Basement Daydream

Last Friday I shared with you some doors I found that I thought would be so beautiful to use in the basement. Well, we are officially in the pre-peliminary, pre-planning phase of our basement.  That may have sounded a little superfluous, but we are really in no way, shape, or form ready to start this basement.  It's just fun to dream about it and start sketching it up! My husband's good friend told him about a free program called SketchUp.  You are able to essentially build an exact replica of your home.  It even has furniture that you can add in and then move around. (That may or may not be my favorite part).

SketchUp

Easter Egg Garland

I wanted to make something for the dining room for Easter.  I already had a ton of plastic eggs that I didn't really have a plan for yet.  Then, I saw a simple egg garland from a cute blog called Atkinson Drive.

Paint Chips to Flash Cards

This is a super simple and free idea to do for your kiddos.  Our oldest is really into learning colors right now, while our youngest is really into eating and destroying anything he can get his hands on.  This becomes a problem when we start going through multiple sets of cardboard or paper flashcards that you can find at a store.  I can't even tell you how many sets have been slobbered on into no recognition.

The Groundhog Lied

Can you believe this is what we woke up to yesterday?  I could have sworn Punxsutawney Phil said it would be an early spring this year.  I'm calling it:  The groundhog lied.

Even though I may be a little bitter about this groundhog, it was nice to get everyone bundled up (one last time?) to play in the snow after breakfast.  

Let the Caulk Jokes Begin...

This weekend was all about caulk around our house.  It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!  Okay, it's not really that dirty... Let's just start over.  Everybody get their minds out of the gutter.

We had some pretty good cracks in our caulk around our house.  Why this happens? I have no idea.  We just know it looks bad and needs to be fixed.  Pronto.

The re-caulking started at the baseboards for the stairs.  Check out that crack!

Friday Find

I'm drooling over these doors.  I'd love to figure out a way to incorporate something like these in our basement (whenever we get around to starting & finishing it).  How about a way to close off the laundry room?  I'm thinking, yes!

Bi-Folding Doors

They would be beautiful closed to keep the laundry noise at a minimum while hanging out or watching television.  But they'd also open nice and wide to be able to show off how lovely (I hope) the laundry room will end up being.

So what do you think?  Are you loving these doors as much as I am?

Spring Cleaning: Master Bathroom Closet

How is it that areas of the house always seem to get out of order just when you think you've tamed them?  I have this love hate relationship with our linen closet in our master bathroom.  I love it as soon as I clean it out and organize it.  I hate it when I have to do the dirty work.

This is what greeted me as I went to get a new towel this morning from our closet.  It's wanting to be organized with pretty white baskets and everything.  But things are just out of control!

Mini Chairs

We have some of the sweetest neighbors we could have ever asked for.  Not only do they look out for us, our kids, and our dogs, they are just genuinely good people.

Well, last night we got surprised by these two little purple chairs for the kiddos!  They are just perfect for the kitchen set.  I am so excited to give them a little spray paint and new fabric for the seat cushions!

Adding a Favicon to your Blog

I'm definitely learning as I go with this blog.  Slowly, I'm picking up little things to make the blog better and tiny things that I would probably ever notice.  My latest update was making a Favicon.  A Favicon is that little image that pops up next to a web address in the address bar or in your bookmarks.

If you have a blog through Blogger, this is a very simple update to make your blog look more polished!  First, go to your Layouts page.  See the box that say's "Favicon"?  Click Edit.

You can use any image you'd like as long as it's square and under 100kb.  My favorite site to edit any pictures or make any graphics is PicMonkey.  In order to a simple logo like mine, you'll need to start by uploading any picture you have on your computer.  Click: Edit Photo.  Then, you'll want to add a geographic overlay.  You can do that by clicking the button marked with an arrow.

My St. Patrick's Day Birthday

My great birthday weekend started by getting my driver license renewed.  Happy Birthday to me!  Everybody's favorite gift. Am I right?!  Fortunately, the whole process went very quickly and it was over before I knew it.

Friday was very unexpected!  My husband arranged for our very good friends, Natalie and Craig to come over and surprise me.  Natalie took me out to get a pedicure (so very needed).  We had a little champagne and some great girl time.  It was so nice to get away from the house and kids for a couple hours.  Did I mention that Craig and my husband, Bryan, looked after the little ones while we were out?  When we got home, they were putting the finishing touches on the cheese fondue and the chocolate fondue for dessert.  I could just squeeze their cheeks!  How thoughtful, right?  I'm ashamed to say neither of us documented any of the evening... 

New Spring Mantels

I updated our mantel in the kitchen with some more spring and Easter decorations.  I showed you the bunny banner a couple days ago.  I also added two hand painted pieces of shale that I made last year, a vase with some moss, a spray painted jar with paper flowers, & a small, live potted plant with a shamrock banner connecting them.

Spring Cleaning: The Oven

Last time I did a spring cleaning project, I tackled the downstairs windows. This time, I tackled the oven.  Did you know that you are able to take the oven door apart to be able to clean between the panes of glass?  Somehow, there was a lot of dirt, smudges, and crumbs (yes, crumbs) that just could not be removed no matter how much I scrubbed.  Well, duh... I couldn't get to it!  So while the husband and kids were outside playing, I decided I could tackle this project really quick.

I just started by locating the screws on the inside of the door and just going for it.

Things started to fall apart rather quickly once I took the screws out.  There were 6 total.  The whole front of the door was able to be lifted right out to be able to clean both sides of the glass now!

Bunny Banner

So remember when I told you about my mom?  Well, I was at her house and she had the cutest bunny banner.  Being the sweet lady that she is, she already had a few extra bunnies cut out that she gave to me.  She used adhesive backed scrapbooking paper. I didn't even know this existed!

Apparently you can find such a thing at Jo Ann Fabrics.  She used her Silhouette machine to cut out the bunnies then placed them on some dark burlap.  From there, I was able to cut the burlap to size and punch some holes in their ears.

Spring Cleaning: The Windows

It was nearly 70 yesterday in Ohio.  It was such a welcomed relief from the snow, ice, and cold that occurred last weekend.  Even with the high temperatures, there's still patches of snow on the ground.  Just a little reminder that, yes... It's still March.

There's something about opening the windows that makes me anxious for the warm weather.  It also makes me want to start purging everything in the house and start fresh. When I went to open the windows I noticed how hazy they were. (Truthfully, this is something I've noticed for months I just chose to ignore it.)  I couldn't let the thick film of dirt go on any longer, though.  This mundane task needed checked off the list.

Laundry to Pantry

I have to tell you about my favorite room in the house.  If you've been reading this blog, you'd assume I would say that it was our new bathroom.  I do enjoy having that room finished.  However, there's something that's more dear to my heart.  Our pantry.  

This room used to be the laundry room.  It was hardly large enough for a stackable washer & dryer, utility sink, and some shelves above the sink.  Sorting and folding laundry had to be done in the kitchen which wasn't my favorite thing in the world since I like to spread out.

This is a picture I found from right after we moved into the house.  Changing this room was one of our first big projects we tackled.

Here's how it looks now!

Spring Wreath

I feel like it's time to decorate for Spring.  However, every time I get my things together to start making something, a snow storm comes through.  Two nights ago we got the heavy, wet snow dumped on us.  It was certainly not like a January snow; where the snow is so fine it's just powder.  And the air is so crisp, it hurts to breath.  It was quite the opposite.  We were playing outside the other day and it was almost too warm to move too quickly.  Bryan had to ask me for a cup of ice water to combat the sweat dripping down his face from rolling giant snowballs through the yard.

So until I feel like Spring is truly on its way, I'm going to share with you the wreath I made last year.  I just purchased a grapevine wreath that you can find at almost any craft store.  This one was from Jo-Ann fabrics.  You can get this size for $4.99 (but be sure to use a coupon)!  The flowers are all made from felt and the ribbon I found at Hobby Lobby.   

My mother's birthday

I have to say, I have a very hard time even calling myself creative or crafty.  Anytime I'm near my mom she's talking about some sort of new project she wants to do or some great remodel she just finished.  Honestly! Martha has nothing on my mom!  My mom's home is gorgeous and is such a transformation from what it was when they moved in less than 3 years ago.  I have a sneaky suspicion that her and her projects will pop up quite often on this page.

Anyway, today is her birthday!  She is such an amazing woman and she deserves the very best!  I couldn't have asked for a better role model.

Happy Birthday, Mom!  Sto Lat!

Oh, and that's my little brother... I'm sure you'll hear more about him some other time.  He's pretty great, too.

Bathroom Renovation: The Final Reveal

I've dragged-on this renovation series long enough.  The day for the final reveal is finally here.  This bathroom is so much more functional for us now.  We can't tell you how much more enjoyable it is to have a place to go every morning that doesn't feel like a drab cave.

Here are some before & afters to give you a better idea of how huge of a change this bathroom renovation ended up becoming.

Before: Fiber glass shower stall... After: Tile & Glass, natural light

Exiting the bathroom.  Into master bedroom, linen closet on the right.

Bathroom Renovation: Part Five

When we left off last, we were in a rush to get the tiling done so the shower glass could be installed.  I'm happy to say that we met our deadline.  You can see that there is still some tile that needs to be done.  We had to leave that unfinished so the glass could be set down into the groove of the granite.

Here are the finishing tiles! And a new exhaust fan!

Spacers removed, grouting done!

Time for primer.  We love Behr's paint & primer in one.  (And it will be what we end up using on the walls.) However, since we had brand new dry wall on the far wall, we wanted to be sure it took the paint properly and had a consistent application throughout the bathroom.

Bathroom Renovation: Part Four

Tile Laying.  "It's not incredibly difficult.  Just time consuming."  This is what were were told when we took a class on tiling.  It's true.  It's not a difficult process.  You just have to be patient, but work quickly.  You have to pay attention to details, but realize that tiling is not a perfect process.  There will be areas that you (and only you) notice when you walk into the room.  There will probably be slivers of tile.  But you just have to try to plan to have those hidden.  Like in our case, we put them all under the vanity.  The other piece of advice we received was to spend the majority of your time blueprinting and planning out the tile laying job.  I think we laid this floor 3 different ways (25 times) until we finally decided on how it is today.

There were so many instances where we doubted ourselves... sweat dripping down (post-partum tears in some of our eyes).  But at the end of the day, we made it work!

Ok, to be honest, I didn't believe that it was going to work until after we grouted.  All of our little mistakes just melted away after grouting. It's a dirty floor still, but there wasn't much sense in deep cleaning it since the to-do list with this bathroom was still growing.

Bathroom Renovation: Mood Board

Ok, I couldn't resist!  Here's the mood board for the master bath! Just wait until you see it all put together! We'll see you tomorrow morning with some tile laying details!

Bathroom Renovation: Part Three

After the dust settles from demolition... There's more dust.

This is the last of the "dirty" posts.  The next one will be all of the pretty stuff where it actually looks like we're making progress.  Remember where I said that this is a painfully longer process than you would ever anticipate?

It's hard to tell, but a lot has happened!  We installed insulation to act as a sound barrier between our bathroom and a bed room on the other side of that wall.  The dry wall is also hung on that wall, too.

Bryan is working on building a "knee wall"for the shower.  You can also see in the picture below another example of where my original daydreaming blue tape would have ended had we not decided to just knock out a little more wall.  Well worth it.

Ah, the power of blogging.  See how effortless installing that knee wall was?  I can promise you it (and everything else in this bathroom) took way longer than you would ever imagine. Unless you've taken your own bathroom apart.  Then, you know what I'm talking about!

This is where we ended up taking that opening to.  It's flush with the back of the vanity wall.  And this is the initial drywall repair.  You can see at the bottom of this picture that we also decided to place an outlet down low.  This will be inside the vanity so we will be able to charge toothbrushes and Bryan's electric razor.