New House Inspiration: Boy's Room

Many of you were very interested in seeing posts about what we're hoping to do with each room at the new house, and I am more than happy to share what we're hoping to do!

Today's preview is the future boy's room!!!! From what we've heard, this used to be two rooms. They apparently knocked down the wall between them and made it into one huge master bedroom. Right now, our plan is to keep it as one big room, but we like having the option to turn it into two down the road if we so choose. Once kids move out, though, we're going to turn it into the master bedroom and add in a master bath with laundry area! But that's getting way ahead of ourselves....

Here's what the room looks like now:

Now, they were hoping to have separate rooms. We were going to do the same color theme (dark blue and light gray) as Nate wanted Star Wars and Ryan wanted outer space. The rooms were originally going to look like these:

Nate - 3 gray walls, one dark blue accent wall

Ry - all gray walls, dark blue ceiling

So when they heard they'd be sharing a room (which they're excited about because it's such a big room!), combining the themes would be really easy as it's all space related. However, we had to reconfigure what the color scheme was going to look like. Originally they wanted the gray walls and dark blue ceiling, but when we calculated that the ceiling is over 300 square feet, this momma was not too keen on painting all of that. I did compromise that we can still put the glow in the dark stars up, even without a blue ceiling. They finally decided on the two long walls being gray and the smaller walls being the dark blue, and the insides of all three closets (yes, they have THREE CLOSETS in that room!) being dark blue as well.

Oh I'm so thankful I don't have to paint that ceiling!!!!

But back to the room:

The closets. They are each going to get one of the bigger closets. I'm hopeful that their dressers will fit in there, and then have space for their hanging clothes on the rod and their laundry baskets on the floor. But if that doesn't work, that's no big deal, there is plenty of room for dressers in the main room space.

There is a third smaller closet with shelves. Originally we were thinking about storing toys in it, but the shelves are a little on the deeper side, and things would just not stay clean and organized. It's also on the side of the room that Nate will have, and I can see that being an issue at some point with Ryan wanting to get something and Nate not wanting him on his side of the room. And not because Nate is mean and nasty, but just because they're siblings and like to argue and make each other's lives difficult sometimes ;)

I decided (and the boys agreed) that it would actually be a great place for all of their extra bedding, sleeping bags, and bags for when they go on sleepovers. It'd look something similar to this, just more masculine and kid-like:

Because the room is so big (it's like 23'x15' or something crazy like that), the boys will each get "a side" to have for their bed, bookcase, and desk. But there's a big middle space left for a joint play area. Originally I was going to have two of our bookcases from our living room go up there; they have glass doors on the top for displaying their legos and other knick knacks and the drawers hold the legos. Our train table was going to get repainted and then it would be a lego building table. Pete really wanted to bookcases to stay in the living room, so we all compromised and said that would be okay as long as the legos can continue being stored in them (which is what we have them for now).

So what was I going to use that big space for? 

The boys were really excited about the train table being in their room, so that will continue to be in there. The bins of Ryan's Imaginext toys as well as Nate's building blocks will live under the table, and then they have a place to build and play with them.

I really wanted something for the wall, and then, I stumbled across this:

Um, HELLO!!!!!

The boys have a lot of Nerf guns, and they just get tossed into a big plastic toy box, making it hard to find what they're looking for. This would be a great focal point of the room as well as a great way to keep their guns organized. We're going to paint the peg board the dark blue as it'll be on the gray wall.

We'd also like to get the boys (and Paige, too!) hanging chairs like these:

As for wall decorations, they both have a lot of Star Wars or outer space framed pieces already, but I'd like to make this (or a similar verse) up to frame and match their room:

We'll also be doing dark blue curtains as their room has two windows facing the east. They have FOUR windows in that room, so it's a lot of curtains we're going to have to buy!!! They are also really rough on curtain rods, so I found this and I think it's going to be a great option. I'll spray paint them a dark gray to continue the blue and gray theme:

I think that's most everything we'll be doing with their room! The carpet will be coming out before we move in; it's so much easier removing it before furniture is added in! And there is no way the boys would be able to handle having the carpet with their allergies, so it has to come out first. There is hardwood flooring underneath, and from what we've been able to tell, it's in really good condition :)


We're all really excited to see how it turns out. Let me know what you think!

My New (And Hopefully Temporary) Enemy

It's summer time, and one of my favorite things about this time of year is the plethora (wow, what a fun word!) of fresh fruits and vegetables available. We've been picking tons of greens (spinach, beet and swiss chard) from our garden, and have recently started enjoying zucchini. Farmers markets have fruits available, and we went blueberry picking and got almost 25 pounds of them!

I've also been dealing with almost paralyzing headaches and unbelievable amounts of indigestion and stomach aches. I get headaches frequently, and usually at bedtime I'd have shooting pains of heartburn whenever I'd lay down. I never thought of it as odd, just as me being normal.

Well, normal until I started eating mostly fruits, veggies, and whatever grilled meats we happened to be having for dinner that night.

I felt good, less stomach aches, no heart burn, virtually any headaches.

Then all my uncomfortable symptoms came back with a vengeance. We'd had a few cool days, so I baked.

And baked some more.

In a week's time, I had three days I was down with migraines.

For three Sundays in a row I'd come home from church with stomach aches and migraines, and would end up sleeping between 2 1/2 and 3 hours before feeling any relief.

I had a week where I barely ate anything, only my normal comfort foods. Little did I know that those foods were causing me to stay sick.

A week ago Saturday we had a small family reunion at my Aunt Sharon's house. We try to gather at her house every year for pizza and wings, games, and just connecting with family members from all over the country. I hadn't had pizza in a few weeks, so I ended up having three pieces. I chowed down on wings, as well as the fruits and veggies available.

A little bit later, I was talking to my mom and a headache started in. I didn't think much of it, maybe I was just tired.

We left a couple hours later, and the entire way hour ride home I was almost doubled over with a stomach ache, and didn't eat anything until after church the following day.

It was the first Sunday I hadn't had a migraine in a month. Every Sunday previous had only one thing in common: I'd eat toast or a bagel before leaving, and a headache would start approximately half an hour to an hour later.

I got online and began some research. Indicators of gluten intolerance are severe headaches, bloating, stomach aches, heart burn, and joint pain.

I suffer from all of those, and have been for a long time now. But I never noticed it until I stopped eating things with gluten so often.

I tried to stay away from gluten-rich foods for the remainder of that Sunday, and didn't touch anything until Monday night's dinner where I had half of a home made pita. 

By the end of dinner I was popping the tums and was on the couch with a mild headache for the rest of the night.

I have been eating very little gluten since Monday. I have had no headaches, no stomach aches, no heartburn at night, no bloating, and reduced joint pain. Other things I've noticed is that I've been less irritable, less tired, and I've lost 3 pounds.

It has been one of the best weeks for my physical in a long, long time. Looking back, I've seen signs for this for months, but just haven't really put it all together.

Has it been hard not eating my favorite foods, especially as I'm a carbaholic?

Honestly, the only times I've really noticed is when I made the kids macaroni and cheese and I couldn't lick the spoon, or when Pete and I went to the mall and I smelled Auntie Anne's pretzels and I couldn't get one. Granted, this time of year I don't eat much breads or pastas. During the winter it will probably be harder, but I'm finding a lot of great recipes online, and my awesome husband (who's actually more bothered than I am about this, but mostly it's because he's afraid I'll feel left out) went out and got me some mixes for pizza crust/cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and some brown rice flour. We still have some more things we're thinking about getting, but in this day and age, it's much easier to find foods I can eat, even at restaurants!

I'm not going completely gluten free, just cutting out the major foods at the moment to see how I do. In a few weeks, I may try a slice of real bread again or some pasta to see how I do, but for now, I'm staying away from them.

Do you have any food allergies or intolerances? Do you have any gluten free recipes you're willing to share?