Living Room Update

Remember this? 

It looks like this [check out the pic below] now. I still haven't done anything about my photo wall art, but I did change up my end tables, and I like these two Broyhill ones. They are not really new, I have had them forever with a different living room set we used to have. I went ninja on them and ran John's Dremel tool on them to sand them a bit and picked up some Rustoleum paints and I have two mismatched end tables like I always wanted! Ignore the Sterilite things underneath my end tables. I was trying to get an idea what size basket I am gonna get so I put them there. But they are not staying. 

I am also scouring the internet for new lamps. :) I am thinking about moving those two in my bedroom. I have such big plans for them in there. The cornice/valance was a great DIY project. It was easy, inexpensive and totally totally dressed my windows up. The fabric, I got from fabric.com for $5.98/yard I only used a yard. John built the frame with an 8 foot 1 x 6 piece of pine for $6. I ran self-adhesive velcro all the way across the frame so if I do get sick of my curtains and the valance or when it's time to wash them, I can just take them down and put a new set up without having to pull staples out!!! Clever huh! 

The silk drapes I totally didn't pay for. : ) They were from my Mom-In-Law. She has very good taste in window treatments. Can you tell? The thermal roman shades, they are JC Penny but I didn't buy them from JCP because I didn't want to pay $39/piece. I got them from ebay. Lucky me, someone bought too many of them and the person listed them on ebay when I was looking for them! I got both shades for $20 + Zero shipping.

It took me about three weeks to get all the stuff in the mail, but it sure all was worth the wait. It is still not over yet but it is getting there. I have been blessed with a 25-foot living room, there is still this big long wall to dress up and a drop ceiling we are wanting to address. We had someone come and look at it so we can know how much it would cost to get rid of it and we should get an answer very soon. The drop ceiling is nothing urgent at the moment, but we just wanna know so we can plan on it.

All this for the love of older homes and their character and history. : )

Be Nice

Here's a thought we would like to share with you today. We try to live by this every chance we get. :)







Hope your weekend was wonderful!!!

This is What's Bubbling in my Kitchen Tonight

Well, here it is. I made chili. I am not the chili maker in this house, John is. And he makes a mean chili. But this girl was too hungry to wait until 4 [when he gets home] so I went to the store got the makings and voila!!! I got chili. We got chili. :)

John will just have to suck it up and eat the stuff because it is made. Not that it is any different from what he makes... I know what he puts in his chili, I just put a little bit more kick to it than he would want. John isn't one of those people that like spicy stuff, but I do. I love my food to kick me right in the nose the second it touches my mouth. This chili though isn't too spicy. I just put a tad bit more of chili powder in the mixture and a few other wonderful things. 

I would love to share the recipe but this is my husband's, and he has been trying to perfect it for 2 years now. So unless he says I could share it, I won't be posting it. :) But feast your eyes on this masterpiece. I am eating from that same mini crock as of this writing. It is Mmmmm... Mmmmm... Mmmmm... good!

Hope you all have a wonderful dinner!!! :)

This Beautiful Day

Hello friends! It is beautiful here on my side of the world. It is 59˚F and I can feel fall coming our way! Other than the allergies and the flu that comes with this season, I love it all. I love the pretty colors the leaves turn, and when burn weekends start, the sweet smell of leaves burning is ever so heavenly!!!

We have been very busy the past week. We are still working on our living room makeover, we only need a few things, but our indecision has gotten in the way so now we are kindda stuck waiting for stuff to arrive in the mail. John still hasn't decided on the size baseboards he wants to install while it took me until Sunday to decide that I wanted a fabric-covered cornice for my big window. Our SUV is in the shop being fixed from John's accident a couple of weeks ago so he is now driving a rental. We are just thankful that John didn't get hurt and the guy who rear-ended him had really good insurance coverage, and paid his premium promptly. :)

However, since Monday I have been keeping myself occupied with some baking and cooking to keep from going crazy. John has been loving it! There has been a new treat every time he got home from work.  have made pretty much all his favorites. I made him some divinity, decorated sugar cookies, and fabulous gourmet dinners! But last night, I thought I would make something John and I both loved... Something that had coffee and chocolate in it!!! So I made these things:

I call them coffee cupcakes. The recipe is originally from Ina Garten, but I changed it up a bit and loaded these cupcakes with a ton of coffee! I even used flavoring oils in coffee. I used my favorite Dark Blend K-cup variety from Newman's Own and a good quality epresso granules brand. To make it extra extra special, I took a whole tub of hazel nut spread [I used Nutella] and mixed it with my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe and finished it up with a chocolate-covered espresso beans on top. Oh Yum! I had these with my coffee this morning and oh my golly!!! They are tasty! You can find the recipe in my personal blog, there is a printer-friendly recipe there too so you can try the recipe at home. These cupcakes aren't the kind I would necessarily feed to little kids because of the caffeine content. ;) So keep these treats to yourself, or share it with friends!!!

Have a great day all!!!

Put Yourself in their Shoes

We learned this lesson today and we would like to share this: 

Whenever you start getting upset with someone because they are starting to annoy you, put yourself in their shoes. There is a good chance you won't be upset with them anymore when you do. :)

Happy Sunday evening all!!!

The Door

John and I have been wondering what the heck is wrong with this door and it won't look good [to us] no matter what we do with it. We have argued and brainstormed over this door more than three times in the past how many months but still haven't come to an answer. I have wiped this big giant door over and over and have ran through painting it with different colors in my head but I still don't think that will fix that.

We don't have any idea what to do with this door. Scratch replacing this monster. We are not getting rid of it because it is a heavy wood door... Good quality heavy doors are rare these days and if you find them anywhere, they are expensive.

Tonight, John installed the trim I painted a couple of days ago. It was all up in less than an hour. If there is anything my husband will not say no to, it is the opportunity to plug in those big boy tools! I like them too... but not as much as he does.

And Voila!!! I hope we figure out what we need to do to this door to make it pretty in our eyes. It works to our advantage that our neighbor is a pro in refinishing wood furniture and he adores me and John. He has been truthful and has been so encouraging and has taught John a few carpentry tricks during this whole process. He fixed my closet doors when John did a mis-cut. So we will ask his opinion next time we see him.

 

Please...

I think every home needs to have this sign up in it. I think it is a must that we control the kind of energy we bring into our homes as much as we need to control the clutter we bring or cause. : ) I found this quote from Pinterest the other day and I made this printable [myself] to hang on my wall.

It has been the greatest two months. John and I have accomplished a lot and we have had such a great time working on our house and planning the next 2 rooms we are making over. And I don't want anyone or anything to ruin this great momentum we are in. So if you happen to be invited to come to my home some time, keep the above image in mind. I have been known for kicking people out and not feeling sorry for it. ; )