Homemaking Archives - Simple Living Mama

Eight Sustainable Summer Goals

June 12, 2013 by Joanie 2 Comments

In our quest to be live a more self-sufficient life, I have set eight small sustainable summer goals for myself this summer. I want to learn how to do these things in order to create a healthier environment for our family and to know that I can provide my family with important essentials if I ever had to.

Learn to Make Our Own Skin Salves

My daughter has eczema and almost everything breaks out her sensitive skin. We do have creams that help her, but if I can find a more natural alternative that I can make myself, I will be happy!

This recipe from Camp Wander looks good.

Learn to Make Our Own Lip Balm

Mr. Simple loves Burt’s Bees lip balm. He goes through that stuff like crazy, but it’s not cheap. I would love to learn how to make something similar myself that he loves just as much.

I love Frugally Sustainable for all kinds of DIY sustainable recipes. Here’s a great recipe for lip balm at home!

Source Local Food Products

Finding real, local food is important to me. There is nothing like knowing where your food came from and how it was treated before it makes it to your plate. I am sourcing clean meat for our family, as well as finding locally grown fruits and veggies. I want to take the kids berry picking soon! That will be so much fun! When my hubs gets home from deployment, we are planning to buy a meat share from a local farm. We get our raw honey locally, and I plan to source even more products!

Dry My Own Herbs

I love having a little culinary herb garden. I want to learn how to dry my herbs so I can use them through the winter. I will definitely put this one into practice and try to store them in cute, little glass jars.

Learn to Make Herbal Teas

I’ve been drinking herbal tea for a while, so I think it will be wonderful to learn how to make my own herbal teas.

Learn More About Herbs in General

So this one goes along with the two mentioned above, but I want to learn more about herbs. They are so easy to grow and so useful to us. They make life more flavorful, they make life smell wonderful, and they can be used when we aren’t feeling our best. They are God’s medicine and I want to learn more about them!

The eBook Herbal Nurturing looks like the perfect resource to help me along in my herbal journey.

Plan Next Year’s Container Garden

We will still be renting next year, so there will be no in-ground garden, but I can start planning now what herbs and veggies I want to grow in containers and how I will use them. Having my husband around will be so much more helpful when doing this. He is so much better at caring for plants than I am!

Learn More About Composting

I probably should be doing this all along, but I really haven’t had any inclination to begin composting. I need to read more about it and figure out a system that will allow us to compost.

compost pile sign

I found some tips at HGTV to get me started.

photo credit: Gardening in a Minute via photopin cc

Your turn! What are your summer goals? Tell us in the comments!

Happily linking to:

Encourage One Another, Teach Me Tuesday, Wisdom Wednesdays, Natural Living Link-Up

Filed Under: Gardening, Homemaking, kids & Natural Parenting

Why I Need a Homemaking Library (Maybe You Do, Too!)

April 30, 2013 by Joanie 2 Comments

When I got married I honestly didn’t know much about making a home, raising babies, cleaning, or cooking! Yes, it’s embarrassing, but I didn’t know much! I went straight from my parents’ home to a home with my husband. Once I realized I really didn’t know what I was doing, I started reading. I read anything I could get my hands on. Cookbooks, blog posts, books from the library. Everything.

Do you know how much easier it would have been to learn these homemaking skills that I was lacking if I had an entire homemaking library to refer to? That’s why I am so thrilled about the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle Sale. It takes the hard work out of finding all the individual resources to improve my home and my life. What’s better? I don’t have to buy each individual eBook and spend a fortune!

Here’s a look at the individual eBooks included in the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle any why I would find them useful!

Let’s get started with the budgeting section. Keeping your family’s finances in check is a big job for every homemaker. Whether you are trying to get out of debt, trim your grocery budget, or save money in other areas these books will teach you how. Need some help managing your time? We got that covered, too.

I’m planning to homeschool my babies, so I would love all of these books. Even if you aren’t planning to homeschool, you can use these books and curriculums as supplementary activities to do with your kiddos.

Who doesn’t want to get fit and healthy these days? Need some help and encouragement on getting your body and your home in tip-top health? We got that covered, too.

As busy homemakers we are usually the ones in charge of making sure the holidays and special events run smoothly and are fun for everyone. If that overwhelms you like it does me, you’ll find some inspiration in these books!

Ahh, cleaning and organizing. We will never escape these aspects of our homemaking! The books above will help you figure out a cleaning schedule and help you get your home in order!

Every day I’m learning more about cooking. I was terrible when Luke and I first got married. I was cooking meals out of boxes and packages! It wasn’t very tasty or healthy. If you need some new recipes and want to learn more about feeding your family real food, you will find that in this ebook bundle!

If you want to spice up your marriage and just improve it overall, the above books are excellent resources!

Many of us homemakers are also moms. Motherhood is the hardest, yet most rewarding job in the world. If you need some encouragement in this area (don’t we all) check out these eBooks!

Having a baby is exciting and scary at the same time. You want to read about what you’re going through. You want to read about the options you have for yourself and your new baby. Are you interested in cloth diapers? All these resources are covered in this eBook bundle so you don’t have to search the entire web!

Need some encouragement in your spiritual life? That’s here, too!

Finally, working from home. It’s nice to be able to bring in a little income while also being a homemaker, wife, and mother. If you need a little help in how you can contribute finacially, well, here you go!

I hope you are inspired to check into the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Library Bundle Sale a little more. It runs from April 28-May 4 only. You’ll get 97 eBooks valued at $640 for only $29.97. You’ll also get over $140 worth of free products! Learn more here!

This post may be linked to:

Frugal Crafty Home

Filed Under: Homemaking

It’s Here! The Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle Sale!

April 29, 2013 by Joanie 1 Comment

Please note this post does contain affiliate links.

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! The long awaited Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle Sale is finally here! I’m so excited to share this with y’all. Several of these books have been on my list for quite some time and now I can get them, plus a lot of other fantastic eBooks and resources for one cheap price!

For 6 days only, more than 75 widely-known bloggers and authors in the homemaking sphere have joined together to offer 97 of their most popular eBooks and eCourses, valued at just over $600, for the incredibly low price of $29.97!

More than anything, our goal for this sale was for it to be, well… ultimate! We firmly believe that you will not find a more comprehensive collection of homemaking resources anywhere on the web, and particularly not in this price range. For this low price, you gain access to every single one of these resources, so that you can customize your own collection to contain exactly the ones you want and know you’ll use.

This library of homemaking helps include topics such as mothering, organization and cleaning, recipes and kitchen helps, home education, spiritual growth for both moms and kids, home décor and DIY, pregnancy and baby care, frugal living, health and fitness, and even work-from-home and financial tools.

To sweeten the pot, we’ve also teamed up with 10 companies to bring you over $140 in bonus offers, giving you an affordable opportunity to get products you’ll use and love for only the cost of shipping, or in some cases, entirely for free!

What’s Included in the Sale?

When you purchase The Ultimate Homemaking eBook collection, you will get instant access to any of the 97 eBooks and eCourses listed below.

PLUS over $140 of FREE Bonuses

The Ultimate Homemaking eBook collection comes with more than $140 of FREE Bonuses from 10 companies that we know you’ll love. More on these bonuses below.

Please note: This collection is only available from 9 a.m. EST on April 29th to 11:59 p.m. EST on May 4th. There will be no late sales offered.

PLUS, You will receive FREE Bonuses from these companies…

A FREE Two-Month Membership to Fit2B Studio (for new members) or $20 off a Yearly Membership (for current members), where their wholesome workouts for the whole family are tummy safe and particularly target Diastasis Recti (split abs). ($19.98 value. No shipping restrictions.)

A $15 store credit to TruKid. With products like their aware-winning sun care, they are dedicated to providing all natural skin and hair care for kids, babies, and now pets. ($15.00 value. Standard shipping applies. International shipping available.)

Your choice of incredible natural products like sea salt and clay for FREE. Choose from the Redmond Trading Earthpaste Bundle ($24.90 value) or the Facial Mud Bundle ($26.90 value). (Standard shipping applies. Continental US only.)

Your choice of a FREE heirloom sourdough starter or FREE yogurt starter from Cultures for Health, the leading supplier of starter cultures and supplies for making cultured and fermented foods ($12.95 value. US & CAN addresses only. Standard shipping applies.)

Your choice of: a FREE 3-Month Subscription (for new accounts) or 30% off a One Year Subscription. Plan to Eat is an online menu planner that uses your recipes, scheduled for the days you want them. ($15.00 value. No shipping restrictions.)

A FREE Culinary Herbs Assorted Seed Pack Check just in time for spring planting from www.wheatgrasskits.com, a living whole foods company. ($11.95 value. Standard shipping applies to all US states and territories- no international shipping for seeds.)

Get $10 off Union28′s original “my husband rocks” tee. Their marriage apparel lets you celebrate your spouse in style. ($10.00 value. Standard shipping rates apply. International shipping available, but free shipping only available within USA.)

A $10 store credit plus 1 FREE lip balm from Bee All Natural. Their whole body products nourish and heal, and are made using only the highest quality, food grade, organic ingredients. ($13.49 value. Standard shipping applies. International shipping available.)

A FREE 2 oz. bottle of your choice of liquid herbal formula from TriLight Health. They specialize in fast acting, great tasting natural herbal remedies. ($12.95 value or more. Standard shipping applies, within the USA only.)

Your choice of 3 FREE ePlanners OR a 3-Month FREE Membership to ListPlanIt, whose mobile lists will help to organize your life. ($15.00 value. No shipping restrictions.)

The fine print:

Bonus Offers

Each bonus offer can be redeemed once only per eBook Bundle purchase.
For each bonus offer, transaction numbers or proof of purchase may be required at the time of redemption.
All bonus offers are free gifts from the bonus sponsors, are their sole responsibility to provide, and are subject to availability.
All bonus offers expire at midnight on May 19th, 2013 (2 weeks from the last day of this sale).

General

It is your responsibility to download and back-up your purchase within the 1-month download time-frame. With proof of purchase, we can renew download links up until August 1st, 2013. After this date we will no longer have access to the books and will not be able to provide any new links to download.
Due to the nature of this sale, there will be no refunds available. However, we would invite you to read our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn more about the file types, the download process, how the bonus offers work, etc.

Please note: This collectionis only available from 9 a.m. EST on April 29th to 11:59 p.m. EST on May 4th. There will be no late sales offered, so make sure that you get your bundle right away!

Particularly for those wanting to read these ebooks on their mobile devices (iPhones or iPads, Android, Kindle, etc.) you will want to learn more about the file types, how to download them correctly, and how to transfer them to your device.

This post includes affiliate links, and I make a portion of the sale of each ebook bundle. Thanks for your support of this site!

Filed Under: Homemaking

Coming Soon: The Ultimate Homemaking eBook Library Bundle Sale!

April 25, 2013 by Joanie Leave a Comment

You may have already heard, but in case you haven’t there is an amazing sale beginning this Monday that you do not want to miss! The Ultimate Homemaking eBook Library Bundle Sale includes a complete homemaking eBook library of 97 eBooks, 5 eCourses, and over $140 worth of free products that you can have for just $29.97!

If you’re like me, you love to read. I learn so much from books. Here are the topics included in this amazing sale!

Home & Property {Cleaning and Organizing}
Education {Homeschooling & Spiritual Teaching}
Budgeting {Finance & Time}
In the Kitchen {Recipes and Cooking}
Baby Care
Holidays & Special Events
Spiritual Growth
Marriage/Romance
Motherhood
Health & Fitness
Beauty
Working from Home/Blogging

I actually own a few of these eBooks already. Here are my favorites:

31 Days To Clean

Simply Summer

How To Grow Your Blog and Manage Your Home

What Do I Do With All Those Books?

Okay, so maybe you aren’t interested in all of the topics on this list, or you don’t think you could ever read 97 eBooks. I have some ideas for you.

You can give away the eBooks you aren’t interested in or that you already own. That’s right. Just think, you could give your friends an eBook for Mother’s Day or Just Because. When else could you give someone a gift that only costs .33?

Erin from The Humbled Homemaker has put together a lovely post on how to organize an eBook library if you want to keep the eBooks all to yourself! And really, this would be a great Mother’s Day present to yourself from Hubby!

How Do I Read an eBook anyway?

Maybe you haven’t jumped on the eBook bandwagon yet. That’s ok! You can read eBooks on your computer, you can print them out onto paper, you can use your Kindle or even your smartphone. There’s an app for that! I read my eBooks on my Kindle or my iPhone. My Kindle has an email address that I simply mail the PDF copy of the eBook to and it instantly shows up on my Kindle. I have also used a FREE Kindle app on my iPhone to read eBooks the same way right on my iPhone. If you want more information on how to read eBooks, you can find that here.

Stay Tuned! This sale will go LIVE on Monday. If you don’t want to miss it, you might consider subscribing to my blog!

************

Speaking of amazing eBooks, I have to tell you about Intentional Blogger. Nikki and Leigh Ann of Christian Mommy Blogger just launched this eBook yesterday. I bought it and read through over half of it last night. It is full of so much information and I have already put some of their tips to good use!

Intentional Blogger is for you if you are a Christian blogger who wants to grow your eMinistry, your blog! No matter if you are a brand new blogger or if you’ve been doing this for a couple of years, there is something new in this book that you can use. Plus, it’s full of amazing printables to help you get your blogging life organized!

Intentional Blogger normally sells for $16. You can get it for just $12 with the code “LAUNCH25.” If you subscribe to Christian Mommy Blogger’s newsletter, you can get the eBook for just $8.00. Find the details here.

Please note this post does contain affiliate links! Please see our disclosure policy for more information.

Filed Under: Homemaking, Homeschooling, kids & Natural Parenting, Marriage and Love, Motherhood, Recipes, Saving Money and Budgets

How To Use Lavender In Your Home

April 18, 2013 by Joanie 2 Comments

Photo Credit: Mrs. Magic on Flickr CC

There is nothing like walking into your home and inhaling a pleasant scent. One of my favorite scents of all-time is lavender. It has a slightly sweet, strong and relaxing fragrance. I will explain how to use lavender essential oil and lavender flowers in your home.

Lavender Essential Oil

I recently started dabbling in essential oils. So far, my favorite essential oil is lavender. The smell is just so completely calming and relaxing that I absolutely love to use it. I strictly use my lavender essential oil for aromatherapy purposes. Apparently you can also use essential oils topically and internally, but that is a whole can of worms that I have yet to open! You have to be careful about what brands you use internally. I just like the way it smells.

Lavender essential oil is known for soothing and relieving stress. Here are the ways that I use my lavender essential oil.

Bath Soak

I add a cup of Epsom salts and about 4 drops of lavender essential oil to the bath for a relaxing soak.

Foot Soak

I use a Conair foot bath and add 1/2 cup of Epsom salts and a couple of drops of lavender essential oil and soak my feet before doing an at-home pedicure.

Carpet Refresher

Add 1 cup of baking soda and 10-15 drops of lavender essential oil to a jar. (I use an old applesauce jar. An old parmesan cheese shaker would work well, too). Shake jar to combine. Generously sprinkle the mixture on your carpet and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Vaccum up.

Linen Spray

I fill a 2 oz. spray bottle with distilled water and add around 10 drops of lavender essential oil. I like to mist my sheets for a heavenly, relaxing bed.

Your Thriving Family has a great post with other ideas for using lavender essential oil.

Natural Fabric Softener

Add a drop or two to the white vinegar you use during the rinse cycle as a fabric softener.

Lavender Flowers

I am growing a lavender plant this year! The aroma from the little plant is just wonderful. I plan to harvest its flowers when it is time.

Lavender Floral Arrangements

My husband and I enjoy growing flowers. We plan to use our lavender flowers in some floral arrangements in our home. The natural scent of the flowers will be lovely.

Lavender Potpourri

I will use the dried flowers of lavender to make a homemade potpourri. Just add the dried leaves to a bowl in your home or mix them with other dried herbs.

Lavender Satchets

Place the dried flowers of lavender in small satchet bags and store in your dresser drawers to keep your clothes fresh.

Do you like the smell of lavender? How do you use it in your home?

This post may be linked to:

The Better Mom, Raising Arrows, Mama Moments Monday, Teach Me Tuesday, Homemaking Link Up, Monday Musings, Mama Moments, Marital Oneness, Motivation Monday, Natural Living Link-Up,Titus2sday, Artful Tuesdays, Women Living Well Wednesdays, Encourage One Another, Wisdom Wednesdays, Hearts for Home, Thrive at Home,Thriving Thursdays, Weekend Whatever, Fellowship Fridays

Filed Under: Cleaning and Organizing, Gardening, Homemaking, Simple Living

The Best Freezer Containers

September 10, 2012 by Joanie Leave a Comment

I remember the first time I tried freezer cooking. I felt completely lost when it came to storing my food in the freezer and avoiding freezer burn. There have been so many times that I have pulled some frozen food out of my freezer only to find that it is freezer burnt! Do not cook freezer burnt meat. Yuck!

Since then, I’ve pretty much learned what the best freezer containers are. After you prepare your freezer meals, you have disposable and non-disposable options for storing your food.

Join me over at Intentional By Grace so we can talk freezer storage options. How do you store your freezer meals?

Filed Under: Homemaking, Real Food and Health, Simple Living Tagged With: freezer meals

The Homemaker’s Dilemma

July 2, 2012 by Joanie 8 Comments

As a little girl I dreamt of taking care of my babies and keeping my home. I would rock my baby dolls to sleep, change their clothes, and feed them bottles. I would play kitchen and whip up delicious meals for my little family. I would chop up weeds for salad and mix up mud pies. All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a wife and mother.

If only life were so simple.

I married my husband at a young age. We agreed before we got married that I would finish college and stay at home with our children. It was our plan. As much as I love being a homemaker and a stay at home mom, I have felt very conflicted.

Mr. Simple and I are no strangers to struggle. We have been impacted tremendously by the economy. My husband chose to work for his dad’s small business, and we have suffered because of it. Now he is trying to work, go to college, and serve as a reservist in the military all at the same time to keep our family afloat. I can’t help but wonder, am I not doing enough? Shouldn’t I be contributing financially?

We live fairly simply. Sure, we do some fun things every now and then and we pay for technology that is considered a luxury, but we try to keep things minimal. Since I am the homemaker, I do what I can to save us money where I can. I’ve always been frugal. I meal plan, consign children’s items, buy children’s items on consignment, and try to keep us within budget.

I know how hard it is for families to survive on one income in today’s world. I wish it wasn’t so tough. I wish it wasn’t so difficult. I wish I didn’t have to fight between my heart’s desire to stay at home with my babies and keep my house and the push to go out and make more so we don’t struggle.

I am a firm believer that I have been called to serve at home. Recently, I have had some opportunites thrown my way that would allow me to be a homemaker and keep my family first, while also earning a little and taking a bit of the burden off of my husband. I feel truly thankful and blessed for these opportunities.

The Proverbs 31 woman has inspired me. I’ve been following along with the Proverbs 31 study going on over at Good Morning Girls and I am drawing strength from these verses:

“She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.”
Proverbs 31:17-18

When times get tough, we have to persevere. I need to be stronger than I have been, and I’m going to try my best while also keeping my priorities in check.

Have you ever felt conflicted as a homemaker?

Happily linking with:

Filed Under: Homemaking Tagged With: homemaker, proverbs 31

Housekeeping Routine

January 12, 2012 by Joanie 4 Comments

Keeping house tends to be one of my biggest “jobs” as a homemaker. While I admit I’m a fairly organized, type-A personality by nature, I wasn’t a born housekeeper. I like things to be neat and tidy, yet sometimes I lack the motivation to make them that way.

It’s only been in the past year or so that I’ve really started to embrace homemaking and keeping house. I think I waited so long because there were so many projects that needed to be done around the house. I felt like this place wasn’t really “home” until those projects were done. Well, most of the projects still aren’t done (ahem, the kitchen), but I realized I was so wrong. This house is our home whether my cabinets are only half-painted and my back splash needs to be re-done. (Yeah, that’s no joke. I just may show you pictures once we actually get started on completing that long-awaited project.)

Making our small house cozy and comfortable is a priority. So is keeping it clean, especially with little ones running around. You won’t find a museum here. There may be blocks on my living room rug and crumbs underneath my kids’ highchairs, but that’s okay!

The Internet is full of housekeeping lists and calendars. They tell you what to do and when to do it. You know what? I tried keeping house with those types of lists and I failed. My life is busy! I may have a 15 month old who wants to be held most of the day, so I can’t scrub the toilet. When that happens the whole calendar gets messed up, and well, that bothers me.

My housekeeping routine is simple. I have things I do every day. These are the things that pretty much have to be done or there is chaos. I have things that I do weekly (or almost). These are the things that need to be done to keep my home really clean and healthy. Then I have things that get done on an as needed basis, aka when I have time and feel like doing them. These are things that are nice to do, but I don’t have time to do them as often as I would like.

Daily Chores

Wash dishes. Put dishes in drying rack. Put away dishes. Repeat at least two more times during the day. I don’t have a dishwasher. It wasn’t so bad when it was just me and Mr. Simple. Now there are days I feel I am drowning in dishes.

Clean counter tops, stove top, and kitchen table. Yeah, crumbs, sticky gunk, it all collects in these spots and they need to be cleaned daily.

Sweep kitchen floor. Bust out the steam mop if the kids cooperate.

Vacuum main living areas. I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old. Daily vacuuming is a necessity.

Wipe down bathroom sink. See the reason above.

Do laundry. I do one to three loads a day depending on how far behind I get. This includes folding and putting them away. Much to my husband’s dismay, I don’t iron hardly ever, and I don’t fold to Army standards, lol!

Weekly Chores

Dusting and mirror cleaning.

Vacuum bedrooms.

Scrub the bathtub and bathroom floor.

Attempt to organize things around the house and give stray objects a home. I like to re-purpose things like baskets to hold stray objects. I recently added a basket to our entry table to catch keys. We were losing keys way too much.

Chores that are done when I get to them

Giving the kitchen floor a deep cleaning/scrubbing.

Cleaning baseboards.

Cleaning ceiling fans. I hate furry ceiling fans, but I hate cleaning them, too!

Deep cleaning/purging the office.

I think that about covers most of the stuff I do around here. It doesn’t look like a lot, but I feel like I’m doing chores off and on all day! Like I said, lists just don’t work for me. At least not in this season of life. Snuggling on the couch with a baby in my arms takes priority over scrubbing baseboards any day!

What’s your housekeeping routine look like?

Photo credit

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Filed Under: Cleaning and Organizing, Homemaking

My Reading List for 2012

January 5, 2012 by Joanie 6 Comments

After reading Money Saving Mom’s reading list for 2012, I was inspired to make my own reading list. Now, I’m not going to commit myself to reading two books per month. Now is just not the time for me to put that kind of pressure on myself. There may be months I only get through one book, and there may be months I can get through three or four.

So, I decided to make a list of books I would really like to read this year. Some of these books I’ll be able to get at my library, and some of these books I will have to purchase.

I have a variety of ebooks and paper books that I want to tackle this year. Each book will hopefully help me learn a little bit and grow more as a person. I’m going to dive into some more real food books, some homeschooling books, and just some good, Christian books.

Without further ado, here is my reading list for 2012!

Blog Design on a Dime

Real Food Basics

31 Days to Clean

Lineage of Grace Series

The Soapmaker’s Companion

A Love That Multiplies

Real Food: What to Eat and Why

The Maker’s Diet

For the Love of Learning: Information & Resources for Combining Charlotte Mason & Classical Education

The Love Dare

His Needs, Her Needs

Homesteading: A Backyard Guide to Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal Medicine, and More

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition

One Thousand Gifts

So, that’s my list this year. I want to read a lot of homesteading books because the subject fascinates me and one day I’d like to be a lot more self-sufficient.

What’s on your reading list?

Please note: This post is full of affiliate links either to Christianbook.com, Barnes and Noble.com, or the websites of the ebook authors. Any money made from the sales from my page goes straight to building my family’s emergency fund. I have ordered from every site above and never had a problem. Obviously, I cannot recommend these books as “great reads” because I have not read all of them. They have all been highly recommended to me, though. In case you’re wondering, I cannot be an affiliate of Amazon because Amazon does not allow the affiliate program in my state of residence.

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Filed Under: Cleaning and Organizing, Homeschooling, Marriage and Love, Real Food and Health, Simple Living Tagged With: reading list

A Red Front Door?

November 5, 2011 by Joanie Leave a Comment

I’m in a mood to give my house a new look. We moved into our 1100 square foot circa 1971 home four years ago with a lot of plans to spice it up, and well, there’s a lot we still have not done. A lot of it has to do with time and money, but paint doesn’t cost that much and I know it can dramatically change the appearance of a home.

We originally wanted to sell the house and buy a bigger one by now, but with the job situations and the fact that we currently owe more on the house than it would sell for we are stuck here for a little while longer. I figure if we can’t move, I might as well be happy with what I see every day.

Our house is white. I think there’s a mixture of wood and aluminum siding on the house. The front of the house is in desperate need of a face-lift. I’m planning to repaint the entire front of the house white. The other sides of the house are in decent shape, they just need a good cleaning with a pressure washer. The windows have a black frame, the front porch light and house numbers are black, and our roof is a dark charcoal color. So, right now we just have a plain, old black and white house!

There is one major eyesore on the front of our house. It drives me CRAZY! The previous owners converted the one car garage to an extra bedroom and they did a shoddy job of closing in the exterior garage door “hole” or whatever you call it. It’s recessed, the window does not fit properly and the siding they put up does not match at all. I hate it. I’ve tried to convince Mr. Simple to build it out for me and make it match the rest of the house. I mean, he used to be a carpenter. One of these days, hopefully, he will finally fix it for me! I know it’ll be a big job, but it’s just so ugly the way it is now!

Back to the topic, though. I want to paint our front door red. I love the look of a red front door on a crisp, white house. I want to freshen up the front of the house and paint my door red. We do have an ugly black screen door that will have to go to highlight my front door, but I think it will make the house so much warmer and inviting. I want a home that people feel welcomed.

The house above has similar colors to our house. I’m in love with this look. Paint is such a simple and inexpensive way to make a home feel cozy! (Image: Style Court)

I’d like to add a planter and a glider to the front porch and a windowbox to the window that is in that ugly garage door “hole.” I’ve got plans to spice up my house with paint. Maybe I’ll share some pictures as we start the transformation!

Filed Under: Homemaking, The House Tagged With: front door