My Everyday Exceptional

Updated Dining Room

2013-08-05T22:27:00.001-04:00

It has been a really, really long time since I have posted anything. I have continued to make progress on the house but it is little by little. One thing that I did that I have loved so far are my no sew curtains in the dining room. I also moved a glass book case in there which I like. Rudy and I are loving this house so much! It has been the best move for our family.

This is what it looked like when we first moved in so I feel like we have made major strides!

~ Sarah

Contest Extended! Two more days to win!

2013-06-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to enter the contest...a great party package is up for grabs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~ Sarah

Party In A Box Giveaway from Quite the Occasion!

2013-06-15T22:18:00.001-04:00

Don't forget to enter QTO's awesome contest to win some adorable custom party decorations and supplies!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope your week is off to a great start!

~ Sarah

Party In A Box Giveaway!

2013-06-14T08:26:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday!

Having a party soon? Be sure to enter our Quite The Occasion Party In a Box Giveaway!

From custom cupcake toppers, buntings and more - lots of great things to make your party super easy to plan!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a great weekend!

Sarah

Improvements!

2013-06-04T21:26:00.000-04:00

Rudy and I have been doing a lot on the house...I just have been slack about posting anything. And really nothing is complete so it still feels like we have a long way to go.

Here is what the dining area looked like when we first moved in. I hated that corner cabinet! And now it sits in our garage thank goodness!

Here is what the area looks like without the corner cabinet and our new table. Rudy refinished it and it looks great!

Update #2 - our sad little mailbox got a face lift thanks to ORB - oil rubbed bronze spray paint! I just need something to put over the hole on the front. I would love an "H" but just need to find one.

Next up is our new sofa and rug in the den. I love how the room feels so much lighter! Paint, gallery wall around TV, art over the mantel, refurbishing the coffee table and desk chair and styling the bookcases to come with time.

I was going to paint this coffee table but I think I will try sanding and staining it instead...just need to convince my husband of this!

Since we got our new sofa in the den, I was able to put the living room back together...not totally finished but getting there!

And our dear skater boy in the nursery is gone! And the walls painted a pretty shade of blue that can go either way for a boy or a girl. I love that we did a surprise this time!

Thank you to my sweet sister for coming to paint! Love you Claudia!

And this was a neat upgrade in the bathroom. I took the old cabinet doors from the den and made a "window" in the master bath.

The patio off of our bathroom is one of my favorite spaces. I added an herb garden, the beginnings of an arbor and overall a cozy feeling.

Eventually this jasmine vine will grow over the grapevine. It smells so good!

I have also done a few more things that I will take photos of later. We are loving this house!

Hope you are having a great week!

~ Sarah

I will...

2013-06-04T08:44:00.002-04:00

Take photos tonight of the progress on my house. I have made some!

New sofa in den!
New rug in den!
Corner cabinet gone and dining area semi-staged!
Living room semi-staged!
Nursery Painted! Thank you to my sweet sister!
Mailbox Painted!

In the meantime I am trying to figure out how to do something like this around my TV without totally overwhelming the room...

This is from www.beautifulmatters.com. This room doesn't have a big fireplace like I do so I am not sure. Click the photo to go right to the post.

Hope you guys are well!

~ Sarah

Old School CHEAP Stain Remover

2013-05-08T11:25:00.002-04:00

Fels-Naptha. Which is this cute old-timey bar of soap that you probably totally walk by at the store.

I have removed motor grease, grass, unknown random stains on Reed's clothes and more.

Look at this old ad from the Ladies Home Journal...oh how things have changed.

I discovered it when I made the Duggars laundry detergent which I love by the way. I decided to try it to save money and I figured we didn't need all those chemicals on us anyway. Here is the recipe on a blog I found. I made the dry version where I shredded the soap and mixed all of the dry ingredients together.

This is what it looks like shredded.

For stains I put the soiled garments to soak in warm water with a bit of the detergent. I let it soak until the fels-naptha bits are soft. For tough stains I let it soak for a few hours. Then I take the bits of soap and wash the stained areas by scrubbing the fabric with itself. AND THE STAINS JUST COME OFF.

Amazing. I am the worst laundress so finding this soap that is so incredibly cheap was great.

I will at some point take more pictures of our house. However I refuse to put any messy photos on here. As soon as I have a moment to get things cleaned up, I will snap a few. The kitchen table Rudy stained is gorgeous!

Have a good one!

Sarah

Little updates - Gallery Wall, Room Arranging and Cabinet Removal

2013-04-23T08:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday!

I have made some little updates to the house. Sorry for the bad pictures...

1. Finalized furniture layout in the den...for now anyway! The TV is going to go above those IKEA bookshelves. At some point we will get something better but for now those will hold the kids toys and are very functional. I cannot wait until this room is painted and we have our new sofa and chair recovered. So blah now! The new rug came yesterday! I can't wait to put it down!

2. Rudy removed the doors on the bookshelf to the right of the fireplace. I like how it opens it up. You can see what it used to look like below.

3. Rudy removed the corner cabinet! It is awesome the difference it makes! The room is balanced again, it feels roomier and calmer visually. Some might think I am nuts for wanting it out so badly but that was the first thing I saw in the pictures of the house online that just looked wrong to me. And it was such a small cabinet that it really didn't hold very much.

So here is the empty space. The bottom is what we had before. Rudy still has some work to do to clean up the vent.

4. I added a gallery wall in the back hallway. There is a blank spot on the bottom left. That is going to be for the new little babies footprints. :)

I cannot wait until I feel more settled in this house! Little by little!

Have a good one!

~ Sarah

Funny Thing About Attic Fans

2013-04-18T13:54:00.002-04:00

Overall they are awesome. Our new house has one and we turned it on the other night and it really cooled the house down especially since we opened several windows. A few minutes of that and there was no reason to turn on the AC. It was just lovely.

BUT important. If you turn on your attic fan, be sure to close the flu on your fireplace. The draft was so strong that it pulled air down the chimney which pulled out ashes all over the house! That tells you how crazy our weather has been - one week we are building a fire and the next possibly needing AC!

Pictures of some progress (with all the ashes mopped up!) coming soon!

Sarah

New Rug For Our Den!

2013-04-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

I know I sent you some ideas for our den...of course they have changed since I am now in the house. I wanted the gray ektorp sofa from IKEA but the fireplace has so many warm tones that I am going to go with the beige one instead. I know some people paint brick but I just can't bring myself to paint this hearth. Rudy loves it and the brick is really pretty.

The rug I picked is the Cadiz from Home Decorators. I purchased the 6'7'' x 9'6'' for around $220. it was on sale and there was free shipping. It is the bottom one in this photo.

It is a synthetic rug and can be used in or out so can withstand lots of wear and tear. I can't until it arrives! Then I can determine the wall color and other elements of the room!

Our House! The beforest of the before photos...

2013-04-14T21:09:00.000-04:00

So this is pretty much how we have been living for the last week. I did finish two rooms today and a hallway which I will show you later. I had to stop to take photos so it would make my "after-ish" photos look better.

Overall Rudy and I are overjoyed to be in this house. I am expecting again and this has the room we need for our growing family now and for the long haul. From pre-school to college...we should be set!

Alright so on with the tour:

Here is the front porch after we moved in with our flowers. The owner came and took those large planters today.

The front needs some upgrades like dark shutters, new wooden storm door, new mailbox to replace this lovely thing and a new light fixture.

We will probably paint the front door but not sure on colors yet.

The front foyer...the light fixture has got to go! Wow!

Living room. Amazing how much more light there was just by taking down the heavy drapes the former owners had.

Dining area - I want to remove that side cabinet. It sticks out like a sore thumb to me and it really doesn't hold much.

The dining and kitchen used to be separate but the former owners opened it all up which is nice.

off of the kitchen is the family room. Lots of potential here!

We loved the fireplace! We had a fire here the very first night.

Scary old hallway off of the den that takes you to the bedrooms. If you go left you are back in the foyer. Just to the right is the first hall bath.

This is the first bathroom and one of the three spaces that is done! I need bath rugs but other than that it is finished.

The first bedroom is the guest room. Do you like the orange walls?

Next you would come to Reed's room but he was napping when I was taking these pictures so I skipped it. That room has turquoise walls!

Okay then you hook a right and here is the second hallway. This space used to be the master bedroom. The doors you see where closets in the master and the master bath. They took this space and made it into a hallway, hall bath and small bedroom. Then they added on the master suite in the very back of the house.

This is the former master bath which was upgraded nicely. I have to keep my toliet paper on the sink so Reed doesn't get to it!

Here is the small bedroom I mentioned. Not only are the walls red and gray but yes, that is a big skater dude you are looking at. Their son was really into skating...that along with the wallpaper will be fun to remove!

There is a nice closet system in this room.

Here is the master bedroom they added. We love it! I told Rudy I feel like we are sleeping in a hotel!

It has a deck off of the back which connects to the back patio.

Here is the master bathroom. I was sold on the tub!

Here is the back patio. That covering is TERRIBLE! I cannot wait to figure out what to do instead. Obviously at this time of day it doesn't even provide shade over the entire patio. We are going to leave it this year so we can see what it is like in the summer. I have a feeling heat is just going to be trapped under it.

Here is the garage. Two hours before I typed this up our garage door totally busted and is currently lopsided and unable to close. Comedy of errors! Hopefully we can have someone look at it tomorrow!

There are steps to the right that lead back to the laundry room and kitchen.

There is a closet off of the laundry room which definitely could be used more effectively.

So it has been fun getting settled and we still have a long way to go. Can't wait to share the progress...and have progress to share!

~Sarah

We're In!

2013-04-10T13:40:00.002-04:00

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by faithfully everyday when there is nothing new to read! Thank you! I have been up to my ears in unpacking, running after Reed and cleaning that I haven't had time to post.

By the end of the week I am going to get you pictures of the house which will the beforest of the before pictures in the world. I have made some progress though. Seeing the house empty without the former owners stuff in it was huge. Taking out the tacky window treatments was even better. There is actually light in the living room now! And putting plants that were alive in the front wasn't half bad either.

So anyway...stay tuned for pictures of the new house and my laundry list of things I want to do.

Hope your week is going well and that your back doesn't hurt like mine!

~ Sarah

Getting Negative Energy Out Of A House

2013-04-03T09:48:00.000-04:00

Our new house!

Okay so this is sort of a weird post...but I just had to look into this. The house we are buying is great. But sadly we have learned that the couple that lived there is going through a divorce and a messy one at that. We know waaaaaay to much about this couple and what the last few years of their marriage has been like. Let's just say their realtor did not take confidentiality seriously as he was representing them.

And I have met them several times. They were there when we first toured the house, the second time touring the house and the inspection. Which didn't bother me at all. Actually I thought it might work in our favor when we wanted them to accept our offer. Thought they might want to sell to a young family starting out.

But I digress.

So I just sort of feel like it is still there house. And that their issues could still be lingering. Is that weird? So I did some research.

How to clense your home of negative energy compliments of yahoo:

1. Set out small bowls of vinegar in every room of your house. Use white vinegar in the bathrooms and apple cider vinegar in the bedrooms, home office, living room, dining room, kitchen, garage, attic and basement. Keep the bowls away from children and pets. Let it sit out over night or for at least 6 hours.

2. Make or buy a bundle of dried sage or sweet grass. It needs to be at least 6 inches long. Light the bundle on fire and then blow out the flames. Let the smoke cover everything in your house, including closets and doorways. Use a bowl or flat sea shell to catch the ashes as you walk around. When you're finished leave the windows open for a few hours. One site said to chant this while burning it "I see only pure reflected light, I am ridding this home of all bad luck and negative energy. O Blessed Be"

3. Leave a bowl of water outside in the sun for 3 hours. It needs to be in full sunlight, the more the better. Take a bundle of fresh basil leaves (any kind will do) and use to sprinkle the water on your window sills, doorways (all of them), fire place and anywhere else you would like.

4. Hang sachets of herbs in your house where there is heavy traffic to prevent negative energy from accumulating. A few suggestions are cloves, dill, dragon's blood, lavender, violet, thyme, bay leaf, chamomile, cinnamon, cedar, pine, eucalyptus, myrrh and frankincense. You can also use these in your drawers and closets to make them smell good.

5. Vinegar can be used to erase negative energy. Letting it sit out is one way but you can also clean with it and have the same effect. Use one part vinegar to three parts water. Clean your floors, walls, windows and surfaces.

6. Leave out bowls of sea salt which neutralize negative energy. You can use the salt in a vase and then add some pretty flowers. The salt will help them stand up and look like a nice floral arrangement. You can also mix in some dried herbs or pebbles. Change the salt once a month. Discard of the salt by throwing it outside in a place where children or pets cannot consume it.

We can't wait to move in to our new home! Tonight is the last night in our current house, tomorrow is moving day!

Hope you are having a good week!

~ Sarah

Area Rug Idea

2013-03-28T14:14:00.000-04:00

I was looking at my friend Bryn's blog who was featuring rooms with darker trim when I saw this living room arrangement with the double rugs.

It was one of those moments where you are like "ohhhhhhhhhhh" I could do that!

I have a very beat up small oriental rug that I love. But it is small. This would be the perfect way to use it. All I would need is an inexpensive sisel rug. I like how it is something not so expected you know?

Can't wait to get in this new house and start putting together my ideas!

~ Sarah

Artist Feature: Laura Wooten

2013-03-26T09:42:00.000-04:00

hi!

I have a cold. I am super stressed about this house situation. And my cough drops are running out. What is a girl to do? Be inspired by art of course! I found this artist when searching for an image for flashlight tag for my Flashlight Tag post over at QTO. Here is the image I found:

So cool right? I looked up the site and found the coolest project by an artist Laura Wooten who was a Brooklyn city girl and now living in the suburbs in Orange, VA. Basically for the year of 2012 she took all of her little drawings and sketches throughout the week and collaged them into a 12x12 piece using paint and other mediums. All the pieces will hang together as one piece to reflect her life in the suburbs. One is called Flu Season, one is called Christmas Tree, out of town visitors, Balloon Ride and Homework. I love this one called Out Of Town Visitors.

This one is entitled Friendship:

And then this piece - Flashlight Tag - which led me to this awesome artist in the first place.

I mentioned that this was inspiration for me. I think these kinds of pieces would make wonderful illustrations for a children's story book. I have had an idea for a children's book that I have mulled over for years. One time I started writing down the words but didn't get very far. Hmmm...now that I have some images in mind, maybe the project will come to fruition? One day???

You can find all about Laura's project on her blog here: http://blog.laurawooten.com/. If you live near Orange, VA - check out her exhibit!

~ Sarah

The Latest...

2013-03-24T11:34:00.001-04:00

So apparently with the new lending regulations and how cautious banks are these days (I sincerely thank them for that BTW), many homes are not appraising for as much as they are listed for or for as much as the buyer and seller settled on. This is what has happened to us. Shocker...we are not cash buyers, we are getting a mortgage like most everyone else so when the appraisal came in at 15K lower than our settled price, we found ourselves in another pickle. We couldn't get the loan unless it was for the lower amount. We should know by Tuesday if they are going to take this lower offer. It will certainly be a win for us but is really stressful! That is just one week from the day we close on our house! And just 9 days from when we are scheduled to move in to this new house!

So we didn't do the inspection so I have no pictures to show you.

Ah! The drama!

On other good news, I realized I hadn't claimed any of my flexible spending account money for childcare...which now means I have found the funds to pay for the new furniture I want for the family room!

Now, let's just get this house already!

~ Sarah

Painted Ceilings With Beams

2013-03-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

One of the things I am most excited about in our new house is the den which has a great fireplace and beams in the ceiling. Right now the room is white - walls, ceiling, woodwork and beams.

This picture is from MLS. We have our inspection tomorrow so I hope to get lots and lots of "before" pictures of the house.

I found these pictures online which are exactly the color I think I am painting the room. A soft pale gray.

www.theflippingcouple.com

www.artisanspecialties.com

What I would love to do is paint the ceiling a few shades lighter than the wall in the same color. I am so excited about all the fun things we can do with this house! I know we won't be able to do it all at once but still fun to dream!

Hope you are having a good day!

~Sarah

Diaper Woes

2013-03-19T21:06:00.000-04:00

Eeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrch! We stop the house dreaming and excitement to talk a bit about cloth diapers. I bought the bumgenius Freetime diapers and loved them at first. Now not so much. Try as I might I cannot get the stains out of them or get them completely clean. The weird thing is that they are the exact same fabric as my BG 4.0s but those are completely stain free.

Anyone have luck in getting stains out? If I can't find a solution I am ditching them! I did contact Bumgenius so maybe they will have some suggestions for me. Right now they are sitting in bleach.

Sarah

Brick Exterior Color Scheme Ideas

2013-03-17T17:36:00.001-04:00

Brick homes with dark roofs are easy to me...meaning dark shutters and then a fun accent door in almost any color you want. I see them all over town and they look great! But when you have a house like the one we are buying (everything worked out with our buyer so we are moving forward on our new house! Praying nothing major comes up in the inspection!) it leaves you with a bit of a condundrum.

Our house has an orange toned brick and a very light brown roof. I am not wild about the white shutters at all so I have been thinking about what to do.

The first idea I came up with isvery dark blue shutters and a red door.

I also paired the same shutters with a gold door. This was from advice from the Behr website.

I also paired the yellow door with dark green shutters. I don't like this as much in the picture but I think it is because I didn't go dark enough with the green.

I am going to take lots more pictures of the house at our inspection next week. What color scheme do you lean towards?

WE GOT THE HOUSE! Den dreaming...

2013-03-08T08:49:00.002-05:00

So excited to share that we got the house! BUT everything has to go through with our inspection and of course we need to do an inspection at the new house too. Selling and buying at the same time is an agonizing process. The first time I was only buying so I didn't feel the pressure as much. I know this will all work out but man, I am on pins and needles!

I have been thinking of what I might want to do in the new den...because you know that is much more fun that worrying about the inspection! here are somethings I am thinking...

1. Charcoal gray comfy sofa. This is the Ektorp from IKEA. Only $699 but I am still looking. Thought the gray would be forgiving on lots of lounging and little hands.

2. New Rug: This is the mystic wool rug from home decorators. I have loved my brown rug in my current living room from them.

3. New club chair or recovering the one I have in a fabric kind of like this. This is the santa fe classic indigo from Calico Corners. So basically deinm. :) Is denim out? Again thinking this would be forgiving?

4. And then accent in colors in some kind of oranges like this:

I would like to find one with some gray in it too but you get the idea. These are also fabrics from Calico Corners from their orange collection. I really like complimentary color schemes...and anyone that knows me knows I am not a huge sports fan but there is something about blue and orange that reminds me of UVA, which my whole family loves and my Dad's alma mater that makes me smile. Kind of like a little bit of home without hanging the pennant over the fireplace.

I love looking at Calico Corners for inspiration and then I go to Mary Jo's in Gastonia to actually make my purchases. Waaaaaaaay cheaper and usually has similar things!

But again...we have to get through all of this inspection stuff...April 4th can't get here soon enough!

Come On St. Joseph...

2013-02-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Work your magic because we have found a house we LOVE!

Now it needs classing up a bit but it has so many great features...updated kitchen, bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, all hardwoods, storage out the wazoo, 2 car garage, big yard, etc. etc.

Wouldn't the beams in this room be so cool in a different color? And the picture doesn't really show it but the fireplace is super cool.

We are making a contingency offer today and so hopeful that they take it! March 15th is the magic day when our buyer's due diligence is up. If we can make it to that then we are 99% going to close.

Again just putting trust into God that he will do what is best for our family...and I know it will all work out no matter what but I really hope this house is part of the plan!

~ Sarah

Butternut Squash and Spinach Ravioli With Won Tons

2013-02-26T11:06:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Rudy and I got to visit with Rudy's sister, cousin and Aunt. We love seeing family...even nicer when they come to us!

On Saturday night I made a yummy ravioli dish for everyone. It was time consuming but fairly easy. Here is the recipe and the how to if you are craving a yummy vegetarian dish.

Ingredients:

1 package of won ton wrappers
1 container of fresh cut butter nut squash
4 cups fresh spinach, stems removed
1 small jar of pesto
walnuts, toasted
olive oil
shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten

Instructions:
Steam butternut squash and spinach until tender, and mix with 1/4 of the jar of pesto and salt and pepper to taste. You can add a bit of cheese in too if you are a cheese fan! Take the remaining pesto and add olive oil and a bit of water to create more of a "sauce". Stuff each won ton wrapper with a small amount of the mashed mixutre and seal with egg by folding the won ton over and pressing the sides down.

Then place the ravioli into boiling water and boil until the rise to the top - about 3 minutes. Place on plates and top with pesto sauce, roasted nuts and a bit of parmesan cheese.

It was so good! And very light!

St. Joseph WORKS

2013-02-22T15:10:00.002-05:00

Have you heard of this? I had and since there is a home that we really, really, really like I wanted to do everything I could to get our house sold. So I am not kidding in that I went and purchased this on Wednesday, buried him in the yard at 4:30 PM and received an offer on our house yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.

I am serious y'all. Now the kit clearly states that you need to properly clean, stage and price your home but still! I am impressed. I just need to keep trusting that what is the best for our family will happen.

Fingers crossed! Stay tuned!

~ Sarah

Staging a Kitchen to Sell

2013-02-20T09:37:00.001-05:00

So this is what my kitchen did look like...remember?

Now that I have purged, I am wondering why the heck I had all that junk everywhere!

Here is what it looks like now with the addition of new stainless steel appliances.

Much, much better!

In a Whirlwind

2013-02-19T09:59:00.001-05:00

So the last few weeks of my life have included:

windexing
scrubbing
purging
organizing
mopping
sweeping
vacumming
dusting
cutting
folding
assembling
packing
repacking
flying
walking
sight-seeing
staging
decorating
lighting
creating
dancing
smiling
hugging
laughing
packing
repacking
flying again
resting
sleeping
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

Our house is on the market! And we have had a lot of showings - fingers crossed that we sell soon!

The wedding went wonderfully! Without a hitch and the bride and her family were THRILLED with Quite The Occasion's work.

The next few months should be awesome...a move, more fun QTO stuff..I can't wait!