The Junk House

Kitchen After…For Now

2013-05-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

I still have a couple projects left on my kitchen to-do list, but I’m ready to call the room finished for now. It looks significantly better than the rest of the house, so it’s time to move on and share the love with other rooms.

As a reminder, this is what the kitchen looked like when I bought the house. This was taken during the home inspection:

Before I moved in I bought a new dishwasher and my parents bought me a refrigerator as a housewarming gift. Eventually I replaced the microwave and did a little decorating. This is what the kitchen looked like before I decided to focus on decorating/finishing the kitchen:

Back in February I created this mood board to help me focus my ideas and create a cohesive looking room (one of the things I always struggle with):

Three months later I’m ready to present the After…For Now pictures:

I still need to tile the backsplash, update the kitchen artwork, create a new sign for above the sink (to replace the bon appétit sign), and add some more finishing touches (potholders, towels, etc). Oh, and I decided not to add the “eat” sign (I didn’t really have anywhere to hang it), so that’s been removed from the to-do list.

Now let’s talk about everything on the list that I did finish, plus links and the budget breakdown:

Add hardware to kitchen cabinets

Package of 10 Knobs $22.26 x 2

Single Knob $2.97 x 3

Drawer Pull $4.97 x 6

Knob/Pull Hole Guide$7.47

Replace stove (stainless steel) $622.63 - $17.13 (Ebates cash back)

Replace faucet $121.45
~~Update menu board~~ $2.17 x 2
Re-pot plants $11.96 x 2

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~
Small Pot $1.29 x 5
Small Saucer $0.89 x5
Craft Paint $0.33 x 3
Herb Plant $3.48 x 5
Set of Herb Markers $14.00

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Gray/White Striped Fabric $36.20

Heat n Bond $2.40 x 2

~~Buy rug~~ $38.00

Owl Crock $5.75

Bamboo Utensils $4.97

~~Oil/Vinegar Bottles~~$2.99 x 2

Fruit Bowl $9.58

Cow Creamer $5.48

Total $999.98

Not bad considering 60% of that is the new oven! After finishing the remaining projects and offsetting that by however much I sell my old oven for (still haven’t listed it on Craigslist) I should still be around the $1000-$1200 mark.

And with that I’m ready to call this project done…for now!

2012 Photobook…Finally!

2013-05-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Five months into 2013 and I’m just now putting together my 2012 photobook…I’m a slacker, I know. Honestly, they take a lot of time to put together and I just haven’t felt like putting in the effort. But I don’t want to get behind on them, so I finally got my pictures together and got started.

In the past I’ve used My Publisher and Shutterfly (you can see my New Orleans and 2011 photobooks here), but this time I decided to try Mixbook. I bought a Groupon for Mixbook last year and it already expired (bad, I know), but it’s still worth the $15 I paid, so I decided I might as well use that up and not completely lose my money.

I went with the ‘Everyday Chalkboard’ layout and an 8.5x8.5” hardcover book. Of course my two favorite critters are on the cover:

Pages range from a day at the lake to a day at Disneyland:

I’ve finally hit the age where there’s a wedding or baby shower almost every month, so of course those memories had to be included:

I wasn’t very good about taking pictures last year, so Christmas is the only holiday in the book. Ringo thought it was the greatest day ever.

Of course Ringo and Abby get their own spreads. Abby was born in 2012, so it was fun to look back and see how much she’s grown.

2012 was the year of Instagram, so I had to dedicate two pages to my favorite shots of the year.

I can’t wait until my book arrives! I’m going to put it on the coffee table, so we can enjoy these pictures whenever we want.

One of these days I’m going to start creating photobooks from some of my old pictures. They are so much easier to store and enjoy than giant photo albums.

Have you made any photobooks? What is your favorite site?

Fancy New Kitchen Faucet

2013-05-16T07:26:00.001-07:00

A couple months ago I mentioned that I had one kitchen project left and then I was going to move on to another room. I still want to add a backsplash and update the artwork, but for now I’m done working on the kitchen.

The last project I wanted to get done before calling it quits was installing a new faucet. I forgot to take a proper before picture, but you can see my old faucet in this picture:

It looked a lot like this one:

It worked fine, but I hated the two knobs (as opposed to one lever) and it didn’t have a sprayer - plus it looked cheap. After searching around, I decided that I wanted one of those faucets with the pull out spray head…until I realized they are like $200! There was no way I was going to spend that much on a kitchen faucet, but I lucked out and a couple weeks later Overstock.com had a sale on select faucets – 10%-off plus there was a 10%-off coupon that you could use on top of the promotional discount!

I’d been eyeing this Kraus single lever, pull out kitchen faucet (in satin nickel) for a couple weeks because it had great reviews and the price was somewhat reasonable (before the discounts). After the discounts it was a steal for that type of faucet, so I jumped on the deal.

And then it just sat in the box on the kitchen counter for a couple months (you can see the delivery date was March 7^th). I finally convinced my boyfriend to install it for me last week…and I’m completely in love (with my boyfriend and the faucet).

Not only is it 100x more functional, it makes the kitchen look more updated! Seriously, doesn’t the entire room look so much more modern with the new faucet?!

I don’t have any installation tips for you guys because my boyfriend did it while I was at work, but he said it was pretty easy and only took about 30 minutes. We’ve only been using the faucet for about a week and a half, but so far I’m completely happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for this type of kitchen faucet.

And with that, I only have a few items left on the kitchen to-do list. I’m hoping to find some new potholders and towels this weekend, so I can share some “after…for now” pictures of the kitchen next week.

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

~~Replace faucet~~

Update kitchen artwork

~~Update menu board~~

Create “Eat” sign

~~Re-pot plants~~

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

~~Buy rug~~

Add accessories: potholders, towels, ~~bamboo utensils/crock~~, ~~oil/vinegar bottles~~

CB2 - Novogratz Collection

2013-05-15T18:00:00.001-07:00

This post brought to you by CB2. All opinions are 100% mine.

CB2 recently announced that they are partnering with husband-and-wife design duo Robert and Cortney Novogratz for their latest collection.

The CB2 and Novogratz Collection debuted at the beginning of May and was inspired by the Novogratz vacation home in Brazil. Just like their bold, colorful decorating style, the collection features pops of color mixed with warm woods. Items and price points range from colorful pillows for under $30 to the modern dupla credenza for $499.

My favorite item in the collection is the figueira swing chair ($149). Now that the weather is warming up, how amazing would it be to lounge in that chair with a cool drink?!

To celebrate the new collection, CB2 is hosting the CB2 and Novogratz Brasil Sweepstakes! You and three friends could win a one week stay at the vacation home of CB2 collaborators Bob and Courtney Novogratz in beautiful Trancoso, Brazil!

Ten other lucky winners will receive a $100 CB2 gift card plus a personally signed copy of the book “Home by Novogratz”. The sweepstakes runs from now through June 3rd. Enter via cb2.com/sweeps. #CB2NovogratzBrasilSweepstakes

Good luck and don’t forget to invite me if you win! My passport is ready! =)

Yellow Paint-Dipped Chair

2013-05-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

The birds are singing and the flowers are bloomin’ - that means it’s time for the Spring Pinterest Challenge!

Today I’m joining Katie, Sherry, Emily and Renee in their challenge to stop pinning and start doing! I have almost 200 pins on my DIY Ideas board, so narrowing it down to one was tough. I decided to go with a project that’s featured a few different times in a few different ways on my board. The paint-dipped look!

1 – Two-toned Stools from This Messy Business via Pinterest

2 – Dipped Planters from Parties for Pennies via Pinterest

3 – Ombre Utensils from Everything Etsy via Pinterest

I also went with this idea because I already had everything on-hand for this project, so it was FREE! My favorite kind of project!

I started with these two chairs that I found on the curb while walking Ringo and Abby. See, it pays to take the dogs out and get some exercise! They were in good shape except for the scratched and peeling paint.

I stripped off as much of the black paint as I could and sanded down the rest. As you can see, the chairs were painted a rainbow of colors under that black paint. This is where chairs become chair in this story because this is as far as I got with the other chair.

I tried to spray paint the chair, but it was taking WAY too much paint, so I ended up using a brush and small roller instead. I used some leftover Creamy by SW to paint the chair white. It already looks so much better!

And now for the finishing touch!

I measured 5” from the bottom of the leg all the way around and taped it off. I used my painting trick of sealing the edges of the tape with the original color (to prevent bleeding) on each of the legs.

Then I used a small foam roller to apply the yellow paint! It’s Sweet Mustard by Valspar. I had a jar of it from when they sent out free samples a couple years ago. Two coats of Sweet Mustard later:

Paint-dipped legs!

I still have to finish the second chair and then we can use them as our desk chairs in the office! I originally planned to buy chairs, but you can beat free paint-dipped chairs!

Office To-Do List:

Sell current desk on Craigslist

~~Clean out room~~

~~Paint stripes~~

Replace outlets and switches with white ones

Build desk

~~Buy 2 chairs~~ – removed from list

Paint 2 1 chairs

Buy pair of desk lamps

Buy and paint file cabinet

Mount TV on the wall

Create a gallery wall around the TV

Build pallet artwork

~~Additional artwork~~

~~Sew curtains~~

Buy sleeper sofa

Buy/build end table

Buy dresser

Paint dresser

Sew pillows

Add accessories

Oh, and don’t forget to check out Katie, Sherry, Emily, and Renee’s Pinterest Challenge projects!

London/Paris Calendar Art

2013-05-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my mom and I are headed to London and Paris in September. We are both REALLY excited about our trip and have been talking about it nonstop. So when I saw this famous cities/travel-inspired art project at Young House Love I immediately decided that I wanted to hang the same prints in my own home.

(source)

Luckily I saw their post right away, so I was able to order the same calendar before they were sold out. The calendar features 12 different cities, but I really only needed two for this project. I decided to go with London and Paris in celebration of our upcoming trip. Although not featured in this post, I do still want to hang the Tokyo print – I’ve been there plus my dad is from Japan.

Anyway, I had the calendar so now I just needed the frames. An 8x10 opening fits the prints almost perfectly - it does cut off a tiny bit of the London picture, but not enough to justify cutting custom mats. I had originally planned on using IKEA frames like John and Sherry, but I decided that they would have been too small for my space. Luckily Michael’s had all of their frames on sale for 40%-off plus there was a coupon for an additional 25%-off! The frames I bought were originally $29.99/each, but after discounts I only paid $13.50/each. This is what they originally looked like:

After I painted the frames white (Krylon Paint + Primer White Satin) and removed the black part of the mat I added the pages from the calendar and voilà:

I got almost an additional half inch of space from removing the black part of the mat, so less of the London print ended up getting cut off. Yay!

I absolutely love my new art and now I’m even more excited to see these places in person.

Thanks YHL for the inspiration!

Navy-White Chevron Curtains

2013-05-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

They’re finally done! The curtains are up in the office and I’m crossing another project off my to-do list!

Let’s go back about a month, back when I ordered 5 ½ yards of this navy/white chevron fabric:

It’s from fabric.com and was $7.48/yard (after coupon code, I paid $37.28 for my yardage). I was so excited about the fabric, but once it arrived it just sat in the box while I took my sweet time painting stripes. Once I finally finished the stripes, it was time to move on to the curtains.

I used iron-on hem tape (Heat n Bond Ultra-Hold) to “sew” the sides instead of actually sewing. I did sew the rod pocket though!

Then I hung the curtains to see how long I wanted them…and I ended up just cutting the bottom instead of hemming them! I know, super lazy…but the sleeper sofa is going to go in front of the window, so no one will see the bottom. Plus I cut them nice and straight, so you wouldn’t be able to tell unless you were really looking.

And with that, the curtains are up and the office is one project closer to being complete!

As for the curtain rod, it’s the same one that was already in here. It’s originally from Hobby Lobby. I ended up mounting it a few inches higher than before since my new curtains are longer than the previous ones. It’s a great trick to make the window look larger.

And with that, I can officially cross “Sew curtains” off my to-do list:

Sell current desk on Craigslist

~~Clean out room~~

~~Paint stripes~~

Replace outlets and switches with white ones

Build desk

Buy 2 chairs

Buy pair of desk lamps

Buy and paint file cabinet

Mount TV on the wall

Create a gallery wall around the TV

Build pallet artwork

~~Sew curtains~~

Buy sleeper sofa

Buy/build end table

Buy dresser

Paint dresser

Sew pillows

Add accessories

Guest Post - Simple and Colorful Dining

2013-05-01T07:27:00.001-07:00

Today guest blogger Eva Stephen is stopping by The Junk House to share her tips for using lace and spray paint to create a simple and colorful dining experience.

Hello Junk House readers. I am Eva Stephen and many thanks to Sam for letting me be a part of her wonderful blog. Today I am sharing a very easy DIY - spray painting a dining set using lace to make your meal more pleasant and colorful. I hope you like it. I am looking forward to your opinions in the comments section. You may also see me at Facebook and can follow me at Twitter.

Here it goes:

Hosting friends for a home-cooked meal is a treat life affords hosts and guests alike. But oftentimes after arranging the schedule, cleaning the house, researching recipes, shopping, and preparing dinner, finally sitting down and enjoying the meal lacks the ambiance you envisioned. The good news is that lovely ambiance complimenting your hard work can be accented simply and elegantly with just a few colorful touches. No need to spend a fortune on dinner settings. I set out to craft a beautiful dinner set with your schedule and budget in mind. Join me!

The Goods

1 can spray paint - Color of your choice, I chose Deep Purple

2-8 30 x 42cm thick-ish paper – Must be big enough for a placemat

Lace strips/old clothing with lace elements – Both can be found at thrift stores/DIY shops

2-8 sets old silverware

2 candles/holders

Old wine bottle

2 pieces cardboard with straight edges

Sticks/masking tape

Old towel/newspapers to paint on

Optional

Old wallet

Envelopes and blank paper fitting inside, folded

Steps

1. First I’ll make the placemats to use on the dining table I recently bought. Lay the paper on a towel or newspapers on your table in a well-ventilated area. Spread your lace over the area you wish to decorate.

Place two straight cardboard edges on either side of your intended area to reduce excess spray. I experimented with a middle stripe as well as a criss-crossing pattern that required drying time in between stripes.

2. Spray evenly while holding down edges of the cardboard.

3. Carefully remove the cardboard edges and pull the lace off smoothly to leave the cleanest pattern possible.

4. Next lay out your silverware and create an edge with a sticker or cardboard. I decided to spray most of the handle for a smooth look. You can also use lace if your silverware lacks a pattern on the handle. Obviously, don’t spray the parts people will be putting in their mouths.

5. Now the candles are a bit tricky, and decoration is certainly open to your whim and fancy. I cut stickers lengthwise and wrapped them up the candles to create negative-space spirals. Be warned, let the paint dry thoroughly on the candles. It doesn’t adhere as well as other materials like glass, paper, etc. Leave plenty of sticker left at the top so you can hang the candles while they dry.

6. I think the flower arrangements are even lovelier when placed in an old wine bottle as a vase. The homemade vase was enhanced even further when I wrapped a sticker at the top and sprayed the rest, creating a neat little window to see the contents of the vase and plenty of color for the table to boot! Just make sure the bottom is dry before setting it down on the table.

7. Now that you have all the elements for a gorgeous table setting decorated and ready to go, consider adding a few extra touches to other items lying around. I found an old wallet that certainly benefited from a lace enhancement:

I also fashioned some new stationary for sending letters to friends and family. I just lay the lace down on the edges of the envelopes/letters and let my heart guide me:

And voila, it’s just that easy to add a little extra color and elegance to your dinner table and everyday items. Enjoy!

Epic Mother’s Day Giveaway!

2013-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right! You could win a Cricut Expression 2 (a $249 value) AND your CHOICE of a Canon Rebel T3 or a Kitchen Aid Artisan 5 Quart mixer!

AND!!! The same prize package for your mom (or whomever you’d like to give it to)!

Isn’t that awesome?!

You can enter to win through the Rafflecopter widget below. This is a big group giveaway, so there are a lot of entries to be had! Contest runs from now until Thursday, May 9^th.

And because this is Mother’s Day themed, I have to share this picture of my mom and me…from 25 years ago!

You can see where I get my blonde hair from!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The participating bloggers were not compensated for this post.

No purchase is necessary to enter. Void where prohibited by law. The odds of winning are based on the number of entries received.** This promotion is no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.** To qualify to win, you must fill out the Entry. See Rafflecopter for complete rules. This giveaway is compliant with Facebook Promotions Guidelines. Must be aged 18+ to enter & win. Valid only in the United States. Void where prohibited by state or national law.

6 Tips for Painting Perfect Stripes

2013-04-24T07:21:00.001-07:00

I’m not going to write a full tutorial on painting stripes because there are already plenty of those out there. Today I just want to share 6 tips that helped me create straight, level, crisp stripes around my office. See the full room here.

Make life easier by picking an odd number. By choosing to paint an odd number of stripes you can leave the top and bottom stripes the original wall color. That means not cutting in at the ceiling or the baseboards! I went with nine stripes that were about 10.5 inches wide.

If you are going to paint stripes around the entire room, start with the simplest wall. Start with a wall without windows or doors, if you have one. That way you’ll have one full wall of stripes to help line up the stripes around the rest of the room. This will make more sense in the last tip.

Buy a level/straight edge/ruler in one. I bought this Stanley one at Wal-Mart for $5.88 and it was worth all 588 pennies. Seriously, this will save you so much time and (potential) heartache. Pretty much all of the stripes in the room are based off the very first one you measure out, so it needs to be perfect. Just line it up with the ceiling, make sure it’s level, and make your mark. Do this across the wall and then use the straight edge to mark your line and the level to make sure it’s straight.

Mark the stripes you aren’t painting with tape. This might seem stupid, but just a few chunks of tape every couple of feet will help you avoid any confusion or mistakes.

Use the original wall color to seal the edges of the tape. This is my number one tip for crisp lines! After you tape your stripes, use a brush and paint the original wall color over the edges. Trust me, it works! Remember the blonde moment I mentioned? Well, my blonde moment was accidently painting the new stripe color to seal the edges. Once I realized my mistake and pulled off the tape, I saw that the paint had bled under the tape in some spots. Using the original wall color really does help keep the lines clean.

Oh, and here’s half a tip…once you are all done painting, pull the tape off. Don’t wait for it to dry! I pulled the tape off after I finished every two stripes.

And finally, use your first wall as a “guide” to measure the remaining walls. Instead of measuring from the ceiling down, measure from the corner of your “guide” wall. Your ceilings might be higher/lower on each wall, so this will ensure the stripes all meet at the corners.

And those are my 6 tips for perfect stripes! Who’s ready to start painting?! If you decide to paint stripes in your own home, feel free to ask any questions. I’m certainly not an expert, but after painting four walls I feel like I made enough mistakes/good decisions to help answer most questions. Or if you have any tips of your own, leave them in the comments!

Striped Office!

2013-04-22T08:15:00.001-07:00

The stripes are finally done! It took longer than planned, but it looks amazing! I’m so happy with how the room turned out!

Before I get started with the after pictures, I should mention paint colors. The room was already painted White Clay by Behr and I ended up using Sandstone Cove for the other stripes. It was the next color on the paint card.

OK, now let’s look at pretty stripe pictures!

As you saw a couple weeks ago, I finished 2 walls the first weekend.

I had planned to finish the rest of the room the following weekend, but I had a blonde moment (started painting the wrong color), so I only finished this wall and half of the window wall.

And finally, I re-taped the rest of the window wall and finished up painting the stripes on Saturday.

And that’s the 360-degree tour of the striped office! But to fully appreciate how far this room has come, let’s look at a before and after. When I bought the house, the room was bright purple with a Winnie the Pooh border:

I quickly painted over the purple with White Clay by Behr.

The room already looked 100x better with the fresh paint job, but I’d planned to paint stripes in here before I even officially owned the house. 2 years later…

STRIPES!

As for the $ breakdown, the whole project only cost about $50 for the paint, two rolls of Frog Tape, a level, and paint trays/rollers. Obviously the major commitment for this project is time and patience. For anyone wanting to paint stripes at home, I’ll be back later this week to share my tips for perfect striped walls. It won’t be a full tutorial (there’s plenty of those already around), but just a few tips/tricks that helped me keep my lines straight and crisp.

**Edited: You can see my 6 Tips for Painting Perfect Stripes here

And with that, here’s my office to-do list now:

Sell current desk on Craigslist

~~Clean out room~~

~~Paint stripes~~

Replace outlets and switches with white ones

Find table to use as desk

Buy 2 chairs

Buy pair of desk lamps

Buy and paint file cabinet

Mount TV on the wall

Create a gallery wall around the TV

Build pallet artwork

Sew curtains

Buy sleeper sofa

Buy/build end table

Buy dresser

Paint dresser

Sew pillows

Add accessories

Half Way There!

2013-04-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to have a full stripe reveal this week, but I seriously underestimated how time consuming this project would be. So much measuring and taping – at least Abby kept me company!

I’m planning to finish the last two walls this weekend, so hopefully I’ll have a full striped room reveal next week! I love how it looks so far and I can’t wait to finish up.

Next week I’ll also share paint colors, tips for straight lines with no bleeding, and the one tool you must buy for this project!

Blog Makeover

2013-04-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Junk House got a makeover last week! Some of you have already noticed, but if you haven’t seen it yet, click over and check it out!

Back in January I made a few blog goals to make The Junk House easier to navigate, quicker to load, and just a general style update. I had planned to do it myself, but ended up hiring someone…and I’m happy I did! I love how it turned out! Isn't the little house on the H cute?!

If you are in the market for a blog makeover, whether you want a full update or just a new header, I definitely recommend Jess. She was easy to work with and put up with all my demands. And I think she has some of the best prices! You can see some of her other designs here

Easy Numbered Crate

2013-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sound the horns! I actually created a project that I pinned!

(source via Pinterest)

If you’ve been following for over a year, you might remember that my big project last March was my pantry makeover. If not, you can check out the before/after pictures here. I never completely finished my to-do list (big shocker, I know), but now I’m back, a year later, with a pantry project.

One of the best updates I made to the pantry was organizing everything into jars, baskets, and crates. It keeps everything more organized and it just looks less cluttered. Last year I bought a couple crates from Hobby Lobby to hold chips and rags and I’d planned to buy a couple more to hold the rest of the towels and cleaning supplies. But eventually I moved on to other projects and forgot about the pantry until I saw this crate project from Kelli at Lolly Jane:

(source via Pinterest)

Not only are they cute (and functional), they are also cheap and easy to make! The crates are regularly $11.99 at Joann’s, but are only about $7 after your handy 40%-off coupon. I lucked out and got a 50%-off coupon in my e-mail, so I only paid $6.53 (including tax) for my crate.

I stained the crate Dark Walnut, which I already had on hand. Then I used my Silhouette to cut out the letters and number.

I used some CraftSmart Robin’s Egg Blue that I had leftover from my painted pot herb garden to paint the letters and numbers. I only did one coat of paint and then removed the vinyl stencil as soon as I was done painting. After the paint dried I lightly sanded it with very fine sandpaper. This is a great way to make it look more aged and hide any mistakes (paint bleeding under the stencil, brush marks).

I love how it turned out! I’m already planning another trip to Joann’s (with another coupon) to buy one more crate for the pantry!

Here’s my cleaning supplies shelf before:

And here’s how it looks with my new crate! It definitely looks more organized and less cluttered!

Thanks Kelli for sharing such a great find and an easy transformation! You can see Kelli’s crate project here and her amazing craft storage system here.

Insta-16: Take Four

2013-04-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

It’s time for another round of Instagram pictures! You can see the previous three recaps here

If you have an account, you can follow me at: SAMTJH22. If not, this recap is for you! I’ve rounded up my last 16 Instagram pictures for you here today. It’s been awhile since my last Instagram post, so this roundup includes everything from Las Vegas to The Glitter Academy to Spring Training Baseball!

As always, my plan is to share a pretty collage of all the pictures and then pick my top 5 in different categories: Abby, Ringo, Cutest Couple (Ringo and Abby), Yummy (Food or Drink), and Wildcard (Non-Food and Non-Puppy).

OK, enough talk! Here’s the second round of Instagram pictures:

As always, it was hard to pick favorites, but here they are:

Abby

Don’t look at me!

This picture always makes me laugh. She’s such a sweet, silly dog (with big ol’ paws)!

Ringo

I’d been avoiding giving Ringo a bath in the tub for months because I assumed it was going to be complete chaos, but it’d been too cold to hose him off outside like usual. One day I felt brave and gave him a bath…and he loved it! He jumped right in the tub, drank water from the faucet, and stood there while I soaped him up and rinsed him off. It was amazing! And now he’s obsessed with the bath tub. If I dry my hair in this bathroom, he’ll hang out in the tub or sometimes I randomly hear him climbing in to sleep in there. Now I swear he gets dirty on purpose so I’ll give him a bath! Silly dog!

Cutest Couple

This is exactly what it looks like. Ringo loves to hold Abby down and lick all inside her mouth and gums. He also cleans out her ears…whether she wants him to or not!

Yummy

For Abby’s 1^st birthday I made dog-friendly red velvet cupcakes with dog-friendly icing and milk bone toppers! Ringo and Abby LOVED them! If you are wondering, I got the cake and frosting mix in my monthly BarkBox.

Wildcard

I took my dad to a spring training baseball game at the beginning of the month. He’s a huge Angels fan, so it was fun for him to see his favorite players and it was a good chance for us to hang out. We don’t really spend that much time with just the two of us, so it was a nice opportunity to enjoy some father/daughter time. The weather was perfect and we had really good seats…it’s hard to think of a better way to spend an afternoon!

OK, who else is on Instagram? Leave your username in the comments, so I can follow you.

London Calling (and Paris!)

2013-03-27T07:54:00.002-07:00

It’s official! My mom and I are headed to London and Paris in September! We’ve been planning (and saving) for this trip for a couple of years and now it’s actually happening!

(source)

I know some of you live/have lived/have visited London and/or Paris, so I’d love to hear your recommendations. Any must see/must do/must eat/must shop suggestions? Have you taken any tours that you really enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy)? Favorite spots/restaurants/shops? Places to stay away from? Let me know!

(source)

We are taking two weeks of vacation time from work, so we’ll probably spend four or five full days in each city. We are still in the early phase of planning our trip, so I’d love to hear your ideas!

Office Mood Board

2013-03-21T07:47:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of months I have been working solely on my kitchen…and I’m over it. I still have a few projects left on my list, but it’s time to move on*. I’ll come back to the kitchen in a few months, but I’m ready to start working on the living room and the office.

*Note: I already bought a new kitchen faucet, so once that’s installed; I’m ready to move on.

This is what our “office” currently looks like:

As of now, it’s not functional for two people and it’s not meeting our needs. Because there isn’t enough space to work in this room (my boyfriend’s legs don’t even fit comfortably under that desk), it’s become a junk room. And actually, that’s cleaner than it’s been in awhile. Thanks to our garage sale and a recent trip to Goodwill, you can actually see the floor and use the treadmill.

Anyway, I really want to create a space that has room for the both of us to work and can accommodate guests. So, here’s my plan to accomplish all of that: (source list at bottom of post)

I know I’ve been talking about painting stripes on the walls forever, but now I’m actually going to do it. I know it’s going to look amazing in there.

For the office part of the room I want to find a long (but not too wide) dining table. That would give each of us our own desk space and we wouldn’t have to stack our laptops anymore. We would still need some storage, so I love the idea of a file cabinet painted a fun color. Above the desk I want to mount my small TV and create a gallery wall around it. One side of the gallery wall would be filled with things I love (above my side of the desk) and the other side would be filled with stuff my boyfriend likes (above his side of the desk).

As much as I’d like not to have the eyesore treadmill in there, I like being able to fit into my clothes, so it’s staying. I’m going to fill the large wall with a large DIY pallet art piece.

Also, I want to put a sleeper sofa in front of the window. I love the idea of being able to lounge and watch TV, but also have extra room for guests. I also want to replace the curtains and find/build an end table that can double as a nightstand.

And finally, on the smaller wall (next to the closet) I want to add a dresser for storage. Hopefully we can use that to hide all of the junk this room accumulates. You can never have too much storage!

OK, so that’s the plan in a pretty picture. Here’s the to-do list:

Sell current desk on Craigslist

Clean out room

Paint stripes

Find table to use as desk

Buy 2 chairs

Buy pair of desk lamps

Buy and paint file cabinet

Mount TV on the wall

Create a gallery wall around the TV

Build pallet artwork

Sew curtains

Buy sleeper sofa

Buy/build end table

Buy dresser

Paint dresser

Sew pillows

Add accessories

Source List:

Table – Chairs – File Cabinet – Desk Lamps – Mini Love Pallet Art – Peter Pan Print – Yellow S – Bike – Butterfly Art – Fishing Art – Yellow J – Fishing Lure – Nebraska Sign – Ford Sign - Striped Wall – Pallet Art – Treadmill – Curtain Fabric – Pillow Fabric – Sleeper Sofa – End Table – Dresser

Two Year Anniversary

2013-03-19T07:34:00.001-07:00

Two years ago today I moved into my house! I can’t believe it’s already been two years! To celebrate let’s look back on my second year of being a homeowner:

(You can see my year one recap here)

I painted two rooms, one linen cabinet, and my front door:

I painted a couple pieces of furniture for the entry/living room area:

Hall/Entry Tree

Console Table

I finally spent some of that money I’ve been saving up and splurged on:

Extending the patio in the backyard

Patio furniture from Craigslist

Solar Screens

New IKEA entertainment center

I finished a few projects that have been on my to-do list for-ev-er:

Hung curtains in the living room

Installed a doggie door

Cleaned up the front porch

Hung artwork in the dining room

Headboard for the master bedroom

I worked on a few small projects and did a little crafting:

Mason jar soap dispenser

Mini pallet sign

DIY Instagram magnets

And finally I started (and almost finished) my kitchen makeover:

Installed cabinet hardware

Bought matching appliances

“Sewed” faux roman shades

Painted an herb garden

Re-potted some plants

Bought a new rug (it’s yellow!)

Updated my weekly menu board

Whew! That’s quite a list! Oh, and I can’t forget we took a trip to New Orleans in the spring and Disneyland in the fall!

But I still have to say, the best part has been sharing the house with my boyfriend and these 2:

I had a great second year as a homeowner and I can’t wait to see what I can accomplish over the next year. Here’s to another year full of more painting, more sewing, more projects, and more Ringo and Abby memories!

Christmas Break Project #2: Master Bathroom Baseboards

2013-03-18T08:48:00.003-07:00

Can you believe it?! A project that’s not kitchen related! I actually have one more kitchen project to finish up and then I’ll probably be done with that room for awhile. I still have a few things left on my to-do list, but I’m ready to move on. I’ll finish up the kitchen eventually, but I’m ready to start working on the living room and the office (mood board coming soon).

Anyway, remember a few months ago I put together a list of projects I wanted to finish over Christmas Break? I told you all that I finished two of them, but I only ever blogged about moving the mirror…Well today I’m finally sharing the second project I finished over Christmas Break! If you are wondering what took me so long – I forgot! I got so used to seeing the baseboards every day I forgot about them until my parents visited a couple weekends ago. My dad hadn’t seen the baseboards yet and made a comment, which reminded me that I never shared this project.

As a reminder, here’s the master bathroom sans baseboards:

I’m pretty sure the previous owners removed the baseboards when they did the tile floor, but didn’t have a chance to replace them before the house went into foreclosure. That left me with a baseboard-less master bathroom for almost two years.

Well, the bathroom is no longer baseboard-less:

My boyfriend cut the baseboards to fit and then nailed them into place. I patched the nail holes and touched up the paint. I had painted the baseboards before they were installed, so they only need a quick touch up.

It’s not the most exciting update, but I’m so happy that I can finally cross that project off my list…now I just need to finish the living room baseboards!

Updated Menu Board

2013-03-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

My menu board has been in need of an update even before the kitchen makeover began. When I first made it I just grabbed a couple random pieces of scrapbook paper, some sticker letters and threw it all together. It’s actually one of my favorite projects and I use it for meal planning every week, so it deserves to look its best.

I started the makeover by spray painting the frame white. I used some leftover Krylon Paint + Primer from my stash to give the frame a new look. I think I'm going to paint the picture stand white too, but I haven't done that yet.

Instead of making a new menu insert, I found this free menu printable from Smitten on Paper:

(source)

I love the design, but I did have to change the orientation (landscape instead of portrait) and crop it to fit my frame (8x10). I had it printed at Walgreens – actually I had to have it printed twice because the first time I sized the menu design too small (whoops!). Luckily they were having a 50%-off enlargements sale when I ordered both prints, so my mistake only cost me $2 instead of $4.

Anyway, here’s my new menu board:

All of the white doesn't photograph nearly as good as it looks in person...Anyway, you might also notice that I bought matching oil and vinegar bottles. I think it looks better than the mismatched store bottles that were there before. I found them at Michael’s – they were $4.99/each, but were on sale for 40%-off, so I only paid $3/each.

That corner of the kitchen is now complete...and for only about $10!

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

Replace faucet

Update kitchen artwork

~~Update menu board~~

Create “Eat” sign

~~Re-pot plants~~

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

~~Buy rug~~

Add accessories: potholders, towels, ~~bamboo utensils/crock~~, ~~oil/vinegar bottles~~

Living Room Mood Board

2013-03-07T07:26:00.001-07:00

With only a few projects left to do in the kitchen I’m ready to start planning my next room makeover – the living room! It’s the first room you see when you walk in the door, so I probably should have worked on this room a long time ago. Right now it’s just a mishmash of random furniture and it doesn’t give the best first impression.

But I have a plan – starting with a living room mood board!

Creating a mood board for my kitchen really helped me focus on what I needed to buy and what I needed to DIY to create a cohesive look. Instead of just buying random items that I liked, I focused on a consistent color palate. Plus it helped me realize how good my kitchen could actually look, which inspired me to stop procrastinating and start working. Seriously, that mood board was the best inspiration!

Anyway, here’s the mood board I put together for my living room (source list at bottom of post):

The three main pieces for the room are the entertainment center, sectional, and rug. I think just having those three items would make a huge difference. Luckily I already have the IKEA entertainment center, so one of the most expensive pieces is already bought and paid for. Next is seating – I’m currently on the hunt for a reasonably priced gray sectional. We let the dogs on the couch, so I don’t want to buy a really nice one, but I also don’t want to waste my money on a piece of crap. I have a few options on my list (like this gray IKEA one), but I’m still undecided. After I decide on a sectional, it’s rug time! The dogs are fully housebroken, so I’m no longer worried about having a rug. I love that bold, blue one from Rugs USA.

Next to the entertainment center is the fireplace. For now I’m planning to add a large mirror above the mantle plus a boxwood wreath during spring/summer months (plus other decorations…obviously). Eventually I’d love to re-do the entire fireplace, but that’s going to be a bit of a battle (my boyfriend likes it as-is), so we’ll save that for another day.

I’d love to find a small card catalog for between the fireplace and window. I think it’s going to be hard to find the right size for a decent price, so this might be a DIY project. I love the one that Stacy built for her living room.

I’m also going to change up the curtains. I love the blue curtains, but I don’t love them with the rest of my plan, so they’ll move to one of the guest rooms. I’ve already bought five yards of that yellow ticking stripe fabric to sew new curtains for that window. Not pictured, but under consideration is an upholstered bench for in front of the window. I like the idea, but we’ll see once I get further into the makeover.

Behind the sectional is the big, plain wall where my painted console table lives. I love the color of the console, but that could change based on how the rest of the room turns out. I’m also planning to DIY a large abstract painting to hang above the table. Plus I want to add a large plant to cover more of the wall.

The rest is all accessories and pulling everything together. Now that I have a plan, I can’t wait to get shopping/DIY-ing!

To-do List:

Find sectional

Buy rug

Find coffee table

Buy garden stool

Style entertainment center shelves

DIY abstract art

Re-paint console table?

Buy large plant/pot

Decorate fireplace mantle

Sew curtains

DIY card catalog

Accessories

Source List:

Abstract Art – Console Table – Lamp - Sectional – Garden Stool – Coffee Table – Rug – Entertainment Center – Fabric – Clock – Card Catalog

Dash & Albert Rug + An Owl

2013-03-04T08:43:00.001-07:00

Yep, another kitchen post…I swear I have other projects coming up, but I’m trying to stick with one room instead of my usual design A.D.D. Anyway, today I want to show you my new kitchen rug! It’s actually the only rug in the house and the first quality rug I’ve ever purchased.

The rug I originally had in my kitchen mood board was charcoal gray, but after some thought, I decided to find a rug with a pop of color instead. The curtains, countertops, and appliances are all gray-ish, so I thought a gray rug might be too much gray. Plus the room was due for some more color.

After a lot of searching and price comparing, I ended up buying this Dash & Albert diamond print rug in canary. It’s an indoor/outdoor rug, so it can be cleaned with a hose. Ringo and Abby always hang out in the kitchen with me while I cook, so that was a big selling point. If you look close you can already see dirt marks.

I’ll be honest, I hated the color when I first saw it – I was hoping for mustard, but it was more marigold. My mom suggested that I use it anyway and give it a couple days before deciding to return it…especially since I’d have to pay return postage and a 25% restocking fee (I’d only end up getting about $20 back). As you can probably tell, the color grew on me and I’m happy with my rug purchase now. It makes the room look happier (and makes my feet feel happier).

Speaking of, I have another fun purchase to share today: my new utensil holder. I saw this owl at Michael’s and thought it would make a fun utensil holder – better than a plain crock. It was 40%-off plus I had a coupon for an additional 20%-off, so I only paid a few dollars for it. The bamboo utensils are from Wal-Mart.

Here you can see my new rug and owl utensil holder (and sweet Abby). I still have a few projects left, but I love how it’s turning out. It’s definitely more “me” than any of the other rooms in the house.

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

Replace faucet

Update kitchen artwork

Update menu board

Create “Eat” sign

~~Re-pot plants~~

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

~~Buy rug~~

Add accessories: potholders, towels, ~~bamboo utensils/crock~~, oil/vinegar bottles

More Plants!

2013-02-28T08:16:00.001-07:00

Oh man! Two plant projects in a row!

As you saw in my herb garden post, I have two other plants on my kitchen counter. Both plants started off elsewhere in the house, but ended up here because of the great light. The plant in the yellow pot was only a few inches tall and only had about 5 leaves before I moved it here. The other plant was virtually dead before I moved it to the counter. Look at it now!

Because they both came from different areas of the house, they had different pots. The yellow pot is from Hobby Lobby and the white one is from IKEA.

I wanted to get matching pots for the plants so it looks like they actually belong together. I have a big pop of color planned for another spot in the kitchen, so I wanted to keep it pretty neutral. I figured white pots would work best. I love IKEA’s white pots, but they don’t have any drainage holes (I never have luck with pots without drainage). The IKEA pot in the picture above actually has three holes drilled into the bottom plus the plastic drainage dish. Anyway, I found these pots at Wal-Mart for about $12 each. I already had potting soil, so this was a pretty cheap change.

This poor guy is a little wilted because I didn’t water him on Sunday like usual. I was planning on repotting them that day, but ended up doing it three days later…Don’t worry, he perked up later in the night.

Here they are together with my herb garden. I love how green and fresh this area looks. Plants really do add life to a space!

And with that, another project crossed off the to-do list:

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

Replace faucet

Update kitchen artwork

Update menu board

Create “Eat” sign

~~Re-pot plants~~

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

Buy rug

Add accessories: potholders, towels, bamboo utensils/crock, oil/vinegar bottles

Painted Pots + Herb Garden

2013-02-27T07:28:00.002-07:00

It’s time for another Pinterest Challenge!

Since I’m currently in kitchen mode, I figured I’d work on a kitchen-related pin…and because all of my other Pinterest Challenge projects have been artwork. Anyway, I’ve wanted to plant a vegetable/herb garden in our backyard since I moved in 2 years ago. Unfortunately I gave up on that idea after we got Ringo the Destroyer.

And then one day I realized - I can plant an herb garden in my window sill…duh! I get my herb garden and Ringo can’t reach it – win for me!

I wanted to get light blue pots to go with my canisters, but couldn’t find any that were the right size and/or had drainage dishes. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never had luck with pots that don’t have a hole for drainage. Anyway, after I couldn’t find what I was looking for (story of my life), I turned to Pinterest and was inspired by all of the painted pot projects I had on my DIY board.

(source via Pinterest)

I started with plain terra cotta pots from Michael’s (but you can find them anywhere) - they were about $2 per pot/drain dish set. I wanted to fill up my window, so I bought five sets. I painted them with CraftSmart Robin’s Egg Blue acrylic paint. It took three coats and about 3 bottles of paint to get all five painted. I’m a little worried about how the paint will hold up since I didn’t prep or seal the pots - I didn’t want to add any extra chemicals since we’ll be eating the herbs. I guess we’ll see…

I’m too impatient for seeds, so I bought herb plants at Lowes - they were about $3 each. I chose rosemary, basil, parsley, oregano and thyme (I actually wanted chives instead of thyme, but they chive plants looked dead). I planted them in my painted pots after letting the paint dry for about 24 hours. Hopefully the plants…and the pots survive!

I love the pop of color in the window! I originally planned to color block (like my inspiration pin) or embellish the pots in some way, but ended up deciding that color blocking/embellishing x5 might be too much. I might change my mind at some point, but for now I love the simple blue.

Wellll, I guess there is still a little embellishing to be done – I was going to DIY some herb markers, but I found a set in an Etsy shop that I couldn’t pass up. They had the best prices by far and were willing to customize the silverware with the herb names I needed. I ordered them on Sunday, so they haven’t arrived yet, but I’ll update y’all when they do.

(source)

And with that, another project is crossed off my kitchen to-do list!

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

Replace faucet

Update kitchen artwork

Update menu board

Create “Eat” sign

Re-pot plants

~~Add herb garden to window sill~~

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

Buy rug

Add accessories: potholders, towels, bamboo utensils/crock, oil/vinegar bottles

Don't forget to check out Katie, Sherry, Michelle, and Megan's Pinterest Challenge projects! Plus you can link up your own (or check out everyone else's projects) on any of their posts.

White and Gray (Faux) Roman Shades

2013-02-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

I’m back with another kitchen project! Seriously, that mood board I put together was the best inspiration! I’m going to put one together for every room project from now on. I love being able to see all of my ideas together before I actually start buying and DIY-ing!

Anywhooo…

I you might remember that last year I made faux roman shades for my kitchen windows.

I still love the fabric (although my boyfriend hates it), but I didn’t like the fabric with my new canisters and design plan for the kitchen.

So, I decided to replace the bold fabric with a more neutral gray and white striped fabric. I found this one for $7.50/yard. I ordered a swatch and loved it in person, so I ordered 4 yards. I asked my boyfriend what he thought of the fabric and he said “It’s better than that ugly stuff that’s up now.” So we’ll call that a win!

I used iron-on hem tape to “sew” the sides and bottom of the shades. However, I did sew the top rod pocket because I thought it would hold better and last longer. I used the same tension rod method as before, so this ended up being a pretty quick update. For detailed iron-on hem tape instructions, check out YHL’s step by step post here. My only advice would be to make sure the steam is off and make sure you don’t iron the tape too much – it makes it hard and won’t stick correctly.

Multiply that by three and you have this:

I love them and I’m so happy with my kitchen progress! I hope you aren’t sick of seeing my kitchen because my other 2 posts scheduled for this week are also kitchen projects.

To-Do List:

~~Add hardware to kitchen cabinets~~

Add backsplash

~~Replace stove (stainless steel)~~

Replace faucet

Update kitchen artwork

Update menu board

Create “Eat” sign

Re-pot plants

Add herb garden to window sill

~~Sew new faux roman shades~~

Create sign for above sink (to replace bon appétit sign)

Buy rug

Add accessories: potholders, towels, bamboo utensils/crock, oil/vinegar bottles