The whole Kitchen caboodle

As I am staring into the face of a major kitchen overhaul, I am feeling overwhelmed!  I know, I know...that is normal.  I am just surprised at how MUCH I don't know.  As we start this project I know I'll be spending a lot of time in the home improvement stores asking a lot of annoying questions!  Of course, I have my mom too.  Thank you Jesus for a mother who is all about the DIY and does a lot of stuff all on her own.  She'll be my rock during this project!

The step I am on now is picking out paint.  It is SO hard for me!!  I want the kitchen to be yellow - but it needs to be the perfect yellow!  Our walls on our first floor are a tannish-camel color with some red accent walls.  Bright red.  We love the colors, they were here when we moved in.  Actually we painted the red accent walls a little brighter to match our big red couch, but it's basically the some color scheme.  Anyways, the yellow that I pick has to be the RIGHT yellow so that it goes with those colors - not clashes.  I hate all the yellows I've brought home so far.  Seriously, you should see our kitchen.  I have this one wall where I keep testing the colors, there are probably 7 shades of yellow there and I hate them all.  I know that I know that I KNOW I want yellow though.  Our theme in there is, or will be, Tuscan Italian Kitchen.  So it just has to be yellow!  I looked at other colors and I don't like them...or I do but they definitely wouldn't match!

I want yellow walls, and creamy white cabinets with oil rubbed bronzed hardware, and beautiful butcher block counter tops.  Possibly a back splash too - and lots of red and bronze or wrought iron accents.  I can see it in my head and it's lovely.  Here are some inspirational pics, stolen from Pinterest...one of my greatest loves and obsessions;)

This one is beautiful but a little too country for me, I want my yellow to be less buttery, more bright and brownish in a burnt, Italian way;)   Its all about the accents too - our accent will be more Italian...



In this next one, I love the yellow of these tiles, it's close the the color I want if I can ever find it!!!  Our hardware (already purchased) is bronze though...



and this one with darker butcher block - I don't know if I want to go that dark because it wouldn't match our floors but it's still beautiful, I love the bronze hardware:



Tonight my friend Katie (HOLLA!) and I went to Lowes and I bought two more little sample cans of yellows...I have to have the samples to actually paint on my wall - because they are SO different on those little cards then they are in real life.  I agonized, yet again, over the perfect color.  It's out there somewhere!!  Hopefully one of these two will be it.

 I had a bad experience at Home Depot last week, so I am boycotting them this time around with buying paint.  I stood at the counter for about 20 minutes while the guy there was just helping EVERYONE else around me...totally ignoring me even though I had already asked him a question and he knew I needed samples.  What is worse, is that the people around me KNEW I had been there for a while, yet not one of them said, "Oh this lady was here first, you can help her..." which is totally something I would say if a clerk tried to help me first.  The world is a selfish place sometimes, isn't it?  I was not a happy customer...but I am not one to make a big stink to anyone, I'll just take my business else for now.  I'm sure I'll be back again for other things, but the paint section won't be seeing me for a while!

As I make the list of what needs to be done, I am struggling with what needs to be done first, second, etc.  Plus, I have to take $ into account.  We don't have a few extra grand laying around right now for the countertops or a back splash.  I don't know how much all that is going to cost, but I know it's going to be the most expensive part of the project.  Should we wait until we can afford it or go on with what we can afford and take care of the $$$ parts later.  Here is the list of to-dos:

1.  Rip up linoleum floor and replace with our extra Pergo flooring to match the rest of the 1st level
2.  Clean, sand, and paint the cabinets - we are refinishing them ourselves.  I've seen it done on Young House Love and I am convinced we can make them look like thousand dollar cabinets.
3.  Paint the walls
4.  Find and install a backsplash
5.  Install open shelves on our small empty wall for decor and use of space
6.  Add Italian accents (pops or red and wrought iron and rustic looking pieces)
7.  Paint the ceiling
8.  Replace the lighting - we have super awful fluorescent in there - GROSS.  I am envisioning a bronze type pendant(s) in there
9.  Add hardware to cabinets (already purchased from O.com)
10.  Add some sort of decor or interest to the soffits - I loathe all that empty wasted space (maybe old wine bottles on shelves?)
11.  add crown molding, possibly
12.  Eventually, down the road, replace all the appliances.  Right now they are all white and boring.  We want stainless steel

It's a long, expensive list.  It's overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.  I've never done this before, it's so huge that I scream a little in my head when I think about it!  But I am itching to get started on SOMETHING.  That's why I am obsessing over the paint a little bit.  I have picked out the paint for the trim and the cabinets - I happy with those colors.  Now I just need to find that elusive yellow...I'll keep you posted!!


Night!

Wegman deals, HomeGoods goodies, and more!

Happy Monday!

Was everyone as tired as I was today??  It was absurd, I can't be that tired!  I think it's the cold and the winter and the fact that it just seems so dark all the time.  I could get away with being a vampire in these parts these days;)

Yesterday I went to Wegmans to score some deals with coupons.  I love Wegmans because its soooo fancy, they have really cool stuff there, and I think that above all around here they have the best match ups for coupons.  I love shopping at ShopRite usually, because they have great deals beyond coupons although they do have some good match ups too, and I haven't had a lot of luck at Giant but I haven't tried too hard there yet because I don't go as much.  Wegmans never fails me though, when I shop there it feels like I am on Extreme Couponing watching the total get lower and lower and it is exciting!!  Here is what I bought last night:

2 pantene pro V

5 Ivory body wash (these smell DElightful!)

3 skintamit shave gels

2 International Delight (could have bought more but we don't have any more space in the freezer:/)

1 bag of Frozen veggies

1 French's Honey Mustard

2 jars Tabasco sauce

6 Sauve Shampoo/Conditioner

2 Boxes of Velveeta dinners (good for quick meals in a hurrrry)

1 Bag of Wegman brand chips

The total before sales a coupons was $55.77 and some change, and after coupons and deals I paid 23.16!  That's almost a 60% savings!  Yipee!!  No, it's still not 90% like the women on the show, I really DO NOT know how they do that...I am really trying.  Plus, I have enough bath & beauty products for me and Ash, and lots for Dave too, to last us over a year.  That's an awesome stockpile.  I only buy when I can get really great deals - otherwise I wouldn't bother stocking more!  I was pretty excited at the register, so was the guy that was the cashier - I chatted about how I find the deals and all that.  So fun!  Still room for improvement but I'll take it!

Tonight, we had a nice family night.   We went out to Chili's (coupon for free chips and queso in hand, always take a coupon!) then we went all around spending our Christmas gift cards.  Best Buy, Aero, AE, and ending with HomeGoods.  We had a good time!  Here was a fun find in HG:

 Dave's big joke with these was if they were dishwasher safe.  I actually think we should buy one, they are cute.  I could find a wall for one of them somewhere...sweet!

Enough of the jokes (no...but seriously want one) here are some things I did buy with my card from my sweet MIL:

 A globe.  Because, what is a house that is themed around travel if it does not have a globe?!  I scored this baby for $12.99.  Not too shabby! 

 Here is a wider shot of it on top of our shelf in a "NYC" dining area.  I love it already and can't imagine life without it;)

Then I bought these pillows, we've been looking all around for new pillows.  The silver one was supposed to be a pair but we couldn't find it in the store anywhere, so they marked it down for me.  Altogether the pillows were $35 and again...I love them and don't know how I ever lived without them!  LOL.

It's been a productive few days, in some ways.  In other ways, not so much.  The house is still a mess, coupons still need to be cut, laundry needs putting away, etc.  Can't win them all!  Tomorrow night is set aside to get stuff like that done.  For now, I need to go to bed - I need my sleep!  Night!

Owl be crazy!

I'm really loving owls right now.  Like, really loving them!  I am trying NOT to cover our whole house with them.  Why do I love them?  IDK...I think it started with loving Hedwig so much in HP.  Also, they are adorable - really!  I know they are strange birds, but that is what makes them so cute.  They ask, "who?" all the time too, there's something really funny about that;)

Look at this little guy I found at Good Will!  I hate his colors, but I hearteth him....

 I want to spray paint him white like Hedwig and use him as decor in our London themed living room, so...

 I borrowed this spray paint from mom.  I love spray paint!!  You can see a very blurred and worried Frodo there on the floor.  Don't worry bub - it's not time for your makeover;)  Anyways, here he is all done!!

 Isn't he so sweet!!  I shall love him forever and ever!  Here he is in his new home,

Sorry - my camera really really stinks.  I need a new one!!  Anyways, here he is sitting on our shelf.  Since this pic was taken, I've moved that wedding pic and put all our HP hardcover books on this shelf next to him.  They make great decor with the London theme.

Here is another owl that has since come to live with us!  He was my grandad's wise ol garden owl.  He was living on my parents porch and mom and I were out there and I was green with envy for him, so mom gave him to me!  She says he is a little scary, but I think he is too cute!  Again, bad photography...sorry...I promise one day it'll get better!

And another little owl friend, for our 1 year anniversary Dave got me this sweet owl charm and the shamrock charm.  I love this little guy too!

Anyone else feeling the owl thing lately?  I'm determined to have an owl nursery, when the time comes to have said nursery.  Not yet, thank you!!

Speaking of owls, sort of, I'm breaking down and reading HP 7, did I mention that already?  With the movie coming up, I just had to!

Clifford Makeover

When Dave & I first bought Clifford (our big red couch) my plan was to switch out the pillows every season.  The pillows that we picked out for Clifford are cute and all - polka dot multi colored thangs:



Ok so it's hard to see them here, they looked sorta striped.  But they are dots, in a row, all different colors.  Anyways, I'm sick of them.  Too matchy matchy.  Clifford needed a face lift!  Originally I was going to make covers for these, I wanted to add hints of yellow & green in here, I'm dying to layer some color in.  Since our (to be) Tuscan kitchen is yellows and hints of reds and green, and our NYC dining room is red and black with hints of yellow and green, I wanted to continue the color scheme through our London family room. 

But...my friend Katie & I were in IKEA and I saw these pretty white-ish pillow cases, all for under $10.  I found the embroidered one and though, "man, that is really English looking!  and so cute!"  Katie agreed.  So we started pulling different white-ish pillow cases until I found a system I loved!!  It looks so cute on Clifford, really brightens him and the room up:

 I love how the whole attitude of the room has changed now!  I love how it is DIFFERENT and still flows with the rest of the house, but it has it's own personality now.  I talk about the design likes it's living or something...lol.  Anyways, its so fun!  I also love mixing the patterns and textures.  It's a nice layer effect.  Here is a wider shot:

See how it opens and lightens up our room?  Love it!  Please excuse our lack of curtains here, I have to figure out how to work curtains on these windows - it'll be tricky getting the curtain rods up on this ones??  Here is another shot:



I like them way better then the polka dot ones, they were TOO, now that I am seeing a lighter option!  Maybe the darker ones can be our "winter" pillows?  So the three square pillows are our original pillows with covers on them.  The rectangle embroider pillow is new all around, the case was $10 and the pillow was $3.  The 3 square covers where $6 each for the two blue dots and $7 for the solid, textured white.  So $32 altogether for this couch makeover!  Not to shabby:)  I love Ikea!

Reading Challenge update:  still on Uglies!  I have a list of books to read that is grown a mile a minute!  I can't keep up!!!  I also was to break down and read HP SOOOO bad!  Maybe not all of it, maybe just book 7 - it's too hard to stay away;)



Good Will Hunting

I think I've said already that my mom and I have been going to Good Will a lot.  I've been finding all sorts of goodies that I can re purpose (like spray paint or decoupage, etc).  I love doing this - it's a new hobby!!  What is better then finding something SUPER cheap - O and making it pretty again!

Case & point, I bought these 5 ugly brass candle sticks...

 ....and using these simple tools (rustoleum hammered paint, a wire wool sander thing-a-ma-bob ((that's it's official name of course)) and a damp rag) I can create something beautiful!!  I scrubbed the brass candle sticks down with the thing-a-ma-bob to get all the rough stuff off and to help the paint stick.  Then I wiped them down with the rag to get all the extra stuff off.

 Then I spray painted them 2-3 times on this side, then I turned them over after letting them dry to the touch (about hour just to be sure, the can says you can touch it after 15 mins) and sprayed them again, making sure I got the tops and the bottoms so all the brass yuckiness is completely covered.  I hate brass, did I say that already?  So gross...

 Here is my finished product!  Aren't they so cute?

They look like new!  I love how they look up on my shelf in our dining room.  I actually like them without any candles in them, all different heights!  I may put sticks in them eventually.

Love it!  I get all giddy when I re purpose things.  Its fun!

I also bought this old mirror.  I didn't take any pre pics (sorry!) I was so into my spray painting!  I just took it out there while I was waiting for the candle sticks to dry.  It was white with weird windmills and flowers painting all over it.  I sanded this and wiped it down, and then sprayed it the same color...

It now lives in our master bath on this weird shelf thing we have behind our bathtub.  I wanted to get a mirror to keep our candles on.  Makes it a little...romantic with all the light reflecting in the mirror.  Our "city" theme in here is the Mediterranean, although we haven't done a lot with it yet.  Hence the pretty blue vases, also Good Will finds!

See how nice the mirror looks?!  The last time we went to the Good Will was a glass themed trip.  It seemed like my mom and I bought lots of glass!  I bought this cool apothecary jar and two little tea light candle holders that I have stacked together here for some interesting height.  They live on "the shelf" for now...

 

FYI my camera sucks.  I just got it in November, but it sucks.  I want a really nice one next, with all the lens and all that!  Maybe when I start my new job!

Anyways, that's all for now.  I've got other Good Will things to work on, and will be sharing them this week!  Have you done anything like this before? 

I have started reading Uglies but Scott Westerfield.  Should be finished in a day or two, review to come! 

Night!

Oh Rustoleum, how I have found you!

....just wanted you to know that I bought "hammered" nickel colored Rustoleum spray paint today to "re purpose" some Good Will findings!

My mom and I have this new tradition of going to Good Will on Wednesdays because it's Senior day and unfortunately but fortunately, she qualifies for.  So we spend an hour looking around for stuff we really do NOT need, but it's fun anyways.  You know what they say, trash....treasure...all that.  I love seeing the potential in things:)  I've spent (well, actually...mom buys the stuff and adds it as part of my payment for helping her this summer) around $20 on some really cute stuff!  All to be revealed in good time...

Anyways, I have been spray painting away and I shall share these things with you tomorrow, since it's 10:31 pm EST and taking pictures with my stinky camera wouldn't do the newly painted guests any justice!

I used to think spray painting was dumb and such a no-no...but apparently there is this whole new wave of spray painting goodness going on in the decor world, and I am glad to be a part of it!!  Woo hoo!!!  Where do I sign in?

Anyone else spray painting things?

Honeymoon and such...

Well, no this is not about my Honeymoon!  LOL!!!  Actually, maybe I'll slip some honeymoon in here to brighten the post later!

Anyways, I finished Honeymoon by James Patterson:

Oh was this a chilllllller!!!  It's about dear Nora Sinclair.  Beautiful, rich, loving....murderer!!!  This lady has got it out for men, so beware!  When an FBI agent gets on her tail, he finds it hard to look past the good and see the...well...seriously evil!  Its a GOOD read, you'll want to finish it, maybe with a whole body shudder!



My next book will be Water for Elephants.  I know I know, the movie is out and I do intend to see it but only after I read it. I don't like seeing movies before reading books.  Some people say that it ruins the movie, I think the other way around lol!  It ruins the book!  Since the book usually always comes first, I like to read the story in it's entirety before seeing the dumbed down version in a movie.  Sorry, I really love movies - I really do, but when it's competition between book and movie, the book always wins in my book!!  Ok that was cheesy!

I've been working a lot for my mom this week, so I really have not done a lot in our house to boast of here on my bliggity blog - but I promise I have some really fun ideas brewing. Also more on the home decor front - I'm getting tons of inspiration from Pinterest!!  I'll be picking a paint soon for our kitchen, and redoing the cabinets.

I want to make fun things to put in our home and make it more..."us".  So more on that later!  In the mean time, I'll be helping my momma get their house redecorating and renovated.  I'll post pics of it soon, because it will be going up for sale if anyone is interested in buying a 4 bedroom single family home right in the middle of Bel Air:)

That's all for now.  Hope everyone is having a pleasant evening!!  Oh and as I promised...a happy photo to leave you with - taken last summer on our honeymoon in Punta Cana:)

Pinterest obsession, DIY ideas galore, and the beach!

I am fairly obsessed right now with Pinterest now!!!  It's a website with millions of pictures of STUFF - home decor, food, clothes, people, ideas, places, jewelry....EVERYTHING.  You need to be invited to join (I'll invite you if interested) and then you can start pinning away - you pin the things you love and make pinboards of different things, you can name categories yourself and pin things into them to make the boards.  It's addicting...believe me.  Don't join if you don't want to lose hours of your life!!  DO join if you want fun, inspiration and ideas about everything and anything!

I have found so many fun DIY projects I want to do.  Look at this dress....its made out of a tank top and a few yards of fabric...I'm totally going to make a dress like this next week!  It's called the Alice Dress.  Yes Please!



and what about this little project?



you buy a whole bunch of candle holders from good will - and spray paint them all different colors for such a fabulous effect!  Something else I am going to try next week!!

how about inspiration for our kitchen?!?!  dark butcher block countertops, creamy dreamy cabinets and oil rubbed bronzed fixtures?!?  HECK YES!!



OOOOO I love me some Pinterest!!

As for my outfit today, I'm putting together something that looks like this, for our drive to the beach:



Minus the $8,000 purse of course!  I wish I had a Berkin bag, but we just aren't that rich yet;)  But the white/gray/jeans and chunky silver jewelry I can do!!  My shoes with be red fake snake skin (from AE) instead of leopard print - since I dont have those (yet!!)

Ok, enough about my new found love obsessions! 

Dave & I are off to Atlantic City today!  We are taking a lover's getaway to the beach to relax, maybe play some slots, eat yummy food, walk the boardwalk, dance, swim in the big pool at Trump Plaza, and just have a good time together.  I hope we win 1000's of dollars!  But that won't happen!  I usually win a little bit, but we never win big.  Its ok, it is just nice to get away and have a good time.  We get free rooms all the time at Trump Plaza (seriously, its nice...they send us about 4 free rooms every quarter so we dont have to pay for the hotel - it's how they get you in there to gamble your savings away LOL) and we really like it there.  No it's not the Iberostar Grand, but we'll take it;)

What is everyone else up to this weekend?  I have big plans for my week after we get home.  I am excited to be a housewife again and get working on a whole bunch of DIY projects for our house!!! 

Happy Saturday!  Still working on the Honeymoon by James P...review to come!

Project progress

I've been working on our "entry way" in our town home.  We actually honestly don't have an entry way, we just call this space right under our stair case our entry way.  Anyways, I re-purposed this an IKEA sofa table, it was beautiful and looked like new....only to find it was way to big for the spot.  The spot is sort of awkward.  It looks way to plain to NOT have something there.  But only a certain size shelf or table will fit.  It used to look like this:

So many issues here.  The white didn't match a single thing in our family room.  Plus, it was so open and showed all our junk!  Our cube shelf behind the dining room table helped with that.  While I love the IRISH stuff, we have to find a new place for Ireland, because it was too much green in this space - it didn't match!  Frodo's kitty condo got nixed from here too, it's fun for him but way too ugly for our public space!

So here is what we ended up with:

We had this shelf from Target in the basement, so we brought it up and it fits nicely in the space.  Don't worry we still have to jazz it up and decorate it.  The B I bought from JoAnns and painted black/brown which matches all our furniture. 

For our wedding we got adorable little cocktail plates that have cities on them.  We hardly every use them for parties (always use plastic for parties!  lol) so I decided to use them for decoration.  What do you think?

There are six different plates that have six different cities on them.  I love them here because it introduces our "travel" theme in the house (London in the family room, NY in the dining, Tuscany in the Kitchen, Paris in the bedroom, etc...)  We still have to fill that shelf with stuff.

 Close up!

 As for how I hung them, I stole borrowed a little idea from Young House Love where you trace your pictures on newspaper or ads and cut them out.  Then, with painting tape, you hang them up and move them around until your heart is content with the placement.  This way, you don't ruin your walls by putting lots o holes in them!

You measure down where your nail will hang off the frame, or in this case, the plate and draw an X on your ad where the nail will go.  Then, put your nail right through the X.....

 It's a genius idea.  My walls thank Young House Love and whoever else thought of this idea, it is truly genius!!  So anyways...then you have all your nails up and you just slip the paper out from under them.  The painters tape allows you to stick the paper to the walls and remove them without ripping paint off.  Genius....

Then you hang all your lovely pictures, or plates, viola - all done!!!

Here is a close up shot of one of the plates, LONDON of course:)

So that is what I was working on this week!  I'm also about halfway done Bella Tuscany.  I'm off to read that now...I have to get to bed early since Career Day is tomorrow!  It's my first as a school counselor! 

Have a great week everyone!!

Totally redeeming myself....

After getting NOTHING done over the past two weeks, I am proud to say I've been getting soooo much done.  I miss staying at home, I need to be a homemaker - which I'd never thought I'd want to do!!!  Is that what marriage does to women?  I want to be all domestic and 50's like...it's so weird. 

Anyways, I've cleaned my downstairs for the most part - I still need to do the baseboards and the walls and a few of the windows, but the floors and all the surfaces and the kitchen is clean and the clutter that has built up is gone. 

Last night I made dinner and cookies, and they turned out so lovely, see:

I also started working on the "launch pad" table for our foyer, and it's looking good.  I can't wait to finish it (tonight) and set it up so I can start hanging the cute little city plates up and our "B" for Bland, its going to be so cute! 

I also when shopping today, yay!!  I don't shop for me much, as in clothes and girly stuff.  But Dave & I decided that this pay we would spend a little bit on us.  I needed NICE clothes, stuff to wear to work and church and out, some of my work clothes are years old and are old and don't fit right, they need to be thrown away.  So this am I hopped in the car all by myself and went to the Lancaster Outlets.  Dave had to sleep all day, and honestly I love shopping alone, because I don't have to worry about someone waiting on me or wanting me to hurry up - I can take my time and do my own thing.  It was so fun!  I went to Gap and Banana and got a LOT of stuff for under $130.  Then I came back and went to Kohl's and bought a cute dress for $21 thanks to a coupon:)

I even helped mom out yesterday for a few hours, we demo'd the sink in their bathroom, it was a learning experience and really fun.  Now I can know out our sink/countertop when we re-do our bathroom instead of paying someone $1000 to do it!  Wooo!

Tonight we were supposed to be at the O's game in Baltimore, we drove down there and ate at Pickles Pub, went into the stadium only to learn the game was postponed because of rain.  Boooo.  It's ok though, we automatically get to go to the make up, and hopefully it'll be a nicer, warmer, sunnier day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring Break/Easter Weekend!!  I know I am!  Remember the reason we get to celebrate this time of year...it's important:)



A re-do or re-don't? Definitely a re-DO!

I have this IKEA chest that I bought a few years ago.  It's seen better days!  It's kinda beat up from moving twice with it, and a little dirty from its years with me.  See?

Please ignore the ugly carpet.  One day it'll be replaced!  Anyways, now the chest lives in my craft room (still organizing this room, its coming a long and really cute!) and for now I am keeping all the fabric I own for sewing projects (I have a lot, I'm not sure what to do with it all) inside of it.  I wanted to make it cute, but it was hard because it was so beat up.

 I'm going with English Country Garden theme down here....with green and white being the main colors, but with yellows and pinks thrown in - really girly honestly, but in a cute way:)  So I bought some pretty green & white contact paper at the Dollar Store and tried a little something:

I covered the top with the paper!  I think it's really cute, plus it hides all that damage the poor thing sustained in being owned by me. The green looks a little bright in this pic, its more sage green then lime, I need to figure out how to edit my Iphone pics to look nice. 

So, altogether, this little fun decor project cost less than $1 (I didn't use the whole roll of contact paper).  Now I'm wondering what else I can remake with this paper!!!  Gotta love a cheap project!  Not to mention, it wasn't time consuming at all.

Have any of you used contact paper to re-make something?

Linking up with:

Link Party! @ A bowl full of lemons!

Sicky McSickerton...

That's what Dave & I are calling each other right now.  Its awful.  I think I have the flu - it's so awful!  I feel soooooo.....fluish inside and out.  UGH!  I haven't been able to blog because of how icky I feel!

I haven't really been able to read that much either.  Can you believe that?  Too sick to hold up a book!  I started reading Committed by Glibert, it's really good so far I can tell I will like it.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get a bit more reading done and maybe post my review.  Such slowing going this month - I can't catch a break!

Plus the "to do" list is piling up.  It's hard when BOTH of us are sick, because neither of us have the energy to tackle cooking or cleaning.  When we are hungry, we've ordered out.  Mostly though, we haven't been hungry:(  Tonight we really thought about toughing up and going out to DuClaw, until I tried to get dressed and almost passed out from the sheer exhaustion of just getting dressed!  So Dave, being a wonderful hubby and feeling much better now than I do, is going out to pick up some much needed groceries (i.e. cat food, milk, oj) and is ordering us food from DuClaw and bringing it home to me...so lovely!  I feel the end of the illness is in sight, my head isn't as foggy and I don't feel that I have a fever anymore (last night it got up to 101.2) so yay for getting better!

Hopefully this weekend I can get around to putting together the bed that the lovely Conklins just dropped off to us - we need a bed in our 3rd bedroom for guests and Crystal and Mark happened to have a super cute extra one now since they are moving!  Its from Pottery Barn and it really sweet.  We may have to reconfigure the furniture arrangement in the bedroom to fit it nicely.  But, all the best things are free!!  I also want to tackle moving all the craft stuff in that room down to the craft room - I've been dying to jazz up and fill my beautiful craft room but I just haven't had the time or I've been too sick!  That will be one big project together, since all my stuff is currently in the 3rd bedroom.  So when I get better, that will be what I am doing next in our home:)

Here's to getting better, getting some house stuff done, and reading more - *clink* with my ginger ale cup;)

NYC project reveal...

 I've been thinking about putting a "label" in each room (city/country) of our house.  Some obvious, some not so much, and none the same as the others.  Anyways, I wanted to start with NYC in the dining room since we are doing some work in there right now.  I originally wanted these to go on the shelf, but they aren't big enough - their size doesn't fit with the shelf.  I looked at the big letters in joAnn, but they looked SO big...too big, but I guess they weren't!  Anyways, I started these and thought I can jazz up a wall with them, and just leave the pic that's on the shelf there for now.  So here is what I started with...

The letters ($1.99 each at joAnn), Modge Podge ($3.99), the Downtown Loft scrapbook paper (on sale from $19.99 to $9.99) and a pack of paintbrushes - I can always use paint brushes ($7.99/pk) plus I had a 40% off coupon so I spend less than $30 on all of it.  Not bad, not bad!  So I cut out pieces of the scrapbook paper I liked the most and modge podged them haphazardly on the letters for a fun but modern look.  I love how it turned out!

 So swanky, right?  I love all the colors together, and there are pops of red and brown/black and camel colors that compliment our walls and furniture, as well as lots of other bright colors introduced into our room for some pop.  I love them!!  I love the subway numbers, and the road signs...some of my faves like Broadway and 5th and Canal...so fun!  Up they go...

 I decided on this part of the wall above the windows for now - its empty space and I've always wanted to put something there!  Here's a whole room view...

 Doesn't it look nice?!?

Ok so I've got some more picture/art/plate hanging to do in here, and then this room is down for now - except for curtains down the road...

I used the command sticky picture hangars on the letters, $4.99/pk at Target.  So if we do decide to move the NYC, its easy to do with minimal damage to our wall.  I love being crafty!