A Little Progress...

Ok so the old carpet is being pulled up and the new floors are being laid down.  The kitchen cabinets are getting primed and painted.  At about this point in the remodel I was almost over it!  This was a LOT of work, maybe a little more than we expected.  However, we pushed through and it was most certainly worth the blood, sweat, and tears!  Everything is done now, except for cleaning and accessorizing so I will be posting some more pictures of the final product soon!  

Cheers,

Let the Renovations Begin!

     Ok, so basically I was absent for the entire month of January, but I have a good excuse!  Two days after Christmas we decided to do a complete overhaul of our house as our Christmas gifts to each other.  We painted the entire house, got rid of all the old carpet and installed new floors, painted our kitchen cabinets, replaced our gutters, assembled a shed, and made COUNTLESS trips to Lowes!

     I was so excited about starting all of these projects that taking "before" pictures completely left my mind!  I can't believe I forgot to do that!  I scrounged around to find a few that can give you a general idea of what it looked like before.  I did however take plenty of pictures during the process (please don't judge the mess!), and am taking a few throughout while we finish up all the odds and ends!  These are a few before pictures, well what I could find!

Before (as best as I can give)      

These are the old, dark brown walls in the entry hall and the hallway, the old light fixtures, dirty carpet, and linoleum floors.  I am still trying to find a before picture of the kitchen...stay tuned!  haha

Anyway, I will post a few of the "in the process" photos tomorrow!

Cheers,

Decking the Halls!

  

Since this is the first year in our house, I have been trying to start some new traditions that we do each year, but also have something to look back on from years past.  When I was shopping with one of my friends I found these clear glass ornaments in various sizes and thought this would be the perfect tradition to start!  So I snatched up several boxes of the ornaments, a few paint pens (in my Christmas color scheme for the year), and got busy!  It was so fun sitting around the dining room table and each of us decorating these ornaments with what we wanted to remember from this year!  I even drew designs on a few of them just to add a little personal spunk to our Christmas tree!  This was so much fun, and it gave everyone an opportunity to release some creative energy, and the tree looks great!  

Oh...another cool thing, is that the tops of the ornaments pop off so you can fill them with what ever you like and then pop it back on.  I bought some sequins and filled them up and also used tensil in some of them, but you could use candy, pictures, or anything you wanted!

                   

Cheers,

Holiday Cocktails (Let's face it, we all need one!)

We are hosting Christmas at our house this year for the first time, so as I was browsing for some yummy appetizers, instead I found myself looking at yummy cocktails!! I found this and I can't wait to try it at our Christmas party!! Hope you enjoy this as much as I will!

Snowtini

1 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups ice

3 oz. vanilla vodka

3 oz. chocolate liqueur (Godiva is delicious!)

3 oz. Irish cream liqueur (Bailey's is yummy!)

1. Place the martini glasses in the freezer for 10 minutes

2. Using a serrated knife, cut shavings of the block of chocolate and set aside for later.

3. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour the vodka, chocolate liqueur and Irish cream over the ice. Shake firmly.

4. Pour into frozen glasses (watch the fingerprints) and garnish with the chocolate shavings!

Cheers,

The Perfect Mason

Since we moved in I have found myself collecting things that I never did before! Some of these are good... others not so much! Anyway, one of the main items I have been collecting are glass jars. I LOVE the Ball Mason Jars and any glass jar I can get my hands on! For any of the glass jars, just remove the label with warm soapy water and clean it out and it is good to go! These are great for using as a makeshift vase and look especially great grouped together with same color flowers, or you can place tea lights in them, and for a holiday bonus I like to place the small ornaments in them, and you can always color coordinate them to match your holiday scheme!   On a holiday note, these are also great to fill with cookies or holiday candy and give as gifts with a nice ribbon tied around it!   Basically you can let you mind run wild with all the creative uses for these amazing jars!

Cheers,

My First Blog!

Hello everyone! So I am new to this, actually this is my first blog ever! I am just learning my way around this so be patient with me while I figure this whole crazy world of blogging! Some of the things that I hope to share with you are general day to day activities that I have been up to around the house, and with projects from school, as well as keeping you informed on new ideas and some of my inspiration!

Currently I am considering re-designing my entire house. We first moved in 7 months ago and I was scattered trying to find a quick design scheme, and (not surprisingly) was not to thrilled with the outcome. Our great room lacks natural light so I am switching it up from the current chocolate brown and burnt orange and bringing in something lighter.

I am thinking of painting the builder grade kitchen cabinets white (any suggestions), and also installing hardwood floors. If you have any ideas that you have tried and like please let me know!

I will keep you all informed on the outcome as we move forward with this exciting

process!

Oh yea, this is a picture of our newest addition to our family...MAX! He is the cutest surprise I have ever received!

Cheers,