Living Room: Collage Wall {Settled In September}

I love having pictures throughout my house. Most of the time, the things in my house at least have a practical purpose even if they happen to be cute. I want to live in my house. I don’t like the idea of being uncomfortable, especially in my home. I mean seriously, if you know me well, you know that I don’t own “real clothes”. I wear t-shirts and comfy shorts, pants or jeans, and flip-flops.

Living Room blank slateSo when it comes to my home , I’m fairly practical…and cheap. Hehehe We try very hard to get the same age pictures of each of our children. Or at least close to. We did 3 and 6 {and possibly 9} months and then every year. With 3 children and one on the way, that’s a lot of pictures. We also tried to do a family picture once a year. We’re totally slacking on all of these. We haven’t had professional pictures taken in a year and half. Ya know, all this church planting and commuting business had us a little distracted from our photo sessions. We have MORE than enough snap shots in this time. My Facebook page is packed full of daily moments captured.

All this to say, in our old house, we had a huge hallway upstairs that you could see downstairs through the balcony opening thingy. I had tons of space to sprawl out the kiddos. In our new home, there’s not that perfect hallway for the “family portrait wall”. We do however have giant blank walls in our living room. A while back, I ask you guys on the as Jules is going Facebook page “How many pictures of your kids was too many in a public room?” Most of you said there’s never too many. I went with it!

Living Room in transitionIt took me forever to decide how to display these piles of frames on my big wall. I was scared to make a catastrophe of awkward groups, one kid bunched together in a pile, too many of the same color near one another, and so on.

Finally, I just laid them out on the floor and played with them for an entire day. Staring at them, moving, adding and taking away other decorative items to break up the frames. THIS is what I finally came up with. Its a work in progress and still missing some pieces but this is at least a start & frames are laying around in piles 😀
Collage WallTo make sure I had them in the same placement as on the floor, I used THIS technique from Pinterest.

  • I flipped all the frames over so I could see the hooks they needed to be hanging from. I then used a long piece of wax paper to mark where that row of nails needed to be placed with a colored sharpy. {Sadly, I went through all kinds of other materials to mark the holes on but I couldn’t come up with anything else transparent and lightweight.}
    Collage Wall lay them out on the ground to organize & then mark nail holes with waxpaper
  • After marking that row of hooks, I taped the wax paper to the wall at the height I wanted and made sure it was level. I started with the top row and worked my way down from the tallest row. I wanted to make sure they started near “Big Betsy” and weren’t crazy high on the wall so I measuring how high I wanted the bottom row off of "Big Betsy" and the mantel {to come} and then added the height for the next 2 rows.
    Collage Wall use marked waxpaper to know exactly where your nail holes should go. Use a level to make sure the paper is straight.
  • I repeated this process with each row but using a different color marker for each row…because I’m cheap and didn’t want to use an entire roll of wax paper. Don’t forget to measure the distance from the the top nails to one on the next row to make sure they are spaced appropriately when you start putting up the next row of nails. Use a level both for hanging the wax paper with nail placements as well as after hanging each frame.
    Collage Wal use a level to straighten pictures after they're hung

Here is the after pictures minus the mantel we were still working on as well as the fabric, quote, and picture for the frame where the glass broke in the move.
Living Room almost completeHope you enjoyed day one of Settled In September. Come back the rest of this week to tour the rest of the living room. Over this month we’ll walk through the entire house.

EEeeekk. I’m excited to show you guys around!

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Settled In September: Introduction to this Months Series

In our world today, many times Christians are encouraged NOT to settle down. I hear it even more so in or about ministry. "As pastors, you are never settles. Never in one place for long. Always on the move." To some extent I totally agree. As Christians, not just pastors & family, we are to be willing to follow God's will even when that means a physical move. Location should always be determined by God's plan for your life at the time. How He wants to use you in a specific season of life. WHERE He sees fit for you to be for the most growth in you.
Settled In September Series

Sadly, when we finally started moving our essentials into our new home, my youngest daughter kept asking when we were going "home". My oldest daughter nervously ask if we could "never move again" because she was "tired of moving in circles". I felt their pain and confusion. Although I wanted to promise my littles that we had found our forever home, I couldn't. I did reassure them that this is our home & do not plan on but moving. BUT as a follower of Jesus Christ, I always had to keep my heart and ears open for if and when God was leading us somewhere else.

Every time the hubs and I move, we plan to stay. After our first move as a married couple, we were there 5 years. That may not sound like long but regretfully, for ministry families {especially youth pastors} that was eternal. We started our lives there together. We bought our first home there. We started our family there. But, God ask us to be willing to give up that comfort and head out to be apart of His grand plan somewhere else.

We've talked a lot about not wanting to move again. How our 5 and 3.5 year old have lived in 4 different houses. Our 2.5 year old has now lived in 3 different houses. Our prayer this time? Our prayer is that of Jeremiah's word from God for those carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." -Jeremiah 29:5-7

As I begin this Settled In September series, I want you to keep all this in mind. With conflicted hearts after "settling in" to our Big Blue house and moving after only 2 years, it brings joy and anxiety to settle down again. Fear of moving. Excitement over a forever home, neighborhood, community, friends, and a growing church family. This month, I want to show how my family is trying to settle as quickly as possible so we can get on to the seek the peace and prosperity {doing life with} of the city to which God has carried us!

All the posts in this series HERE

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Settled In September month long series {teasers}

Settled In September SeriesSneak Peek of just SOME of the projects you'll get to see all next month:

 

Before the $1.00 lamp facelift$1 lamp facelift {before}

During dresser refinishclean handles with water, vinigar, and baking soda

Almost complete "Big Betsy"dresser remodle

New princess bow hanger for the princesses' roomhow to make a princess bow hanger

During the laundry room makeover making the hall laundry room between the garage and kitchen funcitional as a laundry, mudroom, storage room as well as CUTE

Master bedroom dresser BEFOREmaster bedroom furniture facelift {before}

Operation Play/School Room Organization organizing toys, playroom, school room

New WOODEN Pantry Shelving upgrading the pantry with wooden shelving as well as organizing the pantry

Hint about the "boy's room" who will be sharing with new lil sis, ELLIE!Girly addition to the Superhero room

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FSBO {Follow Up}

Nearly a year after listing our home for sale, it's finally sold.

FSBO

You know, I wasn't really happy about that. Now that its been over a year after writing "How to Stage Your Home to Sell" and  "5 Ways to Advertise Your FSBO Home", I wanted to do a follow up post. You can read about the 7 things I learned while on this journey on the Homemaker's Challenge today.

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12 Steps to Help MOM Get Ready FAST {Thoughtful Thursday}

Thoughtful Thursday a weekly series on asJulesisgoing.com

I never thought I'd be THAT mom...the one that doesn't shower daily. Or at least who wishes she did but it's kinda hit or miss. Yeah. I am now her. I have learned some tricks to taking a quick and efficient shower.

12 Steps to Help MOM Get Ready FAST

12 Steps to Help MOM Get Ready FAST

  1. Have all necessary items IN the shower.
    I always make sure I have body wash, wash cloth/luffa, shampoo, conditioner, make-up remover, razor, etc before showering. Really, I just never take the stuff our or replace it if needed when I get out.
    Some times I even set out hair stuff {ie Plug in but turn off straightener and hair drier, brush, make-up bag, lotion, and even the Deo (because sometimes...lets be honest...I forget lol)}
  2. Have all Clothing Laid out and ready in the bathroom.
    I never knew how much time this could save me. I pick out what I'm going to wear the night before and have it in a pile on the bathroom counter. I'm talking under garments, socks if applicable, top, bottoms, earrings, hair stuff, etc. Wearing mainly t-shirts helps this process as well. 😀 If its something nicer, I'll leave it on the hanger & hook it on the back of the door {knob or towel hook}.
  3. Have Towel over the shower door or rail.
    I love having my towel hanging over the shower door/rail even if there's a nearby hook. I use the towel to wipe my eyes after those slashes from soap when in a rush.
  4. Set a timer.
    I haven't done this often but if you tend to take a long shower this can help you be aware of how long you take. After a while, a 10 minute shower will just be habit.
  5. Rinse Hair Twice as long as you Wash it.
    This may sound silly and I laugh every time I'm in the shower and remember this tidbit...because it came from 6th grade! You know, when they give you the "You Stink, Use Deo for Your BO" conversation. Yeah, they had cute high school girls come talk to us and one of the things they mentioned was a general rule to make sure you get all the shampoo out is to rinse twice as long. If you message in the shampoo for 30 seconds, rinse for 1 minute.
    I know the whole point of this post is to take a FAST shower but it won't be worth it if your hair looks nasty just a few hours later.
  6. Wash Body with Warm Water {1st}
    I prefer taking a shower first thing in the morning {even though this doesn't always happen} because it helps get the stiffness out of my body before starting the day. Warm water helps this!
  7. Shave while washing your body.
    Using warm water and body wash is a quick way to shave every day. I know it can be bothersome and some days there's just no time for that but I love the feeling of shaved legs.
  8. Remove make-up/Wash Face.
    Using your face-wash/make-up remover, clean your face using slightly warm water. You don't want to dry out your skin and your face is very sensitive.
  9. Wash Hair with nearly Cold Water {2nd}
    After you've 'relaxed', washed, and shaved, its time to move on to hair. Scrub in your shampoo still using semi-warm water and then when you are ready to rinse, switch the water over to as cold as you can stand! Rinsing your hair with cold water will cut down on dandruff that comes from dry scalp and it also makes your hair really shiny {thanks for the tip mom}.
  10. Don't turn back up the water temperature.
    Now that your hair looks fab, do not let the temptation to crank back up the water temp. You are ready to JUMP out of the shower...because you are cold. LOL
  11. Dry off IN the shower.
    I know this isn't easy, especially if you have a small shower but this too will be beneficial. It will make you move quickly {so you can bundle after that cold rinse} and it won't soak your rug 😀
  12. Don't leave the bathroom until you are READY for the day.
    Another thing I'm still not good at but have noticed helps speed along with read-for-the-day process is finishing getting ready for the day. Get completely Dressed, Do make-up, Dry & Fix hair

Did you "Get Ready" today? I DID!!!

Anyone else have some helpful hints for shower or getting ready fast?

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