I Got a Happy 101 Award!

The Lovely Angela over at Fixing it Fancy put a huge smile on my face when she gave me a Happy 101 Award. You need to check out Angela's Blog ASAP, she and her husband just completed their master bedroom and closet re-do. Let me tell you the closet reminds me of a boutique and her bedroom is Gorgeous. I'm also a huge fan of her kitchen; Angela and her husband have been remolding their home like crazy over the past few months. Wait until you see all her transformations:

 About the Award: The Award asks for 1. Ten Things I Like 2. Recognize Ten Other Blogs

10 Things I Like

1. I Mr. CLH - we have a blast together! He's simply just amazing and sweet and thoughtful.

2. I like hearing my son laugh when he's watching cartoons or a movie. I also like that he still gives me kisses and hugs every morning before I go to work. He's 9 so this is amazing for a little boy. I normally don't share pictures on my son - but there's a picture of us on Mother's day a few years ago.

3. I like Champagne!
4. I like Jane Austen movies and the books too!
5. I like paint, it transform furniture in amazing ways
6. I like my friends - they are a great group of women who inspire me and find me funny. Whether I'm just hanging out talking with them, going to see a movie or have a girls night in - they really keep the pep in my step
7. I like Chick Movies! 13 Going on 30, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Sex in the City {the movie}, Pretty Women, Waiting to Exhale, Somethings Gotta Give, Becasue I Said So, and way more.
8. I like shoes, like really like shoes. Did you know my wedding shoes were purple? Yup, I got the last pair of purple shoes in my size at any Nordies stores in the US - bought a few weeks before the big day. Here's a picture of my shoes on my wedding day. LOVE

9. I like my little house; it’s so much prettier now then the day we bought it. Still need to paint that door!

Then

                                     

Now

10. I like Netflix! I've been a member since 2005 - love getting my movies from them, so much easyier and they have a HUGE selection of movies over 40,000.

10 Blogs I Enjoy Reading {passing the love along }

1. Get It Girl Style
2. Life in the Fun Lane
3. Freckles Chic
4. Thifty Little Blog
5. Life + Style
6. Cold Turkey Veggie
7. Home to Three Duncan Boys
8. Ish & Chi
9. BluLabel Bungalow
10. Design_Aholic

Martha Tip of the Week

Don't you just love Martha Stewart; I loved her way before it was cool to love her - back in high school! She always has great advice and is so helpful. Her ideas always wow me. Back when I was planning my wedding I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, she always had crafty and lofty ideas for brides. I may even have it watched the trashy Martha: Behind Bars staring Cybill Shepherd of course I watched it thanks Lifetime. Well today I came across Martha's Organizing Tip of the Day. She's so clever to think of a tip for each day. Here's my top two for the week.

Martha Tip ONE

Simple felt bag, can be used anywhere from grocery shopping (go green) to carrying books, perfect tote. This will be an upcoming weekend project for me, as soon I have a bit of sanity to my life again. Right now our entire dining room is parked in the living room, thanks to a recent ripping up tile weekend. Click on the How To, the steps in making this felt bag.

Martha Tip TWO

Pretty Patterned Board (magnetic), perfect for an office, kids rooms, the kitchen etc. I could see this in a wide variety of fabrics patterned and solid. How cute would this be, in a solid color and with trimmed with a contrasting ribbon border. Or even using cork instead of the magnetic board. Click on the How To for the simple steps in making is this board. This might be perfect solution for my sons room with the right fabric to help keep him more organized.

{ Photos from www.marthastewartt.com }

Va Va VaBlue

I yelped with excitement when I got my new issue of House Beautiful { March 2010 } in the mail yesterday. I instantly started admiring the lovely all blue living room. Talk about Va Va VaBlue. The entire issue is devoted to the color blue.

I never was a fan of blue until we bought our home, we have a wall in our living room its pretty shade of blue green and blue is also an accent color in my Master Bedroom Re-do. This issue has inspired me kick up the shades for blue in my home....I'm seeing way more blue for my bedroom now.

"Green blue strikes

the right balance

between light and dark,

It's great for warming up

new houses and cozying

up big rooms"

 - SCOTT SANDERS

Here's some amazing blue rooms - LOVE

"Blue as the

ocean, colors that

say sea sky

 and nature"

House Beautiful

"The ultimate

lovely aqua

blue chandelier"

- Chic Little House

Weekend Warriors: Tearing Up Tile { Part One }

Last Weekend our dining room and kitchen where a dusty mess

We finally torn up the cracked, stained, Ugly tile up in the dining room and kitchen!

I was nervous in the weeks approaching 'Removal of the Tile' Why? Because, I did want to deal with a huge mess and what if this harder then it looks on TV? I decided to some research and find the easiest way to tear ceramic up tile.

Supplies Needed:

• Drop cloth
• Rubber Mallet
• Hammers
• Wood Shins
• Chisel Set
• Eye Glasses & Face Mask
• Heavy Broom, Dust Pan & Trash Can
• Heavy Duty Paint Scrapper
• Tile Scrapper
• Shop Vacuum (optional)

Tearing Up Tile Steps:
1. We emptied the entire dining room and kitchen out and place plastic over the vents in the ceiling and plastic of over the entrance to the kitchen/dining room to contain the dust.

2. We removed all the baseboards. Removing the baseboards to some patience, but it was worth it all the baseboards remained in tact! Which saves money. We placed a heavy duty paint scrapper on the top of the baseboard, then gently tapped it with a rubber mallet loosening up the baseboards. Next place wood shins into the baseboards - which helps loosen the nails. CAREFULLY remove the baseboard.

3. Determine what your tile is laying over. We have a raised foundation and I read its much harder to remove tile from a concrete foundation, it might even require renting a machine. How do you determine what your tile is covering? Place your drop cloth over a tile square, hit you hammer on the drop cloth, your tile should break in pieces. Gently remove your tile chucks. Under our tile we found linoleum. Which explains why our tile was cracked in many places. If you place tile over linoluem it can expand and contract and then crack

4. Carefully remove all the tile, we placed a drop cloth over the section of tile we planned on removing to avoid tile filing everywhere! Which it will. We hammer away with our chisel and where able to remove large sections of tile easy. Work smarter not harder. We would stop all sweep up all the debris and tile chunks along the way, less to cleanup

What We Learned:

• Gather all your supplies the night before, trips back and forth to Lowes  are not fun. We had one trip, MR CLH forgot to buy himself safety goggles
• Have fun! Remember it gets ugly before it gets pretty
• Work Smarter not Harder - take you time tearing up tile, less mess to clean up
• We also learmed removing tile was the easy part - the next step in the Demo process was mucher harder for us

DIY Easy?

I think this is easy (sometimes long and boring) DIY project - I'd recommend a two person team in a space larger then a bathroom. It took us two days from start to finish for both rooms, I think we would have completed the removal of the tile faster, if we started earlier. We didn't start until 11:30 on Sat - way to late to start a project.

Part Two - Removing the Thin Set & Why ony DIY Projects on TV get done in one day