Junk Style

2010-06-21T07:15:00.001-04:00

Check out this amazing giveaway!! You're gonna want to enter!!

laundry room transformation

2010-06-11T19:14:00.024-04:00

I am pleased to announce that after owning our house for just about 5 years, we have finally made-over our laundry room. I have despised our laundry room since day 1. The biggest issues I had with the room was that it was waaaayy too white for me and the placement of the washer and dryer were ridiculous! We made a few improvements over the years but, of course, I was never satisfied. Finally, our washer and dryer pooped out and we were forced to buy new!! And that's when my husband decided to get to work on it. Soooo {drumroll please} here is the new and improved laundry room:

We did everything ourselves (meaning my husband did most of it!) so we saved a lot of money! Here's a complete list of everything we did to the room:

Paint, new flooring, bead-board wall with crown, old door on wall with hooks, new trim all throughout, new washer and dryer, new countertop, raised cabinet and put on feet, bead-board backsplash, corbals and rope lighting under cabinets, crown trim above cabinets, took cabinet doors off and organized... and I think that's all!

These are the only before pictures I could find of the room:

we were moving in...
the 'in-between'

I linked up to

tea rose home

transformation thursday
penny pinching party
trash to treasure
strut your stuff thursday

just a girl - show and share

ruffled curtain

2010-05-13T12:37:00.003-04:00

My favorite curtain yet! I did my first ruffle on the sewing machine with this curtain and I am happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to share the rest of the room's transformation.

stairway grouping of pictures

2010-05-11T08:16:00.014-04:00

Question of the month for me: What do I do with all of the pictures I'm not using?

Options: Put them on the garage sale, goodwill, continue to store in the basement, display them in a collage.

Solution: Line the stairway going down to the basement.

I love groupings of old pictures and I've done some in our home before but I've been trying to get away from anything that looks cluttered. We live in a 1950's ranch with square/rectangular rooms. It is not a very open floor plan to work with so whenever I did groupings, it just made the room look smaller and it was overstimulating. My husband and I are Harry Potter fans (my husband especially) and his solution to all of our decorating issues is to make our home look like 'the burrow': The burrow is Ron's home which is cluttered to no end with old, magical relics. So even though it may be overstimulating since it's a small space, I think it adds to the ambiance of our basement: we've already got the magical hidden doorway and now this also contributes to 'the burrow effect'.

my first sign

2010-04-25T20:53:00.007-04:00

...actually, I've done a couple of other hand painted wooden signs before but this is the first one that I'm happy with. My MIL has always loved this saying and I have looked high and low -online and in stores- for a sign with this phrase but could never find one. So I attempted to make one of my own and this is how it turned out:

I sanded some of the edges and the letters and added some antiquing glaze to it which I think put the finishing touch on it. I'm going to give this to her for Mother's Day (hopefully she doesn't read this blog of mine!) I really enjoyed making it so hopefully there will be more to come.

I linked up with just something I whipped up, get your craft on tuesday, and the DIY project parade... check out the other great ideas!

the BEST way to paint bead board...

2010-04-25T20:44:00.005-04:00

I have a discovery to share with you. I put a coat of paint on like a 25 sq ft sheet of bead board last night in 15 minutes! I laid it flat on our kitchen island and just poured a line of paint on the middle and spread it out with a brush. It went so fast!! And if you've ever painted bead board before (or multiple times as I have) you know how hard it is to avoid paint drips. So from now on, this is how I'll be painting my bead board... that is if it's not already hanging on the wall! I can't wait to show you the room transformation that this will be going in. Stay tuned.......!

ottoman makeover

2010-04-11T17:00:00.006-04:00

Wow... am I bad at posting or what?! And I think I've used my excuse of being pregnant and lazy for too long! This spring weather definitely helps get me motivated again!

I've been really into sewing lately. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I work the projects out somehow! In our basement, we have a black sectional couch. And we have an ottoman from the upstairs furniture that didn't match. It's been an eyesore for about a year now and I've been wanting to cover it. And I am relieved to say that I can cross that project off of my extremely long list. So here is the before picture of the ottoman:

And the after pictures:

I used a sheet set that my husband and I never liked so we never used it. I pulled the elastic out of the fitted sheet and used it for the top and for the skirt - so they are two separate pieces. I figure that this will come in handy having kids around that if either piece gets dirty, I can toss it in the wash. I'm happy for the turn-out since it really matches our furniture and pillows perfectly.... and it cost me $0 and only a couple of hours. Eventually I may have my husband build a coffee table instead for this area with a place to hold books, magazines, or blankets, but for now, this will do!

a cardigan makeover

2010-02-04T20:59:00.009-05:00

I have this simple white cardigan that goes great with anything. But just recently, my piece-of-crap dryer tried to eat it and left a nast brown spot (from grease) on the bottom of it. So I did my first sweater transformation and I think I like it even better now! Here it is:

Disregard the picture quality. A lot of times in the blog world, I notice ladies taking pics with their awesome big and chunky expensive cameras... mine is just a nikon coolpix and I really want a new camera.... and a new dryer! I was also trying to avoid showing off my un-made bed but that didn't happen! But back to the cardigan. I can actually get more use out of it since it works with my growing belly (I'm pregnant) and I can even wear it into the spring! (The sweater looks kind of uneven but I think it's just because it's pretty wrinkled...) And here's the before if you're curious :)
I'm linking up to transformation thursday, and creative cats friday, and diy showoff.

chalkboard paint projects

2010-01-21T16:14:00.016-05:00

Don't you just love chalkboard paint? I know I do!! So here are a couple of projects that I did yesterday. This is a before picture of the first project:

I loved this little hook rack just the way it was but the yellow didn't really work well on my 'straw' colored kitchen wall. So I took the little emblem thing off and painted it with chalkboard paint. I kept the emblem thingy and I have a plan for it so stay tuned... But this is the finished product:

It holds me and my daughter's aprons - aren't they cute? And then I had this old window (which I love old windows!) that was in our bedroom and I decided to turn it into a weekly calender. I hate big old-fashioned calenders so I record everything in my little purse-sized planner. But I don't check it everyday. And being pregnant, I'm very forgetful so this is a great reminder of what I have going on week by week. Before and after:

I'm linking up to make your monday , diy show-off, and sys thursday

laundry room transformation

2010-01-21T15:40:00.010-05:00

I'm finally getting some energy again and with it, I have started tackling the house. I had some loose ends to tie up: some painting jobs, some decorating issues, and some organizing I had started. The week before Thanksgiving, my husband got h1n1. And after caring for him and sanitizing and sanitizing and sanitizing (which I think kept me and my girls from getting it!!) I was about to lose my mind. So what did I do.... buy paint! And paint I did. I painted our laundry room, living room, and half of our half and full bathrooms. That is a LOT of painting. And each wall took 2-3 coats! And I pulled my back out because of it. I wanted to create more unity in my house. I was tired of every room being a different color. So I went in search of a 'straw' color to unite the rooms. I found 'ginger' from Eddie Bauer. It was a little more yellow than I predicted but I really like it. Especially since it replaced brown -it has really lightened up the house.

But this post is going to concentrate just on my laundry room. This is my LEAST favorite room of the house and it's generally the first room that people see. Let me show you the (way) before picture:

This is the best picture I could find... we were apparantly moving in! When we come into our house from our garage, we walk right into this room. When we bought the house we were thrilled about our big laundry room. Now it makes no sense to me. Not only is it unnecessarily huge but the dryer is in such an odd place. Is that not the stupidest way to set up a washer and dryer? Whoever came up with this floorplan.... grrr!! We are going to move the dryer next to the washer eventually but it's going to be a time-consuming project for my husband and he just isn't jumping on it! So I've done what I can to try to make it as eye-pleasing as possible until my husband can fix it. Here's the after picture:What do you think? We have since added a bead board wall with crown molding, changed out the flooring, and knocked a wall down so our front entrance is connected to the room (in my 1950s house, this makes it flow just a little nicer since our house is so boxy!) For now, I think I can move onto the other rooms of my house until my husband decides to fix the odd placement of the dryer! (And don't even get me started on our washer and dryer! Oh how I dream of having pretty front loaders some day that hum instead of clunk!!)

bottlecap 'abc' magnets

2010-01-13T16:46:00.013-05:00

First of all, I thought I'd let you know that I have changed my name to Junk Syle. Just in case you were wondering who the heck I was!! There are a couple of other 'creative attempts' blogs out there and junk decorating is more of what I do. And I really can't claim myself to be very creative :) Thus, the name change.

Now about this post: I'm starting to work on letters a little bit with my two and a half year old. I've seen many people make magnets out of bottlecaps so I thought I'd give it a try, too. I took some bottle tops, spray painted them, stuck a magnet to the back, and a letter to the front. And I think they turned out pretty cute. I was thinking that I'd use some magnetic paint and some chalkboard paint on top of that for this space (that is currently just chalkboard) in my daughters' room: Does anyone know if this will work - meaning the magnetic paint below the chalkboard paint? I may have to experiment. I guess there's always the refridgerator except for I am frequently finding magnets under the fridge (thanks to my girls). I think I may put some of these up on etsy, too. So here they are:

I'm linking up to transformation thursday. just something i whipped up, and today's creative blog.

re-using gift bags

2010-01-09T14:10:00.005-05:00

I have been so out of touch with the blogging world but for good reason... I'm pregnant with my third baby!! So I've been extremely tired and blogging has been the furthest thing from my mind! But I'm hoping to get back in the grove. My to-do list is rediculous! I'm hoping I can tackle it little by little and share some ideas with you. I am a SAH mom and I also do massage therapy out of my home. For the holidays, I had to make up a few gift certificates fast and this is what I came up with: I used gift bags! If I like a gift bag I recieve, I keep it.... and I reuse it. And I had to whip these up in like 15 minutes so they're not perfect but I do think it's better than just a plain slip of paper that I used to do. And with the ribbon, I was able to attach my business card to the back. I think I'll be using gift bags some more if I need to make a quick card, for scrapbooking, or for labels. So this is my lame first post of the new year. Happy 2010!

bat!

2009-12-05T21:46:00.001-05:00

First of all:
Jordan= husband, Gary= dog

Tonight, Jordan and I were invited to go shopping with friends. I decided to stay home because I knew we wouldn't be able to find a babysitter. Jordan couldn't make up his mind: he felt bad leaving us but really wanted to go.... he flipped a coin and the coin said to stay home. And now we know why: a BAT flew into our basement!! Gary chased it back and forth, I put my hood on, Jordan hid under a blanket and we both screamed like little girls. After I whipped the blanket off Jordan and demanded that he 'be a man' he caught the bat under the blanket which was on top of me!!! (Which reminded me of that Office episode when Dwight catches a bat with a paper bag on top of Meredith's head! Ever see that one... you've gotta!) So, if Jordan would have gone out tonight, it would have just been me and the bat! Seriously, I don't know what I would have done!

{shudder}

....{another shudder!}

diy magnets

2009-11-24T08:25:00.007-05:00

I'm linking up with the girl creative who I just discovered and love already. Do you ever just think that you've found all of the 'great' blogs but they just keep popping up? How many more blogs can I follow?! Anyways, I'm linking up these little magnets I made. All I used was super glue, a magnet, scrap material (for the 'country' looking ones) and flower embellishments + crystals (for the shabby ones - which I'm also willing to sell ($8 shipping inclueded) if anyone is interested!) So here they are:

Country ones on my re-purposed register:

And the shabby ones on my recipe-holder plate (which I also have for sale-inquire if you're interested!):

Why I can't seem to rotate this picture is beyond me....

i'm in love with my new black paino!

2009-11-20T09:55:00.013-05:00

I finally did it!! I have been wanting to paint my piano black for a long time and I finally just did it.

And. I. LOVE. It.

Here is the before picture:

Go ahead, say it. It looks horrible, I know. And when I see a picture of it, it's even worse. (And what was I thinking with those pictures sitting on top of it?!)

So Wednesday, I sanded it all down (which only took me minutes thanks to my husband's power sander) and it surprisingly didn't take me long to paint it. I used a satin finish of black Behr (which is my favorite 'cheap' brand of paint from Home Depot). And while I was working on this project, I had my 2 and 1 year old playing in the same room and I was caring for my h1n1-infected husband. So..... here are the after pictures:

Isn't it GORGEOUS?! It looks brand-spankin new, doesn't it? Mr. C-A is going to build me a different rack (you know, where the music sets) eventually because I hate the one that's on there now, even with it painted. And oh how I wish our floors were refinished.... They make me cringe everytime I see them in a picture. One project at a time, I guess. What d'ya think?!

I'm linking up to today's creative blog, transformation party, ASPTL, frugal friday, creative cats , furniture feature friday, and metamorphisis monday. Wow, that's a lot of em :)

And to answer some of your questions: I didn't prime it, I used a roller and my purdy brush, and I do play (but not all that great!)

my dog and chocolate

2009-11-15T17:21:00.005-05:00

I love my dog but I don't usually like him. And my dog, Gary, is unlike other dogs... he's more human-like. He can ring the doorbell and open the front door (which some of my friends can't even open!) and all day long, I'm letting him outside, then inside, then outside (who knew this about dogs?!) because he has to be social. He's so high-maintainence! Maybe it's why I get annoyed of him.... he's such a baby and I don't have the patience for him. But Thursday, I discovered that I really do love the dumb dog.

Gary ate almost an entire bag of chocolate chips on Friday. And though I've always known that chocolate is bad for dogs, I didn't really think much of it. I just spanked him, threw him outside and went on my merry way. About 4 hours later, my husband called and I mentioned it to him and he freaked and told me to call a vet. So I called one and she freaked out when I told him how much he ate and told me that 'this is a medical emergency and it's gonna cost you a few hundred dollars' because they probably would have hospitalized him. I told her I was going to discuss it with my husband before bringing him in. But before calling my husband, she wanted me to pour as much hydrogen peroxide down his throat as I could get so that he would throw up. So I did that and it worked! At this point, we decided that we didn't want to bring Gary in if it was going to cost us an arm and a leg and if he was going to be throwing up in our car. I looked all over the internet about dogs eating chocolate and everywhere I looked, it seemed like he could have ate twice as much chocolate as what he did before he entered the 'toxic' level. He is fine and I'm soo happy we didn't bring him in but I had no idea how toxic chocolate is for dogs. And did you know, there are agents in grapes, raisens, onions, and garlic that can also be toxic for dogs?!

Moral of the story: no matter how much you think you don't like your dog, you realize how much you really do love him when you think he could go into a coma and die. So take care of your pets :)

christmas banner.... no.1

2009-11-11T13:09:00.006-05:00

I have a bunch of scraps and so many ideas of what I want to do with them. The first thing I decided to do with them was to make a banner. I decided to go with a 'Jesus' banner since He's the reason for the season.

It was a really simple project: I just cut out the letters, sewed them onto a square, and sewed another square to the back putting a thick black thread out of each corner of the square pocket. If I'd have had red thread, I would have sewed with that when sewing the two squares together... but I didn't have any red thread (remember, I'm an amateur!)

I think I'll find somewhere else to hang it... I'd really like to make a 'give thanks' one or something.
I'm seeing that some of you in the blog world are going all out with the Christmas - which is great! And others are still decorating with fall since Thanksgiving is still coming. I'm kinda doing both. Is that legal? Is anyone else doing that?!

I'm linking up with DIY showoff

pillows

2009-11-05T09:38:00.010-05:00

I've never made a pillow before this week and I ended up making four in 2 days (during 2 naptimes for my girls, actually!) And I learned that I love to make pillows! It's so much easier than I would have thought. I had a roman shade that I used in 3 of the pillows and the other pillow was made from an old shirt. I already had the two red pillows. And disregard the couch they're propped on, we're getting a black sectional couch soon and I think they'll go good on that couch.

I love how they all turned out. But when I first completed them, they were a bit on the boring side, so I traced pictures onto the three using a sharpie and sewed a homemade flower to the other pillow. In case you can't tell, the pictures on the pillows are of a fleur de lis, a crown, and a key.

I also sewed them in such a way that there are only to seams on opposite sides of each other and on the back, there's a flap that you can tuck a pillow into. So it's a slip-cover style (which is pretty much vital when you have kids.) There's probably a certain name for it but I don't know any sewing terminology. And under my new 'pillowcases' (maybe that's what they're called?!) are just cheap pillows that I had on hand.
I may have to upload some more pictures when they're sitting on our new black couch....

I'm linking up to transformation thursday, and creative cats! and made it with what I had.

easy curtains

2009-11-02T12:56:00.005-05:00

A few months ago, we madeover our front entryway which you can see here. I didn't feel that the room was complete so I made some curtains and I think they really add to the room. I have only done a few sewing projects EVER but these were super easy. I took a tablecloth I had, cut it down the middle, and sewed up the sides to make it neat. Then I just took some plain white trim and sewed that to the curtains a few inches down to make them like roman shades. This is how they turned out:

I thought I'd share this simple project because it added so much to the room again and it is so SIMPLE, people! I'm linking up with Today's Creative Blog, check out all the great stuff!

last minute halloween idea

2009-10-30T21:24:00.010-04:00

Is anyone else a procrastinator? Well I usually am! I thought I'd share a last minute Halloween idea for anyone who still doesn't know what to make. (We're talkin food!) Tonight I made cupcakes for our party tomorrow night knowing that I'd have too many other things to do tomorrow. I used a white cake mix (yes, from a box!) and added played around with food coloring to create orange. Don't ask me what combination I used! I frosted the cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Then I put some white frosting into a baggy, melted it for about 5 seconds in the microwave, and then cut off a VERY teeny tip from the baggy. Next, I made a little spiral from the middle of the cupcake to the outer edge. Then I took a toothpick and starting from the middle, made little lines to drag the white frosting with the chocolate frosting and this is how it turned out: In case you can't tell, they're spiderwebs. I got this idea from a magazine a few years ago. I prefer to use foiled cupcake liners because I think the cupcakes are more moist and evenly baked. This time around, a couple of cupcakes got squished together and they reminded me of the shapes of ghosts.
I would have done more of these intentionally if it weren't a mistake to begin with :) And this is my gumball machine that I filled with black and orange m&ms. It looks festive but you get quite the handful when you turn the dial - which is ok with me!

I'm linking up with creative cats and A Soft Place to Land. Happy Halloween, everyone :)

check if you've won a best blog award....

2009-10-23T10:00:00.007-04:00

Aww! Kathie at mynetfinds.blogspot.com sent me this award!

Thanks Kathie! Go check out her site! She also recieved this award and most certainly deserves it!

The Best Blog Award rules are:

1) To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I am going to just pass this on to my all around favorite blogs (some new, some old). They are:

1. The Shabby Chic Cottage

2. Better After

3. Inspiring Ideas

4. Just a Girl

5. Oops! I craft my pants

6. Our Best Bites

7. Poppies at Play

8. Re-Girl

9. Reinvented

10. Ruffles and Stuff

I'm gonna stop at 10 blogs because I could just go on and on!! Check out these websites if you aren't already a follower!

one of a kind flea market finds

2009-10-20T12:25:00.006-04:00

I'm linking up to 'I'm a flea marketeer' party! Here are some of the flea market finds of ours that are my favorites:

A door knocker

A small propeller
(my hubby really wants a BIG one if anyone has one to donate!)
This is my hubby who was napping as I was shooting pictures! (No, I did not find him at a flea market!)

A small birdcage I think I'm going to paint black...?

This is a lampstand my in-laws found and rewired and painted. I love it!

An old man with big beard coat holder, another fave

This is just an old, slightly rusty and discolored (to perfection) ceiling tin

Our very first flea market purchase (probably an easy DIY, too)

Our latest find - the castle - we'd never seen anything like it before!

Any of the books you see in these pictures are more than likely flea market finds as well! I love all of the classics and it's the best when they've got some imperfections and wear to them.

I'm having a ton of fun checking out everyone elses flea market finds! So many 'one of a kinds'! Go check it out or link up if you've got any favorites!

2009-10-19T23:02:00.002-04:00

Link up to ASPTL DIY day. I did! Lots of great stuff on there! (I can't figure out how to do a permalink like I'm supposed to with linking up! Anyone feel like explaining it to a not-so-computer-savvy girl?!

hidden doorways/built-in bookcases

2009-10-16T10:39:00.014-04:00

After my post on our basement, I got a few emails and comments asking for a post on our 'hidden doorway' which is our bookshelf. Mr. Junk Style is a {brilliant} carpenter. I can't wait to build a house someday because he is full of great ideas! So this is how it looks from our basement living area:

And if you're wondering what that bar is near to the ceiling - it's a pipe! Our basement has such low ceilings and if we would have drywalled under the pipes, we would have lost another foot. So we decided to spray the ceilings black and keep the industrial look to it. And I absolutely love the look of it (although it collects a lot of dust).

Before I go on about this bookcase, it turns out that it is currently broken! It won't take much to fix it, but we don't need to use this doorway too often so it has yet to be fixed. When it is in working order, this is how it works....

As you can see, the bookcase is flush with the wall and simply looks like a built-in. However, when you pull down on the Indiana Jones Trilogy (as shown below)....

...there is a wire that runs from the back of the movie case to this thingy:

The wire lifts the 'hook' and releases that 'bar' and causes the bookcase to open!

As you can see, the other side of the doorway is nothing special. It enters to my husband (and my) workshop where he builds up all of our other bright ideas. Eventually we're hoping for the doorway to lead to a hallway and maybe another bedroom and bathroom.

My husband also added this built-in when we bought our house 4 years ago. I love it!

I'm linking up with A Soft Place to Land and creative cats! and metamorphisis monday Check em out!

10 tasks, purdy, and shrinkage

2009-10-14T13:08:00.005-04:00

This is going to be a random post people!!

First off, did anyone else participate in Shabby Chic Cottages' 10 tasks in 10 days? Well, I did! Thanks to the weather, I was unable to accomplish 2 of my outdoor tasks (really, thank you weather!) But everything else on my list got done! That was fun. It really boosted my energy too and I got even more little tasks done.

One of my tasks was to finish cutting in our front entryway that we just made-over. I had recently recieved a free Purdy paintbrush and roller and I put the paint brush to use. And let me tell you.... I am IN LOVE! It took me literally half the time to touch-up than when I use a cheap, junky paintbrush. I have always bought angled brushes but Purdy has such a fine tip to the angled point and yet it holds so much paint. So I would HIGHLY recommend getting a Purdy paintbrush for your next painting project. The only time it malfunctioned was when I would sing and cut in at the same time (I don't recommend doing the 2 at the same time!) For my next painting project, I'm thinking I have to touch-up every other room with this purdy paintbrush so that it looks as professional as my front entryway! Thanks, purdy people!! AND...the people at Purdy brushes wanted to let you know that they have a live web site that is giving $3 rebates for people who purchase Purdy brushes so go check it out!

The third topic I want to touch on today is something that totally gripes me. I was in the bathroom the other day when I noticed that our toilet paper rolls have shrunken considerably. I flip-flop toilet paper brands depending on what's on sale (though I try to stay within Mr. C-A's toilet paper standards!) The brand that I'm refering to shrinking is Angel Soft. I got 12 rolls that are advertised as being more like 24 rolls because they're twice as thick, but we're talking 1.5 inches off the width. Seriously, how much money can this company possibly save by cutting back on our toilet paper! (On the other hand, how much toilet paper are we even really missing by this slight shrinkage - but that's beside the point!) So has anyone else noticed this? Are there any other brands that are doing this? Am I totally way too cheap for even being annoyed by this? It's just that I have noticed a change in my grocery bill - the prices go up but the products are shrinking! It's madness!

chicken dinner

2009-10-13T21:49:00.004-04:00

This is my favorite way to prepare chicken:

Buy a whole chicken.

Get out your roasting pan. (Make sure chicken is completely thawed).

Stick a can of beer, pop, whatever, up its butt.

Cover the neck hole so the flavor stays in (stick a potato or onion in the top).

Rub the skin with your favorite seasoning.

Add some extras- I do potatoes, carrots, lots of garlic, and some seasoning salt.

Roast all day. Maybe 150-200 degrees for 8 hours. Just keep an eye on it.

Indulge! Forget trying to be proper! Eat the chicken with your fingers, and gobble up that crunchy skin!

Eww, it looks like there's some blood on the chicken but it's actually mucho seasoning. This will be the most tender, juicy chicken you've ever had in your own kitchen. Enjoy!

a bow tree

2009-10-13T21:36:00.005-04:00

What's a bow tree, you ask? You mean you've never heard of it? I think I invented it actually. Or maybe not! Probably not!! Anywho.... a couple of weeks ago, I spray painted sticks and made a witchs' broom out of them (scroll down to see). Last week I spray painted some more sticks and placed them in a vase on the mantle (scroll down to see). And today, I painted some more sticks. I placed them in a vase thingy and put them in my girls' room and, well, this is the finished product:

I decided to clip my daughters' bows on it I think it looks better 'in person'! Where else can I use painted sticks?!

lights out

2009-10-09T21:02:00.006-04:00

A few hours of gale force winds one night meant no power for us for 36 hours. Wow, what a pain in the butt! We ended up buying a generater to run our sump pump and refridgerators. My 28 month old, 1 year old, and I were at a loss for what to do with our day. (I had to stay home for half a day to watch that the sump pump didn't flood our basement). Half a day without tv.... it was bad. I guess my girls watch too much tv! But actually it was the darkness that drove me crazy. Our house is in a little neighborhood and the front of the house faces north and the back, therefore, faces south. (I do have a point - being that the sun rises in the east, sets in the west!) We stare at other houses on each side of us. Our house is positioned in a way that the sun doesn't shine down on us. But, the darkness did make me appreciate the candles. We lit up the house with candles. It made me think, why not light these candles more often, just for the heck of it? It's like the phrase 'use the good china'. Really, when it comes to decorating, a good thing to remember is that while we want things to look great, why not keep it useful and comfortable. It's so much more enjoyable that way!

I got this for $12. It sits above my piano and I love it :)

displaying jewelry

2009-10-09T20:41:00.007-04:00

I don't know about you, but no matter how hard I try, I can never keep all my jewelry organized. Especially my earrings. My necklaces are draped on a small candelabra where I can see them but when it comes to my earrings.... Ugh. I can never find what I'm looking for and I always end up going with the same old pair. So this weekend, I converted this $2 picture frame into an earring holder. It doesn't hold all types of earrings but at least I can see what I'm looking at now. (Although I still have that same old pair of earrings in right now!) This is what I came up with:

I was pleased. But then, tonight, I just came across this. I have a box just like that that holds my girls' bows and clippies but this is so much cuter!!

our basement makeover

2009-10-08T15:02:00.014-04:00

Last year, my talented husband finished off our completely unfinished basement and I realized that I never posted about it. So here are some pictures of our basement.

It went from this:

To this:

We're still hoping to purchase some more movie posters for behind the couch. Now our basement is our favorite place to be in our entire house. Some of my favorite features are the 90 gallon fish tank that sits flush with the wall, our built-in bookcase that is actually a secret doorway, and the fireplace.
I've always wanted a fireplace with a mantle. There are so many creative things to do with a mantle. However, so far I have struggled with how to dress ours up with things we already have. This is how it has looked for the past year:

Boring, I know. But now fall has come and for once, I'm happy with how the mantle looks (for now!): Seriously, can't I just keep it like this all year long?!

And while I'm at it, this tin castle is something that my husband and I purchased at the last flea market we went to. It is our all-time favorite buy! I'm trying to find the perfect place for it. What do you think of this arrangement? Is it kind of boring?

I should really rename my blog to 'what are your opinions of my creative attempts' because I really haven't mastered this decorating thing yet and I love to get advice!

2009-10-06T13:53:00.001-04:00

Check out these mod-podged shoes! I'm tellin' ya, this is an extremely creative woman!

2009-10-06T09:05:00.002-04:00

ooooooooooooo!!! I was featured in better after!! I love that site! Check it out! Thanks, Lindsey!

ten tasks....

2009-10-04T15:57:00.002-04:00

I am taking this challenge; completing 10 tasks in ten days. If you've got random projects you haven't started, this sounds like a good way to get them going.

Here is my list:

Item #1: Making this list (this is time-consuming in itself!)
Item #2: Paint crown molding for my massage room.
Item #3: Finish cutting-in our front entryway.
Item #4: Finish painting a chair red.
Item #5: Hang one of our latest flea market finds.
Item #6: Decorate the front of the house for autumn.
Item #7: Transplant a bunch of hostas (ooo, I so hope I get this one done)
Item #8: Make curtains for the front entryway.
Item #9: Find fabric to re-cover a footrest (and hopefully get it recovered, too)
Item #10: Finish switching out our summer clothes to fall clothes.

There are so many more projects that I need to get done along with these. But for now, I'll just cross my fingers and hope to get these done.

What is on your list? I'd love to know!

2009-10-04T15:10:00.000-04:00

Great site with some great giveaways! Check it out : http://housequeen.blogspot.com/

i heart fall

2009-09-30T22:40:00.009-04:00

I seriously love fall! I think I love everything about it... the colors, the smells, the feel of the crisp air, gourds and pumpkins.... What's not to love? In our backyard, we have a bunch of grasses that are 'plume-ing' (or something!) so I've been putting them to good use in vases all over the house. We also have a few sedum plants which I LOVE! They are green all summer long but once fall approaches, they turn a shade of burgundy (I hate that word but it's a pretty fall color!). I'm displaying them all over:

This is in our bathroom: Sedum and grasses amongst {fake} foliage. Is that legal?? I don't know but I like it!

Just Sedum:

How is that curtain lookin'? That window has been naked for 4 years. I've never been able to find something I liked for it so I whipped this up today. I am not very familiar with sewing but I was surprised at how easy this curtain was. {Big sigh of relief}

diy witch's broom stick

2009-09-30T22:24:00.005-04:00

In our backyard, on our hand-laid brick patio, around the fire pit, you can always find a group of {my favorite} wrought iron patio furniture, a box of firewood, and our handy dandy poking stick. Well, a couple days ago, while harvesting some more green beans from the garden {my favorite} I saw the poking stick and thought 'witch broom!' I snatched it up along with a bunch of sticks that had blown from the trees from an earlier wind storm and brought them to my workshop....

This is what I came up with:

This little project literally only took 15 minutes. I spray painted the twigs black and the paint dried in like 4 minutes. I was going to tie everything together with twine but couldn't find any so under that orange ribbon (which was also spray-painted:)) is a zip-tie. So simple and I kinda like it!! Now I just gotta figure out where to put it....

re-purposed register

2009-09-24T09:33:00.005-04:00

I love the look of old registers. Love, love, love them!! So when I found one for $10 at a consignment shop, I had to get it. It's one of the more plain-looking ones but I still had a bunch of ideas for how I could use it. I cleaned the cob-webs off of it and tried a bunch of stuff. What I finally decided was its best purpose was this:

I made the magnets, too. (I have duplicates for sale on etsy!) And all of the pictures are my nieces and nephews. I had a bunch of ideas but I was limited because the back of this has a reel with 5 slats to open and close. I had seen old registers re-purposed as magazine racks and they're really cute like that but it was impossible to do with this one. I think I'm going to have a new addiction when it comes to old registers!

I've linked up with todays creative blog and trash to treasure tuesday.

entry room makeover

2009-09-23T13:13:00.001-04:00

The latest house project that we've had going on is our front entryway. Before the makeover, there was trim and crown that we really didn't care for and white tile with white grout.... Seriously, who's idea was that? It may look nice in other people's houses but not in mine. It was so hard to keep white!! So after nagging at the hubby for a couple of years, we finally made time to re-trim and re-floor! And I am so happy with the results. First, here are the before shots when we bought the house:

And these are the way-after shots:

Don't look too closely, I still need to do touch up and Jordan has to put the shoe down.

Jordan also put in a doorway to connect our laundry room to the front entry and now our basement stairs (which are in the laundry room) feel more included with the layout of our house. (I keep dreaming of a new house someday that isn't from the 50s and so rectangular!) Our house has this 'radient heating' system and that's that box you see on the wall. It's another kind of annoying feature of our 1956 home. I tried to think creatively about how to camouflauge it but painting was the most clever thing I could come up with! Should I keep the boat in there with the vintage pictures of boats behind?

And these are the "we'll just paint it all for now and make it all over later" in-between pictures from the years we've put off this project!

The ugly crown molding, above, and the wall full of pictures, below.

So what d'ya think of the finished product?

story of my life....

2009-09-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

Just watch (pause the music at the bottom of this page first):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU66Tlp-vpI

Multiply that by two.

Enough said.

another little project... :)

2009-08-13T08:10:00.001-04:00

Jordan and I have a house project going on (again!) which I will show you pictures of soon... hopefully. Whenever we start one project, our heads get full of a million other little ideas for things we should do. One of them that I've wanted to do for a while now is paint our garage door black. When we refinished our basement, we did the doors black and I absolutely love it. (We just love black as it is). Recently I've seen a couple of bloggers who have also painted their garage doors black and I decided to do it yesterday. So here's the finished product of the door leading into our house from the garage.

I just free-handed this but I'm still happy with the improvement. If I can find some vinyl numbers that I like better, I may have to switch it over, though. I also painted the inside of the door and distressed it and I'm happy with how that turned out as well. I've had a lot of energy this week so I've been trying to put that energy to good use with getting lots of odd projects done.

from drab to fab :)

2009-07-16T14:29:00.001-04:00

I don't know why but this year I have been obsessed with garage sales and thrift stores (even more so than usual). This is something I picked up at Bibles for Mexico for $2.

It was an old, ugly, lightbulb fixture - maybe something you'd hang over a bathroom sink. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it and it turned out just as I hoped it would. This is the final product:

I spray painted it black, stamped the fancy design on it, and added the crystals and candles (all of which, I might add, were already in my possession!) I put it in my massage room because I thought it would add more to the ambiance I am trying to create in there.

Last week, my 'girlfriends' and I went to IKEA. I love it there and made a list a few weeks prior to going of what I needed. It never fails- I get there and buy all this stuff that I really don't need but forget the stuff I really do need. Hence, the very detailed list. And I'm proud to say that I stuck to it (minus a few {cheap} essentials)! Included in my list were a few various items to give our bedroom a makeover. Of all the rooms in our house, our bedroom is the only one that I haven't changed since we've owned the house. Which we've only owned it for 4 years but I'm just finally starting to get the hang of this decorating thing. And for the past few years, Jordan and I haven't been happy with our room. Hence, the makeover. I should have taken a before picture because it was pretty hideous but didn't think of it in time. So here are the after pictures:

I'm really happy with it's transformation. Before, we had these (dresden dream) blue walls and a blue and brown floral, black comforter (don't ask me what I was thinking when I bought it. In my defense - I was pregnant). For quite a while, our dresser was white with a white mirror above it. So I painted the dresser and the mirror black. I found a second oval mirror and also painted it black. It still needed something else so from IKEA, I bought the shelf underneath the mirrors and a couple of candles. I also got the comforter , the big pink pillow, and the curtains from IKEA. I repainted the walls with this slate gray color that I already had in the house, and I collected other knick knacks to add to the shelf. It's funny, when I took off the switch plates to paint behind them, I noticed that under our blue color was the color of the room before we got our hands on it and it was the EXACT same color as the gray I was putting on! Isn't that crazy? And I remember that we thought the room was too dark when we bought it. Although, there was still dark oak trim and I think now the gray walls with the white trim complement each other so well. And we had these black frames that I put scrapbook paper in and covered with lace curtains I was no longer using. Another freebie!! So total cost of our 'master' bedroom makeover? Seventy Five Dollars!!

Comforter: $35
Mirror #1: $0
Mirror #2: $8
Window: $0
Decorative Frames: $0
Curtains: $5
Shelf: $15
Pink Pillow: $10
Two pink/red Candles: $2
Finally being content with our bedroom: Priceless

I'm not sure that the frames next to the bed are going to stay or go. What do you think? I always think that every wall should have something on it, but sometimes that's not necessarily the case. All in all, I'm pretty happy with our new room - and especially the fact that with a little bargain shopping, we could make it over for so cheap.

And as of last week, we are enjoying some of the 'fruits of our labor' from our garden. I LOVE having a garden at last!!

thrifty

2009-07-02T07:58:00.001-04:00

I've been on a big thrift shopping kick lately. I love to find random items that I can find a use for. I usually end up spray painting and the stuff looks good as new. So last week, I went to the Salvation Army (which usually isn't my favorite thrift store) and I was glad I went. I found an oval framed mirror that I have painted white and plan on hanging in the girls' room. I also got a shelf, an organizer box (originally $10 from Target), and an ugly welcome sign that I got for 50 cents just for the pegs. I spent $6 on all of it because there was a half-off special going on. Yay! I had a boring wall in our kitchen that I decided to work on this weekend and this is what I came up with.

You're looking at maybe a grand total of $15 spent for everything on this wall (minus the apron). I had gotten the strawberry picture a couple of years ago half off for maybe $5 and the other frame was $2 from Hobby Lobby with an ugly tree picture in it. So I took the glass out, glued a piece of scrapbook paper on the backing, and screwed a spray painted peg into it. I'm happy with how it turned out. A simple project but my creativity is minimal :)

the birm

2009-06-01T10:13:00.001-04:00

More than a week ago on a Thursday, Jordan and I ordered some bark for our annual 're-barking of our landscaping'. We ordered 6 yards of the cheap stuff - economy mulch from Mulch Pro in Borculo (we try to buy as local as we can!) The stuff got delivered that same afternoon and - like a good housewife - I began to spread it. The mulch was like dirt and not the bark that we thought it'd be. So once Jordan got home, he brought a tub of it back to Mulch Pro and they agreed that it was not what it should be. They said they'd deliver 6 more yards that same day of the right stuff and asked if we didn't mind keeping the dirt. The dump truck man came back with the good stuff and more than half of our money back! We were so excited - we got 12 yards for $35. Mulch Pro said that being their first year, they didn't want any problems with any of their customers!

We spread the 6 yards of bark but then we had to figure out where to go with the dirt. We're planting a small garden this year, so we thought we'd use a lot of the dirt for that but what to do with the rest yet...? In our garden book (that I love) there's a picture of a backyard that has this birm that's used to seclude a play area for the kids and I've been wanting to do that but we didn't want to spend the extra money on the bark. So it worked out perfect that we had all this extra dirt to build a birm with! Now, honestly, can anyone tell me what a birm is? I kept refering to it as a peninsula and Jordan was calling it a birm. Finally we were both like, 'why are you calling it that?!' I had never heard of a birm before and apparently it's just a fancy name for a hill used in landscaping. Now I've been getting mocked by my husband for not knowing what a birm was. Am I the only one?! Anyways, after hauling MANY wheelbarrows back and forth from our driveway to the backyard, the birm is finally completed! Actually, that couldn't be further from the truth because now we need (or want - whatever!) to make it pretty with plants. We're thinking of doing tall grasses spaced out in the middle and plants in front and behind the grasses. I'll have to post final pictures once we get some plantings in there but for now, here are the before and after photos.

The rectangle in the back is our garden that we need to plant yet - Ahhh!- we're so behind!!Jordan and I really enjoy doing landscaping projects together, so now that the bark and dirt are hauled, we're anxious to get the birm full of plants (and the garden, too!) If anyone knows of any greenhouses that typically just dump all of their plants at the end of the season, let us know! Were all about free things and we'll make it work!!

barkel, inc.

2009-04-09T15:21:00.001-04:00

Jordan and I have been very busy lately with just random stuff around the house. It must be spring fever. Warm weather is so close you can taste it but it's still cold out and we're going crazy being stuck inside! But whether the weather's the reason (like my clever play on words?!) for our productiveness or just because there are so many projects that have been on hold, we have accomplished a lot this week!

This week, I repainted Natalie and Ruby's room and this is the final product.

That's a chalkboard painted on the wall that Natalie loves. I would like to get some letters to spell out the girls' names and I found some cute ones on this website I'd like to buy. (Love that website, by the way....check it out!) I also re-painted the massage room and am waiting for Jordan to hang some crown molding before I put up pictures. And I painted a wall in our bedroom a different color which I am happy about. I made the curtains hanging in the girls' bedroom and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. It was my first sewing project. I was inspired by how easy sewing was and decided to sew some matching dresses with the leftover material. So here are the finished products of the new curtains and Natalie's dress (it was the best one I could take - she was crabby at the moment!)

For some reason, I can't flip the picture :)

Another project got started on Wednesday night - Jordan started building a floor to ceiling cabinet to go in our bathroom. He got the thing built (minus drawers and cupboard doors) and then we had to haul this 200 pound thing up the stairs and through the house and into our small bathroom. IT WAS CRAZY. I think Jordan was going to kill me by the end of it for my lack of muscles and lack of common sense on which way to 'pivot' the thing. (Anyone ever see the 'Friends' episode where Ross and Rachel try to bring a couch up the stairs of an apartment building and he keeps shouting "Pivot!" Well that was us and we also got stuck more than once!!) I'm tellin' ya, if a marriage can get through that it can get through anything!! But we made it. At one time, we were pivoting it over the dining room table and over the island in our kitchen! Somehow, I was always ending up with the heavy end so we switched ends numerous times! To get it in our bathroom, we had to take down the hallway light fixture and the trim above the doorway (actually Jordan finally just busted it off out of frustration). The toilet seat got a little scratch and it's kind of wobbly now from getting hit, but somehow, we got it in! It took us an hour and a lot of patience but it's in and it's there to stay!! Thankfully the girls slept through it all (it was 11 pm once we finally got it in!) I love it and can't wait until it's finished!

But even with how busy we've been staying, I've still found time to blog!!