AHHHH The HGTV Smart Home

Wonder who is going to win this beautiful vacation home!?!? Oh my gosh I love it. I'm not much of a techie but this house is AWESOME. We watched the tour of the home on tv as a family and our six year old was begging us to vote to win it. Doubtful but it's so fun to dream. Wonder what lucky family will win it! Can't wait to find out!

Use Hairspray To Remove Marker Marks From Wooden Surface

The joys of children! I used to be so particular about things but over time my kids have certainly broken me of that! Here is just a small swatch of the marker they got on the kitchen table. It was like this for weeks until my mother-in-law told me you can use hair spray to remove it. I rarely ever use hairspray but I do keep a can around to spike up the boys' hair for fun every once in a while. This is such a cool trick and I am proof that it works. I had a can of cheap Tresemme.

Spray the hairspray on and wipe off with a warm damp sponge. You may have to rub with the sponge a few times before it all comes clean but what a nifty trick!

IKEA Lantern

How are you? Today I feel blessed, really blessed. They say when one door closes another door opens and I think this is so true. Lately I've had a lot of eye opening experiences and I really do think that if you have faith in something, it's very possible it will happen. You have to have a focus and push to make it happen, but in time I think with faith and motivation anything is possible. Today the sun finally came out and a new door opened!

With all that has been going on I haven't had the time to be able to update this site the way I would like. I have tons of ideas and projects but not the time to carry them through. I'm hoping to get back on track and start posting again. I love what my site is about and it's a great escape to create and have fun! I've met so many cool people who enjoy similar things!

If you've read any of my past posts you'll see that I like to keep things simple. Below is a galvanized lantern from IKEA. I used to have it hanging from the ceiling from a hook. I got tired of the look so I painted these wooden decorative balls and placed them in the lantern for an updated look. It adds a really nice color to my bathroom vanity. Do you have any lanterns? How do you display them?

Unhinged??? Nahh!

I am soooo excited! Bet you can't guess why! I have been procrastinating on a project but as soon as it warms up I can complete it. YESSSSS!

Guess what came in the mail today! I FINALLY found brushed nickel hinges that have the straight AND curved edge to change out the ones we have on our exterior doors. They came at a large price but I think it'swell worth it at this point. I started out painting them nearly a year ago and it turned out to be way more of a chore than expected. I can mark this purchase off the to do list. Now for the installation! More to come!

Spring Has Sprung

I'm so excited! This time of the year is the best! It was absolutely beautiful today so I spent the whole day outside in the yard.

I painted some things I have been wanting to paint for a while to freshen things up and I got a lot of flowers planted today.  I have three types left to plant too but I'm working on ideas for them. I am good with potted plants but when it comes to a  flower bed,  I get lost as far as what to plant. I'll probably make another trip to the hardware store tomorrow. Happy planting!

Early Stage of Gallery WALL

Above is the current and early stage of the Gallery Wall I'm going to do. As you can see I have nothing up on the walls yet. I'm a researcher and plan carefully when it comes to walls. I'm a skeerdy cat about hanging things. It took over year to finally hang the first thing on the wall when we bought this house. I guess you could say I am anal about it but I want to be sure I'm happy with what and where I hang something.

I am the world's worst when it comes to photos of my kids. The whole getting portraits made and framed to hang or use as decoration, I suck at. I have soooo many pictures from my oldest when he was born that are sitting in envelopes in a big bag. I have had this on my to do list for a long time so I am going to work on this one.

I found a wall I thought was really nicely laid out. It was casual and comfortable looking without being totally uniform and perfectly aligned. This is what I want to do. As of right now, all the pictures I want to hang on the wall upstairs are sitting on our coffee table behind the couch. They are in matching IKEA frames. I found this blog and LOVE the third picture down. This is what I want to try and do my own version of.

How do you display pictures in your home?

Upgrades To Your Abode?

Upgrades To Your Abode? 

If you had plenty of disposable income, what ONE change would you LOVE to make to your home? I know what mine would be! Mine would be to rip up this carpet on our staircase and install wood stairs. Then I'd like to change up the railing so the wood matches the hardwood flooring. 

 

We had pine flooring when we moved in and upgraded to a dark wood floor and the difference between the staircase railing  and the floor drives me bonkers. It's one of those things you notice, or I should say I notice every time i go up or down the stairs. Funny thing is - over the weekend I was trying to count the number of times I use the stairs and I lost count. So this is one of those things we will definitely change one day. For now, it's good to have carpet b/c we have a fairly new walker in the house and he's learning just how to use the stairs. So until the kiddos get a little better, we'll have a mismatched foyer. I really can't complain though because our house has come a looooong way in just the last 5 years. 

I'll eventually take on this challenge and try to come up with a reasonable way to update the stairs without spending a fortune! I would LOVE to do wood stairs with some sort of awesome,fresh runner up and down the middle of the stairs! Can't wait until the day I can share this project but I think it will be a big undertaking. For now my excuse not to attempt it is the kids! 

One of these days though, one of these days!  I would love to hear what you would change about YOUR house! 


For fun, simple reasonable DIY home decor ideas come visit www.keepitsimpleyay.blogspot.com

Covering A Pocket Calendar For Fun!

What is up? How are you in this new year? I sure hope good! Things are good on this end. This year I'm trying to keep up a lot of good habits I have started and so far it's going really well!

Do you use calendars? What kind do you use? I used to use a Franklin Covey Day Planner and swore by it. I still love those but now I have a big desk calendar at work that has slots for each family member and I use a little pocket calendar that I carry in my hands free crossbody purse in case anything comes up. No, we still do not own smart phones so I do use a pocket calendar. DORKY but it works for me.

As far as pocket calendars, I love the blocked off monthly format where you can see everything laid out for each day. I personally think the stores had slim pickings for the design of the calendars. I'm not a fan for cutesy,  scenery, or themed pictures but I wound up buying one and covering it so it was more sleek. Sleek. That is funny. Being a mom of two, nothing I own is sleek but hey, it's fun to imagine!

The BEFORE - not so bad but just not quite what I wanted.

I used this roll of zebra print contact shelf lining paper I picked up at Wal-Mart a few months back...

I think it turned out nicely. This pattern is a fun one! What an easy way to change something to put a smile on your face!

The Curtain Calls When It's Pouring Rain!

Looooooong time no see! How have you been? Hope you had a wonderful Christmas this year. I normally try and post Christmas crafts and decorations but this year things have been too hectic and I just ran out of time to fit it all in.

My cat(my furry baby) of 14 years recently became ill and I was afraid I was going to have to come to the decision of putting him down. Fortunately testing and change of diet has helped tremendously. He lost a pound and a half in a month and we learned he has kidney disease. He's doing much better and is eating again!

Then our toddler dislocated his arm for the third time and a week later got stitches just above his eye. I had the stitches removed only to find that one was accidentally left in and so I had to go back to have it taken out. The whole family has been sick and I have spent most of my Christmas vacation taking care of everybody trying to avoid getting sick myself. Today I woke up to the oldest having a sore throat (hopefully not Strep!) and the youngest woke up with pink eye. I woke up to a car that won't start. So my car was towed off and everyone in the family besides me has a doctor appt. this afternoon.

This is why I have disappeared. Not to mention I have kinda taken a hiatus to get my health and fitness in order and make it a part of my everyday routine. So far it's going well!

That being said I haven't had the time I'd like to make a lot of house improvements but here is one small change I made in the living room. Curtains!  I love my DIY curtains with the iron-on stripes but I wanted to add some color to brighten things up. The room has been feeling a little dingy lately. I found these burnt orange curtains at Target and love them. I don't normally change curtains seasonally but I really do like these and it adds another dimension and warmth to the room. What types of curtains do you normally use in your living room?

Shower Power Against MOLD!

Good Morning! Happy Thanksgiving a day late! I hope your day was wonderful. I've been off for a couple of days and I must say our house has never been cleaner than it is right now. Before our big feast yesterday I spent the day vacuuming and steam cleaning all the carpet upstairs and let me tell you why I LOVE the Internet! It had to do with the steam cleaner I bought a few years ago.

Geesh, leave it to me to start using the steam cleaner and then have it crap out and think I broke it. It just wouldn't suck. It SUCKED but not for the reason of actually sucking. The darn thing would spray the water and then BLOW air out instead of sucking the water up. Instead of being impatient like I tend to be in times of stress, I hopped online and Googled the steam cleaner to trouble shoot the problem.  Come to find out - I didn't have the lid hinged properly on the receiving water tank so it didn't have full suction and caused the air to go out instead or suck. YES! Thank goodness for the Internet. I was back on track quickly and got the whole upstairs carpet steam cleaned. It's the little things indeed.

Can't believe I'm up so early on a holiday but I am and it's so peaceful with the whole house in bed still.  I just got back from my 5:00 am workout at the gym and man did it feel good! If you've read along for any length of time, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. It's been about three months since I've had a soda and since I started back at the gym! It feels so good and I'm just thankful to have found my way back to exercising regularly.

Okay, this might gross you out so if you have a sensitive stomach, go ahead and turn back now. We have a basic box shower and separate tub. I think they are fiberglass. The master bath is nothing special and one day we hope to redo it. Anyhow I try to be clean and sanitary and all but this is one place in our house I have been ashamed of for a loooooong time. It's called MOLD and it was in our shower. It was so bad we were talking about forking out money to replace our shower sooner than later. I hated it. Mold is unsafe and it was trying to take over our shower. I finally researched and fought back with the proper steps and won! It's so easy, I wish I had figured it out long time ago. Let me show you!

See how nasty. I'm sorry and now you can see how gross things get behind closed doors. GROSS, SICK and DISGUSTING! This wasn't even the mold at its worst. I jumped to clean and didn't take any real before pictures.

What you don't want to do is scrub because you'll just spread the mold. No one wants to spread mold.

Need:Mask
Paint brush,
Baking soda,
Bleach

Using a glass bowl or jar, mix a little bleach and baking soda to make a thick paste and paint on with a paint brush. Let it sit overnight and air out the room. Keep kids and animals away from room. The mix will eat away the mold. You may have to do this a couple of nights but it works fast! To maintain the clean shower, I use a spray bottle of hot water and bleach every once in a while. Another tip to keep mold out is leaving the shower door open after showers.

I can hardly believe how clean the shower is now. It feels like new and it feels more sanitary and now we can put off a bathroom redo longer. - I need to re-post an AFTER picture. I have lost some links to the blog and am currently working on it! - Oh and the hint of orange in the bottom corner is not mold. It's a little bit of rust but I am so happy to have removed the nasty mold. I'm working on a solution for the rust! It's always something but I hope this helps you! It sure helped me! Have a great weekend!