Friday, January 7, 2011

Bargain Alert! ~Dollar Store Wall Stickers~

I made a trip to the Dollar Store the other day and found these adorable wall stickers to use in my house!

This one is on my laundry door.

I put this one on my mantle. I love the color and I think it added just that little bit of whimsy without overdoing it.


They had all sorts of wall stickers there; butterflies and flowers for little girls' rooms, other decorative sayings, brightly colored designs, among others. What a great bargain if you're looking to spice up a shelf, door, or dresser. They do not stick to textured walls though. :o(  Boohoo!

Remember your blessings!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

A Place for My Pretty Essentials

I'm too embarrased to tell you how long I've wanted to do this project, and how little time it actually took to get it done. I don't know why I put it off for so long because I love the end result. I've always wanted to have a place in my bathroom for fun little glass jars with q-tips, cotton balls, and all those other little white things we use daily.  Finally, it's done.
Sadly, I do not have an actual before picture, but thanks to photoshop, I can show you what it looked like anyway.
And here it is after I added those three tiny shelves. Now I have a place to put all those fun little items in cute Ikea jars I've had for about three years.

Not counting the paint-drying time, this project took me a total of about 30 minutes. Not joking. Plus, since I already had all of the materials and paint, I didn't have to spend a penny for this project! That's my favorite kind!

Now, does anyone have any ideas about what to do with my curling iron, flat iron, and hair dryer? 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Airing Out My Dirty Laundry

I got quite a few projects on my home to-do list done over the New Year weekend holiday.  It's a good and bad thing when this happens.  I'm happy that projects are done, but it puts me in the mood to get more done. Why is this a bad thing, you ask? Well, for one, projects cost money, and two, they take time. Especially the ones on my list. Projects like:
  • tile the downstairs entry area and laundry room
  • finish the unfinished downstairs
  • add a sliding glass door downstairs
  • finish the unfinished bathroom
  • add a storage niche in the boys' bathroom
  • convert each of the boys' closets into a desk area
  • replace the ceiling fan/light fixture in the master bedroom (it's HUGE)
There are sooooo many more! I made a list in excel and printed it off.  My husband saw the list.  God rest his soul. Okay, that's a little overkill, but he and I don't see home projects the same way. Something that I see as a simple project can be very daunting to him and he is never able to imagine my "vision."  He's learned after 10 years of marriage to trust me, but let's face it. I am an impatient person.  I start thinking of a project and I want it done right now (surfing blogs does not help!). Honestly, it sometimes borders on obsessive. My poor husband.

Now that you know all that unnecessary information about me and my husband I'll move on to the first project I got done this past weekend.

Meet my laundry room. Wait, room isn't really the right word.  Meet my laundry closet! Yes, that seems more fitting.

If I had to do it again, I would have not gotten the pedestal drawers they are on and stacked them so I would have one whole side for a folding counter and shelves. If I wanted to change it now it would involve calling a plumber and electricion to move either the pipes and/or the vent and electrical outlet. $$$. No thank you. I'll just work with what I've got... for now.

We lack storage space in our house, but we had all this room above the washer and dryer. So, I pulled out my table saw, circular saw, paint, and paintbrush to build simple shelves using plywood I already had and recycled boards from my boys' bunkbed-turned-single beds project. This project took me about 90 minutes all together. I love having new projects done before my husband even walks through the door so he can be impressed with me!

Then, because who wants to look at the stuff you store there, I added a curtain. It's folded under right now because I haven't  hemmed it yet. I plan to use heat-activated hemming tape. It's so much easier and quicker than sewing.

The other side has a wire shelf that we put up shortly after we moved into our house four years ago. I'll be replacing that with another wood one (I ran out of plywood). I decided to add the upper shelf after I had already painted the ones on the other side, so that will get a coat of paint after I replace the wire shelf.

Because our laundry closet is so small we used to not have anywhere to put our dirty laundry while it was waiting to be washed. A good friend of mine got one of these rolling laundry carts from Costco for her laundry room, and I knew I had to have one. It's heavy-duty, and the best $45 I've spent for laundry. It has solved three problems for us; 1-there is now a place for "laundry-in-waiting," 2-we can easily sort everything, and 3-there's a handy place to hang our delicates to dry. Since it's on wheels it is easy to move and it fits perfectly between the two machines when we aren't doing laundry.

I'll have another project to share with you tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Remember your blessings!
Amber

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Like Diamonds

I'm still not tired of the cold weather and all the snow.  Call me crazy, but I'm actually really enjoying it this year.  Ask me again in about a month or so.  My opinion on this will probably be different by then.

This past weekend it was cold. Single-digit type of cold. Because it has stayed cold enough we got a wonderful winter wonderland to enjoy. I don't mean the normal snow. I mean glittering, shimmering, sparkling all around us. I felt like I was surrounded by diamonds. In the trees, on the fences, and just laying all about.

I tried to capture the beauty, but I couldn't get the sparkling or glimmering you get in real life. This is about as close as I came. Just a little sparkle.
(as always, you can click on these photos to see them larger).

The sparkle in the trees was due to all the ice that was stuck to the tree branches.

Obviously it was all about the trees for me, based on the pictures I took. It's like God added white twinkle lights to every tree around us.



I just loved how the orange branches showed through on these trees.

The sun was setting behind this ridge, and the rays created a warm glow that filled the tree line.
Magnificent and magical!

Remember your blessings!
Amber