Sunday, December 12, 2010

baby it's cold IN here

When I bought this house I knew I had a few major (i.e. $$$) projects I wanted to accomplish. I figured with the tax credit I would update the kitchen and hardwood floors. I finished those projects pretty quickly. The other project is new windows. New windows haven't really been top of mind- especially when its 70 degrees outside. Currently I have the old aluminium crank windows. Because of this, I have held off on purchasing blinds and investing in other window treatments (although, I agree 100% that window treatments can transform a room!). 


Well tonight I was sitting on my couch (which is up against 4 HUGE windows) and I thought the air was on full blast- on no.. it was the gust of wind from outside!!!! My windows are SO inefficient..... I have had 2 companies give me quotes on new windows and we talking a couple grand :( In the meantime, I will be taking donations to my window fund :) 


When I felt this guest of wind (I do have curtains on these windows), I was glad I spent the afternoon putting up curtains in the "office." I decided on a purple accent wall in this room as well--- take a look (I am aware that I need to do ANOTHER layer of paint on the accent wall-- DARK COLORS = NOT EASY TO PAINT WITH!)


Here is a look at how my office/3rd bedroom has transformed....






warms the room up.. just need to get a rug and desk chair!

I know.. it needs another layer of paint...

Closer look at the curtains.. I love World Market!

Be my guest..

My guest room has been a really easy place to store random stuff since moving in June. The guest room has its own bathroom and closet. It also has a really convenient door to shut when I wanted to hide my stuff. I had boxes, paint supplies, off-season clothes hidden in the room. It was easy to use the entire room as a storage closet. 


Well, with the holidays approaching I knew I had to do something about the room. So I finished taking down the wall-paper, painted the walls (Kilim Beige- same as kitchen and hallway), found a cute bedspread, found an AWESOME deal at IKEA for curtains and FINALLY hung the HEAVY mirror (with my Dad's help of course!). I still have a few finishing touches to complete (I have some cute wall decor ideas and need to find some lamps, etc.) But here is a look at the progress...


I didn't get a picture with the floral wallpaper.. but you can imagine. 

Walls painted...still a holding cell for all my stuff. Took down cheap-o blinds

Need to find window treatments.. ASAP!

Taaaddaaa! Mirror on wall, IKEA no-sew curtains up!


Ok..so Alphie the Lion is for giggles. Curtains closed so my neighborhood can't see my business.



I totally lucked out on the rug for the room too! I found the rug at Home Depot for $20! It is the best quality.. it is just scrap that was the sewed on the ends, but it does what it needs to do... protect the wood floors I love and warm the room a little :)

Well... I invite you to be my guest! I will try my hardest to get some lamps and some artwork as soon as possible :)


I'm dreaming of a white christmas

With a light dusting of snow today in Atlanta, I wanted to share my holiday decorations :) I decorated the day before Thanksgiving and am loving the festive decor in my house! I love coming home and turning on my Christmas lights. I'm looking forward to growing my holiday decorations over the years now that I know I will be in the same house for a couple of years. 


I found this pre-lite garland at Costco for $20! Not bad-- even had some acorns on it :) The cute framed picture was a find at TJ Maxx for $4!! With so many people sending picture cards this year, I'm displaying them on my hutch. My favorite part of this display is the Nativity set that my Grandmother painted. She gave it to me right before she passed away :)



 

I'm so excited to have a fireplace mantle! There are so many things you can do with a fireplace during the holidays! Next year I'm going to get the fireplace cleaned and actually have some fires.. but in the meantime, I picked up these stockings for $5 each at Garden Ridge. I also get to display more of my Grandmother's artwork (her Santa Claus and carolers. 



So NEXT Christmas I get all my ornaments from growing up :) This Christmas I have some ornaments I have collected over the past three years in Atlanta. Next year we will have to get a bigger tree. This one is a little old and a little... um, sparse in my family room. 

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season! God Bless!!

Friday, December 10, 2010

First Thanksgiving

This was my first Thanksgiving at my OWN house! My parents and brother traveled from Kansas to visit me for the weekend. Not only did we have wonderful food




but we were also able to eat outside on my patio! The weather was beautiful!


My Dad also got me an early Christmas present...




HP41LK_1_Final.jpg

This Ryobi drill is AMAZING! It only weighs a pound or so, comes with its own bag and accessories! THe nice thing about this drill is that I can actually handle it! My other bigger drill is important to have- when I have a guy that can use it. But for smaller projects around the house- this one is perfect! I finished a TON of projects over the weekend and will keep you updated on my progress with my Ryobi. I feel like i need to name it... suggestions? :)

Up on the roof top...

So this time of year there are songs being sung about Santa, snow flurries and reindeer. So when i heard a noise in my attic I was some how hoping that i was possibly reindeer and Santa... but we all know that was not possible. 


So on day 2 of hearing these noises- that had grown to a beeping/crying noise, I googled critter control companies in Atlanta. When Critter Patrol met me at my house I was a little nervous (mostly thinking of how much money I was going to have to spend to get whatever critters out of my house). When I described the beeping/crying noise the nice critter guy told me that it sounded like the sound of attic critters mating. 


okay....... i will give you a few moments to stop freaking out. 


When he told me that.. i just had chills. I couldn't believe that critters might be up there-- reproducing!!


So.. when he opened up the attic door and pulled the stairs down (all the while I am peaking around a bedroom door just in case something fell or jumped out... we (ok.. he) didn't see anything. 


As he started up the stairs we heard the noise!! The guy laughed and pointed to the rotating vent on my roof....yes folks, all i had on hand was a squeaky vent that needs some WD-40. Oh how I felt silly-- but at the same time so relieved that I wasn't going to fork over $800+ this holiday season to remove furry critters. 


A few things that I learned... if you do have an attic:

  • critters don't leave as many droppings as they use to so you may not know if you have any critters up there!
  • Depending on your insulation there is a chance that you won't hear the critters walking up there
  • In order to be proactive, go ahead and put some traps up there yourself-- don't put poison up there, rather put peanut butter or something where the critter will get stuck on the trap. The last thing you want to happen is for the critter to eat the poison and end up dying in a not so visible place
  • oh--- invest in some latex gloves
this stuff is totally not fun to think about- but it is reality. 

Here's to hoping that if you hear something on your roof or in your attic that it is just Santa trying to deliver you some of your presents on your wish list and not a bag of coal :)

Happy Holidays!!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

spunky? sophisticated? sassy?

Need your vote!!

There are two more painting projects I want to tackle... one being the guest bathroom. Right now it is hospital sterile white! There is a nice built in bookshelf behind the toilet that I thought I would paint for an accent..something to tie in the guest bedroom bedding set. But since no one really sees that bathroom, I want to focus my energy and $$ to my 3rd bedroom/walk-through room. 

This room is between the kitchen and hallway to the other bedrooms. It also has the sliding glass doors out to the screened porch. I want this room to be an "escape." It needs to be multi-functional.. office, yoga, mediation, as well as pet friendly for Snyder... 

There is one wall with no doors or windows on it.. a perfect wall for an accent wall! I am going to paint the other 3 walls the Sherwin-Williams Kilim beige that is also in the guest room, hallway and kitchen. But the 4th wall I want to stand out! I saw a really neat painting technique where you stencil in a design using the same paint color as the wall, but in a high gloss.... so here are some paint colors I picked out.. which one do you like? I need your vote!!


Color 1- Behr Ultra "Strike a pose." Here is where I got the inspiration 

Color 2- Behr Ultra "Drum Solo." There is where I got this idea

Color 3- Behr Ultra "Blood Rose". Same inspiration as "Strike a pose"

deck the halls... 'tis the season of NO MORE WALLPAPER!

When I bought my house 5 months ago there were 29 walls covered in wallpaper, not to mention 6 of them had 4 layers! The 6 walls were located in the hallway and had some interesting door jams and spaces... one of the reasons why it was the last wallpaper project I tackled. 

Here is a picture of the hallway in June..


Here is a look with the walls stripped... still a lot of stuff to do before I paint..i lived with these walls like this for 5 months.. YUCK!




So much to patch work to repair the walls! 



sanded and primed..



END PRODUCT... beautiful painted Kilim Beige walls!


ok... so the change is a lot more dramatic in person.... such a difference. Maybe I will actually turn my hall light on now :)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Great Frame Up..

So I envy all of those blogs out there at feature neat craft projects, decorating tips, holiday ideas. Why? Because I can't wait until the day that I have more time to do those type of projects. Up until now all my projects have been MAJOR cosmetic changes (taking down wallpaper, painting walls, installing a sink). All of these projects are super important, but they don't all add the "charm" that I want to add to my house. 


So I finally completed one those "charming" projects. Side note- I tend to change my mind so that is one reason why I can't seem to complete one of these projects because I'm always thinking "what happens if another idea comes along that I like better?. 


So this time I tackled the bathroom. The bathroom has yellow tile and white walls (MUCH better than the floral wallpaper :) ). Yellow is in right now, but this yellow is slightly lighter than the trendy mustard color in right now that goes great with gray. So.. I decided to add some accent colors-- a little black/white. 


Take a look at the great frame up. The frames were on sale at local craft store, the "pictures" that I framed is just some scrapbooking paper I had around the house...


Here is the space..nothing special.. but a little blah
the frames and paper...

project coming together... thought I was going to do all black/white, but I found the yellow flower paper and it had the right shade of yellow, so why not?

on the wall... i like it!!

completely changes the plain, blah bathroom into something  with a little more character..



Okay... I know, I know.. it is JUST my bathroom, but it is a project that I completed and it added a little charm to the house.. even if it is where you take a ........ :)

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hey good lookin'... watcha got cookin'?

 Well I have to say I have a pretty "good lookin'" kitchen! The project is about 80% completed. There are just a few more things I would like to do... for example, the old counter tops went up on the wall and the new counter tops don't, so I have to repaint some of the walls (I primed tonight so you can see the paint tape- not attractive, I know). I also would like to add a cute roman shade to the window and replace the carport door, as well as finish the baseboard around the kitchen... but with all of that being said.. i think it is turning out pretty good!

Let's rewind to last week (yes, that is just 3 months ago.. NOT 1961 ;))
This is what the kitchen looked like when I bought the house... blue wallpaper and wood panels! 
Anyone feel like a fresh avocado? again that blue wall paper!
This was just last week... again.. NOT 1961 (but I almost fooled you, didn't I?)
Wallpaper off... still a lot of work to do!

i like the paint color... still needs some work
new appliances, new counter tops and new floor!!! Still have to fix the wall and paint.. but that will happen soon enough
Love the Spanish Gold counter top!

Lightening isn't the best.. but another view.. a clean fridge that DOESN'T freeze the food on the top shelf!

My coffee maker will look great in that corner!

Just needs a new door and a cute roman shade for the window!
Well, I haven't cooked anything in the kitchen yet-- wanted to make sure the dishwasher, stove, sink all worked :) Can't wait to grocery shopping and cook something delicious!



Sunday, September 26, 2010

Plumbers crack

No-- i didn't witness a plumbers crack, nor did I have one myself...but I did a get chance to play "plumber" this weekend. And in the end... i have a working faucet and sink (ok-- only side of the sink, but that's better than where I started on Friday!

So when the countertops were installed, they gave me a great new stainless steel sink, however, they did not provide a handyman with the new sink. So instead of forking out money for a handyman, I decided to get my act together and tackle the project. 

This is what it looked like on Friday...

First on my to-do list was connect the faucet...it made the most sense since it was at the very back and I didn't want to work around the pipes.. 

On my back, in the cabinet trying to secure the faucet..not so fun!


This handy dandy tri-pod flashlight was a LIFE SAVER! Thanks, Dad!!!!

THis is the final project....

Okay.. so now that the faucet works, the water has now where to go.. on to the plumbing. Here is a look at what i need to get to (one exception... I'm putting a garbage disposal on the right side..


I put some plumbers putty on the sink..

Then I realized the strainer doesn't line up with the J-pipe... so i had to go back to Home Depot and this is the final results... with no leaks!!



Monday, September 20, 2010

what a tease..

So I have two major projects going on and I am going to hold off on showing the completed look until I am done with each of the rooms...here is a little tease of what's in store :)


here is a look at the new countertop and tile floor...



here is a little peak at the guest room :)