The Hand Me Down House

Thank you, HomeGoods!!

2011-07-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we gave our living room a little revamp (oh I cannot wait to show you!!). One of the things we replaced was this rug:

The first picture of our living room with the floors installed in 2008

I actually LOVE this rug, it's so cushy and comfy on our wood floors. We got it on sale at Home Depot years ago and it has held up pretty darn well in my opinion. We were planning on keeping this rug in our living room, but it looked VERY funny and small with our new layout. We needed something much bigger than our 5x8 size.

We had kind of already looked at a couple of stores and online in case we might have to replace the rug, but we hadn't found anything we liked. On a whim we decided to stop in at HomeGoods to just see if they might have something we liked. We didn't have anything in particular in mind, just something neutral but with a pattern. And that's when we saw it.......

Please ignore the mess and just admire the beauty of the rug.....

It was chic and modern all rolled up into one glorious rug ..... seriously. I wouldn't even leave that rug's side while Kevin went to find someone to roll it up. I couldn't risk someone thinking it was as gorgeous as I did. And you know that HomeGoods is always good for a deal....and this was no exception! We ~~stole~~ bought this wool beauty for 65% off retail.

The best thing is the rug fit perfectly in the living room and it matches all the new furniture (post coming on that soon!!)

Oooh, sneak a peak of that chair!!!

Do you have a wool rug? What's the best way to clean/maintain it??

Oh Sectional!

2011-07-09T08:00:00.005-05:00

So last week I told you about the perfect little sectional we found to go in our living room .....

Since falling in love with it, I've been looking at different sectionals and their coffee tables/ottomans. Here are some that I love.....but I'm not sure what would look the best or be the most functional:

I love this ottoman (room designed by Candice Olsen), even though it's not a sectional around it, it's a pretty "square" room

I love this round coffee table with a nice square sectional...plus it looks like has drawers (courtesy of The Sweet Life Studio).

Here's another one that is kind of interesting....two small square tables side by side...hmmmm (via bassett furniture)

Maybe an ottoman with some storage inside?? (from decorpad)

Here's a more modern round coffee table (west elm)

And here is my favorite idea (just different fabric on top and make it square). I love that it's functional with storage under neath and comfy on top with a cushion and fabric:

What do you think???

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

2011-07-06T08:00:00.002-05:00

Do you remember our Master Bathroom???

It may look cute, but a couple months ago we realized we had a small leak from our upstairs master bathroom into our basement bathroom's false ceiling. Like bad homeowners we just waited for it to happen again without really inspecting the leaky area and well, it never leaked again -- until a month later when my ceiling was drenched. Yes seriously dripping with water. Wishing I had looked into our situation earlier I did what any good plumber's daughter would do and I opened up the ceiling and turned on the water upstairs. No leak.....turned on just hot....no leak.....just cold no leak.....turned on the shower head.....no leak. I was definitely getting my exercise running up and down the stairs. Finally I pointed the shower head at the back wall of the tub to see if maybe there was a leak in the caulk. Down the stairs I ran and stood underneath the open ceiling to see if I could find that leak.....and YES I did. I was completely soaked from the water pouring out from upstairs.

Long story short -- in case you chose to skip my rambling story :) Over half of all leaks in tile tubs and showers are from the grout and deteriorated caulk. So before you call your plumber out to find the drain leak, be sure to check for cracks in the grout and caulk.

So here is a picture of what our neglected tile looked like -- and what the caulk underneath the shower door looked like -- gross, I know:

And since we needed to regrout we decided to get rid of our shower door circa 1983 and upgrade. Good idea, right?

First step was to clean up that nasty caulk. I used a caulk remover tool and a plastic scraper -- it worked like a charm. It looks brand new now!! :)

While we were at Menards (currently our home away from home) picking up supplies to regrout we happened accross this door:

Sterling Shower Door in Bishop's Lace

A beauty, right??? I'm completely in love. And sealing the deal was the clearenced out price tag -- that's right for a mere $80.00 we brought home this beautiful door.

The re-grouting was honestly easier than I thought, although it did take me a Saturday afternoon to do, I'm hoping I'll NEVER have to regrout this bathtub again. :)

Ahhhh! So pretty now!

The door went in like a champ (we followed the confusing directions to a tee and didn't want to mess up, so the installation took us WAY too long).

And here is what our new master bathroom looks like.....

(Yes, we HAD to get new towels for our new door, right?).

Living Room Inspiration

2011-07-02T08:00:00.002-05:00

Since we've been looking at redoing our living room a little bit, I had to share some of the gorgeous living rooms I've seen in blog land and online -- get ready to drool:


From SoHaute Style

From House to Home

From DecorPad

http://rhynecs.tumblr.com/

From English Country Room Style

From My Home Ideas

From Mod Vintage Life

From House and Home

Sectioned Out

2011-06-29T08:40:00.001-05:00

One of the things we'd like to do in our house is get rid of our GINORMOUS oversized furniture in the living room. Although it's a super comfy set, it's just taking up WAY too much space for the amount of seating it offers. Plus my feet don't touch the ground when I sit on it -- which isn't really comfy. :)

If anyone has craigslist selling tips for us -- do tell!!

Over the past weekend we decided to go furniture shopping. Normally we do the same old Hom Furniture, Ashley Furniture walk-through (which we did this time too). But everything looked the same and so BLAH! Then we stopped in at Schniederman's Furniture, a Minnesota family owned furniture store with 5 stores in our area. I've found the furniture store I'll shop at for the rest of my life! They have gorgeous pieces! Anyhow, we had gone to look for furniture for a different spot in the house and came across this (except we'd like some green pillows to have with it):

Mirage Chocolate Sectional by Fusion

It looks even better in person -- but OH MY! I LOVE this! And it's comfortable too! Could a couch be any better than that? And we found a bright fun chair to go with our new found love:

Lane Furniture Julia High Leg Recliner

The one we like comes in a slightly different pattern (Kevin even picked out a floral pattern!), but it's the same chair.....which is also a recliner! These pieces actually allow the same (maybe even more) seating in our living room and they're much smaller so I can put other furniture pieces in the room too! WIN-WIN!

What do you think? Personally, I'm a fan of white couches -- but let's just say in our house it would not be a wise decision. :)

Getting my mojo back....

2011-06-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

If you noticed that I've been on hiatus from blogging for the past weeks (that turned into months).....then let me tell you I'm on my way back! :)

I'm sure you all know how sometimes life just takes a little twist and we have give up some of the things that we love doing to take care of the tasks, work and chores that really matter. The last few months have been very busy, but we've recently gotten back into a few little projects that I'll be sharing over the next few weeks. It's sure nice to be back to improving our home -- and I'm SO excited to keep blogging about it! :) What fun!

And thanks to Pinterest I've been coming up with lots of great ideas on decor and projects too -- LOVE that site! It's like blog-hopping on speed! (click here to join me there).

I'm so grateful for all my fantastic followers and subscribers that have stuck around while I get back into the swing of things -- I've enjoyed reading all your comments and catching up on your blogs too! :)

Linking up to:

Mondays:Between Naps on the Porch ; C.R.A.F.T; Craft-O-Maniac; Keeping it Simple; Mad in Crafts; Making the World Cuter; The DIY Showoff; The Girl Creative Tuesdays: All Thingz Related; House of Grace; I'm Topsy Turvy; Lucky Star Lane; Sugar Bee Craft Edition; The CSI Project; These Creative Juices; Today's Creative Blog Wednesdays: Blue Cricket Design; Creations by Kara; Debbiedoos; Domestically Speaking; My Backyard Eden; Night Owl Crafting; Seven Thirty Three; Someday Crafts; The Thrifty Home; Trendy Treehouse Thursdays: Beyond the Picket Fence; Craftastical!; Fireflies & Jellybeans; House of Hepworths; Life as Lori; Somewhat Simple; The Shabby Chic Cottage Fridays: Chic on a Shoestring; Finding Fabulous; Fingerprints on the Fridge; Frou Frou Decor; Frugal & Fabulous Design; It's a Hodge Podge Life; It's Fun to Craft!: Just a Girl; Remodelaholic; Simply Designing; The Shabby Nest; Tatertots & Jello Weekend: A Little Lovely; Be Different Act Normal; Funky Junk Interiors; House of Thrifty Decor; I Heart Naptime; Kuzak's Closet; Under the Table & Dreaming

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T09:17:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that your Valentine's Day is extra special with lots of love and fun memories!

Here's what I made for my Valentine this year. :)

It's one of our favorite ways to use over-ripe bananas at our house. It's not the most exciting recipe, but believe me, it's delicious! (You can get the recipe here ..... I sometimes substitute a 1/4 cup of applesauce for the vegetable oil. And if you're looking for some heart-shaped muffin molds, I used Wilton Silicone molds from Joanne's).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Unjunking my Junk Drawer

2011-02-02T09:54:00.001-06:00

Last week one of my F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E blogs, Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone had the most awesome series on junk drawers!

The ideas that all her guest bloggers had on revamping their junk drawers were wonderful! And they were all ideas that I could use too -- perfect combination, right!?! If you haven't seen these -- head over to her blog and check them out! You won't be disappointed -- I promise!

So after seeing how all the beautiful drawers I opened my junk drawer to assess my damage.......and yes, I will show you -- just to show you the before (can't believe I'm going to show this).........please don't run screaming from your screen.....

Yes, it's true -- my junk drawer is exactly that, a jjjjuuuuunk drawer! You can see by my little organizing baskets though that I did attempt to be organized at one time -- I promise!

The sad thing is, most of what was in this drawer didn't even belong in there. For starters, I threw away half of it's contents (still not sure how garbage ended up in my drawer that is a mere few steps from the garbage can...). We also had some medicine cabinet contents in our junk drawer -- again, not sure??

After purging, there really wasn't a whole lot left to go into my drawer......which means, I could really put some though into the contents of my drawer. I wanted to put things in there that we're using all the time and need to grab quickly.

One the items in our house that we use the most, are these:

If you don't have a little tool set for inside the house -- GET ONE! They are the best thing ever! I actually got them at one of those goofy family gift exchanges a few years ago. I didn't know then that I would absolutely LOVE these....but oh, gosh, do I ever! They save so much time by having them in the house somewhere for little things that need to get fixed in a jiffy.

Enough gushing about my teeny, tiny tool set though. The first thing I did after cleaning out the drawer was to vacuum out all the dust and corner dirt and then I laid down this shelf liner from my favorite store, Target. :)

It just dressed up my drawer a little, plus, it prevents all the contents sliding around (one of my top pet peeves).

I also purchased this cosmetic organizer at Target which works PERFECTLY in my drawer. I liked this one because it's clear and look how tall those compartment are!!?!

I needed a few smaller containers to store things like lotion, chapstick, nail clippers and one for our phone chargers. I had searched Target Boutique for quite sometime to find some cute, little organizing boxes, but no luck. :( Buuuuuuut, I found these cute little tin boxes that I had kept from my hubby's watches and wallet. This is one occasion that I'm SO glad I had the "hoarder instinct" and didn't get rid of them.....the one

occasion. :)

So into one, I loaded up lotion, chapstick, nail clippers, and a nail file. And into the other one went our phone chargers. PERFECT fit!

I also took a left over check box (I'm sure this was still in our house because of that hoarding gene I've inherited) and put in it some odds and ends that we use around the house, but not allll the time. I have in there some felt chair pads (you can never find them when you need one), some 3M wall hooks and adhesive, some touch up paint from our outdoor furniture and some appliance touch up paint.

I had a little white basket left over from the last time I overhauled my drawer and I filled it with my home repair kits, some Gorilla Glue, and some Allen Wrenches......all the things we need to do any home repair quickly and properly.

In the clear cosmetic organizer, I put our camera batteries and chargers in one compartment, gum and mints in another compartment and scissors, tape and a ruler in another compartment.

I'm SO happy how my drawer turned out -- it's SO organized! I'm so glad that I had the inspiration of my favorite bloggers to use for ideas.

Only like a million times better than where we started, right!?!

Now go check out Mrs. Brooklyn Limestone's awesome junk drawer overhaul series from last week -- you'll loooove it!

Linking up to:

Tweeeeeet!

2011-01-27T14:48:00.000-06:00

So, I L-O-V-E keeping up with allllll my bloggy pals -- and since I don't post quite as much as I used to I've been feeling so out of touch with all of you! :( BOO!

I've since discovered Twitter (yes....a little late to the game there) -- and I'm LOVING IT! Come Tweet with me so I can keep up with all you!!

@HandMeDownHouse

More Outdoor Winter Decorations

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I have another fun outside wintery-looking project for you gals today. I actually did this project for Christmas, but decided to leave it up longer because it's not too Christmasy (like my wreath).

First, I found these shiny gold vases at Target on clearance for a mere $6.49 each. Woo Hoo! You absolutely cannot beat that price. I had some ideas for these vases -- not that I don't love some brassy gold vases for my front door -- I just though a silvery tint would be a little more seasonal. :)

So I first primed these lovelies;

then I painted them with some of my brand new Krylon Stainless Steel spray paint. This stuff is AWESOME you guys -- I got it from Krylon to try out and BOY do I love this finish! It didn't run or get puddled like some spray paints do -- so it gets and A+ in my book!

I also found some branches around our property that were tall and had lots of little "fingers" on them. I painted these with some white spray paint (is there anything that doesn't look good coated in a white paint!?!) I did quite a few coats of this stuff just to make sure I could use them again next year without them getting all chippy.

I wanted some red berry-type objects to put on the ends of some of my cute white branches.

And I happened to find these wooden "beads" that I chose to cover in a layer of dark red spray paint.

What do you think of those? Ready to see them on my white branches??

And finally, I added some pine tree branches to my white-berry branches and placed them in my vases outside my door. I LOVE these! Unfortunately our driveway apron is a bit slanty so my larger vase was tipping over at first. But then enter our ridiculous amount of snow and I was able to prop it up with it.

It kind of goes with my wreath from last week, don't you think??

Linking up to:

Winter Wreath

2011-01-18T10:05:00.000-06:00

First, thank you SO much for all your super-sweet comments after my last post -- it was such a nice welcome back! :)

So waaaaay back before Christmas even, I made a winter wreath for our front door. And although I wish I didn't have to have a winter wreath up in January in February, we do live in Minnesota, and it is definitely still winter here. Brrrrr! Not to mention, we've had more snow this year than I've ever experienced in my whole life -- so yes, the winter wreath will be staying up for a few more months.

This wreath is SO fun, and SO easy (and cheap) -- you know, my favorite things!

First, I found this wreath at Goodwill for only $.99. I liked the twisted viney branches for my base -- and just took off the "Christmasy" decorations on the front. I decided to paint it white for a bit of winter elegance.

I gave it a few coats of white spray paint -- oh yes, this was definitely painted quite some time ago -- with our below zero temperatures there is just no spray painting right now :(

The next thing I did was spray paint some big pine cones. First I primed them so the paint would stay on through the cooold, coooold, months. I chose a metallic blue for these pinecones -- another fun wintery color. :)

Soooo shimmery! I love it -- the color just screams winter, right!?!

Next I glued three pine cones onto the front of the wreath with some trusty Gorilla Glue.

Finally, I found a pretty brown ribbon in my stash and tied it onto the front to hang it on the door:

I hung it on the door -- and viola!

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and cute this wreath was! I think it turned out pretty glammy from where it started, don't you think?

And the absolute BEST part was that I only spent $.99 on the actual wreath! (Although I did splurge on the blue paint which was $3.29 -- still okay though, right!?!)

Linking up to:

A New Year! (And some new changes....)

2011-01-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

First off I have to say a big fat thank you to you guys for puting up with my extended "leave" from the blogging world. I hope you haven't missed me too much. :) And another huge thank you for all the kind and concerned emails I've gotten from you wondering what's up over here at the Hand Me Down House. I really do consider all of you gals my friends -- so I 100% appreciate your concern and kind words.

My absence started out as a short break during the start of the Holidays -- but the Holidays for us means a lot of Christmas shopping, and A LOT of Christmas Get-Togethers. So I decided to stop blogging for the whole month of December. There just wasn't a lot of time to fit everything in for my family and I, let alone doing projects to the house and keeping up with my blog. But after a month long recess, I've decided I will be making some changes here for the next year.

This post is SO overdue -- I've been meaning to fill you all in sooner -- but I've really been dreading writing this. So, with that being said I will tell you I'm not quitting my blog. I would never just give it up like that. But, I will be blogging much less than my once 5 times a week schedule. I'll update you on the house as we change it and I'll certainly post any fun projects I do. But I plan to do projects and house updates a little bit less -- so don't be suprised to see a gap in posts. And also for this reason I've decided to cut my advertising. There is a lot of pressure that comes along with having sponsors; and it was making my blogging more of a job than enjoyable. Blogging started out as an absolute LOVE of mine -- and I want to keep it that way.

Don't mistake this "cut back" in posts and projects for a dislike of blogging -- I still very much LOVE it! It's so fun seeing my bloggy friends faces every day and see what's going on in their wold. And as I'm writing this now after a month of "taking off" -- I'm remembering how good it feels to "talk" to you girls! But my family is the most important thing in my life -- and I have to make them my priority. That means maybe letting a project at the house sit for a few days so I can visit grandparents, or not stopping at the craft store for new materials so I can go home and see my hubby -- I'm sure you can all relate.

I hope you can all understand how much I just love being apart of the blogging world -- I absolutely do! But between family, work and just every day life; I had to cut back on some things that were taking my time away from the things that truly matter.

Some bloggers decide to make their blogging a full time career, like John & Sherry at Young House Love -- and some decide to give it up completely for the sake of time, like Disney at Ruffles and Stuff. Well I'm right in the middle -- I can't give it up completely -- but I can't maintain my crazy posting and crazy projects and still have the time I need for work and family.

So -- I hope you can forgive me for the missing month of December -- and I hope you can still enjoy my posts in 2011! We've got big plans and dreams for the house that we're hoping to accomplish -- and you guys will be included in the process!

Some Favorites from the Linky Party :)

2010-12-01T20:58:00.000-06:00

I just cannot tell you HOW much I absolutely LOVED all of your projects that you linked up for fall (yes, I know I'm a bit late on sharing all these -- oops!) Even though it's winter and all the Christmas projects are in full force, I still want to take one last peak at the fall season.

So in no particular order -- here are my absolute favorite fall projects from you guys:

Heather at Straight Stitches made this "Nutty Wreath"

LOVE IT! This would be awesome for Christmas, too!

Lisa at The Pursuit of Happiness made this adorable pumpkins with burlap.

To DIE for, Lisa! They are just perfect!

Sunny at Life in Rehab whipped up this gorgeous aqua and cream colored spread of fall decorations.

I just love the use of "non-typical" fall colors -- it's just stunning!

Sarah at Bird's Papaya made this adorable topiary herself -- and of course shows you how to!

Beautiful use of moss!!

Kathleen at Between Blue & Yellow made these absolutely gorgeous knockoff burlap vases from dollar store materials!

This is waaaay better than the pricey version -- I love it!

I absolutely loved ALL your projects -- they were just wonderful to look at and I loved visiting your blogs! Thank you so much for making it a wonderful party!!

And since this was SO much fun -- I'm going to be doing a Christmas party too!

WINNER of the CSN Giveaway!

2010-11-30T07:35:00.000-06:00

It's time to announce the lucky, lucky winner of our CSN Giveaway!! :) YAAAAAAAAAY!

Don't forget to check back at CSN throughout the Holidays for awesome deals on gifts and traveling goodies.

So with that said....it's time to find out who won this awesome prize!!

And that is......

Mrs. K 11/23/2010 08:53 AM

I get to go back to my hometown for Thanksgiving. I am thankful for that!
steps52(at)gmail(dot)com

YAY! MRS. K! Send me an email and we'll get you your fabulous CSN prize!

I absolutely loved reading all the things you guys were thankful for and what your Thanksgiving plans were! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! And thanks for sharing all your awesome projects -- I'm going to be spotlighting a few of them tomorrow! :)

My House is Ready for Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

I wanted to share with you how Thanksgiving-esque our house is! :) Because come this weekend or next we will be in full-blown Christmas mode and the Autumn decorations will be put away for the year. It sure went by fast, didn't it!?!

I found this candle, plastic acorns and leaf dish at Kohl's a few weeks back for 60% off and now they sit in the center of our dining room table.

So, because I don't have a mantle; we decorate our sideboard/hutch/buffet (whatever you want to call it) for the seasons. You can see my pumpkin and vase projects on the side there.

There are the famous Decor Chick Dollar Store Hurricanes -- I made them last weekend and I even used her "book" technique to hold them in place while they dried. Thanks, Emily for an AWESOME, inexpensive project!!

I have my topiary on a little table in our entry way next to a store-bought pumpkin and a little lantern I snatched from an antique store.

I found these Fall Ornaments at Joanne's this year and last year and thought they were a perfect addition to our entry way.

And of course you HAVE to have an Autumn welcome sign! I absolutely love this one I got for my birthday a few years ago -- I wish I could leave it up all year around!!

Don't forget to link up YOUR Fall and Thanksgiving projects in our linky party!

Share your Fall Projects Linky Party .... and CSN Store Giveaway!

2010-11-23T06:00:00.008-06:00

Alrighty; like I promised -- it's time for you to share your Fall and Thanksgiving Projects with us! YAY! I'm SO excited to see what you guys have made and shared!

And that's not all -- you can also enter to be the winner of the CSN Store Giveaway!! I LOVE CSN and their over 200 stores -- they have practically everything you could EVER want; such as luggage, (in case you have any travel plans for the Holiday Weekend) kitchen goodies (in case you are hosting Thanksgiving), furniture (well who doesn't want to get a new piece of furniture now and then) and apparel (to look fabulous at your Thanksgiving Dinner) -- like I said; practically everything!!!

So, first off; the exciting giveaway!! CSN is giving away a $45.00 gift certificate to one lucky winner! EEK! Lucky you!

HOW TO WIN:

1. Leave a comment telling me what you're thankful for (imagine Thanksgiving Day when everyone has to say one thing their Thankful for before dinner); or tell me what kind of fun plans you have; or a Thanksgiving Tradition you and your family has

2. Become a follower and tell me that you are with a comment

3. ONE of the following: Twitter, Facebook or blog about the giveaway

The giveaway will be open until Saturday, November 27th

NOW -- on to our PAR-TAY!

If you want to post my button on your blog I would love it -- but it's absolutely not mandatory -- just link up and have fun! (I'll be showing off some of your projects on Saturday)

Fall & Thanksgiving Projects

2010-11-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today I wanted to share with you all the fun Fall and Thanksgiving projects I shared with you this season.......and to tell you that TOMORROW I want to see all of your Fall Projects too! And the best part is, there will be an awesome giveaway for tomorrow too; to celebrate your awesome projects!

So with that said, let me recap on what I whipped up this season:

Fall Raffia Wreath

Floral Wire Pumpkins and Nautical Rope Pumpkin

Fall Leaf Topiary

Raffia Vase with Fall Flowers

Thanksgiving Mod Podge Boxes

Thanksgiving Napkins with Silhouette's Heat Transfer Sheets

Be sure to stop by tomorrow to share your Fall and Thanksgiving projects and a chance to win our fantastic giveaway!! :)

Meet Ashley at A Forty Year-Old Ranch

2010-11-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

It's time to "meet" another one of the followers here at The Hand Me Down House! YAY! I have just loved visiting all your blogs and sharing your projects and stories with everyone! I'm slowly but surely getting through all your submissions -- so don't worry -- you'll all be introduced soon! :)

Today I'd like you to meet to Ashley at A Forty Year-Old Ranch.

Ashley and her hubby bought a ...... can you guess!? A forty year-old ranch three years ago and have been fixing it up ever since. And right from Ashley's blog -- here's her story:

"My husband and I set out to look for a home with "character" that we could fix up three years ago. We were living in a newer house that was hard to infuse ourselves into. And truth be told, it just never felt like home to us.

We saw the forty year-old ranch the day it came on the market. We had always loved the subdivision and when it came available our realtor called us immediately. I walked out of the house and swore to my husband that we would never own it. It was cluttered and dirty. It needed more updating than I thought we could ever possibly do. But it had everything we wanted in a home. As hard as I tried to fight it, I was always pulled back to this house. We prayed about it long and hard and both knew that was where we were supposed to be. We decided this on a Friday evening. The next Saturday morning, our house sold and that evening we put an offer in.

Less than two weeks later, we pulled the moving truck into the driveway of our new home. We cleaned our butts off, and started the renovations the day after we moved in by ripping out some old carpet. We haven't stopped since. It's our home, the only home our children have ever known. Its the place where, hopefully, all of their memories will be. And the safe place we can all come to, when life gets a little too scary. Home. This is OUR home."

I LOVE stories like this! Wonderful homeowners that come in and save a house and make it beautiful again. And here is their forty year-old ranch:

Adorable, right!?! Wait 'til you see some of the things they've done to it!

This is one of my favorites on Ashley's blog -- I thought it was an amazing transformation the second I saw it! Here's their playroom before:

And ohmygosh the AFTER (absolutely gorgeous!) It doesn't even look like the same room, right!?!

The best part of it is, they have a very discretely sectioned off play area behind the sofa:

Genius! You can read more about their living room redo by clicking here.

Another area they recently redid was the laundry room -- this laundry room almost makes me want to actually do laundry :)

Here's their before (which looks like mine currently ...... ):

And look at their awesome redo!

And get this -- they spent $59.00! YES -- that's it for an amazing makeover!

You can catch up on their laundry redo here.

Ashley also does lots of decorating with vintage finds and crafting with them too -- such as this awesome door they put in for their office -- LOVE this door! It reminds me of my great-grandma's farm house when I was little:

And check out these cute pears she made with vintage sheet music -- adorable!

Thank you SO much, Ashley for sharing your blog and your Forty Year-Old Ranch with us! I'm just in love with your house -- don't be surprised if you find me at your door with my suitcases soon! :)

Be sure to stop by A Forty Year Old Ranch and say "hi" to Ashley! :)

Do you want to introduce YOUR blog to us? Get the details, here.

Winner of the Holiday Bracelet!

2010-11-20T11:55:00.000-06:00

It's time to announce the winner of Shamble Ramble's Holiday Bracelet!!

The winner is:

Cara@TwiceLovely 11/17/2010 04:00 PM

My favorite part of the season is dancing with my kids to Oakridge Boys Christmas CD and unpacking decorations.

CONGRATULATIONS, CARA!! Send me an email and Stacey & Nicole will get your Holiday Bracelet out for you to enjoy this season! :)

BTW -- have you guys checked out Cara's awesome blog, Twice Lovely? It's seriously one of my absolute favorite reads!

Thanks again to my awesome sponsors, Stacey &Nicole at Shamble Ramble!

Giveaway of a Holiday Candy Button Bracelet!

2010-11-16T14:00:00.001-06:00

Well they've done it again -- Nicole & Stacey, the creators (and sisters!) of Shamble Ramble and it's GORGEOUS jewelry have been incredibly wonderful and wanted to give another lucky reader a chance to win one of their lovely pieces of jewelry!

And this time around it's a Holiday-inspired bracelet for Christmas:

It's their Holiday Candy Button Bracelet -- just for YOU!

So how do you win this beauty?

I've made it SO easy -- and you have four different ways:

1. Go to Shamble Ramble's store and tell me what's your favorite piece of jewelry
2. Leave a comment telling everyone what your favorite part of the Christmas Season is
3. Blog, Twitter, or Facebook about this fantastic giveaway (and leave one comment that you did)
4. And for a BONUS - become a follower of Shamble Ramble's blog (and leave a comment again)

Let the Holiday Commenting begin!!! :) This giveaway is open until 11/19/2010 at Noon Central Time.

I'm Thankful For...

2010-11-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

That's right, Minnesota's first snow of the season! And it was a beautiful snow storm. We went to bed on Friday night to a brown, dead yard and woke up Saturday morning to this:

Although it was complete with a most-of-the-day-power-outage, broken tree limbs and lots of shoveling; it was a beautiful start out to winter. I just love the grey-silvery colors of winter. So sophisticated.

And with the power out on my typical-get-a-million-projects-done-Saturday; I didn't get anything done that I wanted. It made me really appreciate electricity....I mean really appreciate it. It also felt kind of good to have one day that I didn't feel like I had to get everything checked off my list. Sometimes inconveniences can be a blessing in disguise -- a reminder to slow down and enjoy things like snowstorms:

Or deer walking through your yard.

And with Thanksgiving around the corner it's good to be reminded of all the things I have to be grateful for.

What are you thankful for??

And the winner is....

2010-11-15T15:16:00.000-06:00

It's time to announce the winner of the Village Boutique Vintage Tiger Lily Bracelet!! YAY! :)

If you didn't win -- remember Santa's coming soon; one of Village Boutique's bracelets might be just thing to add to your list. :)

The Random Number Picker chose # 59:

Which is.....

Shelly, who said:

The fact that only 1 in 10 adults could read or write got my attention. Reminding me how fortunate I am. :)

What a great reminder, Shelly! LOVE your comment! :)

Looks like that was one of the most popular favorite fact for you guys -- that an the reasons for death --- ewwww.

CONGRATULATIONS, SHELLY!

Send me an email and we'll get your new, custom sized bracelet to you.

And thanks again to Village Boutique -- what an awesome giveaway she's made possible!

Lucky Winner of the Silhouette Products!

2010-11-10T13:00:00.000-06:00

It's time to find out who the lucky, lucky winner of the Silhouette Product Bundle is!

The winner is....

"This is on my Christmas wish list this year! It'd be so awesome to win it! I would use it for some awesome vinyl action to dress up the walls of our new place."

Ashley and I must have the same Christmas list :)

CONTRATS ASHLEY D.!!

Send me an email and we'll get you your fun Silhouette package! :)

If you didn't win -- don't fret! You can still use the 25% off coupon just for The Hand Me Down House readers! But use it soon -- it expires on 11/13/2010.

Just use the code: MEDOWN when you check out at Silhouette's website and get 25% off!!

Village Boutique Giveaway!!

2010-11-09T13:24:00.000-06:00

That's right -- it's time for another AWESOME giveaway today! Today's giveaway is from the absolutely FANTASTIC Village Boutique. They are my wonderful sponsors -- and they have THE most gorgeous jewelry -- I'm SO in love with these bracelets, you guys! I have my own and I wear it EVERYWHERE!

Today she's been SO generous, and offered to give one of you a fantastic silverware bracelet! AAAAH! Are you SO excited!?! I'm so excited for you! I LOVE this jewelery! It's completely unique and amazing!

Here's what's up for the winning: A Tiger Lilly pattern, circa 1901. And she will make another one identical to this so that it fits the winner.

And do you remember her blog I've told you about before -- it has interesting facts about each year of her spoon jewelry? Well she shared with me some interesting facts about these spoons, too:

- Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union!
- Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.
- Life expectancy at birth for U.S. white males is 48.23 years, for white females, 51.08 years (few people die at those ages, but so many die before age 5 that they balance those who live into their 70s and 80s).
- The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
- There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

- One in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

- The Nordstrom retail chain has its beginnings in a Seattle shoe shop opened by Swedish immigrant John W. Nordstrom, 30, and a partner. Nordstrom arrived at New York in 1887 with $5 and has made $13,000 mining gold in Alaska and the Klondike.

- Detroit automaker Ransom E. Olds moves his assembly plant to his hometown of Lansing, Mich. Copper and lumber baron Samuel L. Smith has financed the Olds Motor Works, and Olds markets 425 curved-dash "Oldsmobile" runabouts, a number that he will increase to 5,000 by 1904 as he produces the first commercially successful U.S.-made motorcar

- New York City streetcars and elevated trains convert to electric power, but horsecars continue to move up and down Fifth Avenue, and commuter trains still run on steam

- Texas ranch owner Anna Edson Taylor, 43, goes over Niagara's Horseshoe Falls in a barrel October 24. She wears a leather harness inside the barrel, which is four-and-a-half feet long, three feet in diameter, and cushioned inside. The former Bay City, Mich., schoolteacher suffers only shock and minor cuts in the 167-foot drop, wins a reward that helps pay an installment on her ranch loan, and is the first person to go over the falls and survive.

- Washing machines are introduced by the 2-year-old German company Miele that began by making cream separators

- After observing a machine that blows dust away, English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth [b. Gloucester, England, 1871, d. 1955] develops the first successful vacuum cleaner, a complex and unwieldy machine driven by a 5-hp engine and mounted on a horse-drawn cart. Booth's Vacuum Cleaner Company begins advertising in February 1902. Its success is ensured after it is used to clean up from the rehearsal for the coronation of Edward VII, leading to the purchase of the first two models, one for Buckingham Palace and one for Windsor Castle. Well, now you ran the vacuum – who cleans up after the horses?

And this spoon bracelet was through all of that!

Aren't those cool facts!?!

SO, here's the deets on this week's fantastic giveaway:

WHAT:

A Tiger Lilly pattern, circa 1901. (She will make another one identical to this so that it fits the winner)

UNTIL WHEN:

Giveaway is open until 11/15/2010 at Noon (central time)

HOW:

1. For your first entry, visit Village Boutique and tell me what your favorite bracelet is

2. For your second entry become a follower -- and make sure to leave a comment telling me that you are!

3. And for an extra entry, leave a comment telling me what your favorite fact was :)

4. If you want ONE more entry, you can do one of the following and comment one time that you did: blog/twitter/facebook about the giveaway

A HUGE thanks to Village Boutique for this beautiful giveaway!

Heat Transfer Pillows

2010-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today is the last day to enter the awesome giveaway from Silhouette -- and to celebrate I'm going to be showing you one last project I did with their fantastic product.

I've been wanting some Christmas-y (yes....Christmas....I know kind of early, but I couldn't help myself!) pillows for out on our bench in the entry way. Usually, I have these pillows there:

But I LOVE decorating the house for the different seasons and some pillows seemed like they were just the thing to add to our entryway.

I had some pillows left over from our last house that weren't really being used, so I decided to use them as my Christmas pillows. I found a remnant piece of fabric at Joanne's for $2.50-ish. It was a lovely grey piece of fabric and it had enough for my two pillows I was recovering. And then I this packet of red buttons at an Antique store I visited this weekend for $2.00. That means these two pillows only cost me $4.50 -- I'll take it!!

I took my heat transfer material from Silhouette and cut out some white, bare, branches. I decided it was WAY too much work to trace out some branches I found and then cut around everything; so I ended up drawing out my own branches and cutting them with my scissors. They were supposed to look kind of like these branches I found online:

After my pillows were sewed together; I ironed the heat transfer on. (You can see my exact instructions for ironing the heat transfer on here).

Once the branches were on the pillows, it was time to put the buttons on.

I know I probably should have sewed these buttons on -- but that's really a LOT of sewing, so I decided to glue them on. I placed them all out on the fabric first; then I went to town gluing those little buttons down.

Then I put the pillows back into the cases and sewed the bottom edge.

And now my entry is kind of ready for Christmas! Don't worry -- I'll put these away until I get all the Christmas decor out. :)

Don't forget -- you can still enter the Silhouette Product giveaway here -- or you can order your own products with the special code just for Hand Me Down House readers until 11/13/2010: MEDOWN

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