OMG I can't believe I can finally say, after living in our home for almost 13 years, that our kitchen is done!  And we fixed it up by ourselves.  Of course, I say it's done but you know there's always going to be something.  We do have to re-do our floor tile someday but for now, we're happy enough to overlook it. LOL

Just to give you some perspective, here is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in back in 2005:

View from the dining area

OMG that light box was so ugly and that hanging lamp is a ceiling fan now. Wonder what my dad was talking about?? lol

And here is one more recent one just for reminder of the cabinets sake:

This was when we surprised the boys with an indoor tent camp out. :)

I took pictures of every room in the house when we moved in, but for some reason I guess I didn't feel the need to take a great picture of the kitchen. *sigh* Oh well, you get the gist.  It was all original stuff circa 1992.  Country blue carpet, white 12x12 floor tiles with country blue grout.  The kitchen and bathrooms all had linoleum that was rolling up at the edge.  Yuck.  

Here is what the kitchen looks like today:

Coffee/Tea Bar

I get a little choked up looking at it.

You guys, I can't even.  I am so totally in love with my "new" kitchen.  My hubby did all the tiling by himself.  They were 12x12 mosaic sheets.  He had to use a tile saw for a bunch of little cuts too.  So lucky we didn't end up in the ER. *phew!* ;)

We have been through so much with this kitchen, as you may be aware.  From painting the cabinets, adding hardware, trying out different countertops to finally tiling them... From painting the walls to finally installing our back splash.  What a looooong and arduous journey.  I am so relieved to be done.  Like I said, the floor tile can just wait a hot minute. haha

I also stumbled upon a great living room "before" shot so here is a before and after just because it makes me feel so good to see how far we've come!

Our first walk through as owners. ♥

I need to figure something else out for mantel decor... lol

I love what we ended up with in this room. It was our first major room makeover and we both love how it came out.  It's cozy and colorful at the same time. I apologize for not getting the wrinkles out of our worn couch. Hey, we live here people! ;)
 
That's all for now, folks!
♥ Holly ♥

Happy Monday!

Said no one, ever.  Haha jk jk.  I love the time change.  I had no trouble getting up early to work out a little this morning and go on a long walk with the dogs.

Before I get to my weekend art project I'll just tell you that I was good this weekend, diet-wise except for 2 meals.  We went out to Shogun for dinner Saturday night but I tried to order as healthy as possible.  I got the steamed white rice, had veggies, the clear onion soup and teriyaki steak.

Yesterday Daniel made his white/black bean chicken chili and I had a small bowl for dinner with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt in it.  Not terrible but definitely not Whole 30 compliant.  But you know I told you that I'm not going to be as strict this time around.  I think I'd go crazy and not be able to stick to this "challenge" at all.  The whole point is to break my bad habits after all and adopt healthier ones.  And I'm doing that.  Still not a drop of alcohol for the month too!  Woohoo! Also, I was 140.0 this morning so that alone is amazing for me.  I mean to end the weekend weighing less than I started it.

Anyway, now on to my art project.  We've had these large canvas' that we bought at a super fancy art sale... at Albertson's, soon after we moved into the house.

There are 2 huge insets above the stairs that need something to go in them.  And while there's nothing wrong with the 2 paintings, the house has evolved since buying them 10 years ago and I wanted something more modern.  I was inspired looking at DIY abstract art on Pinterest and while I am no artist, the tutorials I saw made it seem pretty simple.  Just slap some colors you like on a canvas.  How hard could it be?  

Really, not very!  I was pleasantly surprised.  I acquired some fabric from my work which is usually used for cross stitching but it totally worked as canvas in this case.  


I had Daniel help me pull it tight over the old artwork and used a staple gun to keep it in place.  Voila!  Instant canvas.  We had recently gotten a set of acrylic paints from Walmart for a school volcano project so we had it on hand.  I picked out the colors I liked and got to work slapping it on the canvas. 

I didn't end up using all the colors and went and grabbed some others along the way.  

I just dribbled the paint on and used a brush to sweep it across the fabric.  Then I kept layering on other colors with no specific idea of what I was trying to accomplish. LOL



I was not sure at this point.  It didn't look like the tutorials I'd seen and I wasn't in love with how it was coming out.  So I just kept adding paint until I basically ran out.  Ending up with this:


And you know what?  I love it!  I need to get more paint and then I can tackle the other one.  I hope it turns out half as good (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, remember) as this one.  If it doesn't, guess what?  There's plenty more fabric and paint where that came from so I can start over.


Not too shabby for basically free art, eh?  Someday when we repaint the inside of the house, we want to paint a darker color inside the boxes so then the art will really pop.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!  Happy arting! ;)

Peace!

♥ Holly ♥

Happy December to y'all!    ******SEE UPDATE VIDEO BELOW******

Daniel finished the counter top to our "coffee bar" and I'm so excited about it!  Especially because we've been living with a piece of plywood for our counter top for at least 6 months...

Wood-look tile

I'm in love!!!  We got the tiles at Home Depot and they're only $1.49 each.  It's about $16 for a box which is all we needed for this one counter top.  The edge tiles are from the sheets (like below) they make for back splashes and stuff.  Those are more like $5 each but we only needed 2.  
  I couldn't find ours on the website but you get what I'm talking about from the above pic.  

I can't wait for the rest to be done!  We're in that mode now, so we'll continue to work on the counters.  Our goal is to be done with all of them by Christmas since everyone will be coming to our place.  

Have a wonderful week guys! 

♥ Holly ♥

UPDATE VIDEO All the countertops are done, just waiting for the back splash now:

Hello y'all!
     I was a busy little beaver this weekend!  Halloween was easy peasy this year.  We went to our church which had a Trunk-or-Treat festival, complete with free  bouncers, cotton candy, kettle corn and beverages.  Didn't have to pass out candy, yay for me!  The kids had a blast too, they were Wolverine and Spider Man.

Jack (left) and Dylan (right)

At the last minute I was inspired by my holey jeans and went as Garth from Wayne's World.

Scarily close... LOL

Good times!  Love it when I can whip up a free costume.  The boys were only like $15 each at Costco so we got off pretty easy this year.

In other news, I was inspired last week by a sign I saw on Pinterest:

I had just the leftover piece of plywood for the job too!


I slapped some white paint on the board, not too perfect for a more "white washed" or distressed look.  I traced the lettering onto a piece of brown paper which I measured to be the same size as the board, used clamps to attach the paper to the board and cut out the letters with a box cutter.  Then I used paint that my mom had leftover from a bench she fixed up and a toll painting brush to fill in the letters.  Voila!


I changed "WATER" to "LAKE" since we live by the lake.  Now that it's dry I'll be sanding it a bit to distress it further and hanging it in a big bare spot above the stairs.  I'll be sure to post a pic once it's up.  I love the way it came out!  And I love FREE home decor, don't you?

Saturday night I had craft night with my mom and mother in law.  Inspired by another Pin, we made these:
It's not too early for Christmas ornaments, right??  I didn't think so. ;)  Foam balls, a little bit of ribbon to hang them, buttons and pins.  Super easy craft.  The boys each made one too.  As soon as they went to bed Friday night, I was watching cheesy Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. LOL  Can you tell Christmas is my favorite holiday?? 

Saturday afternoon I also painted more kitchen boxes.  Only two small sections left and a few doors/drawers!  It's really coming along.  Can't wait till the hubby gets home from his work trip to see what I've done.  That's the only thing I like about him being away is the surprises I get to share when he returns.  Hoping to have all the boxes done by the time he gets back.

TaTa for now!
♥ 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

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