Favorite Color

This makes me happy!

My favorite color by far is teal.  A deep saturated teal.  The color you find on a peacock.

I'm so excited to use it in a project I'm working on for my bedroom.

Just a little lot more sanding a light coat of paint and I'll be done.



Bathroom Redo

I have learned something very important about myself.

I thought I hated cleaning bathrooms.  I was SO wrong.

I just hated my old bathroom.

My new bathroom however, it gets cleaned every day!

It's one of my favorite rooms now and it's not even completely done yet.

Want to see it?

Sure you do!

See that tub... I LOVE THAT TUB!  I keep it sparkling and clean.  The best part about it is it is YELLOW!  Who else has a yellow tub?  Well, a yellow tub on purpose.  I'm sure there are lots of dingy yellow tubs out there - but this one is purty!  I picked this up for $150 on Craigslist.  I played with the idea of refinishing the interior and exterior myself but decided to have a local company that specialized in cast iron tubs do it - so worth it!

(don't mind the plunger hiding in the background - he'll be hidden by the shower curtain eventually)



The room is bright and happy.  The yellow turned out to be a little off from what I wanted so I've got paint chips sitting on the ledge that I'm debating between.  The yellow walls will still be yellow but a little toned down.

The walls will be closer to the top yellow on the paint card, I think, maybe the 2nd one down. Either way the new paint will match the tub much better.  The top one doesn't look like that much of a difference in the picture but it is in real life, I swear.  

My Sexy Beast of a husband can't see the difference but he lost all say-so on shades of colors when he said he can't tell the difference between when I wear makeup or not.

I love my faucet, the bowl - not so much.  I'll be hunting for a different one down the road.  Something more rounded on the bottom, not so modern.  The counter top is a favorite of mine - the color is okay, the instillation is okay for DIY - what makes it a favorite is that it was less than $40!  SCORE!

Wave HI to me :D  Do you know how hard it is to take pictures in a bathroom?

Another favorite in the room is the beadboard ceiling.  So much fun (to look at, not to install mind you).

I've got some fun plans for decor for the shelf that lines the whole room. 

Can't. Wait.

Did I mention that we did all the work on this ourselves?  My husband did most of it - he sure loves me.  He moved walls, he replaced the subfloor, he cursed at beadboard panels.  All for me and my crazy ideas.

Why did we re-do our bathroom? 

Two reasons actually.

1. It needed it

2. This cute little boy flooded our house and the bathroom was beyond saving. 

The floor started peeling up and the cabinet was disintegrating before our eyes.  I was so mad and grateful all at the same time.  We have been wanting to redo our bathroom for the last 5 years.  We just needed a little push.

I even scrapbooked it so Xander would never live it down. 

(if you click on the picture it will make it bigger so you can read the text)

2011 Projects

Every year I make a list of projects I want to get done around the house.

Every year I only complete a couple of them.

This year will be a little different.  We had a minor child induced flood last year that helped us in starting A LOT of projects I've been wanting to do for so long.  Now they are all underway in varying degrees of completed-ness.

I've already had a busy year getting my main bathroom done, redoing all my pantry doors and finishing up a lot of the little things that get put off.  I'm excited for the rest of the year.  Here's what I'm going to get done:

1. My lower cabinets. 

Installing beadboard on the backside, stripping & painting them.

2.  New Countertop in the Kitchen

3.  Upper Cabinets

We're taking off doors on some to provide open shelving and painting the rest.

4. My stairs need a overhaul! 

They have a worn tan(ish) carpet that just looks awful surrounded by all my pretty new tile.

5. Master Bath Redo

We've long passed the point where it changed from a "I'd like to" to "Oh My - this just HAS to get done."

6. Front Door Facelift 

New paint, hardware & screen door.



7.  Finishing up my almost 3 year old daughter's room

Sad to say, it's not done.  It's cute but not nearly finished.

There is so much more I want to get done but knowing me and knowing my time and money I'm pretty sure it won't.  There are some little projects I'll get done along the way but I'm going to really focus on just these main areas this year.

Done, AT LAST!

Isn't it just fun when something is a whole lot more difficult than it should be!?!

That seemed to be the story of my frame.

I got this frame from my grandmother a little while ago and knew exactly what I was going to do with it.

I took off the back board and started cleaning the frame so I could paint.  Turns out the brass around the edge was a sticker!  I had to peel it all off and then scrub off the residue... um - just a little time consuming.  A five minute project quickly turned into a 90 minute project.

I spray painted the frame with black in a matte finish - it looked lovely.

The backboard was the next project.  The dead plant pieces had to go!

This frame has had several lives apparently.  I was surprised to find a painting under the black felt fabric.

Cute?  Maybe a little.  Just not on my wall :)

I covered it up with textured wallpaper from Lowes.  Really pretty stuff that could be painted but I wanted it left white (for now). 

Now came the hard part.  I envisioned a layered look on my wall.  Frame, silver platter & something pretty on the platter.  The silver platter is special to me and my husband.  It held our wedding cake and everytime I look at it I remember that wonderful day.  Hence, wanting it on my wall. 

Unfortunately, the platter didn't really want to be on the wall.  Lets just say I won after a few extra holes in the wall.

YAY!

Ready to review...

BEFORE

AFTER

I Heart New (to me) Frames!

Bad Blogger!

Feel free to slap my hand next time you see me.

I have neglected in posting my projects, which have been many. 

I'm sure all my readers...

(HA!  You probably didn't catch the joke there - I think I have one!  Hi Grandma)

...anyways... I'm sure all my readers (smirk) have been missing my projects. I'm going to try to catch up writing about most of my projects over the last couple of months, mostly because I view this blog as a journal for myself.   I've also had the bad habit of not taking pictures of finished projects and then giving them away as gifts... oops.

Last week I got a treasure trove of  frames sent home by my Grandma.

I have firm plans for two of the six frames.  Possible plans for a third - we'll see.  One is going to be a Christmas decoration (is it bad I'm thinking about Christmas deco in May??).  Another is going to be used to fill a very blank wall.  YAY!

This thing is HUGE!  It holds a picture that is 24" x 48".  My hubsand says it looks like it once held a picture of 'The Last Supper' but the dead plants glued to the board are a giveaway that it didn't.  Yuck.

I scrubbed, peeled fake brass, and painted the frame last night.  Tonight I'll be putting the dead plant remnants to rest.

I can't wait to get this one done.

A New Love

I went to my second Card Party this week. It is so much fun and while I don't do a lot of crafts with paper but I can definitely see the appeal. The best part about these parties has been getting to know some awesome ladies in my neighborhood.

It only took me 5 years to start remember names... I'm pathetic.

Since I didn't ever give away the first set of cards I made I was excited to see that we were making journals instead. I am a freak over journals. Not writing in them mind you. I think each of my journal entries start with "It's been a long time, I'm going to do better." I absolutely LOVE owning them! I have to be careful when I go to Barnes & Noble. Every single journal calls to me and they have some very nice (and pricey) ones.

Back on track… I went to a card party and tried a new thing.

Embossing.

Neatest thing since sliced bread.

I. Love. It.

Now I just need to find some embossing stuff for cheap.

I made this simple and lovely journal:

mmmm... Glittery goodness

Last time I made these cards.

Yup, that’s a valentines card. I put it somewhere safe after I made it and forgot all about it. I’m prepared for next year now.

Oh, I made a new bookmark too.

Valentine's Card

My 3 1/2 year old has his first Valentine's Day Card Exchange tomorrow.  He's getting so big! 
I came across this idea from 24-7-365 and knew it would be perfect for Xander. 

I convinced my kid to hold is hand out just so... 
Added some words to the photo... 

I had them printed and bought cute Valentine's pencils to go along with them.

My husband was nice enough to inform me that only the mean moms send their kids with pencils for V-day gifts so...

I got suckers! 

See... I'm a nice Mom.  I swear.