Rock On!

I had a quick fun project this weekend that I've wanted to get to for a few months now. Does anyone else have a well cover right in the front of their house? They are so hideous and I'm sure theirs a reasoon for the location of the well, but it can be a pain to hide. This is what mine looked like.

It's just what I want people to see when they come over. Great first impression. There seems to be some hostas trying to grow along with some weeds?

Cute. So I set off to Menards and got myself a fake rock that is made to cover unsightly things in your yard. On top of that I needed some new plants. The lame hostas weren't working out and nothing is more obvious than random fake rock in someone's yard. I wanted to get some perennials that would make it seem like more of a natural feature. Menards didn't have crap when it came to perennials so I caved and went to Mickman Brothers. Boy was I happy I went there. Way better than anything I've ever seen at Menards!

The Foamflower's are only supposed to grow 12 inches and the Sweet Woodruff's get to be 9 inches. Percisely the size I need for this small area.

What a difference! By next year these will be look so perfect!

I LOVE perennials and the different varieties out there.  Don't feel like you need to settle for the basics all of the time. I tend to gravitate towards a variets of different plants that will set my gardens apart from the rest. But don't expect me to remember the plants' names, all I know as that they are pretty. Isn't that all that matters?

10 Things I Hate About My Bathroom

We're getting close to two years in our house and the only thing we have done to our main bathroom is get a new toilet. The only reason we even got a new toilet was because the one that was here had a crack in it. The bathroom makeover has been long overdue and we are finally going to start tackling it this Fall. We're just trying to finish up some tinier and cheaper projects while we save money to do so. In the meantime I am going to gag everytime I have to go in there (which is multiple times a day of course.)

1. Spindles - Yeah, we painted them white along with the rest of the trim but they definitely need to go. My mom goes, "We had these same spindles in our trailer in Oklahoma back in 1983." I've got a few ideas on what to replace them with but if anyone has any suggestions do not hesitate to speak up!

2. Sink and Faucet - The sink is that nasty tan color that also sports a nice rusty spot. My faucet gets to leave on that rusty spot all day unless I use my entire weight to tighten knob.

3. Bath Fan - Not only does it look hideous, it also sounds like a jet is taking off everytime you turn it on.

4. Heat Vent - Yeah, it's an easy fix to just pick up one but these shopping lists pile up! It rattles all winter when the heat is on and there's about 5 different colors on paint sprinkled on it from the previous homeowners.

5. Flooring - If I puked on it it might look better.

6. Lighting - The light likes to flicker on and off periodically even if you just put a light bulb in. Also, the light doesn't shine towards the shower so it's a dark cave when you are showering. Maybe put a light in the shower too?

7. Shower and Tub - Ugh, such an ugly color. Plus, I would also like to fit my entire body under the water during a bath. Thanks.

8. Bath Faucet - Not only is it the most confusing shower ever, the knobs are so hard to turn I sometimes have to use a towel to get a good grip.

9. Hardware - These are just so industrial. I need some character too please.

10. Vanity - Not only is it super faded oak, but it doesn't have any hardware. Surprise, surprise. On top of that its not the biggest vanity in the world so the insides need an organizational overhaul.

There you have it. I finally revealed our ugly bathroom.  I'm embarressed but happy to finally let it out. I've been compiling some inspiration that I'm really excited to share soon.

Shutters That Made Me Shudder

Sometime last week I was sitting there at work and I thought to myself, "I need to paint my shutters". Where that came from I don't know but it stuck and I knew if I didn't start I would drive myself crazy. I didn't know a thing about painting shutters (mine are vinyl) so I wanted to make sure I did it right. After doing some research online I came to the conclusion that I needed exterior acrylic latex paint. Weird, that's what I already had at home from painting all of my doors. Yes, you guessed, I wanted to paint my shutters black. This is the last thing that I need to do to really pull everything together.

Here are the burgundy/maroon shutters. The gutters and soffits also match so at first I wasn't sure if it would work to change the shutters, but then I realized that black would actually compliment them so I wasn't worried at all. So last Friday we took them all down, all 14!

Boy did it look plain without the shutters. It's amazing how much of a difference they make to the house. After cleaning off a bunch of wasp nests and frog poop I got to work on painting them all. It was absolutely exhausting and very discouraging when I realized I needed to do a second coat. Ugh. It's ok though because it was totally worth it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I love how it matches the black hardware on the garage.

See the burgundy, it actually goes together pretty nice if you ask me. There are just a few things on my to do list for the front of the house and this place is going to look brand spankin new!

I Am The Stair Master

I'm alittle disappointed that I don't have a before picture for this project but I still need to share. The night we closed on our house the first thing we did was start to rip out the carpet. I didn't think to take any pictures before doing so. I was just so excited! There weren't any MLS pictures of the stairs but I can atleast show you what it looked like from the living room view.

Here's what the room looked like after we took down those valances, painted the trim, and replaced the floor.

Now that was the easy part. The piece that has taken forever were the stairs. We chose laminate wood floors for the house because we didn't want to deal with the scratches that would result from our two dogs' nails. Problem is that laminate wood floors are basically impossible. So we got some oak treads and stained them to match as close as we could to the laminate. We picked a winner! Minwax Red Mahogany. Phew.

We replaced the railings with a fancy new one from Menards and stained that the same color. The problem was that it still seemed like something was missing. Then it hit me, stairs are supposed to have trim going down the sides. I believe they call it a skirt.

Problem is that these are put in BEFORE you put your stairs treads in. CRAP! Now what? Time to get creative. After some research on the web I came up with a solution. Faux stair skirt! Like this on Take The Side Street blog

I called my dad the come over and cut some pieces of trim, nailed them on and I colored (painted) the rest in. Ta da!

I couldn't be an happier! This is one of my most favorite projects so far. After almost two years our stairs are finally complete.

Let's Get Some Artwork Up!

I have a closet full off stuff that is just waiting to be used somewhere in the house, I just have to decide where to put it first. One item that has been eating at me is a rather large piece of artwork that had a perfect spot in our last house, but is struggling in this house.

The painting is very subtle and can be a great compliment to many rooms but the frame is less than desirable. That's probably why I was able to get this on clearance for $25 years ago. Time to get out the spray paint again. And what do ya know, I already had a can of espresso colored spray paint from when I painted that clock last year.

It was no question that we had to put this in our bedroom. I love hanging photos but I also felt that one nice piece of artwork would bring everything together. Plus, there are tiny hints of red in the painting so that is what really sold me.

Now I'm really motivated and noticed a few other picture frames that I bought at Ikea a few months ago. The intention was to put a photo collage on a shelf we received as a hand me down from Ryan's parents.  This was my plan.

That meant I needed to take another trip to Ikea to purchase all matching ones. If you've ever bought frames at Ikea you know that the mat sizes are less than user friendly. No one develops photos at that size so if took some time to find a website that would develop then atleast somewhat close to what I needed. I checked out Walmart, Ritz, and Shutterfly with no luck. Snapfish came up in my search and had what I needed. Yay!

I got it pretty close to the picture if you ask me! I'm still playing around with them alittle but all and all I'm very happy. Plus, the photo quality from Snapfish was amazing. Definitely using them again.

Photos really make a house feel more like a home. I can't believe we went so long without these.

Two more projects checked off the unfinished list!

Fancy Full Length Mirror

I've never thought of myself as someone who doesn't finish projects they start. Now looking around my house I am starting to notice a ton of little things that I started and without finishing on moved onto something else. So disappointed in myself! Since my next big thing that I want to start is my bathroom I've promised myself that I will finish all the things I started first. Today is the full length mirror project that I started last fall. My parents game me this mirror that they didn't have a use for anymore.

If there's one thing I hate its oak. It is just so 1991. No thanks. It is a nice mirror though so I figured some spray paint would pretty it up fast.

So just alittle bit of prepping and I spray painted the crap out of it.

Pretty easy project. I had Ryan screw it up on the wall in our bedroom and it was good to go. Or so I thought. After the screws went in and made some unsightly holes I had to patch those up. Plus, the white spray paint I used made it more gray looking rather than the nice creamy white I have on all the trim and doors in the house. Weird, time to get out Behr Creamy White again. I swear I lost count on the gallons that we've bought since we moved in.

Using a tiny brush I was able to get all the details painted nice and pretty. An hour later we've got a finished project!

I know it probably doesn't look like much of a difference but it really did alot.

Cheers to another project finished!

Organized Closets = Organized Life

A few months back I offered to help my friend organize her cabinets and closets. Her and her husband we beginning to entertain the idea of selling their house and I always feel like the more organized a home looks, the more it feels like there is alot of storage. So the first thing was to see what we were getting ourselves into.

I promise I didn't scream. I was more excited then anything. All we had to do was start grabbing things out of the closet so we could actually get the door open. And I mean it. If you're really going to organize take EVERYTHING out. Decided then what you want to keep, donate, or just throw away. Second, decide if the item should even be in that closet. Bath toys should be in the bathroom, books should be on the book shelf, etc.

I was finally able to get in alittle further to make an attempt on a better before picture. Once we sorted through every tiny thing we put what belonged back in the closet on the shelves.

Pretty crazy huh? She already had the cute little baskets so there was no money spent during this organizing project.

I did suggest a few things like extra clothes hangers and a hamper to help keep it neat and clean though. After this was done I came over a second weekend and we did the same with a kitchen cabinet.

Notice that none of these items look like kitchen tools, dishes, or food. Ok, so if you have alot of cabinets it's ok to use one for household items but just looking at this is giving me an anxiety attack. I would never be able to find anything in here. So we did the same thing we did with the closet. Take everything out and put things where they belong.

Looks to me like alot of stuff didn't belong. What a difference! So now when folks come over to look at there house to buy and open up the closets and cabinets they will feel like there is more than enough room for all of their stuff. Yay!

Now all of these pretty closets made me take a second look at my closets. They weren't too messy but I realized the shelves were less than user friendly.

If you notice the shelves are a nasty particle board and they are too shallow. Our towels are literally falling off. And see how the brackets are actually longer than the shelves. These are not right! The same thing was going on in the linen closet.

This was driving me absolutely bonkers so I made Ryan take his truck to Menards to get me some shelving (they were too long to fit in my SUV.) A few cuts here and another few cuts there and done.

What a difference! I don't even know what to put on the top shelf now that I have so much room.

I purchased some baskets at Ikea for $12 a piece to keep some of our wash cloths and all of my extra hair and makeup tools.

I just love my closets now! I don't get stressed out everytime I have to put away blankets. Plus I have more room for all of our stuff.

My super cute sewing box.

And what is this you ask? This stores all of the owners manuals for everything in our entire house. Plus, it's organized by room!

The last thing on the bottom of the closet is another one of my favorite. Ryan's Bin O'Camoe. Seriously, I have how he only wears his camoflage a few times of year and it was always taking up space in our closet. So I put it in here.

I get really excited whenever it comes to organizing. One of my favorite blogs is I Heart Organizing. You should check it out for some very clever tips. You might be inspired just like I was.