DIY Newlyweds: DIY Home Decorating Ideas & Projects

What I’ve Been Up To

2012-05-25T18:12:00.001-04:00

The tricky part of blogging is that when I’m busy working on projects, I don’t have time to blog. Or when I’m busy blogging, I don’t have time to actually do projects. So you can probably guess by my lack of posts recently that I’ve been a busy bee working on some projects. I took a bunch of photos today, so I hope to share what I’ve been working on starting next week (spoiler alert: 2 of my favorite projects ever are coming up!)

I’ve also been doing some small things here and there around the house. Although they’re not particularly exciting, I’m happy to check several things off of my to-do list.

After about 2 years (yes, YEARS) of living with way too long curtains, I finally broke out the sewing machine and hemmed them. This was actually a pain because I washed them first which got them all wrinkled and meant over an hour of ironing for 6 all-cotton curtain panels. Although that doesn’t really excuse the 2 years of procrastinating. But now they’re clean, ironed, and just the right length!

(Sorry I have no idea how to take a photo of a bright window!) Despite the chore of washing them, I do actually like these curtains, they are the Ritva curtains from Ikea.

I’d show you a wider angle photo of the curtains, but they are right next to a big project I’ve been working on. I’m very excited about this one and can’t wait to show y’all next week!

And speaking of both procrastination and secret projects, I finally got off my butt to finish a project I started forever ago but never really completed. I will keep you in suspense a little longer with this one, but here’s a teaser photo of some shelves I’m painting for it:

Not a very exciting photo, but it will be a very exciting project once it’s all done!

We’ve also been doing a little touch up painting, including our front door and surrounding trim which got a fresh coat of white paint.

Now if I could only prevent my pooch from jumping on the door and dirtying it up again.

So that’s what I’ve been up to, crossing things off my to-do list and finishing up a few big projects. What have you been working on recently?

Sweet Strawberries

2012-05-18T14:01:00.001-04:00

Two years ago I bought two small strawberry plants and planted them in a container. I got a whopping harvest of about 3 or 5 strawberries that year. Last year, I replanted those plants into the ground and had a better harvest of a couple dozen strawberries. They were spreading like crazy so when we built a garden bed in the back of our yard last year, I relocated a strawberry plant there. It’s been the perfect spot for strawberries because they’ve spread like mad and have overtaken the left side of the garden bed.

Here’s a close up of the madness with salvia flowers growing in the background. In hindsight, planting the salvia next to the strawberries wasn’t a good move considering salvia attracts lots of bees and makes strawberry picking a much more dangerous activity than you’d think.

I started picking strawberries this week and I’ve already had a bigger harvest than I did all of last year. The strawberries have a wonderful flavor and are very aromatic, something store-bought strawberries just can’t compete with.

There are still a lot of green strawberries so I’m hoping my harvest stretches out for a few weeks.

Today I picked a big bowl of strawberries. However, I did catch a certain garden pest trying to take a big bite out of them!

He’s lucky he’s so cute. But who can blame him, no one can resist my big beautiful berries.

What’s growing in your garden this year? Have you tried growing strawberries or other fruit?

Garage Sale Hosting Tips

2012-05-17T19:12:00.001-04:00

Remember last year when I had a garage sale and said it would be years before I had another one because they're so much work? Well I guess I have a bad memory because my family got together to host another one this past weekend. And this time I swear I'm not doing another one for years! The garage sale was successful, but boy was I exhausted by the end of the day.

But the good news is that I got rid of a lot of stuff and made a little extra cash. You can check out my yard sale hosting tips from last year here, but I learned a few additional things this year:

Get Motivated. I used the garage sale as motivation to spend a couple of weeks beforehand, working on weekends, cleaning out closets and our spare bedrooms purging stuff and making yard sale piles. This was great because it lit my fire to clean places like our often forgotten closet in the guest room. So now these "storage closets" which were really "old junk hoarding places" are organized and CLEAN! The key is to use the garage sale as incentive and allocate yourself plenty of time so you don’t burn out.

Of course what is much easier is keeping a yard sale/goodwill box throughout the year. In my basement I had a box for stuff I wanted to either donate or sell. As I no longer need things or replace stuff, I toss my too-good-to-trash stuff in the box for Craigslist selling or Goodwill donation. This box is great because it's already full off stuff I want to get rid of. Had I intended to do a garage sale earlier, I would have been stashing stuff here for a few months beforehand.

Price things to move. My goal for the yard sale was to get rid of as much as possible, the cash is just a sweet bonus. So I tried to price things at the cheap prices I like to see at yard sales. I let people haggle and reduced prices when people asked. There were a couple of items I stood my ground on, but I set a fair price from the start for them and eventually they sold.

Clothes and shoes sell too. I usually only shop for household items at yard sales, so I was surprised to see how well our clothes and shoes sold. I priced items at $1-$2 and made sure everything was neat and nicely hung on a hanger and they sold well. I also got rid of handbags like I promised back when I organized my closet.

Preparation is key. This brings me to my next point, the night before preparation was key. The night before, I got all of my stuff organized so it would be quick and easy to setup the next morning. All of my clothes were hung up on hangers and grouped into similar piles (t-shirts, sweaters, pants). I wrapped a rubber band around each group of hangers so the next morning I could just grab the pile of clothes and hang it up on a pole we had setup between two ladders.
Any household items or other stuff was grouped and boxed. I like grouping stuff by similar types of items (home decor, picture frames, tools, etc) or by price ($1 stuff, $2 stuff, etc). Either way, grouping items by how I intended to set them up on tables made it easier to get ready the next morning. Invest in preparing the night before to make things easier the following morning, especially when “early birds” show up even if when you specifically wrote “no early birds” in your Craigslist ad.

I’m happy I got rid of so much stuff at this yard sale, but this time I swear it will be a few more years before I recover enough to do another one. And hopefully since I got rid of so much stuff this time around, I won’t have a need to do another yard sale for a long time. Have you ever hosted a garage sale?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

2012-05-10T11:40:00.001-04:00

We had a bunch of bananas that were starting to brown (what an exciting start to this blog post, haha), so I wanted to make a snack with them before they went bad. There are a bunch of different recipes for banana bites online with varying degrees of complexity, but I wanted to make something really simple so I used just 4 ingredients I already had on hand.
I simply cut up a banana, added a layer of peanut butter, and then topped it with a craisin (a dried cranberry).

Then I melted some chocolate chips in a shallow dish (I like to use a little fish shaped dish because it’s a nice depth). I microwave chocolate chips for no more than 45 seconds at a time to make sure the chocolate doesn’t scorch, and just stir between each microwave session.

Once the chocolate was melted, I spread it onto the banana bites with a butter knife.

Then I stuck the bites into the freezer for a few hours until fully frozen.

And there you have it, a super easy, 4 ingredient, chocolate peanut butter banana bite! Since my bananas were on the over ripe side, these bites turned out very sweet. Hope you have a sweet tooth!

Yummy! These are a nice size when you want a bite-size sweet snack. Do you have any favorite sweet treats?

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas & Giveaway!

2012-05-07T07:42:00.000-04:00

Mother’s Day is less than a week away and although I’d like to do something nice to show my appreciation to my Mom, she’s one of those hard to shop for people who appreciates the thought, but is hard to please with the gift part. So I’ve been brainstorming some Mother’s Day gift ideas she might like, and hopefully that the special Mom in your life would like too.

Make sure to scroll down to see all of the ideas and enter the amazing GIVEAWAY at the end too!

First some Mother’s Day dessert ideas. What Mom doesn’t like a sweet treat, so desserts always make a nice gift.

1. Flower pot cake

2. Edible fruit bouquet

3. Cupcake bouquet

4. Flower Cookies

Crafts make a great gift too. Every Mom loves something made just for her. Here’ are some cute DIY Mother’s Day gift ideas I came across:

1. Flower bracelet

2. Stenciled tea towels

3. Nest necklace

4. Teacup candles

Of course, a lot of women I know would prefer to pick out a gift for themselves, especially if they’re a little picky like a certain special lady I know. And who doesn’t love getting a gift card and going on a little shopping spree? Home Depot gift cards are a perfect gift option for any mom, especially if you are short on time and need something easy, but want to get a gift she’ll love.

They’re especially a great gift this time of year because the Home Depot is planting ideas for Mother’s Day and a gift card is perfect for a mom looking to create her dream garden or outdoor space. The gift cards come in dozens of cute designs and can even be personalized with your own photo and message! Plus they’re convenient to use both in-store and online at HomeDepot.com. You can also find great ideas from the Home Depot on their Facebook page or Twitter.

The Home Depot has been kind enough to spread the love to one of my readers too. They’re giving away a $100 gift card!!!!!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering.

Entering this giveaway is simple, here's how:

- Prize: $100 Home Depot Gift Card
- Enter By: Friday 5/11/2012 11:59pm EST.
- To Enter: Just leave any comment!
- Bonus Entry 1: Follow my blog through an RSS Feed (like Google Reader) or on Blogger/Google Friend Connect. Leave a separate comment saying you’ve done so. If you are already a follower, leave a comment saying so.
- Bonus Entry 2: Tweet about this giveaway or post it on your blog. Leave a separate comment with the link.

Good luck and Happy Mother’s Day!

Disclosure: The Home Depot partnered with bloggers such as me to help promote their gift cards. As part of this promotion, I received a gift card(s) to share with my readers. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products. The Home Depot believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.The winner of this giveaway will be randomly chosen and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.

My Favorite Projects: April 2012

2012-05-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

It feels like we were just celebrating the New Year, but it’s May already! When did that happen? And why am I always so surprised at the start of each month? Don’t I have a calendar? Although I might be surprisingly surprised that it’s May, I’m looking forward to several things this month, including the warm weather, gardening, garage sales, hosting a very exciting giveaway next week (I promise you’ll want to make sure you come back for this one), and last, but not least, a very exciting makeover project that I’ve dreamed about for years and finally started work on. Now I just need to find time to blog about it all!

But before I get too carried away with May, it’s time for my monthly look back at what I accomplished in April and some of the totally dreamy projects I came across on other blogs. First some of my April highlights:

1. I fantasized about my dream house.
2. I was surprised to find some unexpected guests living in my house.
3. I shared some fun garage sale finds and how I was scammed with one purchase.
4. I compiled some very cute dessert ideas for Easter.
5. I shared my old-school Easter decorations.
6. I shocked everyone with some surprise information and shared a delicious seitan recipe.

Now, onto some of the amazing projects I came across on other blogs. Prepare to be blown away.

1. Gorgeous sunroom makeover from Jenna Sue Design. Looks very high end, but is furnished with affordable finds from places like Ikea and Target.
2. Clever way to disguise a router with a book from Anamu.
3. Cute cupcake bouquet from My Cake School.
4. Beautiful dining room molding from Thistlewood Farms.

So much inspiration! How was your April? Did you complete any awesome projects or find anything really cool online?

Creature Comforts

2012-04-27T16:52:00.005-04:00

I woke up on Wednesday morning to the sound of tiny feet pitter-pattering near my bed. It sound like it was coming from inside of our heating vent. So of course, I immediately pictured this (except less cute and more rabid):

A mouse in my house?!?! I might be an animal lover, and I do think mice are pretty cute, but I don’t like the thought of my house being infested by any kind of creature. We’ve never had any rodent problems before, thank goodness, so I figured it was just a stray mouse that had somehow gotten into our vents. I wasn’t too concerned until I realized that a mouse could cause damage to our heating vents. But then I did some Googling, and read other stories involving mouse droppings and their terrible odor when the heating or air conditioning is turned on and that’s when I started to freak out! We bought a mouse trap right away (a no kill trap of course, we got the Victor Live Catch release trap from Home Depot, which doesn’t kill or use painful glue). But a few days later, we still hadn’t caught anything.

This morning I heard some movement in the vent and was listening closely to it when I heard some chirping. At first I thought it was just some birds outside, but then I realized they were coming from the same place as the “mouse.” Then it dawned on me, there is no mouse in the vent! A family of birds has taken up residence in our dryer vent which is right below our bedroom window.

I went outside and sure enough, there was plenty of bird “evidence” around the vent.

And this also explained why our sliding glass door, which is directly under the vent, has been “marked” by birds as well.

After a little while, I finally spotted the culprits when I saw a couple of these birds nearby. They are pretty cool looking with purplish-greenish iridescent looking feathers.

Luckily, I just bought a bird watching book at a garage sale last weekend! This excited me for two reasons, first, because it meant I could use the book and secondly because I could prove my husband wrong for saying I’d never use that book! (See, aren’t the illustrations cool, that’s why I bought the book in the first place.)

Sure enough, the book had just the bird I was looking for. It’s a starling. I did some more Googling and confirmed that starlings like to make nests in strange places, including dryer vents.

See the resemblance?

At this point, we’re just going to have to wait for the baby birds to leave and then remove the nest once it’s gone. I guess we’re going to have to avoid using the dryer in the meanwhile. After they’re gone, there’s a netting that can be installed on the vent to make sure no other creatures make a home there in the future.

Any other tips for what to do when birds settle into your vents? Have you had any brushes with nature inside your own home?

Yard Sale Trickery

2012-04-23T06:01:00.000-04:00

I had another great weekend yard sale shopping...for the most part. Two nice neighborhoods near me hold a community yard sale each year and they happened to fall on the same day this year. Although I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I managed to find some cute loot. But as you’ll see, I was swindled by one purchase. Luckily, it wasn’t quite as traumatic as my experience at the same community yard sale last year when I got a flat tire!

First, I found a pair of filigree candle holders. Although I don’t really need another set of candle holders, which is exactly what I said last week when I bought a different set of candle holders, I bought them anyway. Funny thing is, I rarely burn candles! But I like how they look, and in my defense, I thought they’d match well with my filigree utensil holder, so maybe I’ll keep them in or near the kitchen. At a different house, I found a gorgeous photo frame. I need another photo frame about as much as I need another candle holder, but this one is just beautiful.

At a different yard sale, I picked up a few books. Two to read for fun and a bird watching book from the 1950s just because I liked the illustrations in it. Underneath of the books, is what I thought was a very nice tray. But I was duped! Lied to, scammed, swindled, I tell you! See that white patch of missing paint on the left side of the tray? Well, I didn’t see it when I bought it because it was covered by a price sticker the seller had put on top of it. Who does that?! This is a friendly neighborhood yard sale, but the sellers felt it was necessary hide a very noticeable spot on a tray worth only a few dollars and trick someone? In reality, it’s not a big deal because I was considering repainting the tray anyway, but I’m mad out of principal! Good thing I only paid half of their asking price for it!

But the day ended on a positive note for me when I found this cute wicker carrier. I thought it would be a cute and convenient way to put cups holding utensils or condiments in it and carry them onto our patio for barbeques.

Did you score any yard sale finds this weekend? Have you ever been tricked by a purchase like I was?

DAP DryDex

2012-04-20T12:22:00.000-04:00

After an unfortunate curtain hanging incident that left my kitchen wall with an inordinate amount of holes (don't ask!), I had quite a lot of spackling to do!

That's why I was so happy when DAP reached out to me about a very cool product, DAP DryDex. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to know how long you have to wait after spackling before you can sand and paint over it. This product takes the guess work out of it because it has a dry time indicator - it goes on pink and dries white! Perfect for inpatient people like me who tend to jump into the next step of a project too early. When it's white you're ready to sand and paint!

DryDex was easy to find at the Home Depot. The Home Depot near me had two different sized tubs.

If you haven't spackled before, it's very easy to do. I even enjoy doing it, there's just something satisfying about making a hole or crack disappear. First, clean and dry the surface to make sure there isn't any dust or other debris on it. Then mix around your spackle a little bit with a putty knife and then apply about a quarter sized amount onto your putty knife. Push the spackle into the hole or crack you're trying to fill and smooth the spackle on top. That's it! The spackle will dry within one to five hours, and the convenient part about DryDex is that it will change colors from pink to white when it's done! Once dry, larger holes/cracks may need another coat of spackle, but smaller ones may be ready to sand and paint after just one coat.

Dap DryDex is available in the little tubs (like the photo above), in a tube, or as an entire kit that comes with a putty knife, sandpaper, and adhesive patch made for repairing larger holes.

Have you tackled any spackling projects lately? Or ever had a crazy disaster hanging something that left you with an insane amount of holes in your walls? No, just me? Ok then, lets pretend that never happened.

Note: This post was sponsored by Dap, but the content of this post and all opinions are entirely mine.

Quails & Candle Holders

2012-04-16T08:06:00.000-04:00

I am so excited that it is finally garage sale season again! I love spending Saturday mornings outdoors searching for possible treasures. I’ve been to a couple of garage sales so far this year. On a recent trip, I found some cute decorative items, including these quail birds. From doing some Googling, I believe these birds are from the ‘70s. I picked them up thinking I’d paint them white, but now I’m thinking they’d look cute in a glossy bright color. What do you think?

At the same garage sale, I found these turquoise candle holders. At first I wasn’t sure if I should get them because I have about a billion candle holders, but I bought them because I don’t have any quite like this and I love their color. (Yes those candles are different heights, but that’s all I could find at home.)

I am SO happy I bought them because I absolutely love how they look in my dining room!

I think the turquoise looks gorgeous next to a bowl full of (faux) colorful citrus fruit. And they look a little tropical next to natural fiber placemats.

I am just in love with the candle holders and they make me smile every time I walk into the dining room.
Have you done any garage sale shopping this year?

I'm linking this post to Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures party.

My Favorite Projects: March 2012

2012-04-12T08:41:00.000-04:00

April is in full swing already, so it’s high time to take a look back at some of my favorite things from last month. First, here’s a taste of my DIY fun from March:

I shared an easy way to grow your own green onions indoors so you’ll never have to buy them again:

I used vintage pictures of the Jersey shore to make photo coasters:

I made a nautical map pillow from a cloth placemat:

I enjoyed the pretty flowering trees in my backyard- until I saw a big scary bee:

And here’s some of the projects that inspired me online last month:

A beautiful spray painted vase from Thrifty Decor Chick::

Pretty grass candles from Elegant Nest:

Creative citronella torches from wine bottles by Adventures in Creating::

Great ideas, right? Leave a comment with any favorite projects you worked on or came across recently!

Pineapple Flowers

2012-04-09T08:32:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Since I’ve already shared my Easter decorations and Easter dessert ideas, I thought I’d update y’all on what I ended up making.

From my Easter dessert inspirations, I decided to make cupcakes topped with pineapple flowers, as I had seen on Pinterest:

source

It looked really cool so I decided to give it a try. The site did not have any additional instructions so I had to figure it out some remaining details. I took a regular pineapple and cut off the top and sides.

Then I sliced the pineapple, sprinkled it with sugar, and placed it on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. The pineapple needed to be sliced thicker than I originally imagined, because they shrink a lot while baking.

I baked the pineapple at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Next, I put the pineapple slices in a muffin tin, to create the curved flower shape, and baking for about 15-20 minutes more (I forgot to take a picture of this step). I had the pineapple in the oven while my cupcakes were baking so luckily I didn’t have to run my oven too much extra.

Once baked, I used the dried pineapple to top the cupcakes I had made.

Too be honest, I’m not crazy with how it looked, so I decided to make them a little more flower like but topping the pineapple with a cherry to act like the center of a flower.

Since I like to be transparent with you guys, I’ll say that I thought the pineapple flowers looked cute, but weren’t cute enough to justify the extra time and half a pineapple they took up. I was a little disappointed I couldn’t get mine to look as flower-y as the original photo, but I wanted to share how mine turned out since I posted the inspiration photo last week. The actual cupcakes were delicious though, I used Bakerella’s recipe for mini-cheesecakes which is a big favorite of mine.

What do you think of the pineapple flowers? Worth the trouble of trying again? How was your Easter? What did you end up making?

Easter Wind Up

2012-04-06T13:35:00.001-04:00

I don’t go too crazy seasonally decorating for holidays other than Christmas, but I did put out a couple of little Easter decorations this year.

My hubby has a few wind-up Easter toys from his childhood which I put out in our living room. Look at this super cute tin bunny on a bike. It still winds up and drives around in circles.

He also has a windup bunny that walks up and down a little ladder. I would lie and say these toys are so cool because they are “vintage” but the truth is, who doesn’t love a wind up bunny!

Since I recently learned how to make an animated GIF (thanks to Rhoda and Kate), I thought I’d share this adorable little bunny toy so you can see how it looks when it’s wound up:

Super cute, right? I’m afraid I might start animating all of my photos now that I know how to do it!

But in much less animated décor, I also hung up this Easter wreath that I made a few years ago. (You can check out the Easter wreath tutorial here.)

That’s what Easter looks like around here. Do you decorate for Easter? Or share my love for wind-up toys?

I hope everyone has a happy Easter! And for those of you celebrating Passover this week, I hope that’s wonderful too!

Shocking Twist & Delicious Seitan Recipe

2012-04-05T08:31:00.000-04:00

If this blog was a soap opera, this post would be the shocking twist where you find out that I had an evil twin or that John Black was really Roman Brady with amnesia. I’m being dramatic, but I’m about to tell you something I’ve never shared on this blog before. I don’t eat meat.

I’m sure y’all fell off your chairs with that one. Okay, maybe not, but I warned you I was feeling dramatic today. No, I am not a hippie, nor am I starving, nor do I only eat lettuce. I’m just a regular gal who happily hasn’t eaten meat in four years. Someday, I want to share a longer post about my reasons and the misconceptions I’ve encountered, but for now I just want to share a really delicious recipe.

I made seitan for the first time. Seitan is the protein part of wheat. It’s made by washing wheat flour until the starch dissolves and all that’s left is the gluten protein. And despite common misconceptions, there’s no reason for the majority of people to avoid gluten. Gluten-free is not the same thing as carb-free and seitan is actually very healthy and is low in carbs, low in fat, and high in protein- a great diet food!

Now onto the recipe, we purchased pre-seasoned seitan from Whole Foods. You can actually make seitan yourself, but from what I understand it is a laborious process and I haven’t tried it yet.

It came in a tofu-looking package, but inside the container it looked much different. To be honest, it didn’t look too appetizing to me uncooked, but it did resemble chicken. Seitan is often used as “vegetarian chicken” in meatless dishes.

I put the seitan in a warmed up and oiled frying pan and added Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce (similar to teriyaki sauce and I’m sure you can add any sauce of your choice).

I added sliced baby portobello mushrooms, scallions, and frozen green beans to my stir fry and cooked until the seitan was browned. I also added some some black sesame seeds for fun towards the end.

So easy, right? Once cooked, I served it on top of some pasta. Rice or quinoa probably would have gone better with the seitan stir fry, but I was in the mood for pasta and had finally found whole wheat elbow macaroni at the store and really wanted it (why do only some pasta shapes come in whole wheat?!)
And let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious! Even my husband who still eats meat from time to time thought seitan was absolutely delicious! He has been calling it his new favorite food since this dinner. Sorry for the at-night photos, but it was dinner time and I was too hungry to mess with taking photos!

So that’s my shocking twist and seitan recipe. It was so quick and easy, I can barely call this a recipe, but it was too tasty not to share. Have you ever tried seitan ? Are there any other part-time or full-time meatless eaters out there?

Easter Dessert Ideas

2012-04-03T08:32:00.000-04:00

I don’t know how Easter manages to sneak up on me every year, but somehow it does. Easter is in just a few days so I’ve been thinking of some Easter desserts I could make, as I do every year. But first, a look at some of the spring and Easter desserts I’ve made in the past:

Easter Bunny Cupcakes: These were a hit when I made them last year.

My sister’s Easter Bunny Cupcakes which inspired the ones I made above.

Edible Fruit Arrangement Bouquet: I originally made this for Mother’s Day, but think it would be a perfect Easter dessert too.

Those cute little bunny cupcakes are going to be hard to top this year, so I’ve been on the hunt for some new cute Easter dessert ideas.

The pretty flower is actually edible and made from pineapple!

(source: duitang.com)

These carrot cupcakes are decorated with M&Ms.
Looks tasty and not too complicated to make.

(source: Squidoo.com)

Instead of cupcakes, I love these adorable Easter bunny cream puffs.

(source LandOLakes.com)

Although these Carrot and Zucchini bars aren’t “Easter shaped”
they sound like a delicious Spring dessert.

(source RealMomKitchen.com)

I just love making holiday desserts. Can you guess which one of the above desserts I’m thinking about making for this Easter? Do you have any Easter desserts planned for this year?

My Dream House

2012-04-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

I’ve got some bad news. I did NOT win the $640 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot on Friday. Total bummer. Even though I didn’t win, I had some fun waiting for my winning numbers to be drawn and dreaming about what I would do with all that moolah (besides my initial act of rolling in it and throwing it into the air to make it rain, gangsta style). Of course I would give a ton of money away to my family, friends, charities, and travel around the world, but I also fantasized about what my dream house would look like.

I’m thinking I’d want my dream house to be on a tropical beach somewhere with a big wrap around porch and some swinging or rocking chairs to enjoy the view.

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I’d love to have a big bright kitchen with white cabinets, a huge island, and lots of windows.

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And since this is my dream kitchen, it needs a big butlers pantry where I could prep and store food so it would be out of the way while entertaining in the kitchen (even in my wildest dreams I think practically)
.

via

I’d love to wake up and go to bed to the sound of the ocean, so I dream of a bedroom with a big balcony with sweeping views. And maybe it would have a window seat where I could look out and count my lucky stars too.

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Since my dream house is in a beautiful tropical place, I think it needs an outdoor shower and bath.

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And of course the dream house needs some entertainment space. How about an outdoor movie theatre (although my practical self wonders how to enjoy a movie while avoiding mosquitos and other critters- my dream house would have to be in a bug free zone).

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I’d want to stay active, so basketball and tennis courts in the backyard would be amazing. I know they’d be on my hubby’s dream list too.

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And I wouldn’t want to give up gardening. I think I’d like a big garden where I could grow flowers and my own fruits and veggies.

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And chickens. I’ve always wanted to raise my own egg laying hens.

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Of course, no dream home would be complete without a pool in the backyard. I think I’d want one with palm trees and a waterfall. Who am I kidding, it would need to have a water slide too.

via

Ah, it’s nice to dream isn’t it? So I didn’t win the lottery, but it was fun to find photos of these amazing homes. What would your dream home look like if you won the lottery? Would it be on a beach like mine?

Flowering Trees & Scary Bees

2012-03-30T17:36:00.001-04:00

Since planting trees in our backyard last May, I’ve been looking forward to when they’d flower this spring. Our trees, a semi-dwarf peach tree and flowering Cleveland pear tree, have grown a lot since we planted them last year and are still small, but they are flowering and beautiful right now!

I was taking these photos when I heard a buzzing above my head. It was a fuzzy bumblebee!

Someone told me that the fuzzy bees don’t sting, but I don’t think that’s true. I was risky and got close to the bee but would jump back every time it moved to fly to another flower. My neighbors must have thought I was nuts as I was twisting and turning to get out of the bee’s way while I snapped photos. I was ducking all over the place and even stepped in dog poop as I was trying to avoid the sucker!

The pear tree is flowering too and thankfully I didn’t have anymore brushes with wildlife while trying to photograph it.

Spring is such a beautiful time of year! I could do without the insect encounters though. Are trees blooming in your neck of the woods?

Nautical Map Pillow

2012-03-26T08:42:00.000-04:00

I may have gone a little pillow crazy again. In addition to fabric pillows I showed you guys recently, I’ve made a few unusual pillows in the past: a tea towel pillow, argyle sweater pillow, and placemat pillows. Well call me crazy, but I’ve made another placemat pillow.

I just couldn’t help myself when I saw this nautical print placemat for under $1 at the Christmas Tree Shops.

But it gets even better, the other side of the placemat has this great antique looking nautical map.

How awesome is that map! So I simply unstitched a portion of the pillow and filled it with polyester fiberfill (bought at AC Moore- with a coupon of course). I sewed this bad boy back up and in a matter of minutes I had this amazing nautical antique map pillow.

Doesn’t it look fantastic? I love nautical and beach themed stuff, so this print is right up my alley.

I can’t wait to put out my summer décor, l think this pillow will look great along with it.

The other side of the pillow looks nice too and has a fun nautical look.

I’m really happy with how this pillow turned out. I find so much great stuff at the Christmas Tree Shops. Do you have a favorite store for home décor goodies?

I'm linking this project up to Tatertots & Jello, Beneath My Heart, 320 Sycamore, House of Hepworths, Delightful Order, Embracing Change, Rad Crafter, and Thistlewood Farms.

Outdoor Project Inspiration

2012-03-22T08:51:00.000-04:00

I’ve been feeling a little sick…I think I come down with a case of spring fever! The unusually warm weather we’ve been having (it’s supposed to get as high as 80 degrees today or tomorrow- in March!) has gotten me in the mood for gardening and other outdoor projects. You know I love summer time, so a taste of summer like weather in March gets me very excited! I’ve already been looking up gardening and outdoor projects I can try this year.

Here are a few of the inspiration projects I’ve come across online:

Flower Pots on each Step (from Garden Fresh Living)

Tiered Colorful House Number Planters (from Positively Splendid)

Moss Graffiti (from I Waste So Much Time)

Stone Paver Outdoor Bench (from Pinterest)

Gutter Rain Chain (from Curbly)

You might see me trying out some of these ideas this spring. Have you caught a case of spring fever too? What projects have caught your eye?

Spring Already?

2012-03-19T07:48:00.000-04:00

Usually about this time of year I start complaining about how winter won’t end. But this year, I’m elated that it feels like spring already! We had gorgeous 70 degree weather all weekend in these parts and it felt like a beautiful start to spring. In the past, we’ve had snow in March so its hard to believe that 70 degree weather is already here. But I’m not complaining!

Even some spring bulbs are already in bloom, weeks ahead of schedule. The daffodils are out in full force.

And so are the hyacinth. I wish I could cut a bouquet of these for each one of you because they smell absolutely heavenly. I stop and smell the flowers every time I pass by them.

By comparison, about this time this year (even a little later), my hyacinths had only just popped up and were not blooming yet. I’m not sure what’s going on with this wacky-nice weather, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. We hit our garden this weekend and started cleaning up our front and backyards. I’ve already bought the seeds I’d like to plant for this year and am excited to get started with them.

Were you lucky enough to experience spring-like weather this weekend too?

Fun Paint Color Selection Tool

2012-03-16T14:57:00.001-04:00

I am excited to share a new paint color selection tool today! Believe it or not, there is actually a tool out there that makes choosing paint colors fun and easy! Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself and prepare to be amazed.

The awesome people at Glidden Paints have come up with a tool called My Image Inspiration which lets you upload a photo of your choice, and they will recommend paint colors for you based on the colors from your image. How cool is that!

I tried it for myself by uploading this photo I took in Bermuda. As you may know, Bermuda is pretty much my favorite place on Earth!

I think Bermuda is gorgeous, so how great would it be to choose a paint color inspired by my very favorite place! I uploaded this photo into the My Image Inspiration tool on the MyColortopia website and selected the area of the photo I wanted to draw color inspiration from. The tool gave me five paint colors based on my photo and from there was able to click on each color for a suggested color pallet.

And you know how I can tell the tool works well? I uploaded a photo of Bermuda, and one of the paint colors the tool suggested was called “Bermuda Bay!” It was right on the money!

The tool was so much fun, I tried it with another photo too. You know how much I love to travel, so I chose a photo from our vacation to Europe last year. I got a kick out of this old woman doll/statue that was outside of a little shop in Corsica.

I uploaded the photo to the My Image Inspiration tool and let it do its magic.

This image gave me a selection of warm colors to choose from. I selected “Sweet Tea” and the tool recommended three different color pallets. I especially like the middle one. How cool would it be to show people that your home’s paint colors where inspired by your favorite place.

You can check out the My Image Inspiration tool for yourself on Glidden’s MyColortopia website. The website actually has a lot of great other features too, like the fun color quiz I shared recently, as well as lots of really great articles from some amazing bloggers who are even answering questions submitted by readers! Check out the MyColortopia site for that great info.

Note: I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

DIY Photo Coasters

2012-03-14T10:05:00.001-04:00

It’s Pinterest Challenge time! The Pinterest Challenge was thought up by Katie and Sherry to inspire us to actually MAKE something that we Pin on Pinterest- you know, instead of just pinning a bunch of stuff and letting it sit there.

Somehow my Pinterest challenges unintentionally end up being travel related. For the first one, I made a map photo frame and for the second one I made an entire travel themed photo gallery wall. Unintentionally, I stuck with the travel theme for this latest challenge and made photo coasters from vintage Jersey shore photos.

I was inspired from seeing these travel coasters on Pinterest (shared on House of Turquoise, but originally from Better Homes & Gardens).

A while back, a friend gave us glass photo coasters from Target. They came with a photo of some rocks, but the photo is removable so you can insert a pic of your choice.

Since we love the beach so much, I though it would be fun to use some vintage images of the New Jersey shore. So I went online and searched for a bunch of free vintage images of some of our favorite Jersey shore spots. I really love vintage travel stuff so this is right up my alley.

After I printed a bunch of old images out, I used the rock photo as a guide to see which images could be cropped to the right size to fit in the opening for the photo. I chose three images from three of our favorite places at the Jersey shore, beaches that are particularly special to us because we went there while we were dating (Cape May, Wildwood, and Atlantic City, New Jersey). The fourth image is a general New Jersey Seashore vintage picture.

After the pictures were cut to size, they were easy to pop right in the back of the coaster. The coasters are made to also double as mini-photo frames so I could even stand them up, but I prefer them in coaster format.

I added the coasters to my living room side table and think they add a little cheer and fun.

We like pretty much anything that reminds us of the beach, so these are the perfect fit for us.

Is it summer yet? These are making me want to drive right down to the beach! I even had a dream I was at the shore last night, so these coasters and beach season must really be on my mind!

If you want to check out my other travel themed Pinterest projects, click on the images below:

And make sure you visit all of the other Pinterest challenge projects posted on Young House Love, Bower Power, Hi SugarPlum, and The Great Indoors! Have you made any projects that were Pinterest inspired?

I'm also linking up to House of Hepworths and Delightful Order.

Easy Trick to Grow Green Onions

2012-03-12T07:50:00.000-04:00

Oh Pinterest, you are so very wise. You have taught me so much, including how to grow my own green onions. I saw this pin on Pinterest which said you could take your used green onions from the supermarket and regrow them yourself. Since we regularly buy green onions (aka scallions) I had to try it out myself.

I had a few green onions laying around in the fridge. To be honest, they were there for sometime and probably not so fresh, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

I cut off the green part of the scallions down to the white section and just put the cut pieces into a small jar of water. I added just enough water to cover the creepy looking roots and placed it on my kitchen table which receives some indirect sunlight during the day.

Five days later (I counted) I was already seeing some green onion growth!

I was surprised the scallions were growing past the top of the jar in under a week.

As the green onions grew, I replaced the water several times whenever it started looking a little cloudy. I also made sure the water was covering the white section of the green onions at all times. A couple of weeks later I was really in business, the green onions were much bigger and ready to be eaten!

When you need some scallions, just snip off the green part and use it as you wish, they will continue to grow back again and again! The scallions would have been even bigger in the above photo, but I had already snipped them a few time for my consumption (I sprinkle some over nachos…so good!)

I only started with 4 green onions, but I plan on buying some more from the store and using this technique on them so I won’t have to use them so sparingly. I haven’t experimented with adding more or less sunshine, but I might try some more sunlight next. I’m sure you could also plant these in the ground, but I haven’t given that a go and am not sure if it would have the same never-ending effect. Anyone know?

What other tips and tricks have you come across on Pinterest? (P.S. You can find my Pinterest boards and follow me here!)

All Locked Up (Plus a Giveaway!)

2012-03-09T22:07:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, I shared the new Kwikset SmartKey Deadbolt that I purchased. Home security is very important of course, so I was happy to install a new deadbolt with top of the line safety features.

It was pretty easy to install this new lock. First I unscrewed two screws from the back of our existing deadbolt.

Here’s an important tip, make sure your deadbolt is in the unlocked position before unscrewing the front and back covers. Trust me on this! Otherwise you will spend a few minutes trapped in your own house trying to figure out how to open that deadbolt! Once that little mishap was over, the back and front covers of the old lock were easily removed.

Then I removed the plate that was holding the old deadbolt in place, which allowed it to pop right off.

Once the old lock was removed, I started to install the new lock. It went on in reverse order from how I removed it. Make sure to measure the width of the hole in the door, as there were some additional pieces included in the lock that were dependent on the size of the hole in the door.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the installation steps because the instructions that came with the lock were pretty clear to read. Certain parts even had instructions attached right to them.

The only tricky part was aligning the holes on the back and front of the lock and running long screws through them. That took me a few tries, but I always have a problem with that part of the installation even when I work on interior doors.

Now, I’m happy to say I have a top of the line lock protecting my door and my household (including that cute little pup who watched his Mommy the entire time she was installing the lock).

I think I’ll sleep a little better knowing my place is locked up like Fort Knox and even Chuck Norris couldn’t get past my front door! (Now I just need a fresh coat of paint on the door, my paint is pretty yucky).

If you’re interested in getting one of these locks for yourself, you’re in luck! Kwikset and Home Depot are sponsoring a $50 gift card giveaway to the Home Depot! All you have to do is leave a comment on my giveaway announcement post here.

What's Dry and Old and in my Vase?

2012-03-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

I love getting fresh flowers, but I’m always disappointed when it’s time to throw them out. So I decided to keep my Valentine’s Day flowers a little longer than usual this year.

I sadly had to toss the roses when they got too old, but the baby’s breath stuck around.

I simply put the dried baby’s breath into a little milk vase. It add a little touch of spring I think.

What do you think? Do you display any dried flowers?

P.S. Want to see what that lamp used to look like? Check out my lamp makeover here.

P.P.S Want to win $50 to Home Depot??? Check out the giveaway I have going on now, over here.