blog neglect

To my 11 followers plus anyone else that may stumble upon my blog, I hate that I have been neglecting it so. I have several things in mind to write about and show you pictures of but my computer has been on the fritz, the one with all of my pictures on it and my husband's computer is not a whole lot better...I just keep thinking just maybe if I wait long enough the next time I turn on my computer it will be miraculously healed! That to say please don't give up on me...I will be back! I am also happy to say I am keeping up with P90X so maybe by the time I can upload pictures again I will show you my "beach body"... 

the kitchen

The kitchen is my husband's room in the house...meaning he cooks dinner nearly every night for us, therefore he has earned the right to decorate this room of the house. Don't get me wrong I love it that he doesn't mind cooking, that way I don't have to learn and he is really good at it but some of his ideas for the kitchen had me worried. For instance he wanted to paint our cabinets which may not seem like such a terrifying thing to you but a couple of years ago I didn't know you could do such a thing. Also, it seemed like such a drastic change...especially if we didn't like it. Our cabinets are just stock cabinets because they were the cheapest but they made the kitchen look so dark and dated...

My husband is so gracious because even though he enjoys decorating he has allowed me to make most of the decor choices in every other room in our house so I decided to trust his instinct and go with the painting the cabinets idea...

Maybe this will help you decide to take a risk if you too are hesitant about painting your cabinets. It truly brightened up the whole room. We still need to paint the boards along the bottom among some other minor details but for the most part the kitchen is done and finally feels like our style.

This is an old cart a friend let us have and Joel just painted it to hold our dishes.

Joel loves to have plants around the house so he has lined both kitchen window ledges with them. I love this old chicken feeder we found to use as a planter.

More plants...

Joel decided to remove the cabinet between the microwave and refrigerator to hang shelves. He used scrap wood and decorative brackets we already had. This area is my favorite part of the kitchen.

 

things I want but need to come to grips with possibly never having

I was just looking at expensive furniture online from stores I can't afford to shop in and found the chair I've been obsessed with since I first saw it...

and fell in love with these too...

I think everyone deserves to have a worn in leather couch from Anthropologie at some point in their life! It's very affordable...well when you consider where it is from and what it's made out of.

I'd probably need this cabinet to go with the couch though... 

as well as a new rug.



magnetic tray frames

At the beginning of the week I promised to show you what I planned to do with the trays I bought at the antique mall and as promised here it is. I can't take credit for this one because I got the idea from my crafty mother in law. They are so simple and so cute! Below is the one I made for our house.

Some suggested materials for this project: vintage metal tray, 3/4" round magnets, clear pebbles, stickers, scrap paper, bottle caps, 1" punch, super glue, mod podge, sawtooth hangers

To start I punched out the paper/ pictures I wanted to use for my magnets. If you are using bottle caps the 1" round paper will fit perfectly inside, but if you are making the pebble magnets you will have to trim a little off. You could also just buy a 3/4" round punch...whatever suits your fancy.

Bottle Cap Magnets: Once you have your paper punched out put a small dab of super glue along the inside rim of the bottle cap to attach the paper, you really don't need much for it to hold. I finished by super glueing the magnet to the bottom and put mod podge over the paper circle.

Pebble Magnets: Put a small dab of glue on the magnet to attach the paper, push firmly. Put another dab of super glue on the paper and push the pebble down for several seconds. The glue should spread out between the pebble and magnet. I really like the look of the pebbles because they magnify whatever picture is under them.

And the pebble magnets...

I am planning on selling my trays and wanted to give the option to hang them. Since the trays are metal I just used a sawtooth hanger and attached it where a nail would go with a more goopy super glue. I also put a another glob of glue over the top of the wholes where the nails would go for extra hold.

And the finished trays...

and...

another...

only 2 more...promise.

Lastly...

I probably didn't have to show each one individually but they are just so pretty...and if I found this many you should be able to find 1 for yourself!

year 3 tomorrow

Tomorrow is our 3 year wedding anniversary...

Many people say they married their best friend...but I actually did marry my best friend, although I could not picture myself with him at first. This was mostly because he was the biggest flirt I had ever met. Not only that but he was Joel, my good friend Joel and ever since the first weekend of our freshman year of college. We had the same major so we had to take many of the same classes together. In one of our first psychology classes Prof. Kidwell said it was a proven fact that the more time you spend with a person the more likely they are to have an attraction to you, Joel then leaned over and said, "we are taking the same classes from now on!" I honestly don't think he had any feelings for me at that point, he was just that big of a flirt.

It wasn't really until our sophomore year that I started questioning if Joel liked me or if I could even see myself with him. Due to the amount of time we were spending together many of our friends started asking us separately how we felt about each other, which made me feel wierd. I couldn't imagine losing Joel as my friend if he didn't feel the same way for me. During college I was finding out who I was and through that many friends would come and go, but Joel demanded we remain friends. He was quickly becoming one, if not my closest guy friend. I remember telling my mom about different guys at school that I may or may not have had crushes on at the time and casually brought Joel up, but only speaking about him as a friend. My mom's response was, "I wish I had a Joel in my life!" There was something so different about him, something I knew I didn't want to live without...

Second semester of our sophomore year Joel and I were headed to the coffee shop on campus and ran into a mutual friend of ours. She, without thinking asked us if we were dating yet! Who says that? No one had EVER brought THAT up to us while we were together so we never had to address it before that moment. We awkwardly ignored the topic altogether and proceeded to the coffee shop. I didn't think I was ready to discuss "US" yet so I kept thinking, "don't bring it up, maybe he's not going to bring it up." Then he looked up from his computer after some shallow conversation and awkward silence to say, "I like you and I think you like me too so we should go out." He pretty much said it as quickly as you probably read that line too. Our first date was Valentine's Day and he, without thinking let me pick the movie we were going to see. I didn't watch much TV that year so I hadn't heard about what was showing so I picked the one that I had at least heard of in passing, Hotel Rwanda. I chose a movie about African genocide for our first date on Valentine's Day! I had no clue. There were at least other people in the theater that night but it was definitely not the picturesque first date you dream of.

We have had our ups and downs over the years but I cannot imagine being with a more supportive, fun, genuine person than my husband Joel. He has been my best friend for the past 5 years now and my husband as well for the past 3. I look forward to what God has in store for our future together and pray that we only grow closer to Him and each other as time goes on. I love you Joel, happy anniversary and thank you for choosing to be by my side and loving me even when I haven't been the easiest person to love!

antiques and pumpkins

What a refreshing weekend this was! On Saturday I spent 2 hours at the antique mall...I think I could have stayed for another hour, it's so big. I found exactly what I was looking for and then some. I found several trays in various sizes for a project I hope to do tonight and will show you this week.

I also found this locker basket for only $8! I have been wanting a few for our bathroom but never saw one that cheap before. I also got some vintage ribbon, an old ruler, some doilies, and a miniature candelabra. 

Once Joel got home from class we left for Lexington to visit with his sister, mom, and grandma. Regretably I did not get any scenery shots from the weekend but Lexington is such a beautiful area, especially in the Fall. On Sunday we went to an apple orchard...

There we are...

And again...what's that Grandma Crego?

We had a lot of fun!

I guess it's time to break out the seasonal decorations!

Little gourds...

I hope you're enjoying this weather...go buy some pumpkins.





Sneak Peek

The upstairs is closer to being done than ever before! I can't help but share the parts that are done with you. The bar in the closet broke so the clothes are only there momentarily...

This is what the mini couch is facing...

I got some dresser drawers from my mom to use for storage and I hope to hang some as well in place of shelves.

Some wall decor...

The guest bedroom...





SALE

I was scheduled to work today and somewhat excited about it because it was for skills lab, plus today was an early release day...which equals one easy day! When I got there they told me the teacher I thought I was filling in for was indeed already at school...uh, which meant I COULD HAVE SLEPT IN! I was already awake and near a Target so that is where I ended up. Since I wasn't going to make money today I thought I should spend some instead...

They are really cute and were only $13!

unfinished upstairs...

I promised some finished pictures of the upstairs this week and I really hoped it would be done by now. I have been painting and putting things where they will go, whatever I could do without help. We still have to put the bed together and move the window divider so I have been waiting until my husband felt up to it. On top of trying to finish his masters degree he was also just hired this year as an intervention specialist for middle school and although he dismisses them at 2:30 he doesn't get home until 5 most nights. That to say I take pity on him and just keep thinking, maybe tomorrow he will feel up to it...it has been a long couple of weeks so maybe this weekend we can wrap things up, i hope!
Enjoy your weekend!

this one is called "project upstairs"

Our summer project was to move our bedroom downstairs but it seemed to slip my mind that although we had a lovely new bedroom I still had the upstairs to take on...our former bedroom quickly became the catch all room and a mess! It was the last room we were needing to paint so that was my first task. I keep saying "the room" and upstairs because upstairs is just one HUGE room. It is also the hottest room in the house...I am just trying to paint a very vivid mental picture for you of me sweating away all day, painting with the tiniest paintbrush imaginable so that I didn't have to tape off the ceiling...ok I digress. I like me some before and after shots so here is an actual before picture, no joke.

Above: This is a view of the area at the top of the stairs, it is a small loft-like space. Also the frame of the closet is to the right of the stairs. We did not build our house it was just in such a disgusting state when we bought it that we had to gut it all the way down to the studs.

Below: This is a view from the top of the stairs looking toward the front of our house. Just an interesting side note-the people that lived here before us raised chickens in the basement...of course they did, why not?

I can't seem to find a single picture of what our bedroom looked like before but here are a few of what I am in the process of doing.

Below: This is that loft area at the top of the stairs. After I paint that end wall we are attaching shelves and puting a table and chairs there.

This is a look at the mess at the other end of the room. It is all painted at least!

Joel and I saw that window divider idea in a Ready Made magazine. It works really well in a space like this to create some division...just don't tell anyone what you are doing before you decide to make one because everyone you know will donate 5 windows a piece to you...I warned you. This side of the divider will be the TV area.

The front part of the room will be the guest bedroom, which I am most excited about. You may sweat all night long but you will have the cutest place to stay!