The Happy Married Couple

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

2011-09-23T09:43:00.000-04:00

Another Friday, another great group of fun crafts for the weekend.

My big project for the weekend is to make a bed for our new doggie! I am going to take two older pillows that we don't use, and measure them for a cover. The plan is to use velcro on one end, so that it can easily be taken apart and washed. I plan on hitting up the discount fabric section of my local JoAnns & getting something comfy for our newest addition:

Here are some other project that everyone can try out this weekend. Some of these I personally plan on doing as well!

1. Embroidered Portraits
2. Make a frame for your simple mirror
3. Make your own Missoni Throw - which I have already linked on my Pintrest
4. A dye-dipped basket shade
5. Stencil your upholstery
6. "Cross-stitch" your Glasswares! I pinned this & will be doing this in some fashion. LOVE!
7. Make your own Wood Cutting Boards

Check out the links to all of these crafts on CasaSugar

Check out my Pintrest Account HERE

And, most importantly, have a super weekend of DIY!

Overview: How we Save Money

2011-09-21T11:54:00.000-04:00

While Matt has been finishing up school (one year left, yay!) and I have been working at a job, where the status of whether we are going to get a paycheck or not changes weekly, we have had to be very careful with our money. This has changed how we live drastically. Before, when we "needed" something, we just bought it, but we haven't been able to operate that way for a while. And, because we are eeking ever so closely to 3 years in our current financial situation, I thought I might let everyone in on a few of our tips on how we save money every month.

First, I can not overlook the fact that we have amazing families. We were given a vehicle, and were given money for Christmas the past few years, which has helped drastically. We also got a large tax return last year, being that Matt get's tax breaks for going back to school, and while I was on reduced salary, I was paying less in taxes. We also got married. Between those three items, we were able to put a little money away. Of course there are always things that pop up - repairs on the older vehicle, dental work, hospital visits, home repair, tuition... lots of things that nip away at that little savings egg. But I wanted to share how we make the paycheck work on a weekly basis.

Our House Payment:

Photo Credit: Pixel Reborn

Four and a half yeas ago, when we were looking to buy a house, we decided to go for a more affordable home. When we started looking, we were both working, but decided to make sure we weren't spending more per month on a mortgage than we could afford with only one of us being employed. This has turned out to be a huge help.

We set up an account at the bank that holds our mortgage. We have direct deposit set up for our home account, where it withdraws money from payroll, then the bank withdraws our mortgage payment each month from that account. This means that a set amount is taken out of my paycheck every two weeks - even on "extra paycheck" months. We also "round up" our mortgage payment amount, so every month a few extra dollars wind up in the account. So in the past four and a half years, we have saved up 6 mortgage payments. This is a huge help should I become unemployed at anytime.

Utilities:

Photo Credit: Here

To put it simply, in the summer we tend to sweat a bit more than average, and in the winter, we are a little colder than average! Because heating and cooling bills are our highest utility bills, they should be addressed. In the summer, we only turn on the air conditioning, when the temperature in the evening is too uncomfortable to sleep, and when we do turn it on, we only turn the temperature down to 78 or 79 degrees. Just enough to get rid of the humidity. We have multiple fans around the home to keep air moving, and screens on windows and doors in order to get good cross ventilation. In the winter we use a programmable thermostat that allows us to turn down the temperature when we are sleeping or away from the house for the day. We have the temperature at its higest in the evening, when we are downstairs hanging out between dinner and bedtime, and we keep all of those temperatures on the cool side - 58 while sleeping, 60 when we are at work/school, and anywhere from 62-64 when we are lounging. We also use heaters to provide extra warmth, have an electric blanket on the bed, and dress in warmer clothing to keep warm. There also tend to be lots of warm blankets sprinkled around the house for a chilling evening.

We have done other things TO our home to help cut costs of utilities. We made draft blockers for the bottom of all of the doors, and applied weatherstripping around the sides of all of the doors in our home. This does a great job of preventing drafts through the doors. We will plastic windows for now, but I am going to start making/ buying thermal window treatments to make sure that the cold air coming through the glass of the windows doesn't make it into the room. We made a heavy-weight curtain and placed it at the bottom of the stairs, so that the warm air does not escape up to the second floor, the attic and out of the roof. We went around the house, and caulked any open joints to prevent cold air from spilling into the walls.

One thing we intend to do, when we remove the carpeting, is to seal the joint between the baseboards and the floor, as the cold that makes it's way into the walls, spills out onto the floor through these openings. We keep the door to the basement closed, and leave the oven ajar after cooking to lend additional warmth to the downstairs living areas.

As far as other utilities are concerned, we take shorter showers, use the water collected in our dehumidifier in the basement to water our plants, use our cell phones for long distance calls rather than having a long distance plan on our phone, and settle for slower internet speed. Our only real splurge is on cable, but we record shows & movies, buy popcorn, and avoid having to go to the theater all that often! It does save some money.

Groceries:

Photo Credit: Here

I would NOT consider myself an "extreme coupon-er" but I do spent time clipping coupons. We get the Sunday paper for their ads & their coupons. We use coupons.com to get additional coupons. We also get some coupons as mailers that are sent to our home. Combining coupons with weekly deals saves us about $850 dollars a year (at least according to the bottom of our receipts it does). That is on average, about $16 dollars a week, or $64 a month of savings. In a future post I will go into more detail about my couponing & meal planning, and how we save money doing this.

We shop at a grocery store that has a lot of perks. They have a store card that gives you the weekly sales. For every $50 you spend in groceries, you get $.10 off per gallon of gas at their gas stations. Then when you buy gas, you can get discounts on their groceries. They might mark up their groceries a bit for this service, but I have shopped around a lot. The prices are NOT that different.

We also eat almost every meal at home. I pack a lunch every day, and we eat dinner at home every night. Matt purchases lunch on campus three days a week, but brings beverages and snacks with him. We traditionally spend about $160-$200 bi-monthly at the grocery store. This breaks down to $40-$50 per person, per week in groceries. Considering that is usually about 20 meals for me and 17 for Matt, that's pretty good in my opinion. It averages out to about $2-$3 per meal, including beverages.

We make things that you tend to find pre-packaged. This is a big one! Four veggie burgers are $4. That's a dollar a burger. I will go and buy beans, veggies, bread crumbs, eggs and other ingredients & make burgers that cost about $.40 per burger. Instead of buying already made burritos - family sized for $15 we buy flour tortillas, chicken, cheese, veggies, beans & salsa for a fraction of the price, make a large serving & freeze extras. These are great for lunches, quick dinners, or snacks later. This has saved us a LOT of money, plus we can control what goes into the food, no added sugar, salt or preservatives.

I also troll through Target, CVS, Walgreens & RiteAid ads looking for deals on toiletries. We get most of them when they are on sale at the grocery store because of the Fuel Perks, but occasionally you will find a pretty great deal elsewhere that you can't pass up. We try to keep a decent stock of paper products, toiletries, and canned/ jarred items on hand as well. Also, BUY GENERIC! Check out ingredients to make sure that they don't throw in a bunch of high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, but I have found that most generic brands are exactly the same as the name brand... sometimes rice is rice, regardless.

Shopping:

I try to stick with the following mantra: Don't buy anything if it's not on sale, or you don't have a coupon. We get mailings all the time for clothing stores, shoe stores, etc. and we try to wait to buy something until those coupons come. This goes for oil changes for the car, home improvement supplies, decor, linens, just about whatever I can get on sale, I will.

Getting the Sunday newspaper and the ads are helpful, but most stores have their weekly flyers on their websites as well. I also encourage you to sign up for email alerts at your favorite stores, you tend to get coupons in your email, especially around your birthday. We set up an email account where we just send all of those emails, so they don't clutter our regular inbox, but whenever we need something, we check in on that account.

To be honest, we haven't done a lot of shopping lately. We will wear our shoes until they are no longer wearable, take care of the clothes we have and only replace as necessary. Speaking personally, I have enough clothing, and while I might WANT a new dress, I don't need it. This has probably been MY hardest adjustment.

Decorating:

Photo Credit: Here

Seeing as how I really love to decorate and have a comfortable home, making room for decor in our budget is important to me, so I find a way to do it as cheaply as possible. And lets be honest, not everyone can live in an empty, boring house, you need some stuff. One of my favorite secrets, is finding some amazing sales & items at your local Craft store - a place that the average person tends not to know about. You can get beautiful things there at a fraction of the price from the local big box store. Go there first to look for vases, holiday decor, picture frames, and other misc. decorating supplies. I also received a sewing machine as a gift, so now I sew pillows, drapes, napkins, table runners and other simple things. Sometimes buying some fabric and thread is WAY cheaper than a finished item. I read a lot of blogs and try to DIY wall art, unique vases, and other items. Of course I weigh the expense of just buying an item vs. actually making it first. My next DIY projects are closet shelves and a couple dog beds!

I will only buy things on severe discount when it comes to decoration - I will never buy anything full price. I shop after the holidays for any decor for the following year, I shop the clearance aisles at my favorite stores, and I will not buy anything that doesn't already have a purpose - I quit buying things I like unless I know how and where it will be used.

Gifts:

Photo Credit: Here

When it comes to our gifts to each other, Matt & I have scaled back, and that's fine with me. My birthday is in November, and Matt's is in February. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years are in between. So we decide to take a previously agreed upon sum of money and buy something that we need. Two years ago we got a couch, last year we got a new TV - this is our big splurge every year & it's a gift to US, so we don't waste a ton of money getting each other things that we THINK the other person wants.

When it comes to gifts for others, coupons, coupons and more coupons. Have a set budget of what you want to spend, and you can get more for your buck with coupons. Bed Bath & Beyond sends 20% off & $5 off coupons routinely & that store is MADE for gifts. Also, watch for times at Target, when you can buy a certain amount of items and get a free $5 gift card!

This whole process has taught me one thing, previous to our current financial situation, we spent TOO much money, and could have been saving more. We don't need every thing we want, we don't need a lot of stuff, fancy meals, fancy labels or the newest gadgets. Yes, it is bad when you need a new pair of shoes, and don't feel that you should really buy them, or you spend months trying to find the right shoe at the right price...which is trying and difficult. But I have learned that while all of life's conveniences are NICE, they aren't always necessary, and it's a lesson worth learning.

As we move forward out of this recession, and we are both gainfully employed, we will take the lessons we have learned and start saving. We will live in a more simple manner, and more economic way, and while we will upgrade the 15 year old car, and the cheaper house eventually, we will never live beyond our means. We will never spend like there will always be money, because we know now, that it is not always the case.

The Making of the Lists

2011-08-31T09:24:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone. It's been a while since I have checked in. We have been going through some financial issues lately, which unfortunately has made me shy away from the blog. We have windows to fix, teeth to fix, house parts to fix & a new semester of college for my husband - which now that we are married, he gets FAR less financial assistance.

So we have been living pretty tight lately, forcing me to put a lot of projects on the shelf. I haven't wanted to spend the money. So what I wanted to do last night was to sit down, and put together a list of things to do to the house. Because I am the queen of lists, it helped me to organize my thoughts, and also to start having something to "check" things off of. While the list is overwhelming, there are certain things that we can start doing to check off the list, that have little or no cost associated with them.

So I decided that I wanted to take the list public - make myself start accomplishing things, so that our house can get "done", so that we have something to enjoy for the next few years, while we start to squirrel away pennies to save for our dream house.

I also want to start getting into showing everyone how we are doing things on a budget, how we are saving money, so that all those other people out there, who are struggling to make ends meet, can see that there is a way to achieve your goals without spending a lot of money.

But now we must get on to the good stuff...

THE LIST

The Living Room

1. Pull up the carpet

2. Refinish the floors (if required)

3. Make sliding "c" end tables

4. Hang artwork/photos

5. New Lamps

6. Refinish end tables

7. Rug(s)

8. Reorganize shelves on either side of fireplace

9. Silicone/caulk joint between baseboard & floor, once exposed

10. Acquire bookcase with glass doors to store movies

11. Clean out fireplace

12. Make Birch candles for fireplace (as seen HERE)

13. Find better location for Game Board & organize coffee table

14. Build second shelf in coat closet (above existing shelf)

15. Organize coat closet - making room for vacuums & shoes!

16. Purge old coats

17. Buy new large plant for room

The Dining Room

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (if required)

3. Fix broken sash cord in window

4. Repaint trim after window repair

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboard & floor, once exposed.

6. Make new burlap table runner

The Kitchen

1. New Flooring - Rubberized Vinyl Sheet Flooring (with stamped tile pattern)

2. New Countertops (decide material)

3. Matching Pulls/Knobs for all cabinet doors

4. New Dishwasher

5. New Fridge (it will die in the not too distant future - better put it on the list!)

6. Smaller Microwave, maybe even one that can be mounted over the stove to give more counter space

7. Bench for mudroom

8. Window treatment for back door

9. Paint back door

The Half Bath

1. New shoe mold @ tile

2. Fix broken tiles (we are having an issue where the floor is moving a bit too much. It cracked two of our tiles under the toilet. We aren't going to fix it now, because it isn't obvious, but we will have to fix it eventually)

3. Finish attaching sink to wall with longer screw & silicone around edge of sink bowl.

4. Artwork & Baskets to finish decorating

The Third Bedroom

(I don't have an image for this room, but will edit it soon with a picture. This room is now our closet, but will eventually be a nursery, when we decide to have kids)

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. Remove closet door & build two shelves above rod (the closet door is right behind the entry door - too many doors in such a little space)

7. Make curtains for 2 windows & closet door

8. New Furniture

9. Fix Broken window & dropped sash

Guest Bedroom

(Again, no photo here, and not a lot of work to do)

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. New curtains for two windows

Master Bedroom

(Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea. Ignore the sheets - we need new sheets, in fact, lets make that number 1, shall we?)

1. New Sheets!

2. Pull up carpet

3. Refinish floors (as required)

4. Rugs - including maybe making a couple of t-shirt rugs (example HERE)!

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboard & floor

6. New Wardrobe, like the one seen HERE at IKEA

7. New bench @ window

8. Finish building nightstand, paint

9. Decorate nightstands

10. Enlarge existing closet opening & case opening

11. Make new curtains for 2 windows & closet (closet curtains are temporary)

12. New bi-fold closet doors

13. Fix broken window & dropped sash

Hallway

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. New bookshelf

7. Photo Wall

Outside

1. Paint railings at front porch

2. Paint porch floor

3. Replace any warped porch pieces (all three porches)

4. Repair damaged siding on garage

5. Paint garage

6. Finish cleaning up the planting beds & move plants around

7. Patch issue in roof over mudroom

8. Table for front porch & back patio

This is the bulk of the work that we'd like to do. Eventually, we'd like to put baseboard heaters in the finished attic space, so that it can technically be called a bedroom. We also have some cleaning and organizing to do in the basement. But that is our list. Daunting, no?

The goal will be to start going room to room & crossing things off. Unfortunately because my mind is always working, a few things might get added too.

Hopefully we can get started on some of the easier ones first. Like pulling up the carpet in the bedrooms - where the floor doesn't have to look perfect right away. I would really like to get started in our bedroom, since there is quite a bit of work to do there. We'll see what happens next!

A Little Curb Appeal

2011-07-20T11:42:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, our yard has gotten a little out of control. The sod, and the weeds are literally destroying any type of "planting bed" that we have in our yard. This is in all beds, one in the front, one along the side and two in the back. So we decided that we would take care of this issue in stages... one bed at a time. And because our front yard is the one that most people see, it's the one that we decided to tackle first.

Here is what the bed looked like at the beginning of this quest:

Note that there is no visible boundary between the yard and the bed...

Where is the bed exactly?, you ask... well it is just in front of the two trees, has a bit of a bend to it, and currently has hostas & lilies between it. Impossible to tell, I know. So Matt and I set to work to fix this issue. Of course by 9am when we started, it was already in the low 80's, so conditions weren't exactly ideal, but we worked our butts off - and I mean that quite literally.

I used the shovel seen in this photo, and Matt used a pick axe (which was by far the superior tool) to make this bed better. I scooped out the perimeter with the shovel, and then we went to work removing the sod and the weeds.

First problem that we encountered, this bed is filled with rocks, from where, I don't know, but the axe helped a lot in this area. Second problem, we dug up somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 small bulbs, most of which I expect are either grape hyacinths or crocuses... Problem number three was that it became very clear that previous to this layout that we inherited, there was a great deal of ground cover in this area, as we encountered a TON of spidery roots just under the surface. I was annoyed that the bulbs were planted so close to the surface, as I'm pretty sure I pulled up a few daffodil bulbs as well, and quickly replaced them. I am planning, once the weather has cooled to throw the small bulbs back in the ground and see what happens in the spring!

Our goal was to create a completely manageable, and cheaper "trench bed", where no landscaping border was required, and no edging of the lawn would be required. This will make the upkeep of this area much easier for us. It also made the project cheaper as bricks, wood, or any other misc. landscaping border techniques can add considerable cost to your project.

To do this we made a very clear line between the grass and the dirt, digging down around 3 inches to make an obvious distinction. After we removed the sod and weeds and tilled the soil a bit, we added two bags of hummus and 8 bags of topsoil to the bed. We mixed the new soil in with the old, and mounded it up toward the back, maintaining a "trench" at the front. This makes it easy to prevent over watering, it also allows you to put the wheel of the lawn mower here for easy trimming.

So after several hours, the use of dozens of tools from our garage, 10 bags of dirt & at least 4 water bottles full of ice water, this is what we had done (note that the shadow of the trees make it harder to see):

You can see an edge, and even dirt! Where before all you saw were weeds and grass. And there is an extra shot of the trench so you can see our plan. Next year we will plan what we want to plant where. I think adding a little color under the burning bushes is necessary, however it has to be something that complements the bright red color that they will become in the next few months!

I am happy with the change, and looking forward to working on all the other beds in the yard!

What curb appeal changes have you been making to your homes?

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

2011-07-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to getting on track and getting over some of the craziest busy summer ever! I'd like to take a break in my crazy week, and subsequent weekend to bring you Casa Sugar's Weekend DIY. I always love the projects, so I thought I'd get back to posting them for you all again!


DIY Rug! Find all the details HERE

This week's projects:

1. DIY Photo Booth
2. Nautical Napkin Rings
3. Wall Art with Office Supplies
4. Make Your Own Rug (picture and link above)
5. Frame and Hang Bandanas for a Punch of Color

After this weekend some of the busy will wear down and we can get back to work on our own house! Our list of summer projects is building up, but the number of weeks to get it done is getting smaller! Here is our list:

Fix & Clean up Planting beds & add peat moss
Scrape, Sand & Paint porch railing, columns & balusters
Replace portions of garage wall & paint garage
Fix portions of old railing on two porches
And new, as of this weekend: Fix leak in roof over mudroom!

Needless to say we will be busy, but if you are looking for something to do, check out the projects above. Here is the link for Casa's Weekend DIY
Here you will see all the projects, find all the links & see all of the photos.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Did You Miss Me?

2011-07-01T09:37:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that I disappeared for a while, but I'm back..... from our wonderful trip to IRELAND! That's right, my husband and I spent our first anniversary on the lovely island of Ireland - not exactly the beach vacation of our honeymoon, but it was fantastic.... feast your eyes on just one photo from the trip:

This is Inch Beach, right at the beginning of the Dingle Peninsula, which is in Southwest Ireland. While the weather and the water were chilly, there were people swimming and surfing, horses on the beach... so while it wasn't ACTUALLY a beach vacation, there were beaches! We weren't lucky enough to see the sun every day, but we did this day, and the sights were beautiful!

We saw several major cities, and tons of little towns. We spent two days at a beautiful manor house in the country - Ballyvolane in Castlelyons (shameless plug for this wonderful group), which I recommend to anyone that might be headed to Ireland. And being in the country, not a worry in the world, simple surroundings really made me want to get back to that at home. It made me want to really "simplify" the way that we live.

As I get older my decor and even fashion sense get to be more classic, and timeless, and I think that's probably the direction I'm heading. I have learned that lamps, vases, candles and plants are my decor staples. I love photography. I love hanging photos on the wall, of landscapes and still life, but mostly of family and friends and vacation & I think that those memories, those photos can really make a house a home.

So, since I have come home, I have really started thinking - how do I make my life and home, simpler, less hectic, comfortable? So this is my goal.

I am going to start paring down, go for statement pieces instead of trinkets, and really try to slow down and enjoy every minute of my life.... yes, I will even try to enjoy the 540 minutes every day that I spend in the office, cause I think that it's all part of enjoying your life.

This trip made me want to ENJOY my life more. Enjoy my family more, and make our house a home. Even if it's not the house we'll live in forever.

Hopefully I'll be able to share all of this with you, and our house makes a transition.

More Upcycling

2011-06-15T12:44:00.000-04:00

I am a huge fan of upcycling. I am in awe at how little people can throw away. I love seeing someone's crazy idea for something that they had laying around the house... love it.. I was reading Casa Sugar today, one of my favorite sites, and came across some more interesting upcycling projects. I give Casa full credit for this idea! Check out their post HERE

Old Belt Lawn Chair:
This is very unique, an almost basket weave of old leather belts. Granted they need to be long enough, and strong enough to hold up to this task, but it's a really cool idea. I'm not sure that it will end up being much more comfortable than the polyester straps that are usually on their, but it is WAY nicer looking. Very rustic for around the fire pit.

Found at this etsy site: Lawn Chair

Milkshake Table Lamp:
There are so many lamp projects out there, but this one is both modern and retro. If you have a broken stainless steel appliance around the house that you are just waiting to throw out, think for a few minutes about what else you might be able to do with it. By the way, I can not guarantee that your old blender will look this sleek, but you never know!

Found at this etsy site: Lamp

Wine Cork Corkboard:
I have always wanted to put one of these together for above our computer. This one uses the corks on their ends, but you can also turn them on their sides. My mother is making a cork board trivet for her hot dishes & has a corkboard wreath above her door. If you want to put them on end like this, but don't want to have a project that is 3" thick, try cutting the corks in half, and putting the cut halves against the back, or surface that you are gluing to. Then you double your number of corks too!

Found at this etsy site: Corkboard

Classic Hubcap Clock:
This is a cool way to reuse old car parts that may or may not have any cash value left.

Found at this etsy site: Hubcap Clock

Map Trays:
Have left over maps from your trip to New York, or from your Honeymoon, but don't know what to do with them? This crafty crafter decided to decorate plain trays with cool maps. Next time you are on a vacation, grab a few extra subway or city maps. Then glue them and lacquer them onto old bins, food trays, or even picture frames for something unique.

Found at this etsy site: Map Trays

Wine Bottle Tiki Torch:
I have already touched on this topic in my last upcycling post HERE, but here is another view of a backyard tiki torch. This might just inspire me to get crafting this summer yet! I do not have totally bathroom burnout, I do not :) [just keep saying it, right?] Fill these candles with citronella and keep away the pesky mosquitoes too!

Found at this etsy site: Wine Torches

I must admit, people are WAY more creative than I am... my most creative upcycling project is in construction right now, but it might take a few more weeks to get finished.. you'll see soon!

What are you favorite upcycling projects? Have you made any yourself?

For Fellow "Paper Planner People"

2011-06-09T14:03:00.000-04:00

This post is not just for those that still love to use their actual planners, but also for mom's all over. Martha has done it again. She has gone and solved a problem that I, personally have had for a while.

It started back in school. You need a folder for every subject, and the notebooks with the envelopes were WAY more expensive, so you had to have a separate folder, but if you left the folder at home with your assignment, you were in trouble.

This problem was accentuated. I am still a paper person, even though it haunts me every day.... I have a planner, and I tuck a lot of things in my planner, bills that need to be paid, paychecks as they show at my desk, notes of things to do, coupons I cut out... all just stuffed into my planner. Well check this out:

Photo: Martha Stewart

Its as easy as taking your planner, notebook, etc. and gluing in an envelope to hold your mess. Martha uses a glue strip for the top & double sided tape for the bottom. Personally, I have about 12 extra rolls of the tape that you use to "plastic" your windows in the winter. So I plan on trying this.

You can leave the flap out to keep things in, or tuck the flap in, so it's just a pocket. And because they make a million different envelopes, you can find the perfect one. Use a manila envelope for large paper storage. Use smaller envelopes to organize your coupons. I think it's genius!

Inspired: Fabric Garland

2011-06-03T11:26:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, that when I saw this photo, I was smitten. Yes, our wedding is over, but this garland could be used to dress up any party: a summer picnic, a baby shower, a child's birthday, shiny fabrics would make this amazing for a holiday buffet.

This is a link that I will keep close on hand for future parties!

The entire bridal shower decor can be found here: The Sweetest Occasion

If you are into the shabby-chic, or a bit of a feminine garden party, or even just a flowy touch to a rustic reception, this is a great image to keep in your files. I know it's strange for me to do a post on one photo, but I was so inspired.

Check out one brides' DIY on how she accomplished her ribbon bunting here: Miss Bunting

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

2011-06-03T11:00:00.000-04:00

It is Friday, and we are almost back to normal here at the "married couple", so I thought I'd bring back one of my favorite link fests for the weekend. The weather is beautiful, and that inspires me to get some work done!

Photo & Project found here: Design Sponge

1. Turn old doilies into a pendant lamp
2. Create an open-air hanging closet rod
3. Design Sponge's Cameroonian Feather Hat (photo above!) I think these would be SO much fun in a nursery! I am keeping this link forever!
4. Quick and Beautiful Votive Luminaries
5. Knit oversized Floor pillow (I want to make these now!)
6. DIY potting station (using an old ladder & planks)
7. Entry Patio from Stone

Check out Casa's post here for all the photos & links: Weekend DIY and happy DIY-ing!

Bathroom Reno: The Fixtures & Final Touches

2011-05-31T14:00:00.000-04:00

Well we have gotten through the bulk of the difficult process. The next part was to add the toilet, add the sink & put up the finishing touches.

We got a new Kohler toilet (YAY) which was actually pretty easy to install. With the new flange down, we put on the wax ring, put on the washers and stuck the thing down. Matt sat on it and tightened the bolts to the floor. It is a 2-piece toilet, so next we had to add the back. Luckily the tank came with all of it's guts included (which is the hardest part about putting together a toilet), so we just had to put it on, level the tank, tighten the bolts & start the water. Putting the toilet in might have been the easiest part of the job.

See, no way to see the tile that was cut in half now!

We got a pedestal sink, which we actually took into the dining room to assemble so that we would have more room. We used plumbers putty to put in the drain, we attached the faucet, and all the guts of the sink in the other room. We put the sink on the base, which we just set upright in front of the waste pipe. Turns out that the pipe was too short, so we had to run back to the hardware store to get some extra PVC.

The most difficult part was tightening the screws to attach it to the wall. There was no real way of knowing exactly how long of anchors to put in the wall. So we guessed, and the odds are that we probably should have gotten longer ones, regardless, we installed the sink in a couple hours. We added a mirror & a shade to complete the look. However, one of my favorite parts was the shelf that my wonderful husband built over the toilet.

Because we had removed all the storage in the room by taking out the medicine cabinet & the vanity, we needed a shelf to put things on. So Matt put up three sides on the wall, permanently with screws, countersunk & filled with wood glue. He then made an L-shaped shelf that slid in to the three sides perfectly. This shelf can be removed easily to work on the toilet if need be. He painted and primed the shelf.

And without further ado, here is our bathroom, in all of it's glory:

Okay, so there are still a few things to do. We need to touch up the paint, paint the ceiling, add a shoe mold to the baseboard to cover up the gap between the tile & the baseboard. I'd like to paint the door, adding a nice dark grey accent to compliment the room.

I'm currently working on some wall art for over the toilet. I'm waiting to get a great wicker box to keep some toiletries in, so that they don't have to just sit on the shelf. We also have an issue at the threshold that we are still trying to figure out.

All of this will happen later. For now the bathroom is done, functional, and not something we have to pine over every day. And we LOVE it!!! What do you guys think?

If you haven't caught the posts that lead up to this, check out the following links: Demo Day, The Reconstruction, and A World of Tiling

Thanks for reading, hope you love what you see!

Bathroom Reno: A World of Tiling

2011-05-30T12:36:00.000-04:00

We left off with a room that had new baseboards, a new light fixture, paint & a panel of Hardie Board on the floor. The problem that we encountered for the next few weeks, was that everything we put down on the floor required 24 hours to dry, before we could do anything else. So since the Hardie Board was down, we could begin tiling.

We started with a pattern. Because the room was small, we didn't have a lot of options. We could either put a single row down the middle with 3/4 tiles surrounding the full ones, or a double row of full tiles down the middle with a 1/4 tile around the border. Because nothing in the room was centered, we selected to put in as many large tiles as we could, selecting the two down the middle pattern.

Putting down square or straight cut tile was fairly easy. For the straight cuts, we used a tile cutter, a tool that looked like this:

I questioned whether this would actually work, as it was just a little wheel that scores the tile with a flat plate, that when pushed down, cracked the tile along the score line. Much to my amazement, it worked perfectly, and I would recommend picking one of these up. Much less mess than a wet saw, and very quick to work.

So we started by laying the full tiles. The hardest part is to get them level in a room that isn't flat. Matt did most of this work on his days off, as the room is not big enough for two people to be working in at the same time. Then we did the 1/4 tiles around the perimeter. Because the home is old and the room is not square, we had to get a little fancy with cutting the tiles.

We used 1/8" spacers, to give the grout a thin and more modern look.

Now for the hard part, CUTTING THROUGH PORCELAIN TILE!!! This is maybe the most frustrating thing that we have ever done in our lives... We sought out lots of advice from friends and home improvement helpers alike, all with different opinions, so we'll tell you what worked best for us.

We started with the easiest of the cuts. We had a small square cut that needed to be cut around the water pipe for the toilet. One person had suggested using the same jigsaw blade that we had used to cut through the hardie board with. It essentially looks like a nail file for a jigsaw. It worked great in the hardie board, unfortunately, not so well in the tile. Half way through the straight cut, the blade kinked, jumped and bent in half. At $10 a blade, that was the end of that experiment. We finished the cut with the tile cutter, working very carefully.

Next we started with the second most complicated hole... the round hole for the toilet. One person suggested using a concrete bit for the drill, to drill through the tile, then to use the jigsaw to cut the circle. Well we knew how well that was working, but we were going to try it. It just so worked out that the hole for the toilet was right in the middle of a tile. Well, first shot with the new $15 drill bit, and crack, the tile split in half. Not to mention that the tip of the drill bit had melted from the work it was doing.... this was NOT the way to cut this hole.

So we went with the next piece of advice we had heard. We cut the tile right down the middle of the hole with the tile cutter, so that half of the waste hole was in each half. We would set the tile back together and grout the crack so that it wouldn't be noticed (you can see this in the finished photo at the bottom. In fact the whole thing was going to be under the toilet, so it wouldn't be noticed anyways. We then used a wet saw to make dozens of straight cuts into the tile to make the shape of the circle, like this:

We then used a pair of tile nippers that look like this, to "snip" off the tile into a nice circular pattern:

You put the flat ends on the tile and "snip" off the tile. Definitely read up before using these, you aren't supposed to really "nip" at the tile, you are supposed to grab and apply pressure to snap it, not really biting at the tile. This actually worked great to get the hole done.

The next set of holes was going to prove to be the most difficult. You see, when you put down the toilet, you need to put down a new toilet flange. Well you have to screw the new flange down through this tile, so you need to cut 6, yes SIX small holes through the tile, in very VERY close proximity to the big waste hole to accomplish this.

Well we had purchased a masonry tip, but after our last experience we knew that it wouldn't work, so we went back to the hardware store and purchased a diamond tip drill bit. This was specifically for glass and tile.

Matt started the drilling and after about 10 minutes on the first hole, crack, the corner of the tile split off. We decided that it was a split that we could deal with so he went on to the next hole. He eased up on the pressure, and had kept a wet sponge next to the drill bit. The second hole went all the way through after about 15 minutes. However, the third hole split the tile in half... Almost an entire day of drilling and another tile was ruined.

These tools were exactly what we needed, and after about 5 minutes per hole, the job was complete... frustration be... well you know what. We then cut and put down the rest of the tile pieces.

After everything dried the appropriate amount of time, we grouted the tile. Grouting was fairly easy, it's really just shoving grout into the voids between the tile, and wiping the excess off. And for the finished product, here you go:

You can see the line down the middle of the waste hole and the six smaller holes around it, boy was this job way more complicated than we anticipated for this size room, but man did it look amazing compared to the carpet that was there before! Whew.. another job done, and another post done.

To see how we got to this point check out the following posts: Bathroom Reno: Demo Day & Bathroom Reno: The Reconstruction

Bathroom Reno: The Reconstruction Begins

2011-05-28T15:37:00.000-04:00

We left off yesterday with a totally destroyed 91 year old half bathroom. We slept like rocks, and then it was off to Home Depot to pick up some supplies that we couldn't have predicted we would have needed. I went to pick up some flat 1x6 and profiled trim to fix the baseboard while my husband got a little more shut eye.

While I was there, I picked up some finishing nails and actually had to purchase chair rail to find something tall and wide enough to replace the missing molding. If you remember, the wall area looked like this when we were done with the demolition:

You can see the missing baseboard and the missing molding in the photo above. We don't have a compound miter saw, so we had to improvise with the tools required to cut the molding at a 45 degree angle. We used a jigsaw & eyeballed it. Luckily there was caulk and wood glue to fill in any gaps.... or at least that's what we thought.

Three of the walls proved to be fairly simple to fix, even the place where the flat board was missing. We did have to chisel out a bit of baseboard that was below the plywood floor to slip in the new flat board, but that wasn't our biggest issue - it was the 4th wall, the one behind the toilet, the one that we haven't completely finalized yet. The plaster on all walls ended about 1/4" below the molding. In most places this wasn't an issue, but on the 4th wall, the lath was about 1-1/2" away from the face of the plaster. Here is a photo using my finger as a guide:

Please notice that you can't see my first knuckle. That's how far away the wall was, and because the chair molding that we got was actually 1/4" shorter than the molding that was there, there would be nothing to support the new molding with. There was also nothing to nail it into.

So what we planned on doing was nailing the trim to the flat board beneath it, then just caulking the joint. Again, on three walls, this worked perfectly. The fourth wall was NOT pretty, and still is only partially fixed. What we will eventually do is to place a thin board along the wall and paint it to match the wall so that any larger gaps will be covered.

So it took a while to get the old wood chiseled, the new wood cut, the molding cut at an angle with the wrong tools, and nailing straight down with a large hammer on profiled wood. In fact it took us the whole day, when you include caulking and adding wood glue. Here is the photo after the new baseboards were installed.

We added caulking in the floor holes, patched messed up plaster and even installed the light fixture with the rest of that day. The next day was a Monday, so we only had a few hours after work to do some work. So we threw down thin set, and put the Hardie Board into place, screwing it down at 8" on center. Here is a photo of the Hardie Board in place:

We had to buy a fancy bit for the jigsaw to cut the holes in the Hardie Board, as it is a cementitious material. Just a little heads up, cutting circles is difficult. Turns out that the can of french fried onions on our shelf was the exact same diameter as the waste pipe, so that's what we used to draw the circle. Then Matt cut a straight line in the board down to the circle and slowly cut out a circle. He had to take a second pass to make it a little wider, but it fit perfectly.

Matt was busy the next few days, so I painted the baseboards, primed and painted the walls, and finished with any wall repairs. See the gap in the back wall in the photo above, most of that was able to be patched, some wasn't, but it's behind the toilet, so any "patch" has been delayed.

So that was the beginning of putting things back together. Next step: Tiling.... another post that is not to be missed. Hopefully it will be full of little tips to help you to get through it better than we did!!

Bathroom Reno: Demo Day

2011-05-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen! We are back!!!

The half bathroom is about 85% finished, but it's done enough to give you all an update on the progress of the room.

Just for a refresher, you should remember the bathroom looking like this:

Please note the old vanity, the medicine cabinet, and the horrible carpet on the floor. But those are only the immediate things that you will notice. What you can't see is a crack in the toilet, from the floor to the top of the bowl. You can't see awful plastic blinds on the window, or the 1970's era light fixture above the medicine cabinet. This room needed to be fixed, immediately. So after what was literally YEARS of planning, we shut down the bathroom and started the renovation.

And because the first morning was crazy and not many photos were taken, after about 6 hours at least as many trips to the home improvement store, the same wall looked like this:

Now don't let the fact that the room doesn't look that different, deceive you. There aren't a TON of pictures that came from the disaster that we will refer to as "Demo Day". However, this day alone will occupy an entire post.

We begin this story first thing in the morning. We went once to Lowe's to purchase the light fixture, then to Home Depot to get various building supplies: Hardie Board, thinset, grout, tile spacers, etc... Then we headed back home to start the demolition. Luckily we had another toilet in our home, because this project ended up taking WAY longer than either one of us had planned. We thought we could finish it in a week or two, but with work, school, final exams, it ended up taking us a month to get to the 85% mark, where we are today.

Our first job was to remove the sink, the area that you see in the photo above. Only it wasn't as easy as one would think. You think, turn off the water, cut the sealant, unhook the supply and waste lines and remove the vanity... HA, if only it were that easy. We attempted to turn the knobs to the water shut offs. The hot turned off immediately, however the cold, wouldn't turn. So my loving husband grabbed a pair of pliers, turned the knob, and then crack... the knob broke. So off to our local hardware store, where we purchased two new valves.

We got home, turned off the hot and cold supplies to the bathroom, removed the hot water valve, then the cold water valve... however the water wasn't off. How this happened I still don't know. So I went running into the basement to turn off the main water supply. When we went to put the new valves on, they didn't fit, so back to the hardware store we went. He supplied us with a couple parts that he thought would fix the problem. We got back home, and nope, that didn't help. So we brought the old valve and one of the new valves back to the local hardware store.

They directed us to the valves that we did want - and if you are keeping track, this was trip number 5 to various hardware stores that morning. While we were there I also picked up two escutcheon plates to fit around the pipes so that you wouldn't see the abused plaster. Unfortunately, i had not brought back all of the original parts, so that meant that trip number 6 would be occurring later, regardless.

Luckily, these valves worked. It took a lot of work to get them to attach correctly, and to keep the water from leaking everywhere... but eventually it was done. We could now remove the supply lines. Then we unattached the waste line, and attempted to remove the sink. First we noticed that there were two screws that were holding the sink into the wall, so after contorting ourselves to remove them, we again tried to remove the sink, to no avail. We rocked it back and forth, cutting at sealant that we thought we were through, just trying to find where it was still attached.

We finally realized that some genius had cut part of the baseboard to fit the vanity in, not all of the baseboard, just some of it, and then screwed the bottom of the vanity into the side of the baseboard that was left. Without an image, it's hard to show, and I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, it took us HOURS to remove the sink.

We, quite easily and quickly, after that removed the toilet, the carpet, and the remnants of vinyl flooring that was left under the carpet. We cut the rest of the hacked up baseboard that was left behind the vanity, and Viola! You have the photo above.

Because the baseboard was in two parts, a flat board and a profiled one, and the top part was impossible to match where it had been removed, we had to remove all of the top piece of baseboard, and tried to salvage what was left of the bottom piece. Here is another photo of the "toilet remains", and showing the missing piece of molding.

The plywood that was left was in decent condition, so we worked with what we had. That plywood actually sat on top of the original hardwood floor, so the bottom of the baseboards were actually hidden beneath the plywood. Luckily they were very tall, so there was no need to go back to the original floor.

Also, interesting fact, if you look back at the first demo picture, you can see two small holes in the floor, any idea what they are? I knew immediately. I had always questioned whether this TINY little room was always a bathroom and those two little holes confirmed it for me. It was always a bathroom, with a tiny corner sink. The two holes were for the water pipes coming up through the floor. I have seen this around my neighborhood before, so that's why I knew right away.

So, while demo was exhausting that day, it was just as exhausting recounting it all for you here this evening. So I will end the post there, and start with the reconstruction soon. Before you know it, you'll see the bathroom completed. Hopefully you enjoy the process more than we did!!!

Simple Wedding Flowers

2011-05-03T14:52:00.000-04:00

The bathroom is getting closer to being completed... It is tiling, grouting & fixture-ing away from being functional again & as soon as it's done, the recaps will begin. Until then, we will continue to spend our evenings working on the room! We are hoping to get most of the tiling done tonight. Finish tiling and grouting tomorrow, then start to add the fixtures this weekend. Maybe a toilet Friday night & a sink Saturday night? We'll see!!!

But because I am bored at work today, I do have time to do a quick post. Because I am still in love with all things involved with the Royal Wedding, I figured I might do a bit of a wedding post today - one based on flowers. It is May, and wedding season is in full bloom (pun totally intended), so it makes sense to bring back some wedding information.

One thing that I found extremely refreshing with the Royal Wedding was the simplicity of the florals. While there were enormous trees & large ferns, the flowers were simple & white. Cathrine carried a simple bouquet filled with lily of the valley. Her attendants had small bouquets and baskets filled with the same flower, and it made a simple, yet beautiful impact.

Hugo Burnand/AP Photo

I remember being overwhelmed by the cost of flowers, and though we did go fairly simple with our flowers, using seasonal florals in white and green, we still spent over $1,000 on flowers. Small centerpieces, simple bouquets & boutonnieres, still over a grand in flowers. So Cathrine's simple bouquet got me thinking... maybe we (as brides) spend too much money, and time worrying on our flowers.

Some of the most beautiful flower arrangements I have seen are simple, so I thought I'd gather some here for everyone to see. Sometimes leaving flowers out completely is not something a bride wants to do, myself included, so here are a couple interesting solutions for a wedding bouquet. These solutions still make an impact, but won't break your budget:

This is a simple bouquet that could be carried by the bride
or the bridesmaids. Add color as needed!
Photo Credit: Link

A few tiered roses with some greenery is simple and beautiful.
Adding a wide ribbon brings extra color and texture to the mix.
Photo Credit: Link

This bouquet is modern, simple & unique.
Photo Credit: Link

A few simple Calla Lilies make a dramatic impact. Make them red, orange,
almost any color really, to match your theme.
Photo Credit: Link

Even a simple bouquet of lavender can be made into a beautiful bouquet.
If purple is in your theme, consider this!
Photo: Project Wedding

One of my favorites is baby's breath. This is an amazing bouquet for anyone
in your wedding party. If you want the bride to have a bigger impact, have her
carry a bouquet of white roses to set her apart!
Photo: Project Wedding

I know I have discussed alternate wedding centerpieces here before, but I want to try to add some examples of simple centerpieces that DO use flowers. Our centerpieces used 2-3 large hydrangea and greenery in black vases to make an impact. As much as I LOVED the look of a big ball of beautiful flowers, adding different types of greenery can make a beautiful effect with a much lower price tag.

When we had our wedding, hydrangeas were about $5.00 each, with greenery the
centerpieces were $12-$18. I got the vases online for $5.00 each.

Using three different vases, and simple submerged flowers, this centerpiece
is simple but dramatic.
Photo: Project Wedding

More unique greenery in long stalks is beautiful in this centerpiece.
Photo: Project Wedding

Another place where simple baby's breath can make a beautiful arrangement.
Photo: Project Wedding

One bloom in lots of different vases is a great alternative. Throw in a
couple bottles with stems of your favorite greenery & you have a great display.
Photo: Good Housekeeping

The most important lessons when trying to lighten your floral bill are as follows:

1. Choose flowers that are in season. This is very important, as flowers that are not in season can run you $5-$8 each. Trying to get a peony in August, you are going to pay for it. There are lots of websites that can direct you to good in-season flowers.

2. Cut back on the size and number of flowers. While you think that every table arrangement should have 20 roses, that can run you $75 each - minimum. Add two shorter vases with floating candles & wrapped in twine or with submerged banana leaves and go with a smaller display. When it comes to your bouquets, if you want to have the bridal bouquet be large and in-charge, fine, but scale back on the 'maids. A simple bouquet will be beautiful for them and will save you major money!

3. Submerge. One flower, candle & add water - it is still dramatic, and much more cost effective than a dozen of your favorite flower. Consult with a florist to find the best flowers for submerging.

4. Add Greenery. I was against this, and I wish I had done more research, but there are some beautiful greenery items that can be added to your bouquets and arrangement. Cabbage, Kale, all kinds of interesting vegetables can be added too.

Hopefully some of these hints and photos will help you brides out there who still want flowers, but don't want to spend a small fortune decorating. Happy Wedding Season!

The Bathroom Accessories

2011-04-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

I honestly tried to bring photos to work today, so that I might update you on the progress of our half bath. Unfortunately, the archaic computers at our office do not accept our Memory Card, so alas, you will have to wait a little longer to see progress.

The new baseboard & molding are in. Last night we put down the Hardy Board Panel. Tonight we are busy, and part of this weekend my husband is away, so I will work on priming, caulking, spackling, sanding & painting while he is gone, so that when he returns we can tile, grout & install fixtures! Yay. Granted that is probably another whole week worth of work, but I am sooo excited to get this done.

Well with a new bathroom comes the need for new accessories. I think I am going to keep the bathroom somewhat neutral. Our trim is bright white & the walls will be "Sand Fossil". It's a beachy warm grey with a slight yellow green undertone, hard to see the undertone, but here is the color:

Our tile is an old clearanced tile from Lowe's that we picked up years ago. It is filled with warm greys, oranges, a little gold & JUST a hint of green-grey. Something like this but more orange than red:

Shown: Mt. Everest Verde - Home Depot

Our fixtures are bright white, our faucet, handles & accessories are chrome or brushed nickel.

So what to do about bath mats, towels, art....

First, the bath mat. The half bath has NO heat in the room. We keep the door open in the winter so that some of the heat from the basement & kitchen end up warming the room up a bit. The tile floor is not going to help this issue, so we will need a small mat to keep the floor warm in the winter. I don't want to cover up all of the lovely tile, so it will probably be a neutral warm grey mat that can be slid around the room where needed.

Second, the towels. I think we will probably go with the same neutral warm grey towels. I wanted to do maybe an orange or gold, a pop of color, and I still might, but the intention is to make the room warm, updated & clean, far from what it used to look like. You will remember it looking like this:

We just can't wait to have it new and refreshed. We can mess with the color of the accessories once things are done. I don't mind buying a couple different color hand towels!

Third, the art. We will be installing a shelf on the wall over the toilet. Something easy, painted the color of the wall, so that we might have some additional storage in the room. Because we are removing the vanity, we will need a place to put some things. This also gives us the opportunity to add a little flair to the room: a stack of books, a gilded initial for our last name, then we will hang something great from the wall over the shelf. What? We don't know yet, but it will make the room look finished.

I would like to add a small storage unit in the room to store cleaning supplies, extra towels, etc. Something like this:

Madras - 3-Drawer Tower - World Market

I love the look of dark wicker & a small thin storage tower than can go between the wall and the sink is exactly what I'm looking for. This particular unit would be a little wide for the space we have.

And lastly the window treatments. What I want to do is to frost the window. This will let in a lot of light and block the view (as the bathroom is right on our driveway). I would then like to get a dark brown bamboo shade & possibly accent with a curtain pulled to the side. The dark bamboo will match a dark wicker storage bin. If we do a curtain, I would get a similar color hand towel. This is where we would add some color. Maybe a neutral green or pale yellow. Something bright that isn't BRIGHT.

I can't wait to share more photos with you, so you can see what a challenge this re-do has become already!

Where have you been?

2011-04-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

I apologize, it has been an extraordinarily long time since I have posted anything, but I promise, there are only good things coming.

We have been busy working on our bathroom, which comes with many, many stories, and many more trips to the hardware store (which will eventually cause me to lose my mind...). I am going to try to long on tonight from home with pictures of the progress.

Progress is sort of a loose term, as we are only complete with demo, priming & installing a light fixture.... oh how much slower it goes, especially when life gets in the way!

So, keep checking back, there will be progress photos soon!

Have a great day everyone!

Outdoor Furniture Time!

2011-04-13T13:12:00.000-04:00

As April has started rolling along, so has my desire to be outside every day that I see sunshine (like today)! It is still getting a little chilly at night, so we are still hesitant to move quickly into spring - fire pits, gardens, planting, mowing..... but that doesn't mean I can't think about it.

You all know of my love for West Elm & this year they have spread their wings and widened the scope of their outdoor line! Sure they used to have a lounger or two, but they are going all out with new designs. Here are a couple of pictures to get you inspired.

West Elm - Wood Slat Collection

West Elm - Montauk Sectional

West Elm - Montauk Nest Chair

West Elm - Wire Lanterns

West Elm - Terra Cotta Cylinder Planters

Okay, lets be honest, that just made me want to take a trip to the beach! We love spending time outside in our Adirondack chairs out front, or by the fire pit in the back, and looking at these sunny pictures make me want to be there right now!

I have always been a fan of West Elm's outdoor furniture but the new Montauk line is a great substitute for traditional wicker furniture. If we had some extra money, I'd be scooping up some outdoor goodies right now. I especially love the hanging lanterns, which our patio could use on dark nights. Sometimes the citronella gets a bit to smokey & a little extra light would be nice.

We don't have too much planned for the outside, other than the garden mentioned here & some work on the porch. What do you have planned with your outdoor space this year?

DIY Blue Mason Jars

2011-04-12T15:39:00.000-04:00

My favorite color is blue. Not just any blue, but bright lovely shades of turquoise, aqua and teal - saturated and stunning. Funny how blue isn't a main color in our decorating. It's probably because my husband's favorite color is red. So we ended up going with a neutral, earthy palette in our home. Which is okay with both of us.

Knowing that my favorite color is blue, and that I love DIY, I really, really fell in love with this project. Making your own Blue Mason Jars. If you have seen the original thing, they are a thing of beauty.

Photo Credit: HERE

They have been very popular with the rustic wedding vibe lately, and people are dying to get a hold of a few of these antique jars. Unfortunately they are hard to find and expensive. They can run you $5-$20 each! Insanity! But take a look at how beautiful they are displaying flowers at a wedding.

Photo Credit: HERE

I can totally understand why couples are clamoring to get a hold of these jars. But when planning my own wedding (who's colors were not blue OR red....) I found a DIY on how to make these jars from plain, old, affordable clear mason jars. You can buy 12 packs of regular jars for about $12. Way more affordable than splurging a minimum of $60 for a dozen of the originals.

I will give credit where credit is due, and link you directly to the blog that has the how-to instructions. You can find a wonderful blog here: Bridal Buzz

But since you are here, I will also give you the how-to from Bridal Buzz's site so that you can see how easy and affordable these lovely jars can be for you! Whether you are planning a wedding or not, these jars are amazing to house flowers, seeds, plants, etc.

The blogger uses a product called Vitrea160, a transparent glass paint, and purchased the color "turquoise" (approximately $4 each) and a thinner from the same line to get a lighter color on the glass. She put a jar on a tupperware container, upside down. She then dipped a fan brush into the thinner and mixed it into the turquoise & just painted it on the glass jar.

Photo from Bridal Buzz

You let the jar set for 24 hours, then bake it for 40 minutes at 375 degrees F. Apparently when you paint the liquid on you will see brushstrokes, most of these disappear after the baking process. Personally I'd try to take extra time to put the paint on as evenly as possible. But if you are going to put something in these jars like liquid, seeds, soil, you will most likely not see the strokes.

Photo from Bridal Buzz

Here is a link to her DIY for this project: Bridal Buzz Mason Jars

If I can come up with the perfect place for a few of these jars, I might just be making this project. I love those darn jars so much! There are warnings of course to monitor use with candles. While it's beautiful, there is always the chance that glass and over heat and break, so be sure that the tops are not on, and the candles are monitored if you are using them. Also beware that any striations in the paint will be seen with candles!

Happy Crafting.

Weekend Waste

2011-04-11T20:33:00.000-04:00

Well, try as I may have done, a lovely new bookcase is NOT what you are seeing this morning. But there is a reason why. We had an ultimate project FAIL this weekend. It's not something that anyone ever wants to have happen, but it does happen. Read about our intention HERE.

This is the bookcase as it stood first thing Saturday Morning:

I was so excited to get this done that I was determined to squeeze it in during our super busy weekend. First thing Saturday morning, before going to visit my dad, I unloaded the bookcase into the spare bedroom. As you can see the Dean Koontz pile is rivaled (and dominated) only by the Stephen King pile....

Anyways, I took off the shelves, dusted them, brought the bookcase downstairs and put it in the garage. My intention was to paint the bookcase, so I would have to go to Home Depot later to pick up paint. So we left for my dad's. In the afternoon, I had enough time to realize that the paint was not going to stick well to the melamine surface & that I should not attempt to paint it. Because we would be putting heavy books on it, the paint would stick to the books & peel right off later. So the goal was still to take the back faux-wood panel off, get some baskets and update the look of this shelving unit.

Sunday morning was incredibly busy, so when I got home Sunday afternoon, I immediately changed and went to the garage to tackle the bookcase. Three-quarters of the way through the panel removal, the bookcase began to sway. You have to be kidding me, this cardboard panel was actually giving this bookcase stability! It was necessary.

Well I had torn the backing a little bit taking it off the bookcase, so I didn't want to have to put it back on. I didn't want to add screws in the side, ruining the unit, so I thought, WAIT! We can run out and buy a 1/4" thick finish piece of birch. We can put it on the bottom half of the unit, where there is a fixed shelf, screw it in, and fix the stability problem.

Off to the Depot we went. Unfortunately, there was no finished birch panel. The only thing that they had in 1/4" was Luan, which was red & didn't match. So we would have to buy an $11 panel of luan & cut it, we'd have to buy a $11 can of paint, and what color to you paint this if you aren't painting the unit??? We would have to buy screws.... so here we would be spending $30 to fix a 10 year old $35 bookshelf. It wasn't worth it.

So we went home, Matt and I reattached the faux-wood panel, I tried to glue the tear, knowing that books would be in front of it. We took it back upstairs, reassembled it, added two new baskets that I had found for $8.50 a piece, put the books back on the shelf and called it a day...

What a waste. Hours of work to unpack, dust, disassemble, reassemble & repack and the only thing that got done, was that the dust that had accumulated behind the unit was removed. I suppose our allergies are happy.

While next weekend is a busy one, I hope and hope that we can actually get something accomplished. Perhaps the trim and the walls, perhaps even getting a Kreg Jig & finishing our end table!!!

Have a great week everyone!

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

2011-04-08T10:18:00.000-04:00

It's Friday again, which means only one thing... time for Casa's wonderful weekend DIY. I still have a list of projects that I want to try, so lets see if there are anymore to add to my list.

Photo Credit: Here

1. Glittery Easter Eggs
2. Plastic Flower Votive (photo above)
3. DIY Bunting
4. Photo Wall Collage (different than my post, but interesting!)
5. Paper Fruit Bowl

Check out Casa's site & all the project links here: CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

Weekend Projects

2011-04-08T09:38:00.000-04:00

I am itching SO badly to pull up our carpeting. Everywhere I have looked (or taken a quick peek in a corner) on the upper floor of our home, the floor looks like it's in decent condition. And I have to tell you, I'd rather have decent condition hard wood floors than gross old carpeting!

Our next few weekends are crazy busy, and it's probably not a good time to start the BIG bathroom renovation, as we really need one weekend, without interruption to get a good portion of it completed. But there are a few things around the house that I could get to this weekend, and with it slated to be a bit warmer, painting is not out of the question.

Our stairwell & upper hallway has been bright white primer since we moved in - and I can't wait to get rid of it. The trim will stay white, but the walls are going to be almost a wheat color. It will be two shades darker than our bathroom upstairs, but will tie in beautifully with the green & yellow palette of the downstairs colors.

With this project, could come another couple projects.

1. Rip up the carpet in the hallway up stairs. This is sort of a joke, as the hallway is barely 10' long, but it is a start, and might quench some of my "I need this carpet to be gone" feeling. I don't want to take the carpet up on the stairs, as the condition of stairs can be questionable, also I feel like wood stairs are a slipping hazard, so until we could do a cool runner with new carpet, that carpet will probably stay on the stairs...

2. Paint the hallway (as mentioned above) & start our photo wall. As I mentioned in a post here we would really like to put up a cool display wall in our stairwell. A quick paint job would give it a much more interesting backdrop to start with. A black and white display on the wheat colored wall would look striking.

3. The bookshelf... At the dead end of our hallway, we have a bookshelf. It's an old target, maple color bookshelf with a "faux" back (one of those cardboard panels that is made to look like wood). I would like to pull off that panel to allow you to see through to the wall, and paint that bookshelf something. Maybe it's just white, maybe it's dark brown.... I also think that I might put it at a bit of an angle to give a new look to the hallway. Basically, it's another warm weather project, that could take place over a series of days & that could really change up the look of the hall. I would probably just use primer and spray paint on this unit, as it's just another melamine covered piece of furniture. Notice from the sketch that there is not a lot of room to hang artwork in the hallway, so we needed something of interest here & we needed somewhere to put our bookshelf.

The bookshelf is something I could easily do. Maybe I could just paint the trim in the hallway, to brighten that up a bit & do the wall painting next weekend. This will give me a little more time to look for & put together some type of photo gallery plan on the wall. Here's hoping that the weather stays warm & projects can get started again.

Soon I'll be taking on the front porch, so watch for that. The balustrade needs to be scraped, sanded and painted & I'd like to put a waterproof stain/paint on the floor to freshen up the look & protect the wood for a little longer. This will happen as soon as I can be sure that it won't go below 40 degrees at night!

Happy Friday everyone!

Inspiration: Citron & Grey

2011-04-06T11:18:00.000-04:00

My new found love for the color citron has started to take over. We have a wonderfully fluffy grey blanket that will ward off the cold on even the chilliest of nights. This blanket lives on our couch, as do our new citron pillows (which you can find the how to HERE). The more that I look at the pairing, the more I love it. White, Citron & Grey. It's bright, it's fresh, it's sophisticated & it has been begging me to put together a bit of an inspiration board. The question was, what room should I do. I think it would be great in a crisp bedroom, and would be perfect for a living room, but I wanted to try to do something challenging & make it perfect for your dining room.

For someone who might not be too daring with color on the walls, or in your furnishings, the dining room is the PERFECT place to try out this color. Now I know that I have a fascination with Grey, and have even done a grey, yellow and purple combo, but I feel compelled to get the images in my head out there for all to see. Forget Honeysuckle, Citron is the color of 2011 for me!

Start with light grey walls. I would stay in the cool palette, but this paring could work with a subtle beige as well. Crisp white trim & beautiful citron curtains like these (and totally love this lamp too by the way!):

Photo: House Beautiful

Any color wood will work with this palette. I tend to like dark woods & think that the bright yellow will wake them up, so that's what I am using for this inspiration board, but feel free to experiment with all colors of hard wood.

Kenroy Home Celestial Table Lamp - Amazon, Steel Circles Metal Wall Art - Bed Bath & Beyond,
Hive Vase - West Elm, Firepot Tealight Holders - CB2, Dimpled Drinkware - West Elm,
Modloft Greenwich Sidboard - Amazon, Uptown Parsons Dining Chairs - Target, Verona Table - Target,
Code Rug - CB2

It is easy to envision this board with a slighting lighter, almost chartreuse yellow/green as well. The images I found were not quite as bright as I would have hoped for, but you get the picture. The grey and yellow are extremely complementary & would go well with crisp white furniture, contemporary metal furnishings or traditional dark woods.

The use of bright table runners, metal centerpieces filled with lemons or even great bright art work on the wall can make this dining room yours. And the base is all grey and white, so easy to change the scheme if you care too.

Check out the Citron & Turquoise Theme HERE, as it is similar with one more bold color to compliment it!

Happy Decorating!

Wall Collage - Artwork

2011-04-05T14:02:00.000-04:00

Something very popular in the decorating world right now is the wall collage. An area of wall, where instead of hanging just one item & focusing on that, you hang several items, that together become one functioning piece of art.

Some are very neat & organized:

Photo Credit: Link

And some are a little less so:

Photo Credit: Link

Some don't even use art, they just use the frames or even mirrors!

Photo Credit: Link

All VERY creative and very beautiful. If this is your style, it's easy to do & it can be really lovely. It allows you to hang up all the pictures that you never get to see as well as display other items. As I am a huge fan of hanging things on the wall, and freeing up space on floors, counters, tables, etc., this is a great place to add some of those items. If you are an artist yourself, have a bunch of cool sketches, frame them, add them into the mix. It's about displaying who you are on your wall.

There seem to be two schools of thought on how to really do this. One is to go monochromatic: All of the frames are the same color, similar matting, possibly even all black and white photos/ images. The other is to go quite the opposite. Mix and match colors, frames, patterns, etc.

There are two places in our home where I am considering doing something like this. And being that I tend to enjoy the more organized approach, I will probably go with that - similar spacing between items, lines carried through, all the goodies. However I tend to enjoy the eclectic mix of colors and patterns. Maybe all the frames are browns & creams - but they don't all have to be the same. It gives wiggle room!

Area One: Over the couch.
Our sofa in the living room is in front of the window. There is no other place for it to go! So there will be no wonderful piece of artwork over the sofa, however, there is a portion of wall over the end of the sofa that isn't asking for one big piece of off-centered art, it's asking for something unique. I think this is one area where we have an opportunity to experiment.

I think that this wants to have one large piece to anchor it in place, but have several different pieces that make up the "whole". What that is exactly, I'm not sure, but I think it could be something like this. Possibly a large print - maybe with a letter, or something graphic. Next to it perhaps a few photos, or wall tiles, or anything really. Full of ideas, but nothing concrete yet.

Area Two: The staircase
Our stairwell tends to be a bit dark and boring. I think that this might be the perfect area to add a little something and fill the empty wall with some really great art. A lot of people tend to focus their art over the handrail, so people can view it as they walk up the stairs, however, I like having a display that can be viewed while you are on the first floor or on the stairs.

My husband purchased a set of prints for me that are on canvas and that show a great scene from Italy. We have no really good place to put them, so I thought that this might be perfect. Put them in a shadow box, and use it as the anchor piece in the middle. The prints are black and white, so lets go with that. Black and white frames, tiles, items, etc. I don't know that we have 12-15 photos that we want to display right now, but as we grow as a family, we might! We can put prints, sketches, even patterned paper in a few of the frames for now, and the wall will grow, right along with our family.

The wall behind will be a dark sand color with white trim. And if we ever get to rip up the carpeting, there are lovely hardwood floors that will really make this area cozy.

So, we don't really have a plan, but we have an idea. This is something that will probably get pushed back into fall and winter, as the ability to get outdoor work & painting wanes with the weather. But I think that I love these displays. And if the interest goes away, it's nothing that some spackle and a coat of paint can't entirely erase.

What do you think of these "art walls"? Are you a fan?

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

2011-04-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

Yay for Friday! And double yay for a sunny Friday afternoon.

If you are looking for a project or two to accomplish on this upcoming weekend, here are a few creative ones from the folks at Casa Sugar!

Photo Credit: Link

1. Update Old Brass Furniture
2. Hand printed Pillows
3. Organize your junk drawer
4. Tufted Ottoman DIY (photo above)
5. Freesia in a Bottle
6. Oilcloth Storage Bin
7. Switch Plate Planter (totally cool)
8. Flower Pillow (I love this pillow and will be making it for our bedroom!)
9. Lampshade Re-upholstery

Click the following link to bring you to their page for all the details! Casa's Weekend DIY

Inspiration: White Bedroom with a Pop

2011-04-01T13:34:00.000-04:00

Generally I am not a fan of all white interiors. I tend to think of it as a stain-fearer's worst nightmare, but I was inspired recently by a photo that I saw of a bright white bedroom with a pop of bright green that made me desire to be in that room immediately. It was beautiful. So I thought that I might try to recreate that vision for everyone here, so they can understand why I am now in love with this bedroom.

Bedding: Peninsula White Cotton (Crate&Barrel), Pillow: Hand Blocked Jaali (West Elm),
Mirrors: Malachy & Brighton Floor Mirror (Crate&Barrel), Lamp: Sphere Table Lamp (West Elm),
Chairs: Upholstered Slipper Chair (West Elm), Green Table: Martini Table (West Elm),
Plant: Onion Grass Sedum (Target), Mirrored Table: Parsons Mirrored End Table (West Elm),
Vases: Cabo & Chica Green Vases (Crate&Barrel)

Imagine soft white walls and and trim, a white dresser and bright green curtains from a brushed silver curtain rod. A white and green rug & dark hard woods make this room cozy, bright & fresh. Prop the white mirror up against a white wall with a large plant next to it.

I think that in this scenario, a white room is amazing, and hopefully you can see why!