rearranged

Well, I woke up this morning, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to do it... had to rearrange our house again. I come from a long line of frequent rearrangers. For me, now, it is the manifestation of my desperate need for change in our life. Back in the Spring my hair took the brunt of it - I cut it from mid-back length gradually to super short pixie length. I realize that the only things I can control are my hair and my house when I need something to give. My hair is off limits now. What an idiot I was to cut off three years of growth from the pixie cut I had before... oh well, it'll grow again, I'll just have to go through a year of being ugly.

I had moved everything around a couple months ago and the house became very compartmentalized. I turned the dining room into a play room/tv room, and turned the great room/living room into a half sitting room, half dining room sort of thing. When the house is set up so that any one piece of furniture becomes a dumping ground for "stuff", I freak out. I like my house clean and it's hard enough with three kids to keep it that way. And I pretty much shot myself in the foot when I chose that layout. It just added to my craziness and my feeling that nothing was ever really clean! Here are some "before" pictures...

Sooo... this morning I sent Jason off to church, kept Noah and Shiloh home (who JUST got over strep and came down with a majorly snotty nose this morning... UGH - darn antibiotics!) to chill while I cleaned and moved stuff around. I pretty much moved everything back to where it was before this last change, except I made some changes in the dining room with the paper lantern (moved it over the table), moved the rug, re-organized the kids toys, moved the treadmill out, and now we have the vintage coffee table from Chicago that we brought down, the new leather couch ($70 on craigslist!!) and the vintage hand carved mahogany chair our friends Will and Jeannie GAVE us (I still have to cover the cushions). I am really pleased with the results. I feel like I can breeaaaathe.

Here's the mess in the middle of the move...

...and here's the final result!

:) just wanted to share my little happy place with y'all.

Love Brooke

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