Show Us Your Life Fridays

I am so excited Friday is here. I have been in the biggest blogging rut!  At least I have "Show Us Your Life Fridays" to give me something to get pumped up about!  This week the room we are posting about is our guest room.  Being that we live in an older home and it is relatively small, our guest room is also Aidan's playroom. 

The thing I love most about this room is that I gave it a make over all by myself while Adam was out of town for a few days on business.   I also did it for under $600!   I had an almost new Pottery Barn Sofa sitting in this room with the TV serving almost no purpose. So I posted it on Craig's List for $600 and it sold in two days. 

I needed a room that could serve more than one function for us.  I needed a place for our guests to sleep when they came to visit and a place for Aidan to be able to veg out other than his room.

On this wall we have the entertainment cabinet and the chair I used to use at my desk.  I realize I would have some extra space if I ditched the cabinet but I have had it for so long and kind of love it.  Plus, it's great for storage and I hate to look at TV components.  Any day now Adam will over rule me and buy a flat screen and that thing will be gone! Haha. The paint color is Milk Chocolate by Valspar available at Lowe's. I did make the final decision because it was called Milk Chocolate.

Anyways, the bamboo blinds came with the house.   Every other room has white wood blinds but I love these and I have thought about doing bamboo everywhere. I just love the look.  The sheers I bought at Ikea for $19.99 for the pair. Gotta love Ikea!  That little pig has been with us a long time, this is his new home in front of this window.

My biggest purchase for this room was the Ikea daybed at $99!  Again, gotta love Ikea. The mattress was also $99.   Believe it or not, I had all of those pillows in my attic. I am a pillow-a-holic.  Lamps too.  The ivory and black covers came from Ikea.  The cheetah print bolsters I bought at TJ Maxx when I was in Massachusetts and had no idea where they were going to go. 

 Here is just a view from the doorway leading to our hallway.  The day bed is actually very comfortable.  Ikea mattresses are great! The best part being that they have covers on them that can just be taken off and washed and the mattress itself isn't damaged.  We have had friends comfortably sleep two people on that daybed when all the pillows are removed.

Here is a little updated picture. I have just added some additional pillows and covers.

 I also added this frame from Tarjay and a wedding picture to the wall opposite the windows.

So that's it!! That is our guest room.  In a dream world I would have a nice size room with a big bed and it would be totally shabby chic.  Ahh.  Some day.

Well thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see everyone else's rooms!!!

Show Us Your Life Fridays-Kids Rooms/Nursery's

This week at Kelly's Korner we are showcasing our children's rooms.   I am so excited to see these rooms because although I just did Aidan's room about 6 months ago, I am always looking for fun things to add to it!

I started to do something straight out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and then I thought I might want use furniture and colors he could grow with. Plus, I've never been much of a "theme" person.

I bought these letters on sale at Hob Lob for like a buck and painted them. I think they turned out so cute.

 Home Goods everything here.

 This is the dresser I was given by a neighbor for our house before we even knew about Aidan. I always hated the natural maple color it was so I bought some turquoise paint and antiqued this dresser. I love it!

I bought these shelves at Ikea.  I think they were around $20. They have been the best for Aidan's books.

These are just some frames and a little car that sits on the shelf on the right side of the window.

So that's it!  I think it turned out really cute.  His bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids and Garnet Hill.  His rug is also PBK and was leftover from his nursery. The throw pillows were made by my MIL out of minky fabric.  I have been meaning to get them monogrammed.



We definitely plan on changing out his boring light fixture soon I just can't find anything I love!

If you have any suggestions send them my way! Can't wait to see all the other rooms!

Show Us Your Life-Offices

This week at Kelly's Korner we are showing off our offices.  Except I don't have an office.  When Adam and I moved in here and we were unaware of the fact that we were just months away from growing a baby we had an office.  It was my least favorite room in our house.  It was smack dab between our kitchen and the hallway leading to our bedrooms/bedroom and so people saw it all the time.  I tried to paint it this fabulous blue color and it turned out terribly.  The desk was cheap and there was tons of random paper everywhere.  Bad DIY bulletin boards leftover from high school hung on the walls and there was a Pottery Barn sofa that we just kind of stuffed in there because we didn't want to part with it but was way too big for the room.  It got to the point where I couldn't stand to go in there anymore.   I totally transformed it in to a guest/playroom for Aidan this year but that is for another post.

THIS POST is to show you some ideas of have about making a small closet office or taking some space from my laundry room to put a teeny desk and some storage shelves.  I have come to the conclusion that I do need somewhere to store our important paperwork for the house and it would be to my advantage to have a quiet area where I can pay bills, blog, write Thank You notes and whatever else I want to do in that space.  So here are some ideas of what I am thinking.  And I will probably literally go through every other post in hopes that I find some great ideas.

Ok I LOVE this.  I don't have any closets this big in my house {downfall of OLD home} and I would never take the door off because then Aidan could get to my stuff.  BUT the small desk and cute chair, printer cart and blue and white storage is dreamy.  Adam has promised a cute pendant light just like this one if I can find a closet to transform. 

via http://www.mustknowhow.com/

This is probably more practical for my house.  Right now our closet in the playroom has that white closet organization system that everyone has.  There is a shelf that is about counter height that I could easily have a piece of wood or cut to put over it so my things wouldn't fall through the cracks.  I could paint the wood or cover it in a fun fabric and then put glass on it {too much work?}.   Anyways I could find an old counterstool and paint it really cute.  Then just use baskets to get organized and slide them right in to the already existing shelving. 

 via http://www.smallspacestyle.blogspot.com/

This would be the laundry room option.  I don't have this much space but this is pretty close to the color I am getting ready to repaint the laundry room and I know for sure I want a white desk with a file cabinet

to store my important stuff.

  

via http://www.thepurplepea.net/

Ok, I am off to look for more ideas! Thanks for stopping by!



Show Us Your Life Fridays-Kitchens

This week Show Us Your Life Friday's at Kelly Korner we our showcasing our kitchens.

 

I feel like my kitchen is constantly evolving.  When we moved in to the house the kitchen was literally white cupboards made of plywood, a tile counter top and our washer and dryer were in the room as well.   The stove was on a wall by itself and there was a strip of cabinets that came out in to the middle of the floor causing an odd empty space. 

Shortly after Aidan was born my parents decided they were going to remodel their home and re do their kitchen.  Their house was less than ten years old.  Jokingly I asked my parents if they thought Adam and I could recycle their cabinets and install them at our house.  They thought it was a great idea. 

For those of you that don't know, I spent a few years working in a showroom designing kitchens for track homes and my dad has been in the kitchen cabinet business for 30 years.  So, we knew we could make this work.  We had a team of guys gently remove the cabinets from my parents and move them to our house.  Lucky for us, my parents have nice taste and the cabinets are solid cherry wood.  After ten years they only looked better than the did when they were first put in their home.

We needed to gut the entire kitchen.  Adam started section by section and we stored the cabinets on our screened in porch.  When we had a little bit of money we would do a little bit of work and we saved to buy a new dishwasher {Adam's first ever} and fridge.  My parents donated their Wolf range.  That was incredible.

Adam did all the work and it took him roughly a year.  I love how it turned out.

I don't have pictures from the very beginning on this computer but I do have some during the work...

We lived with the kitchen like this for MONTHS...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 BEFORE:

AFTER:

 Little Details.  I love my utensil holder from Crate & Barrel.  I had to find a way to use that two tier server because it wouldn't fit in any cabinets.   Don't you love my picture frame with no picture in it?

 My cookbooks and pitchers.

 This picture is from the doorway that leads to the living room.  Our countertops are Corian.  I believe the color is Black Quartz. It has a little white speck in it.

 Standing in front of the refrigerator.  The white door leads out to our laundry/mud room.  It used to be a screened in porch but we needed somewhere for the washer/dryer so Adam closed it in.  I think I want a new solid wood door for there.  It is so unlike me to have artificial flowers BUT I love the swag above that door.

 Our ceiling is bead board.  All the walls and ceilings in our house are plaster. The kitchen ceiling was in  bad shape so Adam put this up.  We go back and forth on whether or not to paint it white.  It's staying like this for now.  The floor is just ceramic tile. Eventually we are going to re do all the hardwoods in the house and at that time we will do wood in the kitchen .  We got the tile for like $.73 a tile and we did the work ourselves.  Warning: Tile work IS a marriage tester. Haha.

This is our gas range. It spits fire when it ignites. It also is not self cleaning so well, that's a nightmare.  I do have to say it cooks everything really fast so I can't complain.  I love the big gas burners and {don't know if you can see} there is a griddle in the middle.  You just lift up the top and remove it and you can cook great stuff on there.  Our favorite things include steak hibachi and breakfast!

 This is when we have the island in the kitchen. We bought the island at Crate & Barrel. It is great for extra storage and the side closest to the dishwasher folds up and we have two black counter stools we use to sit at.  Aidan eats his breakfast and lunch at the island {we all eat dinner in the dining room}.  I love the butcher block top.  I always keep the island in the kitchen unless we are having a lot of people over to entertain. In that case, I move it somewhere and set up a bar on the top.  Right now it's on casters but it came with bun feet as well.

 This is looking in the kitchen from our playroom/guest room. Adam also did the black subway tile back splash.  You can barely see the rope strip that runs through it in this picture but it is beautiful.   We literally have been without overhead lighting in this room for a year now.   I was cooking either in the day light or byt the light from the under cabinet lighting. Once in a while Adam was able to rig up the overhead light so it would work.  I FINALLY found a new track lighting system I could deal with {they are so ugly} and it wasn't astronomically priced so Adam installed it last week and I am in love and I can see.

 You would never know these cabinets were in someone else's house for ten years.  I made my rooster drapes myself. They are no sew.  The kitchen is pretty small but it does the job for us.   In a perfect world I would have some more storage space but it's such a change from what it was I am happy.   I still have a few switch plates that need to be screwed in, we have a cabinet without a knob and we need a few pieces of moulding on the sink cabinet but besides that I am so grateful Adam was able to do this for us and I am so grateful for the cabinets from my parents. That saved us so much money.  

 This is our refrigerator.  I am lusting after this Samsung French Door fridge. {If anyone reading has one they love let me know please!} Adam likes it too so maybe I'll get one soon. I store all my platters and crystal in the cabinet above, all my cleaning supplies to the left and that is our pantry on the right.  I had previously been using that basket on top to store DVD's in the playroom and just decided I needed something up there tonight.  It actually still has DVD's in it.

 Our Motto around here "Happy Wife Happy Life". 

 Some more little details. This is my Keurig coffee maker. I love it.  I hated it when I had to buy the individual K cups but then I discovered the filter you can put in it and add any coffee you want. So that's what I do with my Dunkin Doughnuts Hazelnut.   I store my coffee in that glass container and there is a cute scoop in there.  I store my Sweet N Low packets in the sugar jar.  The pumpkin is obviously part of my attempt at Fall decorating.

 This is just the little wall between the two doorways.   Some of you might remember when I hung those plates.  For those of you that don't, you can read all about it here.  They were really inexpensive and it was fun to do.  I wish they were lower but I didn't want Aidan to try and take them off the wall.

Well that's it.  I had more free time than usual to do this post so sorry if it's long. I can't wait to look at kitchens.  I love cute ideas for the kitchen.  Especially window treatments.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Thank You for stopping by!!!  xoxoxo



Show Us Your Life Fridays

It's my favorite time of the week.  Show Us Your Life Friday's at Kelly's Korner.  This week is Dining Rooms.  Let me just for warn you, my dining room is nothing exciting.  As a matter of fact, it's the most neglected area of my house currently.   I have been working on an entire post on my plans for it.  I still wanted to participate in hopes I would get some ideas for my own room.  I can't wait to see what everyone else's Dining Rooms look like. 

This was this exact room last year...

and now it looks like this

It is almost impossible to get a picture straight on in this room because it is kind of small.  I need so much in this room. A new china cabinet/buffet for storage, a rug, window treatments and new art.

Our table is from West Elm and our dining chairs are from Ikea.

This is my Fall Centerpiece.  I have a ton of random candle sticks so I put a bunch together, put a few candles in some, put a few mini pumpkins on others and I painted the white pumpkin tonight in about 15 minutes and added it. 

{I have a tutorial on the white pumpkin coming up in a couple of days. It was so easy.}

Close up of my pumpkin project. I think it turned out so well!

View from the other side of the room. 
The buffet on the left side used to be on the far wall of the dining room. When we removed the wall between the two rooms, I moved it there behind the sofa.

On the wall behind the dining table I have an antique drop leaf table. I do love the picture that everyone signed at our wedding but that has to be moved.  

This is the cabinet I am hoping to get in the coming weeks to add some color to the room.

Crate & Barrel

I just recently bought some burlap to make small pillow covers for the end chairs.

 It is purely coincidental this pillow has an "H" on in. I will most likely stamp a design on the center but I am not sure about our monogram.

 I plan on purchasing some chocolate velvet drapes for the dining room as well. 

I am dying for a new chandelier.  As a matter of fact, Adam just asked me as I was typing this if I wanted to finally buy a new one this weekend!  These are the two that I really like.

Pottery Barn

Crate & Barrel

And this is the rug I like..in black.

I like the idea that it's not a pattern. I didn't want to have to try to hard to match the rug in my living area.

So that's it! It's not that exciting! I have a lot of work to do! Thanks for stopping by anyways and I hope I have made some progress to show you in the upcoming weeks! Happy blogging and TGIF! xoxo



I am also linking up to Show & Tell Friday and Frugal Friday,  

Kelly's Korner-Ideas For Kids

This week for Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner we are swapping activity ideas for kids.   I may take the time to read everyone entries because I am always looking for new things to do with Aidan.   I am probably one of the worst at entertaining my child.  I try my best to incorporate activities for him in to things I have to do around the house.  We also have memberships to everywhere possible for kids to go in the city.  Here is a laundry list of things I do to keep my child busy. 

We have a huge art box.  It's packed with markers, construction paper, kid safe scissors, crayons, finger paint...you name it, it's in there.  When I need to pay bills online or talk on the phone for a few minutes or just need some quiet time.  I sit a few feet from Aidan and take out the art box and let him go to town. 

Water is our best friend. I thought about spending the money on a water table but then I thought I can get just as much use out of a sprinkler.  We let Aidan play with the hose and the sprinkler a lot.  We also will fill up a bucket and let him take a paint brush and "paint" the house.  The brick gets dark and he thinks he is a painter.  He's allowed to spray the cars and anything else he can reach with the hose.  We also have a baby pool.  We spend a lot of time at the splash park.

Side walk chalk. Enough said.

When I am doing laundry, I let him sort clothes with me and we can work on our colors.  He has to say every color out loud.  He gets to press the buttons to start the machine too.  If you saw our pile of laundry, sometimes this takes up 30 minutes of our day.

(For Charlotteans) We frequent Monkey Joe's and Discovery Place and Imaginon.  Monkey Joes' has discounted days and parents are always free.  We have a discounted Discovery Place (children's museum) membership because they were under construction for so long.  Imaginon has free story time and lots for kids to do and it's all free.  There is also a kids movie at AMC Carolina Pavilion at 10am on Tuesday mornings.

I let him participate in cooking as much as possible. He is so curious. I just pull up the kitchen stool and give him little things to do.  If I am doing something he can't help with, I just give him a small mixing bowl with water, a little flour in it and a spoon and he's cookin' away. 

If you are looking for activities that cost a little bit, We have done swim lessons, gym classes, and he is going to an all boys camp at the YMCA this summer.  The Y is great. We try to avoid the pool because it's nuts but their other programs are great.

We take walks and let him burn energy.  We walk on the sidewalk and he runs about 10 feet in front of us.  Adam and I get to catch up on each others day and he gets to run wild.

Our local Parks and Rec department has activities at neighborhood parks that cost $5 and under and are a lot of fun. Most cities do this.   We have done a teddy bear lunch and lots of nature walks.  Lunch is included (the $5).

The hubby has friends that live in the country on lots of land with lots of farm animals and we love to take him there and let him play with the animals.  He gets to ride horses and pick eggs from chickens and chase baby calves. It's great.  I am sure there are farms that let you come and do this for free. It's so educational.

We have a park near our airport at the end of the runway and he loves to go there and see the planes take off and land.  We also drive right to the end of our street and watch the train pass by.  He loves it.

I guess that's about it. I am racking my brain trying to think of things we do to keep him busy and while I feel like we always have something to do I would love more things to do.  I do also love a good rainy day and a Disney movie on the couch.

Look forward to reading the other entries to get ideas.

Happy Friday to you all! xoxo