Before Meets After

Summerize Your Home- Living Room, bedroom, and bathroom

2013-05-20T08:16:00.000-04:00

Hello! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was terribly rainy! Definitely doesn't make me feel like summer is around the corner. Speaking of summer, I've had the opportunity to share my ideas on adding summer elements to your home over at Ideas That Spark Blog.

I'd love it if you'd pop on over to see how adding inexpensive elements to your living room can add some summer flare to it!

I also shared how to add style to your bedroom. You may even see a few of my own projects from my master bedroom makeover!

Lastly I wrote about how to change up your bathroom with some new linens, paint, and even how to add style to your walls, for a little pocket change!

I hope you'll join me over there today!

Pure Bond cabinets: Part 3, Doors

2013-05-14T07:48:00.000-04:00

The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. The school year is winding down and I'm preparing to move to a new school. Packing up my classroom and saying goodbye to my friends has been really hard, so I've been trying to distract myself by working on projects at home.

Remember our sitting room cabinets hubby was building for me? He finished up the doors and finally installed them.

We still have a long way to go with painting, trim work, and hardware, but I can't wait to use them to hide all my craft stuff in. I'm determined to get everything painted with at least 2 coats this week, but we'll see how this goes.

A split second decision led us to using beadboard for the door inserts. I just LOVE the casual look to them!

I swear we're determined to get our bedroom finished so we can start working on the nursery. I can't wait to get all of my nursery ideas off the ground!

To see part 1 of the cabinets click here
Par 2 click here
Linking up That DIY party

Nursery Inspiration

2013-05-01T07:23:00.000-04:00

I'm having so much fun searching for ideas for our peanut's nursery! In the day and age of Pinterest, I'm also a little overwhelmed at all the choices out there! A little about my ideas for the room: I'm not in to the "theme rooms". I don't want bedding with animals, cars, or boats. Boy stuff is so hard to find. It's either theme-y or too girly! I think I'm finally getting a plan as to what I do want! Here's a few ideas I've pulled together.

source

Are you seeing the big picture? I think I'm going with blue and white, with splashes of green. I'll probably piece together some bedding, or even make my own. I would love to do a custom bed set, but have you seen the prices on some of those?!?!

We already ordered a crib (thanks mom and dad!) but we plan on starting the bigger projects in a few weeks when school is out.

For more of my nursery ideas, follow me on pinterest.

Queen of Hearts Blogger Brunch

2013-04-29T08:11:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet with some other Atlanta bloggers and check out the Queen of Hearts. If you haven't heard of this place, it's absolutely amazing. The Queen of Hearts is an antiques and interiors shop that has a little bit of everything. There are 3 locations around Atlanta: Buford, Alpharetta, and Marietta.

The owner of Queen of Hearts invited us to a bloggers brunch where we learned about the history of the store and even got to do some shopping.

The ladies that worked there put an amazing gift bag together for all of us, including a personalized initial and a $25 gift certificate.

You never know what you'll find when you're shopping at the Queen of Hearts, so if you see it and you like it, you better buy it.

So many of the booths were beautiful and had great treasures!

I loved the look of this booth with all the chippy pieces and glassware.

You can also find whimsical things for kids there too! This booth had the cutest pink and green stuff for a little girl!

I was obsessed with these yard lanterns. How pretty would these look for a wedding too?

READ THE REST OF THIS POST HERE>>

IT'S A......

2013-04-23T18:10:00.001-04:00

BOY!

We had such a fun reveal with just hubbs and I! We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant called Grindhouse in Atlanta (Gourmet burgers....this momma said yes!) We ate dinner and then gave our waitress a card that had the gender written inside from the doctor. It killed me to stare at that envelope all day! Earlier I brought the envelope to a cupcake place and had them make cupcakes up for us! When we cut it open, we were so surprised! Our peanut is a boy! We called our families and visited some friends to spread the news. We're so excited!

I can't wait to share with you my nursery inspiration....and my bedroom cabinets...if we ever get finished!!

Building Built ins with PureBond: Part 2

2013-04-16T08:46:00.000-04:00

I too want to stop for just a minute and say how sad I am about yesterday's events in Boston. As a mom to be, it terrifies me to think about the world my child will grow up in, but all I can do is be the good and believe there is still good in the world. Yes, evil exists, but I pray every day that it doesn't take over this world we live in.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Yesterday I shared with you some details about how my hubbs spent all last week building some built in shelving for our sitting room. Our master has been the #1 priority in our house this year and we hope to get it finished soon so we can start working on the nursery!

Today, I'm going to share exactly how we built these massive cabinets.

Right now you're only seeing the frame of the cabinets. The doors are the trickiest part and they're still in progress.

If you're just joining me on this project, yesterday I shared that we took some plans from Ana White's website for the Rebecca media center and added 6 inches to the depth .

We also had our PureBond plywood cut at Home Depot to our measurements so we were ready to get started.

To attach all the pieces together, hubbs used a Kreg Jig to sink the screws in. It gives the piece a much more professional look and makes it very stable. He watched a bunch of You Tube videos before starting so he felt comfortable using it. (It's amazing what we use the Internet for!)

Now normally I would be the one out there helping, but being pregnant has it's advantages. My dad was over for a few hours to help with the grunt work :)

READ THE REST OF THIS POST HERE>>

Building built in cabinets with PureBond Part 1

2013-04-15T09:37:00.000-04:00

Let me just start off by saying I owe my hubby. Big time. He took the entire week off of work. No, not to watch the Final 4 in basketball or to sit on the couch and watch the Masters. There was none of that at my house this week. He woke up early (which is so not his thing) and stayed up late working hard so he could build some cabinets for our sitting room.

Let me just tell you, that I'm in love. Not only with my hubby for doing such an amazing job, but with my new cabinets as well.

They don't have doors yet, and we've still got a long ways to go on the "finish work", but I hope to update you as we go.

We started with a plan. We had been looking at Ana White's site for a few months, trying to decide what we wanted to do.
We finally settled on the "Rebecca" media center plan with 2 side cabinets.

The only problem was we didn't have the height required for the hutch part and that the cabinets measured 11 3/4 in deep. We were looking for something with a little more storage. Thank God my hubby is the math wizard in my house because he took all the measurements and changed them to fit our needs. We increased all the measurements to 17 3/4 in. deep.

When we he started building this, we made the best decision ever. We bought PureBond plywood, which is a beautiful hardwood plywood that's made in America. This stuff is so easy to work with and the end quality is just amazing. You can stain it or paint it and it gives you a beautiful finish.

The other smart thing we did was take all of our measurements to Home Depot and let the guys there cut it. Did you know Home Depot cuts your wood for you at your measurements, and it's super cheap? We saved the mess at our house as well as having to cut it and drag each piece up 3 floors to our sitting room.

Tomorrow I'll share the actual building of the piece. I hope you'll stick around for the final project reveal!

DIY By Design Thrifty Decor Chick

Spring Break and nesting

2013-04-10T14:44:00.003-04:00

I would LOVE to say that I'm having a relaxing and enjoyable Spring Break. It's been enjoyable, but definitely not relaxing. This momma's got one thing on the brain....cleaning and organizing my house.

It started with the "which room will be the baby's room?" discussion.

Then I got started thinking about how I needed to give up my beloved craft room.

And how I could integrate all my craft supplies into our master sitting room? We never actually "sit" in there and I hate that it feels like wasted space. So this brought about a new plan that involves lots of work on my hubby's behalf!

Which then snowballed into me needing to clean out closets. Disaster. I opened up all the closets in our house. Equally a disaster. There's only 2 of us. How does this happen??

The trash bags and boxes came out. 3 trips to Goodwill, 11 trashbags, and a garage sale pile later, and I think I can say I'm done cleaning out closets. (No I'm not a hoarder. I just neatly stack away junk in hidden places?!?!)

But that's ok, because after 3 days of busting my butt, the baby's room is empty! We're just waiting to find out what the peanut is now! As soon as we do, I'm sure I'll be all ready to get started!

For now, the rest of this week hubbs is working on the project I mentioned earlier in our sitting room. I can't wait to show it to you! Want a sneak peak?

Are you on a spring cleaning binge?

Sitting Room Updates: Painted antique table and rug

2013-04-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

Lately we've focused a lot of attention on our master bedroom. I want to get this room wrapped up soon so we can start working on the nursery! Our "bedroom area" is pretty much finished, but our sitting room has been lacking.

When I got a new rug for our family room from RugsUSA, I also ordered one for our sitting room. I decided to go with the Homespun Chevron Rug in Light Blue.

I also flipped around our Brooks Chairs from the Ballard Outlet and added a table in between.

My husband's great grandparents were moving to an assisted living home and had a few pieces they left in their house. We were given the small table in the middle of the chairs.

I wanted to paint the table so it would match the room. Now so many of you might judge me for painting the wood of such an old piece (my dad is one of those). If it's going to be in my home, I want to be able to enjoy it and for it to work for our space.

So I painted it :) Of course I had to use my favorite color that I've used on the rest of our bedroom furniture, Duck Egg Blue from Annie Sloan.

I have big plans for the short wall behind the chairs and even the ceiling. Pregnant woman dreams :)

Once again, I didn't use any wax at this point because it's not safe to wax while pregnant. I do have plans to put a top coat on it at some point.

I'm off next week for Spring Break. This year, instead of going off on some fun filled vacation, hubbs took off and we've got projects galore around our house in preparation for our peanut coming, of course :) I'll have lots to share!

House of Hepworths

Some thank yous and a furniture makeover

2013-03-25T08:12:00.000-04:00

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you for you sweet comments regarding our big news! To answer the #1 question asked, YES, we will find out what the baby is! Only a few more weeks! I'm too much of a planner not to find out. I need to know what to do with that sweet nursery :)

Now on another note, since I haven't been feeling well, furniture makeovers have been few and far between. Before painting anything, I made sure to check with my Dr. first. They said as long as I'm not sanding (Thanks Annie Sloan Chalk Paint) then I would be fine to paint in a well ventilated area. I just can't wax. Waxing has such a strong smell that even when I wasn't pregnant it could get to my head!

I finished up a super small furniture project for our master bedroom.

Some of you spied my painted nightstands a few weeks ago when I showed you our new rug.

These started out as plain wood nightstands from Pier 1. We got them as wedding gifts and they've looked like this for the past 4 years.

To paint, I simply wiped them down with a clean cloth, and painted them with Annie sloan chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue. It's really one of my favorite colors! I used a brush and it only took a few minutes since none of the sides are solid.

I dry brushed it on and left some of the edges exposed so you could see the dark wood through. I left the top the original wood since it was in great condition. I didn't even put a top coat on it because I wanted the baskets to wear the paint natrally too.

So there you have it! A 5 minute furniture makeover! Just what this tired pregnant momma loves!

BIGGEST DIY announcement ever!

2013-03-21T09:14:00.000-04:00

So maybe I'm a little excited....but we have a BIG announcement. They'll be an addition to our house in October.

So if you've been wondering where all my ~~thought provoking tutorials, furniture projects, and room makeovers~~ posts have gone....well....let's just say the baby ate them :)

I've been so tired and sick that I haven't done much DIY, but I'm excited to start feeling better and get my butt off the couch. Seriously there's a dent where I've laid for the past few months!

Here's to project nursery!

White Trash Peanut Butter

2013-03-19T07:49:00.000-04:00

Ok I know this is an awful name for a snack. But hear me out. It's literally made with trash from my pantry. A little of this and a little of that....and then covered in white chocolate. And almost every I put in it has peanut butter. So hence the name White Trash Peanut Butter!

You'll need:
Peanut Butter Cheerios
Nutter Butter minis
Pretzels
Peanut Butter M & M's
White Chocolate for melting

Mix a little bit of each of the dry ingredients. I didn't measure at all. Then I spread out on a sheet of wax paper. I melted chocolate and then drizzled it all over the peanut butter goodies.

And that's it. Seriously peanut butter explosion in your mouth.

Changes in the family room

2013-03-13T08:29:00.000-04:00

Our family room gets a lot of use. It's where we unwind at night, entertain family and friends, and get to just be ourselves. I've struggled with this room since day 1 because of the big ceilings and lack of character. I finally decided to bite the bullet and spend some money in this room. These weren't necessarily "frugal" changes, but they definitely spruce up the room more!

Here's the new additions! Can you see them?

The obvious one is the rug. I found this beauty at RugsUSA for 1/2 off. It's called Moroccan Trellis in Spa Blue. It's a 8 X 10 and was $248, including shipping. If you've ever shopped for a 100% wool rug, you know they're pricey. It was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up. (I may have even gotten another rug for the master as well, but you'll just have to wait on that!)

I love that the trellis design is slightly raised.

We have hardwoods throughout the entire main floor, but our family room has a carpet inset. It was just too blah for this big of a room and I wanted some color on the floor. I am not one of those people that are bothered by putting a rug on top of carpet! As long as it's a thick rug, I think it's fine.

The other big change was the windows. I purchased these inexpensive bamboo shades from Home Depot. Hubbs had a gift card so I guess it didn't reallllllllly count as purchasing them, but you know what I mean!

via Home Depot

We already purchased these same Bamboo Shades for the french doors in our kitchen, and I LOVE how they let so much light in, but still offer privacy and they're cute :)

The windows in our family room are deceiving. You'd never know that they're 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall. Lucking the blinds come in a 72 in. length and they are barely are long enough, but they work. After installing them (it takes about 5 minutes) hubbs stepped back and said "Why did we wait so long to do this? The room looks so much more homey". Yes a man said homey. But more importantly, those blinds had been sitting under the window for no less than 2 months, waiting for hubbs to get the hint. *sigh* Does this only happen at my house??

No matter how long it took, I'm absolutely loving the changes. The room seems so much more inviting now.

(Sorry for the blurry before pics, those were the days of my old camera)

These small changes have really made a difference in here. I'm still planning on changing out the curtains, if I ever find something I like, and adding more to the wall to draw your eye up. But for the time being, I'm loving the changes and pops of color!

House of Hepworths That DIY Party

Stencil Giveaway from Royal Design Studio

2013-03-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

Last week I shared with you my picture frames I made using the Large Hollywood Squares stencil from Royal Design Studio.

They have so many stencils to chose from!

I've seen this Herringbone Pattern all over blogland lately and this stencil would make any project amazing!

This peacock stencil is also one of my favorites.

My friend Kelly from View Along the Way just finished her laundry room with it and it looks amazeballs!

Now you have a chance to go on a $50 shopping spree from a stencil of your choice!

Just enter by using the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway open until 3/19/2013 at midnight. A winner will be randomly chosen. Shipping to residents in the Continental US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DIY stenciled frames from Royal Design Studio

2013-03-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

I knew I wanted to add personal photos in our master bedroom. There's not a lot of empty wall space due to the opening to the sitting room, but I wanted something cheap, large, easy, and that would add style to the room.

Many of you spied my new photo wall art.

These were ridiculously easy to make. I pinned a million frame ideas on Pinterest, but they all involved complicated cuts to make frame openings. These are simply a painted board with a frame hanging on top!

To make these, hubbs cut a large piece of PureBond Plywood we had left over from our laundry room cabinets. I knew I wanted the frames to be rectangular so I used general measurements for the plywood. Our pieces ended up being about 8 in. X 14 in. After we cut down the pieces, I painted them with Duck Egg, one of my favorite Annie Sloan Colors.

After the base color dried, it was time for some fun!

Last year, I had the opportunity to meet some amazing ladies from Royal Design Studio. They are so awesome to work with and they LOVE bloggers! I was able to pick out a stencil to review and there are so many to choose from! I finally settled on the Large Hollywood Squares Stencil in the Allover Modern Stencils Collection.

It reminded me of my inspiration fabric!

I watched a few quick videos on the Royal Designs site and I felt ready to go! I simply sprayed my stencil with spray adhesive, laid it on the wood, and began to paint.

I used a foam roller and rolled on my paint, CoCo from Annie Sloan.

I peeled off the stencil before the paint could dry, and repeated this on each of the 4 boards.

I did have a few spots to touch up (due to my own laziness) but it wasn't anything a craft brush couldn't touch up.

READ THE REST OF THIS POST HERE>>

How to chose the right flooring for your room: Hardwoods, Engineered Floors, and Laminate, oh my!

2013-02-28T07:56:00.000-05:00

When we won the flooring makeover from Shaw Floors, I never knew there were so many different types of "wood" flooring to chose from.

I knew I wanted wood, so at least I didn't have to worry about the million types of carpet to chose from (seriously, there are a ton!)

When we started looking, we first needed to decide how the room was going to be used. Because it's a master bedroom and doesn't see a lot of daily wear and tear, we were pretty much open to any type of wood.

Some people recommend if you have a room with a lot of traffic and you don't want to risk damaging the floors, to go with laminate. That product has come a long way in the past few years and there are so many choices. Many don't even look like laminate, they're easy to install, and a very reasonable price.

Shaw Floors Laminate: Fairfield Pines

We finally debated between engineered hardwoods, and solid hardwoods. The biggest difference, is that engineered floors have a real wood top with a backer board. They get installed by gluing and nailing down the boards. Real hardwoods are solid all the way through, and usually just go down with a nailing.

Engineered Hardwoods: Cypress Mountain Gondola

The bonus with engineered hardwoods, is that there are so many styles, colors, and finishes to chose from.
Many came with worm holes or a hammered look. I loved that so we wouldn't have to worry if ~~when~~ they got scratched.

hammered hardwood maple

But the downfall: Most engineered hardwoods can't be sanded and re-stained when they wear down. We were concerned with the dogs and future children that we would want the option to refinish someday, so we went with the solid hardwoods.

We decided on matching the style to our existing hardwoods downstairs. Eventually we plan to refinish those and match the color to the ones in our master. I REALLY wanted to wide plank boards, but after debating about their popularity now, I was afraid it would be out of style in 10 years. So we went with the classic 2 3/4 in. plank in a cocoa bean stain.

Golden Opportunity: Coffee Bean

Annnnnd I'm in love.

Hopefully this will help you if you decided to put in new flooring in your own home!

I was not compensated in any way from Shaw Floors for this post. It is only information that I gathered and thought would be helpful to my readers.

Master Bedroom Update: A New Rug

2013-02-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I've been going round and round about it a rug. A rug can make a space.

I'd been searching for rugs everywhere. I was afraid to order one online just because of the color factor. I happened to stop in HomeGoods on my way home the other day, and viola! A RUG! It jumped off the wall and into my cart :) Don't you love when that happens?!?!

It was the perfect size 8 X 11. Well actually 7"7 X 10"8 but who's really measuring??

It was a steal at $299 for a rug that size. It's super soft and I just LOVE the color in our bedroom.
It's really warmed up the hardwoods in our master and defined our bedroom area more.

I'm a little less neurotic about the dogs walking all over the floors now, especially when they would try and jump up on the bed. I would cring thinking they were digging their paws into the floors! It is seriously heaven under your feet!

This side of the room needs just a few more touches, then I'll focus on the sitting room! See, I told you this year was going to be ALL about this room!

It is so hard to find quality rigs for a great price, but HomeGoods has such a huge selection. Do you have a go to place when it comes to rugs?

Thrifty Decor Chick House of Hepworths DIY By Design

Oreo Pie

2013-02-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

Everyone once in a while, this DIY gal has to eat. Well, actually I eat all the time! Lately I've had a lot of events to go to that needed food: girls night, dinner with friends, and a baby shower. So what's a girl to do? Bring the most amazing thing to touch your lips!

Enter Oreo Pie

You'll need
1 package Oreos (I like to use double stuffed)
1/2 c. butter
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 container whip cream
1 c. powdered sugar
1 package instant pudding

First, crush the oreos in a bowl using the bottom of a can. Put aside about 1/3 c. of the crushed oreos for garnish.

Melt the butter and mix in with the oreos until well coated.

Press the mixture in the bottom of an 8X8 glass pan.

Put into the fridge while moving on to the next step.
READ THE REST OF THIS POST HERE>>

DIY bolster pillow

2013-02-19T07:45:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we were able to escape for a 4 day trip to the beach with some friends. It was wonderful, but I can tell you that I did miss my bed! There's nothing like sleeping in your own bed :)

Speaking of bed, I SWEAR this is the last pillow I am making for it. Mark my words. ~~Cause hubbs might lose it if I make more!~~

One of my sponsors, Swanky Outlet, has been amazing and sent me lots of goodies to outfit my new bed.

They send me a king sham from The Hudson Park Cross Diamond Collection to match the Euro shams and duvet they already sent me. Well, I decided to make another pillow out of the king sham.

Enter my new bolster pillow!

This was so easy to make and can be made from any king size sham. Bolster pillows can be expensive, so this was a cheap alternative to achieve the same look.

First, my mom and I cut open the king sham along the zipper closure.

While my mom was sewing down all the edges to make a rectangle,

I was tracing a circular object on the backing to make the ends of the pillow. (Don't judge, a trash can works as a perfect tracer!)

This is where things got a little tricky. We had to pin the hemmed down rectangular front of the pillow into a cylinder and then sew that together. Now we were left with an open tube and we just needed to pin the circles made from the backing onto the ends.

Easier said than done.

Somehow, my mom managed to pull it off! We left a small opening and then stuffed the pillow with some extra pillow stuffing I had lying around. If you have a bolster you just want to recover, you could do the same thing, but just leave off one end comlpletely, slide the old pillow in, and then hand sew the circle ending.

So there you have it! You can use any king pillow sham to pull this off!

I'm so excited to sleep in my bed again. Now I just have to find a spot to put all these pillows while I'm sleeping!

That DIY party

Sitting Room Mood Board

2013-02-15T08:15:00.000-05:00

Recently, Jamielyn from i heart naptime launched an online app called The Inspiration Board.

I used it to come up with an inspiration board for our master bedroom sitting room.

Notice those Brook recliners from Ballard I scored for an amazing deal a few weeks ago? Mine are a little more khaki that the color on the board, but that was the only image I could find!

You can also see our plans to build a built in desk unit and storage, and maybe even a little window seat!

It's a super easy way to create online mood boards for rooms, showers, weddings, you name it!

I can't wait to put my ideas for our sitting room into place!

IKEA Wall of curtains in the master

2013-02-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

I cheated. I've actually had this curtain wall done for months, but I didn't want to show it to you until I had my new hardwoods installed that I won from Shaw Floors.

The reason why is because I didn't love the curtain wall with the carpet. I knew I WOULD love it after the floors went in, so I wanted to wait to share it with you then!

I spent a lot of time searching pinterest for curtain walls.

source: Loft & Cottage

source: Houzz

After a trip to IKEA, I decided to go for it.

READ THE REST OF THIS POST HERE>>

Master bedroom update: Floors and furniture in!

2013-02-11T07:32:00.000-05:00

I have about a gazillion posts to do just from this photo alone.

Sorry for the pic quality, but it from my iphone. Don't you just love that panoramic feature?!? (and yes, that's me passed out in the chair ruining the photo!)

Last week got away from me so I didn't get to update you more on our floors. But I will this week...promise :)

For now, I just wanted to leave you with some room eye candy.

Thanks to Shaw Floors for the AMAZING hardwoods!

Still left to do in here:
Buy rugs
Find real knobs for my dresser
Actually find a duvet cover and not just sleep with the duvet
Build builtins along the far wall
Wall Art
Light fixtures

See this is going to be a big project, but I'm so excited about it because this room has been seriously neglected since we moved in over 2 years ago. Remember what we started with?

Yeah....don't judge. And try not to steal my beautiful before photos for your own room inspiration!

Shaw Hardwoods in the master

2013-02-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

I am just tickled as I write this post. Actually I've been tickled for days but I've been too busy swooning over my new Shaw floors in my master to even write a blog post. Bad blogger, I know!

This whole process started, I don't know 8 months ago maybe? I went to Haven and heard about Shaw floors and the contest they were running called 30 days and 30 bloggers. You had to submit a room and the winner with the most votes won free floors. Sounds easy right?

Well then I bugged you forever about voting for my kitchen in the contest.

The day we won I think the whole neighborhood heard us screaming.

So in a way, this room is all thanks to you!

Enough chit chat. You're just here for the pictures I know.

But I would be a bad blogger if I revealed the whole room to you at once, so you're just going to see little snippets because we still have a long way to go!

Do you love it as much as I do?

The guys showed up to install it and it took about 6 hours total. We had already ripped out the old carpet but the two of us couldn't carry it down the stairs. Our solution? Dump it out the window of course!

After that, the whole process went pretty smoothly.

The floor guys laid out the black paper to prepare the floors for the hardwoods.

Then they laid out a pattern for the hardwoods, spacing out long boards and short boards.

After it was all laid out, they simply used a nail gun to nail down the floors.

After the floor was installed, all there was left to do was install the quarter round around the room. The quarter round just gives the floors a finishing touch where they butt up to the baseboards.

Here's a few shots of before, in progress, and currently!

I can't wait to show you some furniture projects and tell you more about the floors in here! I'll be back later to talk more about choosing the right type of flooring for your room!

Roof and Floor Update

2013-02-01T08:36:00.000-05:00

I am THRILLED to say our roof has been fixed and our floors go in today. Yes. today. As we speak they are being installed. Not by us (shocker I know). But we HAD to have our hands in part of this project.

We ripped up the old carped and pad and got the sub floor all ready for the new floors that I won from HGTV and Shaw Floors.

(Does anyone else do DIY projects at night after they get home from work....in their PJ's. Oh wait. That's just me. )

I can't WAIT to show you the finished product. Make sure you follow me on facebook for some sneak peaks!

And yes, I did pass out from exhaustion after doing all this! Thanks to hubbs for capturing such a beautiful image.

The master is coming along! Stay tuned! Next week I'll share with you our floor pictures and why we chose the floors we did.

Have a great weekend! This gal's going to get some sleep on her new hardwoods!

A weekend of celebrations: baby shower and birthday party ideas

2013-01-30T07:44:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we were super busy! I love being busy, but this weekend felt like a whirlwind. It was all good though because we got to celebrate some important events!

First, my friend Jennifer's daughter turned 10. I was at her house to help entertain the girls and to provide moral support when they didn't go to bed until 5 am. True story. Needless to say, Sunday I was exhausted, but I had to share some of the details from the party with you!

Jennifer had a candy bar for all the girls to have as favors when they left in the morning. I'm pretty sure after waking up, there wasn't this much candy left inside though!

The cake was from Publix. I was so impressed at the taste and look of the cake. I've even had Publix cakes at wedding too! I love their frosting!

After staying up all night and getting about 3 hours of sleep total, I was off to help host a baby shower for a college friend of mine.

She's having a girl in about 6 weeks and her nursery colors are pink and gray, so we went with that theme for the shower.

The food was delicious and was set on a chevron table runner with pink poofs hanging from the light fixture.

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