Laundry Room Makeover...Finally!

Well here is a little of what we have been up to this weekend. Since we refinished the basement, the laundry room was kind of an eyesore. It was the only room that we never fully redid and honestly it just took a backseat. Well Saturday I found myself in an unfamiliar situation where I realized that I was completely free all afternoon. No homework. No plans. And hubby was golfing. I had some items to return to WalMart and had a little $7 credit, so I decided to buy paint. This literally happened while I was in WalMart. No premeditation. No comparing paint chips....nada.

Here is just a hint of what the laundry room looked like pre-paint. Please notice those awful unpainted boards around the ceiling. I have no clue why they never painted them.

And no, our washer and dryer don't match. But they came with the house. and they work. So they are great with me!

Our waterproofing system also left this lovely little thing around the bottom of the walls that we can't cover. SUCH an eyesore.

I chose a really pretty icy blue color for the walls. Very subtle but not white or grey. And then I used some leftover trim paint to cover those ugly boards. MUCH better.

And because I did an Amazon textbook buyback, I had a nice little Amazon gift card so I ordered a set of baskets. At the time I just got them because I just wanted a set. But when I decided to do this little impromptu makeover, I knew where they were going!

Once the paint dried, I made hubby hang these leftover shelves that we took down from the way that the laundry room used to be, right over the washer and dryer. It just made sense to have the daily use items right within reach rather than having to walk to the stuff.

So here is the view from the door. I think it looks SO much better now! I have a few other plans for this room so stay tuned!

Well there you have it! A much brighter, happier laundry room. Stay tuned for other little tweaks! I have some awesome ideas for art/decor. And we may hang a few more shelves. They left us tons. Just not sure where we will hang them and it we even need to. Sorry for the lack of presence friends!

Dry Erase Message Plate

I saw these over at EAD Designs and HAD to have them! You can view them by CLICKING HERE. They are only $2 a piece and they are SO cute! And super easy to apply. I actually made this one for my cousin as a wedding gift. Her kitchen has burgundy in it. They come in a ton of colors! I Just went and picked out a pretty white plate and a black wrought iron plate stand.

I ordered a bunch of the decals figuring I would use a couple for our house and could save the rest for gifts. I love the look of the plate stand, but I am thinking that I may buy a plate hanger for ours and hang it on the wall. Then I may try to buy a pretty dry-erase marker if they make such a thing and hang it from a ribbon or some jute. I'll have to show you when I do it! (I really am just a procrastinator lately! It takes literally 5 minutes to make one!) Wouldn't this be so cute to keep on the counter by the phone for messages?! If we had a land line I would be all over that! So I figure near the door would work too for our current living situation. :)

Go browse their site! They seriously have some amazing products. I am hooked. They are excellent quality and the lowest prices I have seen for vinyl decals online! I have quite a long wish list!

Our Ikea Purchase!

Hello friends! So sorry that I have been a serious slacker on posting lately. I'm sure I mentioned that we don't have Internet at home right now and the only way that I can access it is at work or my parents house. And who wants to stay at work late or sit at a computer when visiting family?! Thus, the lack of posting. And it has just been plain nuts around here. But I have something totally amazing to show you! Remember I alluded to us having bought something at Ikea that was going to displace our clock?!

Well my sweet hubby hung it for me the other day! And I must say that it looks fabulous! It totally transforms the whole feel of the kitchen. Everything feels brighter!

We shopped around the house to find some accessories for it. The poor colander set always gets squished in the cabinet, so I am sure that it enjoys its new home. We added my lovely bottle from the bathroom, an L that I got from Ross for our wall grouping but now love it here, a plate that my parents gave us for our anniversary and my little ceramic birdie from Michael's.

 I LOVE this plate. Thanks mom and dad! :)

 And just in case you feel sorry for the lovely Oil Rubbed Bronze clock, we found in a new home that is more dynamic! Its the first thing that you see when you walk through our kitchen door!

 And here she is with the stairwell light on. Its so warm and lovely. I really actually love it very much there. Our stairwell is very boring, but I am intimidated by how high the walls are so boring it stays for now. There are so many things that I would love to do to it, but for not the clock helps!

I promise to get back on my game! So sorry for neglecting you! I promise I love, love, love you!



A Little Photograpy

Sorry I have been sparse lately guys! Due to the New York trip, etc. the crafty funds have been a little low. I have been pretty busy though! I am taking on work editing wedding photos for a local photographer in addition to the stationery business, classes, working full-time AND doing a little photography of my own. Oh and you guys. :) But the blog is a labor of love. I LOVE you guys! Maybe I have an addiction. I feel weird and incomplete when I don't post as much! We do not currently have internet at the house either so that doesn't help.

The Ikea purchase still is not hung. Honestly we just haven't had the time to guy buy wall anchors. I am hoping that on this long holiday weekend I will have time to get some little projects done and thus have something to share with you!

Anyway, a few weeks ago I spent some time with my good friend Priscilla and her little man Joshua taking some spring pictures of him. I am terrible and just now finished editing those. So...I just thought I would show you guys a few of my favorites!

Here is a little secret. This is the way that many of the photos look fresh out of the camera.

After a little sharpening, some contrasting and a few other basic photoshop filters, here is what we have:

I love those baby blues! And that little grumpy eyebrow he does. So cute I can't stand it!

And the little sailor outfit she put him in was the cutest thing! I loved it!

I LOOOVEEEE baby feet! If this were my kid, I would frame this. so cute!

Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this little bloggy drought. I promise I have a TON of really fun things I want to do and share with you guys very soon! LOVE yo guys!

IKEA!!!

 As promised...here are a few of my favorite things from Ikea aka my wishlist. LOVE this place!

I LOVE this wall grouping of mirrors. And they were not expensive at all. $2.99 each. I may try to locate them cheaper, but that is not bad!

The came in a lot of different colors but I loved the black and white one.

I could totally see this on either end of a sofa console table or on nightstands. They are different and unique and awesome!

This "crystal" chandy was only $40! Someday if we ever have a daughter I want this for her room! I have been wanting to do that forever. The price is not bad at all!

Sorry for the terrible pic. These were also taken with the Bb. I really liked this wrought iron chandy too. I can see it in our dining room someday. I love the one in our current house, but maybe for future homes!

This mirror is so girly and fun. Not sure where I would put it but I really liked its shape.

We already have one of these in black but I ADORED the blue and the white. These will be in my future! Mark my words!

I love these too. I have seen them everywhere. Michael wasn't sold, but I really like it!

The silver candlesticks were AMAZING. I want to try to make some with Goodwill candlesticks and silver paint but I really fell in love with the shape of these ones.

We purchased something that will change the whole look and feel of this wall/maybe even the kitchen. I can't wait to show you! Hubbs put it together for me last night but we need wall anchors to hang it. You will just have to keep posted! ;)

Annnnddd we got these. You have to get these at Ikea. They are amazing!

Hope you are inspired. Go to Ikea! You will not regret it!

Also, anyone that has been recently...do you feel like their couches are softer now than they used to be? We ruled them out when we were hunting because they were notoriously not comfortable at all. And then we sat on them and loved most of them!

An AMAZING First Anniversary

Okay friends. Here is what I have been up to! Yesterday was my one year anniversary with my sweet hubby, Michael! :) He is so good to me. He arranged with my boss to get me off of work on Friday and took me on a surprise trip. Thursday I left work and we drove to Charlotte, NC. At this point I had no idea if we were going anywhere else and if so, where it was. We stayed in a hotel and he told me that we had to get up at 3:30AM to go to the airport. I did not know where we were flying literally until he handed me my boarding pass and we were about to get on the plane! The mystery location was New York City! And I am officially in love with this place!

We arrived in NYC at 8ish in the morning. Our hotel wouldn't let us check in yet so we stored our luggage with them and headed into the city. Our first mission was to go to Broadway and get tickets to see this show:

It has Kieffer Sutherland in it and we are HUGE 24/Kieffer fans so obviously we HAD to see it! After we got the tickets we just kinda putzed around and looked into the stores in Times Square. Then we hopped the Subway (which saves you tons of money...it was quite the learning experience!)

 and went back to the hotel for a little nap and a shower. Then we went back to the city and ate at Planet Hollywood before seeing our show! Here I am getting punched by Rocky.

After dinner we saw the show and waited around to meet Kieffer/get his autograph. The crowd was ridiculous so we were only able to snap a few photos of him and Michael reached over the mass to get his autograph on our 24 DVD cover.

Once we got over that crazy experience we decided to see a little of the city at night. We went to Junior's to get a piece of their famous NY Cheesecake and it was AMAZING! Definitely worth the money we spent! :)

Here we are in Times Square after seeing the show!

Once we started to get tired we hopped back on the Subway to start the hour long process of getting back to the hotel. We crashed. After sleeping in pretty late (to make up for the lack thereof from the night before) we showered and headed back in to spend the day in the city. We did LOTS of walking!

We didn't go in here...but we saw it!

Here is the sign for Phantom. I would LOVE to see this someday!

I am fascinated with the M&M's store! We tried on the race jacket:

I LOVE the walls and walls of M&Ms. What a fun place!

We tried to get tickets to this...but they don't film on Saturdays.

We went back to the theater and waited to see Kieffer after the 2pm show on Sat. We got to see him front row but he was really rushed so we didn't get our picture with him :(

A little nostalgia...

At 6pm the police lined the streets of Times Square and drove off with their sirens going. It was weird and kind of creepy. The only thing we can think of is that the time corresponded with the "world ending" deal.

After we flew back to Charlotte...we went to Ikea! Our flight landed at 7:45ish and they didn't open until 10:30. my hubby was sweet enough to wait around (aka nap in the car) with me until they opened since we never get to go!

 We spent a couple of hours there (I will post all of the awesome finds later or tomorrow) and then drove home. Once we got home we just kinda chilled around the house for a while. I made tacos for dinner and then later we ate our wedding cake which watching the Bulls game. This was our actual anniversary day and it was perfect! :) Here is our cute little (un)frozen top tier!

Believe it or not...it was AMAZING! And a whole year later too! It still tasted just like it did that day. And its blackberry wine cake which is my fav. All-in-all it was the best first anniversary I could have asked for. Kudos to my sweet man for making it so special!

PS-sorry the picture quality is not through the roof. We forgot to pack a camera so we were taking them with our Blackberries!

PSS- I can't WAIT to show you what he got me from Ikea! I want to devote a whole post just to it. Its really awesome :)