Family Room Fall

My oh my has my blogging life changed.  Coming to you using the Mega Blocks table as a desk in the play room. :)  Apparently 6 months of life is a lot to sum up, and the basement is just as large of a project for a post.  So while I work on those, you get to enjoy my weekend project.  The start of fall decor around these parts!!


The mantle is pretty similar to last year's version.  I just loved it so much, I knew it wouldn't change a whole lot.  It's just a mix of fall products like indian corn and gourds plus some ribbon to dress up plain candles.  I put my "be thankful" sign up there this year.  We sit in this room most often, so I thought it'd be the best place for that daily reminder as we head into the holiday season. 

The floating shelves in the family room are also similar, but still different.  I wasn't 100% pleased with last year's outcome, so I definitely wanted to change them up a bit.

 

That sums up the family room.  I have to work on the rest of the house this week.  Have you started yours now that it is officially fall?  It's pretty much a guarantee to make your house feel cozy and warm!

On the 4th Day of Christmas....

....the Happy House gives to you, the rest of the family room! Here is the overview from the kitchen. You've seen the fireplace and the tree (for the most part) but here is the wider view. I bought the pillows on clearance last year after Christmas. (The day after a holiday is a great time to buy holiday decor for next year!)



Then there are the floating shelves. I had so much I wanted to share, so I just went with all of it!
I got the Christmas printable here. Otherwise, everything is ours, and other than photos, everything was from last year.



You know you want to come join me by the fire, just admit it! I'll have some hot cocoa waiting for you!



And because you know I like to keep it real, this is how it looks during the day when Cam is hanging out with me :) Laptop on the side table, Christmas tunes on the TV, gate putting the tree in a time out, and Gibson's bed which is virtually useless because Cam won't let him sleep.

Hope you're enjoying my very own little 12 Days of Christmas!

Cozy Festive Family Room

Our family room is typically my favorite room in the house. It certainly is my favorite when it comes time to enjoy a cozy holiday evening. I broke this room down into two posts, because...well, I'm just going to be straight up honest with you. I have like 3 loads of laundry on my couch and Cam's toys are all over the place and I just don't have the energy to clean it all up and show you the other side. There. How's that for honesty? But I will show you the fireplace, which is my favorite part anyway!

Express Happy House Challenge Plus Week 2

Week One Done! How did you do? Is your bed made? Is your sink empty? Quick...no one is looking- go do it now. Are you wondering what in the heck I'm talking about? Go here, it's not too late to join us! First off, your fearless leader will report in her results.

Week 1:
Make the Bed: 7/7
Empty the Sink: 7/7

Oh yeah, woo hoo, uh huh! 7/7 on both accounts.

And you didn't forget about our + did you? Or did you hope I would forget? Yeah, no luck there. Our Challenge Plus was to clean our kitchens. And I'll be honest, my kitchen has never been cleaner. And without this challenge, I would have stopped about half way through, or 3/4 of the way through, or even 90% of the way through, but I kept calm and cleaned on! And I also didn't forget that I promised photos, so let's get to that!

Before:

Ew.

The much MUCH better after:



Week 1: Kitchen

• Clean out the cupboards- interiors and exteriors
• Wipe down all appliances
• Clean windows
• Clean blinds/drapery
• Clean out fridge- interior, check for expired items, minimize to make room for holiday cooking/baking products
• Clean out pantry- check for expired items and donate items you won't use to a food closet. Plus it will help take inventory for what you need for holiday cooking/baking
• Deep clean counters and small appliances
• Deep clean floors and garbage/recycling containers

I got everything done except for the pantry because we decided on some new projects in that general area, so I'm waiting until those are done. Of course I'll be sharing those later! But I did want to show you something fun. If you have white cupboards and haven't invested in Magic Erasers, please, do it now. The right side is the before, the left side is the after:

Also, a life saving product for storing my pots and pans are these protectors. Mine are from The Pampered Chef, but I know you can buy them other places too. They are great and allow me to stack my pots and pans without damaging them, love them!


Now, of course, we need to add two more tasks, but you are all determined individuals, so I know you can handle it!

Clear the Clutter!

I'm not talking about your whole house, that would be quite a task. I'm not even talking about half of your house, simply one room. Pick one room a night to clear the clutter. It can even be the same room every night- your choice. But choose one room to get in tip top shape. I like to focus on the family room as it's the one that sees the most action and displacing of items. I usually have to put away my camera, cords, dishes, Cam's toys and whatever other items I was using for the day. Leaving that room in order before going to bed means you get to wake up to a perfectly clean space, ready for a day of action!

My main reasoning for this is that it forces you to give everything a home. This way, when you have guests coming over, it's not a mad dash to hide things under the bed, in the back of closets or who knows where! It's simply putting things back where they belong. If this seems like a daunting task, just spend 5 minutes a night decluttering until the space is in pristine order. Then it's just maintaining!

Sweep the Kitchen Floor!

This task honestly takes 2 minutes, but makes such a difference. I know with a dog, and a crawling baby, this one is important to me. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen throughout the day, which, inevitably, means stuff ends up on the floor. Sweeping the kitchen daily keeps that dust and debris from making it to other areas of the house. Just a quick sweep with a broom or a dry Swiffer type product is all it needs. If I use the Swiffer, I can easily just use the same dusting pad for the whole week. No need to use a new one every day!

Challenge PLUS:
Week 2: Dining Spaces

• Clean the furniture
• Clean the windows/blinds
• Deep clean the floors/Vacuum the rugs
• Dust the lighting

Hopefully the dining spaces is a little less of a task than the kitchen, that way if you have some ground to make up from last week, you are able to fit it in this week!

So there we have it. Our two new tasks to add on to our tasks from last week and our Challenge PLUS. Let's recap, and don't forget, we aren't replacing tasks here, but adding!

Week 1: Make the Bed & Empty the Sink + the Kitchen!
Week 2: Clear the Clutter & Sweep the Kitchen Floor + Dining Spaces!

But now it's your turn! Share your blog post link below with your results and your before and after photos! Don't have a blog? Tell us your results in the comments and if you have before and after photos, post them to the My Happy House Facebook Page! Can't wait to see how you all did.

And as always, if ya'll love me, one click shows it!

Family Room Flip

We flipped the family room. Literally. What was on the left is now on the right. What was on the right is not on the left. See for yourself :)



This also gives you the overall view of the family room with the updated fireplace decor. And yes, I'm still loving it, in case you were wondering. :)



We swapped the coffee table with the ottoman from the living room. There might be more furniture swapping down the road, but for now I'm liking this change. You can also see that I didn't trash the round mirror that used to be over the fireplace. He just got a new home. :)



There were a couple reasons for the change.
1. I get tired of the same ol same ol.
2. I wanted to come up with a plan for Christmas

Here is the set up from Christmas last year.


But I didn't like how the tree wasn't a focal point. New plan:



With this plan, we can just remove the one side table, and there is plenty of room for our slim tree to fit between the couch and fireplace. Our big tree will still go in the living room.

Pros to the new layout:
1. Better TV viewing, since the main part of the couch isn't in a direct line with the TV.
2. The room just feels more cozy.
3. The ottoman is a safer piece of furniture than the coffee table for our not-so-stable baby.
4. As stated above, the Christmas Tree can now be a focal point

I'm not 100% sold on leaving it this way year round, but we're enjoying it for now, and will continue to do so at least until Christmas. Do you get the itch to move furniture around too? I know I'm not the only one!

The Mantle: Complete Redo and Fall Decor

This was quite the work in progress, and it's the second and last piece to my teaser post the other day. One of the main priorities we had when looking for a house was that it had to have a fireplace. Check. It was one of the first places I decorated. This was actually after a few changes had been made from the original design.

And this is the most recent look.


I was ready for a major change. Pretty much immediately after we put up the round mirror, I wasn't liking it. As Carl stated "it's a mirror for nothing." He was right. Sadface. But I dealt with it for quite awhile. That is, until now. I convinced Carl it was time for a change, and he finally agreed to go with it. I usually need his buy in because I make him do the hanging, patching, painting, etc.

So, this reveal is a seasonal reveal, for obvious reasons. It's fall people! It's all about the fall decorating right now! So with no further ado....I give you, the new My Happy House Mantle. Momma's in love :)



I'll break it down for you.

1. The mirror is down and the frames are up now. I decided it would be OK to have some family photos up now for a few reasons. The largest family photo we had anywhere was a 5x7 and a few 4x6s from our wedding. Now that we have Cam and have had some professional family photos taken, I decided it was time to display them in a significant way.

2. The candlesticks, tea light holders, and clock all carried over to the new design. I've liked all those pieces since we got them and have no plans to get rid of them anytime soon!

3. The last piece of "regular" decor that will stay season to season are the new sconces. The old ones served their purpose, but were a little more ornate than I wanted. I wanted something sleek with clean lines. We bought two pillar holder sconces from Pottery Barn.
4. Tied to the sconces, are ears of Indian Corn. This was part of the reason I wanted sleek, simple lines for the sconces. I wanted to be able to dress them up for the holidays. I just used some twine and ivory ribbon to affix the corn to the sconce. I also used flameless candles here, these ones are orange for the season, so I wouldn't have any "burning down the house with my decor" issues.

5. The leaf is just a basic leaf garland and the gourds are just that, gourds. Pretty simple.

That's the breakdown of the fall/updated mantle. I can't wait to see what I can come up with for Christmas. But I'm telling myself to be patient. You definitely won't see a change until at least the Monday after Thanksgiving.

We made some other changes in the family room, but I think this post is long enough so I'll save that for another day. Soon...but another day.

p.s. I didn't forget about my Monday Morning Round Up. I'll be back later today with that! And I'll be posting an InLinkz for all your round ups too, so get to writing :)

Happy Saturday: Teaser Edition

I'm enjoying a cup of Pumpkin Spice Coffee and a Cherry Buttermilk Scone this morning. Hopefully you are enjoying something just as good! Aside from my breakfast, this post has two parts.

Part I:
I'm going to tease you this morning. Yep. At least I warned you. I've been talking about a few things, but giving little details. Annoying, right? Well, I'm giving you the first piece of the puzzle.

We have two projects we're almost done with, and here are the before pictures.




The afters will be coming soon! I promise. What? I told you I was going to tease you :)

Part II:

Short and sweet. My Happy Line is part of Top Baby Blogs. They have a reset on votes a few times a year, and this is one of them. It gives new blogs a chance at a top spot. Currently we are floating around in the teens! Cam would love your vote if you can spare two clicks. Simply click this button, and then the owls on the left. That's it! (you can vote every 24 hours!)

If you are feeling especially clicky, you know I always appreciate your vote on Picket Fence Blogs for My Happy House!

We've had a change in plans for today, so it's time to get down to business. More details on that on Monday's recap! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Fall Decorating 2011 Part 1

Or is it Part 2 since I already showed a little snippet of the porch? Either way, more fall decorating coming at you! I'm changing all kinds of things this year. Looking back on last year's attempt, meh. Let's just not. I'm so much happier this time around! I've got to order a few things before the family room is finished, but the floating shelves are D-U-N! Done!



Let's break it down! Everything carried over from last year with the exception of a few pieces. I swapped out our normal photos for the free fall printable, found here, as well as a shot of the pumpkin patch from when we went last year. The bottom right is a close up of a tree up at the cabin. There are some new sticks as filler under the large orange candle and since I couldn't use real candles on the bottom shelf, I bought 3 flameless ones. LOVE the flameless candles. Plus, they are versatile enough to be used at times other than fall!


Here's just a straight on shot so you can see the prints a little better.



So that's that. Family room floating shelves complete. Have you started your fall decorating? Have you blogged about it? Share it here in the InLinkz!

Tackle It Tuesday

When I vacuum the family room, I always give the couch a quick once over, but I don't do a nice, take all the cushions off, deep clean. It's been awhile. Ew.

(If you aren't laughing at the "Ew" then you should click here, and it's worth your while to watch to the end. If you don't think Jimmy Fallon is funny, well then there is something wrong with you, but don't bother clicking :) )

I digress. Anyway, so Tackle It Tuesday. I decided to give the couch a good ol clean. It started out looking like this:

First, I vacuum the rug so as I'm moving the cushions around, I'm not bringing the rug debris back to the clean couch. Then I remove one section of cushions to vacuum at a time, like this next photo.


I vacuum the frame portion, then the bottom cushion and lastly the top. Throw pillows get a good swipe too. Give the floor/rug one last run, and then it looks like this. Ta da!

Don't have a fabric couch? Break out the leather cleaner. Whatever you do today, make sure to fit in a Tackle It Tuesday! And if you blog about it, be sure to share it in the InLinkz so I can read about it!