(Not) Doing it all

Every once and awhile I like to pause and show you the “real” around here. Sometimes I show you in pictures, but today I also want to tell you how very much I don’t have it all together. :) I’ve mentioned a few times that our house rarely looks perfect. OK, let’s make that never. Well, OK, maybe about five minutes before a party, but that’s it. So that would amount to about 15 minutes a year.

A mossy vignette

Well, if spring isn’t going to show up, I’m going to WILL it here. I’m planting my herbs tomorrow (inside), I’ve refused to wear my coat for the past few days and gosh DARN IT, I am decorating for it. And if you decorate for it, it will come. That’s my hope anyway. :) I wanted to spring bling out our foyer and the first project was an easy one. The inspiration came from Pottery Barn: Are

The PAPER, organized

Hello all! Hope you had a fabulous weekend! It was absolutely FREEZING here. Ugh – spring is such a tease. :) I guess the planting will have to wait till next weekend. (Crossing fingers.) If you remember a couple of months ago, I showed you how I was starting to get control over the paper in our house – once and for all. I had let it get waaay out of control, and it was time tame the paper

Stuff I like

Hey all! Thanks so much for the all the sweet comments on the board and batten in the office! I haven’t touched it since I finished – my shoulders still cry out for mercy every time I step in the room. :) Every once in a while, I’ll find a new little doodad or product, and if I like it, I’ll think – “This (insert cool thing here) is so nifty, I need to tell my Squeezies about it!” I think about

PROGRESS (board & batten) in the office!

Can I just start out with a WHOO?! And a WHEW!! Cause I’m exhausted. :) It’s been two months since I’ve addressed my office redo, and I’ve had the mdf for the board and batten treatment on the walls for about that long. It’s been piled in the garage all that time…and every time I’ve stubbed my toe, tripped over them or watched them gathering dust since January, I have thought… I MUST get

This little ($5) light of mine

Hello there! Can you believe spring is HERE?! Whoo HOO! Hubs grilled out our first steaks of the year tonight and they were SO good. If this keeps up I’ll be picking out flowers for the window boxes any day now. We had lovely weather -- perfect for spray painting. ;) We have a light at the base of our stairs that I changed out a few years ago. It used to be the most builder basic brass light,

IKEA makes me happy

Hello there! Hope you’re feeling the heat wave we are here – it’s positively balmy in our house tonight! Crazy! SPRING is on it’s way, and that makes me so happy. I’m excited to start getting my hands in the dirt again! I’ve been one lucky chick lately – I’ve taken TWO trips to IKEA within the past two weeks. I’ve only been four times, and the first two times were within weeks of each other,

How to install new door knobs

Wellllll…it only took a year. (I say that a lot don’t I? It only took a month…six months…a year.) And I’m still not completely done. But 98 percent of our doors are rid of their look-away-or-the-shiny-will-blind-you brassiness. WHOO!! There’s a few reasons it’s taken so long. First, the order was messed up back when I ordered in February (of 2010!). Second, uhhh…I dunno why. I get easily

Musical dressers

Hello all! How was your weekend? I didn’t get many DIY projects started, but I did clean our bathroom (yikes) and got one big project marked off my list – and I didn’t even have to paint like I thought I would! Score! If you remember back last May, I showed you the Bub’s big boy room redo: A few months later I realized I needed to find a new solution for his clothing storage. I had

Showing off Allison (and winners!)

Well HELLO Squeezies!! Are you ready for some WEEKEND?? :) I am! I have so many projects I want to complete (or at least start) it’s not even funny. First, I need to announce the winners of the Oriental Furniture giveaway! The FIVE winners of $50 gift cards are: 1. Nikki from Kreative Knack  2. Julie from Fresh Perspectives 3. Carly from Simon Family Says 4. Connie from Truly Connie’s

Why we’re not moving

Didn’t know we were thinking about it? We were. But…we’re not. It started last year while we were attacking our debt snowball. We looked into refinancing our current mortgage into a 15-year. To do so, we had a realtor come out to the house to give us an idea of the value. The news was not good. When I say not good, I mean…not. good. We were expecting it to be bad, but not that bad. And

Before and After Party: A kitchen nook

Soooo…remember that little kitchen redo I started oh…almost a year ago? Or so. Yeahhhh. Well, I’m still working on it. Just slowly. Very, very s.l.o.w.l.y.  :) This weekend I finally I finished up one part of the room – the kitchen table. Hey, it’s something, OK?? To get an appreciation for how far the room has come, let’s look at an old before picture I found shall we?: I was way into

Giveaway weekend!

Well hello there! WHOO for FRIDAY! Thanks so much for all of the kind comments about our decluttered basement! It is such a weight off my shoulders to have that space DONE.And now, to celebrate the weekend, I have a great giveaway for you! :)I have to admit -- I was more than a little surprised when I checked out Oriental Furniture and found so many pieces I loved. I mean, our Suburban style is

My biggest purge yet!

Hello there! Hope you’re having a GREAT week! I mentioned earlier this week that I’m DONE with the decluttering of the basement…this is huge for me peeps. HUGE. Every year for the past few years, I spend what seems like half the year decrapifying this space. This time, it only took me a whole year. :) For reals. Seriously. A YEAR. One thing I have learned on my decrapification journey is