FYI: Metal daybeds are not built to stand the test of time… or children jumping on them.

No one was hurt, but Mia’s daybed is irreparably broken. We headed out to the clearance center (where else would we go?) to find a new bed. It was actually cheaper to buy a bunk bed than a single one! $300.00 Later, we had a very early birthday present for the twins.

They were thrilled. We were not so thrilled when we realized that it was completely disassembled. This opens up a lot of space in their room, and I have never seen them so happy to get a piece of furniture. As for the other bed, well, I see a trip to a scrap metal yard in our future. Oh, the things we do for our kids.

Home Scenes Description: Christmas cards have filled the frame of the kitchen window, and a Sparkling Cinnamon Yankee Candle burns on the stove top. The dog is napping on his blanket at the end of the sofa, and the kids are in bed. It is so peaceful, sitting by the glow of the Christmas tree.

Our living room coffee table has a slate top surrounded by wood. The finish was uneven, and it looked dirty. Since we already had the sander ready to refinish a few stair treads, I figured it would be a good time to sand and stain the coffee table. I knew it wasn’t solid wood, but I had no idea that it had an incredibly thin veneer. It was a mess. We had to paint it instead.

I chose this color by Behr:

It’s a nice earth tone that compliments the slate nicely. I am glad we were able to fix the problem. Here’s the end result:

Our new garage doors have been installed!

We immediately noticed a difference in the temperature of the front bedrooms. The garage is warmer, and we don’t have to worry about leaves, rain, and snow getting inside anymore. I’m sure we will also see a difference on our heating bills this winter.

We need to sand down some of the stair treads this week. Aside from paint touch-ups and cleaning a little mildew off the master bathroom ceiling, we haven’t been doing much with the house. Our washer and dishwasher stopped working on Thanksgiving. We had to call a repairman for the washer, but the dishwasher was too expensive to repair. We are going to list the old one as-is on Craigslist after the holidays. I’m just glad to have a functioning (and warm) household again!

It just wouldn’t be Christmastime without sneaking outside to add more lights. I have been doing this for almost 20 years. Micah had said something about putting lights on the apple trees. He wanted to use icicle lights, but I wasn’t sure how it would look. As it turns out, it looks very nice (especially from the main road nearby).

750ish Lights later.

We had our living room sofa for about 3 1/2 years. It was super cheap “leather” (some areas, i.e. seat cushions, were real, and others were not). Dare I call it… pleather? OK, I should have known better. We have two cats in the house. They never actually scratched it, but their claws poked the cushions whenever they jumped on or off them. I spent way too much time dabbing that thing with a Sharpie. We also started feeling kind of crammed:

We got a special holiday promo card from the clearance center. I really didn’t plan on buying anything. Micah knew better. He says I can never walk out of that place without buying something. We ended up getting this for less than half of its original price:

It was a showroom model of a Kathy Ireland Home Wellsley sectional. They still sell it on their website, but this color was discontinued. It’s a warm sort of honey beige. I think it looks nice with the oak floors.

There were some black marks on one of the cushions, and a few scratches on the wood at the bottom. The salesperson fixed everything for us. They have some amazing industrial cleaners there, along with an enormous bag of stain pens. I am too embarrassed to ask what they use, and they manage to conceal the product names by using clear spray bottles.

We had to make two trips to bring it home (they don’t offer delivery). We moved the old sofa and my recliner to the garage. I don’t know how we moved everything around as quickly as we did!

I am so sad to part with the recliner. We just don’t have space for it anymore. I am selling both pieces right now. With any luck, that will further offset the price of the sectional. Micah said this is our Christmas gift to each other. Expensive? Yes. But it keeps Micah from having to go to HomeGoods or Kohl’s this year in an attempt to find something I’d like. You’re welcome.

The living room feels completely different now. It’s so warm and inviting. Everyone has a place to sit and stretch. Barney has his own spot to sit on the chaise at the end. He even claimed his own hand-me-down blanket from Lily. He’s a spoiled pup.

We’re true homebodies. We don’t go on vacations or eat at restaurants, so we are home a lot. We’re really going to enjoy this sectional!

There haven’t been many changes to last year’s indoor decorations, with a few exceptions:

Heavy stocking holders (finally!),

monogram ornaments on the kids’ trees,

a tiny silver tree on our nightstand,

and a wine bottle lamp.

We will head to the tree farm on Thanksgiving. Is it just me, or does it still feel like September? I have no idea where the last two months have gone!

We did not use as many lights as we did last year, but we made some changes. We brought back the inflatable Santa train, put candles in the windows, and illuminated the house with five red and green floodlights. I like the color scheme. We like to mix things up a bit so it doesn’t look exactly the same every year.

We also took out our nativity scene. I scoured the property for rocks to put in each piece so they don’t blow away as they did the last time we tried to put them out.

We finished the indoor decorations today as well. I will post pictures soon!

We got a couple of estimates for new garage doors. The second one was from the company who recently installed our new door opener. Their quote was $600.00 less than the first! We are going with the Stratford 2000 series by Amarr. It’s a double layer door (they said even the single layer one is three times more insulated than our existing 41-year-old doors). We went with short panels and clear glass. It’s a bi-level house with no window grids… So yes, I know I shouldn’t get too carried away with the exterior.

Installation day will be sometime in the next two weeks.