Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Keeping It Real Wednesday

Pinterest vs. Reality.

I laugh to myself as I walk through our house and already see dings and peanut butter hand prints on the walls.  At first the laugh was a crazy lady, I am out of my mind laugh and now it is the laugh of a lady who has given up.  That's right, after 6 weeks I have thrown my hands in the air and given up!  These pictures you see on Pinterest are FAKE!  They are houses that have been staged, the people that live in them don't have children, and a professional photographer has taken these pictures.  Having said all of this I would like to take you through my pinned dreams pictured right next to my reality.  But before we start I would like to add a disclaimer, I don't want you to think I am complaining.  I could not love my home any more and I could not be more proud to call it my home.  Life is a lot easier since having moved in and I am extremely blessed, I just want a good laugh and these pictures will make you chuckle at the very least.
We'll start in the dining room.  I will start by pointing out what you cannot see in this picture.  It's the dog urine stain on my new chair at the end of the table!  That's right, Knox marked his territory as soon as he could.  This chair now sits coverless because the cover is still sitting in my laundry room to be ironed since being washed.  The curtains are on order, Gran and Gaga will help me hang pictures, and the table and buffet will be stained at some point.  It will get there one day, but there still might be a urine stain on one of the chairs.

On to the master....  This room needs the MOST help.  Curtains are on order, I'll find some lamps eventually and getting some pictures hung and a throw pillow or two should help!  It just might be 5 years from now.  At least we have nice furniture!

The loving room...  Overall I am pretty pleased here.  The coffee table will be recovered by my husband by Christmas, but other than that I think we are good.  And the main reason this space is as put together as it is, is because we don't spend any time in there.  By the time I get the kids fed, clean, and in bed I go straight to bed myself!  And the kids are always in their playroom.  So I guess when they get older we will spend more time in there and it will look 'lived in' like the rest of the house.  Dang it.

This might be my favorite picture.  The sheet really puts it over the top!  My shutters are on order, but what is the deal with EVERYTHING taking 4-6 weeks?  Come on people!

This one is a good one too.  Who keeps fresh flowers in their laundry room?  I should as much time as I spend in there!

This is not that much of a stark contrast and to be honest I like my cubbies better.  My picture was just taken with my phone, not a professional photographer.  Oh and it's not staged.  The bag of fresh herbs vs the Kroger sack of extra clothes for day care.

Then there is the pantry.  The picture above is the one I showed our cabinet maker and he hit it pretty dead on, minus the chandelier.  But I do have an automatic light that comes on when you open the door.  Although, Matt and I have found it to be useless.  As 1st world humans we are trained to turn a light on when we walk in a room and off when we leave.  So we still find ourselves looking for the light switch.  The pantry is my third favorite room in the house right behind the laundry and mudroom.  But again, our food doesn't look as neat as the Pinterest pics.  More first world problems = having more food than you know what to do with and then you have to buy containers and baskets to store it in so it looks pretty.

A child's play area.  Jackson and Mary Frances' play area does look really cute.  I mean let's face it, they have the nicest stuff we own.

And this is my personal picture (if you couldn't already tell).  My cousin Suzanne said it couldn't be done, but I found these chairs for $200 and they are fabulous!  Just what I wanted and the Target pillows are the bomb!  But the picture below is what they look like a majority of the time.  I can't have the kids or dogs messing up my expensive stuff!  So this is what I have resorted to.
Just a little keeping it real on this Wednesday for everyone.  Sometimes I wonder if I will ever have a Pinterest house even after the kids are gone.  Probably not, but a girl can dream can't she.

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