Tell The Truth Tuesday - The Home Edition

I'm back! Kind of....

Right now my life is like one long episode of Trading Spaces, only instead of the ever chirpy Paige Davis annoying the shit out of me, I have three children, a job and enough publishing drama to fuel at least 10 chapters in our tell-all publishing memoir that will drop Spring 2060.

In case you're curious here's what I've been up to:

I made this chalk board wall calendar for the kitchen.

Cute, right? Also helps me keep tabs on the increasingly crazy holiday schedule.

Cute, right? Also helps me keep tabs on the increasingly crazy holiday schedule.

Sadly, there is a rather sinister truth to go along with this little DIY project. Laura brought James over to help me hang it. James was sleeping soundly in his infant seat in the dining room while I was pounding nails into the wall in the kitchen. A picture on the other side of the wall went hurtling toward the ground and missed James by at least a foot. Ok, maybe it was more like a few inches. But he slept through the whole thing, so I feel confident I haven't scarred him for life. Yet.

Next I tackled the back room. The people who lived here before us used this room as their family room. We've always used it as a play room/office/room that mostly remains empty and useless.

Here's what it looked like:

Feel free to judge this sad little room. It really was kind of awful. You can't really tell from this picture, but there was nothing hanging on the halls. No desk. Just some random toys and a couch.

Here's the after. I dragged a sofa table into the room to create a little desk and painted the entire room a bright, blue-ish green. My plan is to move the cedar chest into the family room and add some white Ikea bookshelves for toys and games, so it will look like a full wall of built-ins.

My proudest project to date are the cornices that I made myself using foam board, Waverly Modern Essentials fabric and a prayer. Honestly, I was shocked when I woke up the next morning and they were all still hanging from the windows.

True story: I had to call my dad to figure out how to get the cap off the staple gun. There was no cap. Let's just say it's a good thing they have a safety feature on those bad boys otherwise I'd have approximately 5 staples in my left cornea.

I'm in the process of recovering my dining room chairs with this fabric. It's a Dwell Studio outdoor canvas that was 50% off at Joann Fabrics. Super cute, bright and even better, stains will wipe right off.

I staged the bookshelves with color coordinated vintage books. (Thank you Laura for letting me borrow from her collection!)

You can't really tell in this picture, but I spray painted coffee beans silver and put them in bud vases to act as book ends. I also spray painted a couple of cardboard L's and threw them next to the books.

Ken gave me a framed Liar Society cover flat for my birthday, so I paired it with two of my favorite pages from the book on either side.

And now for my real truth this Tuesday....

THIS is what my couch looks like.

Yes. That is clean laundry that I've completely neglected to fold because I've been slightly distracted by my redecorating efforts.

On the plus side, at least it's clean!

Ok...now that I've completely bared my soul, you better leave me some juicy truths in the comments.