Adventures in DIY

Painted Green Hutch

2013-05-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

My sister has recently been acquiring some old pieces of furniture (either for free or for cheap at garage sales) and has been transforming them into useable and cute pieces! She owns a restaurant and works long days, 6 days a week, and has 2 young kids, but she has managed to find time on her days off to work at whipping these pieces into shape. She amazes me! To explain a bit further, my cousin & her family live with my sister and so does the babysitter, so there's lots of people under one roof. Between all of them and the restaurant (she stores some of the restaurant's items temporarily at the house), she's in much need of any extra storage she can get her hands on.

Anyhow, I thought that I would share some of these pieces with you so you can see what the power of some elbow grease and paint can do. If she keeps cranking out pieces, I may just have to make this a regular feature!

Unfortunately, I don't have a BEFORE picture, but here is the AFTER. She chose a nice green color she already had on-hand. All she did was clean it up and paint. She didn't even prime it! She put it in her kitchen/nook area and as you can see, it holds a lot of stuff. She also utilized some boxes, baskets, and trays to organize. I'm thinking I may have to help "pretty up" those cardboard boxes with some wrapping paper.

Looks pretty darn good for a quick paint job! I still have yet to muster up the guts to paint furniture - the pieces in my home that I want to paint are all laminate and I'm a bit hesitant to try (but one day I will).

French Doors Window Treatment

2013-05-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

After I got the french doors painted, I decided to, well, cover them up! I know - you would think I would want to see my lovely painted doors all the time, right?

Sally photobombed the picture. Can you spot her? :)

I'm truly happy with how they came out, but ever since I bought the house, I have been debating on the window treatment for the french doors. I was never in a big rush to get them done, though - I don't have any neighbors that live directly behind me, since there is a big sports park right behind my house. So, over the last few years, here have been my ideas for window treatments:

1) Bamboo blinds - I really love those. However, all the windows weren't very wide and they would have to be custom ordered which means big buck$$.

2) The old style curtain rods (I remember these from back when I was a kid). But, I wasn't sure exactly how to attach it to my metal/steel doors & sidelites and if I changed my mind later, I'd have good sized holes left in the doors.

3) Magnetic rods. For quite awhile, I thought that this was the best idea because they could be easily installed and removed without damaging the doors & sidelites. But, I wasn't sure how they would hold up to being opened and closed everyday. Also, since there would be one rod per door, the curtains would obstruct a lot of the light since I wouldn't be able to push them completely out of they way of the windows.

4) Install a single curtain rod over all the sidelites, french doors, and the side window. I figured this might be the best & cheapest way to get them all covered up. Also, when I pull back the curtains, it would still allow all of the light in. The only issue was still how much it would cost exactly because of the width of both french doors, both sidelites, and the side window.

Now, it was time to research...I had looked online and at different stores for curtains and could never find a pair that were wide enough (they needed to cover at least 121 1/2 inches). I would have to buy more than one pair and with everything being at least $20, this was going to add up. I even considered using painter's drop cloths and sheets, but with the width I needed, it was still going to not be cheap. I also looked into the hardware (curtain rods, finials, curtain rings) and everything was expensive and a lot of it wasn't my "style". I didn't need or want anything really fancy looking. So, after a lot of research, I hopped on the Ikea website to see what they had. I had perused their window treatments at the store in the past, but I was only just browsing. They didn't have much of a selection to choose from, but the prices were excellent. So, I made a trip to Ikea and here is what I got:

Racka curtain rod x 1 @ $4.99 ea
Raffig finial x 1 pair @ $1.99 pair
Betydlig bracket x 3 @ $1.49 ea
Syrlig rings/hangers (set of 10) x 3 sets @ $2.99 set
Vivan curtains x 2 pair @ $9.99 pair

My grand total was $40.40 (+tax) which completely covers the set of french doors, the set of sidelites and a side window! Not bad at all!

I installed the brackets with no problems. It was pretty easy - the only thing is that they didn't come with screws, so you will need to make sure you have some on hand (I needed 2 screws per bracket).

Please don't mind the gross popcorn ceiling. They will be gone one day - hopefully soon.

And then I put together all the rings with the clips on them.

I decided to install the curtain rod as close to the ceiling as possible to give height to the wall. I also took down the blinds in that side window - they were cheap, aluminum blinds and I always left them up anyways.

Since I needed 2 pairs of curtains to cover the width of all the doors and windows, I ended up sewing each pair together - so 2 pairs ended up becoming 1 extra-wide pair. They were also too long - I generally don't mind the "puddling" look, but since I would be opening & closing the curtains everyday AND since the curtains were covering a main entrance to the house, I decided to hem them so they just barely hit the floor.

The curtains I bought were a bit see through (obviously), but they aren't completely mesh and still give me some privacy. You definitely can see any sources of light through them though (the tv, the lamp), but anything else is mostly safe from prying eyes.

I love how they turned out and think they are nice touch to the wall.

Originally Posted by Adventures in DIY

Garage Workbench

2013-05-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today I'm sharing my garage workbench. A few things to note: 1) I did not build this myself . 2) This was done a few years ago. And 3) Please excuse my poorly photoshopped pictures. I'm still experimenting with Photoshop - this was the best I could do, but the purpose was served! ;)

Here is how my garage started out. The previous owners had white cabinets installed on that wall and some great lighting all throughout the garage. They also had some electrical outlets installed in that empty wall space below the cabinets and also inside some of the cabinets. But, that empty space was prime real estate for a workbench!

I bought pegboard to fill the wall space below the cabinets. Not only does it give it a cleaner look, but it's also great for storage.

As you can see in the pictures above, there was a lot of wiring going on at the right side of the empty space. It's a Verizon box and although I don't use them, I didn't want it completely covered in case I needed access to it at some point in the future - this way I wouldn't have to take part of the peg board down. The picture below shows the cut-out for the box for easy access.

Here's the finished workbench and pegboard wall...

I'm still working on getting the garage organized - there's a lot to do, so I'm doing it all in small steps, but I've made some good progress.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

I've Been Featured! Again!

2013-05-08T18:34:00.003-07:00

I just happened to find both features this week as I was checking out some blogs - awesome! This feature is from February 2013, but feel free to check it out at The Adventures of Courty Pants. It's a great round-up of DIY Valentine gift ideas and my Love *Heart* Map Frame was featured.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

I've Been Featured!

2013-05-07T21:34:00.003-07:00

The NY Melrose Family featured my hashbrown potato casserole recipe on her 20 Brunch Ideas post. Click on the link to check it out. And don't forget to check out the other yummy-looking recipes she featured also! Thanks Jenny!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

French Doors' Edges

2013-05-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

You thought you were done hearing about painting my french doors, didn't you? ;) I never did paint the edges of my french doors and the sidelites. And here's why...

See all that hardware? That's the locking mechanism on the sidelites. There was no way I was going to try taping all of that off and I didn't want to try taking it off for fear of not being able to put it back in. Since this took up about 85% of the entire edge, I decided to leave it be. It didn't look bad at all without being painted. You can't even tell the difference.

The 2 main doors on the other hand, well, you could see how dirty and yellowish they were. The one door (without a doorknob) had an edge that looked yellowish. In the picture below, you can see part of it and how yellow it looks compared to the doors.

BEFORE

AFTER

Much, much better. And brighter!

I don't have a "before" picture of the dirty edge of this door, but you can see how much better & brighter it looks also.

I know it's not that big of a deal to have painted the edges - especially because the main doors stay shut - but I knew over time, it would eventually bug me. It didn't take me that long to get it done, so it was worth it. So, the "painting of the french doors" is officially done...until I decide to change the color. ;)

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

May the 4th Be With You!

2013-05-04T13:01:00.003-07:00

Happy Star Wars Day to all of you Star Wars fans!

Source

So, which one is your favorite Star Wars movie?

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Laundry Sign

2013-05-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

Is it seriously May already? How in the heck did that happen?! I'm slowly, but surely getting things done around here.

I think I've mentioned in the past that my laundry is in the garage, which means I can't have one of those pretty laundry rooms I see all over blog-land. I've been racking my brain to figure out how to make it as pretty as I can considering it's in the garage, but that's a project for down the road...

Anyhoo, on one of the blogs I follow, I found this cute yet functional laundry sign. I quickly pinned it for future reference. I bought a cheap frame while at Ikea a few weeks ago, so I figured I may as well finally put this all together.

I didn't do anything fancy - just printed it on regular 'ol paper. I chose the aqua/teal/turquoise color that I love.

**Side note: I moved the laundry shelf just a tad lower, knowing that I was going to put this sign up. It works out better for me anyways, since I'm not very tall.

BEFORE

AFTER

And here's the sign in action! Exciting, right? And, yes, that was sarcasm. :)

I actually love that it's so functional - I have tons of shirts with only these symbols on the labels, so now I have a reference right in front of me when I'm doing laundry.

There's a spot to the right of the sign above the dryer that's empty. I'm planning on putting another sign up, just have to figure out which one to use. And eventually, this little "laundry nook" will get a revamp, but, ya know - baby steps!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY
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Contact Lens Calendar

2013-04-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ok - I know I'm not the only one out there that does this, but I'm very bad at changing out my contact lenses. I'm supposed to change them every 2 weeks, and well, it just doesn't happen when it's supposed to (I won't admit to how long, mmmkay?). Anyways, after my last eye appointment, I vowed to be better at changing out my contacts (it helps that I have a friend that works for my eye doctor and she gave me a friendly ~~lecture~~ reminder about changing my contacts on time). But, I quickly realized the main problem as to why I would always change them out too late - by the time I leave the bathroom after putting in a new set, I would forget to write in on my calendar. I know how my brain works and I have to write stuff down or I will forget. So, this idea popped into my head and I'm hoping it works in the long run...

This next picture should explain much better just why it should help me remember when it's time to change out my contacts.

BAM! Yep - it's a magnetic miniature dry erase calendar on the inside door of my medicine cabinet. Dry erase marker included. Stroke. of. genius. Ok, ok, maybe not genius, but man it's the little things that get me excited sometimes.

I took one of those magnetic plastic picture frames that I already owned and found a free yearly calendar online. I printed the calendar to the size of the frame (mine was 4x6).

(Please excuse the horrible, night time picture)

I also had this pen with an attached holder from a magnetic dry erase board that I already had. I wasn't using the pen for it, so I repurposed it by hotgluing it to the back of the frame.
***Update #1*** When I originally tested the dry erase marker on the plastic frame, it wiped off easily with a tissue. However, after using it for about a month now, it's not wiping off with a tissue anymore. A quick fix? Rubbing alcohol! Just dab some rubbing alcohol on the tissue and it will wipe right off.

For some reason, the magnet on the frame wasn't strong enough to hold onto the back of the medicine cabinet door (this was before I added the marker. It worked just fine where I was using it previously - weird). So, I had to hotglue a ton of the small, round magnets on the back.
***Update #2*** After using the hot glue to add the extra magnets, I discovered that the hot glue (since it goes on thick) made the height of the magnets un-even. I ended up taking them all off and used superglue instead. This worked out way better!

I even had to add more of the magnets after I took this picture. Hey, whatever works.

I added washi tape to the top and bottom to add a bit of color. Then, cut the calendar to size and slid it inside the frame. Easy peasy!

You just have to make sure that the frame will clear any of the shelves or items on the shelves. Otherwise, when you try closing the door, it won't stay shut. I had to rearrange a couple of things on the bottom shelf, but it wasn't a big deal.

Since the calendar is pretty small, I just mark a black dot on the date that I change my contacts. So far, this is making it much easier for me to keep track.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

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Replacing an Electrical Outlet

2013-04-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I went to use one of the electrical outlets in the kitchen and it didn't work. I thought, no big deal, I'll just press the reset button on it and it will start working again. No luck. I tried another outlet in the kitchen (the kind without the reset/test buttons) and same thing - it didn't work. Uh oh - no bueno! My dad happened to be visiting about a week after it happened, so we took a look at the fuse box and it appeared everything was fine. He then took a look at the outlet and determined that the outlet was no longer good and said I would need to replace it.

I had previously pinned a couple of good blog posts on how to change an outlet, so I used them as my guide. The main one I used was this one by Young House Love. The step-by-step pictures really helped!

I picked up a new GFCI outlet at Home Depot - I just happened to be there to get other stuff, so I didn't have anything written down as far as what exact outlet I needed. So, I grabbed one that looked right and figured if it was the wrong one, then I could return it and get the right one.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, TURN THE POWER OFF! Safety first!

So, this is what I started with. Take the decorative plate off.

Then, unscrew the outlet from the wall and carefully pull it out as much as you can.

Now, since I wasn't sure if I bought the right outlet or not, before I started to un-hook the wiring, I looked to see what outlet I had vs. the one I bought. You can see in the below picture that on the left side it says "125V, 60HZ, 20AMP". I compared that to my new one and bada bing! It was the right one. Lucky me!

I did look at the instructions that came with the outlet and they were a bit confusing.

So, I proceeded to follow what I had read online - you just match up the wires from where they were on the old one. You just unscrew those screws on the side, slide the bare wire in and then tighten the screw. Easy peasy.

There was also this wire underneath - it just wrapped around the screw. I think it's called the "ground" wire.

Once all the wires were connected, I turned the power back on and tested out the outlet by plugging something in and...WHAT?!? It didn't work. But, that little light in the bottom right hand corner was on! Hmmm...

Luckily, it didn't take me too long to figure it out. After looking at the directions again...

...I remembered that I had noticed that on the backs of the outlets it showed this.

See how is says "LINE" on the left (which was the bottom) and "LOAD" on the right (which was the top)? Well, these were flipped on the brand new outlet as you can see on the directions. So, I took the outlet out again and reversed the wiring (after I turned the power back off).

Once I did that, I screwed it back onto the wall and turned the power back on. Apparently the little light just means that all the wiring is hooked up and doesn't necessarily mean you've done it correctly. Hmph.

I hit the reset button and tested it out - BAM! It worked! I figured that the other outlet that wasn't working was connected to this outlet, so after I hit the reset button, I also tested that one out and it worked. Whew! Now, I don't have to use all my appliances in the cramped spot where the one working outlet was.

I would say that this took me about 1/2 hour to do from start to finish. The hardest part was dealing with the wiring because it was pretty thick, so they didn't move very easily. And pushing it back into the wall was a pain because of the thick wiring, but since that was the hardest thing of the whole project, I'm not going to complain. And the best part of it all? I didn't kill myself! Yay!

So, now I can say that I can do minimal plumbing and electrical work! It's really nice to be able to attempt both - it saves me money from hiring a plumber or electrician to do simple jobs. Just remember to be safe when attempting anything like this!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

DIY Fail

2013-04-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

While attempting to fix something on a project I had finished, this happened...

I have spared you the gore. Just to the right of my thumb, in that little crook, I accidentally stabbed myself with an X-Acto knife. I tried my best to work the knife in a direction away from other hand, but it slipped and stabbed me. And I had just broken the tip off of it, so I got stabbed with a non-pointy X-Acto knife! Oh. my. word. It's a pretty good cut and I thought I might need stitches, but hopefully I won't. So, basically that means, I will be laying off the projects for a day or two until this starts to seal up and heal (I don't want it to split open again - yikes!). I have some projects & posts already in the pipeline, so you'll see a couple of them come across - just know that those were "pre-stabbing". I guess this will force me to rest and maybe finally start the book I've been wanting to read!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Adventures in Gardening: Part 6

2013-04-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have shared my hydrangea woes in the past. A couple of years ago, I decided to tear out an ugly bottle brush bush (say that 5 times fast) and replace it with pink hydrangeas.

This is what they looked like when I first planted them.

It died after about a week, but then several months later, new leaves grew back, but no flowers.

Over the next two years, new leaves would come in - fuller and fuller each time, but never any new flowers. I really thought that it was never going to bloom again. I've read that depending on the hydrangea, new blooms can grow on "old wood" or "new wood" and this is dependent on how you prune them. So, I figured that maybe I just pruned it at the wrong time.

I still check for blooms whenever leaves come in and each time, I expect nothing. This is how it looked the other day.

As I took a closer look, I found these...

Oh YES! New blooms are coming in. And there are about 8 or 9 of them! I'm so excited and surprised that they made a comeback. Stay tuned for pictures from when they fully bloom...

P.S. I mentioned in my Spring Has Sprung! post, I mentioned that my Dutch Iris was making it's first appearance since I first put them in. Here is the first bloom that came in.

I'm hoping the others will come in soon.

My Gerbera Daisies came in nicely, except they are kind of pinched and squishy-faced. Not sure if it's because of the way they are facing the sun, but this is the first time they've bloomed in a couple of years, so I'll take what I can get. I love their coral coloring too.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Hashbrown Potato Casserole aka "Crack Potatoes"

2013-04-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to share this recipe for awhile - it's really good comfort food! I've seen different versions of this online, but I got this recipe many, many years ago and why mess with a good thing?
Matryoshka seemed to think it's good!

As a side note, the Matryoshka is actually a set of nesting measuring cups. Functional, space-saving, and cute!

Ingredients:
*Frozen hash brown cubed potatoes (1 2 lb bag)
*Sour cream (1 16 oz carton)
*Cream of chicken soup (1 10 3/4 oz can)
*Shredded cheese (2 cups - cheddar, sharp, or whatever you prefer)
*Corn flakes (2 cups)
*Butter, melted (1/4 cup)
*Chopped onions (1/2 cup) - optional (I skip the onions)

Supplies:
3 quart casserole dish or 9 x 13 glass pan

Prepare:
1) Thaw potatoes - the recipe said you can use them while still frozen, but this has never worked for me. I usually just put the bag of frozen potatoes in the refrigerator the night before I'm ready to make them.
2) Preheat oven at 350 degrees
3) Grease casserole dish

Directions:
1) Combine sour cream, soup, cheese, (and onions if you choose to use them) in a large bowl. Just stir it all together.

2) Add potatoes to mixture and stir it up.

3) Pour the entire mixture into your greased up casserole dish (or glass pan).

4) In a separate bowl, melt butter. I usually do about 10 or 15 seconds at a time until completely melted.

5) Add corn flakes to the melted butter and mix it up to give the corn flakes a good coating of the melted butter.

6) Sprinkle the corn flakes all over the top of the mixture in the pan.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let cool a bit. Then serve and enjoy.

I'm super hungry now just from looking at all these pictures. Yum!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

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Ikea Shopping

2013-04-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

I made an impromptu trip to Ikea and a few things caught my eye, so I thought I'd share.

I've been eyeballing these for awhile, but passed on them again. They're cute though.

After a few times of passing on buying them, this was actually on my list to finally buy the aqua version. And sure enough, they were out. Figures. But, they are way cute. I was tempted to buy the coral version, but passed since I was kind of mad that they were out of the aqua. Hmph!

Seriously?!? Why, why, why didn't they have this color 3 years ago when I bought several of these in pink for my Expedit in the craft room? Gah! The best color they had at the time was pink, so that's what I got. Don't get me wrong - pink is a nice color, but it's not really my thing. I was super tempted to replace them all with these, but I would need to buy 9 and at $5 a pop (which is actually pretty cheap), I didn't feel like parting with $45, especially when I wasn't planning on it. Hmmm...maybe another time.

And look at how cute these hanging pots are! I'm seriously loving all the aqua/turquoise, coral, and yellow that Ikea has available these days.

Even though I didn't buy any of these items, I will eventually share with you what I did buy...as long as it comes out good. :)

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

I've Been Featured!

2013-04-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Buzzfeed has featured my Pet Paw Stocking on their website. Check it out by clicking here.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Summer Wreath Re-Deux

2013-04-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

Last summer, I made this cute wreath using a foam pool noodle.

Turns out the pool noodle was not the best choice to use as a wreath form for this particular project. The jute & sisal I used was way too heavy and after only a little bit of time caused it to sag, giving it an egg shape.

It was even more "eggy" than this picture. Not good.

But, I really love this wreath and decided to try to save it. Using an Exacto knife, I carefully sliced all the shells and felt flowers off the front and sliced all the jute & sisal off the noodle. It was not fun, but I wanted to re-use all my supplies if I could. And, bonus, I was able to catch up on some tv and movies while I did it. Multi-tasking.

I bought this straw wreath form and got to hot glueing away.

Ahhh...much, much better. No more eggy wreath.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY
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Happy Easter!

2013-03-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Sally & I wish a Happy Easter to you and your families!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Bye Bye, Google Reader! (And Spam Comments)

2013-03-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else have a slight panic attack when you found out that Google Reader is going to the kick the bucket on July 1st?

I have certain blogs I read regularly and Google Reader was a convenient way for me to follow along. I like how it recognizes posts that I haven't read and also puts them in chronological order - it's hard to miss a post this way.

Since it will soon be a goner, I had to figure out what other "reader" would be good for me. After reading some other blogs, I've learned that these were some good options:

1) Bloglovin: It was easy to transfer the blogs I follow. I also like the format and how everything is listed by most recent. The only thing I don't like is when I want to Pin something from the blog I'm on, it won't allow me to and it won't allow me to click on the post's title (which normally would take you directly to the blog's specific post). I have to go back to the main Bloglovin page (where it shows the list of all the unread posts) and click on the blogs's name, then find the specific post on their blog. If anyone knows of an easier way, please let me know. I'm still learning the ins & outs of Bloglovin. Other than that, I'm liking Bloglovin so far and it's my main reader now.

2) Feedly: I've heard it's easy to transfer the blogs, but it wanted me to install a Safari and/or Firefox extender. Right now, I don't have any room on my ol' Macbook - it's lasted me about 7 years, but I already decided that this year is the year I get a new one. So, until then, I don't want to put any excess files on it. From what I can tell on their home page, it looks like a nice format, but since I didn't sign up, I couldn't play around with it. Maybe once I get my new Macbook this year, I'll sign up and take a looksey.

3) Linky Followers: So, far I'm finding that it's not user friendly at all. It looks like the site was created 10 years ago and never changed. I was not even able to figure out how to view blogs on there. Am I just not figuring it out correctly? Was I just too tired of checking out the different readers that my brain was all fuzzy? I still set up an account so that I could add a button to my blog page - I thought that might be easier for any regular Linky users to follow my blog. One of these days, I'll poke around on the site more to see if I was just missing something.

4) My Yahoo: Since I have an old Yahoo account, I decided to try this. I had to manually input the blogs I follow - I stopped at 5 or 6 since I got tired of it. There was no way I was going to manually transfer all those blogs I follow. Also, I noticed that it wasn't listing the posts in order of when they were posted (most recent) - it was listing alphabetically, which made it hard for me to determine which posts I hadn't read yet (it also doesn't indicate "unread" posts.

Also, I have seen some bloggers concerns over spam comments. I used to get them occasionally, but in the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that I have been getting a TON of them and it's really annoying. So, I may be turning on the word verification soon to see if that will help stop them. I know it's an inconvenience, but I think it will help - hopefully it will be just temporary.

I hope that you all continue to follow along in your reader of choice. There are several options on the right-hand side bar of my blog page so you can follow along - whether it's via a reader, via email subscription, or Twitter.

Have a nice weekend!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Spring Has Sprung!

2013-03-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's officially Spring, but I've heard that a lot of people in different parts of the country are still having winter weather. Here in Southern California, we've been having great weather in the high 60s/low 70s. For awhile, we'd been having cold & rain (and even snow here in my town!) one week and then the next week it would be in the high 70s/low 80s. It was like that off and on, but lately it's been very nice. I wish it would stay this way forever - ahhhhh....

I took a peak around my front and back yards and you can definitely see signs of Spring showing up.
My pink & white Salvia is already sprouting lots of little flowers (so far, they are mostly just pink).

All of my Calla Lilies are blooming - love these!

My neighbor's trees that overflow into my backyard are really pretty right now.

My Society Garlic bushes are just starting to bloom their little purple flowers.

My Hydrangea's leaves are coming in. I wonder if this will be the year the flowers will come back? Probably not.

I don't know the name of this guy. It blooms really pretty yellowy-orange flowers, but it (obviously) hasn't bloomed quite yet. This one didn't show up until after I had been in the house for a few years, so it was a bit of a surprise.

My Sweet Gum tree is on it's way. All of the old, dried & annoying, prickly seeds haven't even completely fallen off yet.

This looks like it's my last surviving Gerbera Daisy. This particular one hasn't bloomed any flowers in a couple of years, but it has 3 buds coming in! This little guy surprised me. The other two Gerbera Daisies in the other planter haven't even started growing in leaves yet, so I think they're goners. Poor guys - they tend to get lots of bugs eating them, so I'm surprised they bloomed and survived as long as they did.

This is one of my favorites. It's my purple Delphinium (Larkspur). They get really tall after the first couple of blooms. I thought this was a goner too. Last season, the last bloom started coming in and then one day all of the flower heads just disappeared like maybe something ate them (which is strange because where I live, we are pretty safe from critters eating any kind of blooms or garden veggies). I was very happy to see that it's making a comeback. It's really teeny tiny, but I'm glad to see that it's back.

These are my purple Dutch Irises. They were actually the first ones to die and the first ones to make their return. I wasn't sure if they would come back or not - I bought them last year and so it was their first go-around. They started growing back in a couple of months ago and I've been patiently waiting to see if the actual flower would also make their return and it looks like they are (in the middle).

I've noticed that bulb flowers do really well on my property, which is nice because I really like a lot of different flowers that happen to grow from bulbs. Eventually when I re-do all of my landscaping, a lot of these plants will get torn out (hopefully, I can find new owners for them) - like the society garlic (I have a lot of these and they grow like crazy and spread), the pink & white salvia which also grows like crazy, and some of the other little trees growing around my property. I don't have the best green thumb, so I'm going to try to stick with things that grow easily (like the bulbs) and that are easy to care for (I'm thinking, lots of succulents and also lots of Birds of Paradise, maybe some Banana trees, and tropical type of flowers & plants). But, for now, I'll just enjoy watching these guys grow.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Liebster Awards!

2013-03-24T23:02:00.002-07:00

Over the last few months, I was nominated for 3 Liebster awards! Thank you to Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate, Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog, and Kae at Englishrose2 for the honor! What is a Liebster Award? It's given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. In German, Liebster means: sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome - or at least, that's what I've been told. ;)

The rules:
1) Tell 11 random facts about yourself
2) Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you
3) Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to & link them in your post
4) Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to
5) Go back to their page & tell them about the award
6) No tag backs

Now, I'm going to be a very bad blogger and not do #3-5. It's not that I don't appreciate the award, but most of the blogs I read/follow have more than 200 followers and the ones I thought about giving the award to, have already received the Liebster and more than once! Because I don't have a ton of time right now to search for 11 nominees and already too much time has passed since receiving these awards, I'm going to cheat. I will say that anyone who takes the time to blog and share part of their lives and talent with us are wonderful! Is that overly cheesy? ;) Yes, but it's true, though!

11 Random Facts About Me:
1) I'm 1/2 Thai, 1/4 Italian, and who knows what else (I've heard I'm also part Cherokee).
2) I have lots of siblings, but I'm technically the only child of my mom & dad. All my siblings are technically half-siblings or step-siblings, but I love them all just the same.
3) I love to travel! I've been all over the US and various places in Canada, Mexico, Thailand, and Italy.
4) I have A LOT of family in Thailand (aunts, uncles, cousins), including my grandmother. I met her for the first time when I was 25, but not able to have a conversation with her since I don't speak Thai. It was very emotional meeting her though. I also have family in Italy, although they are more distant relatives (my dad's cousins, etc) who I've never met and they probably don't even know I exist.
5) I love Disneyland and would love to visit all the Disney parks all over the world one day. So far, I've made it to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. I almost made it to the Hong Kong park, but it didn't quite happen.
6) I hate coffee & don't like tea. I wish I liked tea though.
7) My "coffee" is Coke. It's very bad, I know, but it keeps me going. If I really need a pick-me-up, Mt. Dew it is.
8) I was in both NYC and Washington DC about a week before Sept. 11th. It was a total shock when I woke up that morning to the news that both the World Trade Center & Pentagon had been crashed into by terrorists knowing that I had been inside both buildings the week before.
9) I'm a picky eater. I absolutely hate it, but can't help it.
10) I'm a true California girl - born and raised.
11) Supposedly, I'm related to the infamous gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, William Floyd.

11 Questions from Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate:
1) What has surprised you most about your blogging journey?
That I've actually stuck with it for so long!

2) If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
I think this was the hardest question of the bunch since there's no song out there that completely is "me". But, for the sake of answering this, I would have to pick "Under Construction" by No Doubt. There's actually lots of No Doubt songs that I can relate to - Gwen Stefani truly writes from the heart. When I'm in a truly happy place, I think "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley sums it up.

3) If you were given free airfare, where would you travel?
I've actually won airfare from work before! Since I was limited on where I could go and when, I chose Florida - the Keys & Miami. I always wanted to go to the Keys (I'm a Jimmy Buffett fan), so I was able to check that off my list. But, if I was given free airfare with no restrictions? I would choose England & France. Or maybe Australia. :)

4) What is your biggest fear?
I have a lot of nightmares about my teeth falling out, so I'm guessing it's that. lol

5) Where would you be most excited to receive a $100 gift card from?
Home Depot, Target, Amazon, Lowe's - any of these 4 places!

6) What hobbies do you enjoy?
DIY, crafts, crocheting, scrapbooking (I have way less time for this now, though), traveling - pretty much all the stuff you see on my blog. :)

7) Which movie could you quote nearly every line from?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

8) What does your ideal Friday night consist of?
Depends on what's going on.

9) What was your favorite Halloween costume growing up?
I would say it was my Ewok costume in elementary school. Do you remember those cheap plastic costumes - the masks were just the face with the elastic around the back to hold it onto your head and the actual costume was plasticy too? Ahhh, memories! It's too bad I don't have a picture!

10) What's one of your most cherished memories?
Going to Disneyland for my 6th birthday. I still have vivid memories of it. My mom & dad were still together and we all went with a family that we were close to. I rode with them in their car on the way there and they gave me my present - a Mickey Mouse Colorforms set. Do you remember those? I loved that set and it got a lot of use!

11) What have you always wanted to learn how to do?
Carpentry! And I plan on learning this year.

11 Questions from Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog
1) Why do you blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house. So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.

2) What is your color crush right now?
Aqua/Teal/Turquoise - I've been loving these colors for the last few years. When I first started incorporating it in my decor, it wasn't as popular and harder to find things in these colors, but they're everywhere now and I'm loving it!
I also like Coral and it goes well with the aqua/teal/turquoise. So far, I haven't had too much of this color incorporated into my decor, but I plan to do more with it.

3) Who do you look up to most in your life?
My mom.

4) What is your favorite childhood memory?
Trips to Disneyland.

5) What were you like in high school?
I was shy & an introvert. I'm very different now - if I had my personality now while I was in high school, I would have probably had a whole different high school experience.

6) Describe yourself in 3 words:
Funny, easygoing, organized

7) Who is your celebrity crush?
Easy! Johnny Depp - 29 years and counting! (Holy moly!) I was 9 when "Nightmare on Elm Street" first came out and saw him in it (seriously, why was I allowed to watch that at that age?). All I could think was "why does the cute boy have to get killed?!?!". And watching him in "21 Jumpstreet" when I was a teenager sealed the deal. :)

8) If money were not an object, describe your dream home.
A rustic, beach cottage.

9) When I'm not blogging, you can find me DIY'ing or crafting while watching Netflix.

10) I cannot live without my ??. I really couldn't answer this! I have no idea!

11) What has been your proudest moment in your life so far?
Being able to buy my own home.

11 Questions from Kae at Englishrose2
1) What's your favourite season & why?
Fall - hands down. I like it because the summer heat is just starting to die down and it means the start of winter is soon to come. The leaves turn pretty colors. And most of all, my favorite holiday, Halloween, is in the fall!

2) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I was taller. :)

3) Who inspires you?
Lots of people and all for various reasons.

4) If you could go back in time and spend 24 hours with one person, who would it be? Why? And what would be the first question to them?
My mom - she's no longer with us and it would be nice to spend another day with her.

5) What did you want to be when you was a child?
I wanted to be an archaeologist. I'm still very interested in it and history and some of my favorite vacation outings are going to ancient ruins (I got to do this in Thailand and in Italy when I went to Pompeii). I also made sure to visit the King Tutankhamen exhibit when it was out here in L.A. years ago.

6) As I like to blog about anything and everything, whose blog would you recommend I follow?
There's lots of great blogs out there, but here's a handful of my favorites: Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Organizing, The Lettered Cottage, House of Smith's, The Ugly Duckling House, Thrifty & Chic

7) What do you dislike the most?
Hmmm, I don't really have an answer to this.

8) If money was no object, what is the one thing you'd buy that you've always wanted?
I would probably buy a bigger house with more property and for sure with an in-ground pool. I would also buy a truck so I wouldn't have to bug other people to help with large purchases. :) But, mostly, I would help out family and friends.

9) Did you have a nickname at school? What was it and why?
My nickname is Chrissy - my real name being Christine. Most of my family call me "C" or "CC" and a lot of friends call me Chris. I have various other nicknames that usually start for random reasons.

10) Why did you start to blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house. So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.

11) What's the most significant change you've made to your blog?
Not too long ago, I started allowing ads to appear on my blog. I've also started to include more recipes.

Wow - some of those were really hard questions! Thanks again to Brenda, Abby, and Kae for the nomination - it's truly appreciated!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Linen Closet Reorganization

2013-03-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

One of the projects on my 2013 list was to re-organize the linen closet in the hallway. For the most part, it was decently organized, but some things still needed a bit of tweakin'. Also, whenever I finally remodel both bathrooms, I knew some things would need to be moved into the linen closet, so I needed to make a bit of room in there.

Since I recently bought and installed this 5 tier metal shelf in the garage, this kick-started how I would be able to re-organize in a few different areas of the house & garage.

I started out by taking a look in the linen closet and deciding what didn't belong or what I could move out of there. Even though bed sheets are technically linens, I decided to move them out of the closet. I only had one set in there anyways - all the others are in my old armoire that is in the guest room closet. Also, there were some office supplies in there, house decor not in use, utility type items (lightbulbs, etc). I decided that all of those would get a new home in a more appropriate spot.

Then, I went through all of the items and got rid of anything that was expired or that I hadn't used in a long time or that I would never use. Everything else that I knew I would keep, I put them into like categories and got to organizing.

***Please don't mind the bad pictures. The hallway that the closet is in gets horrible lighting (which resulted in having to use the *gasp!* flash). It's also in a small hallway, so hard to get straight pictures (you can see in the pictures below how the wall across from the linen closet is very close, so it's hard to take pictures). I really, really tried!***

Before: Some baskets and bins helped to organize the space, but I needed more.

I also used wire shelving to allow for more use of the space. But, as you can see on the 2nd shelf in the below picture, it was hard to get to the sheets under the towels because of the legs on the wire shelves. Such a pain to get to them!

After: I moved the beach towels & summer gear to the top shelf. They get used, but not as often as most other things in the closet. I also moved one of the wire shelves to the 3rd shelf to fit more items there and not have to move all kinds of things just to get to the items. I left the home decor basket on the 2nd shelf for now - it will eventually get moved probably to the garage, but there is enough space left right now, so it stayed.

I also made a label for my basket of medicines/first aid stuff. You can see how I made these labels here. And yes - I'm aware that "MEDS" is crooked and looks like it's walking down stairs. :)

The top shelf of the bottom cabinet held all of my candle & Scentsy items. I had some in a shoebox and the rest were just sitting out in the open on one of the wire shelves - it made it tricky to get to things without knocking other things over. I had some extra wooden handwoven baskets, so I used two of the smaller ones to put all my good-smellin' stuff in there - it also makes it easier to just pull out the baskets and grab what I want.
I also travel a lot and all of my travel items are right next to the candle baskets on the top shelf. I just grab it and go.

On the 2nd shelf, I stacked all of my bath towels on the left. I utilized one of the wire shelves for all the smaller towels - hand towels and wash cloths. Since it's used for the smaller towels, the towels are easy to get to without the wire shelf actually being in the way.

I have lots of little items that I've gathered over time that would come in good use, but I never used myself - toothbrushes & floss from dentist visits (I prefer specific brands), lotion, shampoo, conditioner from hotels, etc. I gathered all of these items together and put them in a box for guests (bottom shelf) - this way it would be easier for guests (and me) to find in the closet without them having to dig through everything.

Here is a quick before & after...

BEFORE (top cabinet)

AFTER (top cabinet)

BEFORE (bottom cabinet)

AFTER (bottom cabinet)

It's not super cute like other linen closets I've seen online and on blogs, but it serves the purpose and is very functional. I was aiming not to spend money and use what I already have - mission accomplished! I'm sure that I will eventually find that the linen closet may need more tweaking, but for now these have been very useful changes for me and will save me a bit of time and frustration.

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY
Linked up to:

i heart organizing's Linen & Loo link party

Amazing Brownies!

2013-03-16T21:54:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm aware that I've been slacking on the blog posts. I have a couple of posts in the pipeline that still need to be finished. And I've been going back and forth between projects, so they're not ready for sharing yet. All in due time...

But today, I want to share the most amazing brownies I made the other day. I got the recipe from my friend, Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate.

I took them to work to share with my co-workers and they were a big hit. So, so yummy! Pop on over to her blog to check out how to make them (and you'll see her version is much more chocolatey than mine - apparently I'm not good at drizzling chocolate so I gave up after the 3rd time getting chocolate on my shirt). I think these will be my new go-to item for bringing to potlucks and parties. :)

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Reorganization: In Progress

2013-03-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy March! (How in the world is it March already?!?) I had a super busy February, so not much got done around here as far as projects go. But, I'm back into the swing of things! In between other projects, I've been in the process of re-organizing. For the most part, I'm usually pretty organized, but there are lots of things that can use a bit tweaking. I don't have a ton of storage space, so it was a matter of figuring out where to start.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw that Target had their 5-tier wire shelving units on sale, so I snagged one up. I instantly knew that this would be my "starting point". Once I got that up and installed in the garage, I could move some things out of the house and out into the garage and therefore freeing up storage space inside the house. This way, I could also store things in more appropriate places and where it makes sense for them to be.

I got this puppy up over the weekend and now am in the process of re-organizing the linen closet, cleaning closet, and pantry. Once I have this done, I'll be sharing more here. It may come in small stages, but stay tuned!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY

Reorganizing Under the Kitchen Sink

2013-02-25T03:06:00.002-08:00

Oh boy - all of my project plans went out the door this weekend. I've been fighting a cold, so didn't end up getting much on my list done. I did manage to get a small project done - I reorganized under my kitchen sink, which was spurred on by my idea to "reorganize" my trash & recycle bins.

For the last few years, my trash & recycle bins have been living right here in the kitchen, next to the archway that goes into the dining room. This was the only real "free" spot for them in the kitchen and while the trash can is nice, the recycle bin isn't. They weren't in the way too much since the archway was big enough, but sometimes they managed to get in the way.

Then, I discovered this.

Via Bed, Bath & Beyond

It's exactly what I was looking for, but with a $179.99 price tag (even with a 20% off coupon, it would still come out to be just over $145!), there was no way I could justify shelling out that much money for it - there's just way too many other things that I could buy with that! So, I started thinking of alternative ways of placing my trash & recycle bins. I had previously thought of putting the recycle bin under the sink, but for whatever reason, I didn't. It's possible one of the reasons is my ant problem. I considered this again and decided that in all the time I have had the bin out in the open, I've never seen ants in the trash (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!). I'm always really good about rinsing any soda cans out and most other things that go in there are cardboard or paper or bottles with lids. So, I decided to give it a try.

But, first things first - if I was going to put it under the kitchen sink, that meant reorganizing under there. This is what it looked like "before".

Not too bad, but definitely no room for my little recycle bin. So, I took everything out and wiped the bottom of the cabinet clean.

Since I already kept it pretty organized under there, I didn't need to do much purging. However, the black watering can & red hummingbird feeder got the boot. They will be moved to the garage with the other garden stuff (that will get reorganized once I put together the metal shelving unit I bought - that was supposed to be my other project this weekend, but I didn't get to it). I first put the recycle bin in the only spot that would fit - the only spot without pipes. Then, I put everything else back.

I bought that big lazy susan at the Container Store years ago for the sole purpose of using it under the sink and it's worked out perfectly. You can see that there's a piece of black wood in the middle (between the doors) and the lazy susan is perfect for the spot behind it because all I have to do is turn it to easily reach what I need. That bottle of bleach will mostly like get moved to garage once I rearrange my laundry area in the garage. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Also, I've had the recycle bin under the sink for a couple of days now and so far so good - no ants (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!). I'll continue to rinse out any cans and keep as much non-food & non-drink residue out of there. That's the last thing I want to do is clean up a bunch of ants under the sink where it's hard to get under. Ugh.

Once I moved the recycle bin, the trash can was all by it's lonesome. I decided to move it next to the dishwasher. Yes, it's blocking that little bottom cabinet, but I don't get in there that much. I do use 2 appliances in there sometimes, but when the pantry gets reorganized (baby steps, remember?) at least one of those appliances, if not both, will get moved to the pantry. I do use that little drawer often and it still opens without hitting the trash can. Also, I can open the dishwasher without hitting it either. Score!

So, here's a before & after (let's face it, these aren't the prettiest pictures, but it'll show you the difference a quick rearrangement will do):

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I think this post took me longer to write than to actually do it. Seriously. And it's an awfully long post about moving trash cans and stuff under a sink. But, it's nice to have those out of the way now - gives the kitchen a cleaner look. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Originally posted by: Adventures in DIY

Linked up to:

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I Heart Organizing's Kitchen Month link party

Smells Like Disneyland in My House!

2013-02-19T23:41:00.000-08:00

Life is starting to get back to normal - I had house guests for most of the last 2 weeks, so I decided to halt all projects until after they left. I will be starting up with some small projects soon and am a bit anxious to get those started. Sometimes I just want to be done with all projects, but if there aren't any projects for too long, I get the itch to get things going again. :)

Today, I wanted to share this with you. My brother got me an awesome popcorn machine for my birthday last year. I didn't want to deal with the clean-up, so I didn't use it right away and next thing I know almost a year has gone by. Yikes. My awesome bloggy friend, Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate inspired me to use my machine with her super cute Popcorn & Pixie Dust post and I thought that it would be the perfect time to try it out while my guests were here.

Like that action photo? :) In addition to getting me the machine, he also got me popcorn bags and packets of popcorn kernels & oil (yep - he's an awesome big brother!). Now, my favorite popcorn of all time is Disneyland's popcorn. I love me tons of butter on my popcorn at the movie theater, but Disneyland's doesn't use the extra butter poured on and it is still somehow the best. One of my best friends works at Disneyland and she found out that they use coconut oil when they make it, so we figured that's what made it special.

So, I noticed on the kernel packets, it says the oil is coconut oil! Oh. my. word. This was the best popcorn I have ever made at home. It tasted just like Disneyland popcorn!! In fact, I had gone outside for a second and when I went back inside the house I said "it smells just like Disneyland in here!". Sooooooo yummy! I would suggest you try that brand of popcorn if you get a chance. You don't have to have one of these machines to make it, although using it is very fun!

And in case you're wondering, the metal kernel popper inside the machine is a bit of a pain to clean, but not too bad. It takes a bit of work, but you can get it clean - just follow the directions. :)

Originally posted by: Adventures in DIY