House Hunting

I guess it’s time for a little update on the move.  So much has happened over the last few weeks that it’s hard for me to figure out how to put it all into words that make any sort of sense.  It has really been a roller coaster ride and I’m still a little bit dazed and confused by all of it.

But anyway…

Back in the middle of October, Tim and I took the kids down to Florida to stay with the grandparents and then we hopped on a plane to D.C. for ten days of house hunting.  Originally, I thought it was going to be kinda like a fun little getaway for me and Tim, a second honeymoon so to speak.  No kids, ten full nights of beautiful uninterrupted sleep, coffee shop mornings, dinners out, some shopping, and of course the house hunting.  Which I am totally into the HGTV show, House Hunters, so I was completely excited about that part of the trip.  I mean, who doesn’t love getting to pick out a new-to-them house?   I had made my list of all my things that I wanted in our next house…  older with lots of character, fireplace, lots of natural light, hardwood floors, white kitchen, front porch, and on and on.  I was ready and I was excited.  (Except for the part about leaving my kids for that long, which was so completely heart-wrenching.) 

 

We spent the first few days with our realtor in VA.  We looked at probably at least 20 houses and didn’t like a single one.  I fully expected to just “know” when we walked in and I never got that feeling that “this was the one”.  Many times, we walked in and then turned around and walked straight out.  Sometimes, we pulled up to a house and then told our realtor, “um… no.” and we just went to the next.  It was exhausting and a little bit discouraging.  I didn’t like Virginia.

 

After exhausting all the Virginia possibilities (and probably our realtor too!), we headed over to Maryland for a few days with our other realtor over there.  She handed us a stack of listings and we set off hopeful to find our house.  To make a really long story a little bit shorter, we found two houses in Annapolis that we liked.  They both had their pros and cons and we were stuck on making a decision. There wasn’t a clear “this is the one” feeling, but that night, I talked myself into a decision and then attempted to convince Tim it was the right decision. We had a few more houses on our MD list to look at the next day (just to be sure) and afterwards we thought we would probably go ahead and make an offer on the house.     

 

But that next day, after finishing looking at all the MD houses, Tim had a very strong inclination to go back to VA and look again before making the offer.  A few more houses had come on the market in VA and he wanted to be sure.  I was not thrilled to be going back to VA, but I obliged him anyway.  We walked through a few houses and I was pretty closed minded about them.  My mind was still set on the house back in Annapolis.  And then, we walked into the third house on our list and Tim and I both completely flipped for it.  We knew.  We loved it immediately and the more we walked around in it, the more we loved it. We honestly felt like the Lord had led us to this house and that this was the house He had for our family.  We decided to put an offer on it that night.  But as we were sitting down with our realtor to write up the contract, we found out that someone else was also putting an offer on it.  It was seriously one of the most stressful ordeals ever.  Of course we prayed and we were trusting that the Lord was guiding us, but the entire time my stomach was in knots.  During the process, we took a short break and when we walked outside, we saw this rainbow.

Can you see it?

  

It was such a sweet reminder that the Lord was in control.  We put in an offer above asking price (which seems completely ridiculous in this market, right?!!).  And then for over 24 hours we waited and prayed.  It was hard to eat, hard to sleep, hard to think about anything but that house.

But then, to our complete and utter dismay, the other offer was accepted.  “It was much higher.”  What?!!

And then we hit rock bottom.

 

We were completely discouraged and confused.  There were no more houses to look at.  I didn’t want the house in Annapolis anymore.  I knew the difference then between thinking a house was the right house and walking in and knowing a house was the right house.  And then there was the fact that we really believed that God had led us to that particular house.  No other house seemed right anymore.  Our hearts were set on the that house.  It was supposed to be our house.

And so we kinda stumbled around in a daze for a few days, not knowing what to do next.  We prayed.  I cried.  A lot. Eventually we started looking at short term rentals and apartments.  We needed something.  But God just seemed to be shutting all doors.  The best thing we found was an apartment on the fourth floor.  Which seems pretty impossible to me… three small kids, a dog… I just can’t imagine that working out well.  Lugging groceries up four flights of stairs, taking the dog out at night, up and down with kids, etc…

In the end we came home with nothing.  Nothing. 

This past week, our house here in Birmingham went under contract.  The movers are scheduled to come in a month to move us out.  And the absolutely crazy thing is that we have no idea where we are going to go.  We believe God is faithful, that He has a plan and that He will make a way for us, but right now, that way is very unclear.  Our faith and our trust are being stretched daily. 

Today, in Jesus Calling, I read

“When you don’t know what to do, wait while I open the way before you.  Trust that I know what I’m doing, and be ready to follow my lead.  I will give strength to you, and I will bless you with peace.”

And so we wait…

The Chicken Coop: Grand Tour

 

 

Our chickens have been growing like weeds fast-growing chickens. 

Over the last month, Hazel went from this

 

to this

earning her the nickname “Big Mama”. 

 

And Penelope has been promoted from sitting on Tyson’s shoulder

 

to riding around on his head.

 

In the meantime, Tim has fast and furiously been working on a chicken coop for them to live in. I looked at all kinds of ready-made chicken coops and different plans/designs beforehand.  The possibilities are endless and even overwhelming when it comes to building a coop, but in the end, we decided to transform a children’s playhouse (that we found at Sam’s Club) into a coop. This gave us a framework to work with rather than just starting from scratch.  Several weeks ago, my mom and Rudie were here visiting and we took full advantage of having an extra handyman around to help.  That weekend, the two of them got the main part of the coop put together. 

 

A few things that were important to me when it came to our coop: cuteness, safety (as in impenetrable from predators), and easy cleaning.  The playhouse was already cute, but it still needed to be converted in into something chickens could safely and comfortable live in.  That transformation took a lot of thought and problem solving on our part.

Here’s a peek at the inside.

If you have no interest in raising chickens or building a coop, you may want to skip this next part where I explain the inside of the coop.

The inside:

Tim installed two roosting bars for the chicks to perch and sleep on.  He put plexi-glass on the front and side windows and welded wire on the back windows (to keep out any predators and inclimate weather). He also built a floor about 18 inches off the ground (you can see the two levels in the next picture below).  He boxed the top floor in (to keep in the pine shavings) and put stairs going down the far side of the coop to the bottom level.  This way the chickens can sleep up top and then go downstairs for their food (keeps their poop out of the food).  This also allows me to use the “deep litter method” in the top part of our coop.  Basically with the deep litter method (google it if you’re interested), I should be able to go about 8 months to a year before I need to clean out the coop. And supposedly it’s healthier and doesn’t stink or anything.  As the old pine shavings get broken down, I will add more as needed and by the end of the year, I should have about eight inches or more of good compostable pine shavings with mixed in chicken poo, which eventually will make amazing fertilizer (black gold) for our garden.

Here you can see both levels.  In the lower level, we decided to use sand to cover the ground.  To clean it out, I use a kitty litter scoop.  It scoops the poop and leaves the sand behind. 

 

At some point, Tim will put nesting boxes in the back of the coop.  But we have a few more months before the little ladies will be giving us any eggs.

The coop:

 

We also built and attached an outside run to the side of the coop.

 

For the most part, I’ve been letting the chickens free range in our yard during the day.  We have a fenced in yard and a dog that doesn’t kill them and this has worked out well for us so far. Plus, this just makes for happy little chickens.  Each evening, as the sun goes down, they head to their coop and put themselves to bed. And then before we go to bed, one of us Tim goes out to close the coop door sing lullabies to them and kiss them goodnight.  But we plan to travel at times, and anytime we’re out of town, I didn’t want them to just be cooped up in their coop.  So Tim built a run and attached it to the side of the coop.  Then he cut a small hole in the bottom of the coop to allow them to come out whenever they please.

Like this:

 

I wish I had a picture to show you this area beforehand.  It was a giant mud pit where no grass would grow.  Our kids loved it.  Me and Tim, not so much.  Now I love it. 

 

So that was the grand tour of the chicken coop.  We sure love these little ladies.  They’ve quickly become family.

 

Tyson especially has grown quite attached to them.

 

My favorite part of the day is in the evenings when we take any dinner leftovers out and feed them to the chickens.

 

I love sitting on our back porch swing and watching them scratch and peck the ground as the sun sets in the background.

 

And one day, I hope they surprise me with some of these.

Quick and free kitchen update

 

So I am very much a light and bright kind of girl when it comes to decorating my home.  Over the last two years or so, I’ve have slowly gone through my house and painted walls and furniture to reflect my tastes.  But there is one area in my house that isn’t at all my style and I have felt stuck and unable to do anything about it.  That would be my kitchen.

It is filled with lots of dark wood cabinets and dark countertops.  My dream kitchen is white and airy, with open shelves.  I have thought a lot about painting the cabinets, but for several reasons, I’ve decided (for now) not to paint. 

My Reasons:

1. It would be an insane amount of work and mess to sand and paint all the drawers and cabinets (37 in all!). And I’m not sure I could sanely handle weeks of kitchen disaster with three small kids under tow right now.

2.  Eventually we will move with Tim’s job.  It could be six months from now; it could be three years from now.  We don’t know, but I can’t hardly fathom doing all the hard work to make it my dream kitchen and then moving away.  It would seem pointless. 

3.  Our house is only six years old and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the cabinets.  In fact, for resale value, it’s probably best that we leave them the way they are. 

So, for all those reasons, I have left them alone.  But my heart yearns for light and airy with fun pops of color.

So I found a way to have a little bit of a compromise.

 

Here is the before picture of the brown cabinets, gray counter tops, and tan floors.  Blah.  It’s not me.  There are more cabinets to the left side of the room, which contributes to overloading of dark blandness all across the room.

 

Yes, I know that it’s nice and all, but like I said, it’s just not me and it leaves me uninspired.  So in an effort to appease myself and my desire for less brown and more color, one afternoon, I had the bright idea to just take off some of the cabinet doors.

Ta-da!

 

I instantly liked the change.  This was a no-cost, little effort, quick fix that allows me to bring in more lights and brights to my kitchen, while also making it possible to quickly and easily change it back at some point if/when we end up moving.  A friend suggested I wallpaper the backs of the cabinets with fun patterned scrapbook paper to make even more of a statement.  I think that’s a great idea and hope to do that soon.

So that’s my quick kitchen update.

Until I have my own white kitchen, here are some white kitchens I’m drooling over:

via here

 

here

 

via here

 

via here

 

via here

I love those aqua cabinets!  I could totally do that!

 

And just because I’m curious on your opinion, would you paint or not paint your kitchen cabinets if you were me.  Have any of ya’ll ever painted your kitchen cabinets?  If so, how terrible was it? 

Living Room Chair Update

After buying our new couch back in January and then selling our old sofa and loveseat, our living room was looking a little bit sparse.  And although our new couch offered plenty of room for our own family to cozy up on and the kids thoroughly enjoyed all the open space to run and play, we were quite limited on extra seating for any guests. So I knew I wanted to add in a few comfy chairs to complete the room. 

I have learned my lesson in the past from trying to replace something too quickly and then ending up with something that’s not really what I want because I was too impatient.  So this time, I set my mind not to settle and to wait patiently until the right chairs came along.  For a while, I dreamed of white tufted chairs, but once common sense kicked in, I knew that white chairs would not mix well with kids.  I didn’t want to be fanatically yelling at them all day not to touch the chairs. So, eventually, I let that dream die and although I didn’t know exactly what I wanted instead, I felt like I would know when I saw them.  The problem was that I really had no time to shop for chairs.  And I know this might sound weird a little bit, but I had felt the Lord leading me to trust Him more in providing us with the things we need and even want for our home (rather than stressing and exhausting myself trying to make things happen).  So in an effort to follow His leading, I told Him that I would trust him to provide the right chairs for us in His timing.  This is kind of new to me (to trust God with decorating my home), but He’s God and He knows what I like, what we need, He’s intimately involved in the details of my life, and He loves to bless us as His children.  I also figured He would be an excellent decorator and I was excited to see how and what He would provide for us.

So after a few months of patiently waiting (and maybe sometimes reminding God that I was patiently waiting), one day I was perusing through my daily email from Joss and Main and I saw some chairs that I thought were cute and might possibly work in our living room.  If you’re not familiar with Joss and Main, it is “a premier members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on the world's best brands for your home and life. Each day, members receive an email invitation to exclusive sale events on the best merchandise at prices up to 70% off retail.” (from J&M website) The only hiccup was that these chairs were non-returnable.  And since there was no way for me to check them out in real life, sit in them, or make sure the color and pattern would work in my living room, it would require a pretty big leap of faith on my part to order them. I mean, it’s not like we have money to burn around here.  And I definitely didn’t want to be stuck with something I hated.

So I went on about my day chasing kids, cleaning up messes, and squelching squabbles and I kind of forgot about the chairs.  Then that evening, as I was cleaning up dinner, those chairs very clearly and randomly popped back up in my mind.  I showed them to Tim.  He liked them and he especially liked the price, but he was leaving the final decision up to me.  (Cause he’s super smart like that.) And so I stared at the empty chairless spots in our living room and then I stared at the photo online.  Back and forth I stared.  I tried to mentally imagine the chairs in the room.  I walked around the room.  I sat and stared some more.  I totally stressed myself out over the decision.  I asked Tim about a million times if we should go for it.  And I prayed.  And in the end, (with a little encouragement from Tim) and on a little hunch that these were the chairs God was dropping into my lap, I decided to leap.  And then I held my breath for several weeks while I waited for them to be delivered.

And once they arrived, I ended up loving them even more than I originally thought that I would.  (Cause God’s pretty awesome like that.)

Wanna see them?

I hope so, because I’m about to bombard you with pictures of my living room. (These are all iphone pics, so the quality is not amazing, but it gets the job done.)

Here are my new Shadow Tufted Swoop Arm Chairs.

 

 

I may have had to let go of the dream of all white chairs, but the tufts were a must have for me.  I love tufted furniture right now.  And I love that the chairs go with the couch, but aren’t super matchy.  The pattern is light and fun and playful (without being over the top) and that adds some interest and personality to the room.  I don’t like super serious furniture (hence the spool being used as a side table between them) and I actually think these chairs probably fit better with our style than all white chairs would have anyway.  And clearly, the gray pattern will hide things a lot better than the white would have.

 

 

And in case you are wondering what my children do while I stage the house and take pictures, these last two pictures are for you.  Where’s Hudson?!!

 

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Have fun.  Be safe.