Little Pink House

Monkey Love

2012-01-03T18:52:00.000-06:00

This makes it slightly difficult to get thigs done...

Here's to a more productive 2012...

2012-01-02T20:45:00.002-06:00

I didn't get too much accomplished around the new house in 2011. I had big plans, but lacked the drive and energy to get anything major done. I'm not going to make any "resolutions", because I suck at follow through. I am the least competitive person you will ever meet and that extends to personal competition or challenges. I will say that I need to look a few pounds, move more, eat better, and follow-through on projects. I believe these are basically the same things I said last year, but there were a lot of changes in my life in 2011. Hopefully now that my personal life, home life, and work life are seemingly stabilized, I can focus more on myself and the beauty of the small things around me.

I did start the year off on high note, though. Back in June, I talked about a little trip to World Market where I bought napkins to turn into kitchen curtains. I needed eight to cover both windows in the kitchen, but only bought four, in case I changed my mind. Then they immediately discontinued that particular pattern (Tree of Life) and neither store in St. Louis, nor the website had four more napkins. They did however have a 60" x 90" tablecloth, which I snapped up, with the thought I could use the napkins I already owned to make pillow covers for the living room. It all then sat in my "project box" for, ooohhhh, six months. I even bought teal pom-pom trim from Joann's to make the curtains more "curtainey" and to tie the colors in with the dining room more. For some reason, projects involving precise measurements and cutting fabric are very intimidating for me.

Anywho, I finally turned the napkins into pillow covers today.

It was a super-easy, super quick project. I didn't use a tutorial; I simply cut one of the napkins in half, slightly overlapped the pre-sewn edges with the cut sides to the outside, placed the pretty side of the cut pieces against the pretty side of the non-cut napkin, pinned, then sewed up the edges.

Ta-Da.

Only problem?

They overlap completely, but only about an inch and after a teensy bit they start to pull open. I need to get a couple of buttons that coordinate and learn how to use the button-holer on my sewing machine. Maybe I'll get that taken care of by next January... lol

I'm linking up my pillow project over at Loribeth's blog Small Moments. Come check out the other "Shared Moments" posted.

Have you made pillows out of napkins? Do you prefer to use a zipper when you make pillows? Have you gotten any projects out of the way this year, yet? What resolutions do you have this year?

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

Things at work are still insanely crazy. I went from being "just the Receptionist", where I had about four hours of free time a day, to working eight to ten hours of overtime a week. All because my boss, who was the HR Manager and Event Coordinator, got fired (through no fault of her own). We had our annual Holiday Party last Friday, which I ended up coordinating from start to finish. Doesn't it just burn your biscuit when everybody wants their opinions heard and their finger in the pie and to be "kept in the loop", but no one actually wants to raise one of those fingers to help out? Pisses me the hell off. Grr.

Now we've got our annual Holiday Potluck, which (again) has all fallen on me. Where's my raise, people?!

I did manage to get the house all dolled up for Christmas, but feeling motivated enough to to post the pictures is another story. I basically just used all the decorations from last year, with the exception of my new wreath and a few ornaments to match the new color scheme.

LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM

I didn't do much in the rest of the house... But maybe next year I'll decorate the shelves J is building for me in the kitchen! I also wanted to make Christmas/Winter themed curtains for the kitchen, but didn't get around to it.

I'm just glad the Holidays are over this year. Between work and attempting to reach a Holiday event family balance with a new beau, I am worn out. Here's to a more productive 2012.

Dare to... Deck the Halls

2011-12-16T19:06:00.000-06:00

I'm joining up at Kim's Dare to... Deck the Halls over at Newly Woodwards!

I've always wanted a lovely white feather wreath, but I never wanted to shell out the cash to buy one... Last year I decided I'd make one, then Michael's and Hobby Lobby were both out of white feather boas when I went to buy them! Tragedy.

This year I decided to beat the crowds and bought my boas back in October.

I love it! I still HATE the color of the front door, but I love the white feathers! So pretty... One of these days I'll get around to painting the door. Some day. I'd LOVE to buy a new, beautiful, heavy wooden door with a pretty little window in it that actually matches the style of the house and lets me see who's on the porch... But I just shelled out three grand on tuckpointing and seeing as it's actually MY house and not OUR house, that made quite a painful dent in my savings account. Boo. Sometimes being a grown-up blows.

Okay, enough bitching, time for gratuitous close-ups and an unnecessary, and fairly useless, tutorial! Yay!

Oooohh... Feathers...

I added a glittery, little clip-on bird I found in the holiday section at Hobby Lobby. His beak is funny, but he's cute.

I used the largest Styrofoam wreath Hobby Lobby had (50% off, of course).

4 feather boas, also from Hobby Lobby (Not 50% off unfortunately. Those bastards are expeeensive!)

Then I found an end, and used three straight pins to keep it in place.

Wrap, Rinse, Repeat 4 times. And you have a fluffy, fun wreath! Hooray!

This is what the dogs were up to while I was busy wrapping boas.

Must be nice.

What have you made this year? This is it for me... Have you joined in at NewlyWoodwards? If not, go now!

Halloween Decor

2011-11-13T22:28:00.000-06:00

Since everyone else is busy talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas, I thought I'd better share my Halloween decoration before it's too late! I had a party again this year and people actually came! Amazing. However, after all the stress, preparation, more stress, and not eating all day I passed out after half a bottle of wine at 11:30 at night. During my party. With like 40 people in my house. Classy, no? Luckily J is freakin' awesome and entertained the guests for the rest of the evening.

I've been attempting to get this posted for a week now, so I'm just going to throw these pics up in no particular order.

Living Room


Ignore the deer head. He normally lives in the hallway to the basement, but we're having the house tuckpointed and J took him down.

Pillows with spiders on them, courtesy of Lilybethgoodies on etsy.

DINING ROOM

This was actually the next day and no, I didn't take the time to clean off the table.

I had J cut down some spare plywood for the labels and sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

The "spike" was Captain Morgan. Much preferable to Whiskey, IMO.


The "Salem Witch's Brew" was a concoction of Midori, Vodka, Raspberry Schnapps, Grenadine, Lime Juice, Tonic, and Soda Water. It's not great. As evidenced by the fact that this was two days later and the container is still almost full.


More cheesecloth.


I was still unpacking stuff and shoving it in here as people walked in the door. Nothing like being prepared...


I've had these Living Dead Dolls for about 10 years now. This is the first time they've been out of the box. I have an irrational fear of taking toys out of their boxes... I got the creepy doll head for $2 at a flea market.


LOVE my Ceramic Miner Skull! I hesitated for a year before finally making this purchase and I have never regretted it. I do regret waiting so long though.

BACK YARD

Not sure why the BBQ pit is in the "grass". Note: we have no grass, the dogs kilt it.

I bought a "Super Strobe" that J hide behind that left tombstone and pointed at the mirror. The previous owners had that mirror mounted to the side of the garage... Why?

Can you tell J was in charge of the backyard? He came back from Halloween Express with a whole buttload of gory stuff and I told him he could do whatever he wanted with it (in a very unenthusiastic tone). He took the hint and put it all up in back. He did a great job.

The graves looked veddy convincing IRL. If you ignore the crappy tombstones I bought at the grocery store in a last minute panic.

Did anyone else have a party? Were you actually prepared for yours? I'd say "Maybe next year", but I'm a habitual procrastinator. Did you decorate for Halloween? Most of my decorations are just my year round decor, I just make them more prominent during the "appropriate" season... lol

Where to begin?

2011-11-02T22:45:00.001-05:00

I've been AWOL for quite some time now. I have no exciting news to share with you... No pregnancy. Sorry. No big secrets. Nope. No major Before and Afters. Just life and lazyness getting in the way of posting.

Frankly, it's been so long and we've done so many projects, big and small, that I'm not sure where to start. I'm just going to jump right in with the changes we've made to the kitchen. I mentioned waaaaaayyy back in May that I was going to paint the kitchen either butter yellow or black. Black won.

BEFORE

AFTER

Try to ignore the mess and the giant tub of beer on the floor. We had a Halloween party on Saturday and that's how much beer we have left over. We are slowly making a dent in it, no worries. lol

BEFORE

AFTER

J ran new lights for me above the sink. It's ah.maz.ing. how much easier it is to do the dishes and cook when you can actually see what you're doing! They turned out super-great and look like they have always been there. He even added an extra switch on the opposite wall, so we can actually turn the kitchen lights on and off from the main part of the house, instead of just from the basement. It definitely pays to date an electrician.

Looking at the befores makes me wonder how I lived with that blue for as long as I did. Ick.

Actually I lived with this for a few months:

I really thought I was going to go with the yellow, but I hated everything I tried. Too yolky, too beige, too pale, too grellow, etc... The paint on the right above looks pretty in the picture, but IRL it made the trim look dingy and it was way too blah.

You can barely see it in the Before shot of the sink area, but I also painted the AC grates. They had been painted multiple times with varying shades of white and beige, but I sanded them down and sprayed them with Rustoleum's ORB. I also sprayed the cords, the ceiling cap, and the little hat-like piece of the original pendants ORB and the shades Satin White. It's makes a big difference from the hideous-cheapy-looking-blue-glass-shades-with-dingy-white-details lights they were. I will eventually replace them, but for now I am drained on cash. The house is being tuck-pointed and it's majorly hurting my bank account. Sucks being a grown-up.

I've totally been missing out on my blog reading... What have you guys been up to lately?

Monkey Love

2011-09-21T21:18:00.000-05:00

We have been getting lots of stuff done around here and I have actually been taking photos, alas I am still too lazy to post about projects. Work has been nuts; my boss left unexpectedly and they've expected me to pick up the slack... Suffice it to say, I've been ready to drop by the time I get home in the evenings. I thought I'd fill the silence with a funny little video J shot of the beasts.

Monkey Love

2011-09-08T21:20:00.001-05:00

Paint it Black

2011-08-08T21:29:00.001-05:00

I bought this little hall table for $30 off Craigslist about 18 months ago...

I fell for the cute little feet. I'm a sucker for furniture with feet.

It had a nice inlaid detail on the tabletop, but I was never 100% happy with the tone of the wood. I knew I wanted to paint it, but I couldn't decide on a color. The wall behind it was white, so white seemed boring... The mirror above it was bright, so a funky color seemed contrived and a bit spastic... And the chair that sat next it was black, so G thought it would be too much black...

So it stayed a nice, boring, predictable honey color.

Then I moved and it was no longer sitting against a white wall or under a bright blue mirror, and it no longer mattered what G thought... Liberating.

So I decided to paint it black.

Eventually the wall behind it will be Glidden's Berries and Cream, not quite as bright as the swatch you can see to the left, above the unicorn.

I decided to leave the original hardware, since it coordinates well with the hardware on the built-in's in the dining room (doorway to the left).

I love the way the black makes the details pop!

And since I am lazy and it has been 100 degrees in Saint Louis for weeks now, I decided to take the easy way out and spray paint it!

First I collected all my supplies and removed the drawers.

I used a can of Zinsser CoverStain primer and two cans of Rustoleum's Painter's Touch Ultra-Cover 2x in Semi-Gloss Black. I finished it off with Minwax Polycrylic in Semi-Gloss.

I taped off the body of the drawers and just sprayed the fronts and sides. Two coats of Cover Stain, sanding between.

Then two coats of black, again sanding between coats(with moistened water-proof 330 grit sandpaper).

Then I flipped the body and painted the feet, so I could be sure to get along the bottoms without having flip it over at the end and potentially mar the just finished top.

I did not sand it before I started, but I did wipe it down with Method All-Purpose Cleaner to make sure it was free of dust and grime.

Two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and two coats of poly. Simple, fairly quick (about two hours actual hands-on time), and inexpensive (all I had to buy was two cans of black spray paint, had the rest).

I love the way it turned out and I am so much happier with the piece now.

Have you painted anything recently? What do you think? Was black the right choice? This guy is the first thing I've painted black, but I liked him so much, he's not going to be the last... Stay tuned.

Monkey Love

2011-07-27T21:06:00.000-05:00

That is one happy monkey.

(Pardon my pasty white leg)

Instafriday

2011-07-08T07:30:00.001-05:00

It's time for another Instafriday, hosted by Jeannette at Life Rearranged.

J and I had a fun little Happy Hour last Wednesday with one of the new kids from work. Sometimes small gatherings are so much more fun than large ones.

My sexy man

We had some excitement to start off the weekend. We were working in the yard and had opened the gate to get the hose at one point... About ten minutes later, I happened to glance over and realized the gate was still open! Gidget was standing, looking out at the street, but no Dozer to be found. For those of you that have been around awhile, you may remember that Dozer is male dog aggressive, so I was freaking out, thinking he would hurt somebody's dog!

I started walking around the neighborhood, talking to the neighbors, and no one had seen him... J brought Gidget to me to see if we could "track him" and he hopped in his truck to look farther and quicker. I called 911, they gave me the non-emergency line, the lady answers the phone and... here comes Dozer, trotting across the yard two houses down, wagging his tail, big ole grin on his face. Oh. My. God. Pretty anti-climactic, but an excellent end to a traumatic 15 minutes.

I took this picture as soon as we got him back in the house. He looks pretty tuckered out, no?

Sunday we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house for lots of food and fireworks. I made this Wave Your Flag Cheesecake for the party and it turned out fabulous! It was quick and easy and super-delicious.

I woke up Monday morning to this scene at the end of the bed. Dozer doesn't realize he is not a poodle and apparently Gidget doesn't mind that she's about to be crushed. He LURVES his seeester.

I got new pulls for the built-in's in the dining room. They are fabulous and I love them! I still have to paint the cabinet doors and the frame... Someday.

J has all of the crown moulding up and patched in the dining room. He is apparently unhappy with the way the wood filler dried though, so I haven't been able to paint yet. Not sure what his plan is, but I hope he carries it out soon. I have yet to unpack practically anything, cause lots of my stuff is fragile, he has already knocked something over and broken it, so I wanted to wait until we were finished in the dining room to start unpacking. Alas, the project seems never ending.

What have you been up to in the last week? Probably more than us! lol

Do you use Instagram? My user name is Oonafey, join me! Have you checked out all the other Instafriday posts over at Life Rearranged?

Quick Fix: Stove Update

2011-06-20T11:03:00.001-05:00

I don't have a great shot of it, but the stove in my kitchen was two-toned.

This was annoying for two reasons; 1. the white on it was more of an ivory and it looked dated, 2. my other appliances are all black and it seemed awkward and out-of-place, like everything else had been updated and the stove was forgotten.

Saturday morning I had a haircut and I came home to this:

I don't know much about electronics and technology and all that, but I never would have thought the inside of a glass-topped stove would look like this!

Again, please forgive the fuzzy pictures, I still don't have a camera...

J took the entire stove apart, cleaned everything well, taped off the stove top and sprayed everything with this Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy from Home Depot.

It's amazing what a difference it makes!

It really does look like a brand new stove and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results! Start to finish the project took about 2 hours active time (dismantling, cleaning, painting, reconstructing) and he let the pieces dry for about 8 hours before putting it back together.

As you can see, I haven't started on painting the kitchen yet, although I do have the colors chosen and a tentative plan in place. We have been busy focusing on the dining room. The walls are finished, the ceiling is almost finished (we ran out of paint on the last coat, so I had to get another Quart), the medallion for my chandelier is painted (the paint crackled, so it had to be sanded down and repainted, then the dogs both stepped on it the second time it was drying!), he put the first coat of paint on the crown moulding on Saturday, and I *think* I have decided on curtains. Maybe it will be sorta finished by the end of the month!

Oh, and while I was out Saturday morning for my haircut I stopped by World Market. They have some really great products right now, I seriously could have spend hundreds (at least) on all the fab stuff I saw! Check out this gorgeous chair:

It was on sale for $179.00 and it was super-comfortable! I just love the colors and the little turned-wood legs, so precious.

I have been wanting this lamp for months after seeing it on the website:

But I hate the fact that it has a high-gloss finish. It's supposed to look time-worn and distressed, but then it's shiny? That doesn't work for me. It's looks matte online.

These dining chairs are gorgeous:

I love the ethnic vibe they have, but it wouldn't be overpowering. Plus, they are fairly reasonably priced for being solid, heavy wood with beautiful detailing.

I bought some fabric napkins that I had planned on turning into curtains for the kitchen, but then I got home and second-guessed myself, so they are still in the bag... Maybe they need some pom-pom trim or something to jazz them up and make them look less like napkins? I can't find them on their website, but they have a chartreuse background with pink, fuchsia, yellow, and teal floral designs on them. The problem I have with them is the stem details are dark brown and my cabinets and appliances are black. I HATE mixing black and brown (in my own home) and I really just hate brown in general, unless it's wood, leather, or a dog.
So I think I may return them for these instead. They still have the deep teal I need to bring in the dining room wall color and the yellow from the future kitchen walls, plus the brown seems to be minimal in this design. And the orange is really fun!
Although, I really love this design too, but they didn't have them in my store and I am afraid they will be too pastelly compared to the dining room. The yellow in the kicthen is going to be more of a pale, buttery yellow, so the curtains really need to *pop* to bring in some of the strong color from the dining room walls.

What do you think? What projects are you working on now? Anything you're trying to accomplish that's currently sucking up all your brain capacity? Do you tend to over-think every decision you make and everything you bring home?

Instafriday

2011-06-17T10:13:00.002-05:00

It's that time again! Since I still can't seem to get back into the swing of things (work has been crazy, Dozer broke out of his impenetrable den, G wrecked his motorcycle and I had to go pick him up from the emergency room at 3 am), here's a snapshot into my life...

I've been contemplating cutting down these big bushy things in front of my house, then they went and bloomed. Any idea what it is? My real estate agent thought they were Lilac bushes when we looked at the house, but that is obviously not a bloom from a Lilac bush!

The three inherited hydrangeas behind the house have finally started to bloom, each plant showing multiple colored blooms!

Blue

Lilac and Green

Hot Pink on same bush as the first Blue

I have always had a thing for gargoyles. When I lived in an apartment I had a "Welcome" sign on the front door that depicted gargoyles. As soon as I picked this house, I just knew the front posts on the porch would be perfect for my very own gargoyles!

Forgive my inexpert way of covering up my address and the obvious need for tuckpointing.

I have a second one on order for the left side, which should be available for pickup tomorrow. I just love him. I know they are not for everyone, but every time I open the front door, he makes me smile. They will need names, though... Any ideas?

My new boy, J, had a bad day at work yesterday, plus some ex-girlfriend drama (which I can completely sympathize with), so I decided to make him chocolate chip cookies! Can you believe I had never made chocolate chip cookies? I told his buddy that and he was all "That's un-American!" lol

I used this recipe from Martha and they turned out really great! They are still squishy this morning, which is important, since I HATE crunchy cookies.

I just love this nail polish color, My Lifesaver, from (can you believe it?) Justin Bieber for Nicole.

It's my favorite and I get so many comments on it!

I can't seem to keep the dogs off the bed, no matter how many times I tell them "Get in your bed". They do, then they come right back to my bed as soon as they think I'm not looking...

Who could say "No" to that face?!

Well, that my week in a nutshell. We finished painting the dining room, but I still haven't found my camera and J still hasn't found the power cord for his camera and my iPhone is throwing the color WAAAAY off, so I still don't have pictures. Plus, I haven't decided on drapes and the crown moulding is not up yet... Someday.

See all the other Instafriday posts here.

Instafriday

2011-06-03T12:41:00.000-05:00

I saw this cute new post idea from Jeannette via Lindsey @ The Pleated Poppy. I'm having a hard time getting back into the swing of regular blogging, between the craziness of trying to get the house in order, some boy drama (past, not present), getting Dozer settled in, and just generally trying not to go nuts from it all... I though this would be a good, simple way to get at least one post a week out and keep things sort of updated... Especially since I STILL can't find my camera. I actually have two cameras and both seem to have gone on walkabout. Gah.

I did some shopping at Homegoods on Tuesday and couldn't help taking a pic of me with my new fabulous Kate Spade purse! (Which I totally shouldn't have bought, seeing as I can barely afford my house as it is...)

But I figure it all balances out, really. That skirt is about 6 years old and it's from New York and Company, the T is Old Navy, and the sandals are from TJ Maxx.

My mom, J, and I hit up the Gypsy Caravan on Monday. I was pretty disappointed and thought last years wares were much more impressive. I did manage to get one shot of a fab booth.

I really wish I had picked up some of those purple bottles, but I forgot to bring cash! Ridiculous, I know. I am a terrible flea market, thrift shopper. I felt silly asking to borrow money for some old, dirty bottles... Neither of them fully appreciate dingy, crap quite like G did...

Dozer is officially a resident in our new home. I picked up his crate on Tuesday. I think he'll be plenty happy here.

My parents wanted to know how Dozer and the new boy were getting along...

I think a picture is truly worth a thousand words in this case.

What random scenes have you captured on your phone camera lately?

Inspection Frustration

2011-05-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

So the house still didn't pass county inspection... Boo. Hiss.

I was never given a list of things that needed to be fixed. I was, however, given the impression that everything was being taken care of by the seller. I was told there were four problems: cast iron plumbing needed to be fixed (done), there was a leak in the gas water heater (done), there was a broken window pane in the basement that needed to be replaced (done), and the utility room in the basement needed to be vented (done). So it takes the seller's agent another week (!) after this is all done to get the inspector out to the house, who then tells my father (I can't afford to take any more time off work right now, plus my parents are the greatest) that there was a list of electrical things that needed to be fixed as well (not done). Bastards. So it failed.

Luckily the guy I am currently dating is an electrician and had all the (minor) problems fixed lickety-split!

Not so luckily, the inspector can't make it back out to the house until Tuesday!!! And since I'm not supposed to be staying in the house, I can't bring Dozer's giant crate over until after the inspection... Grr. I've got him again this weekend cause his daddy's going camping, so it'll be interesting to see how we work around not being able to leave him in the house and the temps being in the 80's (no leaving him in the car, either). Frustrating.

We did get a coat of paint on the ceiling of the dining room though. No mean feat, considering I've been sick and have gotten the new guy (let's call him J) sick. Whoops.

Helpful!

Here is the first coat with the DR light off:


Forgive the craptastic dreary morning iPhone pics... I still can't find my camera.

And with my new DR chandelier all lit up:

It's just one coat and is for sure needs at least one more coat, but I think it will be a fun, blingy contrast to the peacock walls I'm hoping for. You can see two of the contenders under the window there. Oh, and we had to install the chandelier for the inspector... Obvs it's coming back down before we paint some more.

Not sure what's going to get done over the weekend, but hopefully something!

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

2011-05-20T16:41:00.001-05:00

I thought you might like a little peek into the ridiculous disaster that is my current living situation.


Here's the view from the front door into the DR


If you look right instead of straight ahead


The "Office"/ 2nd Bedroom, view from the living room

"Office"/ 2nd Bedroom, view from the Master Bedroom end (if you look carefully you will see a sad pittie in her crate)

Master Bedroom

I want to paint the bedroom, so I am hesitant to bring the bookshelves in yet, so everything is in still in boxes and piles. Plus, I want to upholster the bed and it seemed silly to put it together just to take it apart to upholster it, so none of my under-the-bed storage is in use, so I can't find anything and everything is a big, huge, GIANT cluster... Ahhhhh!!!

The Breakfast Nook

I bought new pendants, but need to paint the ceiling before I can hang them...

Rest of the Kitchen

I have the paint for the bottom half of the walls (BM White Dove, why mess with a solid choice?) and the millions of holes have been spackled, so we shall see what I accomplish this weekend. Probably not much... Tonite I have dinner with my parents, tomorrow a friend of the ex-Mr.'s (who will heretoforth be know as G) and I is having a get-together and he will be out of town, so I feel like I should go, and Sunday I have to go out to the old house and play with Dozer for a while. I may bring him back to the house for a while to start getting him acclimated. G has decided that it would be best for Dozer if I take him! *happy dance* But unfortunately I don't even have an occupancy permit yet (shhhh), so I can't bring Dozer's big oak containment crate (which I have big plans for, that involves lots of paint and some chicken wire!) over just yet. A few things didn't pass the sellers inspection at the last moment and they were still in the process of fixing them, but they are done now, so hopefully Monday.

The disaster of my DR

You can see a table under all that if you look close! I didn't even want the table and chairs, but G's mom got him an antique maple DR set complete with a 6 foot long sideboard/buffet... Exactly what I've been looking for, I speculate, and I find it highly suspect that she just suddenly came across this great, awesome deal now... ; D I bought a chandy for the DR and the paint for the ceiling, so job #1 needs to be move all this shit downstairs into the basement so's I can get my paint on.

I found this amazingly hideous piece of wonderment at a junk/antique store in Grafton a few weeks back and I couldn't leave it behind!

It's hand embroidered and signed from 1973! The colors are beyond amazing and are my inspiration for the house. I know, it's ugly, but I think it's super-fun and I just love that it's one of a kind! Plus, it's like Puck or something! Surely that adds a little sophistication to it, right?! That's what I thought.

I plan on putting it in the DR, right on the side of the Bergsbo cabinet.

I haven't decided if I'm going to paint the frame or leave it gold... I'm afraid any other color with detract from the embroidery. Although it does have an equal amount of silver thread in it, so maybe I'll silverleaf it.

What do you think I should tackle first? Can you believe I've been here two weeks and have accomplished next-to-nothing? Go me! Score one for the laziest girl in the world!

The rest of the Reveal

2011-05-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

Master Bedroom

2nd bedroom/ Office

Main Floor Bathroom

Finished Basement

Another section of finished basement

Basement Bathroom

To answer some questions from yesterday and give you some idea as to what been bouncing around in my head...

Yes, the kitchen is very, very blue and will be the first thing to be painted over. I already have the Killz and some BM White Dove High-Gloss for the bottom half of the walls to create a board-and-batten type of look, which I think will complement the age and style of the home much better than the contemporary spin she had going. I'm thinking either black or a pale yellow for the top. I know, totally opposite ends of the spectrum, but I want to eventually paint the bottom cabinets pale grey and take out the top cabinets and put shelving up instead and I'm thinking the black would be a really fun contrast.

The lighting will all be replaced eventually. She took the LR and DR lighting and replaced it with some basic "vintage" light fixtures, sort of the 60's version of the builder-basic boob light that is so popular in hallways. Again, I'm going to be going for an antique-ey/cottage-ey feel replete with some school-house-type lighting in the kitchen (maybe) and at least one simple chandelier.

The front door will also be painted sometime soon. I was thinking hot pink (anybody know where to find paint that color?), but not permanently. Just for fun, just cause I can. It's my own house and I can do what I want! lol

I need patio furniture for the front porch, but that shit's pricey, so probably not anytime soon...

The leather couch from the old house doesn't fit in the basement, so I'm hoping to get an IKEA sectional sometime over the summer. Probably dark gray, ala YHL fame.

As of right now, my plan for the DR paint is peacock. A lovely deep, dark teal, but not too green or too blue. Maybe similar to Sara's entry, Joi's bathroom, or John and Sherry's guest room. Except that I've seen all the color options IRL now and I am not 100% happy with any of them for my space. I am leaning towards Sensual Jade from Valspar, even though the name is a bit... naughty? I don't know, dining room's shouldn't really be sensual, but whatever.

You can see some of my ideas on my Pinterest page, here.

I am obviously all over the place right now and totally overwhelmed, but it'll all come together eventually.

New House Reveal (Finally)

2011-05-10T12:07:00.000-05:00

So it hasn't really been super crazy around these parts, but I don't have internet at the new house and I seem to have misplaced my camera in the shuffle (complete with bookoo{how do you spell that?} pics of the house), so I've been making excuses not to post, obviously. Since my camera is currently AWOL in the madness, I thought I would just show you the listing pics. The girl who lived in the house previously was somewhere around thirty (I think) and had a very refined sense of what she liked. Everything in the house was high-glamour/mirrored/retro/mod with a dash of crazy cat lady thrown in. Unfortunately the listing pictures don't capture the cat thing, but you'll get an idea of everything else.

Also unfortunately, you'll only get a taste of it today, because I am attempting to post this from my work computer and the formatting is all jacked up due to our cantankerous firewall or something like that. Hopefully I'll get the rest posted tomorrow.


Front of the house, from the street

Back of the house, from in front of the garage


Part of the front porch


Living Room, front door immediately to the right Dining Room, view from the Living Room Kitchen from the Breakfast Nook, looking back into the Dining Room


Breakfast Nook, Fridge in Kitchen

Big News...

2011-04-28T18:46:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats wondering what I've been up to.

I'm not really sure what to say or how to put it, so I'll keep it simple: The Mr. and I are no more.

Gidget and I have been staying at my parents house since the beginning of April. It has not been fun. Dozer is staying with his daddy, unfortunately, and I miss him terribly. Initially I was under the impression that I would be taking him with me as soon as I found a permanent residence, so I got crack-a-lakin and found us a cute little house, complete with a finished basement and fencing. I close on May 6th.

The Mr. has since decided that it will be too difficult to not have Dozer in his life, so it will just be Gidget and I. *sad face* I will miss my 65 pound lap dog.

I'll share pics of the new house sometime in the next few days.

What I Wore Wednesday

2011-03-23T07:03:00.000-05:00

I'm linking this up to Nester's National Take a Risk Day, because putting myself out here for all of you to point at and judge IS a risk for me. I've been blogging since July 2009 and these pics are the only two I've posted. I've even missed an event for a fellow blogger I said I would attend because I was too nervous to put myself out there. Sorry, I suck. But this is my first step towards the fun and amazing adventures other bloggers always seem to share and enjoy. Hopefully.

I've only just decided to throw caution to the wind, so all I've got are Monday and Tuesday so far. We shall see how next week goes.

Monday

This next picture makes me realize I need to wear more makeup!

The company I work for is fairly casual, so I do take some "risks" with my clothing that I wouldn't be able to if I worked for a "Business Attire" type of company.

Top - Anthropologie

Pants - Gap

Necklace - Vintage (my mother's)

Shoes - Kors Michael Kors

Watch - Michael Kors

Tuesday

My boss refers to my shoes (all of them) as "Hooker Heels". She even had a dream the night before our bigwigs were in town where she forgot her shoes (she had her snow boots on) and she had to call me and tell me to bring her an extra pair of "your Hooker Heels".

T-shirt - GapMaternity (a roomier fit)

Cardigan - Forever21 (it's like 10 years old!)
Pants - Gap

Necklace - Charming Charlie's

Shoes - Boutique 9 via DSW

How do you dress for work? Business? Casual? T and Jeans?

Spring Wreath

2011-03-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

I saw this wreath on Living with Lindsay last year and thought it looked cute. I know the concept behind it is two years old, but I don't care. I'm single-handedly staging an Egg-Wreath Revival! Join me, won't you? lol

I used a larger grapevine wreath, I think mine was 14" as opposed to 10", but I wanted to hang it on the front door and no one can see it anyway, so bigger is better.

This is the first wreath I've make that entails more than spraypaint and some fabric, so it did take me longer than the 15 minutes she proposes. But Lindsay is a Craft Queen, so she could probably whip up 5 wreaths in the time it would take me to make one...

I ordered the Quail eggs from Etsy. They all came individually wrapped in toilet paper and not a single one was cracked! I highly recommend the seller.

I used some burlap I had leftover from the media cabinet makeover for the bow.

But beware: if you are going to use Spanish Moss be prepared for a mess!

That's in addition to all the stuff that stayed on the dropcloth I was using!

Have you made a door decoration for Spring yet?

Painted Birdhouses

2011-03-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

A few weeks back I saw this awesome pink bird on Lynett's blog and decided I must have it. She told me she got it at Michael's, so off I went. Luckily they had it! But then I had to figure out what to do with it... Not wanting to steal her whole idea, I came home with two of these from their unfinished wood section:

Using supplies I already had (wood stain from this project, craft brushes, paint from the front door, and leftover ceiling paint), I turned them into this:

FYI, if you are detail oriented this project will take you for.ev.er. However, if you are good with spraypainting them, distressing, and calling it a day, it could take you an hour. I chose to stain the roofs and bases carefully and the only small brush I had was like 10 hairs, so it took me like three hourse just to do the stained areas...

Did you notice the base on the left-hand one?

It's the base for my broken candleholder! I love being able to utilize stuff I already have on hand. I did spray this with white Rustoleum pray paint. Then I just hot glued them into place:

I thought it was pretty clever to paint the one with the front door the same color as our own front door, but now I'm not sure I like the color inside the house. I may repaint it blue or gray.

Although it does coordinate with the beak on the pink bird, lol!

What do you think? Have you started crafting for Spring yet?

Do you WUSLU?

2011-03-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

Do you get the emails for WUSLU Daily Deals? Yasmin has a new special item everyday and shipping is always $5.00. A lot of the items are too far on the "Shabby" end of "Shabby Chic" for me, but they are always cute. When these Turned Pillar Holders showed up in my inbox I had to have them:

Unfortunately when they arrived, the large one was broken:

I have no idea how it could have broken, they were both packaged very well, surrounded by bubble wrap and in small enough individual boxes to prevent moving around inside the larger box... But it was shattered, in about 6 pieces. I could have cried. I immediately emailed Yasmin to ask if there was anything she could do, as it does state on the website that all sales are final. Luckily she got back to me quickly and said she was sending me a replacement! I didn't have to pay shipping again or anything.

I love them. They are hefty and weighted and just the perfect size to hold my beloved Bath & Body Works candles. In person they are a wonderful bronzey color, not too wintery and perfect year round!

She also told me it was unnecessary to send the broken one back, so I figured I should make use of it. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you what I did with it! Waste not, want not.

All in all, ordering from WUSLU was a great experience and I would definitely buy from her again!

Legal Crap: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I just thought I should share a good shopping experience.

Have you ever ordered from WUSLU? Or another daily deals website? Have you had a good online shopping experience recently you'd like to share? How about a bad one?

Um... What?!

2011-03-14T12:53:00.001-05:00

Okay, who forgot to tell Mother Nature that it's Spring?!

How's the weather wherever you are?

Linky Party Recap

2011-03-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Since my Linky Party was really more of a Linky Gettogether, I figured I would go ahead and feature all the projects submitted.

Esudano showed us her fab backsplash DIY, which she did all by herself! A project this detailed, especially one involving tile, would have me running for the Mr. faster than you could say "grout".

Pretty great, eh? I love the colors she chose.

The Cape on the Corner decided to showcase her ridiculously amazing sunroom makeover:

That skylight is to die for. And don't you just love that white chair in the corner? There are a pair of them and they are from a yard sale! Why don't I ever find stuff that cute at yard sales?

Living in Lovely LaLaLand is in the middle of a bathroom remodel. Look at this cute secret note they left for future homeowners to discover:

I would love to find something like that while remodeling our house!

Check out all the hard work and elbow grease that went into this free desk re-do at Home in the Country:

I love that they actually took the time and effort to strip it down and refinish it, as opposed to just slapping some new paint over the old. It looks beautiful, no?

And last, but not least, from my neck of the woods (sort of), a master bedroom breakdown over at The Pendleton House:

I wish my closet were that big! I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Thanks for joining up ladies!

T.V. Frame Follow-Up

2011-03-09T08:00:00.002-06:00

A few people have asked how we keep the frame attached to the television, so I thought I'd share our technique. When the Mr. built the frame he measured and measured and measured again, so that the dimensions were dead on. Then he routered the interior and the frame would literally pop onto the television and stay put.

This worked perfectly for about 4 months, then the humidity changes in the house started causing the frame to warp at an alarming rate.

You can see in the above pic that the frame does not lie flush to the floor.

It's really surprising it got this warped. The Mr. not only glued the corners, he used those wiggly frame grippers to keep it all together...

It wasn't gripping well anymore and the top left and bottom right corners weren't flush with the t.v. anymore. He was afraid it was going to fall off eventually, so we took it down and started brainstorming. We kept making it harder than it needed to be, thinking about fabricating corners to screw behind the back of the t.v. and attaching leather straps to keep it in place.

In the end, we used D-rings and Velcro.

You'll need 4 D-ring brackets (ours came with the screws) and a length of Velcro. How much Velcro you need depends entirely on how big you t.v. is. I also used a manual pre-driller thingie since you don't really want to use your drill for such delicate work.

You still have to be careful with it though.

Drilled right through it. Whoops.

I approximated where the thickest part of the frame was, then pre-drilled the first set of holes. I then measured from those holes to the edge of the frame to determine where the other three needed to go.

I sewed the Velcro through two of the D-rings, just to make sure it would hold.

I also sewed a fold about an inch wide on the other end so the grippy side would be facing the fuzzy side once it was ready to be attached.

Then I screwed them all on.

Do you see my awesome P.J.'s? They have gnomes on them. My favorites.

I don't have any pictures of us putting it back on the wall because it took all 4 of our hands to do. Once you get it up there, pull the trailing ends of the Velcro through the two remaining empty D-rings and pull tight. Ta - Da! That sucker ain't goin' nowhere.

Here's what it looks like from the side:

Eh, it's blurry, but you get the idea.

You wanna know what's pisses me off? See that antenna? I bought a new fangled, fancy, expensive television because I was under the impression that I would automatically get basic channels. We don't have cable, don't need cable, don't want cable. Or satellite. Or anything that could potentially cause me to be any lazier than I already am. It pisses me off that I spend a considerable amount of money on new HDTV technology and I still need rabbit ears to get basic channels. Even then we only get three channels... Really tv people?

Monkey Love

2011-03-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

Apparently Dozer had suffered an injury to his right rear foot before we adopted him. The trauma had caused his foot to grow an additional toe. Weird, right? We called it his Tandem Toe, because it was actually attached to what would be your pinky toe. Recently the toe became irritated and swollen and our vet recommended removal. So poor Dozer had to have surgery Friday.


On our way home from the vet, still doped up on anesthesia.


Poor sad foot.

In turn we spent the whole weekend doing mostly this:

and this:

Media Cabinet Before & After and a Linky Party!!

2011-02-28T22:56:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share just the basics of our media cabinet makeover with you today, but I also want to include a little linky party, just for fun. See, I try to make sure I visit anyone who visits me and leaves a comment, but I would really like to try to visit every one of my followers at least once a week. I mean, I only have 69, it wouldn't be difficult. Except when I click on people, sometimes there are no website or blog links attached to their member board (or whatever it's called). I know a few of you, like Comeca, don't have blogs, but most do. So I thought I'd show you mine, if you show me yours! lol Link up with anything you've been working on, your favorite Before & After you've ever done, a room remodel, or just something you want to say... Whatever your little heart desires. You don't have to be a follower to join, I just thought this would be a good way for me to reconnect with some of my followers.

Without further ado, my media cabinet rehab.

BEFORE

AFTER

The built-in television had been removed a long time ago, but the sound components and all the electronics were still intact.

I rescued it from my grandparents basement with the hope that my electrician Mr. could fix it and get the record player to work, but they had cut through all the wires when they removed the television. So, I took all this junk out, primed it with oil-based Kilz, and painted it with a custom-mixed combo of BM White Dove (from the china cabinet) and Glidden Granite Gray (from the bedroom). You can hardly tell it has any gray in it, it's just not bright white.

Here's an "in-progress" shot:

That was before I decided what to do behind the diamond wire grid on the front and sides. I could have left it open, but I wanted to use it for our surround-sound speakers. So I removed the speakers and the mesh from the existing backerboard (which had convenient holes for the sound to exit) and stapled on cheap light colored burlap from Hobby Lobby. It was $3.99/yard and I had a 40% off coupon. I bought two yards, but I'm not sure I even used a full yard.

I really like the texture it adds. A pattern would have been way too much with the chairs on either side, the eventual gallery wall behind, and the fireplace to the left. And I like the color - natural, neutral, but it doesn't disappear.

I'm not sure how I feel about the pink hardware, though:

The Mr. said it looks like a piece of furniture that should be on a My Little Ponies cartoon, or "you know, that Rainbow Bears show"... Um, Care Bears? Sometimes it is really weird being with someone from a totally different era. He likes the white, but maybe not the pink. I'm okay with that, I'm leaning toward black hardware. I would also love to do a silver leaf detail in all the grooves (not the front accordian grooves), but frankly it seems like a whole lotta work.

I love how a little white paint took it from super-crap 1970's:

to frilly Victorian:

Now it's your turn!

Have you finished any projects lately? Maybe cooked something extra yummy? Painted a room? Gotten a new dog? Had a baby? Whatever... Anything you want to share, link up and join the fun. I don't have a button, so you don't even have to mention this linky party in your blog, but you can. The party will be open to anyone through Tuesday, March 8th at midnight.

Our Living Room

2011-02-28T08:00:00.006-06:00

After fighting a near-debilitating headache Saturday, I finally utilized the tripod my mom got me for my birthday last month by taking some much needed pictures of our living room. It's not "done" by any means; I never made those leopard print pillows, or hung the gallery wall, and the mantle is only half decorated, but it's 100x better than it was this time last year.

February 2010

February 2011

We still have the same coffee table, but I pushed it into the hall for these shots.

February 2010

February 2011

Not a great shot, it's hard to see the detail on the couch, but it's apparently the best my point and shoot is capable of, even using the tripod and a higher ISO. Although maybe that's not what I should have done. Photography is not my forte. It was in H.S. and college, but I don't retain information I don't use everyday. It's so much nicer watching movies on the couch, as opposed to crammed in the chairs with a dog each. lol I talked about the lamps here and the side tables here.

February 2010

February 2011

Before we got a flat screen our television lived in the media cabinet. Which I've obviously painted. I am so much happier with it now. It fits the house better and looks almost Victorian and dainty as opposed to '70's and oppressive. I'll show you the deets this week. The Mr. made the frame for our television and I silverleafed it. I still need to figure out a way to hide the wires and get the gallery wall hung.

And some superfluous shots, just because.

I LOVE that black urn. I just got it at HomeGoods on Friday - only $12.99! Crazy, no? That's also one of my new Goodwill goblets holding a succulent, also a recent purchase. I hear they are harder to kill, so we shall see.

This little money tree is also a new plant purchase. Let's see how long I can keep it alive... The stalks/branches/trunks/whatever are braided together. They were being held in place by a twistie-tie, which looked awful. So I removed the tie and used a length of hemp twine to replicate the way it was bound. Much nicer. I moved the shed antler from our Christmas mantle to add some interest to the pot.

The Mr. keeps the firewood right out on the front porch and he was tracking in lots of dirt and bark pieces whenever he would fetch a load. I finally ordered a door mat a few weeks ago. I think it's interesting that I can make sudden, snap judgment purchases on things that may cost hundreds of dollars, but when it comes to deciding on a $40 doormat I panic and freeze. Weird.

So that's our living room currently.

What do you think? What would you change?

Fashion Friday

2011-02-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

Have you seen the new bridal collection from Anthropologie? Some of the dress are not my style, but they are all amazing. A couple of my favorites:

Ethereal Monarch Gown

I love that this one has straps and a crossover bust, very flattering. The butterflies are such an amazing touch! And I just love the pleated tulle under layer.

I always wanted a row of satin buttons down the back of my dress, like the old days.

Pinwheel Tea Dress


Tea-length dresses can be superflattering if they hit in the right spot. I LOVE the poofy crinoline underneath!


The pinwheel detailing is gorgeous and I really like how the simple bow doesn't detract from the rest of the dress.

The "bridesmaids" dresses are very cool and unique:

Beribboned Dress


Cute, classic, flattering, and a little J.Crew, no?

Savoy Dress


Very classy, but a little young. Maybe for a junior bridesmaid? Oh! Or if one your bridesmaids was preggers. Very cute.

Revival Party Dress


Pretty sure this ones not a ceremony dress, but it would be spectacular for a guest! It's very '20's with a twist.

They have some Amaaaahzingly gorgeous shoes, but they are quite pricey, IMO:

Agave Peep-Toes


I die. If these were not 350 smackaroos they. would. be. mine. swoon

Torsade Peep-Toes

Lovely, simple, and something blue! Fun, fun.

Bow-Topped Slingbacks


Gorgeous, simple bridal shoes. I love the hidden .5" platform. Just a mini-lift, still classy.


I love these in the blush tone, as well. Not too pink, not too fleshy. Just lovely.

Have you had a chance to look at the new collection? What do you think?

(Not so) Temporary Insanity

2011-02-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

I am borderline obsessed with books. I probably spend the greatest part of my salary (besides the mortgage) on reading materials. Borders is closing numerous stores in our area and my bestie and I hit one of them up to see what the dealio was. Their sale prices are unfortunately still higher than most Amazon prices... which may explain their need to shut down some stores. I still picked up a few books while we were there:

I did not need seven more books, but what can you do? lol

I LOVE Mary Janice Davidson. Her characters are goofy, fun, ditsy, and never too full of themselves. The books are never super-serious and they always end well. Until now. Dum dum dum. To my knowledge I have read all of her books and I have enjoyed every last one. But I had to force myself to keep reading this one. The lead character has multiple personalities and they are all extreme: 1. superduperridiculously nice, 2. bitchy and controlling to the max, and 3. insane. They know about each other, each one takes over when her particular "style" is called for, and she calls them her "sisters". It just seemed to go on and on and on and it just got stranger and stranger. Personally I felt the ending was anticlimactic and contained gratuitous unnecessary violence. I actually would return it, if all the books weren't final sale.

I haven't read Holly McQueen or Jill Mansell yet, but they both have, what sounds to be, a good plotline.

I really like Jennifer Weiner's writing style and story telling abilities. She writes characters who feel like they could be your best friend, complete with 20 extra pounds and neurosis. With the addition of these three I have all of her books and have never not enjoyed one. I'm currently halfway through The Guy Not Taken and it is cute, fun, and not too light.

Christopher Moore is hit and miss for me. He has a series of three contemporary vampire books that I really enjoyed, but I couldn't get into Lamb or Coyote Blue. So we shall see about The Stupidest Angel.

Have you bought any books lately? What are you reading now? Next? How do you choose what books to buy?

Good Luck and Goodwill

2011-02-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Everyone always says you need to be patient when thrifting and that's definitely true. Frankly I have never found anything just so absofreakinfantastically amazing that I had to have it right then and there - couldn't live without it... For sure nothing like Joi's latest fantastic find!
But I do find cute smalls occasionally, like these milkglass goblets:

$6.00/each - pricey? I thought so.

They aren't marked, but they are nice and heavy, and I thought the design was cute.

I also found these little silver votive holders:


2 @ $1 each

I didn't notice the huge sticker on them right away:

Anybody know what these sold for originally? Couldn't be more than a few dollars each... They should look good with my mercury glass pieces.

Have you been thrifting lately? Found anything good? Maybe a horror story, instead? Spill...

Monkey Love

2011-02-14T18:01:00.000-06:00

Help

2011-02-13T20:03:00.000-06:00

I ran out of space on Picasa. I didn't even realize Picasa was connected to Gmail. Anybody know how to get around the Picasa/Gmail marriage?

Flower FYI

2011-02-10T19:15:00.000-06:00

You all know that when the Paperwhites / Narcissus begin to shoot up they fall over and need to be tamed. If you plant them in a small container or you plant a lot of them, tying them up in a bundle is fine. But, when you don't plant them right on top of each other it may look weird to gather them all together. My large container only has 4 bulbs in it, so they are nowhere near each other.

I thought tying them all together would look ridiculous and detract from the beauty of the flowers. So... I "borrowed" two small dowels from the Mr., cut them in half and used some kitchen twine to secure each sprout to a separate dowel.

Half of a dowel is not quite long enough once the plant grow to their height potential, but it works fairly well. Occasionally I will come out in the morning to find one lying on the tabletop because it grew out of it's plant prison.

I love that I actually found a use for this pretty twine that I bought.

Oh, the Mr. has taken to calling these "Butt Flowers" since they smell so bad. But now that they've fully bloomed the smell has dissipated.

What do you use to keep tall plant stabilized?

Before and After: 50's Side Tables

2011-02-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

I think I may have mentioned that the Mr.'s mom runs a yard sale every April to raise money for their volunteer firefighters. We always get first pick and we have scored some awesome stuff. Everything at the sale is $1.00, except the furniture, which is priced by piece. Last year Mister got an authentic vintage Navy peacoat and I got a 60's cashmere coat with a fur collar! Items like that are rare though, usually it's a firehouse full of country bumkin junk.

Last year, after the sale, someone brought over a pair of 50's side tables, wood with marble tops. She thought we would like them, so rather than store them for a year she brought them to us (for a small donation of course). They lived in our walk-out finished basement when we had the couch down there.

They were nice enough, but they weren't really our style. Plus, our basement has a major humidity problem is the Spring due to the hundreds of gallons of cold water in the cisterns butting up against the warmer house. We didn't realize the humidity in the basement was reaking havoc on the furniture for a few months. By that time everything had grown mold! Disgusting.

The veneer was starting to buckle in pace as well. We got a dehumidifier and that solved the mold problem, but these guys were still on their last legs. So we wood glued them back together and I slapped some paint on 'em!

Ahh... Much better, no? Let's get a closer look at that pull.

The Mr. made these for me! They used to live on a file cabinet we refinished for our old house, but I snagged them because I want to trash the file cabinet. As soon as I figure out what to do with all our files...

How about a proper Before and After:

BEFORE

AFTER

And some more pics just because remembered to take multiples:

What do you think? What have you made over lately?

January's Goals

2011-02-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of the month I set some January goals.

January Goals:

Hang the gallery wall. Nope. In fact this is what the television wall looks like right now.

We hooked up the surround sound system upstairs so we could have the PS2 and the Wii hooked up at the same time and now the optical cable isn't flexible enough to remount the t.v. flush to the wall. Um.... Boo.

~~Hang art in the bedroom. It's been sitting on the dresser for 4 months now...~~ Yay!

~~Do Jenny's "111 things in 1/11" challenge.~~ Another Yay! I managed to clear out 147 items!

Make a new coffee table/ottoman for the living room. Um, no. Not even close.

Make the leopard pillows I talked about last month. Nope.

Eh, I didn't do so great.

Oh and it only took me three weeks to kill our new plant friend.

It doesn't look as bad in these pics as in real life, but it's totally and completely dead and I have no idea how. I followed the directions exactly. Meh.

On the positive side, our Paperwhites bloomed.

And boy, are they lovely.

BUT, they smell like ass. Seriously. The Mr. says they smell like manure, but manure smells like cookies compared to these. I would rather my entire house smelled like a farm in the heat of summer than these flowers... Ugh. They are disgusting. Repugnant. Blech.

How are your 2011 goals coming along so far?

Monkey Love

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

That's a happy face.

Week #4: 111 Things in 1/11

2011-01-30T19:11:00.000-06:00

It's the 4th (and final) week of 111 Things in 1/11, hosted by Jenny at Words on Wendhurst! I missed last week, cause I'm lazy... So let's see if I reached the goal of 111 items, as of Week #2, I had 69 items.

2 lampshades
1 drawstring bag that held lime green jersey sheets, which we no longer have
1 printer cord for a printer we also no longer have
1 pair of headphones
1 empty shoebox for shoes I no longer own (I'm sensing a pattern here)
36 red, white, and blue jelly bracelets
6 silver toned bangles
3 plastic bangles
1 blue faux-snakeskin bangles with rhinestones
1 red Lucite bangle
1 stainless Guess watch
2 belt buckles, again for belts we no longer have
2 sets of lace drapes and tiebacks I removed from our rented house and forgot to put back up (why did these even get packed?)
1 lace valance with geese and hearts (also removed from the windows at our rented house)
1 tourist-ey picture frame from Cozumel
2 crappy clear plastic hangers
1 pair of shorts from AE that I will never again fit into
1 crappy kitchen mandolin (my parents got me a new one for my birthday)
1 VHS copy of What Dreams May Come (Have you seen it? If not, you totally should, it's amazing.)
1 winter beenie with skulls on it
1 bottle Aldo synthetic leather protectant
1 pair of gray dress pants from The Limited
3 wine bottles I was saving for Halloween and didn't utilize
4 random Christmas cards from years past
2 awesome rubber dragon/gargoyle toys (unfortunately the rubber dry rotted and is sticking to everything and the stuffing is exploding from them or I would keep them cause they rock)
1 unused composition book that has water damage

147 Items!

Yay! I didn't think I'd make it since I skipped last week, but that just meant I had to break down and get rid of more crap this week...

What have you been editing out of your life?

Master Bedroom Progress: Art!

2011-01-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

This is what our MB looked like for over a year... Well, it wasn't gray for a year, but this is what it's looked since I painted it in June. It basically looked the same before that, only with lilac walls, courtesy of the previous owner.

I found a bedside dresser for the Mister in July, made drapes in August, found lamps in October, and finally got around to hanging the art that's been sitting on our dresser for 4 months last weekend. And here it is now.

Since our walls are not normal plaster, but some kind of mortar/concrete mix, I hate to drill holes wily-nily. And I can't just tap in a nail and move it if it's not right. Hanging things in our house involves a big process, lots of measuring, and a concrete drill bit in our DeWalt Hammer Drill. So I decided to try out the kraft paper pattern concept, which worked pleasingly well. I cut out two pieces of kraft paper the same size as my framed pieces. I eyeballed it a little on where I wanted them hung, then decided on an exact height from the ceiling to work with so they'd both be identical. I taped them up, marked the center where the hole needed to be and stepped back.

I decided they were too far apart, so instead of taking them down and rehanging them, I just moved the spot for my hole a little in on each one. I marked the correct mark with an arrow, so as not to confuse myself, and then I drilled straight through the paper and into the wall.

I pulled off the paper, malleted in my anchors, drilled in my screws, and TA DA!

We have art. Excellent. It's finally started to look "decorated". I still have a triptych I need to frame for the wall to the right and I need to figure out what to do with the walls next to the window, but it's definite progress.

Interesting story behind these pieces, too. I found this one, The Dreamer, years ago at an art fair. The artist, Randal Spangler, told me it was an old print that he didn't produce anymore and it was the last of it's kind. His style had changed to a more colorful Fantasy style and he was no longer doing the pen ad ink drawings. It was matted in navy and I never found the perfect place for him.

Fast forward 6(?) years. My mother and I were at the same art fair looking through Mr. Spangler's pieces. I don't even really know why, since his newer stuff doesn't really speak to me in the same way. But low and behold, we find a mate for the Dreamer, titled Dreams. Dreams features a couple instead of a single man and I just love the huge window detail above the bed.

I have a small tattoo on my left wrist of a heart with wings that a friend of mine drew for me a decade ago, so the headboard detail in the drawing is especially fitting.

I re-matted both in black 16 x 20 mats and stuck them in Hobby Lobby MDF frames. I got the mat, the mat cutter, and the frames all on sale, 50% off. Can't beat that.

Master Bedroom Progress: A Bedside Dresser!

2011-01-19T22:45:00.001-06:00

In our old house there was only enough room for one bedside table and it was (still is) very small. It lived on my side of the bed (still does) and Mr. just stacked his books, glasses, gun, etc. on a small stool on his side. When we moved into this house I knew we would need a more permanent solution for all his goodies and I started looking for an antique dresser for him. I knew a normal nighstand wasn't going to cut it, since our bed sits up really high and our existing nightstand is tall. It took me a year to find the perfect piece and in the meantime his nightstand was composed of two black Ikea Kassett boxes stacked atop each other.

Good lord, look at that mess! Isn't it amazing how once a space starts to come together and you feel good about your surroundings then you start to clean up after yourself more? I will never win Housewife of the Year, but at least our house doesn't (normally) look like a tornado hit it anymore.

In July I found this gem when we happened to be in Kentucky for my cousin's college graduation:

It was $80. Maybe this seems like a lot, but this is the style we are always on the hunt for and it tends to be pricey in the Midwest. Plus I didn't want to paint it, so I needed something in fairly decent shape. When we got home and had the Mister unload it he got upset because he thought we had paid hundreds of dollars for it.

The top needed some sanding and refinishing:

We sanded it down, plopped on two coats of Minwax Water-Based Stain in Coffee:

I actually took one of the drawers with me into Home Depot and it was a lifesaver! Both of the colors I initially thought would work were WAY off and this stuffs non-refundable, as they blatantly point out on the label.

The directions tell you not to sand between coats and to only do two coats of stain. This is what happens when your overzealous domestic partner butts in on your project and throws caution (and the instructions) to the wind:

Ugh. It looked like someone painted it with melted chocolate... I had to wait two days for the whole thing to dry completely and thoroughly and then buff it out. Ridiculous.

Here's the final product. Lovely. You can still see the grain, but the stains are completely gone, and it matches the original finish perfectly.

It's by no means perfect, but I wasn't about to sand down the entire thing and re-stain it. I'm lazy.

I hated the original, boring wooden knobs, so I replaced them with these fun drop pulls.

I was also not a fan of their shiny brass finish and I did not want to pay nearly double for the "antique-by-hand" finish, so I ordered up some Brass & Bronze Aging Solution and did it my ownself.

Get your supplies together, drop your hardware in the solution.

And watch that baby tarnish.

Awesome.

I'm linking up at The Shabby Chic Cottage!

Birthday Dinner

2011-01-17T22:39:00.000-06:00

Friday (January 14th) was my 28th birthday! Only two years until I hit the big 3-0, although I really couldn't care less. If I haven't already mentioned it, the Mister is significantly older than I am and every single last person we associate with is probably at least 40. I am used to being the baby, my brother is 9 years older than me, and I always looked forward to growing up. The funniest thing is: I don't really feel like a grown up. I kinda still feel like I'm playing house. Oh, and I got carded today at lunch! (I didn't work today and the Mr. and I went antiquing.)

Anyway, my parents take us out to dinner for our birthdays every year and this year I decided we should check out Sanctuaria. Joi blogged about it months ago and I've been wanting to check it out.

When you first walk in the door these awesome chandeliers hang above the waiting/lounge area:

Pardon the terrible pics, please.

These guys hung out above the doorway near our table:

I am in love with them and I want them. They would be just perfect for above the bookshelves in our bedroom. Do you think I can call the manager and ask where they got them? Can you see their precious little angel wings?

This guy hung above the doorway to one of the bathrooms:

There is a store in Saint Louis called Gringo Jones and they have all kinds of awesome Mexican paraphernalia. I have a little pink pig from there that is in the same style as this guy.

I could live in this place. Seriously. The decor totally reminded me of my ex's house, which I desperately wish I had pictures of.

These masks are awesome:


It was REALLY dark in there.

I have masks like these, which I brought back from Puerto Rico years ago, but mine aren't as "fun". We had them up in our last house, but I wasn't really "feeling" them in this house.


Our old dining room, see them in the background? Mine have hair.

However, I am now rethinking and maybe they will go in the dining room where I thought I was going to put the china dishes. But I think I would need a third one to make them more aesthetically pleasing... Anybody know where to get Puerta Rican / Mexican / South American tribal masks in the Midwest?

The bathrooms were unisex and both had murals painted on the ceilings:

The freakin' Sistine Chapel ONLY WITH SKELETONS! I. Die. Seriously. I know this is a side of me you guys rarely see, but I could live in this place.

Okay, brace yourselves. After 18 months here is the first official picture of me.

Bad pic, I know. I kept trying to be cute and clever by waving and it was too dark in there.

Better? Not really. But my mother bought me a tripod for my Kodak Z1015, so maybe I can get some better shots... Someday. But I love this mirror - etched and carved metal - tin probably.

Really bad pic of the tile floor, but it was amazing! Teeeeeennnny little shiny black tiles with some white striations and black grout. SO. FUN.

I asked the waitress if the bathrooms had similar themes and she said "no", so obviously I had to check out the other bathroom:

Smaller, no ornate mirror, but I am loving the wings on the skeletons. And the chandelier. Whoever designed this place needs to be my new BFF.

I loved this painting and wanted to steal her off the wall:

I know it's ridiculously fuzzy, but does anyone know who painted her? She has black angel wings... Beautiful.

There were two of these mirrors and three sconces along this wall. They reflected the dia de las muertas themed diorama behind me.

Okay, here is the 2nd "official" shot of me:

Halloween of 2005.

Week #2: 111 Things in 1/11

2011-01-16T20:59:00.000-06:00

I went through a few more boxes in the attic that never got unpacked when we moved and unearthed quite a bit of crap.

1 pair plaid pajama pants
1 J. Crew shirt (with a hole *sniff*)
1 freebie Jaegermeister shirt
1 pack razor refills that don't fit the Mr's razor
1 plaid sweatshirt
2 fishnet tights
1 fishnet shirt
1 pack polka dot chalk
1 white satin purse with marabou trim
1 vintage poncho-shirt found in the attic of our old house
1 roll marble patterned contact paper
1 bottle Fresh Clover scented room spray
1 sunglass bag
1 mini Maglight
2 patent belts
1 empty ring box
1 ugly bronze purse
1 large unused journal
1 pkg. SMELLY Purple Haze incense
1 rusted paint can opener
1 college issued Debit card
1 purple Q20 game
1 blue white-out tape-thingie
4 key chains
1 butane lighter
1 True Turquoise paint tester
1 pair Limited pin-stripe pants
1 bag balloons
1 Goldie pin
1 pair ruffled (unworn) underpants
1 self-tie belt from a shirt I no longer wear (or own)
3 pairs old underpants (ew)
1 empty travel laundry spray
1 Glade plug-in
1 pair safety glasses

42 items this week!! Much smaller items, but all completely useless.

69 items so far! Check out everybody else's crap at Words on Wendhurst and join in the purging fun!

Bye Bye Black Thumb

2011-01-12T21:33:00.000-06:00

I told you guys one of my goals for the new year is to "Keep some plants alive". I figure I should give you a little background and some pics to base progress on, right?

We did not have a single plant inside our old house. In two-and-a-half years. Hell, the only plants we had outside were shrubs and the Hostas that were so hardy even I couldn't kill them. Not that I tried. I did nothing to anything on the exterior of the house. We were renting and I figured there was no point. The house sat back off the road and the only neighbors had their backs to us, so I figured why waste my money... I did trim some of the bushes, but that was it.

When we looked at this house it was May and everything was verdant and beautiful and I figured how hard could it be to keep up with? When the paperwork finally came through and we closed in June, a lot of the plants were gone. Apparently the kids had come and taken whatever they wanted. Classy. So I was left with a few bushes and enough ferns that I felt like we were living in Land of the Lost. I finally dug up all the ferns, planted some Hostas, Creeping Jenny, and Mums, and mulched in late August, or maybe it was September, of this year.

So I have no idea how the exterior of the house is going to look come Spring, beyond knowing I'll probably have to re-mulch. I do plan on trying my damndest to keep the outside plants thriving as well. But I'm really more focused on indoor plants.

I had a fun tree-like plant with a braided trunk and leaves that look like marijuana. ("Marijuana is bad, m'kay?") I loved it and it was super cute.

But it died.

I also still have a fun little Elephant Palm Tree.

But it's looking a little worse for wear.

It had mites! I sprayed it down with soapy water and I think it's slowly coming back to life... Slowly. Maybe.

My mom gave me this cute little rubber plant. It lived outside all summer long and into the fall. Then there was a freak snow in October and it died too.

I brought it inside hoping it would be okay, but alas...

I have managed to keep this ugly cactus alive. I water it once a week, just a little, and ignore it the rest of the time. Too bad it's not very pleasing to the eye...

So here's my first attempt in the new year at keeping a non-cactus alive. He lives on top of my bookcase in the office/craft room, where he will hopefully get the "medium light" the tag says is required. I bought him on Friday, January 7th, we'll check in on him in February...

I also planted some clearance Paperwhites in the Beast's Feast Bowl my mom got me for Christmas. And I just realized these shots are all fuzzy. Hopefully she'll get me the tripod I requested for my birthday!

We shall see if I can keep our new friends alive. Stay tuned...

Week #1: 111 Things in 1/11

2011-01-09T19:41:00.001-06:00

This week I'm joining up at Words on Wendhurst for Jenny's 111 Things in 1/11!

We have soooo much stuff in this house that we don't use. Clothes that don't fit or are ridiculously outdated (Mr.), boxes in the attic that never got unpacked when we moved (this time or last time!), electronic equipment that is unnecessary, etc. For the past week I've been collecting things here and there as I go, things that are now destined for the Goodwill down the street. One man's trash and all that.

1 Large, plastic orange bowl
2 boxes winter window plastic stuff
1 box of 25 feet disgustingly cheap-o icky garland that I neglected to open before I purchased it on clearance last year
3 Christmas stocking from days of yore
1 Guess wallet that has outlived it's usefulness
1 polka dotty cardigan that I never could decide if it was black or navy and therefor never wore
1 travel coffee container that leaks
1 brushed silver soap dispenser that a particularly thoughtful ex bought me for Christmas (part of a set) years ago that now leaks
A bunch of random clothing that doesn't fit, doesn't flatter, or is ugly

I emptied one unpacked box from the attic so far and here's what's going bye-bye:

2 novelty ice cube trays that I never use
2 DHL stress balls which were giveaways from my awesome DHL guy at work
1 pack DHL rubber bandy bracelet thingies in the shape of everything logistics
1 pair (unused) rubber boobie lifters which are incapable of actually lifting my boobies... bastards

PLUS, I bought a box of these amazing awesome flocked hangers at Costco the other day (Costco is the devil):

They are phenomenal! (I almost typed "righteous!", but then realized that I am not, in fact, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) A few years back I bought a few boxes of the wooden hangers they had, but they stopped carrying them before I could overhaul the Mr.'s closets as well. So I decided I would use these new hangers for my stuff, give him the wooden hangers, and get rid of the last of the mis-matched crap-tastic plastic hangers, which are stretching out the shoulders in his nice clothes...

So I did. Well, I only bought one box of these so that wasn't enough for all my clothes, obviously, but it was a good start. And they really are slim! I think I gained about 10 inches of closet space.

Unfortunately the wooden hangers are too bulky to work in the Mr.'s closets. Even with me disposing of a few (hideously pleated) pairs of pants and some (really outdated and over-sized) sweaters and button-downs. The bad thing about having a guy who still has a 28" inch waist? (Besides the fact that the bastard is skinnier than me and can eat whatever he wants) He never feels the need to get rid of clothes, because everything still fits. We have been together over 4 years, he has 6 pairs of slacks that I have never seen him wear, but he won't get rid of them because they still fit. But he never looks at them and what he doesn't realize won't hurt him (and hopefully he won't pick today to decide to read this for the first time), so they went into these bags:

Shhh... Okay, so that's not all his stuff, some of it's mine too. So how about we call the oodles of clothes 10 things.

So that's a total of 27 things, so far. Not bad for the first week, but I've still got quite a ways to go if I expect to hit 111 in three weeks!

Goals... maybe

2011-01-05T19:37:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I talked last year about how I am terrible at resolutions, but my main thing for last year was to force myself to "follow-thru". Well, let me just say this: If you stink at meeting goals or even setting them, don't make a ridiculously broad "resolution". Although, looking back at that post, I did make a dent in the specific things I needed to follow-thru with. Let's take a look, shall we:

~~I need to finish the curtains for our kitchen.~~ Done.
~~Make the balloon shades for the dining room.~~ Done.
~~Put together another bookshelf for the bedroom.~~ Done, but I never blogged about it.

~~Put together the Expedit for my "office/craft room".~~ Done, but I don't have a pic because that room is ridiculously cluttered and icky.
Lose 20 pounds. Not so much.
Exercise more. Nope.
~~Paint the bedroom.~~ Done.
Paint the "office/craft room". Nope.
~~Finally get all the prints and photos framed~~ that I have been buying at art shows for the last 10 years. Partially done, but I haven't hung ANYTHING yet. Well, except the three in the DR.
STOP BUYING MORE CRAP until I finish all this stuff. Um. Yeah right.

So here are my goals for 2011.

I want to break it down two ways, maybe it will get me motivated if I tackle some smaller, yet high impact, projects first.

January Goals:

Hang the gallery wall.

Hang art in the bedroom. It's been sitting on the dresser for 4 months now...

Do Jenny's "111 things in 1/11" challenge.

Make a new coffee table/ottoman for the living room.

Make the leopard pillows I talked about last month.

Broader 2011 Goals:

Paint the basement.

Paint the bathroom in the basement.

Paint the "office/craft room".

Organize the "office/craft room".

Have the kitchen cabinets painted.

Keep some plants alive.

Find a rug for the living room.

Take and show you more pictures of my finished projects (and actually remember to blog about them).

I'm sure there's lots more, but I can't think of it right now. Let's see how I do February 1st and I'll go from there!

Best of 2010

2011-01-04T20:45:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm late, but I want to join in the "Best of" fun! Plus, looking at what I've accomplished over the last year makes me feel like less of a sloth right now...

JANUARY

Kitchen cafe curtains

FEBRUARY

Nothing much happened on the home front, but Gidget sure was cute.

MARCH

DR tie-ups

APRIL

DIY pillow form

MAY

Apparently I accomplished nothing in May, so here's another picture of Gidget

JUNE

My paternal grandmothers 90th birthday

JULY

DR hutch redo

AUGUST

Silver leaf t.v. frame

SEPTEMBER

Dining Room chair redo

OCTOBER

New exterior paint job

NOVEMBER

Parental Kitchen Remodel - Final Reveal

DECEMBER

New curtain rod in DR

Okay, so looking back at individual posts/projects really doesn't make me feel productive... But the house looks totally different now as a result of all of the little things adding up. I think I will take some updated Before and After shots over the weekend...

Simple DIY Etched Candles

2011-01-03T20:32:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd share a quick little project I did for my cousin's (and S-I-L) Christmas presents.

Start with a glass vessel. I decided on candles after finding out what their favorite fragrances are.Plus, I am a sucker for Bath & Body candles; they smell phenomenal and the company is cruelty free, as are all the companies they sell. Can't beat that!

Peel off the labels carefully, but quickly. If you go too slow of hesitate near the edges, they won't come off cleanly.

If there is an residue it can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol or Goo Gone.

Decide on a design. I went with their initials and a stripe around the top.

You will need some supplies: Armour Etch (do not buy without your Michael's or Hobby Lobby coupon in hand), a paintbrush, vinyl/painters tape.

I poured some etching cream into the cap of the bottle to avoid getting it all over my hands by dipping the brush into the bottle. It made it easier to see how much I was getting, too.

You really want to glob it on thick.

I did a tester one with my initial first and it ended up all streaky because I didn't have the etching cream on thick enough.

Now, would you believe that I forgot to take a shot of the finished candles? Doh! But here's my tester just to give you an idea.

See the streaky spots at the top and along the bottom? Meh. Good thing I actually did a tester project for once! The ones I gave away turned out really great once I got the technique down. I gave my S-I-L hers a day before everyone else and she was all "Oh. Cute". Fail. But then I found out later she thought I had bought it like that and didn't realize I had made it just for her, so apparently they look good enough to be store bought. That's good enough for me.

I figure these will be cute once they are all burned down to keep small stuff in; pencils, brushes, rings, acorns in the fall... Hell, I don't know, they've got to be useful for something right? Well, they smell great in the meantime, at least!

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #6

2010-12-19T19:11:00.000-06:00

It's Week #6 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Have Traditions!

The Mister and I don't really have any personal, household traditions. Hell, this year we didn't even buy each other presents. Between all the projects we've had around the house and his overtime, we haven't even left the house together (besides family destinations) for... umm... maybe 6 months? I don't know, maybe more. Point is, we haven't been anywhere to wander around and point and say "Oh, I'd like that" or "Oooh, pretty". So he has no idea what to get me. Whatevs. Hopefully sometime after the holidays we'll get out and have a chance to wander around town a bit.

Anyway, our traditions boil down to where we spend Christmas. We usually go to my brother and S-I-L's for an immediate family Christmas the day before Christmas Eve.

Hey, she did the ribbon-wrapping-thing last year!

We go to his mom's on Christmas Eve.

And then we go to my grandparents on Christmas day.

This year is going to be a little different because my uncle isn't coming in from Kentucky until the day AFTER Christmas this year. So we're going to have FIVE days of Christmas... I've already told the Mr. he can sit a few out if he wants to, that's a lot of socializing.

So this year the plan is: S-I-L's the day before Christmas Eve, his mom's on Christmas Eve, my aunt's on Christmas Day (just because it's Christmas), my grandmother's the day after Christmas (when we will actually be opening presents) and again the day after that...

The day after Christmas will probably also be the day we light the alcohol on fire!

My favorite tradition... Read more about it here.

Made me a pillow...

2010-12-16T21:09:00.000-06:00

I told you all on Sunday that I didn't get to make the pillows I had planned on for Kim's party, seeing as I didn't have a zipper foot for my machine. Luckily the sewing store near my house was able to procure one for me. I decided to start with an extra accent pillow I wanted to make, just in case I suck at using a zipper foot. Well, I do, but it was a good learning experience and especially taught me it's very difficult to sew stretchy, thick knit materials...

I saw this fabric at Hobby Lobby (shhh... in the baby fabric section) and I just had to have it. It's soooo soft, like almost baby bunny soft. Of course, since it's slightly furry and black it will be coated in dog hair in no time at all! Awesome.

The corners turned out really well, I was pretty impressed since I am impatient and didn't actually measure anything. I just laid out the cover I had that was the size I want and cut around it. My white chalk pencil wasn't cooperating, so I made due.

I love the texture on this fabric! Perfect for pattern-phobes like myself.

The zipper didn't turn out so great, but I'm inclined to blame the fabric and my inexperience. Next time I'll do better! :D

What have you made recently? Have you ever tried to sew a zipper in stretchy fabric?

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum...

2010-12-14T09:39:00.001-06:00

I guess it's about time I show you guys the Christmas tree I've been mentioning for weeks.

It looks a little bare because most of the ornaments are white and clear!

I LOVE this tree-topper I found! It's glass, it was only $6.00, and it coordinates well with the ornaments!

Barbie shoes from one of the ornaments my grandmother gave me. I believe this was the 2005 ornament?

We don't have any "personal" or "collected" ornaments besides the ornaments I get from my grandmother every year (which just happen to match the color scheme). She did give me one that was a black and white kitty playing with a poinsettia. Um... Not sure where that came from in the middle of a decade of Barbie ornaments. Plus, aren't poinsettias poisonous to animals? Weird. I am sure if we had children our tree would be covered in glittery macaroni reindeer, candy canes, and fat Santa paper cut-outs, but we don't.

You can see in this shot that I did not get the tree skirt made to coordinate with the stockings... Oh well. It matches the tree well enough. I'm actually lucky that, besides the old green and red stockings, everything I bought for the green tree still went well with a white tree. I was pleasantly surprised when I started unwrapping everything. I hardly had to buy anything this year.

This one is my favorite. When I was looking for a dress for prom I desperately wanted this poufy ivory princess dress with sequin icicles coming down from the strapless bodice. It was soooooo pretty. But I am super pale with naturally strawberry blond hair and the color made me look deathly ill. This ornament reminds me of that dress! lol

More barbie shoes! I hung all of the ornaments with fishing line so they just hover on the tree. Plus, I didn't have any hangers and I was too lazy to run out for something that would be visually distracting anyway.

Barbie shoe box. The ornament came as one shopping bag, but when you open the bag there are three shoe boxes inside with a pair of shoes in each! And each item has it's own little hanger. Awesome.

I really love this little bird too. So quite and unassuming, you can barely tell he's there.

A larger velvet shoe. I think my S-I-L got me this one.

This was 2008's ornament.

All lit up! You can see the ornaments better like this.

It makes me so happy to walk past our tree every day. It's just so pretty! We did have a green one in our last house, but this house is soooo dark (we are surrounded by trees) and the dark green was just depressing. Especially in front of the window.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

The Mr. came upstairs after I finished putting it together and said it looked like something out of a magazine. Now I know it doesn't, but it still made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Next year I am going to try wrapping the tree in ribbon before I decorate it. I'm not sure if that is an old trend come round again or if I just wasn't paying attention last year, but I am loving the idea.

What do think? Do you hate the idea of a non-traditional colored Christmas tree? What does your tree look like?

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #5

2010-12-12T19:04:00.000-06:00

It's Week #5 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Deck The Halls!

I had planned on showing off the fabulous pillows I made to coordinate with the stockings I linked to last weeks party, but I didn't make any pillows... I spent Saturday morning running to Target, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock Fabrics to make sure I would have all the supplies I needed to make my pillows. I wanted to make {2} 22" pillows, so I bought 2 black 20" zippers at Hancock. I wanted to make absolutely sure I would have enough fabric to make two pillows, so I bought an additional yard of leopard print fabric at Hobby Lobby, plus some pom pom trim and a yard of knubby black fabric for an accent pillow. I bought stuffing at Hobby Lobby, because neither they nor Hancock had 22" pillow forms ( apparently a frowned-upon pillow size). I went to Target because I've had my eye on these big, fun furry white pillows for about a month now and I thought they would be a great foil for the stockings and the pillows, but both Target's near us were out! Grrr.

I got up bright and early this morning (to discover the first big snow of the season! irrelevant to the story), got out all my pillow making crap, opened up a pillow w/ zipper tutorial on Design*Sponge... and realized I needed a zipper foot for my damn sewing machine. ARGH!

So I got discouraged and did nothing. All day. I watched She's All That and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I sat on the couch in front of the fire, snuggled with the beasts, and read a few magazines... We all need a lazy day occasionally, right? Right.

On a more positive note, I finished all four stockings.

They are by no means perfect, but I'm happy with them overall. I did accidentally make one inside out, and one I attached the cuff and hanger wrong, but that's what seam rippers are for!

Not sure how smart it is to have them hanging in front of a roaring fire with no grate, but so far, so good (they don't actually hang over the opening, it's just the angle of the shot). We are usually in the room when the fire is going and if not, the house is small enough to smell smoke quickly! lol I kid!

Mister has a grate all planned out and he was actually working on it today, so {fingers crossed} it may be finished sometime this week!

We had a set of three reindeer stocking holders, but I needed a fourth for Dozer. Luckily Target has a similar buck that coordinates well-enough with our existing set. This one below is the new one. His rack isn't curly, like the original, but the body shape is nearly identical.

Mister found this shed antler at one of his work sites and brought it home for me years ago.

Cheap-O garland from Sappington Garden Shop to add a little extra bling.

I've had the mantle finished for a few weeks now, but I wanted to find a fourth hanger and finish the stockings before I showed you guys. For all you newbie readers, can you see why "traditional" Christmas colors don't work in our house? The quartz in the fireplace fights any and all non-pastels or strong colors and I am not visually talented enough to force it to work.

Have you made any decor for the holiday season? Join us for Kim's party!

Do you have a dominant feature in your home that you have to fight or work around? Do tell!

Holiday Vignette

2010-12-09T21:15:00.000-06:00

If you've been around here for a bit you surely know that "traditional" is not our style... I definitely tend more towards pretty and quirky to offset all of our antique furniture. The non-traditional extends to holiday decor, as well. I cannot stomach red and green in my home, even for Christmas. I prefer metallics, pastels, and icy tones. I'm also not a fan of "crafty" holiday stuff. "Artsy", yes. "Crafty", no. But all of this means it is difficult to find holiday decor that I like and will actually re-use year after year.

As of now I have one single large Christmas tub and it is mainly full of ornaments. I don't have any real holiday specific decor. No cute snowmen, no sparkly reindeer, no angels. So how do I make things look festive? Hmmm... In the interest of working with what I've got and not spending lots of money on useless crap I'll have to store 10 months out of the year, I threw some ornaments and bows around and called it a day.


On top of our china cabinet.


Bows from Ikea.


Fall/Winter china with a few bows.

My grandmother buys all the grandkids an ornament for Christmas. Mine has been Barbie for years now.


More ornaments and bows from Ikea. Plus, a candle I bought at Target last year.

How do you decorate for the Holidays? Do you prefer to stick with the palette already in your home or do you go all out with greenery and big red bows?

Dining Room Window Treatment

2010-12-09T00:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have been slightly MIA lately, especially on the finished project front, but I haven't been feeling especially chatty. We've gotten a lot done around the house and I've taken pictures, but then I look at the pics and I convince myself that they aren't good enough (the pics, not the projects). So you are going to get slightly craptastic photos that don't really do justice to my new fabuloso drapes!

We last left off here:

Then I showed you guys my china cabinet redo and you could see the beginnings of something here:

Here's a better shot of the rod on the floor:

Mr. made this curtain rod out of 1/2 inch aluminum conduit, which cost us about $9.00. Then he made four brackets out of 1/2 inch aluminum flat stock:

And here's the after:

Excellent.

Details?


Anchored 'em in.


Double pinch pleat.


Easy schemesey.

Double pinch your drapes at either end. Measure in between. Divide by how many clips you've got. Pinch. Pinch. Pinch. Ta-Da!

It's hard to tell the color. They are from J.C. Penney; Chris Madden Mystique Interlined blah, blah, blah... in Antique Blue.

My S-I-L came by my house to pick up our old (2 yrs.) Christmas tree (I just wasn't feeling the green anymore) and asked where I got my drapes... "J C Penney", I said. "Do you know what they're called?" she said. "Chris Madden is the designer", I said. "Are they Mystique?", she asked.

Why, yes, they are in fact. Oh, well, turns out she's had her her eye on these in Gold for months (maybe years) now, for their dining room. I'll be sure to share pics of her new drapes when we head over there for Christmas.

Here's a close-up of the fabric:

And here are the finials:

Which are totally 40% off Hob Lob knobs - hot glued on.

BEFORE

AFTER

What do you think?

Monkey Love

2010-12-07T21:30:00.000-06:00

When we moved into our house, out fireplace was labeled "non-functioning". Turned out all it needed was a chimney cap (the hole was covered with a lead sheet) and to be re-tuckpointed. Well, as anyone with a brick home knows, tuckpointing can be crazy expensive. Lucky for me, the Mr. can do anything.

{Insert imaginary cute picture of a hot guy holding a trowel and smiling}

He located a cap to fit our chimney top and he tuckpointed the firebox. Ta-Da!

We now have working fireplace and Gidget is loving it!

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #4

2010-12-05T22:35:00.000-06:00

It's Week #4 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Give Homemade Gifts!

Now, I'm cheating a little week. I didn't get any Christmas presents made this weekend due to my work holiday party on Friday night and the Mister's aunt's wedding yesterday. However, I did get started on making our Christmas stockings. The Christmas stockings we had were just not working for me anymore, plus we only had three and we're four this year. We were four last year, too, but I didn't bother decorating because I was working on the living room at the time. Anyway, the stockings we had were red and green and traditional and red does not work in this house, not even for Christmas. So, I decided to make some with, what else, the same curtain material I used for the dining room tie-ups, the chair, the master bedroom drapes, and the living room drapes.

I still have to add trim to this one and sew up the other three, but I'm pretty excited about how well the first one turned out! I got the leopard fabric at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and I got some pretty trim to coordinate:

Hopefully I can whip through the other three tomorrow evening.

And, after seeing the Three Sisterz Rosette Stockings, via Kim's party, I may just have to add a little flower or two to the project!

I want to make a coordinating tree skirt too, but I can't decide if I want to make it leopard with white trim or vice-versa. Our Christmas tree is white with silver and white ornaments.

What do you think? What would you do?

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #3

2010-11-30T21:50:00.000-06:00

It's Week #3 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Eat Cookies!

I'm a few days late, but better late than never, right?? Right.

Mister loves him some Red Velvet Cake and he had a sucky day yesterday, so I thought I'd treat him with Paula Dean's Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies! Mine definitely don't look like the picture and I would make them smaller next time, but they turned out pretty great otherwise. Mister is sitting next to me snarfing them down, so I guess they are good enough for him!

Come join the fun over at Kim's and check out all the other links!

The Indian Burial Ground

2010-11-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

A while back a gentleman stopped at our house and told us he had grown up here! His name is Eugene and his sister, Eleanor, had lived in the house until about a year before we bought it (it was empty until we purchased it). He said he and his father had built the house themselves. They hired a stonemason to lay the exterior stonework and the fireplace. They did all the carpentry and the finish work themselves. He told us that during the Great Depression his father was out of work, so they moved to Springfield, Missouri for a few years and the house stood vacant.

The little barn we have off to the side used to be a chicken coup:

See that little blue bed frame behind the turned wood piece? I told the Mister we were going to have to salvage it if we ever had a kid. It's so precious!

Even the chicken coup was solidly built! These boys loved their concrete (hey Kim, read your comment to this post, it totally applies this week, no?) and stone.

During the course of the five hours (!) Gene was at our house, he told the Mister there was an Indian buried on our property and waved in the general direction of the hill below the chicken coupe. Well, of course, Mr. took it with a grain of salt and a smile, but when the old man left, he went looking.

Sure enough, he found an old Indian buried on our hill!

Ha! You totally thought he found a dead body, didn't you?! hehehehe

Once he knew it was there he couldn't just let it be, he had to excavate it.

He finally finished digging it up on Saturday and managed to stand it upright.

The shifter knob was a die and it's still intact. Super cool.

I believe this is the fly wheel housing. Mister has a friend who runs an antique motorcycle shop and says, based on Mr's description, he thinks it's a 1928, 29, or 30. How crazy is that?

For those of you that live in old homes, have you ever found anything ridiculously awesome? Maybe in the basement, the attic, or even outside?

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #2

2010-11-21T19:00:00.000-06:00

It's Week #2 for the Dare to DIY Blog Party over at the Newly Woodwards and this weeks theme is: Dare to... Entertain!

We don't entertain. Like ever. Our Halloween party was the first time we had ever invited people into our home for any reason other than moving or bringing something by. So it may come as no surprise that I have never set a table, not even when I was a kid. In our family the food is the main event, no one cares about how pretty the table setting is... My grandfather always made sure to take lots of pictures of the food, the desserts, the wine, people eating. As long as you were eating, nothing else mattered.

So here is my virgin attempt at setting a table. Try not to point and laugh.


You can tell that blue thing is a pumpkin, right?

The Mister was all "I've never seen a pumpkin with a stem like that!". Yeah, well, have you ever seen an iridescent blue pumpkin? He's like "Normal people may not realize it's a pumpkin". Well then it's a good thing we're all abnormal, right? Besides it's art! I got it at Third Degree Glass Factory on Friday. AND it matches my new drapes!!! Which will get their very own post sometime this week.

These are live gourds I spray painted white. The paint does not like to stick to the smooth surface of these.

My paternal grandmothers cut glass pitcher, it's mesmerizingly beautiful IRL. We are moving her to a smaller place on Tuesday and her china hutch won't fit. Which is also why I have her china now.

I used the china with pine cones on it Mr's mom gave me, with cut glass bowls she found for me at a town rummage sale, and our everyday utensils because we don't have fancy silver. Yet. That is going to be my next antique mall purchase. I see sets all the time for reasonable prices and for some reason haven't bought one yet.

The silver goblets were from the same rummage sale as the glass bowls and the aluminum cups were my maternal great-grandmothers.

Since we never entertain and we're not fancy, I don't own a tablecloth. So I used a curtain!

Of course, if we were actually having live humans over (instead of cyber ones! lol) I would take the time to trim the tabs off, make a runner out of it (which I've been meaning to do for months!), or buy a real tablecloth.

Not bad for a first attempt, if I do say so myself. It's no Eddie Ross set-up, but it'll do.

Come join the fun over at Kim's and check out all the other links!

Recipe: Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2010-11-18T09:56:00.000-06:00

I found this recipe in The F-Factor Diet cookbook. I have adjusted it slightly to fit our tastes (there is no red pepper in the original). I know many of you probably think Brussel sprouts are disgusting and smell like cabbage. Well, just like green beans and asparagus, there is definitely the potential to overcook them. Don't. Follow these directions and they will turn out beautifully green and fresh tasting, almost sweet. Just try them once.

1 10-ounce pkg. frozen no-salt-added Brussel Sprouts (I used fresh)

2 cups chicken broth (I used no-salt chicken bullion)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbps. chopped garlic

1/2 tsp. salt (I omit the salt)

1/4 tsp. pepper (I use 1 tsp.)

1 tsp. red pepper

2 tbsp. sliced almonds, toasted

1. Preheat oven to broil.

2. Place chicken broth in a pot and bring to a boil.

3. Add Brussel sprouts and cook for 5 minutes, until tender.

4. In the meantime, chop your garlic and add it to the olive oil, pepper, red pepper, and salt (if using) in a bowl large enough to hold your Brussel sprouts.

5. Drain Brussel Sprouts.

6. Cut them in half.

7. Place in bowl with ingredients and toss to coat.

8. Spread Brussel sprouts onto a baking sheet and broil for 8 minutes, stirring after 4 minutes to ensure even cooking.

9. While sprouts are roasting, toast your sliced almonds. Toss occasionally to avoid burning.

10. Serve sprouts topped with toasted almonds and prepare to be shocked by how fantastic they are!

11. Yum!

From "Blah" to "Ta-Da!": Aunt Gladys' Chair Makeover

2010-11-15T22:05:00.000-06:00

This chair has been sitting in the Mister's parents basement for years (and years).

Apparently she belonged to the Mister's Aunt Gladys (who I think was his dad's sister). He remembers her sitting and looking out the window for hours, from this chair. But unfortunately, she (the chair, not Aunt Gladys) was a full-on Monet (quick! Which movie?). It was lovely from a distance, but up close it was faded and chippy.

Which is really a shame, because the crewelwork pattern and colors were lovely. The frame appears to be finished wood, but it's actually painted brown and I detest anything brown that is not: wood, leather, or an animal. Ick.

Actually, it's lucky the seat needed to be re-covered, because when I took off the fabric I found this:

It was four layers worth of snapped, brittle 1/16 in. plywood.

So I cut a new seat base from 1/2 in. plywood we had on hand using the Mister's jigsaw:

And I painted the chair with Rustoleum's Semi-Gloss Black:


I ran out of spray paint and didn't want to make a 30 mile trip to Home Depot.

I couldn't get anything small enough through the holes in the frame to mark the new seat for screws, so I taped the seat in place and stuck a really long drill bit in the holes:

I cut a new piece of 2 in. foam that I had left over from the last chair:

I sprayed both the foam and the seat base with Krylon Easy-Tack (just to make it easier to work with, so it wasn't sliding around) and wrapped the whole thing in a layer of batting (that I also had from the first chair and then two layers (because you could see through the first) of my fabric of choice, the Lenda Bleached curtains from Ikea:

I love the pinstriped detail, the color, and the price! It's a lovely neutral without being too beige or too white or too cream. It's not permanent, just until I can pick a fabric or at least figure out where this chair is going to live.

So here's the before again:

BEFORE

and the

AFTER


With my lovely Halloween pillows from LilyBethGoodies on etsy

I just love the detail on this chair:

What have you made over lately?

I'm linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.

Dare to DIY Blog Party: Week #1

2010-11-14T20:58:00.000-06:00

Kim over at Newly Woodwards is having a party! Follow along or join in the festivities.

Welcome to Week #1: Dare to be Thankful! In Kim's own words this weeks project is: "Take some time making your own DIY Thanksgiving project. It could be a fun Thanksgiving advent calendar, homemade thank-you cards, a banner or something completely unique."

Frankly this weeks dare was a big, giant fail on my part; I had junk to do all weekend and I completely dropped the ball. So no new project from me. However, I want to be involved and be supportive, so I figured I'd re-post a project from last year. It's not like anybody actually saw it except for Kelly!

My boss receive a book entitled Hello, Cupcake! for Christmas last year and for some reason brought it in to work recently. I was smitten. Everything in the tutorial cookbook is ADORABLE! And very simple, too.
At my grandmothers, for Holidays, the grandkids are not expected to act like adults. We are not asked to bring a dish, or help out in the kitchen. While this can be a relief at times, sometimes it is also nice to be treated as a grown-up. Especially when you have a house, a fiance, a big girl job, and two fur-"babies". So I decided this year that I would make cupcakes! Yay! Only problem is, I've never made cupcakes before. Well, not really a "problem", as I am a fairly good cook, so the baking part was no trouble, but I completely underestimated the time and financial commitment that fancy cupcakes take. I chose to make the "T.V. Dinner" cupcakes and the " Larry the Turkey" cupcakes.

I went to Schnucks on my lunch break to buy the supplies. It took forever since I don't bake much and I wasn't sure exactly what I needed. I had decided that instead of the Peas and Carrots cupcake you see in the first picture, I would make a Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows one. So I needed lots of orange Starburst, but I didn't know how many... And I also decided that instead of Chocolate Pudding, I would make Stuffing. That was easily accomplished with Betty Crocker Ice Cream Praline topping. So I got most of my stuff at the grocer, but I still had to stop at a cake decorating specialty store for the rest, Karen Ann's. She was really nice and incredibly helpful. Anyway, after 5 hours of baking and decorating, here are the results.

I think they all turned out really great, but it was definitely hard work. You'll notice there are no Larry's and there are also two random "Pudding" cupcakes. I ran out of time and the will to live. Just kidding. But it was 11 pm, I had run out of orange Starburst, and I was tired. So, I deemed it "good enough". I am the queen of "good enough", BTW. But they were a big hit (especially the mashed potato ones), so I was happy.

So what do think of my recycled DIY project? Have you checked out the other links at Kim's?