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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Headboard idea...

Just saw this...



listed on Craigslist. 
Wouldn't this be so easy to DIY
(on a large scale) and use as a little
girl's headboard?  Hmmm...

I feel another project coming on!



Friday, February 17, 2012

Craigslist Freebies...

Inspired by Better After's Sunday Freebies post,
I decided to check out the freebies
available on my own town's Craigslist. 
I didn't find one listing for free dirt (dang),
but we've got lots of...

ROCKS!




And a chicken slum house... 

{be afraid, chickens, be very afraid}
More rocks...



 This is listed as a "Free Nice Hida Bed Couch." 
At least the "free" part is accurate...


Broken concrete (aka rock)...


A free porch.  Huh.
I'm all about "repurposing" things, but not sure how I would make this work...


Wood...


Ala "The Help," these folks have a toilet in their front yard...


And more wood...



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Kitchen Citrus Update


Just found this example of
"Best Use of Citrus as Decor in a  Kitchen"


If you can tear your eyes away from the Clooney Candy,
note the lemons on the counter. 
And also the large container of weed. 

Have a happy day!  :)

Friday, February 10, 2012

Kitchen Ramblings...

Please note that I'm making up for my lack of
post-frequency with post-size. 
This one's long...here we go.

So those posts I did about my 2012 Home Goals? 
That's going to be IT for goals for this year. 
I figure just those goals give me PLENTY to
do for at least the next few months
(and I've already started on some of them...YAY ME!) 
So maybe I'll do mid-year resolutions for
the rest of the house later.  But we'll see.

Anywhoooo...

One BIG project I want to take on this year
is re-doing our kitchen.  We can't afford a
total reno at this time, but I figure with
some new (not too expensive) flooring, painted
cabinets and some detail work,
we can get a lot of bang for our buck. 
Here are some kitchens that I love...


That blue painted hutch?  To die for!
The wall color in this kitchen is exactly like mine. 
I like the combo of the wall color, white
cabinets and dark wood (or laminate flooring).


I love the look of a big bowl full of limes on the
counter, but lord, who could ever eat that
many limes???  And plus, counter space is not
plentiful in my kitchen, so no limes for me. 
My countertops are currently occupado with mountains
of homework and artwork and books and
magazines and grocery lists and receipts and
notes from teachers and goodness knows what else. 
I love to see photos of picture-perfect homes,
but lordy, where is all their STUFF??? 
They obviously have housekeepers and chauffeurs and nannies.

But I digress.


More counter-hogging citrus.  Love the TV at the
end of the island (though my kitchen is too
small for that).  And again with the white
cabinets and dark-ish floors.  Love.
Oh, and to the folks over at KitchenAid? 
If you want to send me a stand mixer,
I will shamelessly promote you every day. 
I like this color:



Limes would look good in this kitchen,
but this homeowner chose lemons instead. 


Love these light pendants.  But my ceilings are
really low (like you can reach up and touch them. 
Really...it's like a cave in there) so pendant
lights would be impractical.  These homeowners
chose to go citrus-free.  HA! We'll have the last
laugh when they come down with scurvy.


We have a roughly U-shaped kitchen that
looks like this (do not be intimidated
by my mad graphic design skillz yo)...



There are cabinets over the breakfast bar that make my kitchen look like this:



But look what happens when we take down the cabinets...cue angels singing...
aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh....

Much better, yes?  Of course it is...this kitchen
is from one of the HGTV dream homes (or idea
homes, I don't remember which). 
Apples, not citrus.  I'll stop now.  But it's lovely, yes?

But...if we remove the overhead cabinets,
what do we do with all the crap treasures
that are stored there (i.e. lots and lots of
glasses, coffee mugs, wine glasses, etc.)?

Well, here's my thought.
We use the space under the "breakfast bar," which
we never use anyway, and repurpose the
overhead cabinets that we removed to create
some storage under the breakfast bar like this:

Minus the chicken wire...I don't
need people lookin' at my stuff.
We know that the cabinets are exactly the
same length as the breakfast bar, and
almost the same height.  We can either add
legs to the cabinets (to make it look more
like a piece of furniture) or set the cabinets
on the floor, leaving some space above them
for low baskets (like she's done above). 
And then finish it all off with trim, beadboard, etc. 
It will look like it was meant to be there.

What do you think? 
Has anyone had any experience with a project like this?

It's a major under taking, but I think it's do-able.

Whew...thanks for sticking with me on this one!

I'm working on a mood board...which I will share a later date.



Friday, February 3, 2012

I'm Participating...




Only one unfinished project?
Lord I don't even know where to start...




Thursday, February 2, 2012

Valentine's Day Cards

I've been looking online for some
printable cards for the kids. 
Look at the super-cuteness I found...


I think these are the ones for The Girl



...or these



For my co-workers



I used this one a few years ago for The Boy.


I think we'll use these this
year for The Boy (a little more
grown-up, and no I Love You's or
Be Mine's, which are a little
foofy when you're a 9-year-old boy.



SO CUTE!!!
{from
Amy Is The Party}



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

YAY Orange!

I'm psyched that Pantone's color of 2012
is my favorite color/scent/flavor...


Tangerine Tango!



I may have to add some
splashes of orange
(much to my husband's chagrin, I'm sure)
ala...

{from Life as a Thrifter}

...or...

{from thedecorologist.com}



Monday, January 30, 2012

Dreaming of subway tiles...

So I'm just on the verge of painting
my kitchen cabinets
(probably white, not green)
and I'm mentally on to the next project. 

Wouldn't white subway
tiles be just lovely? 

Do you think they
get dirty easily? 
In our last house we had
white tiled countertops and white tile
on the floor, and the grout got grungy. 

I wonder if the same happens to backsplash tiles?

{from Better Homes & Gardens}

{from Decor Pad}

{from House Designs School.  this one has me thinking about beige cabinets}

{from ilikewantneed.com}

{from My Home Ideas}

{from rejuvenation.com}

{from Southern Living}

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Green Kitchen Cabinets?

What do you think?  Are green cabinets on the way out?  Too casual?  Too style-specific?














Wednesday, January 25, 2012

What I Wore Wednesday...

It's back!  What I Wore Wednesday.  And judging from this pic, I need to spend a little more time in the gym.  Just keeping it real.





Monday, January 23, 2012

More Home Goals for 2012...

Up next...the kids' rooms. 


P's room is OK, but her closet is a disaster. 
When I get around to organizing it,
I'll share the horrifying "before" pics. 
For now, here's my inspiration:

{from The Container Store}

{from Ladies Home Journal}

{from Moxie Girl}

The Moxie Girl website suggests involving
your child in the cleaning/organizing process.  
It's a nice idea, but one that will make this
1-2 hour project into a 1-2 day project. 
Think I'll do it myself.




Next, I'd like to make some
changes to T's room. 
His closet needs a little organizing
(with a backhoe), but this
time around I just want to
focus on two things: 
Getting his dresser painted,
and putting up some curtains.

He's got blinds on his window,
but it needs a little dressing up. 
Here are some ideas:

From Kim at Too Much Time on My Hands...



 I LOVE the stick/curtain rod idea,
but may not have the
patience to pull it off. 
I really like the simplicity
of the design though,
and this is what I'm going for. 

And check out her vintage "fly" letters. 
LOVE...



I also like the idea of white curtains
with red trim (to tie in with
other red things in his room)...

 {from Decor Pad}


Or maybe these...

 {from 517 Creations}


And I just plain love
everything in this room. 
Wish I could do these built-ins...

{from Thrifty Decor Chick}



Next up...living spaces!