>>HOMEMADE CRIB MOBILES

I have been wanting to make some mobiles for the kiddies for awhile now and I finally got around to doing it.  I think they are a fun addition to the nursery.  Clover loves hers and I catch her staring at it all the time.  Henry could care less for his.

>>A NEW BED FOR OUR LITTLE RASCAL

The other day I decided to get adventurous and make Millie a new bed.

Her old one (a cheapo one we bought when we first got her) was tattered and falling apart.  I took the insides out of it, added some padding, and sewed up a new cover.

When I showed Millie her new bed, this was her reaction....

I think she likes it!

Here she is all tuckered out after our long walk...

>>BATHROOM ART

I've been wanting a little something on our bare bathroom walls for some time now, so today I decided to get crafty and make some art to hang up.

And by crafty...I mean I cut up some scrapbook paper and put it in a frame.

So simple, yet it adds a little something fun for the bathrooms.

>>CHAIR AND OTTOMAN MAKEOVER

What do ya think of my  new chair?

I kinda love it.

It's amazing what a little spray paint, fabric and a throw pillow can do!

>>CHRISTMAS COCOA

Do you like hot chocolate?

Maybe you're looking for something to give your neighbor for Christmas?

Here is a delicious hot chocolate recipe that Martha Stewart shared with me.  We're pretty tight, her and I.

HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups cocoa

1/2 Tbsp salt

milk for serving

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa and salt.  Whisk to mix well.

Store cocoa mix in an air tight container.

And that's it!  

Seriously.  

And it taste great to boot!

Serving Instructions:

Pour 1 cup of milk into a microwave-safe mug and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes

or until just hot.  Add 2 Tbsp of cocoa mix and stir until dissolved.  

Top with whipped cream or marshmallows.

Enjoy! 

Add some ribbon and a cute label and you are good to go!!

 

Makes 3 cups dry mix (24 servings). 

Easily double or triple recipe to make several batches at once.
 

>>DIY OTTOMAN

I've been wanting an ottoman for quite some time now.  But...have you seen the prices of those things?  Wowzas.  Since the only tree we have in our yard is a dead peach tree rather than the kind that grows money, I had to compromise...which means, I had to make my own.

Supplies needed . . .

small end table - I used this green square table that we bought from Walmart a few years ago for about 7 bucks.  They still have them there if you are interested in doing this DIY project.

foam - I used a patio set cushion that was on sale at Home Depot.

fabric

staple gun or glue or whatever you want to use to attach the foam to the table.


End result . . .

What I did . . .

First I spray painted the green table white.  Then I made the legs shorter by cutting them off at the bottom.  Then I sewed my fabric onto the Home Depot patio cushion.  Then I hot glued the cushion to the table.

That's it!  Easy peasy.  And it's pretty comfy to boot.

There's no better way to watch tv read a book than to be slouched down in the couch with your feet up on a soft comfy ottoman.
    

a kitchen story

Once upon a time lived a very sad kitchen.  She was often described as being very drab....dull....and ugly.  Sometimes people would yell insulting things at the kitchen like, "go back to the 70's where you belong!" She was very unhappy.

One day some nice amazing good looking people came to the kitchen's rescue.  They couldn't stand to see the poor kitchen in that condition and knew they had to help.  They gave her a good cleaning . . . sanded and polished her right up . . . gave her some color to her otherwise dull and dark exterior. 

The kitchen looked in the mirror for the first time and squealed with delight!  She was no longer drab and lifeless.  She was bright and cheery and looked like she belonged in this decade.

And she lived happily ever after.

The end.

a project.

This last week I've been working on a new project.

It all started with a trade.  Remember this post where I offered to trade some of my scrabble necklace tiles for something in return? 

Well...my South Carolina blogging buddy Mrs. Davis from The Carolina Housewife blog took me up on the trade.  She is a great photographer and let me pick some photos from her awesome collection.

I mailed my tiles to her...she mailed her pictures to me.  It was awesome!

Her photos gave me an idea for a project . . .

I found some old picture frames that were hiding in my basement,
dusted them off and spray-painted them white.

My new photos were then placed in my newly painted frames. 

And then they were hung on my kitchen wall.

I love how it turned out.  This blank wall had been bugging me for quite some time.  I'm so glad to finally have something there...and something pretty too.  

Thanks for trading with me Mrs. Davis!!  Lets do it again sometime.


P.S. If anyone else is up for trading, I'm still game.  I currently have 2 other trades in the works, but would be happy for more.  It's such a fun concept.  I'll give you something I have for something you have.  Brilliant! 

my favorite transformations so far

THE KITCHEN:

This wall was covered with wood paneling. We pulled the paneling off to find the drywall covered with hard, thick glue. We spend days scraping, sanding, and filling in cracks to get the wall smooth and ready for paint.

It was worth it. The wall looks great.

Then we moved on to the adjacent wall. It too was covered with paneling and had a big board nailed in place that was covering a hole for the swamp cooler.

We removed the paneling to find rotten drywall covered in hard thick glue and a big hole in the house.

We removed all the drywall and replaced it with new. We then covered the drywall with bead-board.

We rewarded ourselves with a new kitchen table. We haven't had a table since we moved to Thermop back in August.


THE LIVING ROOM:

Our living room was covered with paneling. It was everywhere and it was quite overwhelming. I think I asked Curtis at least once a week since we moved into the house if we could paint the paneling.

He finally gave in. I LOVE our new living room. It is so bright and cheery. I love it. What a difference the paint made to this room!!


Next on the docket . . . bathrooms, roof, yard work.

Anyone wanna help roof our house? We'll give you lots of ice water and even feed you dinner. Pretty good bargain if you ask me.

our never-ending projects

Have any of you ever helped your husband put up drywall but you struggled to hold your end up and then your husband got mad at you?


Me neither.


We are up to our ears in house projects...most lately...drywall. I hate drywall projects. They are one of the messiest of projects. The dust . . . oh the dust. And not to mention, those drywall boards are heavy...not that I can't hold my end up or anything...cause I totally can.

Here is a peak at our most recent project. It is what I call our intended-couple-hour-project-turned-into-a-full-weekend-thing-and-still-isn't-done-project.


This is one of those projects (ugly wood paneling plus rotten dry-wall plus a big hole right through the house) that leaves us scratching our heads and asking ourselves, "what now?"

We may or may not have a clue what we are doing.


This brings back memories of our first home in Utah. The day we closed on our house, we were hit by a giant drop of water falling from our living room ceiling. Before we knew it, we were up on the roof pulling off shingles. After an entire month of pulling off old shingles, putting down new boards, new flashing and one-by-one hammering on new shingles, we finally had a new roof...a long process that had us again scratching our heads many times and asking ourselves, "what now?"

The joys of home-ownership. I love it. I truly do.

paint, paint and more paint

We spent the weekend painting (again) . . .

Our bedroom before:

Curtis used the existing nails in the walls to hold his belts. He wanted me to leave the nails there...sorry dear. Looks like we need to find another place for your belts.


Our bedroom now:


I ordered some fun pictures yesterday to put on the walls (pictures we have taken ourselves). We'll throw those up on the wall and our bedroom is good to go.


And now to celebrate...

. . . it's going to be a good day.

easy peasy duvet cover

I love me a soft, warm, fluffy down-comforter. We have two...a winter one and a spring/fall one (summers are much too warm for one).

I had never known the luxury of a down comforter until my dear husband surprised me with one on our first Christmas. Best present ever!

My advice with a down-comforter is to cover it with a duvet cover to keep it nice and clean. This way, you can take off the duvet cover and wash it and not have to put your nice, fluffy down-comforter in the washer to be twisted and tugged and pulled, etc.

If you are cheap like me (and by cheap, I of course mean frugal), you don't want to pay an arm and leg for a duvet cover.

My solution...make your own.

All you need is 2 flat sheets (full, queen or king depending on the size of your comforter). You can usually find a flat sheet at Target or Walmart for about $11. I like to buy 2 different colors/patterns so that each side of the duvet cover is different.

Once you have the sheets, all you have to do is sew them together. That is it.

Lay one sheet out flat (with the outside of the sheet facing up). I taped this one to the floor to make it easier to line the other sheet on top of it.

Then lay the second sheet on top of it (outside of the sheet facing down).

Then pin the 2 sheets together. Sew around the outside of 3 of the sides (leave the bottom side un-sewn).

Once the 3 sides are sewn together, turn it right-side-out. There you have it...your new duvet cover. Now all you need to do is decide what you want to do on the bottom. You can either use velcro or buttons to close the bottom up once your down-comforter is inside it. You don't want to sew it shut because you want to be able to easily take out the comforter so you can wash the cover when needed.

Here is an example of the buttons on one of our covers.

This is my newest cover. One side is a fun modern print with colored circles and the other side is brown flowers and leaves. I love it.

This is a cover I made years ago. It's blue on one side and white on the other. I love this one too.

See, these covers are as easy as pie to make (at least as easy as a cream pie).

Have fun. And if you do decide to make one, let me know how it goes.

see ya later pink family room

It took a while to come up with a color for our basement family room. I went back and forth a lot and at one point Curtis and I agreed on a color, but then the next day we didn't. Thank you thank you for those who gave us advice on paint colors. I am excited about the Restoration Hardware Silver Sage that several of you mentioned. I decided I want to save that color for the upstairs living room (after we conquer the paneling).


To remind you of our family room before in all of its pink glory:

And here it is now in its new City Escape color:

And here is our Social Situation accent wall (colors these days).

It took us a couple of hours to warm up to the new colors, but now we love 'em. It totally changes the feel of the room. It's so much more bright and happy.

There is now no more pink anywhere in our house. Yay!