Wow. Has it really been 10 days since I posted? Hope you all had a wonderful holiday week. We went from sick boy to full on holidays with family straight to a week with my husband home and lots of work around the house.
Some people look to 'spring cleaning' for their annual refresh. We usually pick the time between solstice and the new year for the big stuff. Once we are done with the holiday celebrations we like to clean, organize, refresh and get the house feeling good. It is a wonderful feeling to have a cozy beautiful house for the new year and the deep freeze inside part of the winter.
We started out with putting away the holiday decorations, cleaning and organizing. We moved on to some new furniture, spackling, painting accent walls in many rooms, and re-arranging furniture.
So, we did a bit of this,
and moved the furniture in.
And did a bit of this,
and moved the furniture in.
And did some more of this,
and on we go room to room, rearranging and fixing and painting.
The boys have a new space - they switched rooms, added some new much needed furniture, painted a wall with the color they chose (a great robins egg blue), and have it just how they want it. Everything looks so fresh.
We have a few more walls on our list to complete before the weekend is out, and then we'll just have a few other rooms to work on each weekend for the next month (or two). Ahhh. Feels good.
We are ready to ring in the new year! We plan on having a wonderful evening spent together at home - enjoying the fruit of our hard work, bringing this year to a close, and looking to the future. We have good food, fun games, and some meaningful ritual. Bring on 2011!
How do you plan to welcome the new year?
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We also find the time between the Solstice and the New Year (in our case between the Solstice and Epiphany) to be the most conducive to organizing...and rearranging! Oh...and painting! It's nice to have something so fresh inside when it's so cold and grey outside.
ReplyDeleteI plan on sleeping! LOL! Actually, we've got lots of to-do items to knock off our very long list. Currently, we're improving our "mad scientist laboratory" aka the work space in our basement. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
We have been purging this past week and a bit too. My husband is off for almost two weeks and it is the best time for us to get rid of what isn't needed. We had grand plans of painting, but that hasn't happened. It's okay, we'll get there.
ReplyDeleteI love the colour the boys chose for their space; it looks similar to what the main part of our house is painted - ours is called "Martini Olive."
Happy New year to you and your family Denise. All the best for 2011. xo-Debbie
We're going to the Tao Sangha Center for a family event with cooperative games and such, then downtown for horse-drawn rides around the capitol and festivities, then if I'm not completely wiped out, I'll sneak away from the family to go see my friends' band. Now that I write all that out, staying home sounds kinda good...;-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
The boys picked a robins egg blue for their wall. The moss/olive green is for Brice and me. :) The master bedroom has been converted into the office/family room/play room, and that got a rich chocolate brown. So nice to have color!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a great feeling to clean/purge/beautify when the days get cold and gray. Nice to know we are not the only ones to get the 'urge'.
Nikole - OH, the Tao Sangha Center always has such great activities. We have to stay away from kids/crowds with G this time of year or we would definitely be there. Such a great group. Must admit I'm exhausted just reading all you have planned! ;P Have a fun night!
ReplyDeleteWe try to be relaxed at this time of year, finding xmas a little tiring and stressful.There is not usually a lot going on and we plod along and just go about life.We welcomed the new year in 8 hours ago with 2 children awake (for the first time ever).Hope you guys enjoy your new year and that you are blessed with love, joy and peace:)
ReplyDeleteWe have some of that coming up in our boys rooms. I like your colors. How did you pick them?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to welcome in the new year! I like the colors you chose! I'm itching to do some painting at my house too, but I'm waiting until the kids go back to school. We're having friends over tonight. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWell, you know me, Denise, we started those sorts of projects the day after Thanksgiving and haven't stopped, really. Great minds, I say. I love, love, love that we have this in common and it makes me wish we were neighbors (again)...sigh. Those colors, the plans, awesome. Your boys look just as thrilled as I know you are. Now...about the laundry room...
ReplyDeleteI'm curious where you buy furniture from? I like how you've decorated your house and have enjoyed the pictures/inspiration from reading your blog over the years. You have a very good sense of color and design.
ReplyDeleteHow happy that you're painting!!
ReplyDeleteI'm still working on the vacuuming part.
[rolls eyes]
The boys rooms look great and they get to begin a new year with new rooms - so cool :0)
ReplyDeleteSo far I have been cleaning out closets and compiling lots of donations to thrift stores. I've also managed to nearly fill a box with homeschooling things we no longer use. A bit of extra cleaning yes, but there are miles to go......LOL.
What a busy time you've had. And great colours you choose too. Love the blue. We are away from home right now, but I'm really in the mood for clearing out, donating and sorting when I get back home.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2011 to you and your family.
I am with you on the organizing part, but I haven't gone so far as to paint. You may have inspired me though, it looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for nice comments! :)
ReplyDeletewillo - We have had some colors in mind for awhile but the final selection was based on what was available in the no VOC paint we wanted to use! We took home chips and looked at them in the sun, under our lights, and decided.
anonymous...Thank you! So nice of you to say. I have a lot of allergies, so mostly shop at IKEA for furniture, but since it is several hours away I don't always get everything I want there. Locally I shop wherever I can find solid wood and items which are compatible with my allergies. I like dark wood and earthy colors. Cozy. Oh, and red. ;)
Amy - you are my dream neighbor!
Love your style and color choices. Where did you buy the beautiful armoire I see in some of your photos?
ReplyDelete