Life is Crazy

Wow, what a crazy month this has been! We're still in a whirlwind, so I haven't been around in a while...

Our biggest project this month has been buying a house in Suwanee, GA! We're excited to move and everything has been going smoothly until this past week. We've had a minor setback with our loan, but we only had to move the closing date back by a week. Whew. I can't wait to live across the street from one of my closest friends Beth!

Unfortunately, the toughest part of the month was losing my cousin, Tammy. She has had a tough journey suffering from a brain aneurism and then ultimately dying of cancer that they found a month ago. Her funeral this week was really hard, but we know she is where we all want to be :)

Also, I had surgery yesterday! I got my gall bladder removed, and I should feel much better after the soreness is gone. I'm up walking around, but it still hurts.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving week because all will have settled down by then and we get to just visit with family. Sigh :) Talk about a tornado of a month!

Free Project!

If you know me, you know that I'm frugal. So that's why a free project makes me feel really good! If you've followed by blog for a while, you may remember this:

I figured the tulips are pretty summery, so I decided to change them out for another look. The new accent is still just as bright, but it adds a little taste of fall. I already had some spray paint, so all I needed were some branches from outside!

 I'll probably change the apples out at some point for some pine cones or maybe something a little more "fall like". Then at Christmas I can do cranberries! So easy!

My Latest Inspirations...

I. Love. IKEA.

I'm sure many of you do. We went to browse a few weeks ago, and it really got my senses stirring. I love tearing out pages in magazines for home inspiration, so I went through the IKEA catalog and tore out plenty. I'm mainly fascinated with their kitchen designs. Here is a taste of what has lately been running through my head:

I like the brightness of this kitchen. One day, I would love one of those hanging utensil racks (Only $25 at IKEA!) If this kitchen were mine, I would redo the counters with the amazing chopping block wooden counter tops from IKEA. I adore that type of surface.

I also LOVE the look of these shelves instead of cabinets! It really opens up the space.

 

I really just like the back wall again with the shelves. I've always wanted a sink by a window so I can put plant life on the windowsill.

And I just like this look from Pottery Barn

Inspiration abounds!!

Dog Toys Don't Match

So as you may know from a previous post, Daniel and I have a lab/boxer puppy named Duncan. He's 8 months old now, and is still just as precious! We, unfortunately, are going through a phase of getting him new toys where he destroys them in 10 minutes flat. Hard to be mad, when it's just impressive...

I hated how his toys were sprawled all over the house and in the couch cushions, so I came up with a happy medium. I've always loved galvanized metal, so I got him his own bucket from Lowe's! Not only can he grab a toy out of it himself, but it actually looks decent.

So for all you dog lovers out there, it can be an organized, simple and cheap fix!

Cheap Expensive Taste

Sometimes (ok more than that) I feel that things I like are too expensive...all the cool looking things are just out of my price range! Well, not this weekend!

In one of our super cool downtown Athens stores, they sell sheets of wrapping paper for about $2.95. Seems a little ridiculous, but this paper is amazing. I wanted some of the wall space in our dining area to be filled a little more, so I decided to make some art! My friend Staci and I had talked about how neat it would look to frame a pattern that we like, so I did just that.

I got 3 different patterns and Daniel and I got some really great rustic frames at Hobby Lobby at 50% off! I don't know about yours, but our Hobby Lobby has A LOT on sale for half price this week!

Daniel then cut some foam board to back the paper, so it was more solid and wouldn't rip.

Then we just used double sided tape and placed them in the frames! We LOVE them!!

Here's another thing we found for half price...I've always wanted these in my kitchen!

Since I've been doing so much, I've been cut off from home projects for a while :) Enjoy!

Making Old into New

Lately, I've been in major home project mode, so today I acted on it!

Last week, my friend Beth put some project inspiration on her blog here, and I saw something that I loved! It was a moss-covered letter. I love the look of moss, and I already had our initial in a white wood, so I decided to run to Michaels and get some moss to glue on it!

I got a bag of this:

And just hot glue gunned it to the "A", and here's how it turned out! It was a little messy, but it all came together.

My next project for the day was to make some use out of the multiple glass vases that have collected in my house over the years. They were just sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets, so I wanted to recycle them! I went out and bought some glossy white spray paint, made them white, and added some fake green hydrangeas. 

 

I'm trying to reduce some clutter in our house, so I think these really helped! And they brighten up the room! Ahh home projects...

Mail, Mail, Go Away!

I feel like the clutter that's in my house is mostly due to mail that I have not tended to yet. I'm not always Johnny on the Spot, so if I haven't taken care of it yet, I can't throw it out right away....that brings up the question of "where do I put loose mail??"

It usually ends up in a few different places, which can cause some confusion and "old lady brain" from not remembering where I put something.

Well, today I implemented a solution! I got a 2-tiered hanging basket from TJMaxx for only $12! Love it there. I put it on a small wall space in my kitchen, so it's easily accessible, and I know I'll walk by it multiple times a day.

I think it will be a great problem-solver. I love that it has 2 tiers so I can keep a to-do list and my new return address stamp handy for when I need them!