Pinterest hits and misses

Hey hey! Sorry for the delay with this post – I was too busy screaming like 15-year-old at the NKOTBSB concert last night to get this up. :) OMG…it was SO. GOOD. Sooooo good. More on that later.

I’ve told you before of my love for Pinterest – and I haven’t fallen out of love yet. :) It’s easily the best way I’ve found to organize fun stuff online.

The only problem? I’ve found about 40 bazillion ideas I want to implement. Seriously a bazillion.

Some of my favorite pins are helpful little tips. Things that make your life easier, idea for organizing, things that make you say, well DUH, why didn’t I think of that?

One of my latest favorites is this how to fold a fitted sheet tutorial:

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Halleluiah!! Do you know how long I’ve been trying to figure out the elusive fitted sheet? I’ve even watched videos and couldn’t figure it out.

I’m pretty quick. :)

I caught on to this one right away – today I successfully folded two fitted sheets and they look pretty spectacular, if I do say so.

I thought this idea was bahhhrilliant – using a tension rod to hold cleaning bottles under the sink:

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Um…this did not work for me. It didn’t stay up for long. I went in the next day to get a bottle and everything had crashed down. Awesomesauce.

I may try this one again and get the tension rod really, super tight. I think that might help.

This little snack station for the fridge was definitely a DUH moment:

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Putting the snacks in portions, out in the open in the fridge…so simple, but I had never thought of it.

I did it the other night, and it’s been four days and I haven’t grabbed a bag of chips once. That’s saying a lot too – I lurve me some chips! Because the good, fresh stuff isn’t hidden away in the drawers, I’m grabbing fruit, carrots and cheese.

I know – duh, right? But it works.

I thought this next idea was super fun:

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How cute!!

A couple of months ago, I found an old sun tea jar at Goodwill, and I knew I could make it work for this project. I covered the front with my black vinyl like I did our cereal jars:

 

I was planning on using chalk to label it. I started filling it with our bubbles and then went to see how it was working:

I pulled instead of pushed. Oops. :) Drats.

Since it’s no-spend July, I don’t have anything else that will work. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I’d want something with a handle on the top anyway. A big jug of bubble solution won’t be light, and a handle would help.

We’ll see if I tackle this again…next summer maybe?

Here’s another duh one – using heat to get price tags off of items:

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Goodwill tags are the WORST – I used my hair dryer on a couple Goodwill items and it worked like a charm.

It’s not super convenient to grab a hair dryer, I know. But if you’ve got a sticker that’s good and stuck, or a bunch of items, I think it’s a great idea. I bought a bunch of these pretties from Target in May:

And the dryer made quick work of getting those tags off. I usually use Goo Gone, but it’s such a mess. This worked great!

Of course, if you’re on Pinterest for two hot seconds, you’ll come across a scrumptious recipe you must. make. now.

Just look at this:

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OH. my. word. Just look at it.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Hungry? :)

It’s basically crescent roll dough, cream cheese and sugar. Easy, right?

I made it the other morning (I halfed it) and was SO excited:

It was as I was pulling it out of the oven that I realized I forgot to mix in a very important ingredient – the sugar.

I thought it may be OK without it…but um, no. Without the sugar mixed in to the cream cheese, it just tasted like crescent rolls, with cream cheese, with cinnamon sugar on top. Dur.

Good, but not scrumptious. :) This I will try again though. Oh yes…I will. Tomorrow. Or maybe tonight.

Got any helpful tips that didn’t go the way you thought they would? Or some that work great? Anything I can’t go one more day without knowing? Do share…so I can “pin” it! ;)

From Mossy to Beachy

Well, it’s the end of July and I’ve just finished up my summer vignette in the foyer – welcome to my world. ;)

I’ve had most of it done for umm…weeks. Since May? There was one small detail I’ve been putting off all that time that I FINALLY just finished up. More on that in a smidge.

I don’t think I’ve ever really decorated with anything beach-inspired in our house…like, ever. Until now! It must have been the summer Pottery Barn catalog this year, because all of the sudden I thought that look was just lovely.

And no, we don’t live anywhere near the coast. I don’t care. I do what I want.

It started with a beautiful blue spray paint I picked up at True Value a couple months ago:

I’ve been adding more and more blue to our home over the past few years, and this is a lovely smoky tone. I sprayed my old Southern Living pedestal with it:

It was brown, which was beautiful. I just wanted it to pop and now it does. I can always spray paint it back. ;)

I filled it with decorative stuff – some shells, twine-covered balls and even some rocks from our vacation.

We picked a few pretty rocks at the beach and of course they needed to be included:

(The writing is for next year when I’m purging and I see the rocks and go,
“What the heck? Rocks? Why do I have rocks?” And toss them.)

I’ve wanted something LARGE on the buffet in our foyer for a while now, and while at HomeGoods last month, I saw a gigantor wood lantern and it had me at pretty window paned doors:

It is SO close to the Pottery Barn version, by the way:

Mine was $20 – there’s is $80. Boo to the YAH.

Yet again, I’m fairly sure Pottery Barn will never become a sponsor at TDC. ;)

I put a trio of white candles inside, and then wrapped some rope I picked up at True Value around them:

LOVE!

The rest of the goodies I already had:  

The lamp used to sit on the sofa table in our kitchen, but I thought it worked so much better in the foyer.

Lately I’m smitten with the fresh look of silver or brushed nickel, so I grabbed some Rub ‘n Buff in a silver color and changed up the raised part of the mirror:

  

I’d love something chunkier up there, but I’m trying to use what I’ve got! The Rub ‘n Buff is so easy to use it’s just silly – and one tube will last you foreveeeeeer. Seriously. A tiny bit goes a very long way.

When all was done, we had a slightly sea-inspired vignette in our foyer:

And I must say I’m lovin’ it! That lantern rocks my socks off – big fat heart that thing.

Sp you want to know what’s held me up all this time? The one thing I needed to finish up?

I started painting the inside of our front door black the weekend of the back door disaster.

Yes, when we had a hole in our house, I did what any smart person would do. I started painting another door. :) I think I was trying to redeem myself…either that or I have some serious addiction to painting doors black. I don’t know, I just went for it.

I did a coat of grey primer and a coat of black and then it sat…and sat. For all this time. Till this weekend:

I love it, I knew I would. I used my Behr Black Suede paint in an eggshell finish and I’m pretty much obsessed with how it turned out.

Here’s a comparison, with a way before photo:

I know some like a shiny, high gloss door, but I only like shiny on my molding. ;) So the eggshell finish I already had worked out great. It’s taken three coats so far -- I actually need to do one more, but for now I’m calling it done.

I’m just happy to have the painters tape off the door for the first time since the first week of June. :)

No, I’m not painting the trim, at least for now. I’m lucky this got done in 2011 people.

So, are you a decorating with seashells kind of person? Don’t worry, the beach police won’t come find you if you’re name isn’t Sally and you don’t live near the seashore. ;) You can incorporate it all you want – it is your house.

Do what you want!!

**Cassity’s black door project encouraged me to start painting our front door black, and Shelley’s got my booty moving to finish it!

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Measuring Time

When we were on vacation last week, I was reminded how full my life is.

It was just the Bub, hubby, the dog and I, just enjoying each other.

No appointments. No blogging. No work. No DIY.

There were moments when the Bub would turn to me and say something, or I would watch him playing, talking, whatever.

And I would see his face and it was like my heart stopped.

Like I was seeing him all over again for the first time.

I felt like my heart would burst out of my chest.

When he was born, the first line I put on his birth announcements was

“Our hearts are bursting!”

I swear mine is 100,000 times bigger than the day he was born.

Today, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for more than four years.

I don’t know why it took my so long – it literally took 30 seconds.

I measured my boy and marked “now” forever in time.

My heart aches that I didn’t do this four years ago. Aches.

You know all those pictures you wish you would have taken? All the firsts you wish you would have written down? All the everyday things you think you’ll never forget and you do?

I’m trying to get them all down, trying to slow down time just a bit.

It’s going by ridiculously fast.

It’s just one of those days when I’m overwhelmed with joy because of the gifts I’ve been given.

I don’t feel worthy  – I hope I do him justice. :)

Pops of Green

One of my very favorite things about blogland is that I’ll find inspiration in the weirdest ways sometimes. I’ll see a beautiful room and focus in on the smallest little detail that I MUST find a way to make my own. I love that!

I discovered a beautiful blog a few weeks ago called Maillardville Manor and it had me at hello because of the pretty spaces, but there was an underlying detail that I noticed after browsing a while:

Do you see it? All that GREEN. Live plants people – not faux. I mean, I love me some faux, but there’s something to be said about the real thing. ;)

I don’t have what you would call the greenest thumb, but it’s been so long since we’ve had a plant in the house, I wouldn't really know anymore.

Plants have always been a PAIN with our animals – especially cats. They munch on them – flowers, plants, whatever. Crunch crunch munch…the cats love the green.

And so many plants are toxic to cats, and now that we have the dog, we have to think about him too. It seems like every time I find a plant I like, it’s not fit for animals, so I keep on walking.

I haven’t taken the time to figure out what plants would work…till now. :) This time I was ready -- I stood in Lowe’s with my cell phone and some time, searching each and every house plant I came across. And I finally found a couple that worked. (It took awhile.)

The first, a basic fern…who would’ve thought?:

I love it’s feathery, uhhh…ferns? It’s so delicate and full and pretty.

(This one is Nephrolepsis exaltata (huh?) –  and is non-toxic. I hear some ferns are!)

It’s such a lovely pop of color too – I put this one next to the foyer buffet and it’s just perfect:

I could've used our plant stand (that’s never held a plant) but I like having it nestled in that little corner on the floor.

I also found a cutie little fern I put in the kitchen:

The rattan pot is from IKEA. Plant plus pot was less than $10 – not bad for a breath of fresh air. For reals. :)

The Bub picked out a Venus Flytrap, which I think is pretty darn cool:

I always wanted one of these growing up and now I totally have the kiddo excuse. ;)

Just be careful when you repot it – it may bite.

I kid! I kid!

Or do I?

Buwhahahaha…

Our final choice was a Fittonia something-or-other:

I think it’s called a Nerve Plant? I just loved it’s deep green leaves. And the fact that it wouldn’t make our cats puke. :)

Because I never have plants and we had nothing to put these babies in, I picked out some pots – I went with basic white ones that I can use anywhere in the house:

It was fun finding little nooks for the plants – I put this one next to the candlestick table in the family room:

I can’t tell you how giddy I am about these! It’s just silly.

Both only need low light, which I did on purpose so I could move them anywhere around the house without worrying about enough sun:

And get this – the cats haven’t even sniffed at them. Not a second glance – nothin’. You gotta be kidding me. I mean, I don’t want them to snack on them, but I finally have something in the house that wouldn’t hurt them and they don’t. even. care.

So totally cat-like. :)

I found the ASPCA site to be extremely helpful when picking out the house plants. I could search each name on the site and it told me if they were toxic to cats or dogs. You can also just look at a complete list of toxic/non-toxic plants as well.

I’m hooked now – if I can keep these green I’m totally getting more. I know there are many benefits to having plants in the home so they aren’t just pretty. (Check out all the benefits here.)

Any house plant lovahs out there? Know of any more animal-friendly plants I should look into? I hear some clean the air more than others too.

Let’s just see if I can keep these alive and kickin’. Wish me luck. :)

 

Did you miss the DIY trough how-to? If so, click here.

DIY Trough-thingy

Hey there all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We were away last week on a lovely family vacation – I hope to tell you more about it this week. :)

Today I wanted to share another how-to for a project from the family room redo. I’m almost done, I swear. :)

When we moved the TV over the long dresser, it meant my accessory options dwindled quite a bit. Whatever I put on there had to be long and low…and I didn’t have anything that would work.

I lived with it for a few days and then an idea came to me. I love the look of the old wood troughs I’ve seen here and there online and in antique shops. I guess they’re called troughs – I have no idea.

I just love them. :)

I knew I could make my own, so that I did. I wanted it to be longer than the TV, so I needed something 48 inches long. I went out the garage and found a scrap of thick molding used as a chair rail in our powder room:

That room has been torn apart for months now. That is how I roll.

I used that as the base, or bottom of the container, because I knew it wouldn’t be seen. For the sides, I wanted a rustic, dark wood. So I dug around the garage some more. And I found some leftover cedar from our shutter fix out front.

This is why I’m OK with the fact that we can’t walk through half of our garage. I keep all my scraps for just this. :)

The cedar has a rough side:

But that was a little too rough for me, so I went with the smooth side:

But it needed a little distressing. :) 

I grabbed some tools:

And my assistant got to work:

For once Mommy said take the hammer and GO FOR IT.

We had a blast. :)

After we were done, this is what we got:

And after using a foam brush to apply a quick coat of this:

(I tell you what – stain lasts forever. I’ve had this little can for YEARS.)

We ended up with a beautiful, rustic piece of wood:

I put it together like I did the DIY window boxes I showed you here. Basically I glued and nailed the sides onto the sides of the bottom piece of wood, then capped each end off like so: 

The rough end of the wood shows at each end, but that’s what I wanted. LOVE.

By the way, this is so not perfect. There’s some gaps at the ends where wood meets wood -- I just put the not-perfect side on the back. :)

I envisioned big puffy hydrangeas spilling out of it when I made this thing, and they sure don’t disappoint:

It’s deep enough so I could just put little cups of water in there, then place the flowers in. :)

I LOVE IT!:

I’m quite giddy about it’s possibilities too – piled high with acorns and leaves for fall, greenery and ornaments at Christmas, grass and Easter eggs…I could go on and on!

It’s the project that keeps on giving. :)

I did cheat on my no-spend July on this one though – kinda. Not really. I didn’t have enough cedar wood, so I returned some items to Lowes and used my credit to buy one more piece of wood. So really…it didn’t cost my anything. Technically.

I’m tricky.  ;)

I love how it turned out, and I promise you can do one of these too. This one took about 40 minutes start to finish, but I used a compound saw and a nail gun, which definitely speeds up the process.

It could be done without either though – a hand saw and regular nails would work just fine (the nails would add to the rustic look!).

One more look at my DIY trough-thingamabob:

I love how well it fills in that awkward spot! If you decide to try it, I think the cedar was about $4 for an eight foot piece. You could use just about any kind of wood though – you’ll get the same effect with some distressing and stain.

There. you. go. Another family room project down! I’m working on a couple more little things this week, and I hope to show you those soon. Maybe I’ll show you another room in the meantime.  :)