Good times.

This past weekend was quite the fun yet full of DIY. My darling niece/bestie Taylor came and spent 4 days with me and while she was here we worked on Gracie's new big girl room. Taylor and I are such a great team when it comes to DIY, well technically we make a great team in life, but yanno. Best friends. Anyway, we painted, built furniture, played with decor and laughed and joked the whole weekend. I adore having her here! Check out Gracie's room. Keep in mind, we are waiting for Gracie's new floor to get here from Lumber Liquidators, probably a couple weeks till that's here and then we'll be putting that in.

The lighting in these pictures is pretty terrible. I guess it was just the time of day I took the pictures.

This is the view when you walk into her room, from the hallway.









This corner bookshelf was originally white, but I spruced it up and painted it coral and baby pink. It turned out great! The art on either side of the shelf was printed and 3 out of the 4 were hand painted. Taylor did one and I did three. I'll take close ups of those for my next post.







Close up of the dresser. It was originally an old wood looking dresser that we got for free, like the bookshelf. But I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to paint it ombre. I love how it turned out!



The decor above Gracie's bed is probably my favorite part. Here she is enjoying her new room! :)



Aaand that's it! We're currently getting the front of the house repairs underway, by the end of the week fancy new pergola will be going up. I'm so excited! Ahh, the joys of being a homeowner. ;)

Say bye, bye, bye to the front porch!

It ain't no lie, baby. Bye, bye, bye! The front porch is gonzo! Paul did 95% of the demo work, but I helped where I could being that I still had to watch Lily. I can't tell you how long I'd been waiting for that day to come. Yeeeaars. It's been a long time coming. I'm so excited to get the front of the house looking the way I want it to look... finally.

This is what the front of the house looked like before.


And this is after.


We have a lot ahead of us. But first, check out the mess we had to clean up.


What a mess! It didn't take long to clean it up though. 10 minutes to be exact. We called someone and had all of it hauled away for free, since they can just take it to a metal buyer and get paid for all of it. We didn't have the patience or time to do it so, we just wanted it gone.

I have big plans for the front of the house. I'll be painting the house again, this time a simple mixture of grays with a happy mint green door. Here are a couple of ideas...

I don't know how dark of gray the one I chose compared to this is, but it's close. I'll be doing a darker gray for the main part of the house and then a lighter gray for the accent and a light gray for the trim.



with this color door



If you scroll back up and look at the house after the porch was removed, you can kind of see an orange trim. That is the original color the house was before I attempted to paint it green and white. I never painted the orange because it all needs to be removed and rebuilt. That's one of the tasks we have ahead of us. As well as extend the portico over the door to the edge of the window, on the left. Then next to that we are building a pergola, like this...



I'd also like to add faux shutters for curb appeal. Then eventually, maybe next year add a white picket fence to the front of the house. We are also adding a new mailbox, maybe a white railing and sprucing up the garden. So many things to do! I can't wait to get started and share our journey along the way. Stay tuned! We're about to get knee deep in home diy!

Hello, 2014

Happy New Year! Wow, it has been a looong time since I've updated. Needless to say, I've been a little busy between the holidays, Gracie's 6th birthday, being sick, being a new mom to a new baby and just living life the best I can. So much has happened since my last post. Gracie turned 6, had a fun birthday party and during the whole thing I was sick as all hell. I didn't have a voice for 3 or 4 days, I lost hearing in my left ear due to an ear infection and was just feeling rather yucky for most of November. By the time Thanksgiving got around I was starting to feel better, but enjoyed spending the holiday with my family. December was another busy month due to the holidays being so close this year, a shorter time span then usual to buy gifts, decorate and just get everything done. We baked cookies, brownies, ate lots of yummy food, opened lots of presents and I'd say had a pretty great month. We ended 2013 with a small get together here at our home with our closest friends, drank waaay to much alcohol, played lots of games, shot off fireworks and rang in the New Year with laughs and joy.

As for 2014, well we will have to see what happens! We or should I said I have lots of plans this year, to do the outside of the house. I'm going to paint, take down our front screened porch, put up a pergola, change out the poles in our carport, fix some rotted wood, spruce up the landscaping and that's only the outside. Inside, I have plans to paint the main tv wall in my living room in a fun Moroccan pattern, stain our chest/coffee table and mostly, my most exciting task, redecorate Gracie's bedroom. Boy, do I have plans!

1 & 2 Baja & Cozy Cottage by Behr - I'm undecided on the exact color I want to do, but this is the basic idea.

A. Kura by Ikea - Of course, Ikea! This is the bunk bed Gracie has been asking for and the good thing is, the bottom portion is actually right on the floor so when Lily is big enough to be in a big girl bed, she won't get hurt if she were to roll off. Gracie can't wait to be roommates with her, it's cute!

B. Throw pillows from Ikea & Etsy - Gracie's would obviously be a G, not an E. But that's what it will look like and the other pillow is just one of many from Ikea I'm going to be throwing on her bed & reading corner.

C. Shelf, Bins, Wire hanger for Art all from Ikea - Gracie needs a place for toys that's organized and also a place for her art, these things will work perfectly in her room. View a larger image here, in my Pinterest.

D. Ombre dresser - I'll be keeping Gracie's current dresser and painting it just like the one above. Ombre!

E. Color Pop Bed Set by Circo at Target - This is the exact thing I was looking for when I started looking months ago. It's everything Gracie loves! Lots and lots of colors!

F. Tastrup by Ikea - This rug is so Gracie. She's currently obsessed with all things Lalaloopsy, but I wasn't willing to do a themed room for something I know she will be tired of in 6 months. So, this little pop of buttons gives her a taste of the Loopsy button eyes without going all Loopsy wild in her room. She's happy, I'm happy, solved!

G. Colorful frames & art - Obviously there isn't a place for me to link for this picture but you get the idea. Lots of colorful frames & art on her walls. Fun! Colorful! SO Gracie!

So, lots of posts coming soon! Stay tuned! :)

Bedroom door makeover

You guys, it's October! Lily will be 3 months old this month and I start planning Gracie's 6th birthday. Unreal how fast time flies right by! Anyway, over the weekend I finally said to myself enough is enough and decided to paint my bedroom door. I had been thinking about painting it yellow for months and months but while I was pregnant I was so busy doing so many other things that I just never got to it. So, since Hubs was off work all weekend, which btw is very rare, I decided to get that mini project done!

Here it is before. It used to be painted in chalkboard paint but being that this door (like all my doors) have panels it really was pointless and a waste of paint to make it chalkboard. But of course I didn't think about that until after I painted it. Figures, right?



Annnd after! Yellow is bliss. :) I used the same yellow paint from Lily's nursery.



I took this wider shot on a different day then the first picture, so the lighting is different.



I'm much happier with it now and it really adds some more happy to my kitchen! :) My next project for the house is to refinish this chest/coffee table in my living room. I'm going to either do it black like the rest of the wood in my living room or a very dark wood color. I haven't decided yet. I'll be working on this project next week!



Other than that, I'll be back later this week with some product reviews from the Mama Vox Box I got from Influenster! Stay tuned! Happy October! :)

Garden clean up

So, during my pregnancy, well for the major majority of it, it was crazy hot outside, so my outside garden fell at the waste sides and eventually become overgrown and an eyesore. After a month of giving it the stink-eye every time I would walk out of my house, or pull into my driveway, I finally got on it and cleaned things up. Lucky for me, the major issues were just overgrown grass, which is usually pretty easy to rip out. Also, the ground was still a little damp from the night before's thunderstorm, so that also made for easy weed pulling.

I didn't think to take pictures of the before yucky garden till I was half way done with the front of it. What can I say? I was finally pumped to get it done and over with.





And when everything was done.





Love my elephants! Yup, they are even in the garden.



This week we got sidewalks put in our block. Every other block in my community had them expect us! So glad we finally have them.



Annnd here is a wide view of my house. Isn't that screened in porch awful? It's getting ripped down in the Spring and let me tell you, I've been waiting for that day to come for years! We'll finally have the money to get that project taken care of, I'm secretly counting down the days till it's gonzo.



So my plans for next Spring is to attach a Pergola to the front of the house, after taking down the porch. I also would like to repaint the house a light gray and paint my front door a fun color. I'm thinking either green (obv!), teal or coral. I have a while to think about it and lots of paint colors to look at until it's time so I'm sure I'll pick something fun. I also think it will be easier to change the front door color every couple of years or whatever than having to paint the house because I get sick of whatever color it happens to be at the time (aka: I'm sick of my house color right now).



I also changed things around in my living room. I'll share all of those shots in my next update. Happy Hump Day!

Last month, in quick review

Hey! It's been nearly a month since I've last updated. With that said, my sweet baby girl Lily Jade will be one month on Thursday! Time is really flying by. I remember feeling crazy miserable the last month of my pregnancy and just wanting to be done with all of it and then the last night in the hospital when I just felt so uncomfortable because I wanted to be in my own bed and now it's already been a month since she was born. I gotta say that she is growing beautifully. Her dr is very pleased with her progress and says she's absolutely perfect, not like I didn't already know that or anything. ;)



Lily's welcome home baby party was a success. Everyone had a really nice time & Lily also got some really cute gifts. I made all of the decorations myself, as you can see in the picture. My niece Taylor and I made all of the food, except for the chicken strips we had catered by PDQ and the pasta & potato salads my mom made. I even reused the garland and the banner in Lily's room after the party. It looks so cute in there!



See, cute right? In other news, Gracie started Kindergarten yesterday. We found out that Gracie's teacher is the same teacher Paul had for Kindergarten. She said she remembered Paul but I mean, that was 20 years ago so I doubt she did, she was probably just being nice. I actually already knew her from when I worked for before & after school care at Gracie's school before she was born. She remembered me too, but that I believe because it wasn't that long ago. haha



I also made Lily's birth announcements and ordered 100 of them from Shutterfly since I got a free coupon from them in the mail. I can't wait to mail them out once they get here. Here is a preview of what it looks like, without me actually posting the real thing. I wanna mail them out before I post it here. I also took Lily's one month pictures, which I used some of in her birth announcement. I'll share those pictures next time I update.



That's it for now. I'll update again soon, I have a cool project I'm going to be working on in the living room pretty soon, well a couple different projects in there and also I'll share all the details for Gracie's room makeover I have planned for November, as a birthday present. Lots of projects coming up!

My little graduate

Gracie graduated Pre-K yesterday, her last official day is tomorrow. She had such a great ceremony and performed songs with her classmates. It was such a great night! She had me laughing through my tears. I'm such a proud mama. I can't believe this school year is already over and in just a few months she'll be off to big kid school and in Kindergarten. To top that off, we'll have a new baby girl next month! This pregnancy is almost over and I can't believe it. I feel like just yesterday Gracie was starting Pre-K and not long after I found out I was pregnant. Time is flying.



I kept looking around Pinterest for something crafty to make for Gracie's teachers and found a few really cute things but wound up making this & this for Gracie's teachers. Check out the links for tutorials. I did mine a little different but with basically the same idea. The tutorial says to use hot glue for the crayon project but I used double sided tape and a rubber band to hold the crayons on the jar. Just use whatever works best for you, those changes worked best for me.



Tomorrow she's having a pizza party and is so sad to leave her teachers and friends she's made this year. But I told her she'll make lots more friends next school year and we'll visit her teachers during the summer when Baby L comes. Enjoy your little ones while you can, they grow up waaay too fast!

Can't stop, won't stop

I feel like I haven't stopped going since my last post. Ok I lied. I didn't do anything today except the basics (yanno, sweep, wipe counters, etc) but other than that I haven't stopped doing things in the Nursery or just around the house in general. For the past year or two I've wanted to paint a little cabinet/shelf I got from my grandmother after she passed away. It sat in my living room and then my hallway holding dvd's for years. It stayed boring and beaten up for as long as I can remember. This past weekend I decided to tackle that project head on. I don't know what got into me but I just felt like painting... and sanding and lots of painting. Here he is before, all sad and whatnot...



So dusty and sad. Poor little guy! First I sanded lightly around all of the edges to get all of the pointy parts off. You have to understand this shelf is pretty old so it has had lots of ware and tare over the years. Even the bottom piece of wood that goes across the bottom in the front had fallen off so I had to get new nails and nail it back in place. After that, I painted, giving time to dry between each coat for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then I'd add another coat. Four coats total. Yeah, FOUR. I used Behr's Paint & Primer in Wildflower Honey, actually the same yellow as I used in Baby L's nursery! I loved it that much! Plus hey, free paint! Here she is all happy and pretty! I also moved around decor to add to her beauty and freshened up my front door area in my Living Room. :)



Since then, Paul, Gracie & I headed to IKEA to buy furniture for Baby L's nursery. We picked up her crib, dresser, picture frames, crib mattress & a drawer organizer. I've now crossed off 6 things of my 31 thing to do list. We have SO MUCH stuff to get still. I feel like I'm falling behind. Anyway, we got the crib built as well as the dresser. We moved the crib into the room and with our luck, it was too wide! Which kind blew my mind because, when we measured the room it was perfect for the dimensions of the crib. I told you, this room is tiny! So, we gotta be EXACT. After huffing and puffing and trying to figure out what the issue was, it hit me that the crib didn't fit because we always measured the room WITHOUT the floor molding in mind. I called my parents in a panic and explained the situation. My dad came over a day or so later and worked his magic and removed parts of the molding so the crib would now fit. Yay, now it fits! So, after we got everything in place, I got to work putting the bedding together (after washing & ironing it, of course) and then started to put away all of the clothes we've gotten so far. It felt good to start getting things done in there.

This past week Gracie made her art for Baby L's nursery. It turned out so cute. The image you see is just a sneak peak. She added a couple more things to it since I took that picture. She is so excited to see her baby sister and to be a big sister! I think she's really going to be great at it. Speaking of seeing Baby L, I scheduled my 3D/4D ultrasound for this coming Thursday. I can't wait to see a good look at her face and see how she's growing. Because I can sure feel her. Her kicks are so violent at times! I swear there is a little ninja in my belly taking me as it's hostage! Paul's eyes got so big one night when he felt her kick because of how strong and hard it was. It was pretty fantastic to see! I also went to my last monthly ob/gyn appointment on Friday. I'm now going to bi-weekly appointments & in my third trimester! Time is really flying by. My doctor said he thinks she might come early, as in anytime around 36-38 weeks. Which of course made me think, 'OH CRAP, I HAVE EVEN LESS TIME TO GET EVERYTHING FOR HER DONE!' so, it's now crunch time. Time is flying & before you know it, Baby L will be here!

DIY Baby Mobile

About a month or two ago, ok maybe several months ago I found myself drooling over all of these fabulous mobiles that were hand made on Etsy, (seriously look at them! They are adorable!) and after weighing my options I decided that the prices were really out of my price range. The ones I was truly in love with were nearly $100+. I KNEW if I asked Paul for something that costs that much money that was just a decoration, he'd give me the side eye and once I did ask him and he did just that. So, I knew that wasn't going down. I looked and looked on Pinterest and finally found a few different things I liked but also kept in mind what I saw on Etsy that caught my eye and just kinda winged it. Here is a little run down of what I did...



SUPPLIES
- Felt fabric & Chevron fabric (I had leftover from this project)
- Thread, String & Ribbon
- Wooden Craft Ring
- Key Ring
- Poly-Fil
- Sharp scissors
- Buttons, Beads, etc (optional)
- Sewing Machine (& person who sews because I don't! haha)

I first searched Google images for an elephant stencil and found one, then I had it printed and went to work. I cut out all of my little elephants & the ears, then a week or so went by and I headed to my parents house for my mom's help. I seriously couldn't have done this project without my mom, since she's the talent that sews!



Once I had my elephants and ears ready to go, my mom and I hatched a plan and went to work. She sewed all of the elephants together and I stuffed them with the Poly-Fil, then as time went on we decided we'd add a couple more details. Changed up the style for each elephant by adding buttons on the ears and the way she sewed them. They turned out so fantastic!



And a close up shot... (the dark gray ones are my favorite!)



After that it was a days work and I went home and worked on the craft ring, I wrapped yellow ribbon all around it, attaching parts of it with my hot glue gun so it would stay in place, I continued wrapping the ribbon around it until it was completely covered. I also wrapped the key ring for the top layer with gray string. After all of that was done, I headed back to my mom's house to put everything together. Here is the final result...



Didn't it turn out great? I'm so happy with it! My mom and I couldn't stop looking at it when it was all finished. We really just trusted each other when it came to trying things and testing things out that worked for us... or really me, since it's for my little one. I'm so thankful that my mom was willing to take the time and help. Thanks mom! You rule!

I can't wait to hang it up in Baby L's room and add all of the other goodies to her room. We head to IKEA next Wednesday for furniture and goodies! I can't wait!

A Happy DIY Halloween!

It's my favorite holiday! Isn't Halloween just the best? As originally thought, I wasn't going to dress up today but then when I figured out I could get my entire costume that I wanted to do together under 6 bucks, I decided, what the hay! I ultimately decided a while back that I wanted to dress as Rosie the Riveter. For those of you who don't know who she is, she's a icon for woman during WWII who was put all over posters to encourage woman to go to work while the men fought the war. She's a major feminist icon! Which only means that I HAD to be her. This is what I'll look like...



But you might know her better as this... in all her original glory.



I decided that since I would only be wearing it once I'd just check out thrift stores, because what's the point in buying a brand new jean shirt, I'll never wear again? So, off we went on the hunt for Rosie clothes. I got lucky and found the perfect jean shirt for $3.99 at Thrift City USA and then after looking at more than 5 stores, I found a red bandana. I really looked hard for the red with white polka dots but it was impossible to find! I found black & white and pink & white but no luck on red & white. So, I settled for red. I got that on sale at Michael's for $1.98! Talk about a steal!

So, costume totals... $3.99 for the shirt & $1.98 for the bandana + tax = $6.01

I'll obviously wear jeans I already have and use makeup I already have, so money saved on those two things! Anyway, I'm excited to dress up tonight and walk around with the kids. Should be a good time!

In other Halloween news, Gracie & I decided we'd do a glitter pumpkin this year. This is how you do it.



Supplies needed:
- Glitter
- Glue (you can use spray adhesive, but I ran out so I used wallpaper glue & it worked fine)
- Newspaper (to keep area clean)

Put the glue all over the Pumpkin and then shake the glitter all over. Make sure to have a clean piece of paper under the pumpkin so when the excess glitter falls off you can reuse it. Repeat the process until all of pumpkin is covered.

It's really that simple! This is what it looked like when she was finished.



And of course she chose pink! But really, you could do orange or black or any color you wanted! That's all for now. Have a Happy & safe Halloween!

PS. Sending love to the North East who were effected by super storm Sandy! <3