Happy Family & Two More Rooms Checked Off!

So we found out this afternoon, after thinking she would, then thinking she wouldn't, that our DIL, Janae, was indeed coming along for the visit to Pennsylvania after all.

Rush, rush - her and me too.

She packed in less than an hour and was off to the airport with Dan. Like any girl in a hurry, she packed her Chi, makeup, pajama pants but no toothbrush or jacket. That's okay - we keep extras of both on hand. That's good because it's going to be 60 today, but snow and 30's tomorrow, and, well, having a toothbrush makes for nicer visiting with everybody except the dogs... Dogs don't care as long as you love on them.

It's been over a year since they've been home, so we wanted it to be welcoming. I hurried and pushed the twin beds together (apologizing for the crack in the middle they'd have to deal with for one night). The twin beds were Manly's, growing up and I just love them. Having a room with twin beds is nice for when grandkids visit, but when you push them together and put a mattress cover over them, you have a king size. Everybody seems to love sprawling out in a king size bed when they're on vacation. Last, I swished the potties, and thanked God for prompting me to do some cleaning this morning, even though I knew our boy would not care. Girls care more than boys, not that Janae would have noticed, after the whirlwind day they had, but it's nice I don't have to clean for a few days and we can play instead.

Tomorrow we're off to a pancake date with Landon, then off to see Jeremy and Leslie's 'new' home. Next we're all meeting Manly for lunch and touring his new office building, then we'll see Jeremy's new office. After all that I hope to fit in a short shopping trip with Janae to pick out a surprise present for my sister. Janae is an absolute pro at what I'm shopping for.

Isn't it just fun, fun having family home? No big plans, just hanging out together, the simple stuff. Staying up too late, big breakfasts together, movies, pots of chili, living all over the house and not caring too much at what the fallout looks like. We might all need a nap sometime tomorrow to make up for this first very late night, when we were all so tickled to be together, we stayed up much later than smart people would. The only thing that would make it better is if Chris and Sarah and their gang were here with us (possibly minus the new kids, but they could bring all those with only two legs.) It would be crazeeeeee but still fun, if they were here with us. There's a book called, "All Together in One Place" and in spite of how nuts I know it would be, everytime some of them come home, I wish they were all here.

Sarah asked for a few photos of the last two updates we've done. Pretty much paint, clean, declutter - all the stuff of which 'staging' consists. And yes, a bit more of 'dazzling them with boring beige'.

Nursery before - nice, but the minty green lacked warmth in the room. This room is small enough it wasn't a big deal to paint. Leslie and I painted like madwomen, trying to finish before we left for the airport. (Thank you, Leslie, for slinging a paint roller with me today, to finish the nursery. I could not have finished it without you! Coconut milk is MUCH better than minty green. $30 and a few hours - well spent!) Teaching kids to paint - good move that pays off later.

Done deal. More coconut milk, white furniture, and some bright bedding to warm the room up a bit. This room gets quite a bit of use, when Landon comes for visits, or Jeremy and Leslie come over for dinner and a movie. He's slept in here enough times, he's quite comfortable in it. All of this will go to Texas with us, for grandbaby visits at the lake.

Those teddy bears are old, 50+ years, so they sit on a shelf, out of reach of little hands. The sheep 'baaas' if you press his ear, and the Pottery Barn chair is a nice place for one more story before being tucked in. Landon particularly loves "Pig & a Pancake" and "Go Cat, Go Dog".

And here's the finished living room - with a freshly painted ceiling, baseboards, polished wood floors and decluttering. Not that there was much - we don't really use this room because the Welcome Wagon and Avon Lady doesn't come calling very often.

See the beautiful ceiling - everyone notices that right off the bat! Hopefully they won't notice it at all, that was the point in having it painted.

I took screens off the windows to let in more light. The house faces the north, so we have to drag in all the light we can get. A little windex didn't hurt either. The big orange pillow on the sofa, sent by my mom as packing in a Christmas package, is strategically placed, hoping the cat will choose to shed on it, rather than the others. We'll possibly hide the hairy orange pillow during showings.
I think it's cheery and spacious looking. It's a long, skinny room so it's hard to arrange, but this is what we finally came up with. I like that you can walk through the room, to the dining room without going around furniture. That chair at the bottom of the stairs is the crappiest thing in the world, but it's old, from Manly's parents and I plan to have it recovered when we move, using that beautiful needlepoint hanging over the back, that his mom did. I've always loved needlepoint.

Only two more bedrooms upstairs aren't this color. DH doesn't think I need to paint the yellow room, but after seeing how much better the nursery looks, I'm pretty sure next time he's out of town, I'll be phoning Leslie and grabbing the paint. It's an easy fix. New heat registers and outlet covers run about $10 a room, and go a long ways to freshening it up too. Generally, the older the house, the more coats of paint on the registers, and it ages a room.

Okay, I'm off to sleep a little bit, then up to play for the day.