simply complicated

be our guest

9:29 AM

Well y'all...its been a long time comin but our guest room is coming together finally! But let me tell you the awesome story.

So Labor Day weekend we (my in-loves, hubby, & I) went to Florida to see my husbands grandparents. My hubby's sweet grandma decided that since she wasn't going to see me for my birthday or Christmas she wanted to buy me some gifts (I know...I'm so blessed!) So naturally, we headed to Hobby Lobby.

I knew that I wanted to get a few things to hang in the guest room since I was determined to get that room finished but I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Then I found this guy...

I knew I had to have him. Plus he fit perfectly with my gold/neutral theme. #lovelovelove

As we were looking around everything just came together so nicely. I got 3 pictures, 2 mirrors, and my gold friend above. Thanks grandma. :)

Well, I don't think I've shared this with y'all but I have been terrified to paint rooms in my house. Not because of the paint. Just because I feel very indecisive about paint colors and I have no imagination and its hard for me to visualize what the colors will look like when they're up on the walls. Plus, Nathan and I have been really trying hard to stay on a budget and I don't want to waste money on a paint color that I may not end up liking. Thus...its been 2 years and no rooms in the house are painted. #coldsweatsjustthinkingaboutit

Well, Labor Day weekend was a break through for me. I found a paint color that I just KNEW would look good in the guest room. (Behr Greywood) I mentioned it to the hubby, but told him that I didn't want to hang any of my new beauties till we could paint.

Fast forward a week. I was headed to Tennessee to see my brother propose to his girlfriend (#sosweet) and Nathan was staying behind. When I got home I noticed this clock (bought a while ago for the guest room) hanging in the kitchen.

I asked Nathan why the clock was hanging in the kitchen. He said that he didn't think it would match the new guest room decor.

I thought...why in the world would he have thought of that? So I asked "did you hang all the new stuff because I thought we weren't going to do that till we could paint?"

To which he replied "I don't know..."

So I pretty much ran into the guest room. I turned around and he was video taping me...now I'm really suspicious.

Lo and behold, he had painted and hung all my beauties while I was gone! (with the help of my in-loves). I was SO excited! Check it out!

I still need to get more pillows for the bed, spray paint my thrift store lamp (right lamp) and get some curtains but I'm SO happy with the paint color and how all the decorations came together!

Check out that headboard huh?? It looks so great with my tables that I talked about HERE.

YAY YAY YAY! A guest room where people might actually want to stay. :)

Thanks to my sweet husband, his parents, and grandparents.

Stay tuned for more house transformations.

Home

my classroom

9:52 AM

So if you read my post HERE then you'll know that I became a math teacher this year! That is what I received my degree in so I am super pumped to be back in the classroom after 2 years. This is my first full time teaching job, but I am not scared! :P

I just wanted to share a few pictures with you that I took of my classroom.

Now here is some background about my classroom...I LOVE decorating classrooms. Like if that were an occupation I would so do that. I love figuring out the cutest set up. The most functional set up. And organizing it all together. With that being said, I also believe in changing your room a little through out the school year. Why? Because it keeps you and the students on their toes. So this by NO MEANS is a permanent set up!

I wanted my classroom to be decorated in a way that made me feel at home (I mean hello, I'm there 7+ hours a day!), that wasn't too distracting (I didn't want a lot of "stuff"), and that wasn't "matchy-matchy". I knew that if my room was matchy-matchy then I would want to redecorate it as often as possible. Soooo...this is what I came up with!

^ This is a panoramic view of my classroom. There are two entrance doors. From the hall (which you can see in this picture) and then I am standing in front of the door that leads outside so you cannot see it. My classroom has a Promethean board (which I know is a luxury but I do not like using it) and also I have an Elmo (document camera) that projects on that huge screen that you see in the corner of the room.

^ This is my desk area. I actually have quite a bit of room behind my chair. I can sit in my chair and open my fridge just fine. (the fridge is between the black shelf and the filing cabinet). I painted the "L" canvas and the other canvas on the wall that says "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders". I also made the tissue poms on my own. You can buy them but I like to make them on my own because they aren't very difficult and it saved me some $$! #winning (they are hanging by fishing line)

^ This white board is right to the left of my desk when you're sitting at it. On this day (first day of school) I wrote what we were going to do for the day. But now I am just writing their homework assignments on the board. The letters for the classes ("alg 3", "alg 1/2" and "geo") were made with scrapbook paper cut out with one of the stencils from the scrapbook section. I believe it was a 3.5 inch scalloped circle for half off! #thankyouhobbylobby. Then I just wrote the letters on with gold sharpie.

^ This white board is across the room from my desk. I have an "about Mrs. Lewis" section with pictures of people I love and the 2 sections to the left that you see say "quote" and "scripture". Each week I write a new quote and a new scripture. On Fridays my students can come in and recite the scripture to me (I erase it from the board) then they can earn their class a cute paper straw (my classroom incentive which I will do a separate post on later). I LOVE sitting at my desk and see this right across from me!

^ This wall is to the right of my desk and is my absolute favorite wall in my room! Why? Because its made up of [most of] my friends and family and I love all my friends and family and miss them so much! This wall was put together with string I found a while back in the dollar spot at Target (its hanging from the ceiling), mini-clothes pins from Walmart that got spray painted gold, and 4x4 inch instagram pictures that I printed.

You HAVE to download this app called "Postal Pix". It allows you to log into your instagram and you can select which pictures you want printed. You have a variety of different sizes to choose from (I did 4x4) and you send them off and the prints get mailed to you. GREAT quality pictures! I ordered 75 prints and it cost me a little over $20 so it was pretty affordable too!

This is a close up of what all my letters look like on the scalloped circles.

Thank you so much for taking a peek into my classroom, and for all the encouragement that I have received. I am on my 10th day of teaching and I am loving every bit of it!

Food

it's a southern thing

6:56 AM

Home

transformations

7:21 AM

It has been almost 2 years since Nathan & I moved into our house and the good majority of the rooms in our house {my office, guest room & future nursery} are not even CLOSE to being finished. The guest room is my "extras" room. That's where any extra decorations go. And I mean anything. Its the most hodgepodge room I've seen in my life. One of the most annoying things is that I haven't ever found any end tables that I have liked for it. So anytime my parents have come and stayed in that room my mom has always put the lamp {from the dresser across the room} on the floor...how annoying!

This past week I started decorating my classroom & my sweet mother-in-law informed me that she has been saving some $ for me to use in my classroom or my house & I could pick which one. Well, I'm sorry to the future students in my classroom, but I chose my house. :) #sorrynotsorry

So after we did some decorating in my classroom, we went to an amazing antique store near by & did some damage {not literally but you know what I mean}. I got these 2 tables & spray painted them gloss white. {there were a few additional steps to this...let me know if you'd like me to do a separate post on that}

I also got a lamp to redo {spray the base & get a new shade}, a clock for the guest room, & a planter for the front porch. I will show those when they are complete. :)

After the antique store we had to get a few things for my classroom {legitmately} but we stopped in TJ Maxx to see if they had this rug that she had seen a couple of days before. Well, we should have never stopped in.... #saidnooneever

We did not find the rug. But we did find this beaut.

And y'all. I just couldn't walk away. I couldn't do it. It was calling my name. And it was totally justified! We have this really long wall in our living room that I have always hated how it was decorated & the big IKEA shelf that was on the wall needed to go up to my classroom so we needed something to take its place. AND I wanted that something to be more seating. Thus, the bench.

And look how beautiful it looks {the wall hangings will be changed after I financially recover}! With the new pillows & gray wicker side table....once again, #sorrynotsorry