Week in the Life Questions
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 4:16PM 
Today, answers to the questions that came up in the comments last week!
Our interior house paint color is Sherwin-Williams Atmospheric, I used it on the walls and ceiling throughout the entire house. I get a lot of comments on how soothing it is! It's definitely my favorite wall color that I've ever had.
To the very sweet person who told me I had a "decorating blog worthy" house, thank you so very much! The photos that I've shared basically show the whole house! It isn't particularly big, though it is well laid-out and very much loved. About half of our furniture comes from Ikea, and our entire kitchen did as well!
About our books and tea:
This is actually a fairly recent phenomenon, and a way that we are easing into the idea of homeschool. We do dishes and tidy up the kitchen after breakfast, pop through some laundry, I put the baby down for her morning nap, and we make a big pot of tea. It's usually a decaf black tea, though we have several different varieties (and we all take milk or cream in our tea). We sit down around the kitchen table and I get our books down from our "school shelf". We have some books that we read every day (The Children's Bible Reader is one of them, as well as poetry) and then I add a couple of picture books. We sit and drink our tea and I read aloud. We look at the books together and discuss things that come up. That's about it! Mary has declared it her "favorite time of day", which I love! It's especially nice on the three mornings a week that we can share our morning tea reads with daddy, as he's home two full days and one morning during the week. The only day we don't have tea and reading is Sunday, when we usually talk about the week's scripture readings and listen to Ancient Faith radio (this is a great one for Sunday mornings, and we love the music channel as well).
Our necklaces are from Inspired by Finn, and I added their baptismal crosses with a pair of jeweler's pliers and jump rings.
It's so nice to swim in a saltwater pool!
I bought Paton's for Juliana's sweater, she chose the light grey.
These are our candleholders on the mantel; I change what's in the bottom space seasonally. Right now it's seashells and rocks we've collected from the beach.
If you have any more questions, just ask in the comments!
I'll be back tomorrow with some reflections on my Week in the Life project this year.
Reader Comments (15)
This series has been simply beautiful Kira -- and I agree -- your home is simply beautiful!
Thank you for sharing your week Kyrie. I looked forward to each day and appreciated all the laundry you do! I thought we were the only ones with that many loads. Thank you for talking a little about your tea and reading idea - we are entering our first full year of homeschool and I am finding that it is harder than I expected to find a rhythm with it. I really like the idea of making the tea (we are all tea lovers here too) and having that as part of the signal to transition into reading time. Thanks again for sharing all the images of your sweet family.
Hillary
Did even your appliances (oven, etc) come from Ikea? Now that we have an Ikea here, I am seriously looking into its possibilities for furniture and, eventually, kitchen.
Hi Kyrie--I posted this question on your husband's Facebook too, but through I would try it here (and I also came up with another question as well, lol.)
Did you all build the fire pit and seating area yourselves or was it there when you bought your house? I love it and want to try something similar at our new house--I think it would be such a wonderful place to encourage outdoor gatherings. :)
Also, is your white secretary/cabinet from IKEA as well? Love it!
:), Marie
P.S. I never get tired of looking at your pictures and reading your blog; I am constantly inspired as a mother and a homemaker when I read your words and view your images...and my family especially thanks you for many of your ideas, but most specifically for sharing your pinto beans recipe...it has grown to be such a favorite; I will never buy store bought refried beans again!
Hi Kyrie, I really enjoy reading your blog. It is one of a few regulars I check in on for mothering wisdom and inspiration for creating a loving and warm home environment for my family. In addition to your words of wisdom, I love the bowls in your final week in the life post (with porridge and blueberries written on them). Can you tell me what brand of crockery they are? Many thanks - for your time, and for your blog. Best wishes, Sarah
I also really enjoy your posts and have loved this series. I'm curious about your couch. A white couch! I really want a white couch too but am afraid of it with the children! Where is yours from and how do you handle the white with kiddies?
Such a lovely blog - have been following for a while and just love it and am inspired!
Oh, thank you! Thanks for sitting down and answering all those burning questions. I think I was anticipating your answers to those almost as much as I anticipated each new day of photos in your series. I hope you'll do it again soon.
In fact, I'll pipe up and ask for a day in the life post from you -- I'd love to read all about your day from beginning to end. I know that's kind of what you just did, but for those of us hankering for details (and perhaps slightly nervous soon-to-be homeschoolers, too), I know I'd enjoy reading about your typical schedule. What time is tea? Do you follow any of the Waldorf-y daily rhythms with baking or painting, etc? That kind of thing. (I'm being pushy here, but I find your blog to be very inspirational!)
And the tea and reading idea will certainly be snatched up around here. I think it's such a great transition time, and as you said, a way to ease into the homeschooling life.
Thanks, again!
Oh, I just remembered one more question that I forgot to ask earlier -- the girls' dollhouse. Can you tell me where it's from and if they love it? A dollhouse/farm is on our list of things to buy our girls for Christmas, but I don't want something too huge. But, at the same time, I definitely want it to be big enough that they'll enjoy it for years. I'd love some suggestions!
I was struck by how beautiful your home looked in these pictures, too. It's one thing to give the impression of loveliness in a few carefully edited photos, but in a weeks worth of action shots showing most of the house it seemed remarkable. I also loved getting a peek into life with small children. Lots of laundry, huh? I don't mind laundry
I really enjoyed your week. Thanks for giving us a glimpse of the day to day!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us, Kyrie. I really enjoyed the glimpses into your backyard, do you think you could post some more pics of your yard? We are currently trying to change our backyard landscaping to be a more magical playspace for our 5 children and your pictures have been quite inspiring.
Hi Kyrie,
Thanks so much for the beautiful peak into your week! I was curious what your husband does that allows him flexibility to be home some days. I am contemplating a career move and would love to have a similar schedule!
Thanks,
Emily
Thanks for the glimpse into your life! I'm NAK, so I can't write too much, but I want to thank you for everything you choose to share here--warmth week, this week--very, very inspiring. I remember you once wrote a post about your daily schedule. It changed the way I thought about rhythm entirely! You talked about early bedtime and not having people over after a certain time (I do hope I'm remembering this correctly?). Is there any chance you can locate that in the archives? I can't seem to find it! Anyhow, thanks for the inspiration!
Another heartfelt thank you for a peek into your home. I can't be the only one wishing you could post your wisdom more often. I really have learned so very much from you. One of my favorite bits of wisdom is to do one thing each night to make your home more lovely. I try and do that as often as I can.
Also, to Jennifer (above regarding the magical garden) I suggest checking from the library A Child's Garden by Molly Dannenmaier. Lots of beautiful photos.
Thank you so much for answering all these questions, Kyrie. Many of them were mine! I'm especially inspired to find out that your kitchen is from Ikea. I started saving recently for a new, much needed and wanted kitchen, and I assume it will come (evetually) from Ikea, so I'm happy to see that your dream kitchen is from there too. I'd love to hear more about those butcher block counter tops. One of my blog readers cautioned me against them, saying they are stained and oily only a year after purchase. Do you spend an inordinate amount of time oiling them? Are they a pain? Wood countertops are what I really really want.
Sorry for all the questions! Your life and home are just so inspiring and you seem to have it "all together" so I want to know more! Thanks again for a week of such inspiring posts. I loved it all.
Mary Beth