabbled with the idea of making the husband make her a fridge. he will be so thrilled. >:P
one of my favorite things of this room besides it being big and downstairs, is it’s closet with shelves. i spent part of my vacay with the kiddos home organizing their toys and closets. i don’t know if it was a good thing because when we got it all organized the boys kept looking at it and kept saying “we really don’t have a lot of toys.” i guess when things were just being shoved in there it looked like a lot more. my answer was “nope we just have a lot more room now. and anyways, less things means less to clean up.” that got me some dirty looks.
whatever, water rolling off my back.
i still want to have a more “pretty” system for the organizing in the closets but that will take a little more planning and sewing than what i have on my hands right now.

the downstairs has three bedrooms…if each of the boys wanted their own room they could have it.
large bedroom before:

large bedroom after:

now noise maker #1 and noise maker #3 share a room. they tend to be more on the same wave length when it comes to personalities. they tend to be the pack rats, and uh…non stop activity ones. their room looks like this after i make a sweep of it after they “clean” it in the mornings. normally there’s dirty socks in a pile by the door or papers airplanes strewn about, but not much worse then that…because remember they have the crazy lady…i mean me as a mother and i make everyone put away their rooms before going to bed every night. i still need to get a poster framed for over the other bed, but i can’t seem to find a “train your dragon” that the loudest noisemaker loves.there’s this one, but i don’t think he loves it enough to have it in his room over his his bed…i’m trying to convince the husband and the boys that we should get a huge world map from ikea and put their initials over their beds like my EAT in my kitchen. but the husband thinks it’s stupid (well, that the price of the map is stupid,and that it’s 73 inches long…and he already thinks the EAT is ridiculous), the boys don’t really care. i may have some convincing still on my hands but at that price i’ll have to sit on it and really think it through. or heck maybe i’ll just let the boys start all over again…who knows. i guess i’m up for suggestions. just remember i like rooms really plain that’s all i ask. anywho…these two didn’t want their own room, so they were placed together…

next…before of one of the smaller bedroom:
after of smaller bedroom:

this one’s noise maker #2’s room, and yes, it usually always looks like this without my help. i went with a really light gray for the both room’s walls. i’m not a huge fan of dark colors in general for walls, and plus it being in the basement with some light but not a ton… this color was perfect. and of course you can find the vader poster here. oops i guess they are currently out of stock. but it’s a good one so you might want to check later.

okay that’s it for me right now. i have to take care of sickies.
and i need to explain that for this next 2 months my blogging will be shotty here and there. oh i’ll pop in and i still have some tutorials i want to share… but i have some “things” i have to take care of and i’ll be trying to focus mainly on those. you’ll soon find out what they are. 😉 have a smashing good week, till we talk again!
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