What a find!

I've never won the lottery, or any major prize for that matter, but, after this weekend, I think I know how those lucky ducks feel.

Ever since we bought our Sumner table a few months back, I've been vying for a white bench in lieu of two chairs. I love the concept of a dining table with a bench. It tones down the whole "formal" eating vibe and brings a casual, welcoming feel to the table. The problem with benches is that they're expensive. I'd had no lucking finding anything I remotely liked for under $500 smackaroos.

Prior to this weekend, our seating situation consisted of  curbside treasures and local thrift shop finds for $10 and $15 a piece. They are all ladder back chairs and are white and different shades of natural wood. I love the idea of chairs that go together, but aren't part of a set. The eclectic look adds interest, texture and variety to what can be just a "blah" table set. Never mind the fact that the chairs that go with our table are over $300 a pop! No, thank you.

I mentioned last week that I was looking for new throw pillows to match my new living room shades. I headed over to TJ Maxx (have I mentioned how much I LOVE that store?) in the search of some pillows but, came up with nothing. As I was walking out of the store, in the corner of my eye I spotted something. When I realized what it was, my jaw dropped.

As though it was sent from the decorating gods themselves, there, in the middle of the furniture section, was a bench that was EXACTLY what I'd been looking for over the last four months. Rush top, white, distressed, seats two. Literally, the most perfect bench that anyone I had ever seen. The pricetag? $130. I could not believe it and used all of my might to quickly carry the bench to the cashier.

Don't you just love those finds where you don't even have to hesitate to purchase because it's so perfectly and exactly what you need? It doesn't happen often, but when it does...sweet, sweet victory.

I brought my glorious find home and placed her at the dining room table. She is perfect, gorgeous, and everything I ever wanted. Kinda what the hubs thinks of me :)

And here she is:

What do you think? Have you ever had a purchase that was so perfectly perfect that you just couldn't believe it? I'd love to hear!

The Real Slim Shadey

A few months back, the hubs and I decided that our living room needed an update. It was a bit too neutral and needed a new hue. Ever since the addition of H2Ahhh (dontcha just love that name?) to our living room, something has just been off. For a while, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and then it hit me. The curtains that had once complimented our oh so neutral living room, were now detracting from the new color and the new windows that were installed back in November.

For the last two months, I lived with the curtains, but they were slowly wearing me down. They needed to go. I wasn't quite sure  exactly what I was looking for, but just like I found my sweet husband, I knew that when I stumbled upon "the one" I would just know. Can you tell I'm missing him these days?

Last weekend, in search of the perfect fabric, I headed to the local fabric shop to peruse the aisles and came up with zilch. I was feeling defeated until I headed to the rear of the store to the higher end fabric that I can't really afford. And this is where I got lucky. I nearly squealed with excitement when I found "the one" for $22.99/yard and found that it was 50% off. I was sold. Hook, line and sinker. Sure $11 a yard was still a little more than I wanted to spend, but I was too head over heals in love with this fabric, I just had to have it.

I'm such a sucker for florals...

At the register checking out, Lady Luck struck again. When the cashier rang up my five yards of floral gorgeousness, I thought the total seemed a little low. What should have been around a $65 purchase was $33. I figured everything was just on super sale. It wasn't until later that I realized the cashier had only charged me for two of my five yards of fabric. Score!

Sidenote, when this happens to you, do you speak up, or just get super excited inside and pray they don't notice? My rule of thumb is:

If it's a big chain store, I get super excited inside. If it's a mom and pop shop, I speak up. 

Don't judge.

Anywho, I got the fabric home and quickly began to iron my new shades...

Yes you heard me, iron. I'm a girl that owns a sewing machine but I don't know how to sew. At all. Here is the tutorial on how to make them, and the inspiration is from Thrifty Decor Chick.

It took about three episodes of Dexter hours to make and hang my new window treatments, but I now have three gorgeous shades in our living room that cost a mere $6.20 each. Amazing! What do you think?

And for those of you that like the side by side before and after, this is for you:

Now that these shades are up, I realize how heavy looking the old curtains were. I had no idea that they were pulling down the whole room! These new shades are just what I needed to brighten up and give the living room a face lift. I just love the open and airy feel. I can't wait to accessorize the room to match the new curtains! I'm on the hunt for a new throw, and throw pillows.

What do you think? Are you a fan of shades or did your prefer the old curtains? Have you ever gotten free merchandise due to cashier error? Did you speak up or take the money and run?.

Bathroom Renovation Part Two: Inspiration

It was easy for Paul and I to decide that we didn't love our bathroom and it needed a face lift. However, deciding what to install was not so simple. With the selection of tiles, vanities, mirrors, and paint swatches available, the options were endless. After hours of searching the internet and walking up and down the aisles of Home Depot and Lowes, we decided that simple was key. The truth is, as a military couple, we won't be in our home forever (I'm tearing up already) so while we need to love what we do to our house, it also has to be appealing to buyers.

We're still in the process of recreating a room by hanging drywall and cement board so we're no where near finished. Most likely, it will be a few more weeks until the room is put back together and I can show you all of our finished hard work (don't worry, I'll have pics and updates along the way!).

What I can show you right here, right now, are some inspiration pictures that I have found all over the web to give you an idea of what you can expect in our new bathroom.

We love the airy look of this white bathroom. Though it's a teeny, tiny bathroom like ours, the continuity of white, plus the natural lighting, makes it feel open. We're not going with a pedestal sink because we need more storage, but how cute is that shower curtain? Love the delicate and fun print!

Since our home was born (yes, born) in 1959, the goal for our room is to keep with the era of the home mixed with modern appeal. We are big fans of black and white tile (just take a look at our kitchen). To us, black and white screams elegant, simple, and timeless. We want the bathroom to look like it could be original to the home. Another bonus of black and white? It allows you to accessorize with any color to change up the look of a room. Don't you love the little topiary on the counter? I hope to incorporate some sort of live (looking) plants as well.

How gorgeous is this white subway tile? To me, subway tile is like Ryan Reynolds' abs; the more I see, the better. I just can't get enough. While we will not tile any walls other than our shower (you'll see why when I show you the demo process tomorrow), we will definitely incorporate subway tile in our new bathroom. Perhaps with a black and white octagonal insert? You'll just have to see!

So, what do you think? Anything you love or maybe you don't care for? Do you love black and white tile as much as us? Maybe you don't care about our bathroom and just want to talk about Ryan Reynolds and his abs? Not a problem! Nothing is up yet so we still have the flexibility to change our ideas or add some new ones!

DIY wine tags

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I love to entertain. Any time I have the opportunity to host people in our home, I jump for it. I especially enjoy Hostess parties; Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, Adult items- love them all! Tomorrow evening I am hosting a Stella & Dot party. If you haven't heard of Stella & Dot, you should definitey check it out. It's high quality, gorgeous jewelry- so fabulous. I attended a party about a month back and knew I had to host one. I couldn't get enough of the sparkly goodness. More on the party (and special surprise for you) tomorrow.

When I host an event, I usually go all out with the food. Everything is home made, and food is in abundance. Tomorrow night, I am taking a different route. I will keep it simple with wine, cheese, and fruit. Classy, girly, easy.

With 10+ plus girls in my home drinking wine, I decided that I needed to help my guests distinguish between their glasses. The answer? Wine tags!  Here's how I made them for less than $7:

I gathered my beads, wire, and needle nose pliers.

I love all of the colors and shapes of the beads...so many options.

I cut my wire and used my pliers to curve one end.

Next I added my beads and used the pliers to curve the other end.

I linked them together so they would stay around the wine stem. That's it! So easy.

I made lots because they were so fun!

And my final product...

They're ready and waiting. I'm so excited to show them off (and use them) tomorrow!

Bedroom wall reveal

Before you start reading, did you participate in What's Cookin' Good Lookin'? If not, what are you waiting for?

After hours and hours of tracing and painting and with the onset of possible carpal tunnel, I am finally ready to reveal my bedroom wall stenciling project. I have to tell you, I am in love with it. Like, head over heals in love. But, before I show you, let's take a stroll down memory lane...

Here's the before circa July 2009; before we even owned the house. Curse that blue trim:

Soon after we moved in, we painted the bedroom "Apple Blossom" from Benjamin Moore. Much better and no blue trim to be found.

It's been just over a year, and I a little embarrassed to admit that our bedroom hasn't changed much with the exception of different bedding and a little wall art. We're still kickin' it college style with no headboard, dinky window treatments and minimal accessories. We've been so busy renovating the kitchen, creating a man room, decorating the living room  and countless other projects that our bedroom has been neglected. Consider it our red headed step child.

I couldn't take our dull bedroom anymore and wanted to spice 'er up. Since the hubs isn't home much these days, the only spicing up in the bedroom that I could count on is decorating. Our "step child" was screaming for some attention, and I had to appease it. Via stenciling of course. It was a long process, which I will explain tomorrow, but I just can't wait to show you the final result! Like I said, our bedroom isn't decorated yet so please pardon the decor, and lack of bedding (it's laundry day) and feast your eyes on our not so neglected step child bedroom:

I am loving the personality that the stenciling has added to an otherwise "blah" space. It's the first step to creating a bedroom that the hubs and I will love. Best part, I've completely transformed our bedroom with an *almost* free project. Score!

Anyone else out there stenciling these days? How'd it work out for you? Are you suffering from carpal tunnel like me or did you find an easy way to get 'er done? I'd love to hear what you think!

*editor's note: this post was not intended to offend any red headed step children that may or may not be reading this blog ;)

House Tour Part One: The Kitchen

Before you start, don't forget to enter in my first give away!

When the hubs and I first bought our home, we both decided that the first project on our very long list of things to do was to redo the bathrooms. They were old, unattractive, and just plain unsanitary. We knew the kitchen would have to be done as well, but there just wasn't a budget for that type of job.

Enter our friend Carrie. Carrie and her husband Adrian closed on their condo on our one week houseiversary. We went over to see their place and were floored. Her kitchen had just undergone a major and expensive renovation. It was phenomonal. After a great night toasting Carrie and Adrian's new home, the hubs and I came home to our kitchen, looked at each other, and decided we would be heading to Lowes the following day to order cabinets.

You see, it wasn't that we were just jealous of Carrie's amazing kitchen aesthetic appeal (which we were), it was also the fact that her kitchen was clean and functional. In our kitchen, we had to wash dishes as we took them out of the cupboards. Think I'm exaggerating? Here's a peak inside:

I'm not sure which was worse- dirty blue cabinet or dirty blue cabinet plus peeling dirty wallpaper. Bon Appetit!

Now, as I said before, it wasn't just sanitary reasons that expedited our need for a new kitchen. It was  just plain old ugly and outdated. Think early 90's, copper range hood, older than dirt appliances and laminate everything:

Our kitchen not only harbored dirt and burned our corneas, but it also was completely cut off from the rest of the home. At the time, this was probably a great thing. Out of sight, out of mind. But, with a new kitchen coming, we wanted to try and make it more open to the house.

This is the wall across from the cabinets. It was lined with shelves across it's entire length. Where hubs and our pixelated inspector are pictured was a small table.

Ready for the reveal? After 4 weeks, help from some very talented friends, and discovering a dead mouse in the wall (good thing I wasn't there that day) here's what we did:

With friends, we hung new cabinets, installed the hardware, laid a new ceramic floor, added a tile black splash, traded out the copper hood for a microwave range, and painted (two times- hated the first color). I love our new kitchen and am so proud that we did much of it ourselves.

We did hire some professionals to help with big stuff like move and add electrical outlets, install the dishwasher (it was free installation chaching!) deliver the stove (also free- bam!) and install the granite (got a super deal!)

I have saved the best for last though! Remember how I told you our kitchen was cut off from the rest of the house and showed you the wall of shelves? Now that we had a kitchen we loved, we wanted to be able to see it at all times. My brilliant hubs had the idea to cut a pass through and breakfast bar from the kitchen into the living room. I was nervous about it at first but the hubs was right:

I love how we now have access to the kitchen from the living room and vice versa. What made it even better was that we had enough extra granite from our slab to cover the bar. We eat at our table often and when we have friends over for a casual meal, the boys usually sit at the breakfast bar and the girls are at the table. It works for us!

And that's how we turned a disgusting (there, I said it) kitchen into one that's well...not disgusting. Stay tuned for the next part of our tour when I show you the downstairs bathroom. Get ready for groovy baby blue 1960's tile...Saweet!

A sad, sad first...

I wanted to take a moment to show you the world's longest mirror project. By world's longest, I mean, the most annoying and tedious project ever.

Shall we continue?

I had a vision of a set of sparkling, yet subtle mirrors to replace the seashell picture in our dining room:

Pardon the image, it's the only one I could scavenge up on this computer and the main focus was the light fixture, but you get the idea of the seashell pic.

Anywho, back to my vision. What I intended was to make a super trendy and sparkly, yet classic and subtle group of mirrors as the focus on our back wall in the dining room.

I started with eight of these $3 pine mirrors from Ikea:

Not terrible on its own, but I had a plan. I would add those glass bead things that fill vases. Sorry for no pics....

Over the course of two weeks, 10ish hours, 1 bottle of white spray paint, about 60 glue sticks later, and a crippled had from gluing each.individual.bead, here's what I ended up with (click on the pics for better detail):

I have to be honest with ya- I'm feeling "eh" about them, but they'll do. This is the first project that I've completed that I'm not head over heals in love with. I think even this post lacks the usual enthusiasm I have when I complete a project. But, it's better than the seashell pic, right?

You better say yes or I'll have to whip my glue gun out on ya :)

This Table's a Hoot!

Well hi there! Sorry I've been MIA the last few days, life's been crrrrrazy! But who doesn't love a little crazy? I do and the hubs sure does- I think that's another reason he married me.

I've got so much to share with you all: a fancy shmancy military ball, a new mirror project to reveal, even a trip to the farm...but this week will be dedicated to one thing and one thing only; Thanksgiving! Why? Simply because it's my most favorite time of year. And, I'm happy to share that tonight for dinner and every other night this week, we are eating Thanksgiving leftovers. Take a peek into our fridge:

All of those containers are leftovers. Every.single.one.

But it's not Thanksgiving yet, Trish, how can you have leftovers?

Weren't you listening?

That dear hubs of mine will be off somewhere in the world flying his plane on the real Thanksgiving Day so we gobbled (hehe) up our Thanksgiving feast last night along with some friends who will also be separated on the big day.

I have so many deets about the big day to share, but this post will be dedicated to one thing, and one thing only; our table centerpiece.

Feast (I'm on a pun roll) your eyes on this:

I absolutely adored our lovely little centerpiece. It was a mix of thrifting, shopping around the house, and splurging for some new accessories and fresh flowers. Care to take a little tour? Keep reading.

I did not want the centerpiece to scream Thanksgiving, or stick with the traditional turkeys or, brown, red, orange, and yellow decor. My goal was to switch it up a bit. So instead of going traditional, I used oranges and teals to show I give a hoot about this day of thanks.

Speaking of hooters, I know owls are all the rage this fall season but I just had not hopped on that branch bandwagon. That is, until I saw these three lovelies. The large gal in the back was $8 at TJ Maxx, and these adorable salt and pepper shakers (shaking hooters...hehe) were $5 at Pier 1. Gotta love 'em! They stood out beautifully against the fresh flowers behind them.

 

I am so lucky that a great little flower shop recently opened up about 1/3rd of a mile from our home. I went in with the intentions of buying some white hydrangea and orange roses, and walked out with gerber daisies, some beautiful thistle, filler and these amazing flowers that look like hanging jack-o-lanterns. Aren't they so neat? Only mother nature could provide something like it. Props to her.

As for the rest the table, I used a mixed of gold and silver chargers and napkin rings, along with teal and orange napkins. Best part? I already owned them all! It's not often I pull together a table that I love, and since it was Sumner's debut, I had to do her justice.

The best part of the table setting? Well, I think this picture speaks for itself. She stayed under that table the entire time I worked and reworked it.

And she's one thing I'm truly thankful for.