Makes me Laugh

I have to share this with you. I ran across this video via the Small Things Blog and it literally made me laugh out loud. Not the laughing out loud like this:

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But literally. Here it is. Enjoy. And happy weekend.

Upstairs Bedroom

Happy Friday! I wanted to share our latest room update with you: I did a quick and inexpensive update in our upstairs third bedroom.

It had sat for 3 1/2 years with a terrible, terrible little boys sports border running around the ceiling. I decided that if the only thing I did was take the border down, it would be better than nothing. Which of course led to painting the entire room, the trim, and a few update projects to finish everything off. You know how it is. Here's the ugliness before:

And a close up, just for good measure:

Currently, this room is only used to house Leo's kennel. For the life of me, I could NOT think of what else to use this room for. We already have an office with a separate desk for things like sewing, crafts, and gift wrapping.

Eventually, it'll be a nursery, but not for the near future. Charlie, being ever so practical, suggested I try to pick the color I would want the nursery walls to be, so that we don't have to re-paint. So I scoured Pinterest nurseries for a while (which felt very odd) and settled on a light gray. It's the same color as our basement office. I figured gray is here to stay (at least for a while), is nicely neutral, and goes well with both girl and boy decor. If all else fails, at least I won't have to smell paint primer while feeling nauseous.

So here it is.

Better? I think so.

 

 

Leo's kennel. Too bad we still need one- that dog is like a goat with the things he finds to eat.

My goal was to only spend money on paint. Like I said, we only use this room for Leo's kennel, and the bed and nightstand are more of a placeholder than anything else so the room doesn't look empty.

Just an FYI: The "headboard" is a 2' x 3' bulletin board painted white. I had extra fabric from the first attempt at making a roman shade for the basement. I cut it to size and pinned it on. Boom. Headboard on the cheap.

Enjoy the start of your weekend!

Latest Inspiration

I've made a few bloggy changes: changed the look, added some more favorite blogs (check them out under the "Blogs I Love" tab!), and jumped on the "follow me on Pinterest!" blog button train. But really, feel free to. It's over on the right.

Like most folks, a good chunk of my online time is spent on Pinterest. Here's the latest inspiration that I'm lovin'.

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Source     Isn't the texture great? I love the shiny/metal/glass/rusty/woven basket/chunky blanket-ness of this console table. Fabulous.

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Source Who doesn't want a lime door with a Moravian star lantern? No one, that's who.

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Source Boxwood in woven baskets!

Off to watch the "Big Game" (Notre Dame vs. 'Bama). I've got an Irish-fan-of-a-husband who has been expectantly waiting for this night for a looong time. Happy 2013!

Piece of Candy

Oh my. Has it really been four months since my last post? My apologies.

Of course, the best thing to do after a long absence is to share a YouTube video. I thought I'd post one of my new favorites.

It's the kind that you watch seven times in a row, like this one, which is also a favorite.

 

 

If you don't find these funny, you need to adjust your sense of humor. 

Office Gallery Wall

I finished the office gallery wall a few weeks ago, and wanted to share it with you! This wall was originally blank and blah, and needed some (cheap) jazzing up.

I bought 11 frames at Goodwill for a grand total of $17.39. Yes, that's right. They have color coded tags, and all the blue tags happened to be $1.49 (two of my frames were $1.99- so much more expensive). The other three I already owned.

Check out your local Goodwill- they have a monthly calendar which says in advance which sales are on which days.

I hoarded gobs of blue sticker frames with terrible art in my cart like a wild woman. But wasn't it worth it?

Everything got a few coats of white spray paint, some cheap/free printable art, and went up on the wall.

The people who created some of these prints are so talented and creative! In recognition of their work, here's the image sources, if you're interested.

Mustard Seed Tree Print
Summer Stargazing Chart (free printable)
Minneapolis Cityscape
Hello Lover Camera Print (free printable)
Keep Calm and Click On Print (free printable)
Fruit of the Spirit Print (free printable)
Love Tree Stump Print (free printable)

A few are my photography/creations/old art/pages ripped out of an atlas :) Hey, use what you have.

I've been holding back on fall stuff for the first time in years. I'm usually ready for fall in July, and right now I'm just ready for more August and summer vacation. Enjoy the last month of summer!

The Kitchen

Woohoo! The kitchen is finished. It's actually been finished for a while, but I'm lazy about blogging :)

Since my last kitchen update post, we've grouted and switched out the light fixture above the sink. And Leo has some new pop-of-yellow dog bowls. Very big update, you know.

I love this fixture- it's so shiny and nautical/industrial. Definitely an upgrade from it's predecessor.

I switched out the art and the dog bowls. I wasn't sure if I'd like the green curtains with the new wall color, but I think they look good.

Here's the other side of the kitchen. I've been in a color pop sort of kick for a while, and am trying to infuse some into this room.

My grass was actually still alive when I shot this photo. Whoops.

My view while washing dishes. Except not anymore (the bushes are all gone- more on that project later).

The flour and sugar canisters got new labels, too. I was getting sick of the chalkboard ones.

There you have it. Out with the dark and cozy, and in with the airy and fresh.

Front Garden

Well... I've been rather MIA from this blog for a while. But it's summer, so I suppose that's okay.

We've almost finished the front garden we started last summer. I say almost because it's 92% done, and Charlie and I always have a hard time finishing that last 8%. Of any project. Either way, the plants are in (and have been for a while!). It's nice to be mostly done.

There are hydrangea (my favorite), boxwood, catmint, dead nettle, hanging baskets with purple petunias, a mini arborvitae tree, and tall white stalky flowers called larkspur (I think, lost the tag- someone confirm this?) that Charlie refers to as "the corn" since it looks a bit like a corn stalk.

Is this last one larkspur? I think so. Either way, apparently it attracts bees.

The catmint has quadrupled in size. It's taking over it's part of the garden, and I think I'm going to have to split EVERY plant, probably EVERY year. I love catmint, but it's a bit invasive.

Here was my original idea:

And here is what we did. I might take out the corn and put in alium (like in the photo above). I'm not in love with it, and it was cheap. Wasn't our grass nicer back in April? I suppose it IS always greener somewhere else.

There you have it. The front garden, almost done.

Kitchen Updates

I've been holding out on you. We've been doing some cosmetic kitchen updates, and I meant to post the finished product a few weeks ago. Except that we're still not done, so there's no "finished" photos, and instead of waiting till whenever that is, here's what we've got so far.

It's blue and tiled and has new lighting. Here's the before:

**Notice in almost all of my previous shots of the kitchen, I tried my darnedest to crop out the light fixture above the table. This fixture has been hated from day one- it looked like a rack of metal antlers with ugly lights protruding. Isn't the new one much better? It was a birthday present.

I love the bottom glassy/metel-ness of it. But I'm weird like that.

You know you've jumped head over heals into home ownership when your birthday list consists of things like Home Depot gift cards, cans of paint, light fixtures, etc.

It was Charlie's idea to put in the tile back splash. We finished 2/3 of the job last weekend (first time tiling, woohoo!) and we'll finish this Saturday. And hopefully grout.

You can see the wall we haven't finished yet. But doesn't it look better?

Recent Inspiration

It seems the ol' blog has been a bit neglected as of late. But the front garden hasn't! We're almost done and I should have some photos soon.

In the meantime, I've been playing Mario Kart Wii (with Charlie, an "I finished the first year of my MBA" gift to himself, (much more fun than anticipated!)) dogsitting, and spending way too much time on Pinterest. So here's some fabulous and inspiring photos. Enjoy!

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Goodnight.