New Finds!

Just wanted to send a warm thank you to the new people who are reading along. I enjoy "meeting" new people and reading other blogs and I will follow you back. Hope everybody had a nice Easter and got to spend time with loved ones. Easter was good. The weekend was good... I got an afternoon all to myself Saturday afternoon. YESSSSSS! I can't remember the last time that happened. I used to think it was so strange to hear mommies talk about how the only place they had a moment of silence or time to themselves was in the bathroom but I totally get it now! I adore my children, don't get me wrong, but I do dream of "me" time and need to find ways to fit more of that into the mix.

On my afternoon off, I got in the car, rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof and blasted the music somewhat and tooled around doing the things that I wanted to do. PLAY!!! Sweetness. First off I heard that there was a pretty good Salvation Army nearby, that I have been meaning to test out so I went and checked it out. I'm not a huge thrift store shopper but thought it would be fun to browse to find things that I could fix up and make my own as far as decorations for the house. Salvation Army was pretty cool but I didn't buy anything. If I was trying to furnish a home, it would be a great place to go. I saw many solid pieces of furniture that looked like they were never used. The prices were great too.

After that, I trucked over to Good Will and wooo-hooo! I found two items I knew I could fix up. I picked up a wooden tray that has some sort of Chinese scripting on it and I got the most adorable lime green lamp! The lamp came with a simple canvas barrel type lamp shade. It was brand new and it works! I would have a picture of it but I already put it in the baby's room and he's sleeping. I have plans for it at a later date but for now it matches the baby's room and looks adorable. Hey did you know that Good Will does returns? That is pretty cool. They take returns up to 7 days after the purchase date. Good to know for future reference! I have some plans to turn this tray into something cute!

Another new find was the HomeGoods store. It was fantastic! I have been dying to check that place out for a while and boy was it cool. There were so many inviting things to look at. I think I walked down every aisle looking at all the modern home decor. If I ever need a super cool lamp or anything for the house, I'll go there! They have so many classic, stylish pieces. I did purchase a cool, glass cannister and it was CHEAP compared to most stores. I have lots of ideas of ways to use it! Psyched! I know I'm a goofball!


So the rest of the week, I will be spending my nights preparing for a neighborhood garage sale this weekend. Pricing, making signs and cleaning out the attic! Lots of work to come this week! I'll keep you posted on that one!

Inexpensive Play Room Wall Art

Anybody else suffering from the pollen and allergies? Hack Hack Hack!!! I can't stop coughing and my voice has been nonexistent for over a week, which a certain someone in the household has probably enjoyed a break from, not mentioning any names!! I'm kidding! I'm not sure if it's allergies or a cold or what, but I am ready to shake it off to shift back into high gear!

In playing catch up on projects, here is one I did soon after hanging the curtains in the boys' playroom! The room has felt bare and unfinished for a long time so I feel like it's more complete with wall hangings on more than just wall in the room now! 

 

 

I've been looking for some sort of simple something to go on the wall for a while and I finally came up with an easy solution. My favorite book of scrapbook paper is one of thick, card stock types and they are more modern patterns and designs. There just so happened to be a cool one with cars, trucks, planes and bikes, just perfect for a little boy and a mama who doesn't care too much for super cutesy patterns that they'll outgrow in a year. I like to make changes that will last. If I get tired of them, I can still change them easily but it's not something I have to change right away.

I found three black wooden picture frames at IKEA for $2.99 each and cut the scrap book paper to fit. I hung them over a toy shelving sorter unit thingy in the playroom! I think the wall art adds a nice clean, more contemporary flair to the room and it was a very easy solution. The colors matched the curtains almost perfectly and the background of the paper is blue/green with a shiny copper embossed design, which is very close to the color of the curtain rod.

It's amazing to see some of the cool papers that come in bound scrap book pads.
Happy to have the playroom more complete! What projects have you been up to lately?

Garage Redo Reveal

Things have been super busy lately between work and home life and everything in between that I have been a bit slack getting back to this but certainly not intentionally slack! 

I'm sooooo excited to FINALLY show you the garage redo! It's something we've been wanting to accomplish for a while. I have loads of pictures too so watch out! We don't have tons of stuff in the garage but we park the cars in there and wanted more order to all the tools and toys to make it easier to get to them. Plus we wanted to get the chemicals locked up so the little men wouldn't ever be tempted to get into them. A big goal was to get most of it off the ground and hung in an orderly fashion.

Before Pictures

We hung dry wall on the left wall since it was unfinished. I can't take credit for that part. My husband, his buddy and my brother-in-law did that. They mudded the walls painted them gray, which wound up taking a little longer than planned. They ran into some snags along the way but finally got it up.

During Pictures

 

 

We weren't planning on painting the ceiling but decided that if we didn't do it now, then we would never go back and do it later so we did. We got textured white paint and painted that with the help of my dad and brother-in-law. It's nothing fancy.

After Pictures

A small touch was the decorative plate where the door opener button is.

 

After much research on the tracking system we decided to go with the Gladiator Garage Works Organization System. The heavy duty cabinet has a lock and key so that was helpful. It's a simple easy-to-hang solution with different hooks and shelves and hanging units, including baskets and trays that can be moved around for more versatility. 

We kept one shelf that we had before to store paints and misc items on.

My beach cruiser bicycle is really heavy so we're looking for more lightweight bikes to ride.

We still have a sheet of pegboard that we are trying to decide if we can use. 

Those two tables folded up will be hung over the garage door, up high, eventually.

We want to eventually so some sort of treatment on the floor but there is some research to do.

Car cleaning items are together!

We reused some old pegboard for small hand tools.

There is a hanging basket for balls. All of our other stuff is up high! 

Cabinet can be hung on shelves but we kept it on the floor to use the wall space for other things.

 

Added a striped rug at the back door for a splash of color! The old rug didn't survive the mud part of the redo. Whaddayathink? I love it! I feel a little less stressed when I get home every day and park the car. It's nice and clean and organized now! An organized room can sure boost the spirits!  

Garage Project Teaser!

Hope everybody is doing well! Thank goodness it's the weekend! The weather is supposed to be nice so it's time to finish up the big garage makeover. What didn't seem like was going to be a crazy project turned into more of an ordeal than expected. I am soooooo ready to get things back in order and share the after shots! All that is left to do is clean up, organize and final touches so we can get those cars back in it.

Speaking of cars, a guardian angel must  have been watching over us yesterday. I had my car parked in the driveway, which is a slight incline from the street. Once I stepped in the house with the kids I noticed my car out in the street and in my neighbors yard. My emergency brake was on and the car was in first gear with the steering wheel straight. Anyhow the car somehow made a zigzag and missed our mailbox and the neighbor's mailbox across the street. Luckily no one was hurt and no damage was done. WHEW!

So my computer is in the shop yet again and I also need to troubleshoot problems with my camera. I hope to have everything back up next week so I can share the final pictures of the garage! Have a lovely weekend and talk soon!

Accidents Happen And Sometimes For The Better!

I am slowly knocking some things off of my 2011 home decor to do list and I got to use my drill and my stud finder in this little project! I hung some store bought drapes! YAY!

 
Make sure you use a drill bit that is smaller than the screw's circumference so you don't have a hole larger than the screw. 
 

My drill has a level which helps put the screw in straight. I drilled the first hole and then measured out for my second one.

My handy dandy laser level makes it so easy to line up holes once I decide on the distance away from the window on either side where I want to hang the curtain rod. Make pencil marks and drill away!

The curtain rods have a bronzed finish and are very simple. They came from Ross Dress for Less and were under $10.00 each. 

A little background... We bought our home 4 1/2 years ago and have spent that time redoing most EVERYTHING. When we bought the house it was about seven years old and very basic. We liked the floor plan but it was a simple house with no real upgrades and LOTS of wallpaper, borders and stencils that were not our taste. Have I mentioned how much I dislike wallpaper??? Yuck!!! Over the past several years, I've enjoyed painting and personalizing and making our house our home. We have changed almost every fixture, painted every room and changed out every curtain and curtain rod in the house, among other things. The playroom started out as our office but gradually(child number one arrived) became the playroom. :) I wanted it to be a neutral color for boys or girls, just in case, and flow with the rest of the colors in the house. I painted the room a light shade of yellow (I'm a more natural/neutral tone kind of girl).

Since we have boys I finally decided to start decorating the room more for boys. I didn't want to go with a specific theme or anything real childish-looking and am excited to share the drapes I hung. Funny though, I purchased these drapes from Old Time Pottery (very reasonably priced per panel), months ago to see if they'd go in our living room. NOT! They completely clashed with the rest of the colors in the living room which worked out quite nicely in the end! It took hanging them up to realize that the curtains didn't go though. It was accidental that these drapes went so well in the playroom. They turned out to match the rug just perfectly!!  See for yourself. 

 

Blue for Boyyyyyeeeeeeees! What do you think? Ya think I need to iron them? I will eventually! Looks like the curtains were made to go with the rug but they were bought at two totally different places, several months apart! What have you done accidentally that you just LOVED in the end???