Anyone want to guess what color we painted the guest room? And no, I'm not talking about the color we chose our first go at it. If you remember, we didn't quite get the color right the first time. The black-splattered, tortured teen's room desperately needed a paint job: Initially we painted it this warm, […]
This is the only picture you have seen of our laundry room/half bath right off of the family room: The room is not pretty to look at, so we usually just get our laundry done and get outta there. The blue rag-rolled walls and lighthouse wallpaper border are dee-skusting. The once blue (I think) tiles […]
I'm back to share what I'm making this week. My first week cooking went great and it was fun to try new recipes. Some of them were fantastic, but I probably wouldn't make the garlic-parmesan edamame again--turns out we prefer just plain edamame with sea salt sprinkled on top. It's clean on the palette and […]
Every once in awhile, we put the paintbrushes down and live life. Birthdays are definitely those times. After toggling between a few different ideas of what to get Chris for his birthday yesterday, I scrapped them all and decided to make memories instead (although I did get him a few layering shirts from Gap to […]
Happy Birthday to a pretty amazing person: ...and I'm not the only one who thinks so. I love you, birthday boy. I am so grateful to be your wife and best friend. We have a blast together and tonight is going to be no different. Get ready for some fun! Here's what we'll be doing: […]
Yup, it's that time again. Except this time instead of blabbing on about how "I just can't stand___," I want to show you exceptions I have found. And because I don't want to get things messy as far as trackbacks go, I'll leave the obvious examples of how these things have come to bug me […]
Chris was out of town all last week for work and during that time, the other room in our basement (the one that we aren't currently turning into our guest room/office. whew!) flooded. Not good. Not gooood. We rarely go in that room and by the time I noticed, it was the smell that I […]
Actually, 11 crows on it. "It" being our banister. We are slowly outfitting our house in Halloween decor (Spider McCreeperson seen here). The cute, crafty "Boo!" decor just doesn't look right in our house--so we are going more more sleek and spooky which is why these dollar-store-crows are pretty perfect. Shelling out a buck […]
I'm not talking about anything that involves power tools or my glue gun. As I reported, to make our nights a little less hectic, I have decided to take on the cooking during the week. Unlike Chris, the master chef, I need to follow a recipe. Good thing I have a stockpile of good eats […]
The next installment of our online mini-series is live on True Value's facebook page! They are following our step by step renovation of turning a room in our basement into a guest room and office. Today, you can check out all the steps it took to get rid of those black splattered walls (wooohoooo! They […]
I normally wait until the end of the post to give you before and after pictures, but I did a pretty in depth overhaul of these lamps and I would hate to keep you waiting as I babble on about how to make a lampshade and dye fabric to create an ombre effect and put […]
And yes, that is a complete ode to one of my favorite clips of all time: Since we are being featured in a little online mini series for True Value as we tackle our basement renovation, I've mostly been keeping our work down there on the down low until the videos are published (you can […]
I am not a spider person. (Are there "spider people"?!?) But for the sake of the upcoming holiday and our costume party, I am going all out on the decorations. Little by little our home is going to transform into a spook house. The first decoration up? This 'UGE spider that I found at Walmart […]
It's hard for us to believe it has been 6 months since we moved into this home--our very first. April 2nd we moved in and we have been busy ever since. In the past 6 months: --We have painted 9 rooms (Family room, Dining room, Kitchen (and cabinets), Living room, Hallway, Hall Bath, Greta's room, Our […]
Months ago, my friend Kristi sent me a picture text with these lamps and said she was going to throw them out and wondered if I would like them. "Sure!" I figured if I couldn't rescue them, I could always just donate them. They have been sitting in our basement since the move and yesterday, […]
We needed nightstands, bad style. We had one that we had been using on my side of the bed (I always claim the side away from the door) that was actually used as an end table in our last apartment. It is from Ikea and too tall and looked a little pinkish against the gray-brown […]
We are suckers for Halloween. Suckers. This year we decided to take the opportunity to dress up and party into our own hands by throwing a costume party at our place. So last night, we decided to put some costumes together and snap a few photos for the invitations--that way we would drive the message […]
A couple weeks ago, we toyed with the idea of painting our bed frame and we got lots of support from you. So, over the weekend I dove in and got it done and I am here to tell you all about it. There were a couple reasons we wanted to paint the frame of our […]
Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Laura--lucky number 28! Today I am wrapping up your memories in a box with ribbon and handing them to you. You're welcome. Let me start off by saying, I am not a scrapbooker. The thought of cutting out pictures and adding a slew of embellishments is not my cup […]
Fall is my favorite. Then Summer. Then Winter (until after New Years, then it is terrible). Then Spring....sorry Spring. In the spirit of the favorite season starting today, let me share a few of my favorite things and sure signs that the autumnal equinox is upon us: 5. The leaves change colors. In Pittsburgh, where […]
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Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations