Our Backyard

Since we just recently had a fence put in, we've never really done anything with the backyard. We've got a huge deck and tons of space and I thought it was finally time to do something with it! I've shared a few pictures of the patio set, but here's the rest! 

It's still such a work in progress, but I'm really happy with it so far:

spearmint:

spearmint & rosemary-both need to be moved to larger containers:

citronella geranium- supposed to keep the bugs away... the jury is still out!

my puny flowerbed: definitely needs more!

my hanging basket-- I took it down to give it some more sun:

our firepit-- we're burning debris right now but it's awesome to use at night:

Jack's favorite spot to annoy our neighbors:

the crazy tree growing in the middle of the deck:

I'm making changes out here almost daily! Lots of new plants, flowers and cleaning up. But, this is quickly becoming my favorite place to hang out. :-)

10 Minute Transformation

With all the long and stressful projects I've been tackling, I decided that I needed some instant gratification. Mike had a plain bulletin board and I had some leftover fabric and 5 minutes later:

I also decided to do something temporarily with the office window:

Not perfect by any means-- the proportions are off, the fabric is wrinkled etc But it's a lot better than the light pink mini blinds that used to be there!
I had the curtain rod and panel already and I just rigged it with some ribbon-- really took about 5 minutes.
 It's a weird window and I really hate the arch. I've been contemplating this window's fate for 6 months! Roman shade? Blinds? Curtain panels? Blah. I ordered some faux silk 95" panels to try and I also want to try some burlap panels. Since I made the burlap panels in the dining room I've been dying to use them somewhere else. They filter just the perfect amount of light and wouldn't block the view entirely.
Some inspiration pictures:

and pics of arched windows with full panels:

I'm never finished

I've been busy as usual! I've been working on about a dozen projects simultaneously (because I'm a glutton for punishment! haha). I seriously feel like it's never ending. I'm in the process of completely redoing our guest room- painting it right now, but new curtains, new accessories maybe even a new bed!

I'm working on convincing Mike that we really need this:

or this:

I'm also putting in new flooring and painting our sun porch. Plus sewing a new roman shade for the office. Seriously. I'm.Never.Finished.

But I love it!

I've been M.I.A. for a reason :-)

Sorry for the lack of blogging, but I've been busy! I've been working on our backyard and we've accomplished a ton in the past week. We had the sun porch re-screened, had both decks power washed, bought patio furniture, I planted a ton of flowers & started an herb garden etc etc etc Seriously, the list of projects just goes on & on. It's so fantastic to have an outdoor living space- we've eaten dinner on the deck a few nights this week. :-) I'm planning a big post on all the projects, but here's a sneak peek of our progress---
here's the new screened in sun porch:

I'm painting next week and putting in a new tile floor.
and here's the new patio set:

good fences make good neighbors!

Please look past the massive amounts of leaves, Ellie taking a bathroom break, the ghetto dog kennel left behind by the previous owners and Mike's Crocs... we have a FENCE!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For some reason very few houses in our little town have a fence and it drove us crazy. We decided to spend a little bit of Mike's annual bonus on a privacy fence, and it was completed earlier today. The dogs are in heaven and we love the PRIVACY!! No more looking into our creepy neighbor's yard... no more late night walks with JB & Ellie. It's awesome. And I already have big plans for that yard! We already have a pretty cool fire pit, some wooden benches and a nice deck- but I can't wait to plant some flowers and make it a nice little sanctuary. This is my next project-- stay tuned!

Our Bathroom Transformation!

This has been a loooong time coming-- and I can't believe I'm finished!

When we bought our little house in July 2008, one of the first things we did was replace the carpet in the bathrooms (yuck) with ceramic tile. These bathrooms were a mess! Carpet, horrible wallpaper (on un-primed drywall no less!!) Every time I even thought about tackling that room I practically broke out in hives. But, I am proud to say that it is finished!! A lot of blood, sweat and yes- actual tears were shed but I am so thrilled!

Here is her transformation:

and after the tile, we worked on the hideous wallpaper! The previous owners decided to be lazy and put their tacky wallpaper on bare drywall. It was an absolute nightmare to deal with. I had to remove the paper, patch the walls, prime about a million times, texturize the walls and actually paint them...

See the little hook? The bathroom didn't have anywhere to put towels and we couldn't figure out a good placement for a towel rack. So, I decided to use a hook instead. This one is a 3M Command hook- so it was super easy to install and will be easy to remove or reposition it if we ever get tired of it. And we finally have a place for our hand towel!

a real grown-up bedroom. part one

When Mike and I moved in together back in August of 2005 (yes, we lived in sin until we got married in November 2006!) we had such a hodge podge of furniture. Everything was a hand me down, some better than others. Over time we've slowly replaced almost everything-- except the bedroom. Mike received a great yearly bonus last week and with some of it we're getting a privacy fence for the back yard and new bedroom furniture! Here's what we're getting:

We decided on the Canopy line of furniture from Walmart. Now before you have visions of tacky particle board crap, relax-- I did my research! The Canopy stuff is solid hardwood, with a birch veneer. It's really substantial heavy furniture. 

We have new nightstands:

a new tall 5 drawer dresser:

and the long 6 drawer dresser:

check out the resemblance between the Pottery Barn Hudson dresser with the Canopy dresser:

plus the Canopy dresser is only $299 (well, $270 with our discount!) compared to $1599.00 for the PB Hudson.

The long 6 drawer dresser should arrive next week, and I can't wait to share pictures of our totally revamped room! For now, here's a few shots of just part of it:

I think this shows a better shot of the wood tone:

Oh, and did I mention I talked Mike into a new flat screen for the bedroom? LOL What can I say, it's been a good week!!

I can't wait to post the finished room in a week or two!

Where I Live Wednesday: The Kitchen

Let's start with some before pictures:

The theme of our house seemed to be layers upon layers of dated wallpaper and let me tell ya- our kitchen was no exception! Removing that was no fun.

While the wallpaper was terrible, the bones of the kitchen are great. Nice cabinets, decent counter tops, new-ish back splash,  decent appliances, etc. 

One of the first projects we tackled in the kitchen was to install new lighting. I hated the old oak light box. My Dad helped Mike install a ceiling fan. It does a wonderful job of keeping the kitchen cool while I cook.

Here are some recent pictures:

I love the little spice cabinet:

So far I've:

• removed all wallpaper and painted it Restoration Hardware's Spanish Moss
• installed new vinyl flooring (all by myself!)
• replaced old white fridge with a new black fridge

Still to do:

• replace stove and dishwasher