Comfy Cozy Crazy

Homesite Sweet Homesite

2012-05-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

That's right folks.... we are BUILDING a house!!! Well, let's get real. Of course WE are not building the house, but we are paying a builder (whose name is Dave) and I naturally felt the need to sing "Dave, the builder.... can he build it? Yes he can!!" I know I have mental health problems that need to be addressed, however I am too excited about our house to care.

What brought this on, you might ask? Well, while our house has served us very well for the last 5 years, it is too small and we are growing out of it for sure. We bought this little brick trailer, thinking of it as our starter house and assuming that we would sell it in a couple years when we had a double income and could afford something bigger. But boy were we assuming a lot. Now our house is literally worthless, since our old-as-dirt neighbors are dying off and their children are selling their already-paid-off-in-1975 houses for pennies (wow, that was a lot of hyphens). So you get the idea- we are stuck in this tiny house until the day we die! (Or at least that's how we felt).

As we were wallowing in self pity about our situation, we heard an AD on the radio that changed everything. Apparently there is a company that is capitalizing on the crappiest of housing markets! Lucky for us. The company is Marketplace Homes, and, in a nut shell, they get paid by the builder of our soon-to-be home (in our case Ryland Homes), to rent our current (tiny) house from us for 6 years. It really sounds too good to be true, but it isn't.

So without further adieu, here is our pile of dirt...

March Showers bring April Flowers??

2012-04-10T19:14:00.000-04:00

Yeah, something like that....

With Spring in the air and budding all around us, when I stumbled upon Little Birdie Secrets' adorable handmade peonies, I knew I had to make them. I invited my bestie Joy over (you can check out her blog here) and we went to town on this simple and fun DIY project. Take a look at our finished products....

Aren't they adorable?! They are made from coffee filters and wooden skewers! Some people are so so clever.

It was a super easy and quick project. Once I got going it probably only took me a half an hour to make one small bouquet of four stems. Surprisingly I was able to get almost all of my supplies at the Dollar Store which saved a lot of cash. One vase of flowers cost me less than $5-- pretty good. I made a couple bouquets to give as hostess gifts for Easter. And boy were they a hit!

I love the blush pink version too!!

These would make a perfect decoration for a bridal shower, too!! Or really any kind of shower for that matter. I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did!

Surprise!!!

2012-04-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

Comfy Cozy Crazy got a MAKEOVER!! I know, I know... how thrilling, right? Let's have a moment of silence for the old look........

..........

But really, I am thrilled. Thanks to the fabulous designers at Designer Blogs I was able to get a full blog re-design for a great price. If your blog is looking a little tired (like mine did), make your way to their website for great deals and awesome quick service.

Happy Friday!!

Happy Easter!!

Ten June Love

2012-04-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

Hey! Today was a good day. One of my DIY projects was featured on one of my favorite blogs...

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Remember this....

Robin's Egg Necklace

Michelle over at Ten June included my lovely necklace in her DIY Easter Project Round Up. She also features several other adorable Easter projects that can definitely be finished in time for the weekend.

If you haven't been over to Ten June you really must check it out. Michelle uses her quirky sense of humor to relay awesome DIY project ideas and home renovation projects. She also includes clever posts about life in general. One of my favorite projects of hers is this DIY rustic wall art...

... just beautiful!

Thanks again Michelle for including me in your post!!

DIY Personalized Silhouette Art

2012-04-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

It seems that these days silhouette-ing is ALL over the place. It's not just your run-of-the-mill Disney World souvenir anymore (am I the only one whose tiny black-framed silhouette is still gracing the walls of my parents house? I think not!). So, in the spirit of bringing a little old-school wall art into modern times, I have decided that my husband and I should be cast in black! I know, the suspense is just killing you...

First:

You are going to need some fabulous and possibly unflattering profile pictures of your subjects. I say unflattering and you will soon understand what I mean. I apparently felt the need to pose for my profile pics in the middle of the night and looking particularly grungy. So you'll start with this:

See what I mean? eeww. Anyway, no time for vanity people! We must get going.

Second:

Print this lovely photo from your home printer in the size needed to fit your frame.

Third:

Cut your photo out following your profile carefully. This is important because any mistakes here could have you looking a bit... skewed. And the whole point is having PERSONALIZED silhouettes, if you didn't care if it looked like you why waste the time??

Now you'll need to gather some supplies:

A pencil

Black card stock

Background paper in a contrasting color
Scrap booking tape

A pretty frame

Fourth:

Tape your cut-out profile onto the BACK of the black card stock and trace carefully around your profile.

Now if you have a wonky ponytail, like I did in my profile pic, just kinda re-draw it so it looks sassy. I also added a playful little eyelash, too.

Fifth:

Cut it out-- carefully again.

And you'll wind up with this:

Lastly: Arrange your silhouettes on your background paper and tape with double backed scrap booking tape, put in a frame and there you have it!

Now, where to put it?? Any ideas?

Money Laundering: A How-To Guide

2012-04-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

Did I get your attention? Good, 'cause I'm lying. It's just plain ol' boring clothes laundering. I know, I know-- cheap tactics. Anyway, This is the next installment of my home makeover. The notorious Laundry Room!! How exciting!

By some miracle our little old house had an actual room made for the purpose of washing clothes. I mean, we barely have any closets to store clothes. So you can imagine my shock and awe, when we realized that hanging off our kitchen was a not-that-tiny room with the appropriate hook-up for a washer and dryer. Hallelujah!

Unfortunately, like the rest of the house, this room was ugly when we moved in. So we needed to make some changes.

The laundry room before...

After:

The first thing we did was paint the walls the same cheery color as the kitchen. Then, I knew I wanted to paint the cabinets white, but I thought it might be pretty (since the cabinets were so plain and ugly) to take the cabinet doors off (like we did on those upper kitchen cabinets) and paint the insides the wall color, and leave the frame-work of the cabinets a nice white contrast. The only downside is, of course, not being able to hide messes behind those cabinet doors, but really, it just made the space more functional for us. I was able to see everything we had instead of just stashing junk in the cabinets.

We also painted the utility door white to match the new and improved white cabinets. What a difference!

Last, but not least, we added this super awesome drying rack from.... IKEA! It folds flush to the wall when not in use, and pops open to dry those delicates. Love it!

This whole laundry room makeover only cost us $50. Twenty for the drying rack and hooks and the rest in paint. So worth the money for such a big improvement!

I hope you liked my laundry room makeover! Have you made any laundry room upgrades lately? I'd love to hear from you!

5 Things I Would NOT Want to Find in my Attic

2012-03-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

5. Dead bodies

I know, I know- that's an obvious one, but really-- any living, dead, or UNDEAD body. Really ANY body, no matter the degree of decomposition.

4. Giant Hair Balls

No, not adorable Puss in Boots hairballs...

Like giant, nasty "any-old-cat" hair balls, or like the My Strange Addiction "I eat my own hair" hairballs

3. A family of gypsies

I don't know how they would all fit up there, but, hey, regardless of their sleeping arrangements, I do NOT want to find them in my attic.

2. A meth lab

I wouldn't even know a meth lab if I saw one, but I have a feeling it would not be as clean and tidy and picturesque as this wonderful pic, not to mention the potential for explosions and all that face picking!

1. Little Richard
By far the creepiest dude I can think of. My worst nightmare is to open that attic door and there HE is sitting in the corner at a piano, and starts in on "A-Whop-Bomb-A-Loo-Op, A-Whop-Bam-Boom.... " **shudders** With those crazy eyes and all that eyeliner.... eek.

Anything in particular that you would not want to find lurking around in your attic??? Let me know!

Happy Thursday!

Spring Bling: Robin's Egg Necklace

2012-03-28T00:01:00.000-04:00

Spring is in the air, and so is my need for fun, cheap accessories! Sure you could go out and spend $20, or $30, or $40 on a cute new necklace, or you could pop into your local craft store and spend about ten bucks on supplies and about 10 minutes of your time and make your own! This Robin's Egg necklace is the perfect Spring accessory.

Supplies:

One strand of Beads

One yard of Ribbon

Tapestry Needle

(double your beads and ribbon if you want to make both variations of my necklace)

First: Gather supplies

Second: Thread your beads onto the ribbon using the tapestry needle

Third: Tie a pretty bow and cut the ends at an angle to decrease fraying

And BAM! Necklace complete!

P.S. I never said it was the most original idea. But keep it simple and mix it up with fun Spring colors to make it your own.

If you're feeling really froggy, get yourself a coordinating ribbon (try a yard and a half, to give yourself more length options) and make another.

Dress up a plain white tee with a funky, chunky necklace... or two!

Kitchens Smitchens?

2012-03-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

I think smitchens is my new favorite word. Anyway, the next installment of my home makeover is the kitchen. While I would have done many many many more elaborate things given the budget-- this is what could be done on a shoestring.

The breakfast nook before (peeking into the laundry room... but we'll get to that later)

Again with the flesh tones- the previous owners must have bought this ugly paint in bulk... bleh.

You can barely see it, but above the upper cabinets is another set of cabinets which are impossible to reach and not the most functional.... so I had a PLAN!!

Because these upper weirdo cabinets were just so HIGH up I figured if I did store stuff there it would be stuff I never used and never looked at. In other words- stuff that should have made its way to Good Will already. So, I thought, "By George, I will rip the cabinet doors off and make them DISPLAY cabinets!!" Off came the doors and I painted the inside of the cabinets the same color as the walls, had the hubster install cheap and easy under-cabinet lighting and VOILA! A place to display stuff worth displaying.... ahh the beauty of it all.

This DIY kitchen makeover cost me less then $50. About $30 for the lighting and the rest in paint. All of the items on display were already mine and just hidden behind ugly cabinet doors.

Have I mentioned my intense burning love for IKEA yet? Probably.... but let me just tell you that IKEA single-handedly allowed the poor Findley newlyweds the ability to still have a beautiful and functional home. Fo' real. We have something from IKEA in every room, and one of my favorite buys (next to our entryway makeover- see here) is the awesome railings and racks we hung in our kitchen. For another $50, we were able to buy all of the hooks and rails and accessories to optimize the usable space in our kitchen. With limited drawer space-- and I mean severely limited-- we were able to hang our most-used kitchen utensils and our spice rack and our paper towels and our spoon rest AND our measuring cups AND our wine opener AND our.... you see how the list goes on and on.

Last but not least on the kitchen tour is the breakfast nook. Now really, who paints chair-rail molding dusky nude? These prior inhabitants really made my makeovers more impressive, because ANYTHING is an improvement over what our house looked like before.

We slapped a little white glossy paint on the chair rail and a nice spring green on the walls and it really brightened up the space.

We got the table and chairs from IKEA (of course) for about $70. Also from IKEA is the artwork and frames and little lampy light on the microwave. We got the rolling tea cart at a thrift store for about $30. For a total of about $150. Not too shabby!

This whole kitchen makeover cost us about $250 including a new kitchen table and chairs-- you can't beat that with a stick! Have you completed any BIG payoff kitchen makeovers on the cheap? I'd love to hear from you!

Home Renovation: Before & After

2012-03-24T21:56:00.000-04:00

When we bought our 1960's ranch four years ago I knew that changes needed to be made. The previous owners believed wholeheartedly in flesh tone colored walls. No seriously, they must have been undertakers, because every wall in the house was some hue of pale death. Not a good look. Not only that but in the true style of the 60's bungalow, every room was partitioned off, making us feel particularly claustrophobic. With a more open floor plan in mind we knew that some of the walls HAD to go! Here is a journey through the before and after of our home renovation, enjoy!

This is the house when we bought it, we added the railings and planters to make it more welcoming (as seen in the photo above).

The entry way before...

And after...

In the 60's apparently people had just one outfit to live in, and thus did not have the need for closets, or at least not very big ones. And that left us completely WITHOUT a coat closet. But with a little help from IKEA, we created a welcoming entryway complete with a hat/coat rack and shoe rack/bench for under $150.

The hat/coat rack is great to keep our jackets and my purse out of puppy's reach

The magazine rack by the door is also from IKEA- great for organizing mail as we bring it in

This quick and easy DIY project can be completed on the cheap. All you need is a small framed mirror, some hooks, and the hardware. Instantly you have a home for your keys, so no searching frantically when you are already running late. And the added bonus of being able to check your teeth for stragglers before you head out the door.

Part of what bothered us about our house, was this giant wall which separated the front and back of the house when you walked in the door. The first thing that greeted you was this ghostly white wall which was about 20 feet long. It left us with these awkward rooms which were not very functional. The front of the house when you walked in the door was intended to be splint in half into two tiny rooms-- the living and dining rooms. Then the back of the house had the fireplace and was supposed to be a "keeping" room- whatever that is. The keeping room was this long and narrow room, which wasn't big enough to be a living room or anything else useful to us. So that monster of a wall had to go!! And it did!

View from the entry way before....

Why would you want to hide this fireplace? And as you can see, I was getting a little ahead of myself, trying to start the mantle decor prematurely :)

View from the entry way after...

As you can see from the above before picture, the fireplace was painted a lovely cyanotic gray-purple. Reminiscent of an episode of CSI. My original plan was to paint over that color entirely with the dark brown, but as I gently rolled the paint over the brick I realized that it gave it more depth and personality to leave it two-toned. So that's what I did... I only gently paint rolled the darker brown color over the surface of the bricks, letting the mortar remain a lighter contrasting color. Believe me, I was shocked that a color that horrific could look decent at all.

View of the dining room before (well, really, in between)

View of the dining room after

View of the living room before

Bamboo floors also from IKEA- great value and look awesome!

View of the living room after

View from the dining room before

View from the dining room after

I hope you enjoyed browsing our renovation and I hope it inspires you to make some fun changes in your home!

For the Chic Home Brewer... although I'm probably the one and only

2012-01-18T22:09:00.000-05:00

While my husband and I enjoy drinking and especially trying new beers, we hadn't put much thought into home brewing until a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest. We flew to Seattle, rented a car and drove the Pacific Coast Highway down to San Francisco while trying to stop at as many local breweries we could find along the way. When we happened upon the Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon we were so inspired by the beer (which is now my new favorite) that we fantasized about opening our own brewery. So here we are... daydreaming about opening a brewery, but not having the first clue about how to brew beer.

When I purchased a Groupon for a home brewing introduction class at Brewmaster's Warehouse near Atlanta, I had no idea the can of worms I was opening up. After attending the class, where I was the only girl in a sea of grungy men, we had decided to try it. It didn't seem like a big investment of money, so we figured, why not?

The process itself isn't hard at all, there are plenty of websites with beer recipes and with the help of the beer geniuses as Brewmaster's Warehouse we had all of the supplies and ingredients we needed. We dedicated a lazy Sunday afternoon to our first attempt. Hence, we named it McFindley's First Try IPA. Now this ordeal is not for the impatient. Believe me, I am the QUEEN of impatient, and it was unbearable waiting a week for the beer to ferment, then another two weeks for it to condition, and then yet another two weeks for it to carbonate. Whew! It was rough, and then after all that waiting was the huge looming probability that our beer just plain sucks. Luckily for us, it didn't. It was quite tasty and quite hoppy- which did not go over well with the majority of our friends, who we forced to try it.

Now, I do love beer, but I'm not a flannel-shirt-wearing tom-boy. I needed to find a way to make this chic. So why not take pretty pictures along the way and make adorable tags to label our beer? Being a beer snob AND a woman is something of a rarity I guess, so I figured I needed to embrace it!

Since our first attempt last August-ish, we have brewed two more varieties- McFindley's Pumpkin Ale and McFindley's Royal Porter. We gifted the beer to our male relatives for Christmas- and it was a hit!

For all those chickies out there who "don't drink beer"- give it another go 'round. You really are missing out. I have an even better appreciation for it now that I know what goes into making it. So cut your man some slack and get on board.

the supplies

steeping the grain

tossing the grain

adding the extract

the beautiful, fresh hops

racking the beer

looks delicious

it's bottling day!

all bottled up

handmade labels

ready to gift!

The Perfect Wedding Shower Gift

2012-01-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

While gifting off of wedding registries is quite convenient, and definitely sure to please, the most memorable gifts are thoughtful and personal. For example, at my wedding shower I don't remember exactly who got me two place settings of china or flatware, but I do remember the friend who gave me a "Breakfast in Bed Kit". What a clever idea. My awesome gift consisted of serving trays, pancake mix, and pretty bridal lingerie.

Now that one of my close girlfriends is getting married, I wanted to expand on the same idea to make an amazing and fun gift. After running back and forth all over Target for two hours, I was able to find all of the makings for my gift.

Let's see....

romantic bridal nightie
beautiful etched glass serving tray
tiny vase of flowers to set the right mood
coordinated candle to give it some ambiance
cozy chenille throw blanket
plush decorative pillow
bottle of champagne (for mimosas of course)
set of wine glasses- my one item from the registry
a box of gourmet pancake mix and syrup
and of course a beautiful basket to "wrap" it in

After scouting around the registry I was able to get a good feeling about what the bride and groom would like and what colors they are using in their bedroom. I coordinated the throw pillow and blanket to their bedding and from there used that color theme to dictate the rest of the items. Finally, I was able to find a big, beautiful basket to arrange the gifts in and it serves double duty as a great storage item for their home.

Rules for the Perfect Wedding Shower Gift

Pick out a fun or romantic theme like "Breakfast in Bed"
Scout out the registry to see what the couple likes/needs/wants
Pick out one registry item to incorporate with your gift
Stick with one color theme/coordinating colors
It's all about presentation- a beautifully wrapped gift stands out in the crowd and will be something you will be proud to give

You can always buy off of the registry for the wedding gift, but let the shower gift be fun and memorable.

New Year, New Calendar?

2012-01-16T23:49:00.000-05:00

Not necessarily. After being inspired by a lovely post on pinterest, I decided to take the plunge and craft my new family keepsake in the making, effectively committing myself to 10+ years of daily calendar journaling. Originally from designsponge.com, this adorable calendar only pays off if you stick with it. As the years go by, I'm sure I will be delighted to see just what went down on this date last year, the year before that, and the year before that.

Pictured here is my humble version. I must say, it does inspire me to make the most out of every day, or what will I write on the card? Slept in again? or stayed in my pajamas until dinner time? Those are definitely days to cherish, but not to remember.

Where to Begin?

2012-01-16T21:49:00.000-05:00

I figured if I started blogging it should be about something that I love- but what? I love keeping a cozy home. I love knitting- hats, scarves, mittens, sweaters. I love beer- and just recently started home-brewing. I love being comfy- my ideal evening is being wrapped snuggly in a warm blanket. I'm not sure how all of this randomness is related yet, but I thought I would give it a go....