i heart mini.

Progress/obsession.

2011-03-22T21:02:00.015-04:00

Firstly, I haven't lost really anymore weight. I'm down 16 from December, but I've gained a crap ton of muscle. I know because work has the awesome scales that tell me I have 24% body fat, which by the way is fitness level. Me, the person who was underweight my whole life but never in shape, then gained a lot of fat, now has 76% muscle and organs. And is at a fitness level! I've gained 2 more lbs of muscle weight in just 3 weeks! It's amazing. Truly amazing, how just working out about 13 or 15 times burned enough fat to build 2 lbs of muscle. I dare say it's an obsession to work out. I feel awesome afterwards and I hate not going. Maybe not a full fledged obsession, but a strong hobby. Yeah, thats not as obsessive.

Rupert is thrilled at my hard work, too.

Just kidding, I'm sure he could care less as long as he has my love.

But with all this hard work hussy Got me a beautiful new bike with a cute little basket. Something I've always dreamed of owning. And we live just a mile or so from the local grocer. The ever hip coffee shops and adorable older neighborhood that surrounds a very expensive landmark college is just as far down the road. I want to bike everywhere now, and I'm lucky were in an established enough area that theres plenty to go to in close proximity with an abundance of character. Blah blah heres my new baby

Walmart. Yes, I got this at walmart. I don't care if its a copy, knock off, cheap, whatever. It's adorable and a smooth ride. I love it.

Of course, with more working out and all my current weight loss and toning, I've had to buy a whole new wardrobe. Well, some. I'm too cheap and broke to replace all the daggone clothes I just built my wardrobe up with :(

My jeans are falling off, super loose, and not in a flattering way. Its an uncomfortable saggy feeling. I just got all my jeans in December for $10 each. Really good quality, and target hasn't had that sale since then. I'm pissed.

But every new milestone or noticeable change in appearance awards me a cheap thrill. I got this tight new shirt (what up target! I bought stock in it, for real.) to show off my almost flat tummy but my still gigantic chest is a little embarrassing. Oh well. I also bought my fave self tanner from bath and body works. Here's both together... Look ma, I'm not a ghost in a white shirt!

So after all these teasers, I thought I'd close this out with a real picture to show off how much fat I lost in my neck, upper chest and shoulders that I'm so proud of. And a snookie poof. fist pump and gorillas and GTLs and junk ftw.

I'll post a before and after of my progress soon. When I can deal with the embarrassment of only just realizing how much pooch I had. Lame.

Relaxing in chaos.

2011-03-06T12:44:00.008-05:00

I'm so glad to have our poang chairs together at last. Cooper is enjoying life next to me while I'm lazy.

Then I upload the picture and realize what a disaster my house appears to be. In reality, we just paired down the litter boxes to smaller ones that look better and take up less room, got a new scratch pad and my favorite purse on earth is ripped and flaking and I can't save it any longer. Since we live in an 864 sf house, the only logical place to put the trash is the one room we go to for peace, quiet and cleanliness.

Well, aside from the poop boxes. I guess the room isn't as sterile as I thought.

The room also doubles as hussy's dressing room since it houses his closet. My closet is in the bedroom, and it was a disaster. So to make up for the trashed office, I paired down and color coordinated my closet to bring more peace to the bedroom.

It was then I realized my wardrobe looks so... Neutral.

I got rid of enough clothes that I can't fit into since I lost so much weight, that I cleared the entire bottom bar! So I decided to hang my boots. Which is awesome because I basically scroll them side to side to see what shirts they go with then put together a new outfit. Why didn't I think of this before boot season is almost over? Ugh.

Now excuse me as I relax some more with my baby. And convince hussy it's time for a dump run asap.

My Nest Dressed Me.

2011-03-05T09:07:00.006-05:00

remember that show? The one where Thom takes your favorite outfit and styles an entire room around it? I tried that. It wasn't for me, so I started styling my place with things I loved and thought look nice, and did the same on my body. We never matched, until I put this Lucas pillow from Crate & Barrel on my sofa

And used it as inspiration for this outfit

As much as I put outfits together so well, I would have never come up with the rugged chains and the wrinkley brown boots with the delicate looking purple cardi. Nor would I have paired a blue shirt under the purple. I'm a risk taker when it comes to clothes, but I'm not usually that colorful or eclectic feeling! Now? New fave outfit. There's even a splash of green in the beads on the necklace to pick up the second chartreuse pillow, because, you know, every detail counts. Even if only online universerve knows my inspiration ;)

Changes.

2011-03-04T19:15:00.006-05:00

I know I'm a real jerk blogger to always leave everyone hanging for long periods of time, but to blog on my iPad is a real pain, and my piece of junk laptop keeps crashing. However I'm happy to report the time off has been a huge irl journey. I last posted about my new healthier habits, which kicked hiney on my test results. Well I've not only stayed on that road, but I cut out meat. I also realized how controversial it is. I had no idea people would find it so hard to believe its possible to cut out meat. I also didn't realize how much people would encourage me to just try the meat, just have a little, it won't hurt. Really, I never encouraged someone to eat meat when they were against it. Redic.

The good news is, I'm down 16 lbs. The bad news is, people judge that too.I thought I was uncomfortably chubby in areas. now I feel almost perfect, and people are more worried than congratulatory. I guess I shouldn't express my excitement so much when I lose about a lb a week, which was attributed to super hard work and strict dietary plans. Oh well, no more pity party here. It's MY blog and I feel awesome! I'm comfortable working out, wearing clothes, and taking self portraits! I just wish everyone could have this much freedom and energy and happiness.

Which leads me to changes at home too. I've been eyeballing a shelf over my desk and that cute yellow flower target pillow that everyone in blog universe owns. I've wanted to turn the picture over the fireplace vertical. I've wanted to decorate my coffee table with books and flowers and a catch all tray or something. So I did it all. In one night. I also hung my curtain rods wider to let more light in, and brought down a second poang chair from the attic for my fat cat Cooper to sit in one beside me. Those such small changes, mostly cheap or free,made me happier than ever.

Oh and I dyed my hair very blonde. All in all, I'd say on top of the world. :)

Wait loss.

2011-02-16T18:49:00.008-05:00

Every year around new years at my gym, which is pretty much only 3 now, i dread the slew of people who flood the machines in hopes of finally losing those stubborn pounds they've had since... Well, last new years. It sounds awful, because it is. I feel bad when people have awesome goals they had the nerve to work towards, then a few weeks later, I never see them again. About a month later the gym is back to empty, and I gladly and sadly have my machines back at my disposal.

Now, let's set the records straight here. I haven't been "skinny" since I was 21. I've been "normal" and "average" but not skinny. It's not that big of a deal to me, because I spent most of my life underweight, getting in trouble at work for not dressing professionally because it was my fault they don't make women's business clothes in something lower than size 0. It was such a frustrating time in my life, and I welcomed the 20 pounds I amassed when I moved into a home with a gentleman who cooked bomb home cooked meals. Who would have thought fast food kept me skinny and home cooked got me fat? Well, whatever the case, I gained weight. 20 lbs sounds like a lot, but I went from 89 to 109. I decided to try to lose some fat and tone down in december of 08.

I kept eating until I was full, drinking soda, and chomping on junk all day long. I worked out, I had definition and strength, but I also had fat on top of it. Here's the kicker: I work at a health lab. I got my results, and they still didn't scare me into changing completely, though it was a start. The kicker was winning that xbox kinect. And seeing my fat rolls on the infrared looking picture dancing/laughing back at me. Really, that's all it took.

I cut out soda, chocolate, bread, most cheese some dairy, and stuck to a strict vegetable, fruit, nut and tuna diet. On the first day I lost 3 pounds. Over the next two weeks, I was down 10. I eventually plateaued, and have held steady since. I know this isn't what I normally post about, but I feel so much healthier now, and I've been more active as a result. Which does pertain to the blog, because thats what i've spent all my time working on! I decided to take a break to meet my goal. Which wasn't an actual pound goal, but a feel better goal.

I don't own scales, so I made a deal with myself that I had to go to the gym in order to weigh myself, and it actually worked! In order to see my progress, I have to go make more. I'm happy to report after all that hard work, I got updated test results. I went from mostly yellows and reds in my cholesterol and particle areas to all green! My doctors and specialists at work were so impressed, which was the cherry on top. Well, mostly. The comments I get from people who noticed how good I look after just a month are the best. I haven't been as perfect sticking to it as I was at the beginning, but it's still steady. Right now I'm actually home sick, which sucks major, but I'm trying to stay good even though all I want is warm comfort food.

Maybe one day I'll get the nerve to post the difference in how I look. The highest I got was 120, which wasn't that bad. But it was still a huge difference from the 110 I am now. But hey, it's Thursday, thriftiness should be ensuing... So guess what? Eating healthier is way cheaper than not! It only costs about $125 a month to eat natural foods! No high fructose corn syrup, only slightly processed, or not at all, healthy goodness. I just wish I could encourage more people to follow suit. I used to think it was deprivation to eat only healthy. Now I know I was depriving myself by not eating healthy. Here is what my lunch looks like now:

It's so simple.

Lettuce, 1 strawberry, mandarin oranges, black olives, fat free raspberry vinaigrette, and a dash of those planters nut-trition things with dried cranberries, walnuts and dark chocolate covered peanuts. It took 5 minutes to prepare, and cost about a buck to make. I just rotate ingredients around in each salad. Sometimes I dump more fruit, sometimes I keep it simple with just oranges and walnuts. Rarely, I keep it all veggies. I'm just a big fruity person.

So i hope you feel encouraged to try a healthier lifestyle. Maybe I'll post more about it to show what else I learn to live simpler and healthier :) it won't happen overnight, but it's a fun journey.

My air is being centered.

2011-02-16T10:39:00.005-05:00

Big things are happening guys. Namely, we've spent the last couple weeks getting quotes and debating on getting central air. Can you believe we have lived in this house almost 4 years with nothing more than ONE window ac unit and ONE floor furnace? Yeah, us either. So yesterday we hired a company through home depot, and they got started installing central air.

See, like many in this market, we lost value. We've always been undervalued because we didn't have central air, but not enough to devalue us the cost to actually install it. It may sound silly, but we only need it about 4 to 5 months out of the year. It's only 800 sf, so it stays a pretty stable temperature most of the year. Except winter, when it's 16 degrees out at night, and amerigas decides to be cute and NOT SHOW UP, leaving us without propane, thus no heat, or hot water. Yes, it is 2011, and there have been days we didn't have heat. It took days of Hussy calling them to get them to come, and when they finally did, they left cute notes on our empty tank to "next time, please call when it's at 20%." except we did, but it was actually at 60% when we called for them to come. Real cute.

So we had enough embarrassment, namely from rumor of us not having heat getting all the way up to my CEO, who offered the company sofas instead of sleeping in our cold house. It was time to suck it up and install central air. Conveniently, at the very moment we made that call, the value of our house went from $160,000 to $100,000. I get it, it's a sucky market. That's fine, but to be honest, I can't understand why the values fell from foreclosures in our neighborhood! We had several that foreclosed at 80000. If you can't afford $500 in a city where rent isn't even that cheap, where else is there to go? I felt bad for them, then I felt bad for me. Needless to say, we got lucky. Lucky because it encouraged us to keep the cheap mortgage and not buy a more expensive home in the country, yet. But when we do, rental homes in our neighborhood are going for $1,000 a month. We would make more money off rent than we would selling!

Plus, we have a fully updated inside and out house, with central air. Next to the rental house beside us, we look hot! But the best part about all of this is that having central air vents actually makes it feel more like a home. Is that weird? Maybe because it feels current and not straight out of the 50s. We actually don't want to move now. It was more of a blessing in disguise. So all those honest thoughts I just shared with you seem completely irrelevant. Our value will stabilize eventually, we'll be able to rent if we need to, but were finally content.

And just look at these beautiful vents!

Though, none of this will make us truly happy until amerigas removes the tank off our property. We have never had such poor customer service from ANY company before. Luckily weather crafters has been one of the best experiences we've had so far!

What Is It With Cats

2011-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

And fresh laundry?

So much for that wrinkle-free dryer cycle.

Also, Happy Birthday Justin

Yeah, I had that poster several times on my Justin Timberlake wallpapered bedroom. It was worth waking up to each morning. Thanks Bop, Teen Beat, and Tiger beat for capitalizing on my allowance.

Hidden Treasure.

2011-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last month I uncovered the update I had hidden from cyberspace since AUGUST.

I went from making do, then updating in the heat of the moment to something summery, light and airy that really wasn’t my style, to something that makes me super happy. I even loved the carpet, only because I love carpet. I like being able to walk around and be on something cushy and warm with or without socks. However, it was last updated when I was probably on the cusp of blossoming into a teenager. I’ve wanted to uncover what was underneath for ages, just for the sake of having a consistent flooring throughout our tiny 864sf house.

So I did. Last weekend. And it was glorious because OMG you guys it’s beautiful ORIGINAL 1951 HARDWOOD FLOORS. Which I full intend on having refinished to match the gorgeous laminate shade we put in the kitchen.

Hussy wasn’t too thrilled about me taking it up before we planned on refinishing it, because lets be honest. My intention of having a house with seamless flooring colors to make it more cohesive was only one half step closer to reality. Now instead of 5 different flooring colors and types, it’s just 4. Our bathroom laminate is purposely matched to our bedroom carpet, so once we refinish the hardwoods, it should LOOK like 2 different types.

Of course, my haunted house was upset I was tearing it up, apparently. I cut 2 of my fingers at the exact same square inch of carpet 5 times. 3 of the cuts were just on my fore finger.

But I persevered because the floors were looking oh-so-amazing, until I found this.

No renovation in this house has been complete without uncovering tape so old and rotten I physically cannot get it up. I’ve been blessed with duct taped plumbing, taped up crumbling drywall, and even legit carpet tile tape. But why this tape was on here, I’ll never know. Maybe I don’t WANT to know. So I tried covering it up for the time being. With a cat.

J/K Y’ALL. But I did find these stupid staples not just on the edges of the room (which is my ultimate faveeeee thing to pull up 300 times!) but also through the center of the room. Ugh. I did find a quick and somewhat painless way of removing them that sped the job up.

And just as I was moving furniture back in place to move the old living room rug in here, my favorite 21 pounder Cooper decided to grab a front row seat. Or he was just waiting for me to feed him with the dinner that’s inside that chest.

Which leads us to what it looks like as of this weekend:

The space is more defined, and cleaning up the cat food that goes everywhere is a breeze. Plus, this room is our main walkway to the hall/bedrooms, so that’s way less filthy. I’ll be glad when winter is over and we can go back to the original sheer curtains I had for the room, and I can find some shelves for the blank wall on the left. But that was definitely 3 hours well spent!

I’m Such a Show Off!

2011-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

At least, on The DIY Show Off!

So if you’ve stumbled upon my blog from there, welcome :) My husband and I spent about 3 months and $3,000 renovating our kitchen with our own bare hands, and I’m so proud that it took so little to make such a huge impact. In fact, I was so excited to post the grand reveal, that I completely forgot to show a single shot of my DIY curtains… which are really just Target napkins sewn together.

(HEY YOU: the green/blue version of these napkins are on clearance RIGHT NOW for next to NOTHING in price. The pattern is gorgeous, so go check them out before they’re gone!!)

I posted some of these pictures already back in the summer, but I think those big red puff balls, red microwave, yellow and orange hand towels and pink mixer make a little more sense when you can see the one thing in the room that pulls them together.

And although I left the obvious seams, I pretend it’s just character. ((Really, it’s laziness. Shhhhhh.))

So I hope all you new followers/readers/visitors will come back and join me some more. I’m so pumped to be featured (Thanks Roeshel! I love your site!) and even more excited to get to know more fellow bloggers. DIY Show Off is a huge source for finding awesome new inspiration from the blogging community, and I’m forever amazed at all the fantastic ideas people come up with and do themselves. I like to think I’m creative, but not as much as most of you guys!

A Magic Carpet Ride.

2011-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Our living room has had it’s fair share of different flooring. Lets take a trip down memory lane.

The problem with the latest one is that the cats apparently liked it as much as we did. As in it became TO’ UP FROM THE FLO’ UP. Because… it was the floor.

So we were walking down the aisles of the almighty bulk country that is Costco when my hands felt the most softest rug ever. I just stood there rubbing it like my Baby Rube. But Hussy said we needed to keep shopping, so it was touch and go. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I kept thinking about how much our kitties would like it as much as I did, so he promised that we would go back and get it with our fun money a few days later when we got paid.

Like a true woman, I didn’t let him forget that statement.

But Friday I got a migraine. Saturday I ended up doing a MAJOR project, then we went to my sister in law’s party. So Sunday he PROMISED we’d finally get that rug. Guess where yours truly is posting from this very moment? Yeah, that $125 piece of heaven.

For the record: I was right about the kitties. Rupert has been munching on this carpet/BFF since we laid it down. When we went grocery shopping, we came back home to see he brought his new friend one of my sweaters to keep it warm. And that purple ball above for it to play with. He’s a silly Rube.

So if you live near a Costco, please do yourself a favor and at least touch it. Also, that major project I mentioned earlier, is like, major. So major you have to wait for it. Just know I spent 3 straight hours killing my back and legs transforming the room that is now holding that TO’ UP jank.

At least I have this big plush rug to comfort my rear parts ;)

The Biggest Winner.

2011-01-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve mentioned many times how I have the most fantastic place of employment. We’re all about making people healthy, including the staff. So for the month of December (which includes the ever-so-unhealthy holidays) our dieticians ran a contest to maintain or lose weight. They kept talking about how everyone who enters and accomplishes the goal of AT LEAST maintaining got a $30 gift card to Whole Foods, and was entered into a raffle for a “big prize.”

They actually had me wrap the present, so I did what I do best: The finest dang paper wrapping on this side of the universe. As we all met up to celebrate our accomplishments over some delicious snacky food, they did the drawing. Someone volunteered to pull the name, and I sat to the side just admiring my wrap job. Then the name was called. MY name. All I could think about was how now I have to rip open that perfect wrap job. Not the fact that I just WON SOMETHING.

They kept building it up as a huge prize, something that everyone who didn’t win would wish they got. I knew it was heavy, and fragile, because I saw it all over the box before I wrapped it and carefully walked it over to the table for the lucky (HAHA SUCKASSSS) winner. So I ripped it open and found this:

For real for real the 250gb one. I was actually about to cry.

See, many moons ago, my hussy got me a sweet birthday present.

And then he threw me a party to play with it and my friends. But the only picture we got the whole night was of Rupert going nuts over the fish game. (and wow, look at those red walls, black trim, and killer college dorm worthy décor!) (and OH HAYYY VINTAGE TUBE ((lame excuse for a)) TV!)

But then I realized I got fat. And he proposed. So we joined a gym, and the wii was neglected. So he sold it for an Xbox for him (awesome trade, right?) which ended up getting the three rings of death three hours later.

That was an awful experience. But as time went on, the Xbox continued to get crappier and soon refused to read discs when it was PMSing or some junk, so he decided to sell it when I brought home the Black Beauty. I call that The Sale That Almost Didn’t Happen because it decided to work FINE when I got Blackie, but pooped out when the final call was made to make the deal to sell it. Poor thing.

But to make up for the Wii/Xbox trade Hussy so kindly made, I made him take the proceeds from his Xbox sale to buy me some Kinect games. So after hours of watching Youtube videos of it, I purchased Dance Central. It’s pretty much the most awesome game I’ve played in a long time. Hard to believe we’ve come this far since my DDR glory days. Which, by the way, I kicked butt on. Even while sliding across the floor on those stupid mats.

The worst part? I probably wouldn’t have even won if I wasn’t so deathly ill a couple weeks ago. It was thanks to my virus and lack of appetite that I lost 6 pounds. Hopefully with my new prize, I’ll lose even more, but with the eating.

Thrifty Thursday: OWL BE BACK.

2011-01-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Thrifty Thursday said it will be back. And it is. YAY!!!

Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, I call this story “Mr. Owl.”

I found him at Goodwill around Halloween for $12.25. I had ideas of spraypainting him, but I think he has a nice looking brass. har.

He’s made himself right at home in the dining room, though still awaiting my purchase of a buffet for him to perch.

But the best part of this story is finding his twin online.

Really? Estimate of $100-$150? I mean, owls ARE all the rage, but I even cringed spending $12. This has been a “starting bid” for weeks, so it’s not much to go on.

So I searched a little deeper into cyberspace and… Wait. People are REALLY bidding on this other twin on ebay? The current bid as of Sunday night was $43.

The shipping alone is more than I paid for it WITH TAX! I squealed about it to hussy, who immediately screamed back from the Xbox Command Center to sell mine. No way!

But the real kicker was the final bid. The one that sent this little birdie flying home.

YES. $81. For my $12.25 thrift! I’m sorry for bragging, Dina Mae. It is a fine lamp. I did manage to pop a party hat shade from around the house on my Mr. Owl in time for our party though.

It’s like POW RIGHT IN THE KISSER.

So Flakey.

2011-01-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

I told you a couple weeks ago about the fun new ornaments I got at Target on Clearance. Namely, this snowflake ornament in the background

I got 9 of them for 50% off, which came up to $1 a piece. They’re made with wood as the flake glued onto a thick colorful felt outline. I ended up going back for one last hunt when they were marked to 75% off and only found 1 more, but I got it anyhow.

Then came the dilemma of putting them away so soon after I bought them when they match my new finds at Crate and Barrel so well. So, I improvised.

I kept the mantle super simple, using just the vases I got on clearance at Crate and Barrel.

Oh, and Rupert.

He’s such a camera whore.

I also found these pillow cases for $3 at C&B.

They had boxes of these things, and since I have 16x16 pillows laying around already, so I’ll take the $17 savings to not have it already stuffed. Especially since I only paid $2 for the insides!

Now let it snow IRL!

A Kitchen Renovation: The Grand Reveal.

2011-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Finally, after much anticipation (and a comment from a follower saying she googled my counters, kicking my butt in gear) here’s the Official Grand Reveal!

BUT, we must start off from the beginning. When it was my grandparent’s kitchen. With 3 different types of cabinets, 6 mismatched appliances, 100% of them broken, and the same paint color that was throughout the entire house: Old Yeller.

Now I present to you: her Mocha Deliciousness.

The sink area was always a little messy.

To quote Edgar Allan Poe, “nevermore.”

It went from side by side top loading (and broken) washer/dryers,

To stackable dreamies.

We tore down the original 1950’s steel rusties,

To make room for our Red Rider Microwave and pseudo-bar (and bonus-points-worthy Kill Bill weaponry station in the back).

It took 3 months of DIY-intense labor, but it was SO worth it. The only things we hired out for were the electrical (since we had exposed outlets wired to the top of our counters) and plumbing (since it was all original, and needed updating behind the wall). All of the cabinet building, floor laying, appliance installing, interior plumbing, splackling, and misc screwing/hammering/gluing/painting was 100% us. It’s just hard to believe we went from this

To this.

Now that’s, Divine.

(you can check out the full serious of “A Kitchen Renovation” here)

Sick Sickly.

2011-01-06T21:37:00.001-05:00

So New Years started off pretty good. Our usual gaggle of friends went to a local bar that recently opened to countdown to midnight. Our friend was shooting photos there since he’s a profession-al. We had some drinks, then the kind employees passed out free champagne to everyone that attended (AFTER midnight, fail). We posed for some sweet shots, and luckily I had just gotten my hair did that morning. And for those who haven’t seen recent photos of me, I’m growing out my bangs, chopped off my hair, and got glasses. Here’s to a new me too!

Check out my funky Tyrannosaurus Rex hand toasting. Also the fact my face blushes for EV-ER-Y-THING. Anyhow, it was a good time, and we enjoyed people watching and seeing poor plastic faced Dick Clark on TV. We couldn’t actually hear anything because there was no volume on the tv’s. Or we were too loud. But at least we saw the countdown.

I was all excited to have our family party the next night, which was a blast. I built a fort for the nieces to play in, and even bought them all special cups of their favorite disney characters to drink out of when they come over.

<--- Awesome Aunt Award.

Then I got one more day off on Monday to piddle around before going back to work. Which is the precise time my body decided to get sick for the first time since 09. Yay me! So I’ve been strapped in bed since Monday night. I don’t even remember what work is since I haven’t been there since last Thursday. And trust me when I say I can’t even look at myself in the mirror without gagging. It looks a little something like this:

With a temperature of a hot 102.3, I’ve been sick and stiff and had laryngitis. Honestly, I about died just not being able to talk. You think I’m obnoxious the way I talk online, and the sheer amount of words I type? I talk. A LOT. A whole whole lot. And to have laryngitis ruined my week way more than the acheys. Luckily my voice came back somewhat today so I could call my mom and beg my Hussy to fetch me things.

Hopefully I’ll be back to myself soon, because we’re going house hunting Saturday. Well, more like looking at one house that has every feature we have on our long list of must haves. Here’s a peek:

Cute, yes? We’ll see how that goes. Considering we aren’t really ready to sell ours yet. But if it’s as nice in person, who knows what could happen?

I’m Blue Da Ba Dee Dab Agave.

2011-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

I left you off with this shot of the current dining situation:

And the fact I appear to not be able to make up my mind when it comes to updating one stinking room:

I loved the white rooms with simple accessories and high contrast/ dark furniture I’ve been searching on the internet. I even loved it in person. It brought in so much light that the wood paneling sucked out. However, as much as I love to look at those spaces, and really favor them online over anything else, I realized I just can’t live without color in person. Also, I’m indecisive. And possibly just like having one more thing to frustrate the Hussy. So I set off to find another paint color for the room!

I even did custom mixes and fell in love with several colors, but tried to make sure it fit in with the rest of the house’s color schemes. Not like I really care, because I don’t mind the whole small house/jarring painting scheme from room to room thing that the pros tell you to avoid. But I did want a slight cohesion so I could mix and match accessories.

And after all that work playing with colors, I ended up with that one blue color that happened to be the exact shade I planned to put on a buffet to use as my pop of color.

I have to thank Behr personally for their staff emailing me the color used in one of their commercials, and I took it a shade lighter and ended up with this gorge room color, Agave:

Which reminds me… I haven’t done a Thrifty Thursday in many, many Thursdays. So we’ll save Mr. Owl for that one But one thing you can’t see in the photos is my touch of quirkiness/stupid lolspeak to help remind you what to do in this room.

lol. nom nom nom. bon enjoy-your-meal.

Winter Diningland.

2010-12-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Remember yesterday when I showed you that silly little Christmas tree we shared our' first Christmas together with? I used to keep it up at work every Christmas, but since I have a 7 foot legit tree in my office (since I’m front desk, lucky me!) I don’t need to take it to work anymore. I hated to not use it since it’s been bringing me joy faithfully every year since 2005. I needed a table centerpiece in the dining room, so in she went!

I loved all the colorful balls I got when I was my most daring with color, and since I picked up that cute runner from Target a few months ago, (YES I’M OBSESSED WITH THAT PLACE. DON’T JUDGE ME!) it worked out perfectly. Hussy tried to put it away this weekend, but I raced after him yelling NOOOO!!!! THAT STAYS FOR THE PARTY!!!! OMGZZ YOU CUHRAZY! and some junk like that. I’m sure he’s not thrilled with the idea but COME ON! It’s a holiday party! I can at least use this excuse for this weekend. Until I come home from work and it’s put away. (yes hussy, I’m on to you.)

And if you have really good eyeballs, you’ll notice I changed the dining room again.

Yeah… more on that later

O After-Christmas Tree!

2010-12-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Every year around Thanksgiving I go Christmas crazy. We put up our wonderful white tree and decorate it Thanksgiving weekend. I tune to our local radio station that plays nothing but Christmas songs until Christmas day. I also set my Christmas Pandora station at work until I ran out of time on my account And now I even get to decorate the work Christmas tree too. I’m so obsessed with holiday cheer that it’s hard to take down the Christmas tree. Which I can attribute to my childhood, since we’d usually be found with it still up in March.

We always hit Target after Christmas for all the clearance deals and pick up next years Christmas cards (which is always a surprise a year later to remember what we picked out) and I hit the ornament aisles for next year’s color theme. We started dating on Christmas Day 2005, so our first legit xmas was 2006… where we had a 2 foot tall Barbie Tree:

Then the day after Christmas he surprised me with my white tree… which he brought home in his Miata with the top down.

We had pretty much NO ornaments or a tree skirt. But we had Cooper and that was good enough. After Christmas we picked up more red/white/black ornaments for 2008’s Christmas.

And added even more after that Christmas for 2009.

But after 2009’s Christmas, I was sick of the red/white. I switched over to blue and purple to match our other decorations. However, after Christmas this week, I went a little crazy when I saw all the kitschy, perfectly “me” ornaments they had this year:

And here’s how she looks now:

A little crazy since I just threw the new ones on in between what I already had on there, but I love these new ornaments so much! We’re throwing an After-Christmas/New Years party this weekend, so I may put some of them away and keep out the new ones. I can’t bare to put them away already! Also, MUST SHOW OFF NEW STUFF!

No Excuses.

2010-12-28T21:11:00.001-05:00

For my absence… except I really actually have some. Like my busted laptop that crashes every time I open a Windows program (WTG FOR REMINDING ME WHY I WISH I COULD AFFORD AN APPLE!). And my crazy crazy job that wears me out. And all the pictures I had saved in folders on my desktop are locked. Which were conveniently labeled “best shots” and is where I throw every good+ edited photo I ever took. The best part is Windows jerked out on me, and now my screen looks like it’s from 1995. I can’t even change my toolbars! Yay me!

However, I’m still getting super sweet comments and emails from you guys even while I’m completely MIA from blogging. And my delightful husband lights a fire under me all the time to get back into this, since I enjoy it so much. SO. I’m going to deal with the crashes until I get a new laptop, which could be anywhere from now to never.

See, I work at this super awesome company that gave everyone in the company a bonus. And they didn’t just send a mass email to all the employees saying “go you for working for us! here’s $400 pretax as profit sharing in our bajillion dollar company.” I was thankful for anything after not getting a raise for years because of The Economy. Yes, I capitalized The Economy, because it’s a lame excuse for everyone’s financial lives sucking so majorly in at least one way. Anyhow, my new company knows no matter what you do, you’re a big part of the success of the first full year of our hugely successful start up company. We hit a major milestone. Major. And the CEO personally rounded us up to personally hand out personally signed bonuses. To every single employee! It was at the top of my most incredible days ever. It was also very humbling to see someone give back from all her hard work invested into getting her company rolling to the rest of us in such a big way.

The best part about this is that we wanted a camper. Not just any camper, my dad’s old camper. My family stays at the lake most weekends, and it’s so peaceful and relaxing to just get away to this place.

We used to go to a different camp ground back in the 90’s (grandma moment! I’m reliving the glory days!) that had a cafeteria, dances on the weekends with loud music, and lots of hot guys. Ok, so I was 13. That’s pretty much all I cared about other than the music. I wanted so badly to have my own little camper to stay in my own little campsite with my own little family. We made a deal with my dad to buy his camper once he found an upgrade. He found his upgrade, and we’ve been saving like crazy for our a) camper b) campsite which seemed easy enough. But no, we need c) jet skis plus SOME electricity from d) generators. That $1,000 camper deal quickly turned into $6,500. But remember that bonus? It perfectly paid for the camper. Like they KNEW we were going to spend our entire fall and spring cooped up in our house saving for our leisurely spring and summer next year. So. Very. Thankful.

Also, this means no more of this:

Though it was kind of fun until it rained at 3am one night. Which really sounded kind of awesome to be one with nature… until nature made me have to pee, and the bathroom was a 3 minute walk down the road.

OH! And super awesome company also gave out Christmas presents on top of the bonus. THE most comfy blanket ever. Color me jealous of even myself

Scary Mantle-O

2010-10-13T09:32:00.000-04:00

What up lame Barry Mannilow pun? Thanks for kicking this post off!

I’m only blogging about this (hey to you, too, regularly scheduled posts again!) because a dear friend asked if I was. How can I not at that point? For starters, work is throwing a Halloween Party. I’m on the party planning committee.

(holler at Michaels slicked back hair!)

So I was given the delightful task, as a design obsessed employee, to help come up with centerpieces. I basically threw together a bunch of random ideas that can be spread about the tables.

I got the skulls, crow, moss rocks, critters, moss and the insides of the ghost at the Dollar Tree. The rat is borrowed from many years ago. The vase, tea kettle, and candle sticks are from Goodwill. The sticks and acorns are from my yard. Lastly, I got fabric and flowers from Joann and went to town.

I stuffed a bunch of acorns in one silver dish, and in the other I filled it with moss and made a skull peek out of it :) The glittery skulls came pre-glittered, which is awesome for $1. The ghost insides are simply a styrofoam ball on top of a styro cone, with two twigs coming out as arms. Then I draped white knit fabric I scored for $2/yard over top and instant boo-tastic ghostness appeared. I don’t own candlesticks. I keep meaning to go shopping for some, but in the meantime I just stuck some small skulls on top of the sticks.

The vase is stuffed with moss, topped with hydrangeas, and oozing with centipedes and twigs with rings and skeletons dangling. I have more ideas up my sleeves, but for a grand total of $25 I was able to whip this ~~master~~mantlepiece into shape, an hopefully give you an the rest of the party planning committee some good ideas!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-12T08:27:00.000-04:00

The fam went to the local pumpkin patch this past weekend. As always, it was so much fun. The kids can make anything fun though :)

The sweetest part of this post: The baby/pumpkin in her belly should be born today. I can’t WAIT to meet my very first nephew!

I bought him footed pajama’s that say Mommy’s Little Pumpkin for her baby shower:

I saw her sitting next to those pumpkins and thought this picture would be perfect to frame in a shadowbox with the pajamas once he outgrows them, or to hang in a frame next to a picture of him IN the pajamas ;)

I have to add that we picked a cute little pumpkin 2 years ago as well:

That would be my little niece that has pigtails in the pictures above. Oh how they grow so fast!

Here’s to hoping baby William makes it into the world happy and healthy (and mommy too!) today :)

10+11-08=13

2010-10-11T08:45:00.000-04:00

That would be the crazy math Drew, the math wizard, did of our engagement anniversary date, and it equaled my favorite number. That’s right, it’s been 2 WHOLE YEARS since we got engaged! So happy engagement anniversary, hussy! I know I’m all about the happiness lately, aren’t I? That’s a good thing!

The scenery on the perfect weathered day:

The two young and in love:

The true photographer taking reign of the camera for a better lit photo:

The sneaky boyfriend letting me to self time a picture of us of the mountains (with the ring sitting on his forefinger!):

The proposal “will you marry me bb?”:

The crybabies:

Staged with a knee on the ground like a good fiance:

And the celebrations, apple picking and cider beer after a call to the rents :):

We ended up marrying on 4/18/09. For those who don’t feel like doing the math, 100% completely accidentally that date had the same math equation, with the same answer. 4+18-09=13. <3

Thrifty Thursday: Cut Loose, Footstool.

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

I’m sure kicking off my Sunday shoes now! My mom picked up this footstool with me, and with my sweetest daughter charm, I convinced her to let me have it. Hey mom! It was worth it! I didn’t even want to put my feet on the before. Now I can’t keep them off! Especially after a long day at my new ultra busy job :)

We found it at one of the estate sales our favorite estate sale putter-onners… put on. Then again, we’ve never attempted to crash any other kind of estate sale. But we do love us some Susan’s Selections. PSA: They take detailed pictures of every item you’ll find at the sale (if you go on the first day, and everything isn’t taken!) and post them here a few days before the sale starts. I love to do some window shopping before hand.

But even with the window shopping, and walking around the house, I didn’t even see this footstool that my mom’s eyes moved to like a MAGNET. It was $5, and I was jealous she spotted it. See, it’s not usually a good idea to go shopping with someone that has similar taste, unless there’s more than one of every item. This is not the case most of the time at estate sales. But like I said in the beginning, she decided to let me have it :)

It originally sold at Dollar General for $8 in 2004. The tag told me so. Sure I didn’t get a booming steal, but with different fabric, it would be worth all $5 she spent.

I realized something over the last couple months. I get the most excited about fall colors than any other colors.

So when fall rolls around, I go hog wild with rich warm colors. I decided to use that as my inspiration and grabbed some scrap purple fabric to reupholster my new little foot reliever.

It sits so nicely next to my very first upholstery project: the landfill chair, and under my Diversity Thrifty vanity.

Of course, I have this obsession with curvy legs on my furniture.

What’s not to love (now!)?

Greetings!

2010-08-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Remember me? I used to blog daily, take tons of pictures, and even spend all my free time either doing projects or researching new ones.

Then life happened. I got that neat new job, that’s super busy. I love it, and I spend all day on my feet which helped me lose 4 lbs.

That wasn’t all that helped, I also started doing Zumba. I don’t know why I never tried it before! I’ve been doing it for 3 weeks now. LOVE IT.

I almost finished painting the dining room, and I’m just one cover panel away from finishing the kitchen. Seriously, one.

We spent some time at my parent’s campsite, relaxing and enjoying life. I rode on a jetski for the first time, and got up enough courage to drive it. Again with the WHY DIDNT I DO THIS YEARS AGO?!

I also turned 25. A quarter century. I don’t feel that old, fortunately. I also don’t think I look that old. But I had a quarter century crisis and dyed my hair super dark brown. I couldn’t deal with it, so I got it professionally done. I streaked it bleach blonde and burgundy red. I love it now.

However, with all the fun new experiences and changes that have taken place since my last blog post, it wasn’t all roses. My cat, Pooky, passed away. He was 17 years old, and I picked him out when I was just 8 years old. I haven’t taken many pictures of him since I lived at home with him and my mom, so the most recent ones I have were when I was just 19. Which is weird to say, since that’s only 2 years older than he was when he passed! Here’s a few that I have saved on this laptop.

He was the perfect tuxedo cat. Perfectly lined white, just like a tuxedo. He even had the white gloves and shoes. He looked striking with a red bowtie collar :)

This was back in a time I didn’t yet find out about the invention of makeup. I kind of miss being able to pull it off. If only in my own head.

My mom will be getting his ashes soon, so we’ll be holding a proper funeral. It was hard to take the news, but much harder to console my mom through it.

On a lighter note, she rescued another cat. Drew and I are firm on adopting only animals that need rescuing, and will be signing up in the next week or two with the local SPCA to walk puppies that are cooped up all day waiting to be adopted. I’m excited!

With all that said, not much else here to report. Well, except that the reason I haven’t been rushing to blog is because I got an Ipad. Which is frickin awesome. But I’ll be back again tomorrow with another Thrifty Thursday, so stay tuned!

Thrifty Thursday: The Fork Ran Away with the Spoon.

2010-07-08T19:34:00.001-04:00

Or maybe I should call it Two-Fer Thursday, because you’re also getting a sneak peek at the wall color. Not that it’s anything fancy, but it’s still a little peek ;) At some point long, long ago, I mentioned that my mom got me this 1970’s huge wood fork and spoon set that I had been searching high and low for:

I don’t even remember the price, so I’m really failing you this week. However, I want to show you how to rig these to hang the opposite way they were intended for cheap. I’d seen them all over the interwebs hung the proper way, by those holes at the bottom of the handles:

As you may know by now, I don’t like doing things the proper way. Ever since I took a picture of them sitting on the floor the opposite way, I knew I wanted to hang them like that. But these things are huge. And pretty heavy. So coming up with some way to hold them was no easy feat. Here’s a comparison to show you the ginormousness of these monstrosities:

It was intended to be a picture of the chair with the utensils, but you know Rupert. Has to pose for every picture. So I went to Lowes to troll the aisles and come up with something to hang these things. I remembered something with a rubber end, called a u-hook, and thought that would be the ticket… however they are spensivveee. And this is THRIFTY Thursday, not spend a Hook and a leg to hang thrift store finds. I finally landed in the door hinge aisle, and saw these:

They look like an octopus, so I’ll call them Octo-Hooks. They’re under $5 for two in a pack. I was relying on a miracle for these to be wide enough and strong enough for my utensils.

My super scientific formula for hanging these was to have Hussy hold them up on the wall as I stood on the other side of the room and said “up” “down” “left” and “right.” Then I had him hold them in place as I slipped the first hook under/behind and rubbed the hook on the wall to make a mark. Luckily, being black, it did a fine job leaving enough of an imprint to keep my spot as I did the same for the second one.

Then I simply held the hook up to the wall, and drilled the screws it came with in the holes. No need for pilot holes or stud finding, it just grabbed on and stuck. Then I hung the utensils and it worked like a charm.

It was so easy, a caveman could do it.

Hook, line and sinker.

Done.

For the record, I’m Team Flo.

Walking The (Fake Wood) Planks.

2010-07-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

And there’s no turning back now! Sadly, I picked one of the hottest days ever do do this alone. Pulling down those MASSIVE sheets of paneling. No joke, those are almost as wide as I am tall, and they’re of course 8 foot TALL on top of that. They were heavy. We don’t have central air. That’s right folks, I was sweating something fierce while firing off these guns for hours.

I had to pull from the middle with the back end of a hammer, get a grip, pull off the top, let it fall enough to grab a hold of, then pull it to the side to rip off the bottom and take to the end of the room. Following me still? It was a workout just typing all the steps, much less getting er done IRL.

Remember that L word I like to throw around a lot? Laziness to the extreme: leaving all my glass and porcelain things sitting in the middle of the table. I created a little more work for myself trying to avoid them. What? I need all the time I can get to create fake rooms in photoshop :)

Now, I know you’re going to be super jealous of this smokin color scheme. Wall color is straight out of the 50’s, where they had like 2 colors to choose from. They picked Pollen Yellow. The trim must have come with the paneling in the 1970’s. It’s all WASABI!

Hot, right? I know. I should have kept it. However, I found some nice character lying beneath the paneling. Like a piece of drywall that apparently flaked off. In staying true to his character, and his love of duct tape, my grandfather taped the piece of drywall back on. That tape is 40 years old. It won’t come off.

Also, I’ve decided the trim was painted after the paneling went up. How did I come to this conclusion? Ohhhh, I don’t knowww…

I actually think the picture turned out kind of cool. I might grayscale it and frame it in the room. The fun part in all of this was pulling nails. At least 200 of them sat in this cup when I was done.

Now the issue is there’s plumbing behind this one last panel. EXPOSED plumbing, to the bathroom. So until we figure out what we’re going to do with it, I’m keeping it as my room’s flair.

Now what I’m sure you really only care about: a preview of the colors. The wall sample is on the wall, the furniture sample is on the furniture. I know, I really make it tough to figure these things out! :)

What I never knew about white before was how well it photographs. Which gets me super excited about showing it off :D Do you have any white rooms that are super stylish? Have any in your inspiration files? I’m looking for some more ideas for accessorizing so please share!

The Always Growing To-Do List Just Grew Some More.

2010-07-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

So you remember that whole kitchen remodel we’ve been tackling for, oh, I don’t know, 4 months? Well, it’s about 99% done. Literally, all we have to do is hang 2 more panels and install our shelves back in place. But we’re lazy.

Well, not THAT lazy. Last weekend, while Hussy was out for a dudes day, I tackled this room:

Wow, it’s crazy to see what it looked like a week ago! Well, Muscle Woman over here tore down all that paneling AND carried it outside with her own bare hands. ROAR. Of course, that’s the prettied up version of wood paneling. This is the true beginnings of this room when I signed the dotted line on this house:

Want to take it back even farther old school?

Yeah, that’s my family in this dining room. When I was probably 12ish years old? I kept my grandparents dining table and tried to update it some:

I said TRIED. We ended up selling off the set for a longer table in a cherry shade and I’m still collecting dining chairs :)

So, as I twiddle my thumbs for Hussy to cut the cabinet panels so they can go up, I’ll be working on, and showcasing, the projects going on in this room. Get psyched people. This room won’t be like any of the others. We’re putting the move to the country on hold, so I’m bringing the country to the most appropriate room in the house. Where we eat our home cookings!

TO tide you over, I’ll give you a peak at some inspiration I pulled for this room, though almost everything that will go in here I already own… so my inspiration was limited to what worked with what I’ve got!

I love the white slip covered sofas, and all the different shades of wood popping off the saturated whiteness. This goes along with our white slip covered dining chairs, and with a lot of hand me down/given/purchased wood items in all different shades… I’m lazy. And don’t feel like staining.

{Country Living}

This is by far my biggest inspiration. It’s bright, it’s welcoming, and that oar reminded me of my wooden spoon and fork I need to work into my room. I also fell in love with the shade “Agave” by Behr, and realized it’s a lot like the shade of her estate sale find in the bottom left corner of this picture. Even the collage on the wall could be used in our room to cover up all the eyesores I don’t feel like fixing that loomed behind the paneling for decades.

{The Lettered Cottage}

More inspiration for the “Agave” drawers I want/need/must have:

{Perfectly Imperfect}

The shelves, the pitchers, the green apples, all the things I love. And those birdcages are awesome!

{The Old Painted Cottage}

I LOVE this space. It’s so calming. The dark woods contrasting off the white walls, the white accessories fading into the background, the dark accessories molding into the shelves, and those barstools? Obsessed! I wish our ceilings were tall enough to create beams on. Hmmm… how tall are they again?

{Coastal Living}

Black on white again, wood tones, and lots of texture. Are you seeing a trend with these ceilings though? I’m going to go crazy until I get get these babies on my ceiling!

{Coastal Living}

Can you picture what it will look like now? Pretty cut and dry, really. Stay tuned :)

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T17:34:00.001-04:00

I know I’m super tardy to the party, being 5:30pm and Independence Day almost over. But I’ve been my usual self all day: redecorating the house. Nesting kicks in full speed when I’m stuck at home more than a day :)

We used to go watch the fireworks at The Diamond here in Richmond, but they stopped when we lost the Richmond Braves, and before we got Nutzy and the Flying Squirrels back in it’s place. We would stand in the parking lot right next to the stadium. Completely free front row seats.

Now we found a new favorite tradition: Lake Anna fireworks! We meet up at my parent’s campsite they have year round:

Then head out on the boat to watch the show:

See all the boats on the horizon? I love watching the fireworks out there. Here’s El Capitan and I last year:

Tomorrow will be the Beaverdam Parade. That’s kind of a big deal in small town USA, especially when my dad is the Mayor of Beaverdam. I feel kind of special.

Notice I’m not the only fan of Electric Blue in the family. Like Father like Daughter.

We’ll probably sit at the same spot, collect candy thrown (hard) at us by little league baseball players, and then listen to the Mayors speech and hope our favorite Miss Beaverdam contestants win. I actually tried out one year, and didn’t make it. The winner had an excellent speech about growing up there, and I was a skeletal size 0. So I can understand that outcome.

Kind of. I still thought the sweet demeanor and soft blonde hair would sway the judges. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Braces were cute when I was 10, not at 18. I’m at least proud to be the Mayor’s Daughter ;)

So have a Happy Independence Day everyone. I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

A Kitchen Renovation: Chill Out!

2010-07-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

Our old fridge has been in this house for a VERY long time. Long enough that I barely remember my grandparents buying it. That means it’s REAL old. It was pretty dirty

And it was starting to show it’s age elsewhere. Wasn’t making ice properly, the water wasn’t filtered so we couldn’t use the door. Probably not the worst problem in the world if the thing still kept our food pretty cold, which was the point of the fridge. However, that’s a lot of space taken up by an icemaker and water dispenser when we actually like to store more than 2 meals. We decided to replace it. And benefit from a tax rebate.

Bye bye fridge. You’ll always hold a special place in my heart.

Now. In with the new! It’s a Whirlpool. Surprisingly, sold out since we bought it!

Why did we get a french door/bottom mount freezer? Well, it’s not because it’s trendy. Or the fact that it’s so much more expensive than a side by side and I just like blowing money. It’s cause it holds a TON of food in the fridge part, and wider things than we could previously fit. Also, the bottom mount freezer means I CAN REACH EVERYTHING! Power to the shorties!

This one sticks out less than our old one. It’s almost counter depth!

And is seamless with the doorway.

Now time for a little flashing. This fridge isn’t shy.

Oooohhh aaahhhh. My favorite part is the can dispenser. Just open up that perforated area on the box, and slide the dispenser plastic bin over the end of the box, and pop it in the door. That grip is solid too. It’s almost tough to pull out a can, which is important in ensuring it staying tucked in it’s holder.

bliiinded by the liiight. Look at all that space! There’s only one lone TOE-MAY-TOE in the veggie bin. Hopefully that will change soon since I so embarrassingly only have condiments and beer stocked. Yes, I dedicated an entire shelf to all our beer. My man is pleased.

Here’s the freezer. I love that I can get to it from both sides comfortably as well as overhead.

I was shocked to find how many bottom mounts didn’t seem to have room for pizza boxes. Call me unhealthy, but that’s a staple in this house. Every week. Except this time, because we just ate our last box. It’s so nice and roomy. Swooooon :)

I’ll leave you with a goodbye from Ceiling Cat.

He’s watching what you eat, so you don’t have to.

Thrifty Thursday: A Jarring Project.

2010-07-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

Apparently since I found this tutorial, this craft has blown the eph up online. There’s a reason, it’s awesome. And SO easy. I decided to make them for my Mommy’s birthday, and I had more left over to make for my deck.

I picked up a 12 pack of Mason Jars at Wally World for $6.60, and two 4 packs of gel food coloring for $3.60 each, and I had mod podge on hand.

I pour a small amount of Mod Podge on a paper plate, a drop or two of food coloring, dab a paper towel in it and sponge it all over the jars.

It can’t get any easier, but it really was fun. And quickly rewarding, as it dried in about 10 minutes. I just watched Couples Retreat while I waited.

Mine came out more matte than most of the ones I’ve seen, but I like this because I have SO MUCH glass in my house. It’s a refreshing mix now. I just love gray purple and green together:

I’ll be using it for vases and candle holders. Or in the above case, both at the same time. I couldn’t make up my mind which way to photograph, so I just went all in. Please don’t try this at home, kids. Well, you can if you DON’T light the candle on the bottom. You’ve been warned.

What’s For Dinner? Peanut Butter Apple Pita.

2010-06-30T18:00:00.002-04:00

With only one meal option left in the kitchen, I was so not feeling pasta tonight. So I raided the cabinets for anything that sounded remotely decent thrown together. Let me preface this with a big fat: I CANT COOK. So, what does one desperate, undomesticated girl whip up? A Peanutbutter Apple Pita.

It’s really as simple as it sounds. Find an almost expired whole grain pita pocket and cut it open:

Slice up a Granny Smith Apple that you caught out of the corner of your eye in the back of your bread cabinet. Why is it there? I don’t know, but that’s why it hasn’t been eaten.

Smear Peanut Butter all over the inside of your pita. Stuff with apple slices, and close up your pita.

Then enjoy :)

For using crap I found in my drawers, this thing was DELICIOUS.

Out Of the Office.

2010-06-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Literally. Yesterday was my last day at my job, and tomorrow is my first day at the new one. Quite the transition right? So with that said, today will be my one day vacation with my family. Looking a little like this:

I couldn’t ask for anything more :) Wish me luck for tomorrow going smoothly!

A Kitchen Renovation: Laminated Part 2.

2010-06-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

I noticed my blog is coming up a lot on google searches for "Formica 180 FX Antique Mascarello Laminate Countertops" or some variation of those words. And although I decided against it midway through the remodel, because we had to rewire and replumb (is that a word?) the entire kitchen and half the house, we decided to go ahead with it after all.

We found a GORGEOUS granite at a local stone yard that we were ready to order, but wanted to check out Blue/Orange in hopes they'll have a cheaper, similar granite. It was then that I found Lowe's finally had samples of the 180FX counters that, up until this point, were non-existant in ANY local big box home improvement stores. All the sales associates were clueless about this "new" product every time I asked, and I was getting frustrated... which led us to picking out granite. The first time I found out about the 180FX counters was at least January/February, and they still had no idea about them in April!

So I was giddy with excitement when I saw the sample book at Lowe's. I took home a pamphlet that you can unfold and see what a good example of the slab of Blue Storm will look like, complete with raised texture similar to the actual samples. This was REALLY cool because it was just your generic glossy paper, but with texture! I had been eyeing the Antique Mascarello online for months, and in person it PERFECTLY matched my paint sample (Valspar Iced Chocolate. The perfect milk chocolate color to go with these counters.). I was floored. Sure it looks fake, and feels like laminate, but I knew it would be significantly cheaper, and do the job in the kitchen for the remaining years we're going to live here. I took a picture of it with my camera phone WITH flash so some of the texture would show up.

The problem was, every time we went to Lowe's there was never anyone in sight in the cabinet area. No one to ever help us, no matter what the hour of the day it was. I finally broke down and called to see if anyone was available, and EUREKA, they were! Not only that, the guy knew what I was talking about AND had an accurate quote. I guess they just needed one more month to get it in and learn about it? Ugh. But for you lucky readers, Formica actually has downloadable PDFs of the counters to use as samples.

This is just for the Richmond area Lowe's, so I can't promise it's the same pricing anywhere else. It's $29.17 a LINEAR foot (compare that to $59 per SQUARE foot for the Brazillian Fantasy Granite). The installation is $195 including a free sink cutout (which you have to pay for at some places) bringing the grand total for our entire kitchen to.... $750 installed. Not bad, considering granite was $2,000 installed. Granted, that's GRANITE, but we're on a budget here, people. And in a starter neighborhood. My dad has been warning me countless times not to overdo it. I just watch enough HGTV (or did, before DTV lost it :( ) to know first time home buyers still expect a luxury kitchen, even in a starter home.

You have to pay $35 for Lowe’s to come measure, but it’s applied to your installation if you use them. They told us they’d be there at X time to measure, and they were Johnny on the Spot. They said it would take 3 weeks to come, it came in just over 2. They said they’d be at our house to install at 8am. They were there the second the clock struck 8. I couldn’t believe my luck.

I took one look and knew it was going to go downhill. It was perfect, except they didn’t use my template to cut the hole. Yeah, it ended up being too big, and we had to order a new slab :(

Lowe’s came to the rescue, and got us a brand new slab, used our template, and installed it… yep, on the dot at 8am THE NEXT MORNING. Now, I’d like to know why I had to hold up my entire kitchen renovation for almost 3 weeks if they could turn this around in less than 24 hours, but whatever.

The edges are almost invisible in the pattern, unless you’re looking hard. Or have your camera on macro focus ;)

The sink is SUPER deep. I could take a bath in this thing. For an overmount, it looks really contemporary, and it’s actually fun to wash things in now! It was also so worth the trouble we caused with the counters. It’s from Overstock, and it was only about $150.

We got a chrome faucet, and it was just WAY too chrome. We ended up trading this one for a stainless finish to go with the sink better.

It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ll be posting more pictures as we wrap up the kitchen. In the mean time, here’s a teaser cell phone shot with our Coffee Bar in the corner. The silver bowl holds our K-Cups and the sugar is in the pink glass :)

IN CONCLUSION, with those savings we can replace our stinky, dirty, 20 year old fridge AND buy some dining room chairs. I say deal.

Mood Board Monday!

2010-06-28T22:48:00.001-04:00

I’m so excited. I found a site that actually gives me an excuse to make roomboards! As I type, I’m splattered in paint. Yeah, I decided to start yet another room makeover. But I did manage to put this together last week to be able to have it done in time for today!

I wanted to do a colorful room, but didn’t want the jump off bedding to be overloaded with color to begin with, so I chose this:

And came up with this colorful number:

Everything in this room was from Urban Outfitters, Ikea, and pieces that can be created with paint and old furniture. I’ve had a love affair with teal, plum and mustard for years, and keep coming back to those colors. Maybe one day I’ll wisen up and make a room with them. Until then, it just lives happily in my head. Or on this roomboard :)

I REALLY Love Keep Cup.

2010-06-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Brace yourself. This will be long. Remember this post where I mentioned that I bought a $7 fake Keep Cup? It was a great buy. It’s ceramic so you don’t feel the heat almost at all, especially through the grip. The lid is easy to attach, and to be honest, I spend a lot of time peeling it off and putting it back on because of how cool it latches onto the cup. I’m just weird like that. It fit in my Mini Cooper’s cup holder with only a little struggle, which was the main reason I bought it. I was content.

Until I got an e-mail. Possibly the most awesome e-mail I’ve gotten in years. It was Keep Cup, and they wanted to ship me one. As I read it, I thought it was a joke. Seriously, who googled my blog and wanted to play such an awful prank on me? So I went to Keep Cup’s website, and it was a legit email. Then I had to rub my eyes and read it again. Were they really asking me to put together my own Keep Cup to send to me? I was grinning ear to ear. My eyes may have teared up from overjoy. I may have also run around the halls at work bragging, called my husband, and my MOM to tell them what just happened. YES PLEASE! I WANT KEEP CUP!

It was the longest wait of my life. In reality, it was only a week or so. But knowing that I’m waiting for my precious to ship all the way over from Australia was a little torturous. It ended up coming on a Friday. While I was at work. Sent Certified. :(. So I had to go to the post office on Saturday to pick it up. In true Samantha/I Heart Mini style… I got it after I went Estate Saling with my mom.

I’d never received a “Post” from Australia before, so I was already won over just by the package. Are you bored yet? Let me just get right to the details. I went to my favorite coffee bar (aka, my kitchen) and took it for a spin.

It’s plastic. I started getting nervous that I would have to hold a hot cup once I actually touched the plastic. I put hot coffee in it, and was shocked to realize it only got a little warm. Holding it by the band grip, I didn’t feel said heat. It was awesome.

The lid looks kind of like a baby wipe top. This may sound funny to some, but I think that’s what makes it extra cute. It also slides to cover the hole you drink out of to keep your coffee warm, then over to a dummy hole while you drink. My Fake did NOT have this option, and my coffee got cold before I could finish drinking it. And I know this sounds completely silly, I’m almost embarrassed to type this, but it’s actually comfortable to drink out of. Like, it was molded for my mouth.

For all you Kuerig fans out there- You can fill the Medium size Keep Cup with the large coffee option. I didn’t know this, and I filled it with the SMALL option, since that’s all my Fake could hold. Can you believe my Fake was TALLER than my Keep Cup, and held LESS liquid? Big, extra fluffy bonus points to Keep Cup. More coffee for my money!

The band has options for you to marker for your favorite coffee spot (if your local coffee shop doesn’t already have your bosses order memorized, like my work-adjacent Starbucks :P). I obviously won’t need this since I brew frou-frou Kuerig coffee, like German Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Glazed Donut. FYI: those options aren’t listed on the band, but this just means you’re extra special because you have fancier stuff than Starbucks. So you can have some of those bonus points too.

-For the Mini Cooper owners: This is honestly, truly, really, seriously the best cup for the Mini that I’ve ever found. Why? It. Fits. PERFECT in the cup holder. I love my Mini. It’s my second one I’ve owned, so I have 5 years of experience knowing that Mini makes life really difficult when it comes to storing cups in the front. It has to sit under the toggles, and be out of the way of the gear shifter. This is NOT an easy task. Please trust me on this (or agree if you own a Mini. Pound it!). The Keep Cup slides in like it was literally made for a Mini Cooper with zero hesitation or struggle. I couldn’t say that about my Fake, and I thought that was still the best fit I could find without having to order a special Mini brand mug. It sits low (while still holding my large option coffee!). It sits out of the way. And you can’t tell me it’s not the cutest little cup your Mini will ever hold.

It’s no secret that I love small, cute things, and talk about them like they’re my child. But I was not let down with my Keep Cup. I enjoyed picking out the color and size options, and waiting for it to ship/Post from Australia. But I enjoy it even more now that it’s in my hands. Now I just want 100 more so I don’t have to go through the agony of waiting for the dishwasher to run and clean it every night. Yeah, it’s dishwasher safe, so that’s the only logical way to clean it. Because I can ;)

I feel a little snotty walking around with it, cause I know how uncomfortable those hands and mouths are sipping out of those cheap Starbucks cups. Meanwhile, I have a cup with character and comfort. Also, my coffee is 45 cents a cup. Sip on that!

A Kitchen Renovation: Take Cover!

2010-06-26T10:14:00.002-04:00

The cover panels. The missing puzzle piece to our cabinets. When we installed these last night, it literally felt “finished.”

Here is what we were working with the last 3 years. The holes are for the brackets that hold our shelves:

Pretty stark. Now with a cover panel:

Then the Decor Strip. I’m in love :)

Then the other side of the kitchen. Sadly at my eye level, I can see the cabinet frame, that’s Birch. You can see here how we worked the pink mixer into the design thanks to my Target napkins!

Same for my happy red microwave.

Now for the really exciting news… Our new fridge is being installed today! The only appliance we had to buy for this reno :D I’m currently laying in bed, awaiting it’s arrival. Look out for the review on Friday, so we’ll have about a week to get to know it better!

A Head of Roses.

2010-06-25T21:30:00.002-04:00

I’ll just get right to it. I’m a copycat. It wasn’t intentional! I just saw this headband on one of the best people in the whole world’s head, fell in love, realized I had EVERYTHING I need to make one just like it… and it just happened. I have a headband now too. It’s beautiful. The colors look awesomeeeee on my blonde hair, and when I pair it with a coral shirt, I feel like the bees knees. Or in this shirt’s case, Minnie Mouse.

Here’s where I saw it first:

That’s “Salt.” Isn’t she gorgeous? I know her IRL

She owned 2 Mini Coopers as well :). She has the most lovely voice and her outfits make me swoon. Suffice to say, she could make an outfit out of chopped liver look like… a designer outfit. Cause I don’t wear spensive clothes or know a lot of spensive label names. I mean, I’m making a headband out of scraps. But her headband was perfection. I needed it. I got it.

It was completely 100% free. I just pulled apart my leftover Dollar Store flowers, glued pearls from a necklace I broke a couple weeks ago in the centers, and attached it to a headband that came in a pack I bought to make cow ears with E6000 glue. I’ve worn it just about everyday since it was invented. And I <3 it.

Catching the Moment.

2010-06-21T22:27:00.002-04:00

I realized something as I watched my mother in law take 4 pictures of 2 of my nieces. She was asking them to say cheese and trying to get them both smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. That’s not an easy feat especially when they’re both in hyper moods, and 4 years old. I realized how different I take my pictures. I knew I liked “moments” over “cheeses,” but in going through my more recent pictures, the only pictures I have of “cheeses” are of me, cause cheesin is what I do best.

I prefer to stand off to the side, let life happen, and capture it. Here’s an example below. The first one is the fam asking all the girls to smile for the camera, while I’m snapping from the side:

It’s cute. Ok, THEY’RE cute :) I can see how big they are, the nice dresses they’re wearing. I know it’s Easter. Or at least I hope it is… unless random plastic egg shaped toy hunting is your thing on the first day of summer. Or some random day like April 27th. But I don’t see any interaction, or personalities shining through.

Lets take a look at this one. Where the girls are enjoying their finds. Anticipation and smiles, wondering what’s in their treasured eggs. It’s sweet, and I feel like I’m right there with them, waiting to see what treats are about to be presented. And which chocolate I get to ask them to please share with Aunt Samantha ;)

Now take a look at the one below. The one where D is infatuated with her little sister, Little A. Wanting to hold her, show her the eggs, make her play with them. Big A shares an egg with Little A as well, while she is pouting, wishing she had enough strength to high tail it out of there.

Here’s another, showing the curiosity Big A still has with her eggs, and now D is reallyyy loving on her sister. How precious is this?!

So I try more angles, since straight on went out with film cameras. It’s still really staged, since they were placed there, after all. But it still feels real, in the moment.

Of course, not all cheese photos are bad. Sometimes I agree when one begs me to take a picture, says cheese, and then “LET ME SEE!” and it turns out oh, so cute.

What would these kids have done back when we had film? Waiting for it to develop? Oh the humanity! By the way, these pictures are from LAST Easter. Capturing those moments is especially nice when you realize how much they grow up in just one short year:

Make that 2 years. This was a year before the first set! Yeah, Little A wasn’t even born yet! Shh, don’t tell their parents they’re about to pick up M&M’s on the ground. And probably eat them. Oops.

And here’s one last cheesing for your viewing pleasure. We were all asked to say cheese, so what do Hussy and I do? Bunny ears. Hey, it’s allowed, it’s Easter! Then Big A wanted to make bunny ears, but it came out as peace signs :) D is not pleased at all, but the way she’s sitting is hilarious.

What’s your picture style? I know I’m not the only one with a “signature” way of doing things! Or a complete hypocrite for always cheesing hard when I see a camera pointed at me, yet don’t like taking cheese photos!

Roomboard: Busse Bathroom.

2010-06-19T16:43:00.002-04:00

The Busse’s came to me to help them redesign their guest/kids bathroom, and come up with a “youthful contemporary” look. I decided to use a fresh, modern palette. Not just for the kids, ages 2 and 4, to grow into, but also to appeal to any age since it’s the main bathroom people use at parties. The biggest issue that I know about in the bathroom is the old linoleum floors that are currently in there. I mentioned for them to pick up some inexpensive peel and stick tile from Home Depot to lay on top. I know from my own experience they’ve held up really well the last 3 years with all kinds of splashing, leaking, and tons of traffic with no signs of wear or buckling. And it couldn’t be easier to install!

I started researching the price of vanities, knowing theirs was in the ballpark of 5+ feet, and realized I wasn’t anywhere close in my price guesstimate. I was finding generic white vanities with generic cultured marble tops for almost a thousand dollars! Even Ikea’s most simple design was $550. I think it’s probably best to salvage what they have already and freshen it up with some white paint.

The rest of their house has so much fun, inviting colors (except the master bedroom. what’s up with that, guys?!) that I wanted to add yet another color to their home palette: blue! Since the curtain has so many colors to jump off of, I decided green would be the biggest accent color. I went a little crazy with the main accessories all being from Target since they’re so dang affordable :). This included the funky bright green bath rug, the stripey Hand towel, green bath sheet, and that glorious “Shakira” Shower curtain.

They wanted some storage solutions for the kids bath toys that can be put away for parties. Did I mention how fun this couple is? They love to have people over, but the girls have a whole lotta toys! I chose these Storage bins, also from Target, to hold all their play items. The best part about this is they interlock, and come apart, really easily. The possibilities are endless on how to put them together. As you can see in the picture, one of the bins has the opening facing up, while the others face out. If storage is an issue under the sink because of pipes or other things you have hidden, you can interlock them like a Tetris L (but rotating the L counterclockwise so it lays 3 bins on the bottom) and have only one bin facing out, and the others up to catch toys like a basket. Then just pick it up, and set it in the cabinet. Easy Parcheesy.

I know I use these a lot, but they’re so versatile I just can’t help it! I love, love, love these Anthropologie Knobs, and they come in all the colors of the curtain for you to mix or match. I found the Artwork on Etsy, and thought it would be perfect in an intricate, vintage frame painted white.

So what do you think? Would you enjoy a space like this as a toddler? I think I’d enjoy it right now :)

Thrifty Thursday: More Diversity Finds.

2010-06-10T21:28:00.002-04:00

I went to Diversity Thrift on my lunch break a few weeks ago, and was on a hunt for some more accessories to bring in some color or shine to the living room and dining room. My hope is to bring in some floating shelves in both spaces to hold some cute treasures that show more of my personality. Since, you know, those Americanized Sofas aren’t bringing enough sexy back for you. In due time they will come, young grasshoppers. You know I’m slow.

First up, that milk jug was way too cute to pass up. I want to paint it soooo bad, but I don’t know if I’ll really have the heart to. I love it though, also, it was 2 DOLLAH.

That cute little owl is part of my ever growing collection of Avon containers. It’s not intentional, but Avon is the bomb at designing attractive aftershave and perfume containers. My mom had a collection when I was a kid. He ended up in the bathroom. I’ve been looking for an ivory colored owl to go in there forever. I almost gave up hope and was going to spray paint one then OMG this one said “pick me! pick me!”

This little pink cup will probably end up in the kitchen. I was thinking about making a little coffee station, and since we use splenda packets, we can stick them in here next to our Kuerig.

That little teacup really shined up. After I bought these two dishes and polished them up, I developed another obsession. How cute did it turn out? And that sweet pink rose on top melts my heart.

Then the pony. Oh my god the carousel pony.

I want to paint him too. I love spray paint. But the colors are so sweet, I don’t know if I will. He’s still looking for a home, so I may do a switcheroo around until he gets one.

I <3 MINI.

2010-06-06T16:40:00.002-04:00

Look what I found!!

I’ve seen plenty of I Heart Mini items on cafepress, maybe a shirt on the official MINI site, but never a coffee mug. My heart fluttered and I may or may not have screamed out to Hussy to look and shoved the screen in his face to show it off.

So thank you MINI for dangling a combination my two obsessions in front of my face: My mini and coffee :)

A Kitchen Renovation: Get Low.

2010-06-04T20:53:00.002-04:00

Finally, time to feature those beautiful lower cabinets:

I’m so glad we changed our minds to the dark brown doors. You can see how the fabric and wall color pull together here. I also love how the floors are dark, but not so dark they compete with the dark cabinets.

Here’s the drawer by drawer break down. Unorganized, of course :)

Oh my goodness, it’s SO MUCH storage! And that landfill chair came in handy to install the handles on the cabinets that will be above the fridge:

It will be nice to conceal all that junk we had on top of the fridge the last 3 years.

We’ve only installed the cover panels on the bottom, but the sides of the uppers will be black soon :) After that, we’re just on standby for those counters. We’ve been using a $7 as-is desk top in the mean time, because I’m a genius.

It’s come in handy to prepare food and microwave in there finally. I can’t wait to get legit counters though. Just 2.5 more weeks!

Roomboard: Just Dreaming.

2010-06-04T10:58:00.003-04:00

I found this fantastic tapestry on Urban Outfitters, and thought this would be an awesome alternative to permanent wall paper (and way less hassle to hang!). I dreamed about it being in our dining room since it would go well with the leftover kitchen paint I planned to use in there.

But then I found the most adorable duvet, and my gears started turning. I simply used the side tables and lamp I already had, and the duvet, headboard, and tapestry were all on UO. Simple, but man I want to take a nap in this room RIGHT NOW!

Instead, I'll just keep dreaming ;)

Thrifty Thursday: An Unexpected Score, Unexpected Store.

2010-06-03T22:48:00.002-04:00

We’ve taken many, many trips to Ikea to get our kitchen in gear, since we’re using Ikea cabinets. Measuring, changing, remeasuring, discontinued cabinets, wrong parts put in our carts, etc. We practically live there. We’ve also spent a lot of time in the as-is section hoping for more highly discounted doors, but haven’t been very lucky lately. However, I found the mother of all surprises on our last trip. I was so excited, I held it like a baby the rest of our shopping trip. I’m a sad person, I know.

It looks like your ordinary pitcher (with sticky goo residue on it. I was too lazy to goo-gone it before snapping photos). But I see similar ones even in thrift stores for 5-10 times the price. With that math, can you imagine how much I paid for this one?

That’s right. 99cents for a $13 pitcher, because it has a little mark on the top of the rim. Which, by the way, gets covered up by flowers… or I can just turn it the other way and no one will even notice!

Well, except you. If you ever came to my house and was all “hey, that pitcher has a chip! you ain’t foolin me!” In that case, I’d be like “that’s character, son!” It’s called the SOCKERÄRT vase. It’s almost 9” tall, which is much bigger than these pictures make it out to be.

I was/am so proud. I’ve been longing for this thing for months, seeing it in tons of my inspiration files, but never ponied up the cash. It’s annoying being so cheap :( But my sweet is home safe and sound with me now, for about a 92% discount. That, my friends, is a thrifty find.

Roomboard: Beth’s Nursery.

2010-06-02T22:01:00.002-04:00

Before finding out the gender of my sister and brother-in-law's second baby, my SIL, Beth, and I talked about what she would do with her spare room she's turning into a nursery. Without knowing the gender, but having a good idea on the style she likes, I came up with this nursery.

It screams girl right now with the pinks and greens, but it can be easily changed over to a sweet, traditional boys room with some quick switches and even some things staying exactly the same. The pink in the paisley bedding can be switched out with blue. The lanterns and Martha Stewart Pom Poms above the bed can also be switched out from pink to blue. The Anthropologie dresser knobs and the trim around the Pottery Barn lamp can also be switched out. Easy changes, big difference.

However, if you want to take it a step further, you can change out the delicate birdcage for something a little more masculine, like a wooden horse. Or change out the lamp base with a more traditional white spindle base and add a dash of color with a blue or green lampshade.

Since money is tight on a budget, plus already having one kid and trying to move, I tried to give an idea of a very simplistic room that's still high on style. Just throw in your basic white furniture, some bedding in simple colors you can pick up anywhere like Target or Walmart, and stay simple with the accessories in colors that coordinate with the bedding. The window treatment is simple yet elegant, and completely gender neutral. Just hang a bamboo shade on the window and flank it with two sheer curtains on a rod. Since baby needs something to stare at when they're laying in the crib, I've seen this time and time again: lanterns and pom poms. I've seen lanterns at the dollar store, and the pom poms are just tissue paper made pretty.

Easy, right?

Thrifty TUESDAY: A Landfill Chair Makeover.

2010-06-01T22:42:00.002-04:00

Yes, I found this chair in the landfill. Not all nasty dumpster diving type of finding in a landfill, but from the somewhat organized “Too Good To Throw Out” section. This isn’t my first dump chair, as I found a 1960’s club chair before. I can’t help myself.

This one has a 1cent New York stamp on it, and it says it has complied with standards set in the 1920’s.

It was produced by the Simmons Company, 5511 5th Avenue Kenosha, Wisconsin. Doing a little google research, I found in 1870, Zalmon G. Simmons built his first factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. With the help of nine employees, Simmons originally manufactured wooden insulators and cheese boxes. It wasn’t until 1975 that Simmons moved it’s headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia, so I know this chair is at least 10 years older than I am, but with a 1 cent stamp? I’d hope it’s way older than I am.

This bad boy looked like this when I picked it up (our chain link fence and lack of grass really play up it’s weaknesses, no?)

Hussy was actually pretty upset I wanted to take it home. I tried to ignore his complaining and focus on the possibilities this chair could become. It sat under our deck for a couple months while we built a deck, did some yard work, and started on the kitchen. But I finally took a moment to spray paint it a classic white I had on hand, and covered the seat with some $5 batting from Wal-mart and left over burlap fabric from my stash. Did you hear that? I only spent $5 on this chair!

Now it’s Rupert’s favorite chair. In fact, he won’t let me photograph it without him on it.

And Hussy has retracted his complaints about it after seeing the potential unfold (and having happy cats and wife ). Mission accomplished.

I Love Keep Cup.

2010-05-31T17:14:00.002-04:00

Have you heard of the Keep Cup? It’s the cutest DISHWASHER and MICROWAVE SAFE (!!Cue those angels!!) coffee mug that actually fits in my Mini Cooper’s cup holder. You can customize it with almost any color your heart desires:

However, it’s expensive to ship over to the US. I was honestly trying to convince myself to order it anyhow, cause I’d never seen anything like it. And those colors! I loved those colors.

Then one day we randomly decided to go to Ross and see what they had in stock. I needed some new work appropriate dresses, and Hussy was looking at the mens clothes selection. We both came up empty, but of course ended up in the Home area. And Drew, with his super spectacular, x-ray, superhuman vision saw this:

The packaging is a little arrogant calling itself “The Perfect Not Paper Cup.” I mean, who does he think he is? A Keep Cup? Not quite. It’s so boring, and blindingly white. But I couldn’t stand my big, bulky, non-MINI Cooper Friendly coffee mug, so I studied it a little. I flipped the box over, ready for sticker shock. I got that, but it was the good kind, not the bad kind I expected. I mean, I was at Ross, I should have known better!

$7 for something that will make my life a whole lot easier. Mornings a little brighter. Hand washing more bearabl- I mean non-existent. Who was I kidding, I simply must have this thing in my possession. So I made it happen. I’ve been using it with my beloved Kuerig coffee (I feel like such a home-barista snob) for several weeks now and I have to say, this was one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time.

Aside from everything else in the kitchen remodel, of course. If you happen to spot this at your local Marshalls/Home Goods/Ross/TJ Maxx or whoever else in that chain may possibly have it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I can’t think of a single moment you won’t think it’s worth every cent.

A Kitchen Renovation: Well Hung.

2010-05-31T15:32:00.002-04:00

We are finally getting to the fun part. Maybe assembling cabinets from scratch (well, flat-packed IKEA boxes) aren’t everyone’s definition of fun, but I LOVE THIS. LOVE IT. Honest to goodness, if I could assemble Ikea Kitchens everyday, I think I would be in heaven. It’s fun, it passes the time, it gives a good excuse for some rockin’ Pandora, and it’s rewarding when it’s put together and functions properly. I seriously love doing kitchens. Now if only every room in this house was a kitchen, I would be floating on air. So since I can’t do that in real life, I had to pick one style, and although I picked many different things along the way… we ended up with Nexus Brown-Black Ikea Akurum Cabinets with Avsikt Frosted Glass Doors. That’s a mouthful and a half, isn’t it? Basically black and frosted glass cabinets.

Taking it back old school, our kitchen came with the original 1950’s steel cabinets. They were cool, but they were old with old cabinet problems. And being somewhat caring of what exactly holds our food and keeps it fresh, storing our food and dishware in something older than my parents didn’t really sit (or hang) well with us. Here’s the original hung cabinets:

Luckily we already had some of the uppers already hung in our hold-me-over kitchen update:

So the bar was ready to go back up to hang those cabinets back in place. Super easy.

The fun part was measuring for the other side of the room that had NO upper cabinets. It wasn’t that bad with two hands. Oh, and 4 paws. We’re so lucky to have such a great helper.

And while we were at it, we hung up our Ikea Wine Rack and installed some token bottles of wine including one from my last wine tasting a couple years ago, our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, and a special honeymoon wine we planned to drink ON our honeymoon, but still keep forgetting to drink :)

Here’s a little sneak peek at what the cabinets look like now, with the curtains I made out of Target Napkins. I can’t wait to show you how I made them!

Long Time No See.

2010-05-28T14:58:00.006-04:00

I know it's bad blog ettiquette to state the obvious: I've been away. Or apologize for being missing for so long. Especially when I have like 2.5 readers. But I'm breaking the mold, and saying I Sowwi for disappearing, because since I have SO MUCH to tell the internet! Like the kitchen is coming along and it looks AWESOME! And I missed like 2 Thrifty Thursdays, yet I have so many goodies to show you! Oh, and I pretty much chopped almost a foot of hair off!

I have been in a great funk. A funk of "I don't want to blog, I'm so bored all the time since things have been so slow, and I hate this whole stand-by waiting for items to ship and can't keep renovating." So what do I do? Obviously, I just chop off all my hair. I always grow it out, then when the mood strikes, like, say, during an epic time in my life, I sit in that salon chair and don't think twice. I did this when I first started dating Drew. I did it when got a great job offer. I also did it when a hairdresser ruined my hair by chopping off random chunks and thinning it out with a razor. I looked like she blow dried my hair while I sat in a bath tub, and not a chair. Electrocuted people, I'm saying I looked like I was electrocuted. And this was a mere 4 months before I was going to get married. Wouldn't most people panic about this? I didn't. I don't care what I look like, I'm here to party. On my wedding day, I put my hair half up, slapped on a little eyeliner and shadow and walked down that aisle looking like ME. I didn't hire a hair dresser, or even a friend, nor a makeup artist or any other fancy money-wasters. I simply don't care how I look THAT MUCH.

Well today, I kind of looked more like a middle aged newscaster. No offense if you are one, but hey, I got that great volume like you! Everytime I cut my hair, I forget HOW MUCH hair I have until it's gone and what's left is extremely thick. It's a lot, guys. My normally stick straight hair is now curling under because there's so much freaking hair sitting on my shoulders. I was actually mildly upset I had to go to work looking like a volume junky. Until I actually got to work, that is. Maybe it was the classic pencil skirt mixed with the button down, also classic, white top that helped me out, but I got compliment after compliment all day long. Needless to say, I feel better about how it looks, and it finally inspired me to blog. I know it's just hair, but it's motivating hair!

To be perfectly honest, I have about 5 posts already written. I've literally had literature ever since my last post. I've been so lazy to post them though, because I haven't edited the pictures to go with them. How sad is that? I really plan to post them all starting tonight. I'm going to make Thrifty Thursday come not on a Thursday. I'm going to update you on kitchen stuff that's long been finished. But you know what, if it takes a bad turned good hairday to make it happen, I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I'll leave you with a photo that perfectly portrays my littlest niece's second birthday party that I attended while I was avoiding my blog. Sprinklers and cupcakes, people. What more could she have asked for? Oh, I could just eat her to pieces. Not just cause she's covered in chocolate cupcake. Ok, so that helps a little.

A Kitchen Renovation: Laminated Part 1.

2010-05-19T14:06:00.002-04:00

Why is this labeled part 1? The floors are finished, so part 1 is obviously about the floors. Part 2 is our decision to cut costs after all the surprise work we had done on the electrical and plumbing, and the fact it’s a small kitchen,and although people gather in there, it’s not enough to justify $2,000 for a luxury item. I’m sure you can figure that one out.

But onto our floors: they’re amazing! They were a mere $1.60/sf from Lumber Liquidators. We went in there to browse and get an idea on the cost of floors. We had been to Orange (HD) and Blue (Lowes) to get an idea, and were quickly turned away with the $3 and $4 pricetags attached to the very attractive options. Although we wanted something that LOOKED expensive, we didn’t actually want to buy the expensive stuff. We didn’t want to sacrifice durability for a cheap pricetag either, since the kitchen is our main entrance to the house being that our carport is in the backyard and our friends and family can pile cars up back there.

Yeah, we have a lot of room for parking. So we spotted this amazing pricetag on these amazing floors and decided to scoop them up with an added bonus: there was an odd-lot in the same flooring where only the top plank was ruined, but it was being sold for $.89/sf! So we went home with a truck bed full of flooring and asked a friend/contractor for a price on installation. We got him down to $2/sf, but Drew was convinced we could do this ourselves. Much to my dismay, I agreed, and we borrowed my dad’s table saw and got a $15 floor laying kit at Orange (pull bar, spacers and some floor risers), and grabbed a handful of tools from the shed:

Even while I was sick, we got it done this weekend. It was SO easy. Of course, I’m terrified of saws so he did all the hard work.

Here’s a picture I snapped ALMOST finished. Aren’t they spectacular?:

I can’t leave out our little helper, Rupert. See his paw dangling in the photo above? Here’s him supervising when he’s not pawing at our tools trying to help us:

Here’s a little before and after of putting our cute little 20” stove back in it’s place. I miss having all that room to run around in already (and I don’t know why the first shot looks so orangey! The second shows the true floor and wall colors):

And lastly, our new washer/dryer stack. We had them side by side since we moved in, but little miss 4’11” here needs more lower cabinets to reach anything, so stacked these must be:

We started on the cabinets last night. I love the dark black/brown with the warm colored floor and walls. I just need to hunt for the perfect curtains to pull all the shades together!

A Kitchen Renovation:: Plumbing, Electrical and PAINT!

2010-05-17T19:02:00.002-04:00

There’s only so much you can budget and plan for before a proverbial wrench is thrown in the mix. We ended up pretty much replumbing and rewiring the entire kitchen and half the house. This included the necessary: setting the washer and dryer hookups into the wall (FYI, free dangling pipes aren’t up to code!) to the optional: garbage disposal hookups! We also put up the new paint color (which, as you may recall, was inspired by The Wine Loft. I just need to get pictures of that place!)

First, the real life “mood board”:

Then all the painting and professional work:

Stay tuned for our beautiful new floors!

I've Been Framed.

2010-05-11T09:30:00.005-04:00

This weekend a plumber came over to work on our kitchen, and we were pretty much chained to the house all day. That didn't stop me from yardsaling with my friends at 6:45am, since I was able to get back home before he arrived! I have been looking for a frame for my living room mirror for months. I can never find one big enough, but I thought I might get lucky this morning. I found a $8 picture that looked to be huge enough to fit on the mirror. I had high hopes. Really high, since I didn't have a tape measurer on me. I figured $8 was cheap enough that I could find something else to do with it if it didn't work out.

It didn't work out. It was PERFECT from top to bottom, but it was just 4 INCHES too short width wise. I was crushed. So I had to find SOMETHING to do with it. I never want a finished room, I love the thrill of changing things up by finding new treasures, or reworking my current posessions into a new room or area. Things take on a whole new life in a new space, and it's those little things that make me happy. That blank recessed wall where the fireplace is makes me the opposite of happy. I've been trying to figure out how to make it look more full since we bought the dang fireplace. Should I flank it with shelves? Should I put the corner piece on the back of it to make it a corner fireplace and put a chair on the other corner? Should I keep it in the middle and put a chair on each side? That could be overwhelming. I don't like a lot of furniture, I like room to breathe. However, this nook was basically suffocating in all the air I gave it.

I decided I wanted to use the frame over the fireplace, but I needed to figure out what to do. Something that I can easily change out, or at least match everything I change on the mantle. I need change! Then I remembered this collage idea from Life In The Fun lane:

GENIUS! It satisfies my need to consantly change things around, but still have the overall look stay the same. The best part? I could destroy this huge posterboard of pictures we had at the wedding reception and use the pictures on something more attractive.

I'm finally happy with this nook taking a little more shape. I'd still like a heavier piece on each side, like a vase with tall limbs coming out of it. But with 4 broken vases in a week, I think bare is pretty ok for this house.

I'll need to be a little more random with my pictures, and want to find more special things to put up there, but you get the idea :)

Thrifty Thursday: Goodwill Hunting.

2010-05-05T23:25:00.002-04:00

I was trying to decorate the living room to be a little more summery since this heat wave has come through Richmond. I went through my stash of decorations and wasn’t inspired at all. I was so uninspired that I was getting frustrated that everything was just a small knick knack and there was nothing to add height to our mantle or side tables. I had my eye on a few vases at HomeGoods, but I thought I could do better than that. I went to Goodwill last night on a mission to find things to work in all of our main rooms: living, dining and bathroom. This meant it had to be green, white, or silver. I usually throw in pops of color with flowers and pillows, so I like to keep the accessories neutral.

As soon as I got there I spotted this Apothecary Jar for $1.25:

I was studying which room I’d use it in and what it’s purpose would be. The problem was I had 100 ideas for it, and I was fighting with myself over which use I’d have for it. The poor thing will be homeless until I find a permanent spot because I want to use it everywhere! Where's that multiply button? For right now, I just have it sitting with my pony head with a flower inside.

Then while I was trying to find more inspiration, the unbelievable happened. I was so excited that one day I got 50% off both of my items, and never asked why. Well, over the intercom, a voice spoke some beautiful words: "attention shoppers, this week is half off all blue sticker items!" It was like magic when my eyes darted around focusing in on all the items with that color sticker. I'm not going to lie, they picked a good color to mark down that day, because it seemed like only all the best items were ready to be bought for half off. I normally don't fall for percentage sales, especially after working for the mecca of this tactic, a mall department store. But seeing pewter candle sticks for $3.13 each? I'll take that TYVM.

I had 7 things in my arms that I placed on the counter one by one, excited about seeing the total:

Then my cashier, the lady behind me in line, the cashier beside me AND her customer all looked at my stash with mouths dropped at how nice everything looked put together. "Oh, I love those candle sticks!" "I know, those things are beautiful!" "wow, all those things are so nice!" "where did you find those?" Well, ladies, it was all right where you were looking. My eye just happened to see the potential ;) They aren’t really all that pretty. They just look better pulled out from a bunch of useless junk. They needed some cleaning up, so I got to work tonight polishing and scrubbing and then placing them around the living room. Lets break down each item:

Cute little dish= 4.25

Bowl that says “LGA 1956 First Flight Runner Up Bill Herman”= 3.25-50%= $1.63

Avon After Shave Bottles= $2.25 each-50%=$1.13 each

And here’s the new fireplace topping, including a decanter and another apothecary jar holding wine corks, a vase that held my Secretary Day Bouquet from my boss, and the silver all shined up:

All that for just over $13. Not too shabby :)

Then I come home tonight after work, and realize in our pile for the neighborhood cleanup, someone took the countertop off our cabinets and dropped off a crib frame.

Real funny, guys. Real funny. It would have been a perfect present from the stork, had I been pregnant. It’s not everyday someone has a good condition, vintage crib handed in their lap. Yes, I want it. No, Drew won’t let me keep it. But I have a vision! For SOMEONE! Anyone that’s pregnant!

I love lamp.

2010-05-03T23:02:00.003-04:00

It’s no secret, I love acrylic ball lamps. I love them so much, I have 4. 4 of them in my house.

Then I saw the floor lamp version at the mall and fell in love… but I was worried it would be overkill. I mean, that’s alotta balls. Then I saw it on Restoration Hardware’s site.

I didn’t fall in love with the floor lamp version, in fact I did think it was overkill after looking longer at it. But the name drew me in. Why? It’s called the Wilshire Lamp! It’s like they KNEW that I loved those balls so much, they had to name it after me. Or a variation of my name. But who cares, my love of this lamp has suddenly grown stronger. Or at least, the lamps I already own.

Don’t worry Hussy, I don’t want it. I still long for this one:

Sigh. One day, my sweet. You will be mine.

A Room Makeover: Mom’s Guest Bedroom, Part 1.

2010-05-01T01:33:00.002-04:00

Last night I visited my mom because I have a special surprise up my sleeve, and I needed to grab some of her linens from our family to use for the project. We sat for 1-2 hours going through all those table cloths, collar holders, hankies, and blankets. I came away with a bunch to use for my project (which I can't document til I give to her!) and some for myself.

Of course, finding so many different patterns that matched the room so well, I just had to use a few throughout the room. But lets take a step back for a moment. Back to, what, 2 years ago? When I offered to help clean my moms spare room (which was formerly my first bedroom in the house, and then turned into the office) for her birthday. It was a long process. A daunting process. Full of painting walls, ripping up carpet, and starting the layout and decorations from scratch. I wanted a room she could go to relax, read magazines, heck, take a nap if she wanted to.

The problem was I moved out, her BF moved in, and the room was just full of all of our stuff that had no other place in the house to go.

It took a year. ONE FULL YEAR to take the time to get all of it done. I ordered the bedding and curtains off ebay, side table from IKEA, mirror was my grandfather’s, and the rest we pulled things she loved from all around the house. Here is what we put together as the after:

And then after tonight’s fabric fest, it looks like this:

Just a few more patterns thrown in. It's not Design Star worthy, but it's a room full of things she loves. I think she likes it :) and I like that she let me work on it, because heaven knows I love a fresh design project. Thanks mom!

So please stay tuned for the second part to this series :)

A Kitchen Renovation: Demolition and Painting Trim.

2010-05-01T00:05:00.003-04:00

A lot has been going on in our house over the last week. So much, in fact, that I haven’t found a moment to just sit down and write up what’s been going on! It’s a lazy Friday night laying around with friends, so I have a moment to share a snippet of the fun we’ve been having clearing room for the electrician (who came today) and the plumber (who’s coming next weekend).

See those outlets laying on the floor? Yeah, those were attached to the cabinet. Apparently this is, like, a hazard? ;) We have that fixed up now. But the flooring stopped at the cabinets. Since our new cabinets will be on legs, we need them to go all the way back. And, you know, match the rest of the house better.

What’s sad about the next picture is not the fact I’m losing my cats in our cabinet contents, but that we thought we had no storage. Well no wonder, we have so much stuff! But looking at things to get rid of? There are none. We really only need cabinets for holding food. We look like good contenders for Hoarders though.

And one of the people that commented on my contest entry on Apartment Therapy about my sofas being trailer park worthy (yeah, really. I didn’t make it far because I have sofas worth cozying up in!). Well, they haven’t seen anything yet:

Once that mess was cleared out, we painted the trim:

I picked up some test paint today. I picked out a color that was warm light brown, that appears to have enough yellow undertones to pick up the sunlight and look less blah. AND, in keeping with my other recent brown paint purchase, Belgian Sweet by Behr, this color was Iced Chocolate by Valspar. I can’t help it, I love chocolate.

Thrifty Thursday: Topping the Cake.

2010-04-22T20:51:00.002-04:00

I spotted these figurines at Goodwill many moons ago, the night that Goodwill gave me 50% off everything I bought.

These puppies ended up being $1.63 for the set! Can you believe that? They even had attire similar to ours.

Poofy dress, even a pink bowtie! I just knew these had to be our one year anniversary cake toppers… since ours were thrown out, being fresh apples and all ;) But the hair and eye colors were wrong. His was blonde/blue (like me!) and mine was black/brown (like neither of us). So with a little acrylic paint from my stash, I slowly made them over to look like us.

Then added a little sparkle to her dress to make all the bling in my dress:

And ta-da! Ready to go for our one year anniversary, cake cutting, top layer eating festivities!

The hard part was keeping them a secret from Hussy. I succeeded for WEEKS, until he looked at the pictures I took of them on my camera our anniversary morning. So he got to see them before I got to put them on the cake. Oh well, we don’t do presents/surprises well here anyhow :)

A Kitchen Renovation: Loft Inspiration.

2010-04-20T23:26:00.002-04:00

I’ve gone back and forth so many times trying not to go too taste specific. Then I realized I wouldn’t be happy with something that I didn’t love for the remainder of time we spend here. I just didn’t want to spend so much time and money and know that we’ll only enjoy it 3 years, and have it ripped out by the next owner. 3 years SOUNDS like a long time, since we use that kitchen every day. But I look back at the last 3 years, and it’s gone in the blink of an eye!

Of all people, I know paint is an easy fix. I love changing paint like I change my clothes. For $30 you can basically make an entirely new room.

(Pink/Black then Blue/White Master Bedroom wall, Beige Hallway, Brown Bathroom)

(Red/Black/White Living Room, Blue Hallway, Beige Bathroom)

However, I do NOT want to paint around cabinets. So I want to make for darn sure this paint color is going to stay for the remainder of time we’re here. Period. My problem? I want to go light, but I really want a cozy space too. It’s a battle people. With myself. Constantly.

So my #1 fave thing to do is photoshop. Like a mad woman. I know the lighting and furniture will make the color change from what’s on my screen, but it’s a starting point for my in-store and paint sampling search just a little easier, because I’m a super visual person. But this opens up the potential to pick any color under the rainbow, and makes the options harder to weed out. Example?

I loved the Ralph Lauren Stone I have in my living room carried over to the kitchen:

But after staring at it so long, it’s become a little… cold. So when we visited The Wine Loft in Short Pump, I was studying the muddy greige walls with the dark cabinets, mirrors behind the glasses, and warm amber light the lampshades gave off. It was comfortable, homey, and I wanted to stay there forever… or just take all the ideas home with me. I don’t think they’d let me live there, so I was stuck with option 2.

When we moved in, I went to town picking out all kinds of colors to paint all the rooms. The kitchen became gray, but it is such a saturated straight up gray, it sucks the life out of the room, and all the sunlight with it.

The muddy greige at The Wine Loft was more brown, and gave off a soft glow mixed with the amber lamp shades. So I tried to pick the shade out of a thousand online squares from the memory I have of the wall color I sat and studied while I sipped my Riesling. This is the closest I got to it:

I picked a beige shade (yes, the lighting changed again. Why? OVERSTOCK DOESNT HAVE IT ANYMORE!!!) that I used in an old roomboard I made to give the amber glow, the dark cabinets and floors, and I wanted to bring in a little happiness with the lime green curtains. Which you KNOW will change.

Well, earlier today I showed Hussy a picture of a kitchen I love love loved with white counters, dark cabinets, and greige walls:

The irony? I saved this picture on my desktop on March 21. A MONTH ago, I saved this picture while I was getting my initial inspirations together for light counters and dark cabinets, and didn’t even remember it! It even has shelves like mine and the drum shade I want! It’s easier to visualize it in here than photoshop, but it’s hard to believe in my subconscious I liked one look for a month now. You’d think I’d stick with this look now, right? I hope so. The color I used is Urban Living in Ralph Lauren’s Urban Loft Paint line.

One Year Wedding Anniversary.

2010-04-20T18:11:00.002-04:00

Since I semi-swore off the internet this weekend, for good reason, I'm a little delayed in wishing my husband a happy one year anniversary on here! Our weekend was jam packed with fun stuff, because, well, that happens when you don't waste your time hitting refresh on facebook. I may or may not be guilty of that when I'm truly, severely bored. But hey, it works, because other super bored people keep posting stuff for me to read every 2327840.2B seconds. Anyhow, I just wanted to kick the habit and enjoy my time with my husband with little to no interruption. You see, we wanted to go somewhere fun, like New York City, since I've never been. Or even take some crazy getaway vacation like we did for our honeymoon. But we didn't.

So why didn't we? For one, the kitchen renovation is on the table. Although the money is just sitting and waiting, everyone knows things go over budget. We also dragged our feet in booking anything, so by the time we almost decided what to do, things were too pricey.

Instead, we had a delightful weekend around home. On Friday, we went to look at a foreclosure. This home was listed for $150k, but assessed at $300k. I knew something was wrong with it, but I had to know what. I HAD TO. So we met up with our friend/realtor and took a glance at it. Our suspicions were right, it needed work. LOTS of work. When foreclosed upon, someone took the cabinets, appliances, vanities, light fixtures, air vents, heat pump, and even tried to rip the countertop out of the kitchen. They failed and left a broken chunk on there, and drew a pretty picture on the wall where the cabinets were.

Safe to say, it needs a lot of stuff. However, we looked at it in a different light than most. We welcomed the challenge. Nothing I love more than planning a kitchen or bathroom remodel! We also love buying stocks at half price (when the stock market crashed, THAT'S when we saved our money!), so why not a house at half price? Well, we haven't even gotten started demo'ing our kitchen, refinishing our floors, or planting grass seed. The main things we need to do to sell the house at top dollar. This also meant we wouldn't be able to even enjoy the fruits of our labor. Although we discussed that house over and over, we just couldn't do it. Yet.

Saturday we went to the park and threw a frisbee and fed the ducks bread.

Since it was our Wedding Rehearsal/Dinner Anniversary, we celebrated by eating dinner at Bottoms Up pizza, where we had our rehearsal dinner.

Their pizza is to die for. The crust is thick and delicious, and the Hawaiian toppings are pure heaven. The interior is also incredible with the exposed brick, beams and pipes, and industrial lighting. When we had our rehearsal dinner, we ate next to some doors off the side of the building that they opened up. We played with the kids outside while still chatting with the guests inside, and watched the trains go by until dark.

We also decided to hit up The Wine Loft in Short Pump. We drove past it a million times (I mean, we have to pass it to go to the gym!) but kept putting off going. Since we would have spent so much more money on airfare and hotel accommodations, we decided to splurge $20 to enjoy ourselves. The Wine Loft didn't disappoint! The walls are a dark greige, the lighting was yellowy and comforting, and the seats are so incredible comfortable, even the bar chairs! They also had beautiful floor lamps and tufted brown ottomans that I want so badly in my own home now. The staff were amazing, and we sat next to a guy trying to impress his date (while asking us if he should go after the more attractive lady to his left. Yeah, he was a little gone.). We were pretty underdressed for the upscale atmosphere, so at least we know to look a little more classy next time. But it really was a nice comfortable place to hang out, and I can't wait to go back again.

Then Sunday, the official anniversary day, we slept in then took a trip out to Ashland to enjoy the downtown walks, homes for sale, and take pictures in front of the place we partied at a year earlier. Ok, and lots of pictures of everything else, but you know how I do.

Then we got home and Drew grilled us a delicious feast:

We spent a lot of time relaxing, and then watched our wedding video (good idea, Hussy!). We toasted each other with our year old toasting wine (which was still delicious!) along with the toasts in the video.

My dad gave a heartfelt speech about Drew becoming his son, and me no longer being called the Runt. Then Jesse, our best man, entertained the crowd thanking Myspace for introducing us, and commenting on how we're the two most financially conservative people he knows, and he's shocked we weren't sharing a glass. Little did he know we didn't even have toasting glasses without my stepmother's present! Yeah, we're cheap. Ok, we also didn't buy cake cutters, not fancy nor bland ones, we BORROWED someone else's wedding set!

Then we finished the movie and cut the top piece of our cake:

with a cake cutter we ended up getting as a present. (check out all that open area in the freezer now! precious real estate in a home where people actually eat there!)

I'll tell you more about those cake toppers on Thursday, but the cake was delicious. Now we have to have a cake eating gathering like we had with the groomscake.

But just for good measure, we went to the gym afterwards since it's so dead on Sunday evenings, and I tested out my new workout attire. (and I sure don't want those pounds installed upon my person!) We enjoyed our anniversary, even though we didn't do anything spectacular. But that's how we roll.

Apartment Therapy is Having Another Contest.

2010-04-11T19:17:00.001-04:00

And of course, this girl had to enter. So I spent the last two days rearranging a little to please the camera, and taking a LOT of photos. Since I could only submit 5 pictures and 1 floor plan, here are the ones that made the cut (click the photos to enlarge):

This is also me showing off the final touches of my Spring makeover around the house, since I never OFFICIALLY posted photos of it :) The floor plan was from Floor Planner. It’s free for personal use, and all you do is measure your rooms and build each one according to the measurements. I threw it in Photoshop and added samples of my paint colors from My Perfect Color to each room to show the color scheme. Soon the kitchen will PROBABLY end up matching the living room, but I may feel more daring. We’ll see.

AT asks for fuller shots rather than vignettes so the whole room can tell a story. I’m all about some close-up shots, mainly to hide everything that’s going on around it. The problem with taking pictures of a room, is that everything may look awesome in person, but what it shows like in the camera can be a whole nother ballgame. I ended up needing to beef up every single table with bigger, brighter accessories in the living room because the MONSTER furniture took over the shot. I spread out the dining ensemble and set the table with plates to lighten up all the dark wood that inhaled the room. I also shot up from down below to get the most ceiling, floor, and lighting that I could to brighten the room even more.

Lastly, I moved the dump chair from the far corner to the opposite side… and you can see what took it’s place. Yep, I moved the new vanity into the living room. It’s actually what I’m sitting at typing this right now. It’s a great desk, and my other landfill chair is seated at it. I planned on painting it this weekend and reupholstering the cushion, but I got lazy. But looking at the room with the accessory switcheroo, I actually like where everything has ended up. The camera can definitely help you decorate. You pay more attention to all the details that work together to create an atmosphere.

I’m on stand-by waiting to see if they publish my entry. I don’t know if they really choose certain people to post and turn others away since I’ve only entered once before, and made it pretty far in my division. But this time I won’t be grouped with random people from the South. This is the Small Cool Contest, where you’re actually grouped with people who have similar square footage… so you can really visualize what you can do with your entire home, instead of how to work with color. I’m in the Small division, which is surprisingly the LARGEST category in the contest. There are people entering with less than 400 sf of living space!

So stay tuned to see if I make the cut and they throw me in the contest. I’m excited to see how far I can get this time. Though, my space is far less exciting than most of the awesome entries in there so far!

Thrifty Thursday: Vanity Fair.

2010-04-08T20:03:00.002-04:00

I spotted this vanity at Diversity Thrift exactly one week ago:

and immediately recognized it as the same style as my dining room table. Which, fittingly, also hails from Diversity Thrift.

I texted a picture of it to my mom while I was standing there staring at it, and said how I wanted it so, but I just couldn’t pay $50 after dropping so much cash on a wardrobe refresher. After all, this family is on a strict budget. That’s how we get things done around here, like deck, bathroom, and kitchen remodels. Well, mother dearest came through and offered up 50 beans to get that vanity. All it took now was convincing Hussy it was a necessity to be able to get ready in the light, since I’ve spent the last almost 3 years getting ready in my hallway mirror. Why? Because behind it is where I store all of my getting ready stuff, and that only made sense:

Not. I severely needed a better lit area to get ready in.

I went back to DT on my lunch break today, and the vanity was still there. However, this time I realized that it was actually a different price before the $50 I saw it for sale for. It was originally marked $70 on 3/17. It moved down to the $50 on 3/29. I counted 12 days for that price drop, and realized it’s been 10 days since that. On a whim I went up to the registers and asked how often they drop the prices. I was told every 2 weeks, so I asked if they’d drop it for me now since it’s been ALMOST 2 weeks since the last drop. She pulled out her trusty calculator, and gave me a 20% discount if I bought it RIGHT NOW.

Not wanting to feel pressured, I said “I’ll think about it” and walked back to the vanity and called my mom. I told her about the discount, and that I still really wanted it, and then the unthinkable happened. A man walks up and starts touching the vanity! The vanity I just asked for a deal on! He was opening the drawers, looking it over, and not realizing I was giving him a hard “back off pal, that’s mine!” stare. My hand was even rubbing the legs while he was touching all over it! In fact, my mom didn’t know I was giving him the stare either. She didn’t even know I was silently competing for this thing. So I say to my mom on the phone “yeah, I’m about to walk back over to the register now and get it” and he realized I was doing the stare, and walked away. It hit me I would be upset if I didn’t take this home. I mean, where else will I find a vanity in decent shape that I obviously love the style so much for just $40? Not many places :P

So I went back to the register, plopped down my $42 after tax, and my $10 refundable deposit (to secure it being held in the back until I could pick it back up after work) and went on my merry way.

Hussy met me there after work, I got my deposit back, and DT helped load the vanity in the back of the truck. They even gave us a blanket to protect it on it’s journey home! Here it is next to the dining table just to show you how identical they are. Shame they won’t be sharing the same room so they can be all cute together :(

Of course, as soon as I put it in the bedroom, Rupert just has to make himself at home. I don’t have a stool for it yet, so my Eero Aarnio pup will have to suffice until then. Or maybe my bed.

Although the room is now packed with furniture, at least everything is being used! It’s hard to work with 864 sf. Or maybe I just need to be more creative. I do have a blank corner in the living room… :)

All Decked Out.

2010-04-07T22:42:00.001-04:00

I mentioned last week that I would post pictures of the deck finally being finished this past weekend. Since we ended up having a deck party, then Easter, and I got impatient with waiting to post the fact the kitchen reno is finally underway… I just didn’t have a chance to post it. So, without further ado, I present the latest project checked off our never-ending to-do list:

It took us two dreadful, allergy filled weeks since I got sick and was out of commission for a week. I’m just happy it’s finished, and we can finally enjoy a little piece of suburban paradise. It’s much nicer to just look at the afters, but I’m not going to sugar coat it… there was certainly a LOT of work involved in the process! Thank god for our beautiful truck.

Yeah so our backyard is a dirt patch. Just ignore that.

And concentrate on the fact once the deck was finished, those trees in between the posts bloomed :)

Ok, where was I. Oh, yes.. the extensive labor part:

Luckily that part’s over. I can’t say I’m dying to build another one anytime soon, but we definitely have the know how to tackle it if necessary. And I mean absolutely necessary. Like, we move into another house with rusted, chipping, 80’s white spiral metal fencing on our deck again. We added some nice solar lights on the posts, since we’re all about living off the grid.

I mentioned here that we just couldn’t walk out of IKEA with just kitchen cabinets. How can you leave that place with just the things you have on your list? It’s im-poss-i-ble. We were thisclose to the check out line, when we fall for those last minute BUY ME! BUY ME! displays. See, we had just gone to Crate & Barrel and found this table that we both fell head over heals in love with. But for $1,899 (seriously, that’s almost how much I paid for my last CAR!) we had to just put it on our dream list. Then that display at IKEA surfaced just before the registers, and we both stopped in our tracks.

So that picture I had of our cart “with a little something extra”… well you can probably guess at this point what it was:

And the table was about $1,800 less than Crate & Barrel’s. Sure, the leafs don’t hide all pretty like CB’s, but I guarantee you anyone that looked at that table would never in a million years guess it was IKEA! So Saturday morning we spent the best, most relaxing morning outside (IMO, since our honeymoon) on the deck enjoying the new railing and table set… and some coffee and girly magazines :)

Then Saturday night we had some friends over to celebrate the completion.

But the party ended up being less of a deck party, and more of a yard party. Footballs were thrown, frisbees were tossed, first meets and reunions were made.

Then my pretty decorations that I moved out from the living room were pushed to the side to make way for a poker game. I’ll forgive you this time babe.

It ended up being a good amount of space to play on, but it stunk the gaps between the wood slats were a LITTLE too wide for poker chips.

But that didn’t stop Charlie from having a successful win.

I would say the return on investment was about 1,000% so far. And it’s been less than a week! It’s an understatement to say I’m excited for more fun on the deck. It’s amazing what a small (ok, fairly large) change from before to after can make:

I just hope the kitchen gives us this much gratification once it’s done!

A Kitchen Renovation: Assembling Cabinets.

2010-04-06T22:59:00.002-04:00

If you’ve ever bought something that needs assembling from IKEA, you know how helpful that little man and pictures are.

Unless you’re me, and don’t have your head on straight. It only took a couple tries tonight to get the first cabinet right, and a cut foot. Yes. I’m going to expose you to my gross foot to show you what sacrifices I’m making for the sake of a happier place to cook and congregate.

Hussy did a much better job helping figure this stuff out.

So we were able to get 3 cabinets done long before darkness fell.

And enough time to get a cheesy model pose. Someone please give her a sun. And a gym.

We still have 5 more boxes to put together, then add the guts and feet. We’re still waiting to hear back from the electrician to get the ball rolling, but it’s coming so soon! Soon being 2 years and 3 months later, but it felt like a blink of an eye.

Let There Be Light.

2010-04-02T10:42:00.008-04:00

We're coming to an end in our deck railing project. FINALLY. I'll be posting pictures this weekend of the finished product, and maybe even a little deck christening of sorts.

In the mean time, I couldn't help but notice this light fixture in Shades of Light's sponsor ads all over my favorite blogs:

Isn't it to die for? I know I have a cheap fixture in the bathroom already, we don't really need a new one. Especially when we have a kitchen reno about to begin. But man, oh man. That has to be the most beautiful piece of art-made light fixture I've ever seen. To convince Hussy to go for it? Probably worth more time and effort than the $200 pricetag.

And look: they're even teasing me with a frameless mirror like ours below it. If I could get a match for the kitchen, we'd REALLY be in trouble...

or in luck. Since, you know, we're on the hunt for a new kitchen fixture anyhow ;) What's another bathroom light fixture going to hurt?

Speaking of kitchen light fixtures, I put together a little sampling of my favorite overstock.com finds to help me choose something to put in the kitchen:

So Fresh and so Green, Green.

2010-03-30T21:05:00.002-04:00

I decided to put together a new dining table centerpiece since the rest of the house is getting a Spring makeover. I wanted something to work with the pitcher my boss and his wife gave us as a wedding present, so I raided the craft room and dining chest for ideas. This is what came out of it:

The fabric is actually a skirt I never wear. When I was going through my fabric scraps, nothing was screaming at me, but the skirt I put off hemming was.

It had a black sash around the waist, so I just tied a bow around the base of the cake stand. For the top of the cake stand, I grabbed a vase from my dad’s Mayor’s Ball and filled it with some flowers I had lying around the craft room and a couple pieces from the arrangements I made with my last Dollar Store batch. I also grabbed two of our signature Granny Smith Apples from the kitchen and two baby salt and pepper shakers to top it off.

Those two green glasses came with the pitcher, and the small green candle holder was my grandmothers. I also pulled out an oil dispenser with black olives and green leaves from Hussy’s sister/brother in law. I took a cue from the chrome tip and grabbed the stainless silverware and chrome carrier and our stainless napkin holder to add a touch of shine.

One last aerial shot to finish things off. I’m so Google Maps. I love changing out the centerpiece any excuse I get! I also spend countless hours perusing the interwebs for inspiration, so if you have any good ones, hook a sister up.

Case Closed: How to Sew a Zippered Pillow.

2010-03-28T02:13:00.002-04:00

Apparently, being sick for 11 days wasn’t enough for my body. Oh, no. I just had to pick up the same cold/allergy issues again just a week later. Although I have a bunch of projects that I already started, I decided to pick up yet another. This time, one that I can do sitting down while sick. I bought this fabric a while back, waiting for downtime to get it done. A lazy Saturday night is as good a time as ever!

Supply wise, grab some matching thread, a tape measurer (or if you’re real fancy, an actual measuring board), scissors, matching zipper, pillow form and fabric. When I buy my fabric, I usually just stick with even 1 yard. Since I was making two 20” pillows, I got 2 yards of the zebra print. As for the zipper, just grab one that’s slightly longer than your pillow form measurement.

If you’re shorter than 5 foot like I am, use the pillow form as a booster seat to allow for optimal sewing views.

Measuring the fabric has been a lot of trial and error for me. Since I’m too impatient to Google it, I’ve found measuring the width of the fabric a half inch LESS than the measurements listed on the pillow form bag makes a nice snug case (this includes the 3/4 inch seam allowance). When you measure, use the natural crease of the fabric from the bolsters as your fourth side, and cut the other 3.

After you’ve cut your three sides, flip the fabric so it’s right sides together and pin the two sides leaving the top open for the zipper.

Now to pin the zipper. Lay the zipper face down and pin the edge of the zipper to the RIGHT side of the fabric. Repeat for the other side.

Set your machine to straight stitch. I use the longer setting, that has a nice tight stitch. Make sure your supervisor is content with your work ethic.

I hope your supervisor is as friendly as mine is. Now you can start sewing. Sew the zipper down first. I find the perfect stitch for the zipper portion is when you line the edges of the zipper with the edges of your foot (see how the thread lands right in the middle?). This leaves just the right amount of room for the zipper to move freely without ever catching. Then sew the two sides of your fabric so the stitch creates a stopping point for your zipper.

Just don’t leave your seat unattended while you take pictures for too long. Move your feet, lose your seat!

Then you simply turn your case inside out, stuff your form inside, zip it up, and enjoy… er, let your cat enjoy your hard work.

Each case, if done properly, takes about 20 minutes. It would probably take less time if I weren’t a perfectionist. Or stop every few minutes to pet my helpers.

The Kitchen Renovation: Another Ikea Road Trip.

2010-03-23T18:45:00.002-04:00

This weekend we took our second road trip out to Ikea to pick up the new dark doors.

While we were placing the order, we made the executive decision to swap out the doors we have currently as our uppers with the clear/aluminum doors below. I originally wanted to keep the ones we had and either stain or paint the trim since they were a) expensive and b) still holding up amazingly. However, since these were only $35/piece, we thought what the heck. Lets just save the time and effort we’d put into doing those cabinets into the rest of the kitchen, and just buy these. So the two middle in this picture will be what our doors will look like.

Then I noticed they had the cabinets as a kitchen display behind us. So we walked over and got a shot of what I would look like if I ever made myself useful in a kitchen :)

Then we goofed off while waiting for the elevator. Seriously, it’s two floors. How on earth this thing takes 5 minutes to move between them is beyond me. Lucky for Ikea… well, they’re Ikea. So we had plenty to entertain ourselves with while we waited. Like testing out baby gates.

Then we finally got downstairs, picked up our order (and a little something extra…).

And loaded up the beast for the ride back home.

You thought that we’d start cracking on the kitchen now that we have the main pieces, right? Wrong. Stay tuned for what NEW project has just taken precedence. And you thought I was the one with a short attention span. At least now we’ll have AMPLE entertaining space.

Sprucing Up for Spring

2010-03-20T00:08:00.002-04:00

I showed you in my latest Thrifty Thursday post my new lamps. I had these smaller sized lamps in the living room:

And I got some flack on HGTV’s Rate My Space that made me realize how tiny they really were.

So I did just what they said, moved them to the bedroom: …and sold off my gamecube, saved up some fun money, and finally broke down and bought a bigger version. You just can’t understand how much I love these ball lamps.

They’re way brighter than the old ones, which was a great thing… except it showed off the trim I hadn’t finished. Since September 2008. Why so long? Well this happened a couple weeks later:

Then the marriage, then the honeymoon, and, well, life. So with the pretty weather rolling in, I decided to do what everyone does when Spring comes. Clean, and spruce up. You saw I got some flowers, and I mentioned pillow covers. But I also bought trim and hall wall paints. It wasn’t THAT bad, but it kind of was. This was just two strips, so multiply this by 12 doorways that needed touching up. THAT’S bad.

So I set the Blu-Ray player to Pandora and hooked it up with my favorite station: Rick Astley.

And did something I’ve put off for far too long. Embarrassing long. I mean, who looks wakes up in the morning and says WOW, I should really wipe off all the baseboards in my house? Not me, obviously.

With that done, I set to work. In 5 hours on Tuesday night, I was able to cover the trim in the living room, hallway, bathroom AND part of the dining room.

We’re hitting up Ikea this weekend to pick up the new cabinet doors for the kitchen remodel, but tonight we hit Crate & Barrel just for fun. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Since Target sold out of the chairs I had in my cart since August, they rolled out a new, less attractive chair that’s more expensive to replace them. I can’t bring myself to buy them, and I’m upset I never got the chairs I wanted all that time. Then, I hit the holy grail. The same chair as the original one I wanted is now at C&B, for $40 less a chair!

Look at that cute barstool in the back too! Oh, if only I had a bar to put them under. Now, to convince Hussy they’re worth all that money. So many projects on the horizon (sorry for jumping back and forth!!) and so little time. Or maybe I just have a short attention span. That’s probably more accurate, but at least the house is coming along finally!

I’m Well Diversified.

2010-03-19T18:21:00.002-04:00

I got an e-mail today from a woman in Georgia letting me know that she came across my blog on Diversity Thrift’s website. Wait, what? I thought I misread it, so I read the e-mail a few times more and finally just went to Diversity Thrift’s website to look for myself. Sure enough, on the front page, was my blog, my quote, and a link to my write-up on them!

I’m both flattered and amazed that they found my blog and posted it, and that someone all the way in Georgia (who is planning to start her own thrift store, by the way!) found me, and took the time to write me. Coincidentally, I actually planned on going there on my lunch break today, but decided to hang around downtown and let my friend Cameron go all paparazzi on me.

There’s always next week :)