Sometimes Simple

Covering an Old Window

2011-12-30T18:16:00.001-08:00

One of the many joys of buying an older home is finding out where the original house ended and additions began. In our house, inefficient, oddly placed windows were the tell-tale sign. Until last spring, we had a window in one of our bathrooms that looked directly into the laundry room. And while this was very convenient when I wanted to watch my kids bath while I did laundry, it left a lot to be desired when someone had to actually use the toilet! This year, we turned that window into an adorable little wall niche in the bathroom. I'm still thrilled about it and our new found privacy!

The second window we decided to address was the window in our basement kitchen (yes, we have 2 kitchens) that looks into the children's outdoor toy storage/garage. Last year, we replaced all the windows in our home with new energy efficient windows except this window. Best $10K we ever spent on this house! Why replace a window that we would rater just get rid of, right?
In this picture, we are removing all the flooring in the basement to replace it with laminate flooring. But, you can see the window that looks out into our toy storage room/garage/garage door. It was just ugly. Okay, so the entire space is awful in this picture. Doesn't it always look worse before it gets better?

Since funds were pretty low (like non-existant) after repairing all the water damage this year, we had to get creative. First, Carl patched the window with extra plywood we had from an old daybed. Between the plywood sheets, he added insulation and Great Stuff for insullation.
After putting in the plywood, we realized how dark the room looked. The kitchen is in the basement, after all. We agreed that adding a mirror to this space would look great. But, having a mirror cut could be expensive. A look at craigslist and our local second-hand stores didn't yield anything in our price range either. So, we began looking through all our junk and spied this!

We were no longer using the hutch portion of this dresser and decided to store it. The mirror was a perfect fit for the space. So, Carl popped out the mirror, glued it into the space and added some moulding to secure it in and to look nice. Here's how it turned out.

I painted the tile backsplash white. Yes, i painted the ceramic tile. I'm not that concerned because we never use this kitchen. I decided not to paint the cabinets (for now) because they are in excellent original condition. These cabinets are original to the house. So, they are approximately 50 years old. They have a very mid-century feel which works well with the rest of our theme in the room. They polished up beautifully too! Honestly, I hate the light fixture globes, but Carl loves them and they match the family room rug, so they will stay. I added some lime green accessories like towels, rug and a clock to tie the color scheme into the adjacent room.

As I mentioned before, I never style pictures because I just don't have the time/desire. This is how it looks every day (we don't use this kitchen much). I always keep a cutting board out (because I am obsessed with cutting boards!) and the dogs messed up the carpet. Oh, and I usually walk around the house in a red apron and my hair a mess. We are beyond pleased with this project. Now, we can spend time in our family room kitchen without viewing the old, ugly and inefficient window. This old house is slowly becoming one that reflects our family.

And We're Done-Bedroom Complete!

2011-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Both the roof and the basement have dried out and been repaired. Since the last update, the small roof over our garage has been completely replaced and we've had a french drain and sump pump in the master bedroom. Finally, we were able to move onto fixing the flooring situation in room.

About 18 months ago, we ripped out the old nasty carpet and installed laminate flooring throughout the entire bottom floor of our house (summer kitchen, family room, hallway and our bedroom).

Our bedroom, pictured above was the last room to get the laminate flooring. It doesn't usually look this bad. This is the middle of a construction zone.

We finally got the laminate floor in and... I hated it. In the pictures, it doesn't look bad. However, I just didn't love it for my bedroom. It reminded me that this room wasn't supposed to be a bedroom, it was supposed to be a bonus room or family room. And because I didn't love it, I didn't blog about it. I didn't spend much time in it either.

When we had the french drain installed, Hubby and I had to remove the damaged laminate floor. After two weeks of walking around on cold, gross concrete floors, I was ready to start pricing carpet. I knew what I liked, and I knew my budget ($500-$600), but the two didn't agree with one another. Isn't that always the way?

We have a large dog who's nails snag, so I knew Berber wasn't an ideal option. We have Berber carpet throughout much of the house and I am always trimming the snags. I like the new shag carpeting, but it turns out it's not in my budget. I looked into installing carpet tiles, but the mixed reviews scared me away. That, and it wasn't really that much cheaper.

The one thing I did know is that I wanted a brownish tan carpet with no pink undertones. Pink undertones with our yellow and green room just doesn't look great.

I got three estimates on carpets and found one that I liked the best for the least price. It is a brown plush/shaggy style in browns. I even managed to get it installed for under $600.00, $589.00 to be exact!

Two weeks later, out carpet was installed and I am in love! I love the soft cushy feeling under my feet!

Here's some pictures below of the room with new carpet. You won't find perfectly styled rooms on this blog. I have a bit of an aversion to knick knacks, and prefer items have functionality. This is why my bookshelves contain books that are read very regularly. I like a styled bookcase as much as the next person, but it's just not going to happen in our house.

This room is a blend of old and new. The dressers and night stands belonged to my parents and are at least 50 years old. The bed came from my grandmother. The lamps and picture are all Goodwill finds. We painted over the old paneling. We even reused some of the old laminate flooring in front of the door. Since the windows have ledges under them, curtain lengths had to be customized. Floor to ceiling curtains, unfortunately, just could not work. I make the curtains using discounted fabric and stitch witchery. The new items in the room include bed linens, door, windows and window treatment fabric.

Finally, I can relax in our bedroom.

That 1%

2011-10-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged many projects in a few months because we've been working on boring house maintenance and repair work. But, thinking back, that's an interesting and important topic to write about as well, so here goes.

The mid-Atlantic area has been hit with rain, rain and more rain for the last few months. Everywhere we look housing are experiencing major flood damage. Unfortunately, we own one of those houses. The situation is so bad that when we called to get someone in to look at our flooding problem, we had to wait, get this, a month just to get someone out. And that's if I received a call back at all! On the positive side, we had time to save our $$ to pay for the repair.

We actually had two major problems.

Using an old picture, I've illustrated the areas damaged by water. I'm being generous. The circled items are just where the damage originates. We have way more damage than just in the circled areas.

Problem #1: First up is the small roof above the garage. You'll notice that the back of the house has no gutters (why, I don't know). Because of this, water was falling off the deck roof directly onto the roof below. Water was trapped inside this roof causing all the wood to rot inside. This was not evident without removing the XXX. I discovered the damage when a sheet of wood fell inside the shed because the structure holding it in rotted. Goody. Ironically, the shingles had no damage.

So, we needed to replace this entire roofing structure. Despite being a repair cost of at least $1,000.00, this project was actually too small for most roofing companies to bid. These guys are so busy, they are turning work away! We got a total of 2 bids. One was more than double than the other. We selected the lower priced option because this company actually provided a solutions to the problem in addition to replacing the roof. They will be installing a gutter system above the deck. This will be done this week!

Problem #2: This addition in the back of our house contains our master bedroom and laundry room. Every single time it rains, both rooms are flooded. The water originates from the corner I've circled. I should mention we just put in new flooring in our master bedroom less than 1 year ago and now it's ruined. After months and months, we finally had a professional in to assess the situation. Turns out that 99% of houses like ours (a raised ranch/bi-level, split foyer) do not need a sump pump. Looks like we're that 1%. We felt so special. The solution is to install a french drain that leads into a sump pump in this back addition. This too will be done this week.

So, looks like these projects will be done soon, and I can work on (and blog about!) fun projects. I can't wait!

Herbs Take 2

2011-07-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned a time or three that I love our herb garden. Herbs are not only pretty, but they also are edible!

Sometimes, the herbs in our garden grow a little more than I anticipate. Last week, my mother asked me when I was going to weed my garden. I had already weeded, but the herbs began to encroach onto the sidewalk and look kind of, well, weedy.
I promise, these are herbs-chives to be exact!

I occasionally give herbs away, but I find that a lot of people do not really want them. And we have more of some herbs that we will every need, so I just trim them back. I hate tossing the clippings in our compost pile; it seems such a waste. So, I decided to start using them in vases in our home.

Currently, we have a glut of oregano. This plant has a beautiful little white flower and has that wonderful oregano smell. So, I cut oregano until I found the sidewalk again, washed the plant well (because they attract all kinds of bugs!) and threw them into a kicky little lime green vase.
I didn't add water because I figured the oregano could dry on our table and I could just pull off little leaves as we need them when cooking. How's that for practical decorating?

Blackberry Jelly Time!

2011-07-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

As a child, I remember walking down our long rocky driveway on hot summer days and picking blackberries with my sister. Sometimes we'd eat them, occasionally, we'd bring a basket of fruit home with us, but most of the times, we had blackberry fights. Now, I'm mortified not only for the stains, but the total waste of food. Oh well. The memories were good. I wanted my children to have similar memories. So, my husband planted 6 berry bushes along our back fence. Now, each summer, we are rewarded with raspberries and blackberries. The blackberries really are the star of the show. They are huge-sometimes over 2" long, super sweet and plentiful.

Now, my children walk to the back of our little yard and pick berries.
Often they just pop them into their mouths (yes, before washing them). When they notice that there are a lot of ripe berries, they run inside, grab a bowl and start collecting them. They even recruit me to help. Since we are all different heights, we are good at finding all the ripe berries!

We picked these yesterday. This bowl made about 4 cups of crushed blackberries.

After the berries are collected, we bring them inside, wash them and make freezer jam. I think this is their favorite part!

There's just something about picking something that you grew and turning it into something for your family to eat. I hope my kids think back fondly on these activities one day. I know I already do.

Simple. Ha!

2011-07-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I noticed that one of the fluorescent bulbs in one of our kitchen light fixture was dim. So, I decided to replace the bulb. However, changing the bulb didn't do the trick.
This isn't the light, but it's what the light looked like. This picture is from our downstairs kitchen. Same light, different location, both ugly. You get the point.

Now I had a decision. I could:

A. Try to fix the old, ugly florescent light box, or

B. Go buy a new one already

After consulting with the husband who apparently hated the light fixture (who knew?), I drove on over to Lowe's to check out new light fixtures. I had a few criteria in mind when shopping.

Not the light box florescent type of light

No pendent lights. This fixture will be directly over the kitchen sink/counter where we stand frequently. I am tall (6'0) + we have ceilings that are not high. Consequently, pendent lights, if they don't hit my head are just uncomfortable hovering just over it.

We'd like a darker color such as black or oil rubbed bronze to match out other light fixtures (but I wasn't afraid to paint if I found something

Inexpensive-as in under $50.00

Both hubby and I had to like it

I quickly found a much more updated, non florescent light box type fixture for $40.00. It was the last one in stock and it was originally $59.00, so I snagged it.

This isn't the exact fixture, but it looks similar. See it fit all my criteria!

I was excited when I arrived home, so I wanted to install the new light right away. I turned off the electric (always a good idea!) and went to work removing the light fixture. Imagine my delight to find not one , not two, but THREE holes hidden under that box. Only one of the holes was needed for the electrical wiring. The other two were just delightful little surprises. Since the new fixture wouldn't cover the holes, I now realize that I have to patch the ceiling.

Which means...

I have to now patch and paint the ceiling. Ugh. I hate painting a ceiling. Furthermore, I am incapable of painting a ceiling without getting little splatters all over the walls. So, I'll also have to touch up (at a minimum) the walls and pray that the colors still match. This simple little fix was turning into a total room makeover.

After a minor attitude adjustment, I realized this was not a problem, but an opportunity to tweak a kitchen that I have never, ever been able to get quite right. This kitchen has been 4 colors in the last 6 years. The rooms has been cream, colonial blue, yellow-green and light gray-green. After reading tons of blogs and advice online, I *think* my problem is that I was using muddy colors next to my gray counters, white trim (originally stained) and white/black tile. The result was a bit gloomy

First things first, I had to start at the top, err the ceiling that is. I patched the holes. I just crumbled up some paper, stuffed it into the holes and covered it with mud-a neat little trick my father taught me when I was 16 years old! And what do you know, it covered pretty well! A little sanding later and I was ready for to paint the ceiling. Finally, 3 days after trying to fix the original light, my lovely husband hung the new light fixture!

When we flipped the switch to the light, we were astounded at how bright our kitchen became. Hubby suggested we get lower wattage bulbs and I agree... when these burn out that. We really like the new track light fixture. It does a lot to update our outdated space for very little $$.

Next stop, painting the walls because I splattered ceiling paint on them. Fingers crossed, new paint will help brighten up our kitchen even more!

Oops! Paint, I LOVE YOU!

2011-06-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

I always have good intentions to finish one project before I start yet another. Yet, sometimes I just cannot pass up a deal. Then, I get so excited by said deal that I have to start the new project as soon as I get home.

Case in point, last weekend, while buying crack sealer at Lowe's, I happened upon the Oops paint section. I have no clue how I ended up in this section, but I did. Imagine my delight when I found a lovely aqua paint in my favorite brand-Valspar Ultra Premium in semi-gloss. It was the exact color I wanted to paint my daughter's dresser. And it was only $5.00.

Here's the dresser before.

My mother found this dresser (along with a matching vanity and night stand) at an estate sale for around $125.00. She didn't notice that it was pretty stained up until after she bought it and loaded it onto the truck. That was no big deal. The bedroom set was in fantastic shape otherwise.

Finally, 10 months later, I stumble upon the aqua paint. And the next day, I painted the entire set. Here's the after.
I left the handles as is because the mirror and headboard match and I was undecided on which way to go. I love how it turned out.

This was by far the easiest piece of furniture I have ever painted. I just sanded it, primed and painted it with two coats and used a roller. That's it. Now, I just have to finish decorating my daughter's room. I'm so close now, I can just see it!

Linking up!

New Neighbors

2011-06-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, we had a new family move into the house across the street. As soon as I saw the For Sale sign come down, I prayed that a nice family with kids would move in. We have a lot of older neighbors, and wanted a family like ours to join the neighborhood. Well, the good Lord heard my prayers and I spied a lovely family with two young children bringing in moving boxes.

I wanted to go over there and introduce myself right away, but for some reason I hesitated. I'm not particularly shy, so why hesitate? I am embarrassed to admit that I am often paint covered and filthy from working in the yard.
See, this is just my hand from our playhouse project a few weeks ago.

While doing yard work, my kids often join in and are equally filthy. Okay, they are just plain gross. Even I can't deny that!

I have yet to meet a new neighbor for the first time when I wasn't gardening. True story, my husband unexpectedly arrived home one day from his year long deployment overseas only to find me knee deep in our compost pile. That's right, not only was I covered in dirt, but rotting food too. I can't believe he didn't run away terrified. But at least he's seen me dirt free where as the new neighbors have not. I did not want the neighbors to think that my family was the filthy stinky one.

Finally, I realized that being stinky is not nearly as bad as unfriendly. And if I wait until the kids and I are clean and they're home, we'll never meet. So, one day after my run (because at least I wasn't actually covered in mud), I noticed they were home. I grabbed some freshly baked banana bread and walked up to their house. I let the kids ring the door bell so I could stand back a little (so the smell didn't hit them right away).

Thankfully, the new neighbors were too polite to say anything about my less than lovely appearance and welcomed me into their home. The family is a wonderful family with two small children, just as I hoped for. I cannot wait to get to know them better!

What I've been Working On

2011-06-19T17:06:00.001-07:00

What exactly is this? This is a hot mess that's what!To be more specific, this is an old dresser that is part of a bedroom set belonging to my mother (additional pieces include a vanity and headboard in equally bad shape). Unfortunately, my mother had to put this little dresser, who once upon wasn't such a mess, into storage. Even more unfortunate is that her storage unit flooded ruining majority of her furniture. It was awful to see beautiful wood furniture warped and pealing beyond repair. Many of the items held sentimental value to her. This dresser was one of those items that had more sentimental value than monetary value. While old, it was made from cheap pine and laminate. Fortunately, the water damage, while bad, wasn't impossible (for me) to repair. None of the wood was warped, but the laminate was pealing. This I could work with!

So, I've been working on this dresser and the matching vanity for the last two months. Yes, I am that slow. I've been peeling, stripping, patching and sanding these pieces over and over and over again. I'm not going to lie, this project hasn't been easy. And had it just been for me, I would have just scrapped the thing. But I'm working on this for my mom. Hopefully, when she sells her current home, she can find a place in her new home to fit her precious family antiques.

Here's a sneak peak of the project so far. I think this shabby chic paint job is kind of interesting, but I know my mother would hate it, so this is an in-between peak. More to come!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

To my wonderful, husband, have a happy, fun-filled Father's Day. We love you!

As is typical, I waited until the absolute last minute to worry about a Father's Day present that shows how much we love and appreciate my husband. And by last minute, I meant Father's Day morning at 6:30 am.

After casually asking what he would like for breakfast (at 6:00am), I headed out to the grocery store to pick up his request item-cereal. Yup, I can and was willing to make whatever he wanted for breakfast, but he wanted cereal. So, I sneaked out this morning and bought his favorite cereal-Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I even splurged on the name brand! To round out the order (and because I haven't been to the grocery store since we returned home from vacation), I also added

1 dozen collousal-sized donuts (it really was cheaper by the dozen) freshly baked
1 bunch of bananas
OJ
Fresh Milk
Freshly ground coffee
1 bunch of assorted flowers

Then, I quickly scribbled a card together and added it to the table of food. I think he enjoyed his carb feast!

Goodwill Finds!

2011-06-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

I often browse at our local Goodwill, but rarely buy anything. I'm pretty picky what comes into our house and I rarely buy anything I wasn't looking for already. For example, I am currently looking for
1. Picture for our bedroom
2. A few lamps for various rooms in our house
3. Butcher block table top

Imagine my delight when I walked into Goodwill and found this delightful little oil painting that matched the colors in our bedroom perfectly! It's signed and dated 1983!
It's a bit brighter in person which I really like. Our room is a bit dark and had a lot of hand-me-down 70s furniture. The picture matches the style of the bedroom perfectly! I paid $8.00 for the oil painting.
Next, I found this lovely floor lamp with a fantastic milk glass shade. I love milk glass and buy milk glass serving bowls for daily use for serving food and displaying in our kitchen. The base is also pretty heavy in comparison to many of the floor lamps I find in thrift stores(or regular stores for that matter!). I paid $15.00 which is what our Goodwill charges for all floor lamps

This lamp is perfect for our bedroom as it provides a light source for us as soon as we enter into our room (there are no light switches).

And finally, I found this adorable little desk lamp. I've got a few ideas on where to use it, but for now, I'm still undecided.
I paid $4.00 for this little beauty.

Notice that my lamps were antiqued gold? I am so glad this color metal is coming back. While I like the chrome/pewter look that we've all seen in the last trend, it matched nothing I owned (unless you include our faucets). Yeah for old becoming new again!

The Playhouse Part 6: The Budget

2011-06-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

Like all home projects, we set a budget for the playhouse project. I set the budget at $300.00 Sounds kind of expensive, doesn't it? I thought so, but dang, good quality exterior paint is expensive (and worth the extra $$ IMO).

So, here's the cost breakdown (rounded)

Exterior
Paint $74.00
Plants/Potting Soil: $66.00
Planters $25.00
Trellis $12.00
Furniture $28.00
Mulch: Free
Total Cost (Exterior ONLY) = $205.00

Interior
Primer $50.00
Exterior Paint $52.00
Deck Stain FREE (previously on hand)
Curtain Rods $3.00
Furniture: Free-(previously owned)
Accessories: Free-(previously owned)

Total Cost (Interior ONLY)= $105.00

Total Cost of BOTH Exterior + Interior =$310.00

One of the reasons it's taking us so long to update our lovely home is that we are slowly saving for all repairs and paying in cash (or check as is usually the case). Since we were already over budget by $10.00, we decided that the extra little touches like trim mouldings (or gingerbread), hooks and mailbox could just wait. The kids don't miss them, so why should I. Rest assured, as soon as we update the playhouse, I'll provide a new after picture.

Exterior Cost $205.00. Interior Cost $105.00. Years of fun and play for the kids, priceless.

The Playhouse Part 5: Painting and Decorating the Interior

2011-06-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Mr. A and Miss J.
You are invited to tea in The Playhouse.
Tea, strawberries and sweets to be served.
Come one, come all, come NOW!

Located at
The Playhouse
1443A Whitington Avenue
Xwwwww, XX, 55555
(Conveniently located in the backyard)

Hope to see you there!

This is the invitation the kids found stuck to the front door after lunch on Saturday. They cautiously made their way to our backyard. After a minute or two of looking around, they found the place!
Cautiously opening the doors, the kids found a delightful surprise-their very own playhouse! Come on in and have a look! As a reminder, this is what we started with.

And here's the surprise that awaited the kids when they opened the doors!
Green tea, strawberries and black bean brownies, oh, my!

Storage shelf with helmets, their adored pillow pets and plenty of space to add their own little decorating touches (which they already started to fill).
Outdoor toy box that doubles as extra seating. Favorite stuffed animals, Teddy and Sprinkle joined the tea party too!

The kids enjoy their afternoon tea. They were so excited, they didn't even eat the brownies!
Miss J takes it outside to enjoy a quiet cup of tea on their "patio".

Now, the kids are begging to take every meal out in their new clubhouse (their term) and to sleep there overnight. Too bad my less than youthful back refuses that treat. From the hours of silence hubby and I now have in the house, I'd say this project was a great success.

The Playhouse Part 4: Painting and Landscaping the Exterior

2011-06-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I decided to paint the exterior of the playhouse, the heat climbed to over 90 degrees. It's a good thing I love heat! After slathering on a ton of sunblock (because I burn and worry about wrinkles), and donning my painting cap, I tackled the exterior painting. My poor hubby isn't as heat tolerant, but still stepped up to help with the painting-thanks, Honey!

Two gallons of yellow and 1 pint of green paint later, and the exterior painting was done! I used the Valspar Duramax Semi-Gloss paint color matched to our house (called adobe cream by the siding manufacturer). Great paint. It was pretty expensive @ $37.99/gallon, but I understand it's excellent paint and we shouldn't have to repaint next year. While I was at it, I decided to finish the landscaping too.

Welcome to the new playhouse!
We added a hook and hanging basket on the right hand side of the doors and two barrels of flowers on either side of the doors. We wanted to be cautious of planting anything on either side of the doors just in case someone swung the doors a little too wide. We also added the address "1443A" above the doors.

On the right side of the house (side closest to our home), we turned the worm bin/yard compost into a vegetable garden. This little box contains 3 types of tomatoes and 2 types of peppers. I wanted to plant strawberries, but they are going out of season. Strawberries as also much more expensive then the vegetables plants! Having a garden for our kids is very important to us. We want them to see first hand where produce is grown. I have fond memories of picking fruit in the summer as a child and want my kids to have similar memories.

Directly next to the vegetable garden box is a little place to rest. We added two little green lounge chairs for relaxing and a metal and mosaic table for drinks. Behind the chairs, we added a trellis and a clematis plant. The clematis is still pretty small. Hopefully, it'll grow, grow grow this summer and be nice and full by summer's end. The trashcan next to the chairs is actually our potato experiment. We're growing potatoes in that can! And behind that bin is still our compost bin. This bin will stay since it's the only place in our yard that's appropriate (aka far enough from the house) for a compost bin.
On the left side of the playhouse, are the raspberry, blackberry and kiwi bushes. We just love going out to the yard and picking a few berries to sample! Don't you love the old clothes line pole? We only have one (left from the previous owners) and love using it for climbing plants. I think it's charming! You can also see one of the two windows here. I love the little green shutters. They are such a great little accent! The kids and I mulched the entire area from playhouse to fence for ease of access. My son is, at this very moment, planting sunflower seed along the edge of the house here. I cannot wait to see them grow!

We're still looking for running trim (or fretwork, or gingerbread) to go along the roof edge, but it's pretty tough to find. I also don't want to pay $60+ for a 4' section. It's only a playhouse for goodness sakes! I also want to add a small mailbox. I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for just yet. I'll find it eventually, I'm sure.

This run down little shed has come a long way, don't you think?

Next week, I'll share the interior and how we surprised the kids (who had no idea we were turning the shed into a playhouse). The interior, in my humble opinion is the best part of this makeover!

LINKING UP!

The Playhouse Part 3: Painting the Interior

2011-05-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

While hubby slaved away at repairing a few exterior boards, I worked on the interior of the playhouse. This involved painting, painting and more painting. Yup, this little shed needed to be primed and painted from top to bottom. And while I enjoy painting, I don't love to paint ceilings in 90 degree weather. Actually, I don't love painting ceilings in the best of conditions.
Our first step was to head to Lowe's where we bought a cart full of paint.

2 gallons of exterior primer (Valspar)

1 gallons of exterior paint in a lovely sky blue (Valspar)

1 gallons of exterior paint in white (Olympic)

1 pint of green paint for trim and door (Valspar)

1 gallon of exterior paint in pale yellow (Duramex Valspar)

4 rollers to apply the paint designed for exterior surfaces

Yes, that's six cans of paint! Luckily, there was a sale on Valspar paint ($10 discount for every $50 spent). Total cost was around $130.00. I can already see that this little project is going to not be cheap!

After thoroughly checking for interior damage, and finding none, I primed the interior of the shed.
Two evenings and about a gallon and a half of primer and I was done. This primer was very good and went on beautifully. I'm glad I finished this before before the weather hit 90 degrees. I love how much brighter the interior of the shed now looks.

Next, I painted the ceiling a lovely shad of light blue. Between the good primer and the regular flat exterior primer by Valspar, I only needed one coat of each and the ceiling was good to go. Can you tell I'm a fan of Valspar?

Note to self, do not do an arm workout the evening before you plan to paint a ceiling.

Then I moved onto the walls. I wanted to keep the light airy feeling, so I painted the walls white. Unfortunately, I had to paint two coats of white over the primer. I don't know why I bought Olympic paint, but I bet that if I had bought Valspar, I would have only needed one coat. What I do love is that I can still see the wood grain through the primer and paint.

Finally, I removed the drop cloth (which didn't seem to help at all) and decided I might as well power on and finish the floors as well. Instead of using the green as I had planned, I grabbed some leftover deck stain from our deck project last year. Yeah, it's bright red, but perfect for a playhouse! It's a Behr brand that worked very well (I also like Behr paint, but Lowe's is about 5 miles closer to our house, so I use Valspar more often).

After one quick coat of deck stain on the floor, this is what I was left with.

I love it! Now, the only thing left to do on the interior is adding furniture and accessorizing. I can't wait to add the little tables, hooks and curtains. Unfortunately, our next step will be painting the exterior. Stay tuned for that!

The Playhouse Part 2: The Glitch

2011-05-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Like every single project I start, the playhouse project also ended up with a glitch making this simple project not so simple (hence my blog title).

Enter the problem: water damaged boards on the exterior. Fortunately, the interior was in perfect shape. No water damage of any kind was evident.The damage looks worse than it actually is. Thank goodness for my wonderful hubby! He stepped into save the day (well, evening since it was after dinner).
For some crazy reason, hubby is wearing safety glasses, but no shoes while operating a saw. I asked him not to do this, but he ignores me. Hubby doesn't enjoy DIY home projects. So, I try very hard not to make suggestions or nag too much when he agrees to do unnecessary household projects.

Hopefully, this will be the only glitch in the playhouse project.

Playhouse Part 1

2011-05-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Despite that we have a to-do list full of home projects, I have ditched all those and started a new one. My husband is almost thrilled. We are turning our old shed into a play house for our kids! The kids are growing up so quickly that I want to get this done for them ASAP! Or maybe I just always wanted a play house of my own and am now living vicariously through my children. Does it really matter? In either case, the kids are getting a playhouse.

Here she is, in all of her glory, the soon-to-be playhouse!
Yeah, it's ugly, but very solid. It reminds me of our house when we first bought it. So, I know it had loads of cute potential! The shed originally housed our tools and yard equipment. However, we have half a garage that is more than big enough to contain these items.

To the right of the shed is a lovely box we use as a yard waste/worm bin. In the picture, you see a bunch of stuff piled up in it because we are cleaning the yard. There are two windows that unfortunately look out into the neighbors' yards. I would have loved to see some of those windows from our yard. And finally to the back of the shed is our compost bin. It'll have to stay here as it's the only place that makes sense for a compost bin in our yard.

The inside of the shed is pretty basic. It's unpainted plywood. Yeah, that's going to be so fun to paint.
As soon as it stops raining, I'm going to start my paint-a-thon of 2011. This puppy will easily take 6 gallons of paint, maybe more. Despite the work ahead, I am so excited. My kids are going to be thrilled. My son even started hinting around how great it would be if we would like the kids play in the shed like it was a little kid's house. I want to keep it a surprise, so I told him that it was for our gardening equipment.

So, what's the plan? I actually have two plans; one for the interior and one for the exterior.
Exterior
*Paint the shed pale yellow to match the house
*Paint the trim yellow and green to match the house
*Add an address sign
*Add landscaping (some strawberry plants, clematis on a trellis and two bushes)
*Add two little chairs and table to lounge around outside

Interior
*Prime ceiling and walls
*Paint ceiling blue, walls white (maybe) and floor green
*Add hooks to hand toys, coats, and bikes
*Bring in table, shelf and toy box (already own)
*Add a lovely little indoor/outdoor rug
*Add some cute curtains

I'll start on the interior first before we really start seeing 90 degree weather. Hopefully, the rain will let up for a few days and my husband and I can get started painting. I'm so excited for the kids, that I doubt I'll lose focus on this project any time soon!

New Doors!

2011-04-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

After scrimping and saving for the last 6 YEARS, we have finally replaced another exterior door. If we're keeping count (and we are), that's two doors down (replaced), only 1 more to go.

This picture makes me cringe. It was taken when we bought the house in 2005. Yup, it was a lovely peachy-pink house with an addition wrapped in white siding. I still cannot believe we bought this house.

The wooden door was old, probably original to whenever the past owners (there has only been one other owner of our home, the builder himself) added this addition to our house (maybe late 70s?). The exterior door was cracked, splintered, peeling and broken. It never closed easily, leading to many escapes by our lovely Miss. Penny Sue.
Isn't she adorable? That's why we forgive her.

Last winter, the storm door glass was shattered in one of our many wind storms last. And that's when we realized how poorly the door insulated us from the VERY cold winter.

So, we called our contractor friend (who also replaced our windows) and placed an order for a new exterior door that would provide both light and privacy. The door leads directly into our master bedroom, so privacy was very important. We had to wait about 6 weeks for our contractor to install, but he's absolutely worth the wait!
You can see that we had vinyl siding installed and added a cute little iron bench. Directly to the left of the door is my beloved herb and rock garden. It appears that a gladiola sneaked into the herb garden as well.
We selected a green door (to match our front door), with a full grid of windows. We also chose to have the glass frosted, again, for privacy reasons. I know I could have found curtains for the door, but I didn't want to have to do this. We selected antique bronze door knob set and door bell also to match our front door. I love consistency in a house. I'm weird like that. It explains why both of our bathrooms have the exact same tile and wainscoting. I digress.

Now we have a pretty door that keeps us warm at night, is solid and not cracked!
I still cannot get over the difference a little door makes!

Happy Easter

2011-04-23T08:48:00.001-07:00

Have a wonderful Easter Day, full of of dyed eggs, marshmallow peeps, chocolate bunnies and most importantly a day full of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Mission Private Bathroom: Complete

2011-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

The bathroom is finished! The bathroom is finished! Well, 95% finished (because nothing is ever 100% complete in this house) and I am so happy with the results. Come on in and take a look!

Here's what I started with when we bought the house 6 years ago. The tub and tile is original to the house (1966). I didn't hate the tile, but it was pretty cracked, so it really had to go. Oh, and did I mention there was no electrical outlet? Where's a girl to plug in her hairdryer?
This is the only before picture I have. It's circa 2007. Turns out, I hate taking pictures of ugly.

Two years ago, we had the tile removed and replaced with a neutral tan tile, new tub, sink and toilet replaced and wainscoting installed. Yes, I hired this job out because my husband was deployed overseas and I didn't feel confident replacing old plumbing. After witnessing all the problems the professionals had, I'm very glad I didn't bother. Gosh I'm getting sick of wainscoting. Probably because I read way too many decorating blogs, but it's going to stay. I originally painted the walls light blue, but never removed the window into our laundry room. Honestly, the bathroom was never completely finished. Until now, that it!

And here it is today.

Our first step was getting the exhaust fan installed. Cost of the exhaust fan was around $115.00. Installation (no, we do not diy electrical anything!) was around $280.00. The electrician was here four hours-2 hours longer than anticipated, so the $280 was very inexpensive for his time!

Quite a nice change from the gaping hole (which I did patch myself thankyouverymuch!).

Step two, was to patch the cracks in the ceilings. The ceilings had been patched a time or two and I knew cutting a hole into the ceiling to install the exhaust fan would cause the cracks to resurface. I was right. Fortunately, only 1 coat of mud and 1 round of sanding did the trick.

Then, I took a hammer and knocked out those shutters leaving us even less privacy. I was hoping this would spur hubby into action. Alas, his school work (yes, I got me a college man) was too much, so I had to wait for our window to be covered.

Yes, that is the view from my bathroom looking into my laundry room/bedroom closet. This room also needs MAJOR work. Let's ignore that for the next year now.

So, I moved onto the fun part, painting. I painted the ceiling (gah!) ceiling white by Olympus. It's a splatter proof brand that we've used it the rest of the house, It's not as white as most ceiling paints I've used in the past. For the walls, I used Valspar's Brooklyn Brownstone paint in a semi-gloss finish. I am in love with Valspar paint. The walls only required two coats of dark brown to cover the light blue. It looks just like chocolate pudding, too! The trim was painted brilliant white (more leftover trim paint) and I didn't touch the wainscoting that was already white.

Finally, hubby stepped in and patched the window. It only took two days of constantly interrupted work, but he finished it. I caulked and painted it in one night because I was so excited to be done.

I'm not sure what I'm going to put in that niche. we're considering a shelf, a monograph or a picture. Putting little ceramic knick knacks isn't the best idea because this bathroom is for my kids , my very active kids. So, I'm leaving the niche blank for now until I come up with a better idea than a vase of flowers.

And for your viewing pleasure, a few more shots of the bathroom.
I used lime green accents to tie it into the adjacent room (the family room).

The ubiquitous Target bird picture. I bought this picture and it's mate from Target several months ago. Turns out, so did everyone else. I've seen it pop up on several decorating blogs in the last month alone! The blue bird picture is currently found in our family room (for now).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to enjoy some private time in my newly decorated bathroom.

You Should Try Herb

2011-04-18T08:19:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite gardens (yes, we have more than 1) is my herb garden. I love to mix the herbs in my rock garden.

Herbs are the easiest plants I have ever grown. I just plant them in small bed next to the foundation of our house and watch them grow-that's it! I always recommend herb gardens to new gardeners looking to plant something edible.

Most years, I plant a variety of chamomile, parsley, sage, oregano, chives, rosemary. I once planted lemon balm and now it will not go away. Never, ever plant anything from the mint family (lemon balm is from the mint family). It's aggressive and invasive. It now grows between every plant and side walk crack in our yard (and likely the neighbors yard). Sure, it makes a nice tea that's good for digestions, but no body's digestion is that bad!

I have often found that my simple little herb garden yields more lemon balm herbs than my family needs. So, I like to pawn it off on my poor unsuspecting friends, neighbors and co-workers. But beware, handing people a baggie of dried herbs may not look so good (or make you the most popular neighbor on the block!). I always dry my herbs using a simple method. I get up in the morning and clip my herbs after the morning dew. Next, I wash and pat dry the herbs and put them on a cookie sheet. I bake them in the oven at a very low temperature (like 200 degrees) until they are dried (usually about 2 hours). I package them in baggies. I really need to find a more legitimate looking container.

Finally, I wanted to share a picture of my lavender row from last year. Lavender is so very pretty. Unfortunately, I have a neighbor who spared the perimeter of his yard with some sort of grass/weed/any living thing killer and every single one of my lavender plants died. I managed one harvest from the plants but couldn't bring myself to use or give them away since I didn't know what my neighbor used to kill the plants. He's a little grouchy, so I avoid asking him anything. And really, he didn't do anything wrong. I still dried them as practise because I do plan to have lavender again, just not in a garden bordering my neighbor's yard.

To dry lavender, I cut them at the height of their blooms, put them in bunches and tied them with dental floss. Next I hung them to dry in a dark, well ventilated room. I actually use this method for my other herbs too. Either method works well.

Kitchen Art, or Refrigerator Not Needed

2011-04-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was struck by inspiration. I love when that happens! I love kid art and I love encouraging my kiddos to create, but putting artwork on the refrigerator got to be very overwhelming. Do you realize how much art kids bring home from school? It's insane! On a few blogs, I noticed cork boards hung full of children's art and thought this the perfect solution for our family. I present you with my kitchen cork board.

This awesome cork board not only holds many examples of my children's artwork, but it also frees up refrigerator real estate. No longer do I have to worry about opening the refrigerator fearing an attack of paper (or twelve). This cork board allows for easy rotation of art and less mess since it's not moved until I move it intentionally! Last and certainly not least, this rotating art feeds my need for constant change and lots of color!

I made this cork board using:
1. 1 Giant Frame bought at Michael's (with their 40% off coupon): $12.00
2. 6 Cork squares $10.00
3. Blue spray paint $3.00
4. Caulk $1.00
5. Hot glue had on-hand

This project almost beat me. I couldn't find a pre-made cork board big enough, so I used a large picture frame without the glass. However, once I hot glued the cork to the cardboard backing and hung it up, the cork sagged away from the top of the frame. My problem was that when I replaced the glass with the cork board, the frame no longer fit together very well. See that sagging? It was ugly. It was also proof that a this board wasn't going to hold up to rotating pictures.

Enter my new BFF, caulk. I caulked around the back side of the frame filling the the gaps between the cardboard and the frame and let it dry overnight. Finally, no sagging (well, at least no sagging cork board).

Master Bedroom Makeover that Turned into a Bathroom Makeover

2011-04-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I decided that I tired of looking at our fugly master bedroom and vowed to do something about it. This room, has been the most challenging to decorate in our house so far and it doesn't even have plumbing or electrical issues! Well, maybe it sort of, indirectly does.

This is a tale of project creep.

Our master bedroom was a disaster. We ripped up nasty carpet and replaced it with laminate flooring, oh back in July and never put any of the baseboard moulding back.

We put laminate flooring in the entire bottom floor of the house. Since this was the very last room, it was full of toys, exercise equipment and general nastiness. Unfortunately, last month, we has a major toilet leak that pretty much ruined all the new flooring in our bedroom. Oh well, time for plan B-carpet. Hubby and I were done with laminate and less than impressed with how it's held up, anyway. Yes, I am fickle.

You can see that the room is paneled and has cheap-y built-in bookshelves. In another life, this room was used as a family room, a toy room and an exercise room, but we wanted to sleep on the same floor as the kids, so this room became our master bedroom. That and we couldn't fit our furniture in the other 12' X 13' rooms in the house. Oh, the joys of an older homes-no master bedroom!

Typical of me, I never did take a picture of the master bedroom set up as a bedroom. In case you weren't aware, I suck as a blogger (as if my lack of posts wasn't already a big clue).

Finally, I decided to make our bedroom something that didn't embarrass me. One of the many problems with our bedroom is that it has a exterior door to our back yard. People are always walking into our house through that door. I don't know why our friends and family can't use our front door! At least the UPS guy does!

I painted the walls (using paint I already had), and caulked/painted all the trim white. For the record, caulking is hard! It looks so easy, but causes so much flipping mess! Hubby finally finished installing the moulding (all 7 pieces). I even made curtains (using stitch witchery) because long panels didn't fit with the chair rail height shelf found on 2 of the 4 walls (I hate that shelf!). We even had a new door and windows in stalled. The room was looking good, or at least, much better then what it had looked. The final step was to install carpet. And that's where I ran into problems and project creep.
1. Before we can get new carpet, we have to fix the plumbing and flooring issues in the master bedroom closet. FYI-this closet houses our washer and dryer.
2. Before we can fix the flooring/plumbing in the master closet, we have to remove/replace some walls.
3. And while we are removing/replacing walls, we might as well remove/cover-up the window that looks out from our master closet directly into one of our bathrooms. Yeah, privacy is a problem. I mean, it was great that I could fold laundry and watch my kids bath at the same time, but that time is fast ending and we all would really like some privacy when using that bathroom.
4. Before we cover that interior window, we need to install an exhaust fan into the bathroom because there is no other ventilation in that room.

Gah! That's where I am now. I'm working on the bathroom, so I can work on the master closet/laundry room, so I can finish up my bedroom makeover.
The plantation shutters in the pic is the window that looks out into my laundry room. While it looks like it provides some privacy, it doesn't really. There is one slat missing and it cannot be replaced (not by someone of my skill level anyway). The location of the missing slat is in the perfect position for viewing any and everything which is why I can watch my kids while doing laundry. Additionally, sounds are not muffled at all (if you know what I mean!).

Oh, see that hole? Yeah, I had to patch that 2 years ago. I know that as soon as we cut a hole in the ceiling to install an exhaust fan, the patch will crack and have to be repaired. I like repairing drywall almost as much as I love to caulk. I'm about as skilled too.

I should mention that these bathroom pictures are more than 2 years old. We have since had tile and bead board installed. So, it's much, much nicer, but not great. Hopefully, it's about to look great!

New step #1. Work on bathroom

So, let the games begin. I'll be showing my progress (I promise this time) on each of my steps (no, really).

Rain Rain Go Away

2011-04-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

But PLEASE come back another day! 'Cause rain is certainly welcome for the gardens that i have yet to replant!

Two months ago, the husband and I agreed to replace the back exterior door (located in our bedroom) and and install a storm door on the front door. Our contractor has been trying to schedule the install for 2 weeks now, but rain delayed it. We are really looking forward to the new exterior back door. The original door is splintered and doesn't close correctly. We've been living with this monstronsity for, oh six years now. The storm door was shattered in a wind storm during the winter months. We have no insulation with the door, so all the warm air is going out the door. It's been a cold month!

Let's hope for a sunny day this week. Hey, plants need sunlight too!

Permission to Paint

2011-04-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, my mother gave me a beautiful antique dresser. Well, it may not be a real antique (100+ years old), but it's clearly old and came from a distant relative. I love the lines and the crystal looking knobs so much that I ignored the chips on the sides and slightly raised laminate on the dresser top. For years, I used this dresser to store our cloth napkins and craft supplies. And it was good. "But not really" (name that children's book!).

Enter my love for painted furniture. I love painted furniture. Heck, I love stained furniture, when the furniture is in good shape. But alas, my poor little dresser is not in good shape. My problem was that while my mother gave me this lovely dresser, it came with strings. I was to care for this dresser as she would; read treat it well and NOT paint it! I hate furniture with strings. Sadly, I have a house full of furniture with these strings.

So, I called my mother and professed my love for the the little dresser. Then, I casually mentioned that the laminate top was lifting a bit and glue alone wasn't going to make my dresser look any better. Well, maybe it would have, but I didn't know that for sure. Finally, I flat out asked if she minded if I painted the dresser. She reluctantly said that she gave me the dresser and I can do with it whatever I want.

Before she could change her mind, I ran out to Lowe's and bought primer, paint, poly and paint brushes. Selecting a paint color was harder than I anticipated. Usually, I am fearless when selecting a paint color. I originally wanted a lovely blue or green to compliment my peacock window treatments. Then I realized that the window treatments were the focus of the room and I didn't need anything competing with them. I may or may not have polled some of my friends. So, I decided it would be between white or black. To be honest, white furniture isn't really me. I like it, especially for bedrooms, but it doesn't really fit my personality. White furniture always seems to says "light and airy" or "beachy" to me. I'm neither light nor airy. Well, maybe I'm beachy. So, black was it.

I sanded, primed and painted that little dresser in one evening. And I LOVE it. I didn't want to poly it in the house and the weather has since turned rainy, so that will have to wait. In the mean time, I've love the results. But the big question was would my mother like it. Yes, at the age of 33, I still crave my mother's approval. My mother also has excellent taste and is honest. I love that about her.

As luck would have it, my mother came for a visit within the week and ended up loving the dresser. Not only that, she complimented me on my stellar painting skills. She seemed surprised. I don't know why since I help her paint her walls all the time. So not only did I get this great looking dresser, but I also got kudos from Mom too.

So, without further adieu, my new dresser.

After seeing the after pictures, my lovely sister suggested that I paint the chairs black. While I agree that it is a great idea, painting all those spindles makes me feel less than inspired. So I think I will wait on that project. Don't you just love how one projects lead to another?

Linking up!

Been Gone a While

2010-07-29T10:53:00.001-07:00

Life has been incredibly stressful lately. And when I get stressed, I shut down and ignore my blog. I've been dealing with some mild health issues and trying to stay afloat of our daily life. Hopefully as things start to get better (or worse, I don't know), I'll be able to post more.

Since my last post, we've:
1. Bought new windows because every window in the house was a single pane, 1960s window. Two of the windows even boasted broken glass. It needed to be done, but 20 windows was pretty expensive. I'm looking forward to being able to clean the glass and water my flower boxes without taking my life into my own hands. Unfortunately, the install will be in September, but it's worth the savings!

2. The kids and husband spent a few days in North Carolina. Trust me, it was a vacation for me too!

3. We had a beach day with my mom, sister and niece and have a wonderful time!

4. My daughter turned 4 years old! Holy cow! We bought her a bike, and celebrated by going to the beach and baking her a strawberry pink cake. My daughter hates birthdays and cried every single time someone wished her happy birthday. She hates the birthday song and is terrified that someone will sing it!

5. I rearranged the house yet again. I moved the dinning room into the living room and the living room into the family room. The guys measuring our windows are confused as hell. I wonder if I should mention I plan on playing musical bedrooms in the next month...

I'm really looking forward to my son's birthday coming up in two weeks. I plan to make him a chocolate sheet cake with his favorite toy on top. As for gifts, he's getting a zoo-zoo pet, a desk lamp and we're moving his room and redecorating it. That's what he wants! I can't wait!

Hitting the Deck!

2010-06-07T03:08:00.001-07:00

I love our deck. It's a second story, covered deck that looks out over our back yard. The location and roof allow for cool breezes to pass through while keeping the hot sun off my pasty face. I spend hours lounging on the deck, reading, talking with friends or watching my kids play below.

Unfortunately, the deck is old and is definitely showing its age. The red color was peeling off and the wood was cracking. It had only been 2 years since we last stained it! The husband and I decided that it needed a good cleaning and staining to take it from a peeling, rough mess, to a smooth place to relax again.

Our first step was to power wash the deck and house. We rented a power washer from Home Depot for $75.00 a day. After researching our options, I found the best deal for us was to actually rent a unit. Most washers within our budget offered too low pressure and/or multiple complaints that the washer broke after one use. Plus with a rental, we don't have to store one more thing in our shed!

As usual, I totally forget to get a before shot.

Imagine a picture of a peeling, ugly deck floor here. Thanks.

Step two was to stain the deck. Because our deck was already stained red, we decided to just keep staining it red. After researching various stains brands, we settled on Behr.

When it comes to deck stain, price wasn't our primary focus. We wanted quality. The last stain we used went on very poorly. The stain went on spotty and it actually peeled up within a few days of application. I wish I could remember the brand, so we can avoid it forever and ever. Anyway, I happen to love Behr interior paint. It goes on so smoothly and evenly. Additionally, Behr deck stain was only $25.00/gallon with a $5.00 rebate. This was more than $13.00 cheaper than any other brand we checked out. So, we decided to try it out and boy are we glad we did!

This stain went on evenly and smoothly. We didn't use a paint sprayer as I'm afraid that would have made a huge mess of our freshly washed siding. We used good old fashioned paint brushes. This stuff is so awesome, we only needed to apply one coat. After only 5 hours of manual labor in 90+ degree, super humid weather (because that's the only kind of weather here), we had a lovely, if not bright red deck.

Yup, it's definitely red!

But so much more relaxing! Onto the next item on our list!

Slow and Steady-The Kitchen Table

2010-06-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Amazing things happen when you're not paying attention. Today, I stepped back and noticed all the work hubby and I have accomplished over the last month on a very limited budget.

The first project begging to be completed was our kitchen table. I enjoy cooking and spend a lot of time in our eat-in kitchen. The kitchen set stared at me every day begging for help. This was the first piece of furniture given to my husband and I. My grandmother bought this for us at an antique auction (though I doubted it was actually antique, vintage yes, but not antique!). My grandmother was one of my best friends and unfortunately, she passed away about 6 years ago. Consequently, the table holds sentimental value and I will not get rid of it. Bring on the sander!

Unfortunately, I am too impatient to get before pictures, so my afters are never that awesome. Oh, well. Next time, right? I finally finished staining and painting our kitchen table. The last 10 years of cooking, crafts and school work were very much evident. From broken spindles to worn-off stain, this table set needed help!

Sorry, this is the only picture I have of the table. As usual, I don't have a picture without a kid or dog evident. This picture really does show how worn the edges of the table were.

I sanded the table top down until it was completely bare. I added cherry finish and 3 coats of poly and ended up with this!

Look, not dog or kid in the picture (pay no attention to the dog bowl!).

Next up were the chairs and table base. Because I'm too lazy to prep all those spindles I wanted to change things up a bit, I decided to spray paint and poly these guys a lovely blue.

And here is the table set now.

There are four matching chairs, but I use the highchair for our daughter. Since I'm not trying to sell our house, I see no reason to stage it for anything other than our everyday use.

And finally, here is the table and chairs as seen in the kitchen.

Now my beloved table and chairs looks fun and fresh in our kitchen. I searched through the house and came up with the shelves, plates, pictures and cornucopia to freshen up our eating nook even more. The best part? Now, the table is a cinch to clean. Food and liquids wipe right up without leaving stains.

Total cost of the makeover was around $35 for spray paints, stain and poly.

Refinishing The Kitchen Set

2010-04-23T06:34:00.001-07:00

What do you call this?

Or this?

Progress!

Not only is this maple table and chair set a sturdy solid wood, it also has sentimental value. My grandmother bought the set for me and my fiancee (now husband) at an antique auction. It was the very first piece of furniture we received for our new lives together. So, despite that the style of table isn't something that we love, nor has the last ten years been kind to the finish, we, okay I, cannot replace it. To make the set more fun and to suit our taste more, I decided to refinish the table and paint the chairs. I truly considered refinishing the chairs. But did you see all those spindles? That's nuts! I need color other than maple!

I spray painted the chairs peacock blue and refinishing the top of the table. The only thing left is the table base. I cannot tell you have good it feels to make some progress. My goal for next week is to finish up the table base and put our kitchen back together!

Third Times a Charm?

2010-04-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

I am wall decor challenged. I require several attempts to get my wall decor to not suck look right. For example, I started out with this lovely vintage quilt and quilt rack. While I loved it, the quilt didn't really work for the look I was trying to achieve. So, out went the quilt and rack and in came some plates and pictures. But, I decided the pictures weren't really working for me either. In came a mirror that I found around the house and painted.The dining room is starting to look differently now. We added new peacock blue curtains (a total splurge), a rug (given by my mother) and a few new-to-the-room plants and accessories. Oh, the blue chairs belong in the kitchen. Look forward to a blog on the refinished kitchen set next week. When we have guests over for dinner, we just pull a kitchen set chair up to the dinning table for a funky, coordinated look. Unfortunately, the mirror was all wrong and I didn't love the plates. None of the items matched anything in the room. Enter the picture collage. I like the look of a picture collage, but wasn't sure how one actually achieved it. After studying pictures online, I decided to attempt it on my own using new pictures of my children, some kid art and wooden frames I had lying around the house. I can finally say that this arrangement makes me happy because it includes only items I love. The middle pictures are my children from their photo shoot a month ago (a gift from my sister) and the other two pictures are art projects from my son. The picture to the left is an oil pastel and the picture to the right is a tissue paper creation. The hookah (no, we don't actually use it) was a fun little souvenir my husband picked up in the Middle East last summer and the plant was also a gift from my husband. The peacock plate was a gift from my mother. And finally, the dresser is a family heirloom that only adds to my enthusiasm over the wall make-over.

Truly the best advise I ever read on decorating is to use only what you love. If you follow this, you'll have more fun, and you can't go wrong. Or if you do something that is "wrong", you don't care.

PB&C Cookies

2010-04-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Last night, the kids (okay, and me too) were clambering for cookies. Unfortunately, when I checked my baking supplies, I found that I didn't have enough flour to make most recipes I know. So, I came up with my very own recipe using only the ingredients I had on hand (which wasn't many).

With no flour, eggs, brown sugar or butter, imagine my shock at how good these cookies turned out! My husband loved them and my co-workers requested the recipes. I hope you all can enjoy them too.

PB&C Cookies
Ingredients
*1 Cup sugar
*1 Cup corn syrup
*12 oz jar peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
*2 Tbs vanilla extract
*6 Cups Corn Chex cereal
Directions
In a sauce pan, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. Add in cereal one cup at a time. Stir until cereal is thoroughly coated. Scoop out tablespoons of mixture onto wax paper and refrigerate.

Sorry there are no pictures. They were eaten before I even thought to take a picture.

Why Isn't It Shrinking?

2010-04-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

And by it, I mean the to-do list! Our list was reasonable:

1. Finish the laminate flooring in our family room-80% done!
2. Finish the stairs-started!
3. Repaint/redecorate the family room-80% done!
4. Refinish/repaint the kitchen table-started!

Just as we were finally making progress on our house projects, spring has arrived with it's annoying sunny warm weather, beautiful new flowers and green grass. The nerve!

Now, we are looking at the gardens that need weeding, the lawn that needs seeding and the deck that really, really needs refinishing. Oy. In an effort to keep me from freaking out, we chose not to do the veggie garden this year and concentrate on maintenance stuff only. I know I'm going to miss it terribly, but I really do not have the time.

Stay tuned for picures of our newly decorated family room, staircase and kitchen table set!

Inspiration Piece!

2010-03-17T11:01:00.001-07:00

So, the family room. Again. No, wait. Still.

Carl was having difficulty selecting anything for the family room . At the same time, I was trying to give him space to select something he'd love. Unfortunately, Carl couldn't seem to find anything he liked. Not art, not fabric, not a rug. Nothing inspired him (his words, not mind).

Being the wonderful wife that I am, I narrowed it down for him. I emailed him the link to rugs from Overstock.com and gave him a $500.00 budget. Now, if you ever looked at Overstock's rug selection, you'd know that I only narrowed his search marginally. From researching blogs, I understand that the rug is the hardest thing to find, so it's best to start with the rug.

After several weeks, Carl finally selected this rug.

I'm so proud of my hubby. He picked this gorgeous 8' x 11' wool rug all by himself. He carefully reviewed the cost, materials, and customer comments before telling me what to buy. He even suggested a paint color and window panel colors that I think will look fantastic. I think he'd been hiding a secret decorating talent! Should I be thrilled that he's so good at this, or annoyed he's been holding out on me?

Find of the (Mid) Century!

2010-03-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, during my lunch break , I drove on over to our local Goodwill for some fun. I'm only looking for furniture [right now] and was on a very limited schedule, so I carefully avoided the clothing and book sections. And there it was. Have you ever experienced that moment when you found your it? The exact item you never knew you needed, but knew you needed?

There in all it's glory was this entertainment center.

Oh dear. It's exactly the style my husband likes and wants for our family room-mid century modern. I approached the piece slowly lest someone else realize how awesome a find this was. The piece was in good shape. It even had dovetail joints and groovy 70s drawer liner. And we needed a new entertainment center to hold games and toys. The last one we owned (a horrible shabified yellow monstrosity) met up with our son in a dark room and didn't come out alive. Oh, it gets better. Total cost? $12.00. Yup, my pulse started to quicken. This was it! And it must be mine!

But wait. I didn't have the truck, nor does Goodwill hold anything. I rushed back to work, called Carl (the husband who owns a truck)and begged him to pick up this fine piece for me after work. This guy, he didn't even ask why. He just went to Goodwill, bought me that $12.00 entertainment center along with a bouquet of wild flowers and brought it home.

Truly, I don't know who was more excited, me or the kids. They knew exactly the purpose of the entertainment shelf as soon as they saw it-our new toy and game storage. The spent the rest of the night putting all their toys into the unit and exclaiming over its awesomeness. I may have created monsters.

I Am A Turtle

2010-03-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

Why did no one warn me that home improvement can hurt! No, we didn't have any major accidents. I'm talking muscle fatigue. I run, do step aerobics, kick boxing, and various other workouts several times a week. None of these things have prepared me for laying a laminate floor.

Carl and I are currently plodding our way through our laminate floor installation project and it is taking us For-Ev-Er! We started on Sunday afternoon. It's now day 3 and we're maybe halfway done. Dang day jobs are just getting in the way. Add in feeding, bathing and homework with the kids and it makes for snail pace progress. At least there is progress, right? I just have to be patient and look on the bright side.

So, what is the bright side? Well, since we have a good portion done, I can already see that I love the floor. It looks great. Another bright side is the skills I'm acquiring. Hey, I can lay laminate floor with no help (not that I want to). I've also learned how to use our circular saw and the correct way to measure. Finally, and most importantly I'm learning patience-one thing I've always needed to work on.

Unexpected Progress!

2010-03-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had unexpected progress? Recently, Carl (the husband) and I decided to fix up the family room. The plan was, well, wasn't even much of a plan. We has a direction-sort of. We're thinking something "grandma chic" (Carl's terms, not mine). So, something sorta mid-century modern-ish for my husband with some tranditional thrown in for me.

With this direction in mind, we've been searching through Ikea, Craigslist and Goodwill for furniture and accent peices. While we found some furniture we liked, nothing inspired us. We had no inspiration piece to work with. In the past, I've used art or fabric as inspiration pieces. I suggested that we try to find a really cool rug to work with, but unfortunately, the only rugs Carl likes are the flotki or sheepskin looking rugs. I'm pretty sure that these rugs will not stand up to two children, one eighty-pound doggy and one spiteful cat. So, we're still looking. Maybe one of those Sisal rugs?

While I am in no hurry to complete this renovation, something happened to speed it along. Enter, a sale on laminate flooring. That's right, laminate flooring went on sale at Costco for more than $8.00 off per box. This equals over $280.00 in savings if we bought it in February. So, Carl bought about 700 sq. feet of flooring, loaded it up on the truck and brought it home. And there it sat for about a week.

And then something wonderful happened. Carl started ripping up our gross carpet. Ever rip up carpet? Makes you never want to have carpet ever again! And so, we have officially started laying our new floor and I love it. Well, the floor, not actually installing it. So, right now, the house is a disaster and everyone feels discombobulated, but we are loving the progress. Bonus points for the floor since we've already has polyurethane, blood and vomit wiped right off of it (oh, the joys of parenthood). Here's a peak of the flooring so far!.

Apple Sauce Granola

2010-02-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

My family loves granola. It's so easy and inexpensive to prepare, that I make it often. I've tweaked a few recipes to fit my family's tastes and dietary requirments. The results have been so well received, I thought I'd share the recipe.

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds (any nut can be substituted)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup apple sauce
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins, if desired (I usually leave this out)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix oats, brown sugar, maple syrup, apply sauce and salt together. The mixture should be chunky. Empty oat mixture onto a 9"X13" pan and bake. Stir granola every 20 minutes until the granola is dried approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from oven and mix in raisins. Store in an air tight container. I reuse old oatmeal containers or old jam jars for this purpose.

Granola is such a versatile treat. We eat it for breakfast in a bowl of milk, or we top our yogart with it. It even makes it's way into my son's lunch box. My husbans favorite use for granola is as an ice cream topper. I love that I can tweak the recipe whenever my mood strikes. For example, sometimes, I add peanuts or craisons. Often, I leave the raisins out all together. It's always good!

Compromise

2010-02-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

My husband and I have been married a little more than ten years and in those years, we have both learned to compromise. Luckily, neither of us is particularly stubborn. One area of compromise has been our house. Everything from purchasing it, to painting and decorating it was a compromise-mostly for hubby. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've struggled in this area. Hubby likes modern or retro looking stuff. He loves Ikea. I don't. Actually I like it alright. The problem is that our house is full of free, second hand furniture. The result was a causual, country, traditional mismash of stuff my relatives all liked at one point in the last 20-30 years. How in the world does danish modern fit into the mix? To be honest, I don't know. But, I think it's about time, we added some items into our home not because they are free, but because we actually like them. I want hubby to feel like our home reflects some of his personality too. With this in mind, I suggested that that hubby decorate our family room with furniture and accessories that meets his discerning taste. Suddenly, hubby wants to help with home projects! Jackpot!

Now, where do we start?

Let's look at the current state of our family room. It contains 1 new television on a cheap pine stand, 4 small storage cubes that act as toy boxes and 1 cheap, broken armoir full of games and toys. The picture below shows the room with an old couch that long since died (via the cat) and a treadmill that I used (really!) until it broke. Apparently, it's not uncommon for the repair of exercise equipment to exceed the cost of a new one! Neither item resides in our home any longer. The small child is still here and will likely show up in random future pictures.

And here is a view of the summer kitchen (aka the brewers kitchen).

I have painted this room 3 times since in the last 5 years. The first color was a beige-the wrong beige. It looked awful. The second color was a gorgeous rust, but it was so dark that I quickly tired of it. Finally, I painted it a light blue. It doesn't really suit me, that's all I know. My biggest problem is finding a color that works well with the wood trim and the black and white tile.

After tons of discussion, hubby and I realized we needed to do the following things:

1. Paint (again)

2. New flooring (I didn't mention the water damage and iron mark yet did I?)

3. Remove the shattered tile and replace it with something. This will also involve removing a window that looks out into our garage.

4. Put in the new AC unit (which we already have)

5. Get a couch for goodness sake! Maybe even a table?

6. Come up with some sort of entertainment system

7. Come up with some sort of toy storage

8. Accessorize!

I cannot believe how excited DH is about this project. He actually agreed to go window shopping for furniture ideas this weekend. I couldn't have been excited if he asked to help me clean.

Even Terrible Pictures Help!

2010-02-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

I know I kinda suck at taking pictures. Clearly, that hasn't stopped me. Taking pictures of completed projects helps me see what is wrong or missing. Who knew? Well, probably a lot of people, just not me.

For example, taking pictures of our dinning room made me realize that the pictures are hung too high. It wasn't obvious to me at first because I'm tall (right around 6'). Eye-level to me may be 4 or 5 inches too high. Another example was in our living room window treatments. I always liked my sheer, off-white curtains until I saw the photos. The windows were screaming for window treatments with color.

Maybe this explains why I prefer my picture not be taken.

Simple Pleasures-Kid Art

2010-02-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

What happens when you give two kids 4 jars of finger paints, a pad of paper and hours to create? Awesome kid art! I am the proud owner of many original pieces of kid art. I just pop the paintings into a frame with a mat. Instant wall art!

I love how it keeps the house more fun and casual-just like us!

Yearning for Spring

2010-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes me yearn for Spring like an impending blizzard. According to the weather predictions I hear, we have a 100% chance of snow this weekend. Not just a dusting of snow either. We are anticipating a blizzard! While I feel fortunate that we have a warm house to keep us safe, I cannot help but yearn for Spring. Spring means green grass and new plant growth and gardening!

I may have mentioned a time or two that my husband and I love gardening. I love the feeling of dirt on my hands and sun on my back. I often forget to wear a hat and gloves in my eagerness to get my hands dirty. I lose all sense of time when planting and weeding. My garden is my happy place. My husband must be yearning for Spring too. Yesrerday, he came home with a new house plant. That makes 8 houseplants in our livingroom/dinning room. I enjoy live plants in our home, so I was pretty happy to see our newest addition-a Golden Pothos also known as Devil's Ivy. Pothos is a common house plant. Despite this, I have never owned this variety of plant. It's supposed to be easy to maintain-low light requirements and not too much water is needed. I think this plant is just what we need to hold us over until Spring.

Gosh, I Have A Lot of Stuff!

2010-01-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

If you read through my January posts, you'll notice that I've been on a home decorating kick. I've been trying to fix up our main floor as inexpensively as I can using stuff I have around the house. Our main floor consists of our kitchen, dinning room, living room, bedroom and a full bathroom. Incredibly I've been able to decorating all five rooms and the hallway on a very limited budget.

For all five rooms, I purchased:

1. Three pictures

2. Drapes for four windows

3. One rug

4. Four toss pillows

I used a lot more than just those items listed above to finish each room. The rest of the items were found in the house. Some items such as a wall shelf and plates were being used in a different room. The rest of the items such a candles, more plates, vases, plants and a wine rack were found in closets or drawers. It was like going on a treasure hunt!

Ironically, I pride myself on our lack of clutter. I make frequent trips to the Goodwill or Salvation Army. So, I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed that I have so much stuff laying around, not used, or proud that I did all the decorating on such a limited budget.

Regardless, I truly thrilled at how homey our little house is becoming right in front of my own eyes!

A $100 Dinning Room.

2010-01-28T15:37:00.000-08:00

Finally, our dinning room is starting to actually look like a dinning room and not just a room with a big table in it. I'm so excited, I thought I'd share.

So, what have we been up to? First, Hubby and I removed a wall. Turns out, that wasn't as fun as all you DIYers make it out to be. The walls were uneven and couldn't be patched evenly. Twelve layers of mudding and sanding later and we called it a day. We are still working on the flooring (that needed to be replaced since walls were removed), but that's another post. Oh, and we aren't done that yet.

Bye-bye wall!

After the wall was removed, and the dust cleaned, I was left with a pretty blank slate. The room was painted off-white, with off-white curtains and gross blinds. As for furniture, I had my grandmother's oak table and my Great Aunt's antique dresser. My challenge was to make this mess of stuff look like it belonged together. Oh, and as usual, the budget was tight.

The Plan:

1. Repaint the wall Antique White

2. Move Antique Dresser out of closet

3. Find new window treatments

4. Create a kid area

5. Hang some art and the wine rack

6. Accessorize

The After Shots

It's so hard to get a shot without a kid or dog in the picture. Anywho. Here it is, my dinning room.

Cost breakdown:

1. Paint: $20.00 (I had the brushes, trays and rollers)

2. Curtains: $40.00 (I reused the off-white voile ones and added brown voile)

3. Two new fruit pictures $32.00 (includes prints, mats and frames)

4. Rest of the accessories are from around the house. Yes, we have fresh flowers in our house most days. I just relocated them from our kitchen.

Grand Total: $92.00!

Now we can afford to stock the wine rack too!

Weekends Aren't for the Weak!

2010-01-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

This Sunday marked the first day since January 1st that my husband and I both had a day off of work. Woo Hoo! Unfortunately, we didn't relax and hang out with the kids. We got to work on the loooong list of projects waiting to be done. The list looked something like this:

1. Remove toddler bed and set up bed in daughters room-DONE
2. Clean house (top to bottom)-DONE
3. Find a flooring option for entry (to cover holes made by removing walls)-DONE
4. Install floor- Floor installed-trim not
5. Purchase items to hang wall art and wine rack-Items purchased, but not installed
6. Go to the grocery store and purchase food for shelter-Bought all buy 2 items
7. List items on craigslist-DONE (if only they'd sell)
8. Paint hallway-Not even started
9. Check out Goodwill for curtains-DONE-nada
10. Check out Walmart if Goodwill produces nothing-DONE-nada

Did we accomplish all that? No. Did we get a great start? You betcha!

Five Years Later

2010-01-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

Five years ago, on a surprisingly balmy January day, we moved into our little house. On that winter day, we paused to take a look at the house before we walked in for the first time as the new owners. The house wasn't winning any design awards, or even admiring glances. It's a 1966 raised ranch complete with original bathrooms, black and white tiles and 70s appliances. The exterior had not been updated. Worse yet, there wasn't a bush or tree to be found on the small, 1/4 acre lot. Heck, there was barely grass as it was January. But, it did have what we needed-a move-in ready, 4 bedroom house with an in-law suite potential in the a good location within our budget. We could have afforded a nicer home, but we'd have had to look further away from our work, family and friends. Besides, I am a product of HGTV and thought we were up for the challenge.

This is our first view of the house. Yes, that is the front of the house. No, I didn't love it either. But I could see the potential. My husband may have hated it on sight. I may or may not have begged to put in an offer and my husband agreed. The offer was accepted the next day. Ah, 2004/2005 boasted a quick moving real estate market!

I loved this house for so many reasons:

*It was very structurally sound. The original owners (also the contractor) sold it to us and kept the house in good shape.

*I liked that it was so symmetrical.

*It has two, yes two kitchens (one for beer making and for food making)!

* It had enough room for our hopefully expanding family.

* The house was less than 10 minutes from our jobs, family and friends.

* The house was in a good school district.

Fast forward 5 years and we've seen a lot of changes in both our family and in our home. Our daughter joined our family in 2007. My husband has seen two tours in the Middle East. My mother and sister have moved in and then moved out. We've seen my son start school, learn new sports and developing his personality. We've all grown older and, dare I say, happier. Life has been good.

We love our home more and more every year. Each passing day, new memories are made. Because we enjoy our home, we are trying to slowly update it and make it more homey. Since we plan to live here until retirement (30ish years), we are making it a house we love, not a house that will sell. And that is so much fun!

By 2007, We'd already changed out the exterior by adding siding, brickwork, and landscaping. You can really see the brickwork and vinyl siding in this picture. What you can't really see is the 8 bushes/trees we planted. We couldn't afford mature/larger plants, so we bought the smaller ones. Well, 5 years later, each of these bushes are 3-6 feet tall each. We've also added rose bushes and an apple tree to the front yard, and extensive gardens to the back and side yards. Gardening is something we do as a family. I love looking at the pictures and seeing how our leland cypress's have grown almost a foot a year!

We still have so much to do both in side and outside the house. Again, it'll be done slowly. We're in this house for the long hull, so what's the hurry?

Leftover Soup-Mock Maryland Crab Soup

2010-01-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

While cleaning out the fridge, I managed to come up with another great soup recipe! So, I thought I'd share it with you all.

Mock Maryland Crab Soup

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Small onion, chopped

2 cups chopped, cooked white meat (I used a combination of leftover pork and chicken)

1 10.5 oz. can tomatoes with chilies

1.5 cups mixed frozen veggies

1 10.5 oz. can of beans (black or kidney) OR black eye peas

4 cups of chicken broth (or 4 cups of water and 2 bullion cubes)

2 tsp Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning Blend

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a soup pot, brown onions in olive oil. Add white meat and can of tomatoes w/chilies, frozen veggies, beans and chicken broth. Simmer 5-10 minutes and add Mrs. Dash Seasoning, Salt and Pepper. Simmer another 5 minutes and Viola! Mock Maryland Crab Soup. This was great with a garden salad and corn bread.

Oh, I just have to warn you that this is a little spicy due to the chilies. If you don't like spicy food, just use a plain can of tomatoes.

My Decorating Method

2010-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have a confession. I love to read decorating and home improvement blogs. Love them! I can read them all day. In fact, I often do. All the DIY and decorating posts are inspiring. Unfortunately, our budget doesn't allow for me to acheive the beautifully decorating homes these talented DIYers display. Well, at least not quickly.

My "method" if one could call it a "method" is to slowly, and I do mean slowly, decorate/update our home using found treasures. I search through craigslist, local thrift stores, discount stores and even our own home to find just the right accessory to add to each room in our home.

Take my living pictured to the left. We've lived in our house 5 years and it took that long to even get to this transitional point. Everything on the mantel was found from inside our home just this week, the picture was orinally in our family room, but I loved it so much I decided to use it in a more prominent place in the house. The clock is an antique handed down by family members and everything in the curio was purchased on one of our travel adventures. We have souvenirs from Mexico, Ukraine, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Italy, France and a few other

places! The rug was a recent purchase from a local discount chain. I love this room. It's super comfortable.

Another view of our living room shows old wicker chairs we bought about 8 years ago, a cool drum our neighbor gave the kids (and I thought we were friends!), and kid art on the wall.

Is the room "finished"? Not by a long shot! I don't think it'll ever be done. Like my family, this room will evolve. I'll change pictures, add more layers, replace broken items or just replace items that need replacing. For now, I'll enjoy the fun of making this room us-until we and it changes.

Pepper Steak Stew

2009-10-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided to make a batch of leftovers stew. Leftovers stew is a stew (or soup) my husband and I will make when we want to use up the food about to go bad. Leftovers can come from previous meals or produce/dairy waiting to be used. Nothing edible is excluded from leftovers stew. Well, I generally don't add sweets, but I'm not sure if my husband ever has.

On this lovely Sunday, Pepper Steak Stew was born.

Ingredients
1 lb thinly sliced steak, sliced and diced into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup flour
salt/pepper
2 tbs olive oil
3 small green peppers, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 large tomatoes diced
8 cups water
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp pepper
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped, (dry will work too)
2 large potatoes, diced (I used red potatoes, but any will do)

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan. Combine flour and salt/pepper into a small mixing bowl. Toss in steak pieces and coat with flour mixture. Brown the steak. Add onions, garlic and tomatoes into pan and brown a few minutes (about 4). Add the water, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and pepper. Let simmer about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the parsley and diced potatoes. Let simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Serve.

The best part about this soup is that the amounts of each ingredient is purely up to the cook. The cook can also add or subtract from the recipe with good results.

I managed to use up the steak, green peppers, onion, garlic, parsley and potatoes that were about to go to waste. I'd say mission accomplished!

Mission 1: Moving the Master Bedroom

2009-10-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

Our first order of business is to move our bedroom from downstairs to upstairs. However, a few things must occur before said move takes place.

1. We must clear out the spare room which is acting as an office/storage room right now.

2. Paint the walls and baseboard heating cabinets.

3. Shampoo the rugs.

Oh, and we have to do this with very little money.

Let the game begin. I forgot to take a pic of the mess we started with. Crap. Oh, well. We started Monday night around 5:00 pm. Husband and I started clearing the room of stuff. After that, I did a quick clean-up consisting of vacuuming and wiping off everything with a damp cloth.

Next, I found some leftover green and white paint from our recent bathroom remodel and kitchen repaint. The green matched our new patchwork blanket perfectly, so it was a go. So, I put the first coat of edging. At that point, I realized we were out of paint rollers and I was out of energy, so I washed up the brushes and called it a night.

Tuesday morning rolled around and I went to my day job. Husband went to the store to pick up a pack of paint rollers. Cost was approximately $5.00. He proceeded to roll on the first coat of paint. When I came home, I put coat two on the wall and edging. Then, fell into bed exhausted.

Wednesday, I came home and immediately painted two coats of white paint to the baseboard heating cabinet. While the paint was drying, I shampooed the carpets and begged my husband to help me start moving furniture. After much grumbling, hubby and I moved up the dresser and bed and set up the room.

Next, I decided to work on the room decore. I searched through the house looking for some decorative touches to add to our new room. I found a wonderful Beatrix Potter print, some family photos and a few other miscellaneous items that work perfectly for the room. After inventoring my finds, I determined I need only two more items to complete the room. The first is a new mirror for our dresser. The second is a clothes hamper. I plan to search out the Goodwill Stores and craigslist for these items.

So, I give you Mission 1 completed:

That's all for now. I'm practicing patience finding just the right pieces to finish the room.

Onto mission 2 and 3-the family room and home gym.

Just Refinishing Furniture?

2009-08-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Eleven years ago, my grandmother bought my finance (now husband) and me this beautiful solid maple table and chair set from an antique auction. I'm going to guess that the set is at least 50 years old, so it's more retro than antique. I'm not an antique nut, but I do appreciate well crafted furniture. While not exactly my taste, It's a sturdy piece of furniture with a classic design. After about 10 years of marriage, 2 kids, multiple dinner parties, craft projects, homework assignments and 3 moves later, the table set is looking a little shabby. It's a very nice piece of furniture, so I doubt I'll ever get rid of it. However, it needs to be refinished.

At this time, I considered doing something I've always wanted to do-paint the chairs and table base black and leave the tabletop stained/varnished. I love that look. It looks "farmhouse style" to me. And I know it'll look great in our kitchen painted black. I just know it.

So, I pulled out my trusty sander and went to work sanding a chair. Sanding the chair took only a few hours. When I came to the priming step, I just couldn't do it. This chair has such a nice grain that I couldn't bring myself to cover any of it up with primer. I left the chair in this unfinished stage for about 2 days. Then, I decided to see how it would look just stained. I figured if I didn't like it, I could still just prime and paint it. Again, the wood grain was just so pretty, I couldn't do it. I know that a coat or three of polyurethane will only make it look better. So, I gave up the paint idea (this time) and went on to start the polyurethane coats.

Surprisingly, this simple project has taught me something new about myself. Turns out, I'm a wood purist. There has been hints of this, but I ignored it. For example, all our mouldings are stained wood, not white. It's one of the few things in our house my husband and I loved when we bought it. Even when people suggest we paint the mouldings and interior doors white, I quickly reject the idea. Another example was my niece's toy chest. I was tasked to paint it white. I couldn't bring myself to paint it white. I compromised and white washed it. Years later, my sister painted it which is fine. I just couldn't do it. Oddly enough, I love the look of painted wood. It's the painted wood tables and cabinets at the home stores that I admire. So what is my problem?

When I think about it, my tendencies toward the unpainted wood make sense. I like my life and all the things in it to be simple. Stained furniture is simpler for me because I don't have to worry about paint chipping and it's easier to re stain or repair than painted furniture. Often, I can repair using some Old English Polish. Lastly, I think, deep down, that I cannot possibly complete artistically with woods natural beauty. So, I just don't.

Decorating with Patience

2009-07-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

Before I start blogging, I want apologize for the crappy pics. The lighting has just been wrong several days in a row and I'm really not very good at editing pics.

Like so many people, I enjoy decorating my home without spending a fortune. Unlike many, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes to find what I'm looking for at second hand shops. I can handle bare walls.

So far, I've been pretty successful find exactly what I wanted. All I need is a little patience. I routinely scrounge through our local Goodwill, or browse Craigslist postings for inexpensive items. Thankfully, my decor taste is pretty casual. I like cozy, comfy and little country. All of which is easily found at second-hand shops given enough time and elbow grease.

Take our dinning room for example. Almost everything in this room is second-hand. The table and chairs belonged to my grandmother. The gorgeous dresser I use for linens is another family heirloom. The colorful quilt came from a vintage dealer found on Etsy.com. Oh, how I love Etsy. I searched high and low for an old quilt until I found this funky, colorful quilt that is just right. After I found the quilt, I was stuck. Do you have any idea how much a quilt rack costs? Well, let's just say it's more than I paid for for the quilt. So, the quilt was displayed on the table for a few months while I searched Goodwill, Ebay and Craigslist. In the mean time, my wall remained blank. It had been blank since we moved into the house-so no big deal.

On my trip to Goodwill last Saturday, I came across a wooden shelf with dowel. The shelf looked abused and dull. It also had a heart shape cut out of the top of the shelf. I'm not a fan of hearts. However, I quickly realized that the shelf was also a plate rack. Any plate displayed would cover up the heart cutout. And the shelf was the perfect size. And it was only $5.00. All it needed was a little paint, so I bought the shelf.

Once home, I wiped off the shelf. Hmmm. It wasn't as dull and ugly as I originally thought-just dusty. So, I grabbed some dark wood furniture polish and polished the shelf. Wow! What a difference! The shelf look great. After that, I just screwed it into the well, added plates and quilt and stood back to admire the decor. I love it! And it only took 4.5 years to do!

Ten Years Later

2009-07-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 17th marked my 10 year wedding anniversary. Wow, did the time pass quickly! With my wonderful husband still deployed, I had to celebrate with just the kids. Here's how I spent my day.
1. I went to work and left an hour early-Woo Hoo!
2. Went to the market
3. Received a gorgous boquet of orange roses and a thoughtful card from my husband
3. Made The Best Chocolate Cake EVER with my son
4. Picked a bunch of veggies and herbs out of the garden to make this yummy ratatouille recipe
5. Took a walk with the kids
6. Straighted the house
7. Started my new crochet project from the alpaca yarn my sis gave me for Christmas

We've come a long way in 10 years. From a day of partying with 80 of our family and friends to a quiet evening at home with the kids and Hubby on the other side of the world. I sure hope the next ten years brings us as much joy as the first. Hopefully, we'll get to see each other more too.

The Family Who Gardens Together

2009-07-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Almost daily, the kids and I pick a small bucket of produce from our back yard. The kids love it.

To the right, you'll see my kids' wheel barrel full of our harvest from today. Gardening had been such a great learning experience for them. I believe it's one of the best life lessons and experiences we have given them so far.

Lessons the kids have learned from our family garden:

1. So, that's where our food comes from! Whenever I need a smoothie or salad ingredient, I send the kids into the back yard to grab a handful of food. They actually see how the food gets to our family dinner table.

2. Patience and hard work yields rewards! My son has his own strawberry garden. He is responsible for planting, weeding, watering and eating of his garden. He also helps with our larger family garden. And he does a great job! Unfortunately, he also learned that sometimes, our best efforts aren't always enough. His strawberry plants produced very few berried this year.

3. Families work well together. At least one evening a week, the kids and I weed the vegetable garden beds. By combining our efforts, not only is the task done quicker, but it's more fun!

I really hope that I have instilled the appreciation, if not love of growing things in each of my children.

Hydrangeas

2009-07-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Also commonly called snowball bushes, hydrangeas are gorgeous flowering bushes that produce blue, pink, purple, white and/or green flowers. Furthermore, one can often change the color of the flower by changing the ph balance of the soil. These bushes grow quickly and can tolerate my less than sunny front yard. My only problem with them is that they are just plain ugly in the winter. By November, all that is left of the bush is dried twigs. I prefer to plant evergreen bushes in the garden so the garden looks good even in the winter. Hydrangeas are my one exception.

Why?

Hydrangeas make gorgeous bouquets. I love fresh cut flowers in the house. However, fresh flowers are expensive, so I often go without. Since we have such a nice hydrangea bush, I get fresh cut flowers for almost 6 weeks for the house. The best part? They're FREE!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2009-07-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

I made some super yummy strawberry freezer jam this week. Strawberries are in season. Consequently, strawberry jam is cheap to make right now. And it's simple too! I mixed 1 packet of freezer jam pectin, 4 cups of crushed strawberries and 1.5 cups of sugar and poured them into freezer jars. Then, I waited 30 minutes for the jam to set. We left one out to eat with homemade bread and put the other jar in the freezer. I highly recommend anyone try this easy, delicious recipe.

First Harvest of 2009

2009-07-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday marked the first day I pulled something out of our vegetable garden. It's not a lot, two zucchinis, 5 peppers and a handful of raspberries, but that very first harvest of the season, is always so thrilling. This is the first year I planned, planted, and cared for the garden without my hubby. My kids occasionally pitched in and helped weed. Well, as much as a 6 and 2 year old could anyway. I can't help but be proud. Proud of what I grew using my own two hands. Of what I was able to show my children.

I have picked vegetables and/or berries every day this week since. But, unlike so many people who plant vegetable gardens now days, I don't do it to save money on groceries, or even for health reasons. Heck, I usually give half of our produce away to friends, family and neighbors. Don't get me wrong, I do like that we save money and I make a conscience effort to eat healthy. However, these are not my reasons for planting a vegetable garden. I find gardening both fulfilling and peaceful. Gardening meets my urge to create something useful with my own two hands. The slow and steadiness required to plan and maintain a garden teaches me patience and to enjoy the rich soil and green plants. For me, gardening is meditative.

My "Victory" Garden

2009-06-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

I love to garden. LOVE it. There is just something about digging in the soil and watching the plants grow that gives me an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and contentment. I've found the more I work in my gardens, the less attention they need. There's a life lesson in there somewhere. I'll just leave it at that for now.

We have a few different gardens. We have our flower garden (front of the house). We have an herb garden-my first attempt at edible plants. We have a veggie garden and we also have fruit trees and berry vines. All this on less than 1/4 of an acre.

My husband and I have put in over 50 bushes/shrubs in our yard since we moved in 4 years ago. When we bought the house, there wasn't one tree, bush or flower to behold. There was barely grass since we bought the house in January. Our first order of business was putting in a flower garden with some really nice bushes and trees. Since we didn't have a lot of money, we bought very small, inexpensive evergreen/cold weather hardy shrubs as a base for our front flower garden. Bushes that started out as 12" tall are now 60" tall.

Within a year, I wanted to grow edible plants. So, I baby stepped into an herb garden. This was the easiest garden I have ever started. Right now, we have camomile, oregano, parsley, thyme, stevia, chives, lemon balm (a lot of lemon balm), sage, rosemary, St. John's wort and calendula. This is our third season of herbs. I give herbs away to poor unsuspecting family and friends. I get weird looks.

Last year, we added a trail of lavender. It's really growing nicely this year. I even managed to dry a few bunches. I sitll don't know what I'll use the buds for yet

Also last year, we added a vegetable garden. Here's what I planted in early May.

As of mid-July, this garden has completely filled out and producing. Right now, I think I'm being overtaken by zucchini and squash. Fear not. I have lots of zucchini and squash recipes! I also have poor unsuspecting friends and neighbors.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and what's that last one?

2009-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah. Refuse.

I have spent the last 30+ years living pretty modestly. Well, modestly in my opinion anyway. My parents lived modestly and taught me the value of good planning and saving. My husband and I certainly live within our means. We have a modest home with a not so modest mortgage, two cars that we own outright, a credit card we pay off monthly, and money in the bank. We even have money left over for vacations and special treats. I keep track of our budget in spreadsheets.

Sounds good, right?

Well, it looked good to me until I really started to analyze our budget. Not that husband and I are doing poorly. Far from it in fact. I just happen to notice that we have been very wasteful with our income. We are wasting a whopping $800.00/month on junk or miscellaneous gifts. I really have no clue where the $$ went. Ouch! I have secretly prided myself on my lack of waste. We recycle, compost, reuse or buy used all the time. But, I forgot a very key point-Refuse. So, I am going to look into this black hole and find out not only where the $$ are going, but also reduce my spending.

Goal: To reduce spending by 50% over next 3 months

How I plan to accomplish that goal
1. Stop shopping online-oh how I love Etsy.
2. Stop buying things I do not need-used, or not if I don't need it, I don't need it.3. Keep a spending journal. I'll do this online.
4. Use cash only-my allowance.

Obsticals to goal
1. DH's spending cannot really be contolled as he is currently deployed with the US Military overseas. He really cannot get a lot of free entertainment.
2. Shopping for gifts for others puts in front of temptation. I have a lot of birthdays coming up too.3. Laziness

I plan to blog about my daily spending as well as some of my challenges. Maybe this will keep me accountable? Let's hope so.

How many pickles did Sarah pick?

2008-09-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

None! I picked cucumbers-a lot of cucumbers. So, one weekend, I rolled up my sleeves and made some sweet pickles. They turned out great, if I do say so myself. I don't even like pickles, but these I do!