Project List Update: January

At the begining of the year I decided to keep a monlthy project list to stay on track.

My Goals & How I Actually Did

Paint Bedroom Dresser - Dresser Primed! Need to buy paint

Paint Small Desk for Sons Room - Didn't even touch his desk

Paint bench for bedroom - Done!

Order fabric for bench - Done! See bench here

Sew Pillow Covers - Fabric Cut, will sew over weekend?

Create Mood Boards for Master Bedroom - No board but lots of ideas

& Sons Bedroom - Ideas in my head, nothing concrete

Finally find the perfect faux or engineered flooring for Dining Room & Kitchen - DONE! We have all our flooring and have ripped up all the tile, next up is installing our new floors. This project slowed down some above projects.

I'm feeling pretty good about getting at least 2 projects done, it looks like other items will move into Feb. This project list has really kept me focused and motivated, to at least try at get a bunch of stuff done....What keeps you motivated to get your projects done?

Four Books For Five Bucks

I love to read, I read anything from Jane Austen (love her and the movies) to John Grisham. I often read up to 45 mins per day, How? I take the train to work which allows me to read at least 45 mins a day. So last week I stopped in a local Goodwill looking for thrifty finds, and I didn't find anything! On the way out my son wanted to see what books they had, he was hoping to find a few Captain Underpants (great book series for 4th grade boys) books he doesn’t have. When I started browsing books for myself and came across a bunch, I've wanted read or looked interesting to me.

I was able to buy four books for five bucks!

The Books

Baby Proof, by Emily Giffin
Knitting Under the Influence, by Claire LaZebink
In her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner { I love this movie! I've always wanted to read the book }
The Nannie Diaries, by Emma Mclaughin & Nicola Kraus

I can't wait to get started on one of these books (I'm currently reading The Gold Coast). Have you found any great books from Thrift Stores are used books sotres lately?

Bench for My Bedroom: Before and After

A few months ago I mentioned I was planning on making over a little bench I've had for a while for my bedroom. When I first started thinking about redoing the bench, I picked this fabric from Calico Corners  in white only to discover they discontinued it a few weeks ago. I was back to square one, which turned out to be perfect. I love how the bench turned out.

Here's a reminder of how the bench looked when I purchased it in 2003 ( green fabric) and recovered it with fabric that used to be oh so me (purple). It was cute, banged up  though

 It's amazing how pretty the after became becasue of paint from Sherwin Williams and the fabric from Calico Corners. Without further adieu, here's the lovely after.

~ Here's what I did ~

Paint Steps

1. Primed the bench with two coats of primer using a brush, lightly sanding between coats.

2. I painted the bench with Three coats of Satin Paint by Sherwin Williams, Color: Aqua-Sphere - I applied the paint with a mini sponge roller. I waited 24hrs between each coat of paint, to apply the next coat. Becasue there is so much detail with this bench I also used craft brushes to get into the tight spots.

3. I applied three coats of Clear Poly by Behr to get a shiny gloss to the paint, it worked perfect - I lightly sanded between each coat of Poly. I waited 24hrs  between each coat, before applying the next coat. Poly takes 48 hours to harden, so after the final coat I did not handle it for 48 hours

{ I cleaned  the bench with mild soap and lightly sanded to remove chipped paint }

Simple Upholstery Steps

1. I removed the old fabric and used it as a template for my new fabric, and cut out my fabric. I choose not to add new padding to the bench since its already nice and soft

2. Center the fabric on your board. I started in the middle of the bench and used a staple gun to sercure the fabric, then did the other side. I smoothed out wrinkles before applying the next staple

3. Last I re-atttached the the seat to the bench.

Here's my budget breaksown for this ReDo

   4.99 - 1 qaurt of paint - Sherwin Williams sells 1 quart sample paints on Satin!
19.99 - 1 yard of fabric 10% sale discount, + free shipping  (I have plans for the leftover fabric)
  2.99 -  mini roller from Sherwin Williams - perfect for small areas
no cost -  Primer already had
no cost - Clear Poly already had
no cost - Craft brushes already had

 27.97 not including tax


Money well spent, I love how this turned out, my first project completed for Master Bedroom.

Soft Place to Land: My Bedroom { Part Two }

I know I want my bedroom revamp to be Modern and Romantic - but it also needs to be functional & pretty. To keep my room pretty I HAVE to have it organized, otherwise I’ll have piles of clothes everywhere, that's my biggest issue right now. Yes, I'm one of those people who don't put their clothes away after laundry is done.



Organizing:


I plan on getting drawer organizers for the top drawers. Our Craigslist dresser has two lingerie drawers, I like these from The Container Store.

I'm going to buy clear plastic of vinly containers for underbed storage: so we can store our seasonal clothes when not in use.

We updated our TINY  closet last year, using Closetmaid. Now when just need to add more shevles, update our hangers so they all match. I also need shoe storage.

{ Not our Closet}

Pretty & Insriational Pictures:

Here's some pretty things my bedroom needs.

I'm in love with this jewerly holder from Urban Outfitters....I think it will look perfect on my nightstand.

I aslo need to find a petite tray to place my perfumes on  and my husbands cologne on. This will save me at least 10 minutes every morning.

I love candles, so candle scones might be a must for our walls. These are pretty and they are from Jc Penny.

Here are 2 lovely bedrooms that have me weak in the knees

{ Note: I'm not sure where the I found the picture of the 1st bedroom. The 2nd is a picture from Overstock.com }

I'm A Dirty Girl!

Here's a peak of what my weekend looked like!

You know its love when your hubby kisses you and tells you, 'You Look Sexy' and your covered in dust and rocking a lumpy bun tearing up tile. More to come about our dusty weekend

My Kitchen Circa 1956

Ok, so the kitchen below not really my kitchen. My kitchen was last updated when Ronald Reagan was in the White House; I'm guessing my kitchen is really circa 1986. But I often wonder what my kitchen did look like in 1956. Call me strange nostalgic, I've been tempted to peek in my neighbors homes when I'm walking the dog. However, I really don't want to be the nosey person who lives in the grey house. No one wants to be the nosey neighbor.


Any who, I was driving my son to his school when I drove past our house for rent: Remember we have a 1956 tract house. I noticed the sign in the yard belonged to the property management company my sister works for. I called my sister and asked her to let me see the inside of the house (beg is more like it). She happily agreed, lucky for me my sister doesn’t think it’s odd, I want see to the kitchen & and floors etc.


The house is really cute; my sister said it rented in less than one week; I made a mental note if we ever buy a bigger house and rent our current house out. We walked through the front door and I had hardwood floor envy, the original 1956 floors had been refinished a light brown. Refinishing our floors is still on our To Do List.


I walked into the kitchen/dining room and was transported back to 1956. Even though I was in 1956, the kitchen was so charming. All the cabinets were painted a charming yellow, the tile counters look better than mine! (You saw a sneak peek of our awful white tile and BROWN grout counters in this post)

Even though this kitchen is old, it has modern day style we see in alot of updated homes: The Bridge Wall Mounted Faucet. If you buy an updated version of this faucet from Kohler except to pay over $700.00. Back with a vengeance in most kitchens are undermount sinks either in stainless steal or procelain.

It's nice to find older homes with lighting over the sink, I drop down pendant would create instant style. I can't wait to find the perfect one from our kitchen.

Over 50 years later open shelves in a kitchens are still popular. I love the look of this kitchens open shelf - Amazing

This is hassle, a roll away dishwasher, not cute and I'm sure very messy! Thankfully we have a dishwasher, its not cute but it works for now.

I'd say this kitchen is more of a cottage county kitchen --- But I will say all the Wall Paper made me dizzy. The wallpaper covered every inch of the kitchen and dining room which is a really small space and made everything look even smaller. And even though wallpaper is back in vogue, I'm not a huge fan.

So there you have it, what my kitchen would have look like in the 1950's. I would like to think I would been more progressive and had pink appliances.

{ My kitchen has a very simular layout, except it's a little bit larger and you can see I'm lacking alot of counter space }

Chalk It Up to Dining

I wanted to add a bit of whismy to an empty wall in our dining room, so I thought the perfect addition would be a Chalk Board. I've seen some amazing chalk boards on these blogs: here, here and here. I knew I wanted the chalk board to be large and the frame had to be pretty.

Mr. CHL and I agreed we didn't want a black chalk board - we thought black would be to harsh in the room. Instead we wanted a dark gray chalk board plus I didn't want a bunch of leftover chalkboard paint. I googled diy chalk board paint colors, when I came across a great how to from Martha Stewart. Thanks to the amazing Martha you can have a chalk board in any color your heart desires.

We got a flat sample of Behr paint in Dark Pencil - I love this color very rich deep gray. The sample paint is the perfect size for this project 7oz. Next we mixed two tablespoon with the paint untill it was nice and smooth. Think hot cocoa with no clumps. Mr CHL applied the paint to the glass using a sponge roller, nice thin coats. We let the paint dry ten mins between coats - and lightly sanded each coat (after it was dry). It took about 5 coats to reach perfection.  

Meanwhile Mr. CHL spray paint the frame a glossy white, next I applied three coats of glossy white to the frame

A lovely addition to our almost done dining room & I love the deep gray color, looks perfect with the walls

Supplies Needed for Chalk board paint

1 cup of flat paint (any color)
2 tablespoons of unsanded grout
Sponge roller

Project Breakdown

Frame:     $ 14.99 (I used a picture frame because they are cheaper then framed mirrors)
Paint:       $    2.99
Unsanded Grout: Free, had on hand (previous owners left misc grout our garage)
Primer: Free, had on hand

Total Cost: $ 17.98

Soft Place to Land: My Bedroom Ideas { Part One }

At first I was going to create a mood board for our Master Bedroom, but soon it got busy with all my ideas! So I decided a list of ideas would work better & I'd love to hear your opinions & ideas help me get this room done. Were almost done with the dining room, ripping up tile this weekend and laying new floors - so I really want to start on the bedroom after the dining room is done.

We have a very basic bedroom standard size 1956 bedroom = small. which means I'll save money right?


Bedroom Idea ~ Soft Place to Land Romantic & Modern


Colors


I really love this color combination.


1. Polished Silver, Vaslpar
2. Aqua-sphere, Sherwin Williams
3. Delicate White, Olympic

Bedding

For the bedding I'm picturing a white duvet and a gray covelet and pretty pillows

Lighting

I really want romantic lighting in our bedroom, fortunately we have overhead lighting in our bedroom which means a chanedlier would be lovely. My husband also likes the idea of a chandlier { he walks around the house saying Chande - LIER in a Englsih Accent }  I want this sucker on a dimmer switch. Here's a few I've been eyeing for quite some time.

But which one? The 1st one is amazing and I can really pciture it over the bed. The 2nd one combines my love of drum shades AND chandeliers.

Not only am I thinking about overhead lighting, I also need lamps in the bedroom for reading. I'm stumped on lighting for the night stands. I love these ones from Pottery Barn BUT at $99.00 each - They are way out of my budget and comfort zone. I did however come across these at Target, but I still have to Add-In the cost of shades, since they don't come with them.

                                     

I also like the idea of shiny metal lamps of course with drum shades might work better.....

Furniture

Lucky for me and my budget I found the perfect dresser on Craigslist! I actaully started painting it over the weekend - Two coats of primer so far. I'm sure my dresser will be just as lovely as the Pottery Barn one that I love. My dresser actaully has more detail.

                                   

I'm going to add shiny metal pulls to my dresser and maybe crystal knobs to the top drawers, I'll keep you posted.

I'm also in need of side tables/night stands for our bedroom. I'm torn between dark & white night stands. I want our bedroom to feel airy and open, so I keep going back and forth between the two finishes. Here's two options, Ideally I will find perefect nigtstands on Craigslist and SAVE money -- if not the ones below are still a good price. I also like this option from Wal-Mart in white, its actaully descibed as a little girls nightstand.

                                               

                                                        

 

Another bedroom furnitre must for me is my little bench, I wrote about awhile ago and can finally say its almost done. It's so pretty, I'm waiting on the fabric to arrive and then I can share. Crossing fngers the fabric arrives quick.

What do you think so far? Should I add another accent color to the bedroom? Any other lighting ideas?

Next

My { Part Two } will be about making the room pretty & functional. And trust me our room right now has now NO function, it's in a sad state of neglect - but that only makes better afters right?

Nothing Neutral about these Plates

Remember last month when I won The Yellow Front Door's giveaway from AllModern.com...well just in time for Christmas my I ordered arrived. While I was searching AllModern.com for the perfect item from my home I came across the perfect little plate set. I fell in love with the Blue Flora from notNeutral. All my everyday dinnerware is all white; the blue plates are the perfect pop of color on our table for salads or deserts. The plates were packaged in pretty box and came with notNeutral catalog.

{ What was the holdup sharing these beauties? Well my husband and son thought these are everyday plates! Everytime I looked around they were in the dishwasher. I finally snagged them and put them in the buffet }

I checked out notNuetral's website and came across some cute finds for the home, their style reminds me of CB2. www.notneutral.com

 That settee with the gold leaf wood amazing I love the combination of the modern pillows and orange wall. Talk about Drama....the good kind

Pottery Barn Design Class

I really like Pottery Barn's design style, how they put together a room - making you want to live in that room! The rooms are always layered with style, whimsy and dose or organization. Image my delight this morning when I opened an email from Pottery Barn inviting me to an upcoming complimentary design class! As a bonus for taking the class, I get 10% OFF items featured in the class. It turns out they offer a FREE class every month. Next month’s class features Decorating Your Bedroom. Perfect, since I plan on re-doing our bedroom soon.

January Class: New Year, New Look

Here's the link to find a Pottery Barn Class near you

Don't Mess with Mojo

My dog is a bada$$, yeah he's only 7 pounds but trust me he rocks his black hoodie scull & cross bones like he's a  big dog. Yes I'm one of 'those people' who put clothes on their dogs, BUT he gets cold  { he only wears sweaters and hoodies in the winter }. Like most Chihuahua's when he gets excited or nervous he shakes, he also follows me whenever I go (not sure if this is a small dog thing) so its superhard to get 'money shots' of him.
 
Meet Mojo or as I somtimes call him MoMo 

What makes Mojo a bada$$?

•  He's a mini watch dog
•  He only eats organic, sometimes I do catch him with a bone!
•  He might be small suffers from small dog syndrome  but he'll still bark at big dogs
•  His best friend is a Boston Terrier, but he calls the shots when they play
•  He can rock his clothes and still look cute tough
•  He watches supervises us doing yardwork

Sunday Morning Thirfty Finds

Mr. CLH and I stopped in the Goodwill this morning looking for Thrifty Finds for our house. Here's some items that caught ny eye.

A wide selection of great frames, think paint = promise.

I even saw some reproduction oil paints for $6.99 each. One bad thing about the Goodwill near me they over price ALOT of thier frames

I loved this little nigthstand perfect for a little girls room or a master bedroom. Mr. CLH thought it was a little too girly, marriage is compromise! Oh yeah it was $15.99

What was my favorite find of the day? This amazing China Hutch, we're currently on the look out for the perfect China Cabinet for our kitchen. We really want a Butler's Pantry in our kitchen when we re-do it. We'll either use a China Cabinet or Custom cabinets. So looking forward to a new kitchen. This cabinet style is a serious contender. It was so many petty details.

Mr. CLH fell in love with and old school Polaroid Camera. It actaully works! It came with film, now the search to find more film will start on Ebay { crossing fingers }