Getting settled.

Happy New Year everyone! I realize I'm about a week late, but with my Christmas post being late, I figured I'd keep with pattern and do this one late, too!

As I mentioned, my husband and I sold our house! Over the holidays we were living with family because the timing of moving out of our old house and into our new house didn't quite match up according to OUR plan. But in hindsight, we were fine. My aunt and uncle took us in for a few weeks and we are forever grateful for them. And when the day came to sign the papers on our new house, we were more than ready!!

Now that we're FINALLY in our new house, I've already started some projects that I've put on a list dating back to about a year ago (I was a little antsy, eh?). I couldn't wait to get my wreath on our new front door!

I made it for under $20. I bought the wreath hook, grape vine wreath, red berries and black "D" from Hobby Lobby. All the items were on sale, so it was a cheap craft!

My plan is to rotate this wreath as the seasons change. For now, I think it's a great winter wreath.

Also, while at Hobby Lobby, I found a smaller "D" in the raw wood section. I keep seeing posts on Pinterest for wrapping these letters in yarn. Well, it just so happened that at our White Elephant family gift exchange, my dear hubby took home a box of multi-colored yarn. You know, just what he's been wanting...err, what his WIFE has been wanting! I got right to work on that baby!

It was more complicated than I thought it would be with the D being a closed letter, but I eventually figured it out. I like how it turned out. Right now, it's sitting in our spare bathroom until I find a permanent home for it.

Since we weren't at our own home over Christmas, the friends' and family's sweet cards got thrown into a folder until we could display them. Literally within 3 days of moving in, I had this assembled on my cabinet.

I really wanted to be able to see all my loved ones' Christmas cards! It's so simple to put together, and it frees up the refrigerator doors. It's important to note, the string or ribbon you use should be pretty tightly tied. If it's too lose, the photos will slide down and just hang at the bottom of your cabinet.

As I do more projects around the house, you bet I'll be posting more. I know there is no stopping me. Afterall, I have a Pinterest board named "New Home" and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Happy 2013!

Merry Day-After-Christmas.

Ok, so I'm a day late . . . and as always, probably a dollar short. Life is crazy, and not because of Christmas. The husband and I SOLD OUR HOUSE!! and to make an extremely long, stressful, tearful and depressing story short - we've been moving and packing and almost forgot Christmas altogether. Yea.

But I did do a few fun "festive" things this year and I thought I'd share those with you Instagram-style!

I painted my nails red then used the Sand Paper nails technique - this time with RED embossing glitter.

My niece and I made a snowman garland. I cut out the snowman bodies and hats, and I also drew on the coal and carrot, but she glued on the hats and added the lovely scarves.  She had so much fun with this one!

That same night, we made reindeer cookies! I found a post on Pinterest, of course, and thought it was the perfect baking project for a 3 year old! We made peanut butter cookies (plus pretzels and M&Ms).

And Sugar Cookies with frosting! We used a heart shaped cookie cutter for the head, I was pretty proud of that idea!

And on Christmas Eve all the family got together and I called in a special favor from a good friend to come surprise my niece.

The best part was when we all asked her if she'd been a good girl this year, and she replied "no." (HA!) She was a little afraid of Santa, but he brought her Candy Land and since she said thank you, he promised to return that night and give her more presents!

Above all the stress of moving out of our house around the holidays, we've learned a big lesson. It doesn't matter where you are on Christmas, it matters whom you're with. And we are thankful to have a great family and group of friends supporting us and loving us.

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas! Here's to an even better 2013!

Merry Day-After-Christmas!

Bathroom redo.

I'd like to begin by saying anyone who installs carpet in a bathroom should get his/her head checked. I don't care if that "anyone" is YOU reading this. Get your head checked.

A bathroom is a very moist place. Yes, I said moist. Carpet does not belong there.

________

Moving on.....

The carpet in our bathroom has bugged me for (how long have I known Mike?) 4 years! I think mostly because I imagine miniature sized creatures living under the foam and eventually taking over our house. It would be them or the spirit of the dead Amish boy in our basement that eventually does us in.

Just kidding, future buyer of our terrific home.
There is no spirit.
I speak nonsense. . .

Recently, I got an itch about this bathroom of ours and hastily decided to redo it. Carpet, cabinets, whatever needed done. This bathroom needed a facelift!

Our house is still for sale (details here), so any remodeling/revamping/reanything had to be done on a small budget and still look great. I had been mindlessly surfing Pinterest for 5 hours an hour or so one day last week, and I found a great tutorial on how to stain your cabinets to look more modern. I figured if she can do it, so can I. So the plan was to replace the carpet and snazzy-up the cabinets. Got it.

I made a trip to Lowe's to get all the supplies I would need for this bathroom overhaul.

I only spent $50 and I purchased stain, poly/topcoat, floor tiles, foam brushes, floor prep goo, painter's triangles and mailbox letters. No, the letters weren't part of the project, but we did need them. So I got them. Side note: If you've never heard of painter's triangles, hear it here first. They're amazing.

I drove home. Took one last sad look at our ugly outdated bathroom, and got to work.

That is when I turned into an animal.

I began ripping up and slicing the carpet, yanking out nails and tack boards and staples, hammering down staples that I couldn't get out of the dang floor, chucking pieces of foam and carpet out the window into our driveway. I was a hurricane. And I was sweaty. If you want a workout, redo your bathroom, I'm tellin' ya!

Again I say... carpet in the bathroom sucks. Seeing the underside of bathroom carpet that has been around for 20+  years (including around a toilet) is not for the weaker stomachs. Boys are gross. I'll let your imagination take that one away....

After the carpet was removed, I got to work on the cabinets. I won't go into great detail on the process of staining because Monica pretty much covers it, and I followed her steps. I didn't use the same brand of stain as she did, though. I found one by Rustoleum called "Kona" and it worked out lovely. I did, however, use one of Mike's old socks like she suggested for staining. That worked great! Thanks, Monica!

Here is the long and short of the staining adventure:

In between the staining steps, I got to work on the floor. We've used the peel & stick linoleum squares before in our foyer, so I was familiar with the installation process. It's pretty simple. 

1. Prepare floor with goo
2. Let goo dry
3. Measure tile
4. Cut tile
5. Measure again
6. Cut a little more
7. Measure again
8. Pray it fits
9. Press down

I repeated this process many many many many..... times. Luckily, heavy duty scissors do cut these tiles, so trimming and getting a piece to fit correctly is not complicated, only tedious. It involves some math... and geometry... 

The entire bathroom redo process start to finish took 5 days. We're very happy with the final product, and Mike is very proud of me for taking this on and seeing a great end result. He honestly wanted very little to do with this overhaul - not because it didn't need done, but because this isn't his sort of thing. But it is mine!! 

The before and after photos are the best, so I will share a few of those....

See how dirty that carpet was?????

We have a door to cover the trash can, but we can't find it. It broke a while back and we hid it before a showing, aaannnddd we're not sure where it is. Once we find it, I'll stain it and install it. Promise.

I am proud of our bathroom. And I'm almost SURE that the next buyer that comes to see our house is going to see this bathroom and be SOLD. (ha!)

We are still praying for the right buyer. 

House for Sale.

**UPDATE***

We did, in fact, sell our cute little home. We moved out right before Christmas last year, lived with my aunt & uncle over the holidays and were able to be in our new home on Jan. 2, 2013. We love it and are excited to grow our family here! Baby due in January 2014! 


Our house is for sale.

I mentioned our home is for sale in my last post about gardening, and it got me thinking. I have a perfectly snazzy platform right here to share about our adorable home that happens to be for sale.

(Click on the above image to view larger)

My husband and I are hoping to move on from this lovely place to something a little larger better suited for a family. We can't move on, however, until this home sells. 

So let me tell you about it...

This 2-story home is over 100 years old. It is well-kept and located in the quant town of Milford, Indiana.

Outside it boasts a large front porch, back deck, split rail fencing, 3 sheds (one looks like a playhouse), and a large backyard.

Inside you'll find 3 cozy bedrooms, 1 bathroom, original wood trim and staircase, spacious living room, formal dining room, foyer and kitchen with updated appliances.

The home is well-insulated and we installed a new furnace and AC unit in 2011 (in other words, the utility bills are low).

Our home is perfect for a first time homebuyer or single person. It would also be great for a couple (young or seasoned) looking to enjoy each other without children.

Please call (574) 453-6077 if you are interested in adopting our beloved home. We are anxious to begin the next step in our lives... minis!

God bless!

Amateur gardening.

I've never been much of a gardener.

Until recently.

As a child, "gardening" to me meant pulling weeds in my mom's flower garden and picking green beans and strawberries in my step-mom's garden. Essentially, it was a chore. It always seemed hotter than Houston, too! Bleck!

As an adult, "gardening" has proven to be meditation. A sense of accomplishment. A sense of PRIDE. Who knew I would grow to love gardening? Well, flower gardening. I have yet to tackle that vegetable garden thing. Maybe next year.

Before hubs and I got hitched, our current home [a quant little 2-story that happens to be for sale ::hint hint::] used to just be "my soon-to-be-husband's house." I had no vested interested in the thing. Post wedding, that all changed. That's when I decided I cared about how it looked. It was my home, too, and I wanted it to reflect my taste. 

Earlier this spring when the weather suddenly got nice (mid-March?!), I had a vision. But this was what I was starting with. Check out that mess on the side of the house in front of the windows. YIKES!

Actually what I started with was much worst. These photos were mid-project when I realized I never took official "before" pictures. The front bed was almost completely taken over by lillies. They're evil flowers... 

It was bad. Like jungle bad. You see, my husband has owned the house for over 8 years. He's very tidy. Clean. Keeps the house in order inside. 

But he enjoys gardening as much as I enjoy washing dishes. 

Dreadful.

No worries. Angie to the rescue!

I started by sectioning off the flower bed using sticks and string. This helped me see where to pull weeds/grass and where to leave it. (Keep in mind at times it was so overgrown that it was hard to decipher between lawn and flower bed.)

I kept pulling and digging and transplanting. It became addicting. I could picture what I wanted it to look like and I kept going. Something great about gardening is... its free! Sans the cost of mulch, it's really just a ton of sweat and hard work - a great workout! Some of those weeds were stubborn!

We made a trip to Menards to see about mulch. They had a sale on the red stuff, Ruby somethingorother, so we bought a ton. It was only about $3.50 a bag so really not all too much.

I filled that in all along the front and along the side of the house. 

Then I added rocks along the bed to define it. My dad has a plethora of rocks at his farm - again, FREE! 

It's amazing how much work went into getting it just that far. I had mounds and mounds of weeds and sticks and junk and a few trips with the wheel barrow. 

[call me if you'd like some rose of sharon starts]

I worked until a certain point along the side because at the time what needed done was more than I wanted to tackle. I had done so much, and I needed to take a break. 

At one point in the process it was very obvious from the road what was done vs. what still needed done...

About 2 weeks later I started back up and tackled the rest! I'm very proud of how it turned out. I had it all done in time for our house to go on the market in May. (this picture is still missing the rest of the rocks, but now they're there and it's lovely)

Comparing this year to how it looked last year for sale, I'd say it is quite the improvement! (plus it helps that the grass is greener 2nd time around)

What I've learned.. Gardening is fun. Gardening is a workout. Gardening makes your house look pretty and tells buyers that you love your house, and so should they! It's an adorable home.

If you're in the market for a smaller 3 bedroom, 1 bath home with tons of charm inside and out, contact me. We're ready to upgrade to something larger that is more fit for a family :) 

Happy Tuesday!