Fabulous Friday #18!

Its Friday and its fabulous! I don't know about you guys, but this has been a really long week for me. My classes just started up for the semester, I have been super busy and then my husband and I have been trading sickness. Friday never looked so sweet!

I am hoping if the weather permits to refinish our free coffee table (The one we found on the side of the road this summer!) this weekend. With the semester back in swing, my husband will be working some this weekend and it just seems like now is the time! Unless it is freezing or rainy....in which case I will table this project yet again. Har har! I really need to organize...so we will see.

Annnnywho....can't wait to see what you guys have been up to this week! Any Valentine's projects? I have not been able to motivate myself to do them yet. It could be because I feel like we just reclaimed the house from Christmas! If it is anything like last year, I will whip something up Feb 10th!

Please don't forget the button!

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DIY Thursday: Established Sign Wall Art!

Its DIY Thursday!

Today's project is so simple and only takes about 5 minutes! It is an easy pick-me-up to a plain wall or entryway! Head on over to EAD Designs to see how!

Living Room Reveal!

Okay so I know it has been a week or two since we finished putting the living room back together, but I wanted to do an official reveal on here since things are finally just about all back in place. I really am so happy with the way it has turned out!

Here is our new gallery wall. Similar elements to the old one, just laid out better, more centered on the wall and the cute little plate is new.

Here is the view from the hallway. Love the mantle and mirrors!

New pillows, and a cute little kitty :)

Don't you just want to squeeeeeeze her?

But this is what she has done to our poor plant. We are working on it. Just hang in there plant!

You have to love that face. and she is part of the living room :)

Okay anyways. Sorry! Just love the squishy little baby. :) Please don't mind the Christmas Tree still on the mirror. I am working on it.

I also got that blanket basket on clearance at Wal Mart and using a duplicate gift return, so free! I love having a place to neatly store blankets that is accessible but still stylish.

So there you have it, our new living room. Everything feels so much more put together, bright and airy!

No More Closed Doors!

I know it is a little late for "resolutions" and I will not call this that because most resolutions are not kept. Not that I am 100% positive I will keep this one, but it can't hurt to start out strong right? Good.

So we have this nasty little habit of allowing rooms to get messy. I am sure we are not alone in this. The tendency is to shut the door, which is fine if you have last minute company coming over or something like that. But what I find myself doing is shutting the door to hide the mess from myself. To trick myself into believing that our house is clean and tidy all of the time. The problem is that I keep shutting the door, and never really get at the problem. I mean I do okay with our main living areas, but some rooms just go untouched. The biggest one is the office upstairs. If you walk down our hall on any given day, this is what you will see:

Right there to the right. Here:

Cutting out natural light. I know this picture below doesn't really show it but the hallway is brighter with that door open.

I want to stop shutting doors. I want to stop wasting space in our home. That should be a functional usable room and I need to stop ignoring the clutter. Eventually I would like to get our closets to a point too where if the doors one day just disappeared, I would still be happy with them. That may take a little longer, especially the coat closet! Starting with decluttering the office will be first. And then my office downstairs. And then the workshop. Oh my word that one will be huge. I think I just need to take it one room at a time!

Do any of you find yourself closing doors to hide messes? Do you catch yourself thinking that you do an imperfect but okay job with your house only to come face to face with a mess when you go in to get the checkbook to pay bills or to grab a pen? I HATE it! It is something I need to change :)

Winter Mantle

I figured I should post this on here before winter is over! I have had our winter mantle up for weeks and just have not gotten around to editing the photos. So without further adieu, here is our winter mantle. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it next to the new paint color and with the mirror windows!

Okay well this is not really the mantle, but the centerpiece on the coffee table. It sort of embodies everything that we are going for with the room for the winter. White and silvers with a slight rustic edge (hence, the pinecones, which I think are so cute).

 For the mantle, I wanted to keep it simple and balanced.

 I took the cute little glittery bird that I got at Michael's on Black Friday and set him on a silver and tan book. I also placed the quatrefoil vase (that I showed you here) behind that, filled my fav apothecary jar with faux diamonds and glittery silver ornaments and then put some cute little glittered pine cones (from Walmart on post-Christmas clearance!). The silver thing to the right is a shiny mug that I got on clearance and using Kohl's Cash so it was fa-reee!

 On this end, we have more pine cones, the little evergreen that I used for our Christmas mantle (I love the contrast of the burlap and rustic with the silver), my little tree forest that I showed you here, some silver ornaments and that awesome silver wood grain frame. I also got that on clearance at Kohl's using Kohl's cash so also free! It was originally a $40 frame but somehow it was dubbed "Christmas" so I got it for $6 (using Kohl's cash). Not complaining! I love it so much. I just need to get a photo for it. But I figured if we waited until I had a 5x7 photo printed you may never see it! ;)

 The crystal candlestick holders I have had on our mantle off and on since we moved in. The are Oleg Cassini and I L-o-v-e them. I fell in love with them at TJ Maxx years ago and my sister in law got them for us as a wedding present.

 So there it is, window mirrors and all. Such a bright, cheerful mantle! I am really so pleased with it! I want to leave it up year round. Who knows, I just may. Until I get tired of it. Which we all know will happen! :)

Fabulous Friday #17: Napkin Pillows

Hey guys! Its Fab Friday!

I know that I do not always share a project of my own for Fabulous Friday, but I had this super easy and super cute one that I really wanted to share!

As part of our living room makeover, I wanted to add some fun pillows to brighten the room a bit, but I did not want to spend a fortune. While returning a duplicate Christmas Gift at Belk, I came across these really cute double lined napkins for $4 each on sale. They were PERFECT For the room! And the cream added the brightness that I wanted while the brown matched the curtains perfectly.

Here is the back. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pattern!

So what you do with these is take a seam ripper:

And you tear out the stitches for a section large enough to fit your hand into.

Then You simply fill it with fluff. I gutted an old pillow that someone gave me for crafting purposes (Ew to sleeping on an old pillow of someone else's)

Hand stitch that hole shut and you have a cute pillow! Easy Peasy!

Here is the back. I made two of them, one for each end of the couch.

Once I am ready, I will do a whole living room post and show you how cute they look in the room! For now, I would love to see what you have been up to!


Please don't forget the button!

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DIY Thursday: Decorative Storage

Its DIY Thursday!

Today's project is also all about organization! I am working hard to get my office/craft room all organized and set up now that I am working from home. This project is a fun practical way to store crafting supplies. Head on over to EAD Designs to see how I turned boring, old boxes into cute storage!

Also just a quick little "what we've been up to." This past weekend my hubby and I met my in-laws and some friends in Las Vegas for the weekend. It was so much fun! I did not take a camera, but have a few photos from our phones and I jacked a few that my mother-in-law took! Here is my brother in-law, hubby and I in Caesar's palace.

 My husband is insane and rode the ride that hangs you over the edge of the Stratosphere with my brother-in-law. No way in he** would you ever see me on that! Just the observation deck made me sick.

 Here is our hotel, the Luxor. It was so neat inside! The pyramid shape is deceptive...it is actually super huge!

This is the view from our room. I have never been farther west than Chicago (I know...that is not far west at all) so it was really neat to me to see the red mountains. The photos don't even do it justice, it was breathtaking!

 And then there was this really awesome light canopy on Freemont Street. We went down there for dinner and to sight see one night.

I really wish that we could have stayed longer. It was such a fun little get away but ended too soon. Next time we go, I would really love to see a cirque show, the grand canyon and the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. Some of our friends that were with us were able to be on the show! We flew over the Grand Canyon on the way out and it was probably one of my favorite things about the trip. I would love to go explore it! It was a really amazing time and a welcome break from the monotony. Thanks Mom-in-law and Chris! (This trip was our Christmas gift from them).