They’re Baaaack!!

Well, you knew it had to happen…the mice are BACK baby!!

Technically, I think they’re called rats:

That’s what Martha Stewart calls them anyway. Or maybe they are mice? Who knows.

I just LOVE THEM.

I know they give some of you the heebs, but I’m quite taken with them. Look away my friends, look away.

I got a little, teensy more creative with them this year…a couple of them are checking out the kids:

And a few are rocking some sparkly witch’s hats:

I cut the hats out with my Silhouette, but they’re looking a little more like floppy beach hats then witch hats. Oh well. I still dig ‘em.

A few of you have asked if our stairs match the new floors:

No, not well. :)

The stairs are Bombay Mahogany (red) and the floors are Jacobean (brown). But I’m not complaining! I still love them both so much it hurts. ;) Someday I’ll have the stairs sanded down and restain them, but for now, I’m good.

Of course, I wanted to add a little glow to the fall stairs, so I added some DIY votives. I had picked up some cheapy light covers at True Value this summer to do an outdoor project, but the warm season got away from me.

Since I already had them, I decided to make them work for this season:

They are the glass covers that go on light fixtures and they cost $2-something each. They’re nice and lightweight, which gave me another idea, so I got a few more today for an upcoming project. We’ll see how it goes. :)

I filled them with cutie acorns I picked up at Meijer weeks ago:

They look like acorns roasting on an open fire, but the candle is really just an LED light. I’m obsessed with these things. I love how they flicker like real candles. (You can find them just about anywhere anymore, but I’ve gotten most of mine at the dollar store.)

I still say, for $50, this stair redo was the best DIY project I’ve ever done:

Cause now I can put rats mice on our stairs and that makes me silly happy. I love these little buggers.

I was going to put little teeny pumpkins by their little mice holes (like it’s their front porch…get it???) But I decided I should probably calm down and reel it in Sarah!

The sparkly witch hats are plenty:

(The pumpkins and votives are tucked under the railing so they aren’t a trip hazard.)

I can’t wait to get them all dressed up for Christmas!! (Don’t freak out. I don’t keep 12 rats mice on my stairs at Christmas. Just a couple.)

If you haven’t seen – the Dollar Tree has a TON of silhouettes this year – mice, crows, owls – bunches of them! The Martha Stewart mice are only $5 at Michaels (for 12) and I think I got mine on sale for even cheaper.

Can you even BELIEVE it will be November next week? I feel like it was June just yesterday. Crazy.

 

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.

Winners, Haven and Q & A!

Well hey there! I’m back with a quick post to announce a few goodies!

First of all – the winners of the last three giveaways! The lucky winners are:

- $75 to Attiser:  Samantha at Samanthacwatson (at) hotmail (dot) com
- $100 to Pick Your Plum:  Teri at kleinsmith5 (at) charter (dot) net
- $100 Lowe’s gift card from Hometalk:  Susan at splw222 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Congrats ladies! Please send me an email and I’ll get you hooked up with your fabulous stuff!

Next up, I wanted to let you know that this week I’ll be answering all of your burning DIY questions over at the True Value Facebook page:

When you get over there, just click that little “Ask the Blog Squad” button and ask away! It’s a great opportunity to pick my brain…which can be a very dangerous thing. :) You can also see questions and answers from other Blog Squad Q and A’s as well!

Finally, we’ve got some awesomesauce stuff going on with the Haven Conference next summer:

 

We’re SUPER thrilled to welcome some of our latest sponsors, like a little place you may know of:

The Depot! Whoo!

We’ve secured a few other sponsors as well, and you can see them here. Many more are coming and we are so thrilled with the response!

Next up, the session topics have been ironed out and we are so excited to be able to share these with you! The conference is open to bloggers and DIYers alike– it doesn’t matter if you’re one or the other, (or both!) we think you’ll find it worthwhile!:

DIY track:

• Brave it Off Auto: Photography Workshop
  Pimp Your Photos: Photo Editing and Styling
  Laminate, Wood, & MDF, OH MY: Furniture Painting Tips for Beginners
  Beyond the Basics: Advanced Furniture Painting Techniques
  Go Ahead & Let Your Slip Show: Basics of Slipcovering
  Frugally Fabu-less Decorating: Introduction to Thrifty Shopping
  Power Tools for Divas: An Introduction to how to properly and safely use power tools like a pro.
  Just Build It: Introduction to Carpentry and Woodworking with Ana White!
  Build-a-Room: Basics in Room Design

Blogging track:

• I Like Big Blogs: Tips on Growing your Blog
  Meet Me at the Water Cooler: The Importance in Using Social Media
  Hobby Gone Wild: How to Take Your Blog from a Hobby to a Business
  Walking the Tightrope: How to Achieve Balance in Family & Blogging
  Show Me the Money: The Ins, Outs, and Ethics of Blog Advertising

We’re also pleased as punch to announce some of our speakers for the event! John and Sherry from Young House Love will be joining us, as well as the lovely Ana from Ana White and the dashing Rashon from Mr. Goodwill Hunting! I can’t wait to see them all myself. :)

We are SO excited and of course can’t wait to see all of YOU there as well!

Tickets are still available – click this box to find out more:

Whew! So much fun I can barely stand it. ;)

I’ll be back later tonight to show you the return of some of my little friends…any guesses?

Let there be light!

Well HEY! Thanks for all the kind comments on our new floors! I tell you what -- I am more thrilled with them each day. I swear these floors don’t show anything! I so wish I could say I’m the I-want-to-see-the-dirt-so-I-know-when-to-clean type…but I’m just not. Sorry. ;)

Anyhoo, I told you the new floors have spurred on some new projects. One in particular I wanted to take care of before they moved the furniture back in. It involved the roman shades in the family room, so I wanted to take care of it while the sofa wasn’t in the way.

I showed you here how I’ve fallen in love with bamboo shades. We used to have two-inch blinds throughout the house, and slowly but surely, I transitioned all the windows to bamboo shades instead.

They are SO easy to install:

Over time, I’ve been craving a little more light though. So I decided to try hanging them up higher instead of inside the window. When you install roman shades, you need to decide if you want them hung inside the window frame, or outside:

(source)

I’ve always hung ours inside, but I got the I-need-more-light wild hair and decided to try the outside mount.

I didn’t get photos of the process (because I was trying to get it done before the furniture was moved back in), but it’s pretty easy. You just take the bracket and hang it above the window, instead of inside the window frame:

That pic is looking up underneath the roman shade.

Make SURE that you either use anchors or get your screws into a stud or the header over the window when hanging them. You want to make sure the brackets have a good grip!

I started moving them up and decided everything would need to go up, so I moved the drapes as well. Now everything is hung right up under the crown:

And I have to say, I LOVE it! It raised the bamboo shades about ten inches, so it lets a TON more light in the room.

The only thing I didn’t consider…that the blinds don’t cover the entire window anymore:

Whoops. ;)

In my defense, our upstairs shades have a ton of extra at the bottom, because I buy the 72 inch length for every window. So I just figured I’d have enough extra at the bottom. I don’t. :)

The only other thing that is different is the space between the shades. At the right angle, you can see between them:

Not a big deal, but I like it totally closed off at night. :)

A new set of shades will fix these issues though – I’ll just get wider and longer bamboo shades. I’ll move these upstairs when I have the budget for new ones, but until then, I can deal with these little issues.

I figured the short shades would be hidden by the sofa, and they would have been if I hadn’t decided to move things around a bit. :) When they brought the furniture back in, I had the sofa and IKEA sofa table placed back about a foot. You can see the before on the left, now on the right:

Funny how one foot makes a HUGE difference! To me anyway. I love little changes like that! And you can see the difference in the shades and drapes in these pics too.

We need the extra space in the family room, not in the kitchen, so it works SO much better like this. But now the sofa doesn’t cover the entire window.

No biggie. I’m trying not to develop the heebs at night because of it. ;)

The best part – it made our windows and ceiling feel even taller AND lets in more light…for FREE!

Here’s the evolution of the family room drapes…very early on I went with the tan drapes on tan walls hung immediately over the window, with no blinds at all:

Then I moved on to the DIY drapes with blinds:

I still love those brown drapes!

And then I flipped the drapes and the bamboo obsession started:

And after stealing the dining room drapes and raising everything up, (and OK, a few other changes) here’s where we are today:

Again with the cloudy, rainy day. This needs to shape up for my photos!! ;)

You can’t see the molding I installed around the windows now, but I don’t mind it – I’ll take natural light over that any day! This certainly has me thinking about moving more shades up around the entire house.

See how one thing turns into another around here?

So do you hang ‘em high? It’s an old decor trick that certainly works! I think it works best when the shades and curtains are both hung high – so the window really looks taller. Sometimes I think just hanging the drapes higher can make the window seem even shorter.

P.S. Check out my FAQ page to find out where I find my bamboo roman shades.

Our “new” house!

Well, they are DONE! The floors are down, sanded and stained. It took the guys yesterday and today to get the quarter round down and painted, and then the furniture back in – so I’ve been smiling and fluffing and giddy all evening. ;)

The house is still (mostly) a mess – but I’ve been trying to get the layer of dust out of a couple rooms to show you the results!

I mentioned before that we went with hardwoods finished on site instead of prefinished. (You can go here to see how we came to that decision.) Remember the dark prefinished sample I fell in love with?:

Well, here’s how ours turned out (same spot):

Yes. I went dark. Not crazy dark. Just dark. er. ish.

;)

The stain color is from Minwax and it’s called Jacobean:

Originally we were going with a walnut, but then the flooring guy said the Jacobean was just a tad deeper and more brown. Because our laminate had a reddish tone that I wasn’t crazy about anymore, I wanted to go as brown as possible.

I know many of you warned about the dark floors showing everything, and believe me I get you. Our laminate floors weren’t super dark, but dark enough. Every single crumb and waft of cat hair showed, so I’m used to it.

What always bugged me more about our laminate was how shiny they were – it looked GREAT when they were clean, but as soon as someone walked across them with bare feet, they were toast.

The crumbs I can deal with –  it was the footprints and smudges that drove me batty! I wanted dark floors, so I knew just what to do to keep the floors from showing everything. I talked to Floor Guy, and we went with a satin polyurethane instead of a gloss:

And it worked like a CHARM!! It’s crazy awesome – you can’t see anything on these floors!

I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me after trying to keep that blasted laminate clean. ;)

It was pouring rain today, so the guys were in and out over and over to bring in the furniture – with wet boots. (They took great care to cover their shoes up till then – there was no way around it when they brought in furniture.) Two guys with wet shoes walked through that spot up there in the pic at least five times, and that’s how it looks. I didn’t even wipe it down.

I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

A few of you asked about the baseboards during installation, and we did not remove them. The flooring was placed right up against them and then the quarter round covered any gaps:

I know some don’t use quarter round, but in order to do that you’d have to take up all of the baseboards, then reinstall them afterwards.

Um...I had enough of a mess on my hands. ;) I like both looks, with or without the quarter round. But I have to say -- when they installed and painted ours, they made the already awesome floors look stunning. It’s the whole contrast thing for me I’m sure. :)

And many of you were passionate about the quarter round matching the baseboards – I SO agree! I didn’t think of that when our laminate was installed and it matched the floors. It made our already wimpy baseboards look even smaller. I’m SO thrilled to have all white!

I love how the boards each have their own natural characteristics. It looks SO LOVELY. I love this board with the little worm holes:

Each piece stained so differently and it gives our house so much character. Some boards are light, some are dark. Some are super smooth, some have some texture. I am SO thrilled with how it turned out. Beyond thrilled. Ecstatic. :)

So how about some before and afters?!

Here’s the living room before:

And now, with the floors down:

Of course it was raining and cloudy and perfectly awful picture-taking weather today, so my pictures aren’t great. It was hard to get a decent shot of everything.

The transformation in the family room and kitchen isn’t as dramatic, because the laminate was down before:

But you can see all the character in the floors now:

The laminate used to stop by our basement steps, and now that everything is hardwood, it makes our main level feet HUGE:

It’s so funny – we feel like we have a brand new house, but it also feels like it’s been like this forever. I don’t even remember the carpet and laminate, already. Well, I do…but the cherry and animal and Christmas tree stains on the carpet and the dirty laminate are oh so easy to put out of my mind. :)

The change has so many new projects running through my head now too – it’s like my mojo was given a jolt! I’ve already completed a few (small) projects and have a few (HUGE) projects in mind.

Now I hope to get some Halloween decor up (the Bub has been SO patient) and then get our house fallified as well. I’ve been holding out on any decor because of this process. I’ll show you more of the floors and my latest projects soon – hopefully with better light!

Thanks for coming along with us during this project!! Everyone told me and I will say it – (now) I don’t mind at all that the old fridge pooped out on us and leaked everywhere. :) NOW I can say that. Seven weeks later. ;)

My Top Ten Tools

Hey all! How are ya? Hope you had a wonderful weekend my peeps!

We stayed with my sis this weekend cause the FLOORS ARE DONE!

I was pleasantly surprised late late week when our flooring guy said he would work through the weekend to get them finished up.

To say I’m thrilled is the understatement of the century. :) Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow the baseboards will be painted, the quarter round will be installed and our furniture will be moved back in! After that I will share many pics, don’t you worry.

I’m just smitten.

I still need to clean the entire house. ;) The dust was WAY better than we expected – we actually had more dust with the removal of the old floors and the install then we did the sanding. Crazy! But everything is just covered – I have a ton of cleaning ahead of me but I couldn’t be happier about it. :)

Anyhoo, I’m so excited to show you and will do so ASAP!

During the flooring madness this week, I did some reorganizing (I tend to do that when I feel like things are out of my control). I moved my tools from the basement to a couple different spots – mainly because the top of our basement stairs is ALWAYS piled high:

I told you about my piling problem here. It has not been cured quite yet. I feel it may be a lifelong affliction. ;)

Because I’m in perpetual project mode around here, and because immediately after I’m in project mode, I’m in l.a.z.y. mode – the tools sit at the top of the of the stairs forever and a DAY.

MANY days. (Plural. Times ten. Plus infinity.)

I could just be less lazy and walk them down the stairs to put them away, but no. I told you I’m a piler.

So I moved some of the tools to the cabinets in the garage:

And some to the Craigslist dresser in the foyer:

Odd place for the tools, I know. But I’ve had a few in there for  a while now and it’s worked out great. I didn’t use that space for much else, so it’s now filled with gadgets and painting stuff. I LOVE IT.

While moving everything, I came across quite a few tools I know I couldn’t live without and I thought it was high time I shared my top ten tool list with you. These aren’t heavy duty power tools – just the basics. But they are the basics I use almost daily.

With these you can hang pictures (straight), install a light fixture, do some minor fixes around the house or even install molding on your walls.

In no particular order (because I can’t play favorites with my precious tools), here is my go-to list…

1. Screwdriver set.

There are two types of screwdrivers, and all you really need for the most basic of projects is a Phillips and a flathead:

 

(source)

You can see by those pics that the Phillips has a “star” kind of shape to it, and the flathead is…well…flat. ;)

You’ll want a variety of sizes of both – but to get by, one of each will do. The Phillips version is for the most basic screws, and the flathead isn’t used quite as much. At least I don’t use it often – but it’s useful for the screws you find on outlet covers and the such. (Yes, I just said “and the such.” Wordsmith, I tell ya.)

The flathead is also good for opening paint cans. ;)

2. Hammer and nail set.

OK, talk about basic. If you don’t have a hammer, well – HOW DO YOU SURVIVE???

Kidding. (Sort of.)

The hammer is pretty self explanatory. The nail set is a must have for anyone who wants to try their hand at installing molding:

When you install trim by hand (with a hammer and nails – which I used to do!) you’ll want to use this to get the nails deep in the wood, so you can cover them with putty.

Even when I use the nail gun, I have to pull out my nail set pretty much every time:

(No, not my hairy arm. Source here.)

Sometimes the nails just don’t go in quite right and this helps to drive them in. (Especially when they hit a stud and they won’t budge with the hammer!)

3. Tape measure.

Again, a basic:

But go for the good one when you get one. I like the longer lengths – they come in 12 or 25 feet (or higher), and I’d always go for the 25 feet. You think you’ll never need it that long…and then you do. ;)

And I love the ones that you can pull out and they stay put. The most basic tape measures retract unless you lock them manually. My faves lock by themselves, and then retract when you push a button.

And if you’re like me…you’ll lose them like you lose socks. For real…I’ve probably purchased 25 tape measures in the past five years. I have absolutely no clue where they go.

It drives me a teensy bit crazy. I have visions of them all hiding away, snickering at me every time I need one.

4.  Level.

I use a level ALL THE TIME. I use it when installing board and batten, beadboard or wainscoting. I use it when I hang pretty much anything, even curtain rods. I have a two foot level:

But they come in a ton of sizes. I also have a small one (about five inches) that I use for little projects, and a teensy one (about a inch wide), for checking pictures and art for level. I couldn’t live without them!

OK, I totally could, but everything hanging in our house would be wonky if I had to.

They tell you if something is straight across or straight up and down, based on the bubble:

(source)

When it’s right in the middle like that, you’re golden. ;)

5. Pry bar.

If you are going to remove baseboards, this is your tool:

Our baseboards are CRAZY hard to get off the walls, and I couldn’t do it without this one.

I used the pry bar when I pulled up the laminate in our laundry room a couple weeks ago – you can get it into tight spaces by tapping an end with a hammer and wedging it underneath. It’s the power you need to deconstruct. FUN!

6. Wire cutter.

This one is a must have if you plan to change out a light fixture:

Which, by the way, isn’t hard – at all. I know it’s intimidating, but the basics of changing out a light are very simple. Someday I’ll do a post about it. When I can find a third hand to take pictures. ;)

This tool can cut through all kinds of tough stuff – I use it on much more than wires.

7. Miter box and hand saw.

This little box has transformed my home:

(source)

This and a hammer and nails or glue is all you need to install molding throughout your home. For years this is all I used. With thicker wood it can be a workout, but it’s certainly doable.

You can do mitered (angled) cuts with it – it sets up the perfect angle for you. Listen carefully -- you do NOT need a compound miter saw and nail gun to install molding! It just takes a little more time and muscle with the miter box and hand saw. But muscles are good for you. ;)

8. Wrench set.

These come in handy all the time as well – when you need them it’s hard to find something else that will work just right:

(source)

Of course they are helpful for tightening things – but mostly use them when I’m trying to pry something apart or put it back together. So with wrenches, I recommend having at least two – they usually come in a set like you see here.

Finally, my two biggies! Hold on to your seats. It’s exciting. WHOO!!

9. Drill bits. and 10. Drill.

Told  you –- crazy exciting!

Drill bits are used in the drill, and I explained about the different types of bits here:

For the most projects you’ll just need a basic drill bit set. It will drill holes into drywall and wood easily. I seem to use my bits and drill at least once a week, if not more.

I explained more about the differences between cordless and plug in drills in that post as well. I have both, but nine times out of ten, I use my cordless drill:

It’s all you need most of the time. I only pull out the cordless when I’m drilling holes or screwing into something really thick, like a door or dense wood. The cordless is just easy to use – no need to worry about an outlet or extension cord when you need it.

So there. you. go. My top ten tools for any DIYer – beginner or otherwise! With the screwdriver and wire cutter, you can change out a light or install a dimmer switch. With the miter box and hand saw you can make your own vintage-looking trough thing. And with the pry bar and a wrench, you can rip the carpet and tack strips off your stairs. ;)

So did I miss any must have tools? Is there one you can’t live without? I’ll do a post on the bad boys (the power tools) sometime soon – they deserve their own individual posts. They are just that cool. :)

P.S. You can see some of my other tool-related posts here:

I’ll be back soon with some flooring pics!! Have a wonderful Monday!