Retail Therapy

I've been a shopping fool the past week. I blame it on boredom, great sales and some more weight loss. :-) It feels nice to buy a size I haven't seen in a while! haha!

here are a few of my favorite things I've picked up over the past few days:

I'll start with shoes- I've been on the lookout for some simple black ballet flats and found these yesterday.



and both of these were on super clearance at Dillard's- love them!!





I've gotten some cute jeans too-

I'm obsessed with gray jeans right now-







and I'm loving flannel/plaid:





and this is cuter on:

*everything is from: Dillard's, Lane Bryant, Nordstrom's and believe it or not- Cato. LOL*

Where I Live Wednesday: The Sun Porch

The sun porch or "Bella Vista Room" as they're called in our area is a completely under-utilized space in our home. We just don't really know what to do with it. Looks like the plan for now is to re-screen the room and have new flooring installed. Some people in our neighborhood have completely enclosed their sun porch and made it into an additional room. We recently had a contractor come out and give us estimates on enclosing it- it really was reasonable. Maybe in a year or two we'll decide to go that route. :-) Oh, and you can't see it in the pictures, but the best thing about this room is the lake view. <3

Here are some pictures from when we first moved into the house:












I'll share more when we start working on the space! :-)

New Kitchen Floor

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of all my home improvement posts!

I'll share the before pictures one more time:





As I said in my last post, I decided to tackle this project last weekend while Mike was in Memphis. This was a pretty big project for me to take on by myself (hello, I moved our refrigerator and stove...all by myself!!) but I am so glad I did it!

I decided on a faux travertine tile:



I used Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine vinyl tile. I think vinyl tile aka peel and stick tile has changed a lot over the years-- this stuff was hard as a rock! Each tile really mimicked stone- in texture and weight. So cool! I was under the impression that vinyl tile was cheap, shiny and not very attractive. This stuff definitely changed my mind. :-)

I started the project at around 8 pm on Friday night. One of the benefits of doing this while Mike was gone- I could set my own hours! haha! I headed to Lowe's, picked up my supplies and got to work. I'll keep the instructions brief- I basically had to find the center of the room and dry fit (lay the tiles out without removing the protective backing) to make sure I didn't have to make any adjustments before I started "sticking" them. Here's a picture I grabbed with my iPhone while I worked:



I quit at around 1 am Saturday morning (I said I set my own crazy hours!) and was about 80% finished. I slept in Saturday, started the project again around noon and finished at about 1:30. All together about 6 hours to complete the floor. :-)

Here are some shots of the finished product:













The most difficult part to do were all the crazy edges. Our kitchen floor has some weird angles and it was kinda tricky to cut the edge pieces. It was also not so fun to move the fridge and stove- but I did it! (and I got to clean behind both- the previous owners were gross.) The most interesting things I found behind our appliances: a huge neon orange crayon and an expired pizza coupon from 1994. :-)

I loved surprising Mike when he arrived home Sunday evening- he was THRILLED!!

The Details:

• the materials used: Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine peel and stick tile & a boxcutter
  
• total project time: about 6 hours
• total cost: about $100 for 80 sq. ft
  

A sneak peek

of my weekend project!!

Eventually we plan on having hardwood floor throughout the living room, dining room, kitchen and office- but the gross kitchen floor was killing me! So, while Mike was out of town this past weekend I decided to do something about it:

old flooring:





It's difficult to see, but it was off white with purple and gray flowers- hideous! LOL

and here is a sneak peek of the new flooring:





It's just vinyl tile- but it looks soooo much better! I'll post tomorrow with pictures of the finished floor and all the details. I'm so pleased with the change!

Jack Bauer, Just Chilling

Tonight Mike was wrapping up a marathon Xbox session and I was reading in bed... Jack decided I was much more fun than Mike so he decided to come hang out. He brought with him his disgusting enormous bone. This thing makes me want to gag but it makes Jack deliriously happy. I decided to grab the camera and take a few shots.



at this point he realizes I'm going paparazzi on his ass. haha!



I love how he holds the bone with his "arms". LOL



awww, that's one happy puppy!





I love the winking. What a character!!

Where I Live Wednesday: The Dining Room

This week I thought I'd show the dining room. It's our only eating area in the house- for our next home I'd love a separate formal dining room. This room (like so many in our house) started off rough. :-) I have very few "before" shots because it really was hideous.

Here is a picture from the house listing:



Random shot, right?

And this was taken the day we moved in:



More gorgeous wallpaper! haha! So this was the first room I attempted wallpaper removal. And, lucky me-- there were about 4 layers!!

Excuse the mess in this picture (my mom was visiting to help with some crafts) but it really shows the craptastic curtains the previous owners had and it shows the beginning of the wallpaper removal.



this was taken in the middle of the wallpaper removal process:



And then there was paint!



I used Restoration Hardware's Spanish Moss and I love it. It's the best paint I've ever used and went on like a dream. The table was a hand me down from my great grandmother and needed a ton of work. It was a temporary solution until we found something we loved. In the meantime I made curtains and decorated just a bit.

A few months ago we found exactly what we were looking for! It's exactly the style I envisioned and fits the space perfectly. Here is the room waiting on the new table to be delivered:



And here is the dining room now:







The details:

The furniture is from a local furniture store.
The paint is Restoration Hardware Spanish Moss.
All artwork and accessories are from Hobby Lobby.
The curtains are all made by me- toile valances on the bay window and burlap panels on the french door.

The Big Bathroom Reveal!

I am so happy to finally reveal all the changes that have been made to our guest bathroom! This has been a long process but so worth it in the end. :-)

When we purchased the home last year, this room was by far the scariest. Behold the completely awful "before":



OMFG, can you believe it? LOL Oh and did I mention the carpet??



Our first project upon purchasing the home was to hire a contractor to remove the nasty carpet and lay ceramic tile:





This room, like so many others in our house had hideous wallpaper. And once again the wallpaper was on unprimed drywall- which meant tons of damage to the walls when it was removed. I cannot tell you how many tears were shed by me in this room! haha! Seriously, this was so damn hard.
I'd like to say that this room is finished, but of course it's not! My current to do list for this space:

• sew a cute valance for the window
• buy rug
• some shelving or new artwork
• new light fixtures
• add trim to shower curtain

So, here we go! The "after" shots:













The details:

• the wall color is from Walmart- they color matched Olympic's Pony Tail and then made it one shade darker. I love it!
• the rug in front of the vanity is temporary
• all the wall decor was just "shopped" from around the house. :-)
• the curtain is temporary- It was a $3 curtain from the Walmart Associate Store. It was a weird 63" length, so I just folded it in half and stitched it. Not perfect, but it works for now!

and just because, here is the view from that bathroom window:



In the winter you can see the lake. We really do live in the woods, I love it. :-)