Laundry Room Update

Holy cow, I cannot believe it has been so long since I last blogged. I fall off the blogging band wagon fairly easy as you can see! LOL!

Anyhow, I thought I would post some before & after photos of our laundry room. Its pretty much done. I want to get some white blinds for the window, as well as have a cute roman shade made for it. Hubby also has to install the new faucet for the sink sometime soon. Eventually I would like to remove the single shelving unit & have some smaller cute shelves put in its place. But I am happy with how it turned out!

Check out the cute chandy from IKEA & the gorgeous ceiling pendant too! Love it!!!

Laundry Room Board & Batten

Our laundry room has been an ongoing project for a good two months or longer now. Not sure how the smallest room in the house can take this long to finish. But I guess we are getting closer to completion.

We painted the laundry room a few months ago & then my hubby tiled the floor a few weeks after that. I begged my hubby to start the board & batten treatment & finally he gave in. After purchasing several crappy paint sprayers & finally getting one that wasn't a total P.O.S. (excuse my abbreviated french) we could finally move forward & finish painting all of the boards, etc.

The painting was the biggest ordeal & once that was done everything else seemed to fall into place within a few hours. Here's a photo of the progress. We aren't quite finished. We still need to fill in the nail holes & do some touch up painting. I ordered a ceiling medallion for the chandelier & am trying to pick out some cute photographs that I can frame for above the shelf. I am also going to add some cute little hooks in between the boards & ask my mom or aunt to sew a pretty little window treatment for me. Then everything should be complete. Stay tuned for the final before & after photos. :)


Here's the prints I am leaning towards... So beautiful! Check out Ciao Bella Photography's Etsy store for more gorgeous finds!

Oh & quick question for you all. See how I left the inner part of the window white? Should I paint that the aqua color too? Does it look strange that I didn't paint that part of the room? Thanks for your input!

Last but not least we finished that old bench that we picked up at a garage sale in the beginning of summer. Here's a before & after. I think it turned out pretty good. All I need to do now is add a few pillows & figure out a good location for it in the house! :)

Sweets...

The other night as I was opening my front door I noticed this little baby birdy perched up along the top of our front porch. Over the past week, he brought his siblings with him & we see them sitting on our porch each night. They must have just gotten their feathers in because I can see little spots of down blowing in the wind. They are just sooooo cute!

So we started the whole 'Board & Batten' process on our laundry room today. Poor Karl had lots of frustrations today so we didn't get very far. He's going out of town for a few days, so it doesn't look like we will get this done til next weekend. What a bummer! :(

In the meantime, I did happen to bake some homemade red velvet cupcakes. I topped them with a homemade almond buttercream frosting. Can we say yum?! Click here for the cupcake recipe.

Almond Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
3 tsp. almond extract
8 cups powdered sugar (get two large bags, because you will go through more than an entire bag of it)
2/3 cups heavy whipping cream

Beat butter until fluffy
Beat in extract on low
Beat powdered sugary & cream, alternating the two until frosting is smooth.

I also took a few pics of my daughter & my cousin's daughter this week. Thought I would share a few!

Isn't she pretty?

Some finished projects!

I have been busy almost everyday working on some small (or big) projects around the house. We have company coming this weekend, so I am trying to get some of the bigger furniture finished. Can't wait to see my parents, my aunt, uncle & cousins!

Remember those cute little suitcases I got last week? I panted the smaller brown one a pretty aqua color. It turned out adorable! Not sure if I will use it as decor or as photo prop. Also check out the candelabra that once was black.... its now a pretty ivory shade!

I know you've already seen my awesome porch chairs, but here's a before & after of those as well.

And I just have to show you this awesome little metal (tin perhaps?) star I found today! I just adore it!

Before I go look at this cute little printable freebie on eighteen25's blog.
So stinking cute!

Linking to:

Little Treasures

A week or so ago while scanning Craig's List for goodies, I found some local shops. I wrote the details down with plans of visiting the next time I was down that way. Well today was the day that I decided to check them & boy am I glad I did! I found this little gem of a warehouse that is run by a few men who deal mainly with estate sales. Whatever they don't sell from the estate sales they bring to this local warehouse & sell most items for ridiculously cheap!

I found a coffee table, two vintage suitcases & a cute little flower pot. All for a grand total of $17.00! Wahoo!!! Best deal I've scored in a while. Needless to say this is going to be a place I frequent often. I love finding places like this, totally makes my day!!!

Anyhow, here's some photos of the goods...

I cannot wait to get my hands on that blue suitcase, so I can make a cute little doggy bed for my Lulu bean.

The photo below is from Etsy store: Kaleidoscope of Colors This is my inspiration for the bed I am going to create. Isn't this a darling idea? Love it!

And completely off topic here for a moment, but I just had to share this gorgeous little number I got for Miss B for her yearly photos. So cute I can't stand it! Check out Amazing Gracie on Etsy for lots more cuteness!

Can't get enough of painting!

It seems as though I just can't get enough of painting these days. Let's see what I have painted so far...

-Pair of metal porch chairs
-Front door
-Little piggy statue that sits on my porch
-Inside dresser drawers (photos to come)

And last but not least, my laundry room! I decided on a pretty aqua color. Its 'Sweet Rhapsody' by Behr. I love this color! I've really had to talk myself out of painting the whole house this color. Ha!

Here's my inspiration photos from Camera's & Chaos. Isn't it pretty? I will post some progress photos of my laundry room once I get the wainscoting up. :)

Here's a before photo of our laundry room...

And look at this adorable Mason jar soap dispenser I just ordered off Etsy. Check out Mason Galore & More to get one of your very own!

Tomorrow I am painting the back door (same color as the front door) & maybe this awesome candlestick holder I got for $2.50 at Goodwill this weekend!

My new dazzling dresser!

I admit to stalking Craig's List nearly every day, multiple times a day. Especially now that I am trying to furnish my house on a budget. Currently we have been trying to find a dresser to place our DVR & DVD player on in our bedroom. Our flat screen TV remains on the floor, where its been the last 3 weeks since moving into our new place. Not so much fun when I can't see the TV from the bed.

I came across this beauty today. I managed to talk the owner down on price & we picked up a short while later. Its not in mint condition by any means, but it has a lot of character & I LOVE it!!! It is a metallic silver & it reminds me a little bit of those mirrored dressers. I adore the three small drawers down the center of it. I think it will go fantastic with the light aqua blue I plan on painting our room.

Photo is from Craig's List, so pardon the crappy quality. ;)

I think I've also narrowed down my fabric choices for the cushions for my cute little porch chairs. I've decided to go with this beautiful fabric from Amy Butler. Isn't this fabric to die for? So pretty!!!

Our new home! Photo overload...

We just purchased a new (to us) home this month & moved in a little over a week ago. I snapped these pics the day we closed on it, while it was still vacant. I apologize for the quality of the photos, as we were getting ready to leave & I snapped them in a hurry!

I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed with the furnishing & decorating aspect of it. We moved from a smaller 3 bedroom 3 bath home to large 5 bed 4 bath home. We have many rooms with absolutely no furniture. I have no clue what room to even start with. Is it weird I want to decorate the laundry room first? LOL!

I won't bore you with all of the photos, but here are a few.

View of front entry & living/dining area. I have a study off to the left behind double doors.

Living/Dining area

Down the hall to the right is the garage, bathroom & hall closet...

My lovely kitchen!

Family Room right off the kitchen.

Up the stairs & to the right is the master bedroom.

Guest Bedrooms, etc.

Right side of bedroom

Left side of bedroom, into sitting area.

Master Bath

Master Bath with different view.