Tuesday Catch Up!

Good morning! It's a gorgeous Tuesday! I'm up and powering through my day, armed with a belly full of cornflakes and coffee! (That sounds gross....) I just realized that I haven't been updating on here lately. Not as much as my brain says I have. I'm always writing and scribbling down ideas, but life has been pure insanity.

So I thought I'd take a minute to catch you up on all the lovely things that have been happening lately.

Firstly. I chopped off all my long hair. And when I say "I," I mean literally, "I chopped off my hair." It was pretty fried after getting it over processed back last September. The ends were just snapping like twigs. So one morning a few weeks ago I get up and pull my hair down out of the bun that I had slept in. When I noticed an abnormal amount of hair sticking to my hair tie I ran my fingers through the ends. Aaaaand I pulled out an entire section of my hair. It was bad. So I jerked it up in a ponytail and started cutting away. 

This was what it looked like when I was done.  

After a week I knew I wanted it shaped up a bit more, so I called my mother-in-law and had her help me out. I've never had a bad haircut from her. Here was the finished product. I was worried about how damaged and dry my hair was, but she told me it really wasn't in terrible shape anymore now that the ends were gone. Since then I've gotten onto a serious hair care kick and my horses mane feels like silk now!

I LOVE IT! It's grown so much since then!

We love our date nights, and try to go every Friday night. This particular night, we ended up all matchy matchy accidentally.

I've been so into #cleankitchenatnight. This is a fun hashtag started by Allison from "The Life of a Homemaker." I just love her! She has the cutest kids ever! And I know she's been known to swing by here every now and again, so HI ALLISON!! There are tons of nights when I don't post, but this has always been a philosophy of mine. Y'all know about my 15 minute Pick Up before bed.  I posted this a week or so ago. There is just something about a perfectly clean home that centers me. If I'm jittery or all anxious (which has been a huge problem recently) I just get up and do a little cleaning, get everything back in it's place and I am good to go.

I have been LOVING my open shelving. I can't even tell you how much I enjoy this. A girlfriend told me it looked like something out of Southern Living magazine. And it's funny that she said that. My Mom and I were discussing our home decor styles the other day. She said, quote, "Your style is more Southern Living and mine is more Country Living." And she's hit it right on the head.

We FINALLY got a new TV (and a new sound bar that isn't pictured here). Here's the story with our TVs. The summer before we got married we bought this huge old console style TV, it was a 52 inch with the big speaker on the bottom.... Anyway, we loved it. Aaron moved it into his room at his Dad's house during our engagement and right before we got married and moved into this house together, we moved it. It lasted in our house a month. It got us through Christmas and New Years. I was off work one day, laying around and watching a movie, when it just suddenly shrieked this awful noise, turned red and shut off. So we got a new TV. A 42 inch (or 46, I'm not sure) from Wal-Mart, by Sanyo. Almost the exact same problem with it, right out of the box. So we figured it was just the wiring or something in this old house. Fast forward to now. 5 years. The picture on that Sanyo was going in and out too. And Aaron's brother has the TV below for sale. Aaron's Dad mentioned we were having trouble with ours and he sold it to us for way cheaper than we could have bought a new one. It's such a relief to watch TV and not have it scream at you every 15 minutes or so.

I gotta sunburn!  We spent the Sunday before last at my sister-in-law's house in her pool. I completely forgot about sunblock. I took this shot to send to my best friend in Alabama. I was miserable for the whole week.

I went "junkin'" with my Mom a few weeks ago. She and I both are having to run back and forth to doctors appointments right now (her for an esophageal spasm she had in January, trying to discover the cause, and me to the fertility doctor) and so whenever one of us has to go, we go together and make a day of it. This particular day she had a test scheduled for 7am and so we decided to take the rest of the day to hit up all the consignment stores in our town. We did good, we didn't spend a whole lot of money at all. One of my favorite things from that trip was THIS tray. It's a Coca-Cola tray that was made in the 1970's. It's a re-print of a 1940's tray, but the difference is that one was rectangle and this one was oval. I don't care, I love it, and I couldn't walk out of the store without her. She's such a beauty! We have this laying on our coffee table, and it holds our remote controls.... we have 7.

The worst news EVER was that my glasses broke! Y'all, I'm blind. I am so blind it's not even funny! This happened on a Wednesday night after we got home from church. I took my "face" off, and popped my contacts out and when I went to put my glasses on I saw that they'd broken. So I tried to fix them but after 4 and 1/2 hours of trying and crying, I admitted defeat and called Zenni. Turns out my 30 day warranty was up. So I had to order a whole new pair. Thank God they weren't expensive.

I love you all. Really, I must, because I'm sharing this with you.

To celebrate their arrival, I took this goofy shot and sent to my three favorite people, my Mom, Aaron and my best friend, Mandy. 

Boy oh boy was this a titanic moment for me! I'm currently tackling the epic novel by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. It's over 1,000 pages. So I decided it may be easier for me to LISTEN to it, rather than read it. So I searched and searched and the only place I could find it was Audible. Turns out, I already had an audible account AND I had 6 free credits! Regular price for the audio of Atlas Shrugged is nearly $42. I snatched it for free. :)

#winning #whoisjohngalt #freebie #dagneyandhankforever  

But the thing that's been taking most of my time, is my writing!

I've decided I want to do a thorough, in depth comparison of all the Jane Eyre movies. It's a massive undertaking and I've only made it through one film and already it's 20 pages..... this will be more of an article than a post and should I decide to post it here, I will clearly title it if you aren't interested. HOWEVER, with that being said, Book to Film Comparison's are something I am interested in doing and I think you can expect the first one to pop up here soon!

I write at night, usually. And this is the reason why.

My novel is so detailed and so twisty and turny that I just have to shut life off for a while to work on it. These characters are in my head 24/7 (did anyone see that failbook post where the girl said 'he be on my mind 31/7 cause even when I sleep I dream of him' or something and her friends were like 'there are only 24 hours in a day, even when you sleep. She was stunned.) and it's either write about them or go crazy. So I've been doing a lot of planning and a lot of plot working and a lot of writing. I finished my intro and my first chapter within a couple of days so I was tickled! It's progress!

Thank you all so much for supporting me, I'm so so sorry I'm so far behind, but like I said, it's been wild around here. I love you guys! Check out Allison's channel (clink on her link!) for all kinds of goodness. She's the Norwex queen and has really inspirational Speed Cleaning videos to watch too! (Amongst many other things!) Try not to melt over the cuteness that is her little girl and her two little boys! I'll be back soon! Love y'all!

Tips to Keep a Clean House: How I Get Motivated

Ok, so here's the thing about being a stay at home wife. There are times when you just flat don't want to get out of your pajamas and away from Netflix long enough to sweep your floors. And being "your own boss," in a way, you can. Your house may look like the H bomb went off around you, blankets and pillows tossed about and take out wrappers everywhere, half empty glasses of water, coke, tea, Kleenex strewn from one end of the couch to another from watching Steel Magnolias for the 987 billionth time.  So what do you do?? How do you pull yourself away from reruns of Grey's Anatomy long enough to get your house in decent looking order? (Once I start with Grey's I get stuck, especially after Owen showed up. He's my fave. I've been a Kevin McKidd fan since I was 9!)

Here's my tip. Do a good ol' 15 Minute Before Bed Pick Up and go to bed.....

THEN... here's what I do the next morning... There are some days when I get a TON of cleaning done in my pjs. I can tackle those around the house projects and get totally caught up on laundry and the dishes and shampoo the carpets and mop and all that while I'm still in my pjs some days, but on the days when I feel the pull towards the bed and Netflix....

• I leave the TV OFF. It's a distraction. Trying to find something just to "have on" while you're cleaning can sometimes take a good 30 minutes, especially if you're like me and you've seen practically everything.... So instead I turn on Pandora radio. We have a Sony Blu Ray player that has the Pandora app on it, so I'll turn the TV on, but play music through it. I usually pick something like MoTown or anything upbeat. MoTown dance breaks in the kitchen are perfectly acceptable, and occur on a regular basis at my house.
• I have a little breakfast, always something with some protein in it. I love scrambles, just fyi. 
• And then I shower, put on makeup and do my hair. That's my secret. I find that I am TONS more motivated to get everything done if I look good, and not ratty in my pjs. I won't go all out and do winged eyeliner, red lips and curled hair, but I'll put on some foundation, blush, eyeshadow and mascara and I'll at least wash my hair, whether I style it or not is another thing all together. I am ALWAYS more productive if I feel better about myself, and makeup and hair accomplishes that for me.  Plus, if I need to quickly run out of the house for anything, I'm already ready. If I want a time out for lunch, I can run through the drive thru and not scare the little fella at the first window plum out of hit wits. 

And that's it. THAT's my secret. Hair and makeup. You know, them Gypsy Housewives may be onto something. Seriously, I mean they clean their houses wearing high heels and hoop earrings. For reals. (I'm so addicted to Gypsy Sisters  and My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding it's not even funny!) 

Also, another thing is that I really LOVE having a clean house and I love having it neat and tidy for my hubby when he comes home. I like the house to smell like Pine Sol (he says it smells like Christmas, and therefore loves it) and to have supper on the stove, and me not looking like a cave monster for him when he comes in from a long day at the office. The reward is always the evening off to be with my honey. There are some nights that if I've been cleaning particularly hard that day I'll make supper and spend the evening with Aaron and then when he goes to bed, I'll shut the bedroom door, turn off all the lights and watch a movie, just me. I love foreign movies or romantic dramas that I've never seen before for my solo movie nights. 

It may seem absolutely pointless to you. And some days I am like WHY would I shower and do my hair and makeup just so I can get hot and sweaty and gross, but other days I need that extra push. You are more productive when you feel good about yourself I find. 

So what do YOU do to get motivated to do your household chores? Leave me a comment and let me know!

I think it goes without saying, hopefully, that Pandora Radio did not perk me to mention them, MoTown doesn't know that I love their oldies, and the Gypsy Sisters don't know me. And sadly, Kevin McKidd doesn't know me either. :(

Tips for Keeping a Clean House: The Laundry Monster

Laundry. *eye twitch*

It's pretty safe to say I HATE doing laundry. I mean.... I hate it. I hate laundry like I hate getting teeth pulled without Novocain. Like spinach in my teeth on picture day. I hate doing laundry like I hate running into my husband's ex-girlfriend and seeing that she looks way hotter than me.... ya know? I loathe doing laundry. I hate it. Did I mention I hate laundry? Yeah. I hate laundry.

But, it's a thing. It's a real deal, big girl, grown up, congrats-you've-got-your-own-life thing and there's no getting around it.

I don't have an Earth shattering, end all, be all set of "rules" to go by when it comes to doing laundry, only that it gets done regularly. I started doing my own laundry when I still lived at home with my parents, and it hasn't gotten easier over these past...... over these many years... let's not talk about how long it's been.

I have a little bit of a routine when it comes to doing my laundry, and so I thought I'd share it with you all today.

I love y'all. You know that? Right? The title of this blog is the "SIMPLE" life, not the "PERFECT" life. There is no such-a-thing in this world, so don't judge me on account of my super full closet, or my power cords hanging haphazardly underneath my shelf... I'm not perfect, and I certainly hope that you don't think I am trying to pretend I am.



With that being said, let's hop into it! (And you'll get a mini tour of my laundry room too!!)


Laundry for us starts in our closet. All of our dirty clothes get dumped here.

I keep our basket small, so that I don't overwhelm myself with clothes. When the basket (the one pictured was from Family Dollar about 4 years ago.) gets to this point (full) I know it's time to wash clothes. (When it's still filling up I like to wash my towels, rugs etc...) It fills up about every 3 days or so. This basket equals one "large" load of laundry, to me it's more like a medium though.


Here is our washer & dryer. It's a Kenmore Elite set that we bought in the fall of 2009 at Sears -right before we got married. They've held up so so well and I am super pleased with them.

I decided, when we started working on the house pre-wedding, that I wanted my utility room/laundry space painted a happy clean color, and so I chose this blue from Sherwin Williams - I'm sorry, I can't remember the name - because of how pretty the blue and white looked together, and it's the one room in the house that I haven't reconsidered the color on. We took this room from NASTY brown paneling to this and I love it. My ironing board cover is from Wal-Mart and I liked that it had the EXACT same color blue as the walls! ;) Again it's from Fall 2009, so I doubt that it's still available.


Organization is KEY and it's a huge part of keeping your laundry monster at bay. I have STRUGGLED SO HARD in this space with organization, and if you were to be standing in the room with me, you would know that on the opposite side of the room, it's all cray-cray. But the laundry side of this room has finally come around. I used these four white stacking bins (Dollar General circa 1997) to hold my stain removers (I don't need those a lot, so they go on top), lost socks, laundry bags (like for delicates) and then the top bin on the right holds extra mouse traps and D-Con packs.... old house, people. It maximizes all that vertical space we have in this room. The ceilings are easily 12ft tall in this room, as it used to be part of the carport, but it was closed in to make this room.

I LOVE this system, and I loved that thinking outside of the box helped me create this space using the bins that I already had. They had been in my Dad's workshop before he passed away, and when my Mom moved from that house, I laid claim to them.

Just because it's a laundry room does not mean that it can't be cute. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that this room is Pinterest Perfect (are those really peoples homes??? Like really really? Who lives that perfect?) But I wanted a little decoration in here so that I didn't go crazy.

This home has endless love and laundry.

So true. So so true.

I found this free printable on Pinterest and it's from a website called 247moms.com. I will link it for you HERE. And the lamp and lampshade I got from Dollar General a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I haven't seen the shade again there, but they still have the base (although now it looks more green than blue...) I framed the printable in an old black Dollar Tree frame and then using some red hemp cord from my jewelry making stash hung it on the wall and think it's super cute!


Ok, so back to laundry itself. I have this handy dandy little step down into my laundry room, and so to save my back (which isn't happy at all today as I type, idk what I did but it's mad at me) I set my basket on this step and load my washer.

I don't sort anything. Except towels. Lights, darks, whites, reds, they all get thrown in together. I wash everything on the "Tap Cold" setting and I haven't had a problem with color running, ever. This is a time saver/lazy girl thing that I do. If you are a sorter, sort. Sometimes, just for the heck of it, I'll sort out a white load and use a little bleach on them, but just to say that I sorted laundry and did a whites load that day.

I have a very small arsenal of products that I use in my laundry. I use ALL with Oxi Clean detergent. I buy the one in the blue bottle with the orange top because Aaron says it smells like candy and he likes it better than the regular ALL in the white bottle. Whatever. It's not a huge price difference, if any at all, so I do that. I alternate these days between using Downy and Vinegar as my fabric softener. Now, wait a second before you start throwing things at me. Missy, I thought you were an exclusive vinegar user in your laundry..... Y'all remember my Save Money, Skip Fabric Softener post from a few months ago?? In my defense, I did not buy the Downey. My Mom bought it and didn't like it, so she gave it to me. I haven't noticed a difference in my clothes, so I'm using it up, and I use the vinegar on my bedsheets, towels and rugs. And I throw in some Downey Unstoppables for extra smell goods.


After my clothes have washed, I throw the clothes in the dryer and let them dry. When that loud, annoying, wonderful buzzer goes off, I rush into the laundry room and immediately start folding and hanging. (And you see, I'm not a faker, whites and all are in that dryer!)

The basket that you see on top of the dryer came from Dollar General and that's what everything gets folded into. The rug was a TJ Maxx find when I re-did my bedroom at my parents house in 2008, just before I met Aaron. It's an oldie.  I have a hook hanging behind the door that I put my hanging things onto, and then when I'm ready to put it all away I grab the basket and the hanging things and off to the bedroom I go!



It's simple, it's lazy, but it keeps my clothes clean. Rarely does my laundry ever pile up. But my washer is always running. This is how I stay on top of the craziness. It's not groundbreaking, but it works for me, and that's what is important. Find a system that works FOR YOU and for YOUR FAMILY. Us wives/moms have the hardest jobs of all, whether you are a full time working mom or if you stay home like I do, and if you find a system that works, that doesn't overwhelm you and drag you down, stick with it. For me, that means not sorting laundry and only doing small loads every day. Am I perfect? Nope. Is my home perfect? Far from it. Perfect doesn't exist people. Remember that. Perfect isn't a real thing. I didn't say my laundry "never" piles up. I said it "rarely" piles up. "Whatever is good for your soul, do that."



Thank you all for hanging out and doing laundry with me today! I'll chat with you all again very soon!  Love y'all chickens! See ya later Alligator!

How I Wash My Vera Bradley Purse!

I LOVE Vera Bradley. I could live in a world of Vera Bradley and be a happy woman.

Because of this love, I carry my "Vera's" to death, like, until they literally fall apart on my shoulder. I carry lots of stuff in my purses at any given time and so I like to carry the larger tote bags as purses.

My current purse (but I am cruising ebay and outlets for a new one in this same style) is the Go Round Tote in the Priscilla Pink pattern. This is a stock photo, cause it's all pretty and perfect and new.

This style bag is retired (I'm pretty sure) as is the pattern. I LOVE this pattern. I've got a checkbook cover, small cosmetic bag and small wallet (that holds my iPhone) in this same pattern. It once retailed for $82. I got mine for a steal at an authorized dealer for about $22. I had a gift certificate, it was marked down to $40! If you are interested in this style the "Get Carried Away" tote is very similar... and $92. There's always ebay if this is the style you absolutely must have. Also, if you go to a Vera Bradley outlet anytime in your birthday month they give you a discount as well! Our nearest outlet is Nashville, but I don't mind making the trip for some super savings!


Ok, so after a few weeks of use, my purse gets a bit dull. (A tip that I recently got from a friend who's mother works at a Vera store is if you spray the bag with Scotch Brite before you ever use it or wash it, like as soon as you get it home from the store, that it keeps it from getting that dull appearance.) The first thing I gotta do is clean this "Mary Poppins Bag" out.

And now my kitchen table is covered in stuff. I sort through all of it, throw away the junk and the bits of paper -- the gum wrappers, I'm addicted to gum. I make sure everything has a home. I like to carry a lot of my little "bits," the things I want to carry around but don't want lost at the bottom of my bag, in little cosmetic bags, and a couple of things end up in plastic sandwich bags, just 'cause.

Does any one woman NEED this many lip products in her purse? Do they? I mean, honestly? Is there a Lip Products Anonymous Meeting nearby I can go to? Just in case you were wondering, I've labeled everything in the photo above. I've got to say, these are my most favorite lippies and the ones I'm always hunting for.


So now that that's done, I put the bag in the washing machine. The care tag tells you to wash it in cool water on a gentle cycle. So... that's what I do.

After it's finished, I hang the bag upside down using a pants hanger. I clip it to the bottom of the bag and hang it over the back of one of my kitchen chairs and let it dry overnight. I NEVER put my Vera's in the dryer. It says "line dry" on the care tag, so that's what I do.... without the line. :)

In the morning I put everything back in my bag and its ready to go for another little while! I don't have a specific schedule when it comes to washing my Vera bags, just whenever I feel like they need it.

There's enough room left for me to throw in my planner and my Kindle Fire AND, if I'm feelin' froggy, my current crochet project!

Taking care of your Vera's is VERY important, they're fabric, after all. A good wash every now and again do them a world of good! Vera Bradley bags are not inexpensive, so I see them as an investment, and you always take care of your investments, right?! I was terrified of washing my first Vera, but after I bit the bullet and did it (and obeyed the instructions!) I'm so glad I did!


Hope this post finds you all well! Don't forget that you can PIN this post if you like it! Just click on the "P" logo below!

Thanks so much! See y'all later!

The above shown Vera Bradley was purchased in 2013 with my own money and a gift certificate I was given as a Christmas gift. I follow the washing and care guidelines listed on the tag inside of the bag. They're there for a reason! All lip products mentioned I purchased with my own money. I am not affiliated with Vera Bradley in any way other than being addicted to their products! :)

Tips to Keep a Clean House: Make Your Bed!

Welcome to my new series, Tips to Keep a Clean House! This series is just what it says it is. I'll be offering you my tips on how I keep my house tidy, clean and "drop in" ready!


The fact here is, when your house is clean, don't you just feel better? I always think about that scene in the remake of The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman (it's back on Netflix btw). The part where she and Better Midler and their friend Roger walk into "Bobbie's" (Bette's) house, which is the biggest disaster I've ever seen, for the first time and Roger looks around and asks "Are you making Anthrax?" A clean home makes you feel better, makes your family feel better, makes any guests you have feel more welcome, and not like they just walked into a crime scene. I am HAPPIER when my house is spotless. My husband appreciates it and he is happier when everything is clean and in order.

I'm talking about a CLEAN house, not a tidy house. There are differences, and we will examine them later on in this series.

My first tip is a simple one, but it always seems to be overlooked. Every time I go into someone else's home to clean, the first thing I notice is that 90% of people leave their beds unmade. I can't handle it. I just can't.

From the time I was a tiny girl, my Mom was ingraining it into my brain to always make my bed. "Always make your bed before you leave your house!" she advised me once. "That way if you get into an accident and die, and people come into your house to get your things, they won't think you're a slob." Her exact words. I mean, if I'm dead it won't matter to me that people think I'm a slob because I didn't turn up my bedsheets. I remember laughing, out loud, at that statement, telling her that I didn't think it was that severe, and she agreed, saying she was just trying to comically make her point.


All it takes is a minute. Sometimes less, to make your bed. So why don't you do it?  For me, its the second thing I do in the morning when I get up. The first is taking Tabby out for some relief. Bless her little bladder. Next I walk back down the hall, into our bedroom, and make the bed. It's part of my routine, it's easy.

This is what our bedroom looks like when I first get up. I usually sleep for another half hour/hour after Aaron leaves for work, then I get up and start my day. And yeeees we sleep with a fan in our bedroom. We only have 1 window air conditioner and it lives in our living room. Please pardon my pink water glass. Keepin' it real, guys. I love you!

Our bedroom is always kept clean, and tidy. But to me, you couldn't tell because of the unmade bed and the stack of pillows on the bench. You can see them in the bottom right corner of the above photo.


I kind of feel stupid giving you a blow by blow about how I make my bed, but.... I'm gonna.

1. Straighten your fitted sheet. This is a must for me, because I cannot stand to get into bed and feel the sheets wadded up around my feet. So if it's popping off of the corners, tighten them back down, straighten it out as best you can. 
2. Adjust your pillows. Whether you lay them down or stand them up, get them into position. I've been standing ours up recently, it makes for a nicer appearance when our bed is fully made, I think.
3. Grab your flat sheet and pull it up and straighten it out.
4. Do the same with your quilt/comforter/blanket. 
5. Once they're lined up and even with each other, fold them over, back towards the middle of the mattress. I sometimes fold it back over on itself, to hide the sheet, but usually that's only when I'm feelin' fancy.
6. Pile on the pillows. I start with the shams that match my bedding set, then I layer my decorative pillows. What's on our bed now is a hodge podge, mish mosh of a couple of different sets, but I like the look, so I go with it.
7. Turn on your pretty little lamps (thinking about changing them out. What do you think?). move your ugly fan to a corner of the room (I usually move it to between my side of the bed and the window, it blows into the hall that way, cooling that end if the house) and take a breath. That took so much energy and so much time. You deserve a break. Go get a glass of sweet tea and rest your achy bones.

But doesn't it look so much better? It frees up the space where I store our pillows at night, so it instantly de-clutters the room.

I change the sheets on the bed once a week, usually on Mondays. However, I am a clean freak, as we all well know, and I sometimes change the sheets twice or three times a week. It depends on a number of things, including how hot it is outside-how much we sweat during the night-, how violent Tabby gets in her sleep, sometimes she tosses and turns so much I swear she's rubbing her butt bald, how much the sheets have stretched etc. I wash our mattress cover and pillow covers (the hypo-allergenic anti-bedbug type covers) once a month or so, along with the quilt or comforter that is on the bed at the present moment. Depending on my mood, I sometimes go through phases where I spray the bedding down daily with Febreeze. I mean, we do have a dog that we share the bed with, so... there's that.


So that's my first tip to keeping a clean house. Make your bed. EVERY DAY. Even on Saturday. Your bedroom will feel more clean and more glamorous if you do!

Home Style Evolution: The Bedroom

The "Master" Bedroom in our house has seen many a change in the 5 years that we've lived here. It's so easy to swap out bedding and curtains that I find myself doing it a lot. I get so bored with bedroom decor, and my tastes for that room are constantly changing.

Since we've lived here I've had 7... possibly more... different bedding sets on our bed. I told you, I get bored with it. I'm on the hunt for something new even as I type this. So please be advised that this post was written in advance and by the time it actually goes up on the blog, the bedding and/or curtains my have changes. You've been warned!


When we first "took possession" of the house (for those that don't know, we rent this house from my Father in Law, and he gave us permission to do anything to this house we wanted, except knocking down walls or adding on rooms.) I really had no clue how I wanted our bedroom to look. I'd never shared a bedroom with someone, and at the time, I was in a dark and twisty place, so I liked dark rooms and modern clean lines, thinking I wanted to go as far away from the super clean/country look that my Mother has always used to decorate her home.

Our bedroom is nothing special architecturally. It has this long window on one wall and a regular size window on the wall to the right, and a regular sliding door closet that you can step into but not walk around in.

The closet doors. Inside is a ClosetMaid system that my brother in law put in when he and my sister in law lived in the house while they were building their current home,

My bedroom at my parents home had 2 walls painted a chocolate brown and two walls painted a really pretty medium blue. I had an iron scrolling pattern bed with brown and blue bedding. So I just figured, I do the same thing in my new bedroom with my new roomie ;)

So we set out on the journey to make our house a home...

Here is the inside of the closet. It holds SOOOOO much more than I expected it too. My husband and I are such clothes horses. True Story, when we moved in, we considered turning the 2nd bedroom into a closet because we have so many clothes. ;) 

Aaron, and me, a couple of love struck, soon-to-be-wed kids, painting our bedroom.

As you can see from the photo above we chose a very dark brown color for the bedroom (the hallway walls hadn't been painted yet). Again, as with the old paint color in the bathroom, I have blocked out the name of the color, but it can be found at Sherwin Williams,  Don't you just LOVE my hair in that picture?? (Couldn't you feel the sarcasm dripping off of that question?)

We finished the bedroom, added our curtains, furniture and decor, and this was how it looked 4 days before our wedding, and 12 days before we came back from our honeymoon and moved in.

Bedding from Target. Curtains from Burlington Coat Factory. Print on wall from AllPosters.com, lamps and shades from Dollar General.

Oh dear. Looking back at it now I want to beat myself over the head with an iron skillet. I said I was in a dark place. I meant that metaphorically and literally. I began to refer to our bedroom as "the cave." Romantic, right?

Our curtains were a last minute find from BCF, and I ended up choosing them because they were a light color and they were on sale. Almost from the minute they were hung, I regretted them, but lived with them.

Our bedroom furniture set did not come with any nightstands, so we improvised. I didn't realize how badly I needed a nightstand until I didn't have one.

And in the moving process everything got "arranged" on our dresser. People that see this picture joke that our house must be haunted because off all the "orbs" in this picture. It's a dusty old house, what can I say? I love it, it's home. 

There's that light bulb.

We came back from our honeymoon on Dec. 20th, and started living in the house. We were so lucky when we "moved in," my best friend and her husband and I spent a whole day the week of our wedding moving my things from my parents house, which was about 40 minutes away, and Aaron moved his things (basically just clothes and odds and ends) the day before the "big day." Anything else that needed to be taken care of, our parents did for us while we were gone honeymoonin'. We have the best FRAMILY anyone could ever wish for!

So we started our lives together in this house. And really quickly I decided the bedding needed a change. 

Springtime 2010 came along and Aaron and I found ourselves in a tight spot, career wise. Aaron left his job at a bank and started pursuing his current job as an insurance agent (I am so stupidly proud of how hard my man works!) and I was working weekends at a bridal shop while finishing up school. We changed what we could in our house when we could. This was our first try with "shop whatcha got."

AAAAHHH!!! Scary, I know. Apparently I forgot how to make a bed.

 This bedding was what had been in my bedroom at my parents house before I got married and moved. (We still use this bedding in the winter months, it's held up great.) It was from Target and I'm pretty sure my Mom and I found it on a deeeeeeep clearance sale there by accident one afternoon. 

The bedding doesn't even go with the curtains, but I thought I was in Heaven, I suspect. I was young and stupid, can't fault me for learning a lesson.

 We lightened things up a bit in August of 2010 (due to the ridiculous heat and the fact that we only have one window air conditioner in the entire house, and it's in the living room) and started using this reversible brown/beige quilt, also from Target. "GOES" better with the curtains but this poor room still looked like a mish-mosh. And I can't do mish-moshes. Sorry. I just can't. 

See anything different in the above picture? The little canvas basket tower sitting to the side of the bed... ok. Those were gifts from my father in law for Christmas in 2009. He knows how I love to organize things and so when he saw those he said he knew he had to get them for me. We used them as nightstands for a couple of years. It was big enough that I could lay my cell phone and my glasses on at night. It served its purpose and is now in the big cheap organizing/furniture store in the sky. (I saved the baskets, they're the perfect size for little odds and ends.)

Finally in July of 2011, I'd had all I could take. I had started a new job, and Aaron's new career was taking off like a jet plane, and so we had a little extra money, so I decided that I was going to repaint the bedroom, and give it a good updating.

I took a day off work, and my Mom did the same to come help me - she's always up for any project I ask her to help me with- and while my sweetie was gone to work, she and I did a bedroom overhaul!

Please excuse the blurry photo. I was very excited.

Pretty amazing change, yeah?

I found this bedding from a website called KingLinen.com. I've bought several items from them before. Their bedding is SERIOUSLY discounted, like this was a $150 set I got for $60. Not all of their items are super high quality, and not super luxurious and fluffy, but it is all really nice and very pretty and will last a good while if you take care of it properly. 

I fell in love with it cause it "matched" my curtains, and therefore I didn't have to buy new ones!

Do you see my old teddy bear peeking out? My Mom made him for me when I was 2 and I can't part with him.

 We spent $30 on a set of cheap, put-them-together-yourself nightstands from Family Dollar. They were so wonderful compared to what we had been using. I will never regret spending the money for them and using them for the time we did.

Our dresser.... still a mish-mosh. I did really like having my jewelry right there, but the little organizers kept falling off the wall and chipping the paint. So I finally got rid of them. Do you recognize the shape of those candle sticks?? They're the same ones from The Power of Spray Paint at 2am!

We had almost completely overhauled our bedroom. We took it from that "poop brown" color - that was what I was calling it near the end - to this beautiful light tan shade called "Oak Barrel" from Sherwin Williams. Now both of the bedrooms in our house are painted this same color. Not a whole ton of money was spent, but the room itself was so much brighter, and happier. We really were pleased with the outcome. 

For a while... c'mon, you had to know that was coming.

One night, Aaron and Tabby (our dog) and I were sound asleep in our bed, when all of a sudden we hear a snapping sound and the mattress falls clean through to the floor. The cheap slats in our cheap bed had broken, and the side rails had split in two. Our bed was broken. We didn't go to a high end furniture store to buy furniture in our early days. We went to a discount store and bought the cheapest of whatever we could. 

So...to keep from having to sleep on a mattress on the floor (nothing wrong with that, but we tend to have mice in this old house), Aaron and I propped the bed up with milk crates and crawled back in to finish out the night.

This lasted for a good few months before I'd had enough. We had recently purchased a new set of living room furniture from Ashley Furniture, a cousin of Aaron's works there, and I knew she could get us a dynamite deal on a new bed and maybe some real nightstands. Our dresser and chest of drawers were holding up very well, so we really didn't need to replace them. And we still haven't. Maybe one day we will, but for now, what we have is working just fine. 

I thought changing out the bedding might help me "deal" with it. I mean, as long as the mattress was centered on those milk crates, we were fine and everything we level and even. I started referring to the bedroom as "The Beige Palace," because everything was so monotone. So I changed up the bedding to this and a few weeks later my Mom and I decided to rebuild the bed from the inside out. And for a while, everything was hunky-dorey again.

Quilt from Overstock.com, white throw from SAM's club, pillows from a local fabric store. Big pillow in front was made by my Mama and has our names and wedding date in a big heart. ;)

 That bedding lasted until it got cold outside and we needed something warmer. (Me and my bedding, jeez.)

 So one Sunday afternoon after church, Aaron and my Mom and I stop in at Ashley's "just to look." Yeah right. 

Just to look my foot. 4 hours later Aaron and I have looked at every bed in the store, and argued over more than a handful. The one we both really wanted simply would not have fit in our room, and we toyed with the idea of whether to just deal with it and buy it. But when I saw the bed we eventually got, I knew I could dress it way up and make it look really rich, or dress it down and make it look really country. It took some wiggling on my part, but I finally got Aaron on board and we left that night having purchased the queen size "Porter" bed and matching nightstands.

 It's a really dark photo, but it had taken us absolutely all day (from like 10am to dark) to get the bed put together and made etc. That is the same Target bedding from my teenage bedroom, many years ago. Our lamps came in a set from Lowe's and you will see where they had originally been when I take you through the evolution of our living room next week. The bench sitting at the foot of my bed was a surprise from Aaron the Christmas before last in 2012, from Kirklands and I believe it was around $170 (I have since this photo moved it so that we can see our beautiful foot board). Our curtains I got for a steal off of... wait for it... AMAZON.COM for about $7 a set (just search sheer curtain panels and they should pop up). I kept the brown swag at the top to kind of bring all the browns together, but I may remove it later on, depending on what I come up with for my bedding.  We have new artwork on that side wall! That came from Kohl's and it was originally $80, and I got it for $15. (Don't worry, I didn't get rid of the couple kissing in Paris, I love that picture too much. You'll see it again next week!) The two little pictures to the side are some of our wedding shots that I had printed from my partner lab/ And hanging above my lamp is a little hand stitched sign that says "I see the moon and the moon sees me, God bless the moon and god bless me. Amen." I bought it at a craft fair the summer before we got married.

So that is what our bedroom looked like throughout the first part of this year, the winter months, and now that we are on into spring, Aaron and I were simply suffocating at night underneath that big comforter, even with our trusty floor fan going. So I decided to swap out to the beige quilt we'd been using before it turned cold last year. I am on the hunt for a beautiful blue quilt to replace it. If anyone has any ideas, please comment below and let me know where I can find one! 

Our little master bedroom has underdone so massive changes in the 5 years that we've lived here, and frankly, it's still evolving. I'm happy with it for the first time in a long time, and I am insane over my new bed and how beautiful it is.



Thanks for walking through the transformation with me! Next week I will share my LIVING ROOM with you, and how it has changed (intensely) in the 5 years that we've lived here!