Happy New Year's Eve!

Just wanted to pop in today and wish everyone a wonderful New Year's Eve!!

My oldest was a very good model for me and thankfully let me take a few pictures of her holding some ornaments. This was the one we decided to post. :)

Have a great last day of 2014 everyone!!

Random Musings and Other Things

In a few short weeks, the year 2014 will be over and it will be time to ring in a new year. 2015 is almost here and as I look back at this year, I am amazed at not only how quickly it went (does that happen to you guys?) but how wonderful it was as well.

We sold our last house quite quickly and moved to a new area and bought a "new" home. My hubby's commute to work is much better than it was before and we are both very happy about that! Our girls are healthy and growing and they play more and more with each other as the days pass. They even share a room now at night and LOVE it! :) We are so pleased about that. So many other things have happened that would be too much to mention here for now, but maybe another time.

Today, I just wanted to share some quick pictures I took around the home of things that make me happy to look at because they remind me of how you can create and make something your own if you just put your mind to it.

 
This kitchen has seen quite the change since we moved in a few months ago. We love it so much and are always doing something in here. That is probably why I take so many photos of it and it is always changing. We cook, bake, and eat here....all the time!

 

This picture of my hydrangeas got quite the attention on my Facebook page this week.
Hydrangeas are my favorite flower and I was so excited when a friend offered to give me a whole batch of them from her garden. I didn't even know you could dry hydrangeas out and still decorate with them! They are beautiful.  

 
This chair has seen a few transformations in its day and it is still going strong. You all know how much I love to thrift shop and this was one of those purchases back in the day when we bought our first house. It is very sturdy and has a beautiful shape, which is why I was drawn to it in the first place. Once you can see past the not-so-pretty in a piece, I say buy it and make it beautiful and your own!

 

 
These double French doors lead out to our deck. In our last house, we always talked about putting in French doors in the dining room, but now we don't have to because when we bought this home, they were already here! The original owners had painted them to look like wood, but I wasn't having it, so I painted them back to white. It opens things up a bit more and brightens the whole look of this room.

 
In the mornings, we love to eat breakfast at this little nook and stare out the large picture window. We don't have any curtains or blinds here and I would like to keep it that way. Deer will occasionally skitter back in the woods and onto our property.  

 
This door always makes me smile when I walk past it... not just because it is a wood door but also because this is where we keep our Christmas cards and letters from friends and family. More keeps coming too. :) We didn't do any Christmas cards this year, but we plan on it next year! I am sure it will be an interesting yet fun experience.

Hardwood floors....need I say more?! We didn't have any in the last house and desperately wanted to put some in, but couldn't afford it at the time. Love moving in to a place in which it has already been done. And that wall color, Sherwin Williams Intellectual Gray, LOVE it! We have it in our master bedroom as well (which I have yet to photograph).

And I leave you with one last picture of our oldest sleeping beauty. She can fall asleep just about anywhere when she is tired, unlike her younger sister who prefers her crib at nap time.
Both of our girls we call "princess" because, well, they are princesses (and in a good way)! ;)


This will probably be my last post for this year before the new year begins.
On that note, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...and hope that you know that the reason for this season is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love He brings!
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inexpensive Curtains- A Quick DIY Project

Hello, hello! Happy Wednesday. Is it Mid-Week already?! It goes by so quickly.

Well, like promised, I am back today with a post about how to create inexpensive curtains for your home for about 1/5 of the cost of what you would buy at any retail store.

While this post may not be inventive (and it is most likely something you have already heard before) I thought I would still share how we save some money on curtains since they can be a little pricey to purchase in my opinion- especially if you are looking to cover more than 10 windows (which was our case).

So a while back I had been on the hunt for some curtains for most of the rooms in our home. Since moving to a home with more space, we needed to find some curtains for the windows in our new home...we have so many windows in our new home and love that because our last house did not have as many. However, while we love that, what we don't love is the cost it takes to cover up windows in style.

Let me start with some simple math before going forward, bear with me:

We had 11 windows that needed new curtains and the cheapest I could find when I first researched was IKEA. Here were the options I found:

Option 1 from IKEA:

The LENDA curtain at 118"

Curtains with tie-backs, 1 pair at $35

That would cost us a total of $385   

While beautiful curtains, Ummmm...no thanks!!

 

 

Option 2 from IKEA:

The LENDA curtain at 98"  (shorter than the previous Option 1)

1 pair at $20

That would cost us a total of $220

Ok...slightly better than option 1 but still not what we wanted to pay for just a pair of curtains

 

 

Option 3 from IKEA:

The VIVAN curtains at 98"

1 pair at $10

That would cost us a total of $110

Now we are getting somewhere....BUT I still wanted to hunt for something a bit better as far as cost goes

 

So......

one day while strolling through Wal-Mart with the family (we normally do not like shopping at Wal-Mart for various reasons- but we did this particular day none-the-less) I decided to head down the bedding aisle. To my surprise, I spotted some gray patterned curtains that would look great in the girl's bedroom. I originally was looking for white sheets, but wouldn't you know it, they were sold out! So after not much thought at all, I went ahead and picked up 3 twin flat sheets at less than $5 each because the girls have 3 windows in their room.

 

I thought, "Hmmm, if this works, this would be a great deal and a great way to cover up those windows in our home."

 

I went ahead and bought them and cut each in half. Sorry, no pics of the process, but it is pretty self-explanatory. ;)

Now, after this step you could easily hem the sides but I decided not to for these. I just wanted something to quickly put up and these did the trick. Plus, they add some nice color and texture to the girls room AND they were the perfect length already! Here are some pictures of them in our girls room.

 

 

 

 

I really love the color and pattern like mentioned before and because of this, went ahead and bought some for our dining room. That was kind of another happy accident because I really wanted to find white bed sheets for the dining room but couldn't find the correct amount needed, so I used the exact same ones I used in the girls room in our dining room and love it!

 

Here are some pictures of that:

 

 

 

I did go ahead and hem the ones in the dining room because they were a little long in here. But I already had the stuff for that so it wasn't much hassle to do so.

Also, since then I have already bought some for the other room we needed them for and all I have left to cover is our bedroom.

 

Now, for the breakdown of the cost:

Option 4 from Wal-Mart:

Flat bed sheets

1 sheet at $5

That costs us about $55 total FOR 11 WINDOWS- woohoo!!!!
That also means that each panel costs less than $2.50. Score!

 

I am all about saving, especially when it comes to decorating. And since we moved/just bought a house, we need to watch where we are spending our money. 

Because I love to change things up and move stuff around, I didn't want to spend a ton on our window treatments as well. They can really get expensive! But I think this is a great solution if you have to watch your budget and find something that still looks great.

 

There you have it.

What do you guys do for window treatments?

 

Thanks for stopping by and again, if you haven't liked my Facebook page, I would love it if you did. ;)

Thank you also to those who have been reading my blog and FB page. I really appreciate the support!!

Linking up with Lamberts Lately and Natasha in Oz

 

Dining Room- Phase 2

Hey everyone!
I am finally back with some more progress of our dining room.
Since we moved in, we have painted the upper walls in Sherwin Williams Intellectual Gray, added beadboard wallpaper to the bottom half of the walls, painted the trim, and added some décor to the room. It is coming together quite nicely, and although there are a few finishing touches to add, this room is pretty much finished.
The only thing I would REALLY like to get in this space is another buffet table because the last one we had I sold.
I have been on the hunt for a couple of weeks now for something that would do and just can't seem to find anything. That always seems to be how things work, huh?! When you really want to find something particular, it can take a while to spot it...I find if I am just browsing a place but don't need to get anything in particular, I find a bunch of stuff! Oh the joys of thrift shopping. ;)

Here are some pictures of our dining room progress. If you have any questions about the space, just leave a comment at the end of the post and I will get back to you.

 

 
I have to say that using beadboard wallpaper is a great option and low cost if you are looking for something like it but can't afford to do the whole wood bead board. It looks like the real thing and I have fooled a few people with it when they see it. They are really surprised it's not actually bead board.

 

 
These are the curtains I am going to do a post about soon. They aren't really curtains, but they cost about 1/5 of the price of actual curtains you would buy at a store, and I love them. They are the same ones I used in the girls room as well so that helps create some flow in our home.
I really should have ironed them, so they may not look

 

 
I love the picture below...it is one of my favorite spots to look at when we sit in the dining room because you can see in to our kitchen. :)

 

 
The last two pictures below are of our girls room...I just wanted to show them to you because in here I used the same fabric for the curtains as I did in the dining room.
And the curtains aren't made of fabric you would buy at a fabric store either, so again, I will write up a post soon about them.

 

Have a great Monday and thanks for stopping by!

**If you haven't liked my Facebook page, I would love it if you do!


Linking up with The Pin Junkie and A Stroll Thru Life and Dimples and Tangles.

Christmas House Tour Part II

Hi there!
It's Wednesday already....and this week is flying by!

I wanted to share some more pictures of our home decorated with some Christmas touches. Because we moved in not too long ago, our house isn't decked out with Christmas decorations, but it is just enough for us right now to enjoy...and I happen to think that less is best sometimes when it comes to décor.

In my last post, I mentioned that some of these pictures will be repeats of the ones I posted earlier this week. But if you missed it, you can click on the link above or just read along and enjoy the pictures in today's post. :)

 

 

 

 

 
In the kitchen, I added a Charlie Brown Christmas statue above the stove and in the window, I added some ornaments. Although, they are hard to see because of the amount of light filtering in through the window in one of the pictures.

 

 
We also recently replaced the outdated light fixture over the kitchen nook table and put a Restore light in its place...I spray painted the brass with bronze spray paint.

 
On the stairs, I added some garland and embellished them with ornaments. Again, simple, but just enough for us this year.

 

 
In the dining room, I added some bling to the light fixture by using ornaments we had and I also added a straw/stick wreath to the mirror.

 

 
I hung some ornaments from the branches in the vase on our storage piece. The cute little snowflake ornaments my mom gave to us last year.

 

 

 
The girls and I had fun putting up the Christmas tree....we kept it simple with silver bulbs, a red ribbon, and white lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Christmas stockings are from a few years ago (at least for my hubby and I) and we bought them at Kohl's. The girls stockings are newer, of course. :)

 

 

 

 
In the girls room, I added a new rug that our girls picked out at Lowe's. Thankfully it was half off the original price too so that was a good score. We added a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree and a wreath.

 
The girls picked out the bell wreath that is on the door at a thrift store.

 

 

I am loving how their room is coming together. I would like to paint the walls in a pale pink...requested by the girls. I think I have the perfect color in mind, I just have to buy the paint. ;)


Have you started to decorate your home for Christmas yet?

Thanks for stopping by!