Howdy!

This is really just a filler post.  I did squat this weekend, project wise.  Well, that's not entirely true, I did finish my 3rd pelmet box for the windows in the living room.  I must confess that I am having a hard time keeping them up.  I really need to just sew the Velcro to the box and that should solve the problem.  The glue isn't working very well.  I'll figure it out though! ;) 

While I didn't do much for projects I did clean out two of my kitchen drawers that I call the "art drawers".  Really just a fancy name for junk drawers. lol  I got a whole grocery bag of trash outta them.

Never mind the wine in the back...

Does it make me a terrible mother that I don't keep absolutely every piece of artwork or paper award my children have received?  I still have a whole drawer full of crap  things they've made, just to prove that I love everything they do. ;)

Ah, much better.

 After I finished, which I didn't photograph, I had a whole empty drawer left over.  My guess is it will become another junk drawer in no time. lol

While I was cleaning, I came across the design board I made for the living room before I started any decorating.


 The only thing that has stayed the same is the Chevron ottoman, which I'm still in love with.  The general color scheme is relatively similar except the bright coral buffet that I did.  I totally didn't think I'd go with the coral craze when I started out, but I love how my buffet turned out.

I still have a wingback chair that I need to re-cover that I purchased at a swap meet for $10.  Here's why I'm not in a rush to put some beautiful new fabric on it (besides the cost of course, dang fabric is expensive!).

Saki's cookie munching chair.  Luckily I got that pillow on clearance at Target for $5.

The dogs swear I bought this chair and made the ottoman for them to eat their biscuit's on.  The chair is really a disgrace in it's current state and my attempts to "hide" the ugly under a few blankets is pathetic really.  Oh well, it will get re-covered eventually and I'll try to diligently keep the dogs off of it.  "Try" being the operative word...  

Hope you all had a great weekend.  My Denver Broncos kicked butt per usual.  Woot! ;)
Happy Monday!
Holly

Okay, maybe "revolutionary" is an overstatement... But! I haven't seen one on Pinterest done this way.  I've seen several posts for DIY Pelmet boxes or Cornice boxes, whatever you wanna call it.  It's for the window and it looks pretty, okay?  Anyway, I've seen some using boards and even some using foam core, but I've never seen anyone use cardboard!

Bam!

And just to be clear, that is cardboard covered with batting and fabric.  Here's how it went down.

Big, beautiful pieces of cardboard that I snagged from work. They were scheduled to be destroyed. ;)

Most of my supplies.  I added duct tape and Krazy Glue later.

You're probably aware that I try to spend the least amount of money or no money if possible on my projects.  Our budget just won't allow for spending on frivolous things like home decor.  So I've been forced to scour Pinterest for hours on end looking for DIY projects to tackle and coming up with a few of my own.  This particular project cost me ZERO dollars.  Of course some of these things, like the spray adhesive, batting and the Velcro, were purchased at some point over the past two years, but who's counting that.

First off, I had to measure the existing plastic window casings.  That thing at the top...

Don't you love my "apartment style" blinds. :P They came with the house.  They originally had these gawd-awful white lace curtains over them.

So I measured that, front and sides, totaled it up and went to measure out a piece of my cardboard to that length.

Marked it with a sharpie.

Then used my handy dandy box cutter to cut the line.

Used my first piece as a template to cut the other two.

I have 3 windows that size and two more larger windows.  I'll have to really rig the bigger ones but I'll do those later this week and post an update later.  I over cut these pieces just to be sure I had enough.  Then I put the pieces up to the window to double check the fit.

It's tough doing projects by your self. lol  Luckily I had this clip.  I put it up to check that I liked the scale of it.

Then I marked where my first bend would go.

I put the level on the line so I would get a nice straight bend.  I also lightly scored it with the box cutter so it would bend more easily.

After that I put it back up to check the other side, mark it and cut off the excess cardboard.

Voila!  Cardboard Pelmet box.

Next step was to cover it with batting, then the fabric.  I was probably a little impatient on these steps because I just couldn't wait to see the finished product.  I'll show you what I did but note that I have a better idea for the future boxes.  I forgot that I have this super sticky double sided tape that I will employ instead of the spray adhesive and duct tape.  Man the back of this sucker is ugly! lol  Luckily you don't see that when it's up.

I used the spray adhesive to attach the batting.  I just sprayed the whole front of the cardboard and stuck it on.

Then I laid it on the fabric and sprayed only the pieces of the fabric that would touch the back of the cardboard.  I didn't want the adhesive to show through like I've had on other projects.  It doesn't just dry it looks wet even months later.

While waiting for the glue to dry I attached the sticky backed Velcro to the window.

Then I thought that the adhesive wasn't enough so out came the duct tape.  Classy, right?  You can see the strips of the other side of Velcro attached to the folding parts.  Those pieces don't come with sticky back so I used Krazy Glue to attach them.

Then I popped that baby up there!

Ah, much better. :D

You probably can't tell from the photos but the sides wanted to... not pop off, but kind of fly out if you will, so I took it off and folded the bent parts in towards the back of the cardboard and left some weights on it over night so they would stay put.  Worked much better this morning.

I am soooo happy with the results this morning!

I love it and you cannot beat free decor!  You could add trim to these or a stenciled design or ribbon edge or whatever, the sky is the limit.  Tracy (whom I had to text pics to immediately for her opinion of course) suggested a sheer curtain below or something.  My initial idea was and still may be to remove the blinds and add a plain rolling shade or maybe a bamboo shade beneath.  Something inexpensive of course. ;)



I'm just so happy that my house is starting to look like someone lives there and cares about what it looks like! lol  One day soon I'll have to scan some old pics from when we moved in 8 years ago.  It looks sooooo different.  Keep an eye out for an update soon once I've finished all the windows.

Hope you like my little project!
Love
Holly

P.S. Here's an updated pic after I finished my second one using two sided tape.  MUCH prettier (even thought it doesn't matter anyway...) and easier/less wait time. :D

Sh*t my kids say... Honestly, I don't know where they come up with this stuff!  Daniel said, "I don't know how he learned that, I only hit you in private."  Waka waka.

I got a call from Jack's school on Friday, informing me that he had slapped two kids (one boy and one girl) across the face.  When asked why, he said nothing.  So she tried a different tact, "How would you feel if someone did that to you?"  She asked.  His reply, "I'm a yellow belt so I would have just blocked it."  *dropping jaw*  First of all, he ain't no yellow belt ! LOL  He went to Taekwondo for 4 weeks at the community center.  And secondly, WTH???  This is contrary not only to how we have raised him but to his personality.  My friends said they thought we were talking about Dylan!   They were shocked along with us.  I mean, come on.  Look at them... 

Now which one of these kids do you suspect of being a serial killer bully? lol

So Saturday on the way to soccer games, we were re-iterating to both of them that they shouldn't hit, especially girls.  Then Jack says the 'hit your wives' comment.  Getting a trifle worried over here! haha  

We went to the Angel's game yesterday after church *see pic above*.  The boys played on our phones the entire time.  Some ball fans they are.  Okay, like freak me out man, there was a game delay due to a ginormous swarm of bees.  BEES!!!  Thankfully they didn't come our way but they cleared out a whole section of seats and descended upon the players on the field.  Somehow they finally got them out of there.  Phew!  Scared the crapola outta me though.  *shudders*

After my somewhat depressing post on Friday, I heard "Settlin" by Sugarland and if you're not familiar with it or have forgotten, some key lines are, "I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything." "Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high cuz enough ain't enough this time." I then happened upon an article in InStyle magazine about a girl who made her fortune after posting 200 YouTube makeup tutorials.  Then on Sunday we arrive at church to this:


Um, are you there God?  It's me, Holly.  Talk about being relevant.  

Message from the pastor.

Also our friend Jeff was wearing a shirt that said, "Find your purpose".  I'm trying!  I'm not a person who generally believes in "signs" but give me a break!  How obvious does it have to be?  I choose to believe that it means I'm close to something big here.  So tell all your friends about my blog, m'kay?  Thanks. ;)  This blog makes me very happy for some reason.  If blogging could be my job I'd be stoked.  Just throwing that out into the universe...

Anyhoo, that's where my heads at today.  Looking forward to MNF.  Game time, woot!

Go Broncos!!!
~Holly 

P.S. I keep eyeing my kitchen cabinets... I'm so close to doing something about them.  

Old pic but it's the only one I could find which displays my cabinets.

What am I doing?  What am I supposed to do?  What is God's plan for me?  These are the questions floating around my head this morning.  Please note, I am not depressed or anything, just feeling like I don't have direction.  Feeling a little lost.

Here's what I know:

I was meant to marry Daniel and have my two amazing boys.

God loves me.

I have eternal life through Christ, our Lord.

Ummm... That's all I got. lol  I know those facts without a doubt.  The rest?  *crickets*    ...I got nothing.

I went to college for like 2 seconds, then I met Daniel and lost all interest in school.  It's not his fault, I was just waiting for anything to distract me/take me away.   Therefore, I only know what I've learned from my subsequent office jobs.  I got my first through a friend of my mom's.  Thanks Nancy!   The second job I got was not handed to me or anything but I did know someone who worked there as well.  Then I was laid off.  The next day I walked into my current office to see if they were hiring and the very next day I was working here.  Six years later, here I still am.  Please note that I am extremely grateful to have a job in this economy.  I am blessed in that respect.  However, as you've probably noticed if you are friends with me on Facebook or read my blog, I have a lot of free time on my hands here.  Work is slow, so I have plenty of time to blog/browse Pinterest/Facebook/read/game/etc...  Too much time to think!  lol

I was reading Jen Hatmaker's blog this morning.  If you don't know who she is, look her up.  She's a hilarious Christian book writer/blogger whom I was introduced to by my friend Ashley.  They both blog and have adopted kids from Ethiopia.  HGTV just started filming a reality show starring her family that will begin airing sometime next year.  Definitely looking forward to that.  Anyway, I was reading her blog and that's what led to this post.  I don't want a reality show, I don't want fame, I don't want publicity.... Per Se.

Here's what I want:

I want to make more income and help my husband financially.   

Also, it'd be nice if I was happy doing my job, but that's it!  That's not too much to ask, is it?  I feel bad that my poor husband has to carry the brunt of the load we bear.  Don't get me wrong, we can still go out and have fun, it's not that  tight.  But the sad fact is, I make a small percentage of our income and I'm not happy in my job.

When I was younger I undoubtedly wanted fame and fortune.  Now, I thank the Lord that I didn't get fame.  (You have to actually try  to get that, btw)  Reality TV probably warded me off for good.  I am quite happy not living under a microscope, thank you very much.  But... what can I do??  Besides the scant abilities I learned on the job (most of which I learned through trial and error), I love to sing, I love DIY projects that I get from Pinterest, I love my little blog, and I love to read.  I briefly contemplated writing a book, I have some pretty wild stories to tell, but I quickly learned that I am not in fact  a good writer. lol  Also, I tend to overshare...  Daniel hates this.  My life is an open book.  Sorry, I'm not sorry!  Maybe I think I'm fascinating or hilarious or something... who knows. lol  Either way, you won't be seeing a "tell-all" from me on the shelves anytime soon.  If only I could invent something, but I am so not creative.

I was going to put ads on here to try to earn some extra income but they want your bank account and all sorts of personal info so I decided against it.  Also, I don't have that many readers (thank you   for reading!) so it wouldn't do me any good anyway.

Jen makes me wish I could do something significant.  I don't need credit.  I just want to do something that matters, ya know?  I'm at a total loss of what that could possibly be.  As a Christian, I want to do something that inspires people and brings them to, or closer to, the Lord.  I'm not perfect, maybe I'm not even a good example of what a Christian ought to be, but I love the Lord with all my heart and I try my best to be a good person. 

So, where does this stream-of-consciousness blog post leave me???

Oh right, at the office, bored per usual...  Contemplating my navel, as they say.  If anyone would like to offer suggestions/insights/distractions, I would welcome them.

I hope you all had a great week.  I'm looking forward to the weekend (obviously).  Pool party/BBQ tomorrow with great friends and soccer games.  Good times.  Hopefully my next post will be more inspiring or entertaining... ;)

Peace!
Holly

Hello y'all!

Well, I hit a wall (not literally) on my banister re-do.  I couldn't find our leftover wall paint!  So I have these beautifully spackled white marks on the wall. :(  I completely overestimated how much time I had to do projects before Dan came back too.  I realized last night that I had one night left to finish up the stairs, plus do the normal cleaning of the house so it didn't look like a tornado hit it when he got home.  So as of right now, the house is sort of clean, the banister is sort of done and my wall looks like crapola.  *sigh* Maybe he'll help me finish it up.  I'm just so bummed that he couldn't walk into the dream that I had envisioned.  Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

Meanwhile, my friend Lisa who we used to play softball with was inspired to make a burlap wreath of her own after my post.  She hasn't finished her burlap, Thanksgiving inspired wreath yet but she did finish this AWESOME Halloween wreath!!!


I LOVE IT!!!  Although I'm not doing a Halloween wreath (yet) I hope my burlap one comes out half as amazing as hers.  She collected the supplies all over the place she said.  Joanns, Michaels, 99 Cents Store and Shinoda.  I had never heard of Shinoda in Orange County, but apparently it's as big as Costco but for holiday decor and you need a membership there as well. 

Daniel is back today so hopefully I can keep up some of my project motivation while he's home.  I don't forsee myself getting a whole lot done due to soccer and a pool party this weekend so we shall see.

If you don't hear from me, have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!  I'll check back in soon. ;)

~Holly

Hello world!

I'm really excited.  I saw a pin today that totally inspired me!

This Ikea Rast Hack :


by Kelly Boudreau over at Hello Boudreau got me thinking...  I have this small, skinny 4 drawer dresser thingy at the house that my mom gave me.  She had painted it white with cobalt blue drawers eons ago.  Really cute, just not my style.  It is currently in the boys bedroom and has one drawer sanded down to wood.  My mom was going to refinish it but gave it to me instead and I've never had the time or care to do anything to it myself.

Definitely in need of some TLC.

That was until I saw Kelly's Ikea hack!

I still have leftover linen burlap at home from my wreath attempt.  I want to sand that baby down and adhere my linen burlap to it!  I also have these old knobs from who-knows-what that I saved and have always wanted to use on something.  This is going to be so cool! If I have enough knobs, not sure how many I still have...  Eek! I can't wait to go home and scope it out.  Another free furniture makeover?? Yes, please!  It will be cool to attempt a new style of furniture re-do besides painting.  I love the painted furniture movement but this could turn out soooo cool.  Aaaand if I can get another project done before Daniel gets home... bonus! 
You see where that beige storage ottoman is by the stairs??  I hate that thing.  It serves absolutely no purpose.  Except for these...

I'm thinking I can steal these to add a little height and character to the dresser!

Well the spot where the ottoman is is where I intend to put this new dresser thing. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

To be continued...  Wish me luck!

~Holly

P.S. I totally have DIY A.D.D.  I haven't even finished the stairs, yet here I went dreaming up another project.  What did I do the rest of the day?  Looked at kitchen makeovers!  Yeesh... lol

Gooood morning y'all!

I'm trying to get some life into me... it's been a long, hectic weekend.  I'm a single mother again, till Friday when Dan gets back that is.  Saturday was probably the longest day I've had in awhile.  Two soccer games, drove to Mission Beach in San Diego for a BBQ, then onto Bonita Vista to visit my friends Brianna, Brian, Bryce, Bailey and their new baby Blake.... Yes, all the B's are on purpose. haha  Anyway, we didn't get home from San Diego till almost 9pm.  So I was go go going from 7am to 9pm non-stop.  Phew!  Luckily the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and went straight to bed.  I don't think I could have handled any bedtime drama at that point.  I had a much deserved glass of wine then put myself to bed.

Last week we thought my car keys were gone forever.  We looked everywhere for an hour, yes even in the fridge, and had no success.  Daniel said, "This is what we call a 'budget buster'." Just what we needed.  Not.  It turns out it's not that expensive to get another key made, only about $50, but I got a call from Dylan's teacher around 10am saying that Dylan had "found" my keys in his backpack... hmm... suspicious. I was just so happy they were found and we didn't have to "bust the budget".  So yesterday when the boys and I left church to find a flat tire I was none too pleased.  Really universe??  Luckily, yet again, we had recently gotten new tires at the nearby Big O so they fixed the flat and rotated the tires for free. Phew!  After the tires on the boat trailer fiasco back in July (which was around $500) I was prepared to spend a lot of dough for the car key/flat tire incidents.  I thank the Lord that we didn't end up having to spend a dime on these things. 

I teased on Friday that Tracy and I would be doing a surprise project on Sunday.  Well, we did!  I'm happy with how it's turned out so far.  Although it's far from perfect, it is really much improved from it's original state.  Don't tell Daniel, but we stained the banister on our stairs!

The boys insisted on modeling the "before" banister shot.

Builder grade oak (like my kitchen cabinets... future project!).  Not nice.


I lightly (maybe too lightly) sanded the smaller banister and did a single coat of stain just to see how it would look before Tracy got to my house.

Already much improved if I do say so myself.

After quick contemplation between Tracy and myself we decided that the bigger banister was superfluous.  Yeah, I said superfluous.  And I even spelled it right on the first try! lol  So, we got rid of it!

Bam! Gone.

Now I just have to patch the screw holes and put some more texture (I hate that my walls are textured but I ain't tackling that  project) and repaint those spots.  No biggy.  We put a total of 3 coats of stain on the remaining banister and I put the first of 3 coats of Polycrylic protective finish on it this morning.  Word to the wise, put the stuff in a tray, don't try to dip the sponge brush in the tiny can.  I know from experience, dude.  ::Sidebar:: Polycrylic comes out of carpet with water and a rag.  I found that out the hard way! ;)

Ah.  Lovely.

It is far from perfect, there are a few spots as I said that I probably sanded too little, but overall I love it!  Can't wait to get those spots on the wall patched up, carpet vacuumed and the banister completely sealed.  Not too shabby for another free home improvement project!

I hope you guys had a relaxing weekend, unlike me.  Have a great Monday!

~Holly

Happy Friday everyone!

I have my first ever guest blogger! Yay me!  And yay  for y'all because her project came out absolutely AMAZE-BALLS!!!  But before I hand over the reins, I felt it incumbent (I know big words!) upon me to mention that I updated the picture of my Creamy Pasta Bake that I posted on 9/11 and it looks edible now! haha  Anyway, enjoy Tracy's post and look for our surprise project in Monday's post to follow.   ~Holly


Well hello there all of you in Holly{At}wood Land :)

So you know who is talking, my name is Tracy and I have the privilege of being Holly's Pinterest friend!! (We actually met at church and are also: Dexter, Musical, Singing, Fantasy Football Playing. . .Friends). Holly has mentioned me a few times in her blog but this is my first time ever having a guest spot to show off one of MY favorite projects that I've completed.

My project was inspired by this lovely dresser that has been floating around Pinterest.  What first caught my eye were the KNOBS! I absolutely LOVE Anthropologie knobs and if you luck out you can get gorgeous glass knobs for as low as $2-3 on clearance or you can find the same style on eBay (Which is where I got mine because the glass knobs I wanted are popular and reoccurring at Anthro. . .meaning they don't really ever go on sale) (**hint** if you shop at Anthro, which hardly ever has sales, sign up for their loyalty program and you get 15% off your entire purchase during your birthday month). Back to the inspiration, just look  at this GORGEOUSLY transformed Ikea dresser:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/60798663692495675/

::Sigh:: Isn't it GORGEOUS. Well that's what got me started. However I stumbled upon the core of my project when browsing Craigslist to see how much people were selling pallet tables for (which I have also made).  Although it is not a dresser, I KNEW once I saw the hutch that this was how I was going to transform it. So here is the hutch:

Please disregard the messy garage and reflections of me :P

I painted the natural wood border white with the primer before using an epoxy to adhere the pieces to the drawers.

Afterwards, I coated the entire hutch twice with Polycrylic Satin Protective Finish (Water-based), to protect the paint from scratches and makes for easy clean up when it got dusty.

I waited a few days days for everything to completely dry and then I added new drawer gliders, put on the Anthropologie knobs and cleaned and replaced the glass in the doors. Soooooo here was my finished project :)