Welcome!

I'm Tonia and this is my family. There's Hubs, my wonderful partner; Bug, my darling daughter; and Boo, my charming son. We are the Collins clan. We are a homeschooling family who try our best to live out God's will for our lives every day. There are lots of stumbles along the way, but we love each other and this little life we're carving out for ourselves. Recently we found ourselves called to make some big changes in our lives so we're packing up the McMansion and moving out to a little farm in need of a lot of TLC. We have tons to learn and tons to do and we invite you to share the journey as we turn our not-so-new heap into a home.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Kids' Room- Sneak Peeks

The work on the kids' room is coming right along and I figured some of you might be anxious to see something done. I know I sure am! I'm really looking forward to a full reveal, but that is at least a couple of weeks away so for now I'll give you a little taste.


The floors are done. I'm mostly happy with them. I did learn a lot from this first room and there are things I will be doing differently next time, but over all they are lovely and with the room full of furniture I will not notice my mess ups so much. The floors had to cure for a full 7 days after the last coat of polyurethane so for the past week I've been spending my time working on components for the room instead of on the actual room.



I have been cruising through thrift stores looking for things to repurpose- like picture frames. All it takes is a little spray paint and we have fabulous, colorful pieces for the room. I am proud to say I have kept us at budget by re-using, recycling, and re-purposing. And by budget I mean, I've only used the money the kids were gifted at Christmas by their grandparents. This is a huge accomplishment for me...you have no idea.



Thus far, this is my very favorite project for the room. Using wood we already had the Hubs and  I made two identical, upholstered, and tufted headboards. I think they are gorgeous and I cannot wait to see them up.

 The Hubs has been putting trim up all day and the painting will start tomorrow. That is going to be quite a job. I have the room, trim, and doors to paint, of course. But, I also have a chair, table, and nightstand to paint. I figure in a couple of weeks I'll have it all done and be ready to put the room together. Here's hoping!


Tonia





Sunday, January 5, 2014

Ceilings and Floors

Most of the work we've been doing isn't very picture worthy- like filling the attic with insulation, for example- so I'm excited to have something to show you. Work on the kids' room is coming along and the hope is to have them in their room by the end of the month. It will have been a full 6 months that the whole family has been sleeping in the same room and while it has certainly brought us closer, I'm ready to get them out of my room, er, I mean, into their own room.


We had originally planned on putting in a new ceiling. The original ceiling is a drop tile ceiling and it was very yellowed and aged. But, as the budget got tighter and tighter we decided the money really is better spent elsewhere and we chose to paint it instead.


I'm not going to lie. Painting it was brutal, but I was surprised how effective it was. It's still a drop ceiling, but it ended up looking pretty nice.


Now the room sports a lovely new light fixture and a white ceiling. Much better.


Next up was the floors. You might remember that we pulled the old, nasty carpet out months ago and then had someone come to give us quotes for refinishing the floors. Since that turned out to be too expensive we decided to refinish the floors ourselves and I will admit I've been very nervous about that decision. The Hubs rented a sander for the day and got to work. It didn't take me long to see that it is very easy to do and that there was no need for being nervous.



In just a couple of hours we had these amazingly beautiful floors that are now ready for stain. I am beyond excited. They are just so lovely and charming. They are not new or perfect, but I think that makes them even better. I cannot wait to see them all finished.


So, the walls are up, the window is in, the ceiling is done, and the floors are on their way. It feels so good to be getting something done inside the house.

Last, but not least, I've got something fun to show you. The paint palette for the room!


The trim and doors will be the cream color. The walls will be grey. The other colors are the accent colors for the room so I have the paint chips mostly for reference when buying pillows, lamps, and other accessories.

We found a free table and chairs yesterday while we were out and about and I plan to do something fun with that for the room- I can't wait to show you , but you'll have to wait for a bit longer on that one. For now, I'm feeling hopeful and content- and that's a good place to be.


Tonia