Jewelry Box

I bought this jewelry box at Home Goods a couple of weeks ago.  I needed to have a place to put the small amount of jewelry that I do have.  Since I have been working on my wardrobe, I have been trying to add some jewelry to my collection as well.

I love the Chevron pattern on top!  Over all though I felt like it was a little plane and I could add some color to it.

So I taped the box where I wanted to paint it. I used the same color that I used on the H above our bed.

Here is the end result.

I'm not quite sure what I think about it.  I just had the Yellow stripe at first and I thought it looked funny.   I then went to Michaels and bought washi tape to put down the middle to break it up.

What do you think?  Do you think I should have left it the way it was?

Valentine's Garland

I've been trying to do a little decorating this year for the Holidays.  I made this Valentines garland for our mantel.  It's very simple, but the kids love it.

I bought the washi tape from Target.

Added it to plain computer paper.

Folded it up into a heart and stapled it.

Hung it on jute string.

Another DIY Chalkboard

    I've been wanting to make another chalkboard for downstairs. I found this idea on a blog and loved the idea.

 This picture is horrible I'm not sure what happened. I bought this piece of wood at Joanns.  It was $7.99 and I had a 50% off coupon so it only cost me $3.99.  I had the chalkboard paint on hand.  I used a 3m adhesive velcro sticker to hang this up since there was no other way to hang it up and it held up just fine.

 I painted five coats to make sure it was nicely covered and even.

 For now we will use it as our count down to Christmas.

Aged Crates

I got this idea from pinterest and decided to use it for our new living room.

 Via

Via

Here is what the crate looked like when I first bought them from Joanns.  I think that they were $12 each but I used a 50% off coupon for all of them, so it cost $26 for the whole project including the steel wool.  (Just a side note: Joann's excepts Michaels coupon, so as long as you have one coupon per crate you can get the same discount.)

I watched a video on You tube to see what to do.  I was a little confused by that video and did not end up doing the way that the video did it.

You need to let the steel wool sit in the vinegar for at least two hours.  The longer the better. I should of at one point mixed the tea and vinegar but did not.  I tried using a paint brush with the tea but it was not doing anything.  The reaction takes place when actually rubbing the wool soaked with vinegar on to the wood.  As you rub the wood it will start to get hot.  I wore rubber gloves while doing this.  It can be messy, so make sure you do this in a place that you don't mind getting dirty.

I started to get lines in it from drips, but kind of liked the way that it looked because it make it look older and used.

I loved the way that it turned out.

Here again is the picture of them on my wall!

The most tedious part was screwing them to the wall.  I used a screw molly bolt and then drilled a hole through the crate and then into the wall.  I arranged them on the floor to see what pattern that I liked and the just began screwing one at a time into the wall.  I made a mistake with the first one and ended up with a hole in the wall from the molly bolt.  I would say drill your hole into the crate first and at least start to screw both in and then use that at to mark the wall and then add the molly bolt at that time.

Changing Things Up!

Since January,  George and I have been looking at houses.   We were feeling the need to move closer to our family in Tigard and to find a home in a better area.  We really were looking to find a home with an extra bedroom as well as a home that had a bigger lot!

The market has really changed in the last 6 months and has definitely heated up since we began to look.    We found three homes that we really liked and were in our price range.  One house we went and looked at three times and in the end did not have the big backyard that we were looking for.  The other house we put an offer in and it got beat out by a all cash offer. The last house we put and offer on ended up getting 4 offers on it with it only being on the market for two days.  They ended up excepting another offer.  We thought it was just not meant to be.  The Realtor called George a week later and said that they offer fell through and they would like to except ours.   We were excited!  It was an older house that we knew was going to have some issues to contend with so we were prepared that this may not work.  We had the inspection and for the most part went well considering that the house was built in 1925.  We had to get several bids on the repairs and there was just too much to be done that we were not comfortable taking it on at this time!

We both felt like God was telling us to wait!  So, for now we plan to stay in the home that we are in until God tells us otherwise.  There is such a peace when you walk in Gods plan and not your own!  

Since we decided to stay, we have decided to make a few changes to the house.  The first thing that I started with was the living room!  The couches in the living room were great and still in good condition, but I thought I should try to sell them before I can't get very much money for them. 

Here are some pictures before the change:

While I loved our living room, I was just ready for a change.  My goal was to not have to spend to much to replace what we had sold.  I sold the sectional, the rug, the recliner, and a few other things and it helped pay for the new stuff.

So what did I decide to go with??

Here are a few photos that were my inspiration:

Via

Via

Via

I was really looking for something lighter and brighter.  Our house does not have a lot of window and the living room can get pretty dark during the Winter months.  I was also looking to add some color to the room instead of the browns and reds.

So before I post actual pictures.....I am going to WARN people that I know this might be totally CRAZY with kids, but after viewing several blogs many of them swore by these couches!

Via

I know....crazy right.  The reason that I decided to go with these were because they were bright and I loved the look as well as the price.  The best part about these slip covered couches are the fact that you can pull the slip cover off and wash it and get "most" stains out.    This could be a horrible experience gone wrong, but I love the way it looks and they are comfortable.  I figure if I am wrong, not a lot of money was lost.  Oh, and the slip covers are only $50 to replace.

Here is the end result:

There were a couple of things that I splurged on and this rug from West Elm was one of them.  I did get it on sale so I was pretty happy with that!  I love this rug!

These wood crates were from Joann's that I aged with Vinegar and steel wool.  I will do another post on how I did it.  Getting them all screwed into the wall and level was the most difficult part.

I love this vase from Anthropologie, the other one is from Goodwill!

The owl is from the $1 section at target.  I added some kids books in the accent colors that I have as well as a vase that I got from Marshalls. 

The plate I got from Crate and Barrel and the egg holder is like the one from Anthropologie, but I don't think they sell it anymore.  I ended up getting this one at Marshalls for $5.00.

I looked and looked for pillows and this was the most difficult thing to pick out.  I was driving my sister crazy with all my choices.  When it came down to it, I did not want to spend a lot of money on pillows. The teal and brown pillows are from Pier One. The teal or what they call Spruce was half off and the brown pillows I was able to use a 25% off coupon.  The orange pillows are from Target and I took the pillow insert out and put a down insert in from Ikea.

This is one of my favorite pillows from Restoration Hardware, that was on sale too. 

The throw I got from Target as well.

One thing that I have learned from Blogs and my sister is to always group pillows in odd numbers.

Here is the whole room view.  I also changed out my curtains to a white curtain from Ikea as well.  I probably should have added some color in the curtains, but for now I like it.

So, there you have it!  I love the change and so does George!  I will let you how how thing go with the white couches! ;)