Productivity...

It feels so good.

I've had a busy day (in addition to the busy week and a half preceding). Days like today make me so thankful for being able to do what I love. I spent the morning bustling around the metro area talking to interesting people for various stories. We have a wealth of intriguing people oozing with Southern hospitality here. Like this lady:

You'll have to pick up the February issue of Madison County Magazine to see who this creative, eclectic lady is.

Anyway, in addition to a busy, busy, week, our weekend was busy too (self-inflicted of course). Besides, the Saints game, (yeah, yeah, who dat?, yaddayadda, I could care less about football, but I am glad to see a Southern team in the Super Bowl and my husband happy), we embarked on another project - the girls' room. It's not complete, so I'll only show you bits and pieces before the big reveal.

Project Wonderland Entry #1:

We painted...
Here's the room color before:

(this is my RyBug and two of her friends)

Blah. Fine for my living room, but not nearly special enough for my babies. So here's what we covered it up with.

It's "Window Pane" by Behr. I'm not much for pink, but my oldest daughter is, so this is a compromise. The blue tones down the pink that's everywhere else.

Also, I found this adorable ribbon (Hobby Lobby, what would I do without you?) and grabbed two of the letters that used to be in baby girl's name on her nursery wall (and happen to be the first letter of the girls' names) and made up these contraptions...

Not sure yet if this is where they'll stay, but we'll see. I still have lots to do. I have to find something for the walls and learn how to sew so that I can make bedskirts and curtains. Also, my oldest is dying for a chandelier, so a search has ensued. As soon as I have the time (and the budget allows), I'll get right on that. It's so fun though, I can't wait for the big reveal!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Project Playroom

Disclaimer: I really am a tidy and organized person most of the time. My children, however are not (as you'll see in these photos.) This is often a source of conflict in our house.

This weekend I was determined to get something accomplished around the house... I want to get one room completely finished at a time, so this weekend I attacked the playroom. Here's what I had to work with:

This used to be baby girl's room until she moved into a big girl bed and into her sister's room nearly a year ago. So the nursery became the playroom and I basically shoved all the toys in there. My goal was to make it look somewhat presentable. I started with a coat of paint (in the same shade) thanks to baby girl's decision to share her masterpieces:

I tried everything to get the marks off. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser usually works, but in this case it just smeared the crayon. So a coat of paint to the whole room (and the hallway outside the room) did the trick.

Then the organizing began. Starting with the closet.
Before:

And after:

In order to have art on the walls without actually having art on the walls, I came up with this contraption, which I like to call my picture hanger thing.

Just get two decorative knobs, some string, scrapbook paper, and mini clothespins, and voila!

I thought these knobs were just adorable. They came from Hobby Lobby and my dear husband was sweet enought to screw them into our wall.

I've been collecting Ws for one wall in he playroom. Some of them I bought readymade and some I embellished. 

It was fun, I must say! I did get this idea from a blog I read a while back. For the life of me I cannot remember which blog it was. I wish I could give credit where credit is due!

Here's the final product:

The last thing I plan on doing in the playroom is making curtains. Looks like I'll have to learn to use my Christmas gift.  Then on to the next... either the girls' room or the office. Stay tuned!

And the streak continues

As I've said before, I'm on a DIY kick, so I'm milking it for all its worth until my fuel runs out. Today I finished my latest project - a framed fabric bulletin board. My refrigerator was getting a bit ridiculous and little hands managed to pull everything off of it at least a few times each day, so I made this. -

At Hobby Lobby I found a 24x36 inch cork panel and 2 yards of fabric that were in the "cheap" bin where they throw everything that has been cut and abandoned ($3 -score!). I then covered the cork in the fabric and stapled it to the back. Then I went back to Hobby Lobby and found a perfectly sized ready made open back frame and tada! I hung it in our hallway off of the kitchen and am so excited to have a clean looking fridge once again.

My next project - make these hand me down chairs look somewhat presentable at each end of my breakfast room table. The constant brown throughout my kitchen and breakfast room is driving me nuts. I bought some red spray paint today, so stay tuned! It could likely be a disaster!

And, by the way, baby girl did great in her big girl bed. The first night she woke up screaming at 4:30 because she didn't know where she was, the second night was the same and last night, she stayed asleep until 7:30 this morning.

My baby...

Is not a baby anymore. Tonight will be her first night in her big girl bed, sharing a room with her sister. Geez, when did this happen? She's growing up so fast! She has always been a baby that LOVES her baby bed up until the last month. She doesn't want to go anywhere near it, so we're giving this a whirl. I'll let you know how it goes.
Although I'm a little sad about the new sleeping situation, I am pretty excited about the nursery becoming an office. As of now our office and playroom are one in the same, not a good idea, by the way. Now I have two new decorating projects - the girls' room (which was just my oldest's and the beds were bunked) and the new office. Exciting or daunting? I can't decide quite yet.

My DIY Kick...

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you've probably gathered that I'm completely obsessive compulsive. Yeah, trying to work on that. The main thing I'm OCD about is my house. I'm a clean freak and my blood pressure rises when my house is out of order (not that that keeps it from getting out of order - it's more of a let it go until I freak out type thing).

Anyway, I also am OCD about decorating my house. I know in my head exactly what I want things to look like and therefore my rooms stay sort of bare because I have a hard time finding exactly what I want. Also, I have a hard time spending gobs of money on my house. (Ok, well, my husband has a hard time being ok with me spending gobs of money on the house.)

March marked a year that we've been in our house and it's still pretty bare. My latest project has been our bedroom. Previous posts on the headboard and built in entertainment center. The one thing that's been driving me crazy are the cheap looking lamps that have graced our nightstands. So, for quite some time I've been on the lookout for lamps to no avail. Everything is so expensive!

My friend Mandy recently sent me a link to this blog. I love it. This chick is super woman for sure. She does the neatest stuff in her house. Check it out.

So this got me on one of my "do it yourself" kicks. I'll go at it and then poop out, so I should enjoy it while it's here. For my birthday, I found some $30 lamps at TJ Maxx that were adorable wood painted white. The shades were not so great. They had this horrible navy blue tropical/nautical/gross pattern on them. I figured I could always buy new shades, but the shape of these are exactly what I was looking for. So I painted them. The paint job is messy (I'm not too great with painter's tape on a slightly sloping surface), but will do for now. All in all, I'm pleased!

Also, this is my great grandmother's chifferobe that has been in my bedroom since I was a baby in a crib, so when I got married, it moved in with us. The only thing is, we've never had tall ceilings until now, so I got a bunch of junk from Hobby Lobby (love it!) to go on top. It's amazing what some dried sticks can do.

I'm looking for a good seamstress in Jackson to make some pillows and curtains. If you know of anyone, please let me know!

Design on a Dime

By far, my favorite thing to spend money on is decorating my house. We moved into a new house in March and I have in my head exactly how I want each room to look. My goal is to take one room at a time and decorate it exactly how I want it.

The only problem is that my husband and I had to sit down recently and make out a very strict budget. The way the economy is going, we decided we should be saving more than we have been. I'm a bargain shopper anyway, so it's going to be fun to decide on inexpensive ways to achieve the looks I want.

I'm planning on posting these endeavors and any good outcomes. I'm sure there will be some things that don't turn out like I want, so you can learn from my mistakes. My current project is an upholstered headboard, so be on the look out for that.