These Are a Few of My (most recent) Favorite Things

Calling all borrowed books! I know you're out there. I have lent so many of my books out I couldn't possibly remember who has what. I should keep a list or something. In an effort to keep my books from becoming part of other's libraries I bought this neat stamp and stamped all the books currently in my house. If you have a book of mine and aren't done with it, I'd love to just come over and stamp it. It would make me feel complete.

Yet another project made possible by Gretchen's company Vinyl Vixens. The first picture is to show you where I put it, the second is a close up. She does such a great job. Neither picture is true to the color of my wall. It's not as orange as the first picture or dark as the second.

My little sister brought her baby, Alex, over while both our husbands were at school. We laid him on the floor and let him roll around. Oso (who I just realized is looking kind of neglected, not just because of Alex but because he really needs a haircut) loved Alex's toes.

This was the closest Marely got to Alex. She was interested but seemed to realize that although Alex was about her size and on the floor, she was not allowed to play with him. Bummer.

DIY photo of the week (with the help of Gretchen)

When I got the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens I saw this picture of house numbers on a front door and thought it would look neat on my front door. So I called Gretchen (check out her company Vinyl Vixens). She does such a great job!

Here is the No. part. Next time you are out and about check it out! It's not very often that you can do something seen in Better Homes and Gardens for less than $10!

DIY Photo of the Week

When we were looking at the types of wood for the banister, we decided on the standard oak thinking that when we moved in we would paint it white. As it grew closer to paint time, I started thinking black might look neat. So we went with black. I love painting things.

They Came! (Only to sit in my spare bedroom for months)

I got home last night around 6 and had a little celebration on my front porch for, lo and behold, my curtains came! Fat lot of good they’ll do me for a while, but I have them and I’m happy with that. I also found another great deal. Jen was selling some end tables she didn’t need anymore for about half the price I would have paid for new ones. And they are beautiful (of course, Jen bought them, how could they not be?). Our spare bed rooms and garage are slowly amassing things that will one day (Collin, if you’re reading this “one day” means “one day BEFORE you go hunting this fall”) be showcased in our lovely new basement (said with The Price is Right joviality). Sorry, no pics today. I should have taken a picture of the box on my front porch. Just imagine it. It was a white box with purplish writing on it that said URBAN OUTFITTERS.

DIY Photo of the Week

This week's DIY is probably the easiest DIY we did. I was staring at my white heater vent one day (doesn't everybody stare at their heater vent?) and thought "what can I do to make that heater vent not stand out so much?" I thought about painting it with metalic spray paint. That's when I thought "I bet they come in metalic colors!" So on a weekly trip to Home Depot, I wandered aimessly and found these! I replaced all the heater vents on my main floor. And at $13.00 per vent, it was a fairly cheap way to make me WANT people to notice my heater vents.

Curtains for the Basement

So, I know the basement still has a cement floor (we bought the wood last Saturday) and no Sheetrock (we'll get that once we are done with the electric), but that hasn't stopped me from buying little things here and there when I find a really good deal (ceiling fans for $40 each!). My favorite purchase so far has been these vintage looking curtains I found at Urban Outfitters. I love them! I'm not usually a "curtain" or a "floral" type person, but these just really appealed to me. If you want to give your house a vintage touch this shop is for you. They also sell really cute vintage feeling clothes and accessories. I could go crazy there if I could afford it. For now, I'll just have to settle for the curtains. The shop at the Gateway (just south of Barnes and Noble) only has clothes and accessories.

You can find home furnishings online at http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/.

Sharon's Butterscotch Door

This door belongs to my dear mother-in-law, Sharon, who also happens to be one of my favorite people. This door was painted this past weekend because while visiting my sister-in-law, Cori, and her husband, Kyle, my father-in-law, Gerrit, told Kyle that the paint on his backdoor was peeling. Sharon found this amusing because she has for some time noticed the paint on their own sidedoor was peeling. On returning home, she teased Gerrit about this and before you knew it, Collin was painting this previously white door this beautiful butterscotch color with yellow trim. I love it! I'm already trying to figure out where I can use these colors and Collin is already trying to figure out a way of talking me out of more DIY projects.

DIY Photos of the Week

Last week's DIY photo of the week was the tile backsplash I put in. In the picture you could see a little bit of the painted cabinets. What a great segue to this week's DIY photo of the week! Collin painted our standard oak kitchen cabinets a creamy off-white color and then the 2 of us spent about 8 hours "antiquing" them with brown glaze. We'd slather the glaze on with a paint brush and then use elbow grease to wipe about 90% of it off. We then worked it into the edges. Collin put bead board up under the bar area. We then put black knobs on all the doors and drawers. It was a labor of love!

How We Spent Our 4th of July Weekend Part 3: The Gateway

In other non dog related news, I spent the majority of last Saturday morning cleaning our house while Collin continued working in our basement (which I will now call the Construction Zone). I shouldn't even have bothered to clean the floors for this is what I saw within minutes of sweeping. I give up.

Later that day I went shopping with my mom at the Gateway. The two of us then went and picked up Collin and my step dad, Allen. The 4 of us went back to the Gateway for dinner at Applebees and then saw WALL-E. WAY cute show. I enjoyed it even though the kid behind me kicked my chair.

How We Spent Our 4th of July Weekend Part 2: DIY French Doors

Collin took advantage of the long weekend by kicking off finishing our family room. First order of business: breakfast at IHOP (mmm, yummy french toast). Second: installing french doors leading into the family room. His dad came down to help. While helping, he used a cheap hammer Collin bought me so I could hang pictures (truth be told, I've never used it. Collin has hung every picture in our house). While my father-in-law was using the hammer it broke in half!

But they got them hung!











Now all we have to do is paint them... and finish the rest of the room.











After dinner at Mimi's Cafe (love that place!) with Collin's parents we ran a few more errands at Home Depot then came back for the Walton Street of Fire.
ATTENTION: The 24th will be the Walton COURT of Fire! More info to come later.

DIY Photo of the Week

Collin and I enjoy DIY projects. Since we moved into our home in May 2007 we have done a lot of things to make our house ours. One of the first things we did was paint the cabinets and tile the backsplash. Can you believe I tiled it all by myself?