A Few Things I Love

With the change in seasons has come the inevitable reminder that very soon we will be spending a lot more time inside the house. For the most part I love our house, and we've worked really hard to make it a place that we enjoy being. Summer was so crazy though that a lot of the upkeep got overlooked, and when we took the house off the market I...relaxed my standards, shall we say.

Anyway, there are lots of little spaces that are just BUGGING me right now. My pantry is a disaster and needs a total clean out and re-org. Random pieces of random toys have been spread through the house and there are multiple little collections that need sorting. Niggly little things like that.

If I've learned one thing, it's that I WILL get these projects done, but it will take awhile to find the time and energy to do it. In light of that, I made an effort today to go around the house and capture a few things that I don't hate right now. Positive focus, right?

1. My big clock. Our house has really tall ceilings in the main living space, that open up to the lofted area outside the kids' bedrooms on the top floor. I love the feeling of space and light it gives, and you can sort of see (in this badly taken photo), the amount of afternoon sunlight that streams in the uppermost windows. Anyway, the high ceilings result in a lot of BIG wall space. We found this clock when we were shopping for our dining room table and bought it on a whim. It's hard to tell how big it is, but it's huge and just right for the space. I really have a thing about knowing what time it is too, and we don't have any electronics in the living room that show the time.

2. Our Harris photos. I found these on an awesome website I've never been able to find again. There are plenty of other options out there (I found these pre-etsy) but I haven't found any I like as well as these. A subtle way to celebrate our family identity. (I feel compelled to point out that I seriously DON'T love the popcorn ceilings)

Add caption

3. The Rapunzel tower. This is a view from the living room up to where the kids' rooms are. Firstly I love the landing, which houses the kids' bookcase, a race track that I didn't want permanently set up elsewhere and a cool rug showing a map of the US (fun for talking about where our various family members live). Recently Brighton has really been on a Rapunzel kick (following this insane birthday party we attended where there was a professional Rapunzel in attendance) and she loves to don her "beautiful long hair," go up to the top and yell down for Pacey to rescue her. Which he does, tirelessly. Seriously, best brother ever.

4. My pocket organizer. I put this together at the beginning of the summer when I was constantly having to hunt down all the little things we needed to get out of the house. It hangs in the mudroom/laundry on the door to the garage and contains: sunscreen, bug spray, hand sanitizer, wipes, pain relievers, bug bite itch reliever, antihistamine and did, at one time, have some snack items in it. Oh, and the kids' summer shoes in the bottom pockets they could reach. It saved SO MUCH time to be able to just fill my backpack right there on our way out, and also to be able to empty the backpack back into the pockets at the end of our adventures.

5. My photo wall, updated. I think I have posted a picture of my photo gallery wall, which covers the wall going up the stairs to the top level. I just printed out and framed some more photos and we continued it down onto the landing wall. The additions are seen here and they are making me SO happy. I love all the conversations that get prompted by the kids catching sight of our family and friends. Again, nice when so many live far away and we don't get to see them in person super often.

Now I feel like I can ignore the four grocery bags of pantry items that I literally can't find space for.