KellyStewart.org

Last fall when we were landscaping the yard, I was at my second home, at the time, Lowe’s.

They had a major clearance sale to get ready for their Christmas display

I found this:

for a whopping $12.49.  I actually bought two of them and gave my sister one.

I wasn’t sure if I would hang it on our barn or use it inside.

After seeing how tall our ceilings were in the bedroom, I decided to put it over our bed.

But, green was not in the color scheme, so….

I bought some blue paint and changed it up. I would brush it on, wipe off, brush on, wipe off.

Just call me Mr. Myagi.

and this is how it looks now…

I love it!

Not bad for about $15.

We are pretty much finished in the bathroom except for painting our closet pocket door.  We have had major drywall issues in this room and the playroom.  We learned so many lessons on renovating, such as knowing when to do it yourself and when to hire a PROFESSIONAL.  When our original drywallers came in, the pocket door for our closet was not in or installed yet. So they left the opening and we figured we would do it, or bring them back in.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve.

Jason and I have a little tradition of having our close friends, who don’t have family close or who are traveling on Christmas, over after our Christmas Eve service.  We love it.  This year, we had I think, 7-8 families and a whole lot o kids.

Because we are crazy, we had a drywall guy come in on the 23rd to finish out the drywall in our playroom and the bathroom.  Jason had hung the drywall, and it needed to be mudded and sanded.  The sweet man assurred us when he gave us his estimate that it could be done in two days with dry time.  We knew it would be tight, but we would have time to finish up painting before the service and guests arrived.

Of course, that didn’t happen.

He sanded and drywall dust was EVERYWHERE. My sweet parents, came and helped us and, no kidding, my dad and mom are mopping my floors.

We got everything painted and it looked AWFUL.  You could see the tape lines and it was not GOOD.

He has since been out three more times to FIX it, and it looks only marginally better.  I think we are either going to have to get someone else in, or figure our a different wall covering solution for the playroom.

But, back to the bathroom. It needs to be completely repainted after all the sanding and drywall mess. the line of where he taped and sanded, while smooth, does not match up with the texture of the rest of the wall, so we are hoping that flat paint will cover a multitude of sin.

I didn’t include a picture of our pocket door because for some reason, I forgot to take one! We have double doors leading into the bathroom. You can

see that I added hooks for our towels and after 12 YEARS of marriage bought new towels. I got dark brown for me and the paprika color for Jason.

No more wondering which towel is mine. I think it is brilliant. I am doing this with my kids as well.

Also, we added the chandelier….a whopping $40 from Ikea.

The cabinet area is coming together. I added the wooden mirrors, for ease, but I am not in love with them. I am thinking

I may eventually go back and add a big framed mirror to the entire width.  The sconces were from Kirkland’s and the plate I already had. Don’t you love that

each sconce has a light out! Keeping it real.

I love the quartz countertop. LOVE it. It covers a multitude of junk and still looks decent.

I also have our ipod speakers in here for now and some smelly stick thing.

These are my rugs, which if you have ever been down the rug aisle at Target, you have seen them.

I really, really like them. I am thinking of adding the same rug to our bedroom, but not sure, might be overkill.

The flooring…..it is awesome, if I can say that. I am sooo satisfied with what we chose and I planning on adding it in our other bathrooms and maybe even the kitchen.

It just works.

Here is our shower (again).  It has three shower heads and only two are ever used. One will only put out luke warm water….very luke warm.

We have not gotten our plumber back out to work on it, but hopefully, soon, that will happen.  I am thinking of putting Knox in for his bath, because he is old and arthritic and won’t

get in the kid’s tub.  Jason thinks I am a loser for that.

If I could change one thing, I would have added a decorative row of tile, just to break up the sameness.

I am still a fan of the glass doors. Granted I think we made a wise move adding the wall to the right, or we could have scarred our children for life by now.

Privacy is never a bad thing….at least in the bathroom. (Words to live by, feel free to quote me.)

I wish I could say I have taken many a baths in here, but alas, I have not. The water is luke warmy in it too.  In due time…

I am thrilled with my bathroom and closet.  It was a ton of work and time, but we are enjoying the fruits of our labor.

I realized that I have not shared some ‘final’ renovation pictures and I use that word very loosely.

Here is the blank slate. We chose Bamboo shades and I REALLY love them. These are privacy shades and have worked out great. I got them at Home Depot.

At first, I put our old duvet cover  on it. I knew I wanted to bring in some orange to tie in the bathroom, so I started thinking how I could do that…

I pulled out our older duvet cover that had white and brown on one side, but couldn’t find the shams, so this is what I have thrown together…

I LOVE our barn star, which I had to change up a bit to make it work, but it was on clearance at Lowe’s for $12, was LARGE and I love barn stars, so above the bed it went…

I found the orange and brown pillow at TJMaxx ….

and my next purchase is new LAMPS. These are way too small and are missing the piece that keeps the shade from falling to one side.

Jason also hates that our tables are so far from our bed…I am going to keep them their until we can new tables….great strategy, huh??

My curtains, which I ADORE, are from IKEA.  at our  old house, I only had two panels. I had gotten the LAST pair at IKEA a year ago and these were

the display curtains. They have the lining and everything. So I got a friend to cut them in half and hem them.  LOVE how they turned out.

My curtain rods are from ROSS…seriously they were like $12 a piece, which is CHEAP!!

I used some SL Aberdeen wall plaques which used to hang above my bed on one side of the dresser, which looks like a

kid dresser in our bigger bedroom. I am not sure what I am going to put on the other side,  hence the use of ‘final’ very loosely.

My rug is WAY TOO SMALL, but it worked for now. I am thinking about using a larger version of the rugs I have in my bathroom…but you have not

seen those, so I will show those another day.

That is LEO the LION on our armoire which Jason and I got when we were in Africa. He is our reminder to be

Lion Chasers…to be bold in our faith and to do hard things….

This is our temporary side of the room. Our plan is to mount the tv on the wall, and build new storage and buy a new comfy chair.

For some reason, our cable wire is not working properly, so we are unable to really use the tv. Jason keeps telling me every 87 times I have asked, that it

will take a whole day to replace it and that he is prayerful that it would work then…..not what I want to hear. I have missed listening to Matt Lauer, as I get ready in the mornings.

I am overjoyed, relieved, thankful and in love with our new space. It is more than we expected and I

will never take for granted having my own bathroom and a closet again.

EVER.

On Thursday night, we had another Stew Family Night with a snow theme.  I had been planning this one for a while,  just looking up what we could do and let me tell you…there are endless possibilities with building a night centered on SNOW!

For decorations, I painted some branches white and hung some snowflakes from them and switched out all the red in my kitchen with blue and white.

You can see that we all wore white shirts to celebrate our snow night!

On Wednesday, I started making these cake pops with  my handy assistant, Emery Kate.  She loves to help out in the kitchen.

This was my first attempt at these, and let’s just say….it was pretty obvious!

We started out dipping the snow pops in the chocolate and it pretty much went downhill from there…

I had major chocolate melting issues for some reasons and wasted about 3 bags of white chocolate.

So, I ditched  the idea of making them look like a snowman and settled for snow pops!

Or Snow Balls!

Either way, they were amazing to eat!

Working with the kids was interesting as well…can you tell who did which ones???

This is the reality of doing family nights. Sometimes our efforts in creating a fun, happy night end in disappointment at times. Things don’t always go as planned or hoped.

This was one night, that at the beginning, I was ready for bedtime! Just the way it is sometimes!

For dinner, we had Potato Soup or melted snowman soup!

After dinner, Jason talked to the kids from Psalm 51:6-7

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We talked about sin and the holiness and purity of God. We also talked about the cross and how Jesus

watches us clean, like snow.  Such an amazing picture of salvation that the kids could understand…at least somewhat!

Next, we did a little craft. My kids love to paint and do crafts, which is fun, stressful, and messy!

I bought some votive candles and we went to work creating our own snowmen candle holders.

Their personality traits are

so evident when we do things like this.  Parker, the perfectionist, can get caught up in getting just right.  Emery wants to do it a little differently than

what we have suggested.  Bradley just jumps in and has fun doing it!

Bradley managed to cut his hair twice with the scissors…I told you it was one of those nights…

Bradley creating his masterpiece…

Emery putting some finishing touches on…

Bradley’s completed craft…the face only a mother could love!

We were going to play a game and “build a snowman” by wrapping them in toilet paper and scarves, but

it got really late, so we headed to bed.

And the next morning it started to snow……

Welcome to our Home…

I love decorating and I will admit, this 70′s rancher has stretched me!

This year, we are at the tail end of a six month addition to our home and I honestly, did not go ALL OUT, like I normally do!

We are just too worn out!!

But, the result is going to be worth it…at leas it better be!

This is my third year to do the tour, but the first time in this home, and it has been a blast!  So, here we go!

Here is our entrance…I love my door bucket…

We used traditional wreaths for our windows… I am definitely stocking up after Christmas to do the entire house.

And, I was super excited about putting a wreath with colored lights, on our little red barn! If you have been following our addition,

you will notice my beautiful, completely paved driveway…more to come….we can’t wait to get the b-ball hoop up!

Next up is our fancy tree…it is mostly red and silver with a lot of fruffy, sticks and poofy things sticking out! I love it…it is a little over the top, but it works!

This has been my office, but by next Christmas, it will be our dining room….more excited than I can say to get our dining room back!

Nighttime…

My topper…it looks different each year, but I am pleased with how it turned out…

Here is the breakfast room. Since we eat here everyday, I didn’t want to make the table complicated…

Some glass, some red, some beads, some candles….decoration done!

My fur trees..they normally go on the dining room table, but they worked well on the hutch…

My apothecary jar and Dollar Tree star….

One of my most favorite decorations and the reason we celebrate the season…

Our playroom has our funky, kids tree. I use pink, green, orange, blue and purple ornaments and ribbon.

I adore this tree more each year. It has a nine foot tree since our old house had vaulted ceilings, but it works!

We are finishing the reno in this room after Christmas…color recommendations??

all lit up at night…

love monogrammed ornaments…

The grosgrain adds a lot of fun to the tree..

In phase 2 of our reno, we are going to add a fireplace and mantle, but for now, the picture ledge will have to do. I really miss

our mantle and fireplace at Christmas, especially, but one day…

I used white canvases and threw some ribbon on it…easy.

This is an ebony,  hand carved nativity, we got on our trip this past February to Africa.

I love it…(Baby Jesus has parts, which makes me laugh…had to throw that in..)

Here are a few of my favorites, some Parker and Emery have made, which makes them more precious!

They are a true reminder to focus on the birth of Jesus and celebrate His love for us!

Thank you so much for taking time to visit our home. I pray that Christ becomes more real to you this year and that you rejoice

at the miracle of His birth!

Blessings from our home to yours…

Kelly

I am all for starting Christmas shopping early and this year, I really want to put some thought into what I am buying, as well as stay in budget.

So, when I saw that Just a Girl was hosting a “I Can Make That” party, I decided to check it out and I am already loving some of the ideas.

Then, I remembered this precious little craft and decided to join in.

I absolutely adore these little homemade nativities that Emery made a few years back.

They were so cute, we made them for all the grandparents.

Not only are they cute, they will the “ahhh” award on Christmas, which is really what we are going for, right?

Materials:

2 small terra cotta pots (the smallest one)

1 small terra cotta saucer

wooden round balls

raffia

yarn

scrap material

glue gun

First, have your sweet kiddos paint the pots or the “bodies” and the “manger” or the saucer! Next draw faces on your “heads” or wooden balls.

Next, cut out material in a half circle pattern to fit around the head. Just play with it until it looks like the right size.

Next, use your glue gun to attach the fabric to the “heads.”

Baby Jesus is a little more complex….not really.  Fold fabric until it looks like swaddling, leaving an opening at the top, and glue to keep it from unraveling.

Next, glue baby Jesus’ head in the center of the opening.

Next, glue raffia to the saucer and once dried, glue baby Jesus to the saucer.

To finish up, glue yarn around Joseph’s fabric!

This is such a sweet gift and one that reminds us the true reason we celebrate Christmas!

Blessings!

A major reason we added on to our home was because of our need for another bathroom and bedroom.  Our house had a master with a bathroom attached, but it was really small and since we knew we were going to add on, we decided to go with the master suite.  It has been fun and stressful, deciding on all our finishes and layout for the bathroom.  We decided to splurge on the shower and although it has been a labor of love and tears, it has turned out beautiful.  I am really excited.  After sharing a bathroom with the kids for over a year, I can say, I am SO APPRECIATIVE of privacy and my own space.

Here are some highlights…

I love how this turned out around the bathtub…I went with the brick pattern with the tile and I am really pleased…

This is our beautiful glass (if you have any cleaning tips let me know).  I love it. FLAT OUT LOVE IT! You can also see that we have several options..

one shower head, a handheld and another shower head. Again, this was our splurge!

Our fixtures are tuscan bronze from Price Pfister.  We bought them all off of ebay and saved a mint!

Our inset…

We turned the floor on a diagonal and I am really pleased with how it turned out.

The mirrors have been my nemesis.  Because we centered our sinks on the cabinets, the space to fit the mirrors is tight. I wanted separate mirrors and between getting the right size and

the right color….it has been a challenge.

These are mirrors #9 and #10..

Excuse the wonky pic, it is turned on my computer but not on wordpress.

Option #7 and #8 would need to be painted black with some distressing of the oil rubbed color..not sure exactly how to pull it off.

What do you think?

This is a big weekend for us to finish out a lot! We are working on painting trim, finishing the trim, finishing the landscaping, sanding drywall and painting touch ups…

We are so close!

It is so hard to believe that it is almost November.  Fall is flying by.  Fall has always been a busier time for us and this year is no different.  With all the work on our addition, I scaled back a little on the fall decor.  Besides Christmas, this is the holiday that you will see decorated for around the Stew house.  Here is a snapshot of what the house is looking like these days….

Here is the front porch.We are still  needing a few small trees and I am leaving a space to plant some flowers.  Any suggestions for a small, skinny, evergreen to go on either side of the steps?

My mums are  half way to dead and this happens EVERY year for me! How do you keep them alive!

You will notice, for the two of you following our addition, that I painted the front door black and added my favorite ORANGE berry wreath.  I love it so!

Here is my one attempt in the entry way to add some fall flavor…

This  is HANDSDOWN one of my favorite pieces to decorate seasonally with- my wall bucket.  I add different greenery and hang it on the

front door, depending on the season…super easy!

This was my Grandmother’s hutch that I inherited. I painted it black and I am loving it in our breakfast nook.  I have the red accessories out for now, but after Christmas, I am going

to put some white and greyish/blue accessories.  I just threw some greenery, pumpkins and gourds around.

My centerpiece on the table kinda looks like fake leaves threw up on it, but it adds some warmth and I think next year, I will put in a little more effort!

This is my new Bountiful platter and bowl that I put out to throw in some different colors. I also actually decorated the top of the coffee table for the first time EVER.  Having

young kids has always stopped that one for me!

I still have pictures from Africa underneath, but I just love having a reminder of our trip…

That is it….stay tuned for an addition update! We are close….

Also, I added the Google Friend Connect, so feel free to join in!