Kelly's Home Tour: Living Room!

I know I haven't blogged in awhile but I'm saving up all blogs for one week! I have lots of recipes to add and some big events coming up; new BabyOso items and news, Mother's day, Makayla's 1st b-day parties, weddings, my new hobby (cake decorating) lots of stuff! Stay Tuned!

I didn't participate in Kitchen Friday so I posted a pic at the end, and a question to go along with it. (I need window treatment help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Disclaimer: I have two kids, a 3 year old boy and a almost 1 year old girl; this is why I do not have a lot of decorations low at their grabbing level, also I like simplicity in decorating and , (I'm lazy and hate to dust, less clutter means less dusting.)


above: This is the view if you walk in my front door looking straight out into the living room.

above: this is the the central part of the house, we took out the ottoman so the kids had lots of room to play. They have a game room upstairs but prefer to be downstairs.

above: this is the view standing at the back of the living room wall of windows looking out to the front of the house.

above: this is the view standing in front of the TV cabinet looking into the kitchen. I wish I had room for bar stools at the bar but there's not enough room unless we move the couch closer to the TV and that means less space for the kids to play.

above: our TV cabinet which I love, I was inspired by Candace Olsen. It's taken me 3 years to gather up things to put in the shelves and I'm still not 100% sure I like the way it looks. (It's a work in progress)

above: HELP!!!!!!! I so badly want some sort of window treatment to go on this window but I cannot for the life of me figure out what would look best. I can sew so I can customize it, just please tell me what you think would look best. (FYI the top of the top window is about 20ft from the ground.)

above: This is the mantel above the fireplace, the clock was a gift from some great friends. The family portrait was taken almost exactly a year ago. It was taken 1 week after her birth (that's why I look so bloated)

above: this is the view from the front door looking into our dining/ formal living room.


above: this is the view from the entryway looking into the dining/ formal living room. As you can see I have a color scheme going on, a different color for each of the main rooms. Living room is green, dining/ formal room is blue, and kitchen is going to be yellow and orange.

above: this is just another view of the formal room.


above: Our beautiful wine cabinet. (No wine or wine glasses because of the kiddos) I love the nickle elephant!)

above:HELP!!!!!!!! here's part of the kitchen. There isn't much going on in the rest of the kitchen except for soon to be re-pained cabinets! This is another window I am trying to make window treatments for. I once again have no idea what to do here. please give me your suggestions!!!!
above: the kids table was my inspiration for the orange and yellow kitchen. I have been looking a long time for the perfect table and I finally found it at Babies R Us I think it's a pretty new model. This play mat brings all of the colors in the downstairs together, I love it!

above: I made this tonight to kind of start bringing the kitchen colors together (the highchair not the drop cloth on the floor) It is little yellow and orange lemons, and the best part it's reversible. So the lemons are perfect for Spring and Summer and the...

above: Leopard is perfect for fall and Winter!

Wow that was a really long post did any one make it to the end?????????

Spring is here... in March???

Our trees are blooming in the front yard, yet it is only March? They are so pretty, our street is lined with pretty white blossoming flowers. I know we will have another freeze and they will all die off. But I'm really hoping the bluebonnets don't bloom soon. Last year we didn't get pics in the bluebonnets because they bloomed so early then we had a freeze : ( I really want pics of the kids in the bluebonnets this year! Texas weather is CRAZY!!!

So the blooms inspired me to make a spring dress for Makayla, although it fits now so I'm not sure if she'll be able to wear it when it's actually spring. Who knows maybe we'll get more CRAZY Texas weather again and she can wear it next week!

So Katie talked me into making a pillowcase dress which I'm not a huge fan of. They are a little too unshaped for my taste, and I'm not a fan of the ribbon scrunched at the top. It looks a little too homemade. But I decided to wing it and change it up a tad. I basically just started cutting the fabric and stitching it up, because I didn't have a pattern or a tutorial to go off of. It was actually really easy to make. I think finished it in less than an hour, and let me tell you it was defiantly not an uninterrupted hour. I started right after Makayla went down for a nap, but she had other plans and decided she wasn't ready to go to sleep. So after listening to her fuss for awhile I plopped her down in her playpen in my sewing room and went to work. So here it is... not too bad for my first dress. I have a lot of cute fabric I've been wanting to do something with so maybe I'll make a few more different styles of dresses that she will actually be able to wear this summer!


My version of a pillowcase Dress:

1 yard of fabric
matching thread
binding or trim (I used a cloth trim)

1. Cut out an A- line shape on fabric (measure your child where you want the length to come down to and her widest part, then add about an inch and a half at least for extra room to grow and seam allowance) cut the other piece of fabric to match.
   

2. Pin right sides of fabric together. Cut out a J shape of the fabrics for the arm holes.

3. Hem the bottom of dress.

4. Sew the sides of the dress together.

5. Fold 1/2" down on top of the dress and hem.

6. Turn the dress right side out. Pin your bias tape or trim around the armholes, and sew
them down.

7. Cut off four pieces (10"-15" depending on age of child, I used 10" for my 9 month old)
bias tape or trim and sew at each corner of the top of the dress for straps. (Your going to tie
these over their shoulders)

8. And to add some detail you can take some rick-rack or trim you have laying around and
sew it to the bottom of the dress. It would also be cute to turn it into an empire waist
(sew the trip under the bust lol line of the dress)

Thats it! Sorry about no pics for the directions I was trying to get it done before Makayla lost interest in the play pen!


Look she's standing with no hands!!! She's been practicing this quite a bit, but I'm not sure she actually notices when she does it.


On another note... www.babyoso.com is booming!!! Kyle and his associates (haha, that just sounds funny) have really been promoting my site and I am now ranking on the first page of yahoo.com for quite a number of searches! WOW!!! And we are adding lots of new products now!

Now I'm off to watch my DVR'd Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The family on the show actually lives in the area! I love that show, they do so many great things for people!