Homeschool Diva

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands….”

1 Thessalonians 4:11

So, I’ve been working with my hands today. I already determined not to school this week, because tomorrow, we have 6 family members arriving that we will efficiently pack away in our little space for the next week. We are all excited because we usually never have family in to stay with us. We typically go to them.

Like I said earlier, we have been cleaning and washing and rearranging. I love leaving for a good space of time or having people in for a space of time. Both situations cause us to deep clean, weed out, and organize. I have gotten some things done that I have wanted to do for 5-10 years now. REALLY….I am not joking.

1. See those candle sticks on the pass through? They were wedding presents, hand made by my great uncle about 75 years ago. Guess what, they don’t hold modern candles worth a darn, and I am not making my own for these bad boys. So, I finally dug them out, and re-purposed them, so I could use them and enjoy them. I attached (semi-permanently) little candle dishes on the tops of them and now they can hold pillar candles. (I’ve wanted to do this for 5+ years. Having nursing infants derailed my plans a bit:-)

2. See that hutch to the right of the photo. That was my husbands baby hutch when he was little. My dear father in law, refinished it and gave it to us. I love it, and it too has been in our bedroom collecting dust and junk. I moved it here by the dinning room table, and now store, china (that i never use) and cloth napkins, hand towels, our tea set etc. (I’ve wanted to do this for 2 years. I am just now getting to it.)

3. I rearranged some art in our home. Above the previously mentioned baby hutch is a new piece I just shot last week. On the pass through wall, is a collection of our art. Some made by me, some by the kids, some we have purchased on our travels around the world. I’ve always wanted a funky, eclectic gallery wall. Well, now I have it. You see the violin hanging? That was mine when I was a wee tyke. 10 years ago, when Mike and I lived in Gainesville, we were/are friends with a young/their kids are gorgeous well adjusted teenagers now, family about our age now, who home schooled etc. Super cool, super funky and non traditional that helped lead worship at our sending church. The wife had her violin hanging this way in her home, and I have wanted to hang mine the same way ever since. (To my Gainesville readers, can you guess who that is?)

4. We rearranged some area rugs, and I now realize after shooting this picture that the table is not centered under my light, so I will fix that. My dearest girlfriend gave me that light for my birthday present some years ago. I tricked it out with some trim and shells. It is just a little bit of me hanging right over our dinning room table. That dinning room table was given to us by dear friends who pastor a simple church in Michigan. They have little guys and home school too. When Brian left our home, he gave us a gift of money saying it was a blessing from their community to us and that we had to buy something made of solid wood. Well, we did and we LOVE that table. At the time we needed a dinning room table but couldn’t swing it and were eating off of plastic patio furniture. (Thanks Brian and Amy and your crew in Michigan. I promise we will get up that way soon!) I pray for them often when we sit around it. If you look through my pass through you can see into our kitchen and right out into our front walk way where it is windy and rainy today. I can take you on a tour of that tomorrow.

I lean towards a modern design aesthetic with a little bit of eclectic punch. I don’t like a ton of matchy-matchy things, and get a serious high on reusing what I already have, or things I find or have been given. I LOVE Amy Butler design and drool over her mid-west modern book. Did I say I drool over it? Now, I am thinking through a paint color for downstairs. I want something cool (because we have dark furniture) and a little unexpected. The original color I wanted isn’t flowing with this vibe so I am back to square one.

Any Ideas?