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Finally Finished!

~ Kara Mills ~ 2 Comments

Back in late December, I wrote a post about what I was going to focus more on in 2020, namely, me. I was going to be more intentional, social, you get the idea. Well, 2020 determined that was a lie! I mean, at this point, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprise if robots activated and took over the world. I think most of us feel that (sadly) nothing feels surprising anymore.

In an effort to provide a small, unimportant but hopefully welcomed distraction, I’m happy to report we did finish our bedroom makeover. For the first time in a VERY long time, we have a bedroom that feels like a grown up room and not a college dorm room. I mean, most days there’s laundry everywhere and kids sneaking into sleep into our bed in the middle of the night. Overall, it can usually be used as a peaceful place to hide and/or relax. My goal was to make this as much like our happy place as possible. Since we don’t have the beach here, I wanted anything that conjured up those feelings to be included.

The nice thing about this was that in true broke college student fashion, we did this on more of a budget, gradually. Anyway, the biggest challenge, outside of budget and time, was figuring out how in the world to incorporate this chair.

This was a wedding gift my grandparents received (came in a set but the other broke) and at some point my grandma had it reupholstered in this delightful Naugahyde. Not too bad for 70 years old!

In case you’re wondering, yes those are liberty bells on the pattern. It probably wouldn’t have been my first choice but the chair is SUPER comfy and after this long, it’s become part of the family. Also, Naugahyde is legit super resilient. There are few wears or tears on it and it’s been through some stuff for sure!

This is way less appealing to look at, even compared to the Naugahyde!

Even using the chair as a laundry basket didn’t help. I mean, you can’t even enjoy how comfy it is. So, to dampen the exciting pattern, I opted for a pillow and throw that ties all the colors together.

The throw blanket (Amazon) is super soft, as is the pillow (At Home). It’s one of my favorite places to do conference calls – I can hide and be comfy all at the same time!

The other awesome thing we got to add to the room was the clock that my dad made. This was a total surprise actually but was perfect timing. 

#hotmess #foreverdormroom
We opted for a Duvet Set (Amazon) with accent throw pillows and lamps (At Home). The watercolor pictures I did myself with new frames (Hobby Lobby). We painted the nightstands white to match the theme. The headboard is made from flooring glued to a backer board.
Before of the angle facing the bedroom door. The college tag-a-long bookcase made me crazy!
We (meaning me) desperately wanted something to store our books out of sight. I needed to reduce the visual clutter! The cabinet and mirror (Hobby Lobby) were a tidier addition. 
Here are the full before and after pictures. We did get a new dresser a month or so ago that is not pictured. That “dresser” shown was actually the changing table we used for the kids. That, my friends, is the glamorous life of a med school family.

So while I had originally thought of this as a nice get away after busy weeks or weekends, it ended up being really great timing given the excessive amounts of time we spend at home now. So, while things are crazy, at least we have a place of refuge. 

Featured image from Pinterest inspirations.

New Rules

~ Kara Mills ~ Leave a comment

We’re in day 5,054 of staying at home. Working from home while undertaking Spanish immersion kindergarten, entertaining a threenager, and reminding middle schoolers that video games do not constitute “technology learning” has been treacherous. I mean, it’s infinitely better than being intubated, but it’s not my lifelong dream.

I went from being a happy working mom who carted her kids to their respective destinations every morning, had a coffee, and adulted. Now, on a good day, I’m wrestling kids out of bed, herding cats kids until distance learning is done and they can join the wild west of activities we have at our house. I’m exhausted at the end of the day and adulting is of no interest. I had to learn to “let it go” (thank you Frozen for reminding me of that every day when it’s playing on repeat).  That song is stuck in your head now right?? Anyway, here are a few items we’ve decided or realized during this period of time.

  • Do you have screen time restrictions? Ha! That’s cute! Nope, there are none. It is survival of the fittest people. Unless you’re a kindergartener with an attitude, then you can be grounded from the iPad until your birthday…in July. Yes, it was that bad that I punished myself too.
  • Will you try potty training the threenager? No. HECK no! Why would I do that to myself?? I mean, if she goes, we celebrate. But I am not about to shadow this 3 year old to make sure she goes potty. I seldom remember to use the bathroom so how am I going to remind her?
  • Are you quarantining from hubs? Nope, so long as we remain healthy. We’re each others support system. He strips his clothes off in the garage and then washes them separately from our clothes. For the record, there have been no instances of him streaking through my conference calls. Yet.
  • Do you like working from home? YES!!! I LOVE it! I’m super productive. I mean, when I don’t have kids hanging on me. Literally. Ariah_ClingingThis work of art can be titled “I want to talk on your conference call” circa pandemic 2020.
  • Are you excited to be saving gas money? Yes, of course! It’s helped fund my new online ordering habit. Specifically Amazon. They have everything you need to get your home office in line. The most critical items have been a second monitor and a seat pad. Kitchen chairs are not meant to be sat on 40+ hours a week. Trust me.

Here’s the deal. I’ve had to turn my Type A off and be okay with just making it through each day. There are way bigger things happening in the world that make my stresses sound trivial. And they are trivial, relatively speaking. We are healthy, we have food and clothes and the kids, while bored, are happy. Once I decided that they will be fine if I am not a perfect parent/teacher/worker 100 percent of the time, life was a lot less stressful. Being a working mom is hard when it’s just work, so give yourself some grace and be okay if things are not perfect. We’re all in this together!