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.

A couple of things...

I'm ready for spring.  I bought everything to make an Easter egg wreath a year ago.  I finally made the wreath and I'm happy with how it turned out.  I had some leftovers, so I got extra crafty and made an Easter egg garland.

The hubs is doing a great job on the built-ins.  I can't wait to start filling the shelves!

Catch-Up...

Two weeks ago half the household got the stomach bug!  I didn't get the stomach bug, but did get a nasty cold.  That's why I fell off the blogging bandwagon.

We barely recovered and were off to the mountains with friends.  It was a good time.  It snowed 11+ inches where we were staying at the top of the mountain.

We got back from the mountains and had some play dates.  Lunch at the State Farmers Market Restaurant and Marbles.  Jake just wanted to drive drive drive the fire truck (it was really an ambulance).  We've been taking advantage of the warm weather and playing outside as much as possible.

And last...the Hubs has started our built-ins!  They are going in the 'formal living room', which we are turning into a study/library/dan room.  I'll have more details in the coming weeks!

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

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...

Before & After: The Laundry Room

Here are some before and afters of the recent laundry room update we did.  Our laundry room was pretty gross!  The previous owners kept their cat in this room, so there was this layer of yuck that I could never get rid of. So, after 5+ years of living with a gross laundry room, we finally made some updates.  The hubs tiled the floor {it was his first tile project} and he did a fantastic job!  I don't have a before of the floor, but it was the shag carpet you see in the hallway.  I painted and we added new shelving from Ikea.  I don't mind doing laundry in there now!

Yes, I have it jammed pack full of stuff!

The Nursery {Finally}

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the pretty much completed nursery.  I say pretty much, because there are a few more items I want to hang on the walls and I know I will constantly change things around.  This was definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house to decorate.  Not only because it's my son's room, but kids rooms are just fun to design.  I also loved that I was able to incorporate items from my childhood.  Like the nursery rhyme needlepoints above the crib, my mom made them when she was pregnant  with me.  When I was little I received a music box for my birthday and I was also able to add some of those too.  You'll see a Noah's Ark and a Peter Rabbit music boxes in a picture below.  My mom made the crib skirt (instructions from here) and pillow, my husband built the cornice boards and I upholstered them.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Some Sources:

Crib: DaVinci Parker Crib (purchased through Amazon.com)
Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Santa Monica Blue
Dresser: Ikea HEMNES 3 drawer chest
Dresser Knobs: World Market Bubble Glass Knobs in Blue
Bookshelf: Ikea EXPEDIT shelving unit
Fabric: Here
Prints:  Here & Here

Let me know if you have questions about anything else you see.

A Couple Nursery Pictures

Ok, so I was finally able to upload a couple pictures of the nursery from our computer. The lighting wasn't great, but you should get an idea of what the space looks like. I'm working on a much larger post that has some before pics. I also still have some hanging and arranging to do before the nursery will truly be done. I'll make sure to include details on everything in the larger post. In the mean time let me know if you have any questions. I hope you enjoy. It's definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house!

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!

Blogiversary

It's been one year ago that I started the blog. I really didn't think that I would keep up with it for a year, but I did. I must admit I've been slack with it too many times. Hopefully, this coming year will bring much more.


For my one year blogiversary I thought I would share some photos of our house, I can't believe it's taken my so long. Now, these pictures are from a few years ago so things have been tweaked, but you'll get the over all image of what we've done. Hope you enjoy!


Kitchen Before:



Kitchen After:

I don't have a picture, but we painted all the cabinets white, it was amazing how it brighten everything up.

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

As you can probably see, we did A LOT of painting! Everything below the chair rail was crackle finish...PLEASE DON'T EVER PUT CRACKLE FINISH ON YOUR WALLS! We had to sand all the walls down before we could even begin priming, it was quite the job, but well worth it. My wonderful husband and mom helped with so much! They made the coffee table bench and my mom sewed all the curtains in the living room and kitchen...thanks again for all your help Mom!

Hope you enjoyed.