Friday, August 30, 2013

Friday's Crush #7

If you know me or have been reading my blog for a while, it should come as no surprise that I am a fan of navy. I've posted about how I have painted the armchairs in our family room and I even try to add pops of blue around our home. It helps keep things more cohesive I think.

Today's crush is all about navy- specifically two dresses that I found online and wish I owned myself.

 

I LOVE, love, LoVe the rope belt on this navy dress. It's very sophisticated and beachy at the same time.

 

I have a dress very similar to the one above. However, my dress isn't as clean and navy as this one either. The ruffles and the tied bow at the waist is so adorable. I would probably wear this all the time if I had it. When I looked at the website that carried it, I found that it comes in 4 other colors besides navy. And the price is pretty reasonable too.
I may just have to purchase one. ;)


These two are my crushes for today's post. What do you think?
I hope you all have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Adding Some Color to a Coffee Filter Wreath

I love simple DIY projects because they are quick and easily transform any space.
The project I completed is no different.




I added a coffee filter wreath to our dining room a little bit ago and while it turned out to be a quick and beautiful project, there was something missing....

What was missing you ask? ;)
Some color!!


We had a plain white coffee filter wreath before and I went out and bought 2 bouquets of hydrangeas at JoAnn's with a coupon and added it to our wreath.
I placed the other flowers in different parts of our home because there were enough to be able to do that so I will post more on that later.
 


Isn't it lovely?

I don't know why I didn't think of doing it before either.
It was one of those "non-planned" purchases while I was just browsing JoAnn's one day with my oldest daughter and once I saw them I knew I wanted to buy a few.

Love, love, LOVE it!

Flowers add so much warmth and pretty to a home, don't you think?


Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Adding Beadboard to our Wall Coat Rack

It turned out great and we love it, but I wanted to use our leftover beadboard wallpaper from the kitchen in this area to.


Before, we had an empty wall space that was screaming for an update and some texture.



So I decided to use my leftover beadboard wallpaper from a previous project to add texture to this space.




It already started looking better once the first sheet was up.
And, it was a pretty quick project to complete. :)


I even have a little bit of wallpaper left....hmmm...
what other projects can I use this with? :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Updating An Outdoor Wreath

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We had a friend visiting us from Texas this weekend so I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but it was worth it because we all had a good time catching up. We got to spend some time at the beach, out at restaurants, and we even got to play a sweet domino game while the little one was sleeping...our oldest was up playing with her Legos right next us and she was having a blast. :)

I got to do a few small projects I will share this week and the next.
The first one was something I completed in like 30 minutes or less...

Our front door wreath needed a little update so instead of purchasing a new one, I decided to add some coffee filters to the existing one to spruce it up a bit.


This was the before...it worked great for a year and looking back at this picture, I still love it. But I really wanted to change it up a bit.

Here is how it looks now after I added the filters.




I think I am going to add ribbon to hang it from so it hangs a little lower than where it is at now. 
Adding the filters definitely fluffed it up a bit more and made it more substantial.
Plus, it was free to do!!

Have you ever used coffee filters for home projects?


Thanks for stopping by!


Friday, August 23, 2013

Friday's Crush #6

Happy, happy Friday!
Man, this year is really flying by, isn't it?
Cannot believe we are practically at the end of August, but we have been really enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having. It feels like fall on certain days and I have no problem with that! ;)

Today's crush is all about adding some pizzazz to plain curtains.

I have been wanting to add some fabric to the bottom on our plain white curtains in the dining room and was searching for ways to do that online. I came across a blog some of you are probably familiar with called Isabella & Max Rooms. Here is a picture of how her curtains turned out once she added some beautiful red fabric to them.

 


Isn't it gorgeous?

I am excited to try it out and see how it dresses up our curtains...but first I need to purchase the fabric. 


Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Backsplash Complete!

Well, we finally got all of it up last night and we even have some leftover wallpaper. Woohoo!
We are pretty excited about having a kitchen backsplash now for way under $20.00.

I plan on using the leftovers in this space to add more texture. I think it will look great once I get it up.

But for now, we are just pretty happy with having the beadboard wallpaper in our kitchen.
Take a look at how it turned out!



The first two pictures show the process of hanging out wallpaper.
These last few show the completed look and it makes our kitchen much lighter!

I know dark cabinets aren't for everybody, but we happen to really LOVE ours, just in case you were wondering. ;)





So much better now that we have an actual backsplash! YAY!

Have you used wallpaper before? What are your thoughts on it?


Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

DIY Paper Towel Holder

So this project was sort of a DIY...I already had the tools and items needed to make our hanging towel rack from under our kitchen wall cabinets...so it was free to do! Got to love that! :)

I have been looking for ways to de-clutter the counter-tops in our kitchen and finding a way to hang out kitchen paper towels from our cabinets was a good place to start.



Yes, those are screen replacements that I used and screws to hang up our towel holder. 
It may not be the best way to hang our paper towels, but it was free for me!
Besides, who is going to be looking under our cabinets when they come over?





How do you keep your kitchen towels on handy?


Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

What's For Dinner?

I receive a few cooking magazines, courtesy of my wonderful mom and mother-in-law.
I usually just keep tabs on the recipes I would like to try and save them for later, but I decided to go ahead and try out the recipes listed in the Family Circle magazine I get. Thankfully, they map out a monthly plan of meals to try so we are good for a while. :)

First up, I made stuffed green peppers with cheese.

Here is the simple recipe if you want to try it out...I also added some seasoning and corn to the mix but you can really add whatever you want to it.




These were a family hit and I would definitely make them again!


Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Such a Tease...

So we got a small part of the wallpaper up this weekend and are pretty excited about it!

I will post more pictures later in the week of our kitchen (hence the title of the post today) and can't wait to share them.

Here is where we were at before the beadboard backsplash went up.





The paint on our walls is from Sherwin Williams and is called Relaxed Khaki. We get a lot of compliments about it. It's a great neutral wall color if anyone is wondering.

And here is a sneak peek of our backsplash...


After we took off the switch plates...


We actually had to redo one of our pieces because our cuts weren't straight and it was pretty noticeable.


But now that it is up and dry, it looks pretty good!
Now we just need to get the rest of our kitchen done.
I am actually glad our kitchen isn't that large because it would probably take us 2 weeks to finish.



Stay tuned for more coming later in the week.
Sorry we didn't have it all complete. It actually took way longer than we thought and since we worked a little at night, we only got one section done.


Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Beadboard Backsplash

So most of you who have been reading blogs for a while now have noticed that most kitchens have white cabinets. It has really been hard to find darker cabinets around the blog land but I have found a few. I only found one other blog with lighter cabinets than ours that did the whole wallpaper beadboard backsplash and it looks pretty darn good.
See for yourself!

 



I seriously cannot WAIT to get started on this. We are still not sure if we will be adding some kind of trim around the tops and the bottom of the wallpaper. If we do add trim, it may not be for a while because we would like to live with how the look for a little bit before committing to adding something else.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Thursday everyone!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Kitchen BackSplash Purchase

Hello, hello everyone!

Well, the family and I took a trip to our local Lowe's and went ahead and bought a roll!



Here it is sitting in our kitchen just waiting to be put up! :)
It was under $20 for it and we think it will cover the areas of the kitchen we want. If we need more than we can always go out and get another roll...but it would be nice if this one roll covered all the area we need. 

I am a little nervous about putting it up because I have never tried to put up wallpaper before...but there are plenty of sites online that show a step-by-step of the process, so we just plan on following what we read. ;)

Hopefully we can apply the wallpaper this weekend. Here's to that!!

Have you ever applied wallpaper like this before? Is it pretty easy?


Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friday's Crush #5

Today's crush has me thinking all about wallpaper backsplash in the kitchen.
Specifically, the paintable beadboard wallpaper found here.

allen + roth Beadboard Paintable Wallpaper 

I have seen it on a few blogs in other people's kitchens and it turns out looking great. Most people seem to have it paired with white cabinets, but we are not planning on painting our cabinets in the near future...or ever really. TDC's blog has a great picture of her kitchen- dark cabinets like ours and she has the beadboard backsplash. It turned our really nice.

beadboard backsplash 
bright kitchen, wood cabinets 
We even have black appliances like what is pictured above and the backsplash looks really good with them.

It's pretty cheap to have this kind of backsplash in the kitchen and since our kitchen isn't that large, it would be a very cost-effective option for now.



The "little brown house" did it in her kitchen and it looks great too!

IMG_6445

Southern Hospitality blog used the wallpaper too and it looks fantastic....amazing how real this looks compared to the real-thing!


So at some point we are adding a backsplash to our kitchen...that will all just depend on when it fits in with our budget and our time!

Has anyone else used this stuff? What do you think of the wallpaper?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Loving Me Some Green Geometric Prints

I have been wanting to purchase some geometric print fabric for a while now. I haven't had the chance to browse JoAnn fabrics in a while, but I have been able to browse some fabric website briefly and found some beautiful fabric I would love to buy.

One of my go-to online fabric stores is called Fabric.com. I have purchased some fabrics from them before and they are really great!
There are two fabrics I have been crushing on and they happen to be on sale...BUT, I don't think I am going to buy anything just yet.

Richloom Solarium Outdoor Keyes Kiwi

This one is my absolute favorite!! It's so pretty and the lines are amazing. I do wish the color was a bit darker but I do think it would look nice on some pillows in our family room and on the storage bench we have in the playroom.

Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Cadence Greenage 

This is another favorite of mine. I like that the lines look a little bit like bamboo...don't you think so?

I am hoping these go on sale for a little bit less than $7.00 a yard...but if not, then I may get a few yards of one of them.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Summer Gardening Tricks & Tips

This post is a nice follow-up to yesterday's post. 
I recently stumbled upon a great site for gardening and lawn care.
It's called Task Easy and they even have a blog offering tips on how to take care of your lawn and garden. Sweet!
This is great especially since we have been slowly working on our outdoor space.

Below are some great tips I copied from here. If you want to check them out, just click here.


 To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you’ll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can’t collect beneath them. Then, after you’ve finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean. 

 To prevent the line on your string trimmer from jamming or breaking, treat with a spray vegetable oil before installing it in the trimmer.


 Little clay pots make great cloches for protecting young plants from sudden, overnight frosts and freezes.


 To create perfectly natural markers, write the names of plants (using a permanent marker) on the flat faces of stones of various sizes and place them at or near the base of your plants.

 Got aphids? You can control them with a strong blast of water from the hose or with insecticidal soap. But here’s another suggestion, one that’s a lot more fun; get some tape! Wrap a wide strip of tape around your hand, sticky side out, and pat the leaves of plants infested with aphids. Concentrate on the undersides of leaves, because that’s where the little buggers like to hide.

 The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don’t pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you’ll be amazed at how the plants respond to the “vegetable soup.”

 Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep the pH of the soil on the acidic side.

 Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliage spray.


Some neat tips, right??

These will really come in handy as we continue our outdoor progress. :)

Do you like gardening and working outside?


Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Planting Some Mums and Little Evergreens

We are slowly, but surely, working on sprucing up our front yard and backyard. Over the weekend, we planted some little flowers around our mailbox and we added 4 evergreen trees (little ones) around our big tree. We also added some pavers around the mailbox and trees in our yard to spiff them up a bit!

Take a look!


These are the flowers we bought at Home Depot and we planned on planting them by the mailbox.


And, yea, our mailbox is going to get repainted...we just haven't had the chance to do it quite yet. :)



These little beauties my hubby planted around our tall tree in the front yard. We also decided to add black mulch to fill in the areas and give it a nicer touch.




We even put our little helper to work and she loved it!




We are really, really loving the way all of this is turning out. Our yard is starting to have some curb appeal and it's looking good!


How do you add curb appeal to your home?


Thanks for stopping by!