If you can't take the heat...

So yesterday I spent the better part of my afternoon taking up two layers of vinyl from my kitchen floor. My mother-in-law and Justin's cousin Scottie helped. Justin's mom showed me how to use a heat gun... and they do get very hot! Poor Scottie, he was just dropping by to say hi, but he ended up helping anyway. (Thanks Scott!) With three sets of hands, we were able to get the entire kitchen floor up in a couple hours. It went from this...Sorry, one of the best pictures I have pre-floor.... to this...
Tonight, I need to clean up all the glue that was left behind. I put those long boxes down so I can still walk in there without getting stuck. Hopefully Justin will be able to lay the new floor in the next few days or so, although it's hard for him to get anything done on the weekends because he works so much...

As for the heat gun... It was my best friend in the whole world. I was pulling up two layers of tile in the time it would take me to do five or six one layer pieces. Heat guns are awesome BUT they are very, very hot. I accidently hit my elbow on it once after I set it down to cool off.
That was the fastest I moved all day. I jumped up and ran it under cold water.... ouch, ouch, ouch!!! If you are ever planning on using a heat gun, be careful! I got a nasty sun burn at mom's yardsale, so I had plenty of aloe on hand, which has helped a bit... but seriously ouch!!!! Unlike e hot glue gun, heat guns take hours to cool down. We finished up in the kitchen around 5:30 or so, and I went to bed around 10:30 or so, and even though I had unplugged the gun, it was still warm five hours later. YIPES! They are kinda dangerous, but we started pulling up the floor at three... The heat gun made it a 2.5 hour job... but I have a lot more respect for them now. Ouch :(

It will all be worth it when Justin puts in the new kitchen flooring. It's a pretty grey composite tile. It's gonna wrap down the basement stairs and into the basement as well. It will be very pretty when it's all done :)

SOoooo Maaaany Pictures!!!

Ok, just because I haven't been posting much, does not mean I haven't been working. I've been working like a dog (and for all of you who think dogs are lazy... I've been working like a narcotics sniffing dog or a lead the blind through NY city dog)

My most fabulous work has been what I've done in my master bedroom. It's not finished yet, but it definitely presentable enough for some pictures :)



This is not the quilt that is meant for this room, but it will work for now. My mom is making us (our wedding) quilt. She hopes to have it done by our 4th anniversary. (If you quilt, you probably know why it's taken almost 4 years to complete, lol).

Here's pictures of Justin's dresser and my dresser respectively.

Now for the two things in my bedroom that make me the happiest... First my brand new jewelry armoire!

I have been wanting this little guy for months. From the first time I saw it in my favorite antique store, it was love at first sight. However, it had a higher price tag than I could afford since all our money is going towards renovations right now. BUT, if you remember me mentioning my mom's yardsale, I also had a bunch of stuff on her lawn, and I made more than enough to buy this little beauty, which matches our bedroom set perfectly! I'm tickled pink about it. I had three mismatched jewelry boxes stuffed full (I love costume jewelry), and they did not look very good on top of my dresser. It's so nice that my jewelry finally has a proper and organized home. (I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the insides of the drawers!) Here's a close up of the little arrangement on the top.

The little tree was a thrift store find. I've seen these at anthropologie and fancy pants boutiques. Here's an easy peasy DIY link. I made the little jute basket to hold my hair ties and bobby pins. I'll put a close up of that in a second. The bottle is a vintage Clorox bottle I found a few years ago. My DH collects bottles, and I bought this for him. He laughed at me, apparently I never noticed the trend in his bottle collecting... he only collects bottles for DRINKS... oh well, I guess you could drink Clorox, but it would be a terrible idea! I liked the bottle though, so I decided to plop a few fake flowers in it... which I will replace with prettier fakes when I get the chance.
ALright, my little jute basket. I crocheted this out of jute (obviously, lol). The little metal bit in the flower, I found a while back in the street. (I'm worse than a mocking bird... when I see a shiny bit, I have to pick it up.) The blue yarn, I recycled from a scarf that I didn't like. (The inside is also lined with the blue yarn). I like to recycle whenever I can. I think I will make more of these little guys and sell them at the flea market. :)

OK... but back to my room... The other thing in my room that makes me soooo happy is my closet! It has been 7-8 years since I have had a decent closet all to myself. (my last bed room at my mom's did not have a closet, so I used a wire cart thing, then I was in a triple occupancy room in college... ugh... then Justin and I shared an itty-bitty closet for three and a half years.) Yes, it has really been that long!

Well, all the space behind these doors is mine, all mine!
Justin's shower is in the basement, so logically his closet is in the basement. (It's a closet he made for me when I lived at my mom's house over 5 years ago... but I'd moved out before he finished it) But anyway, shall we peek behind door #1?
It's organized! Hallelujah it's organized! I got the shoe rack at a garage sale a visited when I was taking a break from my mom's sale. It was $2. Not too shabby. I actually don't have enough shoes to fill it... but I can take care of the problem easy :) And behind door #2?
More organized fabulousness :) I only have one dream that has not been totally realized in this closet... I want to finally have all matching hangers. I almost do. I have all my tops and dresses hung on white hangers, All my tank-tops are on black hangers. I am gonna get some more white hangers here shortly and fix this. I have always wanted a closet that had all the hangers the same color. Never in my life have I been able to make this happen, but I'm like a pack of ten white hangers away,,, so it's totally doable :)
Don't stop believin' hold on to that feeling :)

And one random picture....
This is most of our books... I have no where to set up our book shelves currently, so this is where they are living. There are a few more boxes I still need to go through too... who knew we had so many books, lol! I have been doing a lot of in bed reading... I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I'm working on John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted. I also want to read Stephen Cobert's I am America and So Can You, but I don't own it yet.

Ok, I was going to add the kitchen progress to this post, but since this is soooo long already, I will open a new post for that.

worn out

all this week I've been working at my house all day and my mom's house all night. Tomorrow she is having a yardsale (we are combining our stuff...lots of fabric) I'm worn out. :) but everything is coming along... so I can't complain. Today I put together my closet :) :) :) It's soo much bigger than my last one, and since Justin is keeping his clothes downstairs, I don't have to share it with him :)

Hopefully I can get some more pictures up soon...

ugh!

I'm living in a wasteland of boxes and piles of stuff that have no place... This part of moving isn't fun :(

BUT

I love my house!!! (so even though it's all ugh right now, it's worth it!)

it can only mean one thing...

These balls of painters tape can only mean one thing... I've finally finished painting my bedroom :) The bedroom that I started painting last summer... but we don't need to think about that. Tomorrow is our HUGE moving day, and we needed a place to put our bedroom furniture. What better place than in the bedroom, lol. It is going to be really nice to have our master bedroom set up immediately. Justin and I's bed is quite comfy and I would hate to have to sleep on the guest bed any longer than necessary. But anyway... how about some pictures of the finished paint job...


sorry they are so awful... I only had my camera phone...

BTW- My posting is going to be few and far between because we do not have internet at the house yet and won't for about a month. I have a laptop and plan on going to Bread Co. (called Panera everywhere but the St. Louis area) and get some free wi-fi every now and then. I will try not to neglect yall completely, but it's guaranteed that when I do come back I will have a LOT to post about. Justin and I are going to be working on the house like crazy.

*that fab little red retro dinette my MIL picked up for me at an auction for $1. Isn't she amazing? It is probably going to end up in my laundry room.

I've been inspired :)

So last night after I posted my "ta-da" for my kitchen cabinets... I really noticed how much I hate that tile. It was cute until I painted the whole upstairs a light green with gray undertones. (Yes please!) So began my search online for some inspiration, and I found... this...

From: Tara Hatazawa, Interior Designer and Expert Colour Consultant

The colors are all wrong for my house... but I played around on paint shop, and I think I have found two color combinations I like... Considering I did not use actual paint chips to pick my colors, these are completely hypothetical, but I like

I don't know which I will end up with... but I am definitely going to use more than two colors... 4-6 probably, and I want to pull the green into the kitchen. My accent wall is going to be a tealy blue, so also that color. As for my other colors, I want them to be neutrals so it isn't overwhelming.

BONUS: My adorable friend Jenny got me a teapot and some plates as a graduation present. The teapot is from the 70's, but it kind of reminds me of anthropolgie for some reason.
It did not come with any cups though... So I think this is going to become my random tea set... I am going to thrift some cups for it... I'm thinking cups with lions on them or something cute like that. The little nub on the lid is creme, so I'm also gonna see if I can find little creme saucers. This definitely has some potential :)

* That avocado was my breakfast, and it was delicious!

TA-DA!!!

Well, lovelies! I have some pictures of my cabinets for you viewing pleasure.... so without further ado...

After

Before

After

Before

Also, my new fridge :)

My next project in the kitchen is to paint the tiles... they are a pretty color yellow, but it doesn't work with the rest of my color scheme for upstairs. Also they are plastic tiles, so they really don't look that great anyway.
here's a before

I am debating the color I want to paint them now... I was going to paint them a grayish white, that is lighter than the cabinets, and the accents were going to be a teal blue... I just feel like it might be too much white if I do... I might paint them a slightly darker gray color... leaning more toward gray and less toward white, for a bit more contrast. I might also paint the tiles a light blue and accent with a darker blue... I was afraid that next to the green it might be too much color... but I like color :) I don't know, I will have to stare at paint chips for hours again, lol.

I know the wall which the fridge is on now is going to become an accent wall... whatever colors I paint the accent stripes in the tile, I am going to paint that wall the same color. The dh is gonna build me some shelves and such for in there. It's gonna be really cool. I have the blue prints in my head :)

send me some love via comments... I <3 comments!

home is... here, but not here... stuck in limbo

According to my adorable husband Justin....

Well, a few days ago, he packed up most of his x-box 360 games... I think all but two. Something I've been dreading packing is the kitchen, because it contains one of the sources of my happiness: tea! I have an entire cabinet of tea, and in an itty-bitty apartment with only four cabinets, it says a lot that 1/4 of my cabinet space has been taken up by tea, lol. In my opinion, home is where the tea is :) but since Justin was such a good sport, I thought I should be too... so I have packed all most all of my teas. I think I only left out ten flavors, and that was hard. I'm an addict, lol.


We are officially in moving limbo... and it's no party! Almost everything is in boxes... Justin will ask, "Hey baby, where's the _______?" And I'll say, "I just put that in a box a few days ago... I'm pretty sure it already at the house." UGH! This part of moving sucks! For those of you who've done it recently, you know what I mean... any encouraging would be good... I still have finals to take on top of this craziness... but it will all be over soon enough.

*p.s. I made that "home is" picture for Justin two Christmas' ago. He didn't know where to hang it at the apartment, and he didn't want it to get dirty so he's kept it in the plastic they put it in when it was custom framed. It's the first thing he is hanging in his man den, lol. Found the pattern via Sprite Stitch.

epic fail

So, I worked on my cabinets all weekend, and they are done! Why is this post titled "epic fail" then? Because I forgot to take my camera! This photo was shot with my camera phone, but I couldn't get any good pictures of the whole cabinets... so we will just call this a teaser, lol.

If I have learned anything doing this project it would be this: I HATE CONTACT PAPER!!!

If you haven't ever used it, it is a pain in the butt. It is sticky and hard to control... (That's what she said.) In fact, it is a veritable onslaught of "that's what she said jokes waiting to happen... ugh! Never again! I never would have used it, but the choice was made for me by the former homeowner. She had used contact paper, and we pulled it up. Nothing was taking that glue off though, so I had to put some back over it.

I will admit though, this dotted contact paper I got at Target was really cute, and even though I was very frustrated by the installation process, I do at least think it looks cute... that's enough.

So, finished product pictures soon :) or at least soonish, lol.