Over the Weekend: DIY Doormat

Over the weekend I finished up a little DIY doormat project, and I think it turned out great!

(do you see a little face peeping through the window?)

It started with a trip to ikea where I picked up a plan ole boring doormat.  I knew I could paint something on it, I've seen similar projects all over Pinterest.  I wanted to do our monogram, but it took be a little time to figure out how I was going to do it.  I ended up printing out our monogram, cutting it out, and tracing it onto the doormat.  Lastly, I grabbed some black indoor/outdoor paint we already had and filled in the outline.  I'm happy with my $15 custom doormat and upping the curb appeal a little.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

PS - Excuse the blog appearance as I do a little updating.

Around the House: Guest/Kid Bathroom

Finally, posting a little bit about making our house our home.

First up, the guest/kid bathroom upstairs.  A few weeks ago I was finally able to put some paint on the walls (BM: Gray Owl), and I think it freshens the room right up.

Before:

Progress:

The previous owners were nice and update some of the hardware in the bathroom, so one less thing we have to do/purchase.  Most of the fixtures in the house are the original builder grade stuff - not my 

favorite!  I did buy a new shower curtain (Target) and put some artwork up (my grandmother painted the canvases/plate from anthropologie/small painting from etsy).  What's left to do:

Soon: Paint the cabinets

Someday: Replace the light fixture and faucets

DIY Headboard Update

The DIY headboard in my sisters bedroom.

Valentine Decorations

I don't decorate for every holiday, but Valentine's Day is one of the holidays I do enjoy putting some decorations up.  I don't know why, maybe it's being able to be a little more girly (I'm not normally too girly when it comes to decorating).  Maybe it's because I have special people in my life that I love dearly.  Anyway, here are a few snippets of the simple decorations.

PS - They are all handmade decorations.

A little DIYing this weekend...

My sister moved into her first post-college place a few months ago and she's been gradually making it feel like a home.  It being her first place, means a tight budget and some DIY projects.  She commissioned her brother-in-law (aka the hubs) and me to make her a headboard and we finished it this weekend!

The hubs created the design and cut the wood...

And I upholstered it, with a little help from my sister...

I thought it turned out pretty good for it being my first headboard.  Let's just say the sister better enjoy it!

It still needs to be transported to my sister's place and I'll get a few pictures of it installed.  So, stayed tuned for more pics.

House Projects

One reason I haven't been blogging much, is the fact I've been working on personalizing our new home.  We moved the beginning of June 2012 and have been slowing making updates.  My updates have had to be small and cheap because we don't really have much of a budget for updating/renovating.  I'm ok with little to no budget, because we have been blessed with a house that hopefully we will be in for a long long time.  Also, it has made me get crafty and creative using what we already have.  For example, I recently painted the inside of our front door black.  We had black paint and I've been spotting on pinterest people painting their interior doors black or dark gray, I liked it, so I tried it.  I'm pleased with the out come and it cost me nothing, but a little time.  Here's a little peek...

I think it adds a little character to an otherwise builder grade house.  It still amazes me how a little paint can transform something.  I hope to share some more of the rooms I've painted since moving in, so stay tuned.

Before & After: The Kitchen

So, I thought I would show you some pictures of the progression of our kitchen.  I would say the kitchen is the room in our house that we have done the most work.

What it looked like when we moved in...Yikes!

We started painting everything the day we got the keys to the house!  

What it looked like most of the time...

Then we finally added granite countertops (to say I hated the white tiles with brown grout is an understatement), new hardware, and a bookcase at the end of the peninsula. (The first picture shows the newly built bookcase.  We decided to add it since we were updating the countertops.  That's why the countertops don't extend over the bookcase in the above picture.)

And now...

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

And here's a free 2012 printable calendar, that I will be printing out {just need to get a new color ink cartridge}...

Calendar by Love vs. Design

Commitment

Black walls...not ready to commit or living in a rental?

image

Well, here's another option. Paint a large canvas or piece of plywood the color of choice and pop it behind a desk, a sofa, a tv, anywhere you would like for the same impact.

image

Craigslist Find

My first craigslist find and purchase for the new house...


Doesn't it remind you of this {with a little paint}...

{west elm}

Total saving of about $340!

Look forwarding to sharing the results after we move into the new house.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Friday!

I love these colorful DIY mobiles!

These instructions are found here. Hope everyone has a sun filled weekend!

P.S. I might have some house news for you soon!

DIY Fall Gift Tags

I love these FREE printable gift tags Creative Comforts created for us to use! Go here to download for free.

Happy Friday!

I love this DIY project...We always see glass bottles with the pourers used for dishwashing liquid, but I love how My Notting Hill used old soap pumps to repurpose pretty liquor bottles for her dishwashing liquid. Check out the easy directions here. I think a Gin & Tonic will be my choice of drink this weekend!

Another creative idea is to turn a vintage mason jar into a soap dispenser...

Or you can just purchase it from MidwestFind's etsy shop.

Have a great weekend! Doing a little work and then enjoying a bridal shower and bachelorette party for a very dear friend.

Fabulous File Cabinet

A great DIY file cabinet, read more about it here.