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A Diamond in the Stuff: Origami Owl Giveaway

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Wordless Wednesday

Aiden Daniel ~ The First Year

My grandson, Aiden, turned one on September 21st.

I made this video using photos I've taken this past year. :)

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Kitchen Makeover ~ Update 2

Another update and a few photos showing the progress of our kitchen makeover.

It is slow going, with summer started, and I just can't seem to find the motivation to get started on the cabinets, but today I plan to clean and degloss one section of them, and get some primer up.

For now, these are the pillows I have on the bench below the dining area window.

The little green one I found at a thrift store quite a while back and paid like a dollar for it.

The red one I found on sale at Walmart for $9.

I am thinking of maybe having one or two more pillows for this bench, so I can change them around from time to time. I would love to get a burlap one, with maybe some numbers or a letter R on it...and would also love to have a white one with some black French script writing.

I'm not sure I'm going to do anything to the bench. I kind of like it the way it is....and since it's up against a white wall, I don't think it would look good white. If I painted it green like the walls it would be too much green....I just don't have any idea. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

On the other side of the bench, we have this:

This is a white ceramic coffee pot I bought at a garage sale. I maybe paid $2 for it. It's in really nice condition, and is heavy...the only thing was..there was no lid for it. I bought it anyway, and it makes a nice vase for my fake *gasp* flowers.

I won a gift card for Amazon, and after using it, this cute tray only cost me $1.95.

It's a nice sturdy plastic tray, and is made to look like a feed sack. When the cabinets are done I plan on putting this on top of them, leaning against the wall, but for now it's staying on the bench.

A couple things on my table. The little vases are a project I posted about HERE, and I've had little lilacs in them, but right now I just have some little fake green stuff in them.

The burlap and lace table runner was a giveaway I won....I just LOVE how this looks in the room!

The candle holder I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents. My plan was to paint it, but once I got it home...I loved the worn black paint with the bit of gold showing through, so I'm leaving that as it is.

My stepdaughter bought the green candle that is in it. It's the perfect shade of green, and I love the little leaf charm held on by the cording. So cute!

Here is what else I have on my table today:

This table runner is just the most perfect thing!

The lilacs smelled soooo good when I brought them in the house.

The candle holders were some ugly wooden things that I bought for I think 50 cents at Goodwill, and I painted them the same color as the walls, and stuck some white dollar store candles in them.

The pear is plastic, I have had it forever, and apparently I have a deep, meaningful relationship with it, because it shows up in a lot of my photos, and I can't ever see myself without it. It's like the perfect color green, and has these tiny brown speckles on it. We're in love.

The little pitcher is another Goodwill find, I paid $3 for it, and it has a raised grape cluster design on each side.

Here is a closer shot of the cute little pitcher, and my beloved pear.

Here is the dining area wall.

The stencil was a giveaway win from Cutting Edge Stencils. I just love how it turned out. I am thinking I may add one or two more branches somewhere on this wall as well.

We have 99% of the trim up on the wall, and we also added trim around the window, which has made SO much of a difference. 

Here are the before and after shots of the window trim:

The curtain rod was an ugly shiny gold before, so instead of buying a new one, I just sprayed the old one with some matte black paint.

I really wanted to make curtains out of painter's drop cloths, but at the time I couldn't find any that were big enough. I was so tired of not having curtains on the window, though, so one day I was at Kmart and thought I would take a look and see what they had. I found these cream colored linen panels, and they were only $15 each, so I grabbed them. I love how they look!

Here are a couple more photos, showing the detail, and how they puddle on the floor. This will be awesome for collecting dog and cat hair...haha!

I can't WAIT to change this flooring! My husband has big plans....a really awesome idea.

I'll blog about that when the time comes. :)

Now...for the lighting above the table. This was really a lesson in patience. And I hated every minute of it.

First...the before:

Oh my.

Since we are on a budget, I didn't have two or three hundred dollars to spend on a new light. And all of the ones that I saw and loved, were around that price. I wanted a simple chandelier, something matte black with white glass shades. Nothing frilly or with a bunch of dangly sparkly things....and I found the perfect one on the Home Depot website. When I got ready to order it, it was out of stock. *Sigh*

So I emailed the company...and was told they didn't know when they were getting more in, I would just have to keep checking back. 

Wonderful.

I don't have the patience for this.

So for the next THREE weeks, I went and looked every day to see if it was in stock yet.

When it was finally in, I ordered it, it shipped very quickly and arrived in perfect condition.

I was so excited. It looks like a really expensive light, but it was only $73 with tax....and had FREE SHIPPING!

Introducing......The New Light:

L.O.V.E.

Now the light we had had 3 bulbs, and was plenty bright enough.

This one has 5...and I mentioned to my husband a couple times that maybe we should get a dimmer switch for it...because I think with the extra bulbs, it's going to be bright.

So he bought one, and installed it along with the light.

Now I suppose I could have gotten smaller bulbs, but I didn't. I bought 60 watt bulbs, and when this sucker is all the way up....it's like we're on the surface of the sun. It's BRIGHT!

Most of the time we keep it like half way up...but when the girls and I are sitting at the table playing games...it's really nice to have it so bright, but I am glad that we paid the extra few dollars and got the dimmer switch.

So that is where we are today.

There is still so much to do, but I am loving how it's turning out so far.

It's amazing how different everything is looking, but it's looking exactly how I envisioned it.

I'll post again when we get more done...and I say we, because without the help of my sweet husband...none of this would be getting done.  :)

Have a great week! 

Linking up to these parties:

Monday

A Diamond in the Stuff ~ Between Naps on the Porch ~ Boogieboard Cottage ~ Brassy Apple ~ Cherished Handmade Treasures ~ Cottage Instincts ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ CraftOManiac ~ Dittle Dattle~ DIY Home Sweet Home ~ Everything Under The Moon ~ Home Savvy A to Z ~ Keeping It Simple ~ Lines Across My Face ~ Making The World Cuter ~ Our Delightful Home ~ Polly Want a Crafter ~ Sarahndipities ~ Serendipity and Spice ~ Sew Can Do ~ Sew Chatty ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~ Skip To My Lou ~ Sumo's Sweet Stuff ~ The Girl Creative ~ The Southern Institute

Tuesday

A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Adventures of a DIY Mom ~ At Home With K ~ Chef in Training ~ Cherished Bliss ~ Claiming Our Space ~ Coastal Charm ~ Crafty Confessions ~ Debbie Does Creations ~ DIY By Design ~ Elizabeth & Co. ~ Funky Polkadot Giraffe ~ Home Stories A to Z ~ Homework ~ House of Grace ~ How To Nest For Less ~ Kammy's Korner ~ Mommy By Day Crafter By Night ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia ~ Not Just a Housewife ~ Nothing But Country ~ Sassy Sites! ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ Sweet Little Gals ~ The Blackberry Vine ~ The Lettered Cottage ~ The Project Queen ~ The REAL Housewives of Riverton ~ Tip Junkie ~ Today's Creative Blog ~ Vintage Wanna Bee

Wednesday

{Primp} ~ A Little Tipsy ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Cheap Crafty Mama ~ Fabric Bows and More ~ Fireflies and Jellybeans ~ Gingersnap Crafts ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Happy Hour Projects ~ Home Happy Home ~ I Gotta Create ~ Ivy and Elephants ~ Lil' Luna ~ My Girlish Whims ~ Night Owl Crafting ~ Oopsey Daisy ~ Polka Dots On Parade ~ Restore Interiors ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ seven thirty three ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Someday Crafts ~ Southern Lovely ~ Sugar and Dots ~ Tea Rose Room ~ The NY Melrose Family ~ The Sasse Life ~ The Trendy Treehouse ~ Vintage Gwen

Thursday

{aka} design ~ A Glimpse Inside ~ Bear Rabbit Bear ~ Brambleberry Cottage ~ Delightful Order ~ Embracing Change ~ House of Hepworths ~ Just Winging It ~ live laugh rowe ~ Momnivore's Dilemma ~ My Repurposed Life ~ No Minimalist Here ~ RadCrafter ~ Saved by Suzy ~ School House Scraps ~ Somewhat Simple ~ The 36th Avenue ~ The CSI Project ~ Thrifty 101

Friday

2805 ~ 504 Main ~ Addicted 2 Decorating ~ At The Picket Fence ~ Blissful and Domestic ~ Chic On a Shoestring Decorating ~ Delicate Construction ~ Family Ever After ~ Finding My Way in Texas ~ Fingerprints On The Fridge ~ Five Days 5 Ways ~ French Country Cottage ~ Freckled Laundry ~ Happy-Go-Lucky ~ Happy Hour Projects ~ Here Comes The Sun ~ Just A Girl ~ Kojo Designs ~ little becky homecky ~ love notes by lauryn ~ Momma's Kinds Crafty ~ Nap Time Crafters ~ One Artsy Mama~ Remodelaholic ~ Sassy Sites ~ See Vanessa Craft ~ Serenity Now~ Stuff and Nonsense ~ The Charm of Home ~ The Creative Paige ~ The Grant Life ~ The Rooster and the Hen ~ The Shabby Nest ~ Thirty Handmade Days ~ Tidy Mom ~ Whipperberry

Saturday

Be Different Act Normal ~ Funky Junk Interiors ~ Lolly Jane Boutique ~ Lovely Crafty Home ~ Positively Splendid ~ Six Sisters' Stuff ~ Young and Crafty

Sunday

Ask Anna ~ DIY Showoff ~ Flamingo Toes ~ Homemaker On A Dime ~ I Heart Nap Time ~ It's Overflowing ~ It's So Very Cheri ~ My 1929 Charmer ~ Nifty Thrifty Things ~ Petite Hermine~ Randee's Organized Chaos ~ Sassy Pants Studio ~ Sew Chatty ~ Sew Many Ways ~ Under The Table and Dreaming

Kitchen Makeover ~ Update 1

Happy Sunday everyone!

Wow it's been a while since I posted anything. My husband and I started our kitchen makeover and I've been terrible with time management since we started. I'm going to have to start organizing my days better so I have time for painting, cleaning, cooking AND blogging.

As I said, we started our kitchen makeover, and it is going slowly....and that is fine. We don't have any set date when we want things to be finished, so we just do some here and there as time and weather allows.

One of the major changes we are making is to paint our dark, 1970's cabinets...white.

This intimidates me to no end, so I decided to start with something easier, the opposite side of the kitchen, which is the little dining table area.

Here is a before shot:

It's very...uh....brown.

Everything is original. Ray's mom purchased the mobile home brand new back in 1974, I believe it was, and there were not many changes made. Original paneling, windows, flooring, lighting, cabinets...pretty much everything in the kitchen with the exception of the refrigerator and stove were original when we moved in.

And surprisingly....everything is in really good condition. 

But like I said....it's brown, and from the 1970's.

So here is where we pretty much are today:

It was not in our budget to re-drywall, so I filled the grooves in the paneling, and primed and painted the top portion of the wall. You can see the rough joint from where 2 sections of paneling met on the right side, but other than that, the wall came out pretty smooth, and with the decor and things that will be up on the wall, it won't be all that noticeable. 

Also, the color is much prettier than it is showing up. We have had no sunshine for DAYS, and I can't use a camera properly, so it is what it is...haha!

I got the paint at Walmart, it's called Spanish Olive, and I got it in a satin finish. I just love it!

Here is a closer shot of the wall in contrast with the wainscoting:

Ah the wainscoting!

I have always loved this stuff.

I painted all of it in a bright white, semi-gloss, and it has made such a difference in the room already.

I bought it from Home Depot's website.

I was VERY happy with Home Depot. Ordering was easy, shipping was within like 3 days, and nothing was damaged upon arrival. If we are in need of other supplies, etc that we can't purchase in town, I will definitely be ordering from them again.

PLUS....if you spend over $45, shipping is FREE! So I saved about $56 on shipping.

Happy dance!

It was $46.00 a bundle...each bundle came with an 8-foot baseboad, an 8-foot chair rail, and enough of the bead board planks to cover 8 feet.

I bought 4 bundles....and it was enough to cover the entire side of the kitchen, plus the little partition that we boxed in on the right side of this photo:

and we had enough to cover the living room side of the island.

Originally, according to my husband, the side of the island was carpeted with orange shag carpeting, which used to be through the entire living room (oh my), and was later carpeted with the blue/grey which we still have in the living room.

After tearing the carpet off the island, we discovered....surprise...more brown paneling:

(My daughter.

I tell her not to act a fool when I'm taking pictures, because I WILL use them.

She doesn't listen.)

Here is the island after Ray put up the wainscoting (this still needs to be painted white):

What I still need to do to the dining area wall:

Put up corner molding and ceiling trim.

Find a narrow strip of molding that will match to put directly under the window.

Paint window frame (white)

Stencil wall on left side.

Put up new outlets, switches, switch plates.

Hang curtains.

Decide on and hang wall decor.

 So far this has been a lot of fun. Every day we work on it, it changes and looks better, even though it is a slow process.

I'll take more photos as we progress..and post another update soon.

Have a great week everyone!

More Giveaway Wins

Hi everyone!

Within the past couple weeks I was lucky enough to win 2 different giveaways that I entered.  :)

The first giveaway I won was hosted by Mostly Food and Crafts. It was for 2 coupons for 8 O'Clock Coffee plus a travel mug.

I took the coupons to Walmart and was able to get two 12-ounce bags of coffee with them.

Love the travel mug also...it's a nice size, and keeps my coffee nice and hot.  :)

The second giveaway I won was hosted by At Home With K and was for a $50 credit towards a wall stencil at Cutting Edge Stencils. It was so hard to choose from all of the wonderful stencils that were available, but I decided on the Spring Songbirds one...and will be putting this on my kitchen wall once painting is done.

I want to thank everyone for hosting the giveaways and supplying the prizes.

I was so happy to win, and I love everything!!

Have you won any giveaways lately?

Have a wonderful day!

April 2012 Recap

Hi everyone!

I can't believe that it's May already....it just seems like I was celebrating my daughter's 18th birthday on April 5th, and now the whole month is over already?

Here's what I was up to in April, in case you missed anything.

I posted detailed cleaning lists for the bedroom, living room and dining room.

(I still need to post the detailed list for the kitchen, which will be one day this week, so check back)

I shared a little tip on how to hide your dirty dishes.

I showed how I took an old lazy susan and a candle holder and made a 'new' accent piece for my kitchen.

I turned a thrifted spice rack into a cute set of vases.

I updated a bottle of vanilla with a reused bottle and a printed label.

I won the cutest art print in a giveaway.

I made some cute shaped soaps using cookie cutters and bar soap from the dollar store.

I'm hoping to have more to blog about this month, as my husband and I have started our kitchen makeover, and I've been taking lots of photos of the progress.

Have a great week!