Dracula

A few weeks ago, Adam took our Fall decorations and Halloween decorations out of the attic for me.  Among these things is a mini stuffed Dracula that talks when approached.  Aidan was terrified of this guy last year!  This year I was determined to get it through his head that Dracula wasn't real. That he is just a stuffed vampire that talks because he has batteries in his bum.

Well it worked and he's no longer scared.  As a matter of fact, he wants to hang out with Dracula all the time.  Last night, he tucked Dracula in to bed in the playroom.  I mean there have to be kids weirder than mine out there. Right?  He even asked to have his picture taken with him the other day.  Of course I obliged.

Loving This Salad

I know I haven't told you girls, but I started Weight Watchers three weeks ago. I have already lost 10 lbs. I am pretty proud of myself but I don't want to talk about it too much because that's usually when I stop doing it.  My goal is to loose at least 35lbs by Christmas. I don't know if that's even possible with Thanksgiving in between now and then but pray for me, I want to loose this weight.  After Christmas I plan to keep on loosing I just want to set small goals.

I have been making this salad at home and it's sooo good I wanted to do a post about it.  It's a big deal to make something I love because I am so picky and I hate my own cooking.  This was a big accomplishment for me to make something I want to eat all the time! Haha. 

My Little Salad Recipe:

Spring Mix ( I buy the stuff you scoop yourself but they sell it in plastic containers and that's really good too) as much or as little as you  like. 
1/2 Pear, sliced
1/3 c Craisins
1/4 c Blue Cheese Crumbles
2 Tbs. Maple Grove Farms Fat Free Poppy seed Dressing
Weight Watchers Points=7

I promise you it is absolutely delish!

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



Design Daydreams

There is a whole new meaning to "Design Daydreams" around here.  Now, instead if making a "shopping list" of things I want to buy for my home I am now literally daydreaming about those things.   Ever since we removed the wall between our living room and dining room I feel as if my house is a wreck.   There are so many things left to get done before the holidays.  For no reason other than, I want  room(s) to look especially good in Christmas pictures???  I don't know the reason so I'm asking myself.

When I was in design school there were two cardinal rules. One being never call a sofa a couch. It's a sofa.  Second.  Never hang your TV above your fireplace.  Well ladies, what fun are rules if they can't be broken and even more, what choice do I have, it won't fit anywhere else! Ha.  A lot of things would be able to take place if I could just get the guy over here to hang my TV.  Which brings us to our latest marital debate...the swivel mount.   You don't even want to know.

I thought about doing candle sconces on the side of the TV and then I really thought that would probably not be a great idea.  I have decided on topiary's.  Like these.  18" tall.  Ballard Designs.   I will probably do some candles low.  You know I love my candles. Ha ha.

This would be perfect above the TV. If there is any room left up there.  Also Ballard Designs.

There is also this huge red cabinet I have now gone to purchase twice and haven't been able to do it.  Like I am afraid I will have buyers remorse.  I now know for sure that I want it and it is for sure not in my budget this month. Go figure.  One day you will be mine Rojo Cabinet from Crate and Barrel.  One day very soon.  Even if I don't eat for two months.  This would go on the far wall of the dining room.

I am going to buy another (yes we have one in the playroom) jute rug from Ikea for the dining room. I love them.

Window Treatments I need you bad.  I took the old ones down and gave them away.  Since then, I have tried to find the perfect fabric to make my own and have found nothing. 

I love the look of these chocolate brown velvet drapes.  I may go with the Sanela drape from Ikea.  They are a nice weight and at $50 a pair for the 98" length, it's a no brainer.

I've got to tell you, I am little bit bored with all the family photos we have hanging up.  Visiting my parents does not help because they have beautiful artwork everywhere in their home. The one reason I am hoping their house sells is so that I can acquire some art. A condo just wouldn't be big enough for it all.  I recently bought a painting off of Craig's List of a barn. I love it but it needs a new frame.   So we are in the market for some new things to hang on our walls.  I will be keeping a few things we had, and still using some family photos but I have been looking at these (again Ikea, I don't know what the deal is).

This is a new poster they are carrying and I love it. If I could catch a framing sale at Hobby Lobby or Michael's this could be really nice.  Adam hates it.

I love this painting. Don't ask me why because I don't have an answer.  I think the frame sucks but again, a small problem.

I finally got my Nana's wing back chair to my house. Now I just have to pick out a fabric and make the slipcover.  We all love the chair. I sit in it everyday and blog.  It makes me miss her so much but so happy at the same time.  I hope it turns out a little but like this. This slipcover was purchased. Mine will be hand made! Scary. I may have Adam cut the two front legs down and put small casters on it.

via Our Suburban Cottage

Our White Ikea Chairs are pretty but they need a little something.  I am going to make some pillow covers with burlap and stamp bumbles bees on them.  Or maybe an H.  But once again, I burnt on the monogram.  Much smaller than these.

via Greige design.

The dresser where the TV is now we will keep in the same place and I am going to hang the mirror that prior to now, hung above the fireplace.  I have a half dozen buffet lamps in my attic and I will probably paint  a set and put them on that table .  Maybe that is where the permanent home will be for the bird house I bought at the yard sale. 

I want to move the sofa in to a new configuration but I don't know how I would like for it to look.  Did I tell you I bought these pillow covers?  Pottery Barn of course.

So that's where I am right now with the living room.  It's such a work in progress. Sometimes I start to let it stress me out and then I just have to remember how much I love doing this kind of stuff. Even though I can't buy it all at once, when it's done, it will be gorgeous.  Hopefully. xoxoxox

I Made Her Day

When Adam and I were in Boston, my mom lost the center stone in her wedding ring.  She was DEVASTATED!!!  She still had the same diamond that my Dad proposed to her with.  So she was being very sentimental which is completely understandable. 

The entire family was down in the dumps for her. Since she had been staying here at our house with Aidan while we were gone, Adam and I scoured the house looking for it and I even kept from vacuuming for days in hopes I wouldn't suck it up.  You know just in case.

Well the weeks have passed and we had all pretty much given up hope of ever finding it.  Tonight, my mom was at her accounting class and I called my Dad to ask if Aidan could hang with him while I ran to get my self a veggie sub.  For those of you that don't know they live 7 blocks away so this is typical.  I picked up the sub and then grabbed Aidan from my parents and as I was stepping off the breeze way on to their walkway to head to the driveway, I looked down and there she was!!  The light hit it just perfect. I knew the second I saw that glimmer exactly what it was.  I bent down and dug it out of the crack between two pavers.  My eyes immediately filled with tears. I can't tell you how many times I have prayed I would be the one to find this diamond for her.  Adam has done the same.  She is such an wonderful mom, you just want to be able to make her smile.

I craddled it in my hand and ran inside to show my Dad.  He proceeded to tell me that I found it because "Good things happen to good people" which made me feel amazing and of course I was thinking the same thing about my mom.  If anyone ever deserved to find something they loved and lost, it's her. 

So long story short, I waited around for her to get home from school and handed her, her precious gem.  She was so grateful.  Like I had placed it there and then found it.  It felt so good to do a little something for her for once.  I'm pretty sure I made her day.

I am linking up here.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my very, very handsome husband.  Today he is 29.  His one wish for this birthday was for me to turn off my computer and my phone and just spend the day with him.  So, have a wonderful Sunday all of you. I will be knee deep in cake batter and lovin' on my ole' man for the day.   Adam Harvey,I love you.  All 29 years of you. I am so blessed to be the woman who gets to spend every birthday with you from now until eternity.   Happy Happy Birthday Sweetheart. 

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,