Today one of my friends asked me how I can have blogged for almost 2 years now.
Wouldn’t I run out of content? How do I always think of what to write about?
Well, in short, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s talking! 😉
My kids get in trouble for talking in class at school. Their teachers will ask me what they can do to get my kids to just stop talking already!
Honestly, I don’t know. I apologize for my children’s behavior and offer up a few half-hearted suggestions like taping their mouth shut or removing their vocal cords. Nothing works.
Poor teachers. They really have absolutely no hope. They are at the wrong end of a losing battle.
I got in trouble for talking too much from grade school through the end of High School. In fact, I was booted from an extra curricular class in 11th grade for talking too much. I seriously cannot seem to just shut the hell up!
It’s genetic. And both my kids inherited it.
And that, my friends, is why I always have something to say. 🙂
Oh, and I’m a huge tinkerer. I’m always tinkering and moving stuff around. There is always and will always be at least one project in the works at my home at all times. I just can’t help myself.
It’s an illness.
So, would you be surprised if I said I’ve been tinkering again? Probably not.
Well, I have. And it involves this horribly ugly, but perfectly clean and organized desk in my family room.
The plan for the past year has been to replace this ugly desk with a pretty one so the kids have a nice place in our family room to work on the laptop, do homework, and color.
What we have had instead is something more like this:
I LOVE keepin’ it real, yo. Just telling it like it really is.
Their desk has turned into the catchall of the house. It is a nightmare.
(pictures were taken in December hence all the Christmas crap)
The kids can’t even use the desk for their homework because it’s always covered in piles and piles of random crap.
And the plastic drawer organizer next to the desk is not doing my family room any favors either.
This little area of my house is one big fat HOT MESS.
I finally put a stop to the hot mess madness. If the kids (oh, okay, myself too) can’t keep their desk clean, then guess what? They don’t get one anymore.
{Don’t worry, I’m not that mean. I relocated their crafting supplies to the kitchen and now they color at the breakfast table.}
I totally found the perfect piece of furniture to replace the desk, and besides being free! (I already owned it) it also fits the space so much better!
Do you remember that sofa table I had behind my couch?
Yes, the same sofa table that use to be my king sized headboard.
Well, I love the new sofa table, but honestly, after a few months of living with it behind the couch, I wasn’t sold. It was hard to see back there, I had to move my couch closer to the TV taking up valuable floor space, and whenever anyone plopped down on the sofa (like, daily) they would inevitably knock something off the table and onto the floor.
Getting rid of the trash heap desk instantly gave me an idea. What if I pulled the sofa table over to the desk wall and scooted my couch back again?
Absolutely love it.
The table fits the wall so much better than the desk. It also shows off the table and makes it a focal point instead of it hiding behind the couch.
It also opens up the walkway a lot more and makes the room feel so much bigger.
(Say hi to Ben!)
I also feel like I have a lot more freedom in decorating the sofa table now. Before, when it was behind the couch, I was afraid to put anything fragile on it in fear that it would get knocked onto the floor.
Well, now I can actually put stuff on it. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to decorate it, but I’m really digging the clutter-free, minimalistic decor approach right now. Less is more they say.
The burlap covered lamp (tutorial here) is a necessity as our family room has horrible lighting.
The pots of grass are all from ikea (both the grass and the pots).
The cute little cacti look perfectly placed nestled in the corner of the table.
(Find out what happened to the cacti’s brother here. Sad, but true story.)
My most recent Target score is this adorable guy:
I’ve been eying this Buddha Pillar Candle Holder for foreveh’. But dang it, it has never once gone on sale. Ever. And I’m way too cheap and broke to pay $30 for it, even though it’s quirky and cute.
Well, as luck would have it, I found it at Target last week for $4.88! I am not yanking your chain y’all.
There were 3 available, and this guy was the only one with a clearance sticker. The other two were full price.
I managed to find one tiny chip on it’s back, hardly visible to the naked eye. I’m assuming this is why he was on clearance? I do not know.
All I know is that I snatched him up so fast and sprinted to the check out. I nervously waited as she rang him up. I just knew it had to be a mistake and she would take my Buddha away from me. But nope. $4.88 later, he was mine. All mine.
My mom thinks I’ve gone crazy loco for collecting not one, but two Buddhas. I don’t know why I like them. I just do.
Here’s a full view of the family room (pre tv-mounting extravaganza) to give you a better idea of the placement of said sofa table.
So see? I’ve been tinkering again. I thought the sofa table had a permanent home behind the sofa, but here we are 4 months later and I’ve already moved it. Maybe it will stay here permanently, but you never know. I love it today, but tomorrow I might drag it around the house again.
All I know is that with all this tinkering and furniture switching, I will probably have enough content for this blog for the next 10 years! So help us all!
Are you a tinkerer? Do you constantly have to be rearranging your furniture and nick-knacks? Or are you of the more sane variety and can just leave stuff alone?!
*the art above the sofa table is by Rodney White. You can read all about my crush on him here.
I think it looks fantastic!!
I love the new placement of the sofa table. Your bargain finding skills are AMAZING! That Buddha was a steal! Good work, Allison!
It’s great when little changes make such a big differnce!
I think it looks much better there! I’ve had the “people flop on the sofa and knock my crap off” problem too. I gave up on the sofa table idea and put it somewhere where I could see and enjoy it! Yours looks like a sculpture it’s so clean and classy girl!
We have the same {Costco, right?} couch!! Your table looks great there…I like it better. I understand the whole moving around thing – I do it a little, not a lot. But I get it!
Becky B.
http://www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
It does look really good there! Opens up that walkway I’m sure!
You are the target queen. You are so funny with your thinking the cashier would take your Buddha away… : ) yay for clearance!
Seriously perfect spot for the shelving unit. Love it.
The table looks great there! I love discovering things like that around my house. Sometimes it takes a little while to see the light : )
I get ya on talking. I was one of them. Kicked out of a hs class or moved around. I can’t stop talking either. And I have a daughter who is the same. My mom says its my punishment.
And my husband will not thank you for introducing me to Rodney white paintings. I have two now.
Maxwellhouseinteriors.Blogspot.Com
I love the table there, it’s like it was just made for that spot! I love the budda too, I got one at Goodwill last year that I then found at Walmart for 10 times the price I paid. My mom also asked me what was with the buddas, I’m like you for some reason I just love ’em.
What a great idea, I love how thin it is and how functional it turned out to be.
The table looks great there!! Good choice!!
Hugs
SueAnn
I’ll join you in the “tinkerers” club. I’m constantly moving things around; adding knick knacks, taking away knick knacks, rearranging furniture every few months, and so on.
My son has been married for 10 years. His in-laws never mess with their house. Their furniture is in the same place today as it was when we first met them. They never move anything! So I have to wonder which extreme is better. The idea that my home is “done” that everything is the way I want it to be does hold an appeal but I can’t imagine that day would ever come.
I love it! Looks amazing 🙂
Jenny
http://www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com
Great move! I like how the new table totally shows off the artwork above better, too.
Looks fresh and clean – Great job!
Emily
I’m not usually a big blog blabberer – no malice intended just like the way it sounded with all those BBBBBBB’s. I, too, am a talker. I remember being told in elementary school that “my voice carries”. 48 yrs. old and I still remember that comment. Served me well @ the bars when I was younger! Anywho, just wanted to let you know that I love how you do “keep it real” and your sense of humor, just love it! This is one of my favorite blogs. Keep it comin’.
I really like the table against the wall. It seems like you’ll have fun playing/tinkering with it. But where did the kids’ desk go? Do they no longer have to do homework or get to make things? hehehe (Did I read too fast and miss it? I do that a lot.)
Love, love, love what you done with that table!
Great idea! It looks so good right there! And that buddha is awesome!
What an awesome solution! I, like you, have a major case of the blabbermouths so even though Ive only been blogging for a couple weeks Im sure I will have plenty to say!! I just love rediscovering pieces and falling back in love with them again. Im loving how your home is all coming together.
Ya kiddin’ me? I can’t leave things alone! Don’t ever ‘spect to come to my house and have stuff in the same place twice! Drives the rest of the fam crazy… and I’m aight with that!
Who would’ve thought that those headboards could be re-used!! LOVE IT!
I think that’s a WOW moment! It just looks like it belongs there! Great job.
It looks so great there! Definitely makes it a focal point and opens the space up. Anything you can do to minimize places for clutter to collect is just fabulous, I think 🙂
I’m not a tinker-er. I would be happy never to move anything because once I get used to stuff in one place it never seems right when I move it.
You said crap twice in this post, unless I missed more. I love bloggers who say crap.
~Bliss~
I love this idea! The sofa table looks very mod, very cool, very hip. Great idea-you! Have an awesome Thursday, yo!
I got in trouble for talking in class too! We’d probably get in less trouble if we were in HS now since we could get some of our thoughts out via secret texting or something.
I soooo love your messy pic of the table… I had to laugh when I saw the poor doll with her arm slung over her face. It was too much even for her apparently! 🙂 Love it!
I love the headboard turned table idea! I enjoy reading your blog. I am always trying to figure out how to turn something into something new.