Home Gallery

Doing a little catch-up on the blog this evening, since my Beloved is stuck at work for a few more hours doing some catch-up work of his own (preparing bills). *Sigh!*

It has been about 3 months now since we moved back to our Westminster home, and every day I am truly grateful to be here.  In so many ways, it feels like we never left, or that we just went away on a really long sabbatical or something, but we were always meant to be right back here eventually.  And despite the luxuries we gave up in the Parker home, I am still in love with this home, too!  It is the cheerful spirit, the color, the light, the memories, the convenience, and the special touches of our home that really make me grateful.  And, believe it or not, it is (and probably always will be) a work in progress for us, as we work every day to keep it lovely and homey and to make improvements here and there.  But we are also happy to enjoy it exactly as it already is: perfectly imperfect, which suits us just fine.

Here are a few of my favorite things about the house since we have moved back:

Our beautiful bedroom.  We have never had a "real" bed in our marriage; that is, we haven't had a bed that is actually furniture.  We have always just had a mattress set on a frame.  So, these wood carvings on the wall are a substitute for a headboard.  And I think they look smashing in there!  I love the creams, reds, and browns, with the hint of olive green in the wall color.  One of my favorite rooms in the house!

I just love how bright and cheerful the kitchen/great room/dining room/entry look in this house.  I have always liked the views and lines of sight (we could stand it to be a little bigger in terms of square feet, however).  And, who doesn't love a house where children are happy to make homemade lemon bars as a treat?

We found a place for the piano!  When we lived here before, we could never figure out where we would put a piano if we got one.  But, this time, we didn't really have a choice but to rearrange things so that it would fit.

We moved the sectional couch from the basement "home theatre" room upstairs to the living room.  This was partly because we needed a little more room in the living room for the piano.  It was also partly because Trey had done some serious damage to the other couches when he took a Sharpie to them in the Parker house (we got most of it out, however).  But, we also did it so that I could have more space in the room downstairs for working out.  That room still needs some work, but I am SO happy to have enough space to do my Turbo Fire!!!!  Also, isn't this a cute picture of Courtney?  This was shortly after J.K. Rowling began working her real life magic on Courtney . . . she started reading the first book in the Harry Potter series and she was HOOKED like the rest of us!

This picture was taken in the informal dining area.  That's Trey.  He's sticking out his tongue at us.  Don't ask.

This is our lovely little lady sitting on the stairs in our lovely entry way.  I have always loved houses with a beautiful stairway just inside the entry!  Yay!

My One and Only.  Here he is enjoying our peaceful and lovely back deck, reading The Lord of the Rings on a Sunday morning.  The back yard has come a LONG way since we bought the house originally.  Back then it was basically a mud pit.  Now it is lovely and lush and green!

Oh, how I LOVE this girl!  And how I love my mudroom/laundry room!  It is nice and spacious, with plenty of natural light, and is almost totally custom.  Nate has built in shelves and cubbies and other conveniences that make it a great space for all the many things we store and do in there.

This picture was taken on the first day of our homeschool 2013-2014!  Isn't it a cheerful space?  I love how organized it is and how colorful it is.  And I love these smiling faces in there with me every day!

Trey's room.  Just look at it.  I adore this room and the little guy who sleeps and plays in it every day.  And you can't even tell by looking at this picture that it features a vague odor of dirty diapers most of the time.  Ugh.  Potty training coming soon.

We were unable to put Courtney's name up on the wall in the Parker house, because the walls in her room were white (and we couldn't paint them) and the letters were white.  So, we were happy to be able to put her name up on the wall again.  It is a very nice contrast on the pink wall!  And, we added the sweet little touch of these pretty butterflies.  I just love them!

Thankful and grateful.  That's how I feel about our lovely, perfectly imperfect home every single day.  SO thankful!