*Thank you Gordmans for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own
HOME DECOR: GORDMANS
Our family is going through so many changes in 2020. We’re kicking off this year with 3 children. A number that outnumbers the parents. As yall know, Easton came to live with us the second half of last year so this will be our first full year with him. Tommy’s contract also ends in October so he’ll be getting out of the military and moving in with us in Houston. We’re starting this year fresh with new goals for our family; to create more memorable moments at home.
Traveling is something that I absolutely love and cherish. Growing up, my mom raised 4 children on her own. She worked 50+ hours a week, 365 days of the year, to give us everything and more. We didn’t travel for 12+ years. So, as an adult, I do want to see more of the world. With that being said, when I look back at my favorite moments as a child, they were all spent at home with my siblings and mom.
For a while, I thought that I needed to take my children to all these cool extravagant places in order for them to be in pure happiness. That those moments were the only ones that they’ll remember for years and years. I’ve learned that those memorable moments can be made at home, not just on trips, birthdays, or holidays. Liam often comes up to me and ask me “Mom, do you remember when we built a huge fort in our old house in Colorado and played in the snow?”. Liam was almost 3 years old when that happened and it amazes me that he remembers that day, which was just a regular day at home.
When we lived in Colorado, we rented townhouses and it never truly felt like home. It felt like another place we were living in for the next year. I want our family to come home and feel like they’re home. Those “home-y” vibes that makes you want to sit on the sofa, relax, light a warm candle, and never leave.
After we took the Christmas decorations down, our house felt and looked empty! I wanted to redecorate our home in neutral pieces so that they would last all year round. I took the boys to Gordmans to pick out some new home décor and ended up finding TONS of decorations that were really affordable. Gordmans is an off-price retailer which means they buy excess inventory from department and specialty stores and then sell it at greatly reduced prices. I had 2 whole carts of home pieces and when I checked out, it ended up being less than $200 to decorate my entire living room and the playarea. Gordmans is an off-price retailer that offers a huge selection on beauty, decor, fashion, and more. The location in Rosenberg, Tx has one of the biggest home sections I’ve ever seen.
Some tips that I’ve learned about home décor is not leaving too many empty walls. I put this “You & Me” sign up in the children’s playroom because it looked like a random area where we threw our toys. Putting pictures of our family made our home feel like ours. For the living room, I think we all want to come home and dive into our comfy sofa. I picked up tons of neutral colored pillows for the sofa so our family could cozy up together. My primary colors are black, white, and tan. I love the modern tones of these colors and when spring, summer, fall, and winter come around again, I can easily add pops of colors.
We’ve been spending a lot more time at home and I love these 5 activities that yall can try out too!
1) Pizza Night! The boys absolutely love making their own pizzas and continue to ask about the next pizza night. Instead of ordering pizza or getting a frozen one, make it a night by making your own. It’s also a lot easier than it seems. We buy premade dough at the grocery store, toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, ect), mozzarella cheese, and red pizza sauce.
2) Create a family photo board! My children love looking at pictures, so we put together this board with a favorite moment that they each chose. We hung it up on our living room walls. Gordmans has a great selection of picture wall décor that you can pick up.
3) Make a family art poster! I picked up some canvas boards and oil pastels and drew out family pictures. With the oil pastels it makes the posters look more like art versus a pieces of printer paper the children scribbled on.
4) Camp Night Indoors! Here in Texas, the weather isn’t the greatest so camping indoors was a big thing for me growing up. We haven’t done this our children yet but I’d love to buy an affordable tent, hang lights up, fill the tent with blankets, read books, and bake some smore’s.
5) Board Game Night! Pop open a board game and pick out some of your families favorite snacks and drinks. Since I grew up in the 90’s our family nights were filled with board games and puzzles, not Netflix. Pictionary and monopoly were some of my favorites growing up. There are several kid friendly boards games out there and of course the classics as your children get older.
Thank you so much for reading!
xo,
Annie
*Photos by Arzu Photography