Bathroom Makeover!

Since I am slowly but surely getting pictures posted of our home, I thought I would take a few minutes and show you our upstairs bathroom, which we renovated on a snowy day this past winter.

Here are the only two before pictures that we have...

You cannot fully appreciate in the picture, just how yucky old tile was, and how vibrant the blue walls were...

We really were fortunate that the previous owner put in a nice white bath-fitter shower/tub as well as a new pedestal sink, and the toilet was still in decent condition, so they stayed...

We did, however, tear out the old tile, hang bead-board and molding, repaint the walls, trim, and ceiling, and replace all the fixtures and hardware with brushed nickle fixtures.

Here is the result!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Linking up to:

One Year Ago...

Exactly one year ago today I married the man of my dreams=)

It has been the most amazing year of my life, and has left me with so much excitement and anticipation for what this next year will hold...

ok...and now I am speechless, because I don't really know what else to say with words to sum up how blessed I feel and how happy I am...

 so I guess I will just leave it at that;)

...don't forget to tell your spouse how much you love them today!

Coastal Coasters...

In addition to bringing home Tom and Pep yesterday, I found a little inspiration at the Christmas Tree Shoppes that I wanted to try and make myself...

Sisal drink coasters.

 

So simple, so easy, and so cute!


I had lots of cork leftover from another project, and I picked up a giant role of sisal from Lowe's for about $7.


I started by tracing the bottom of a glass jar with a sharpie, to get my basic shape...not to worry about the black lines they get covered! Then I cut out eight circles, and began to glue (using a hot glue gun)!

I first glued one piece of sisal around the whole edge, to hide any imperfections and have a foundation for the rest of the sisal.

Then I took another piece and wrapped it around the top, gluing about an inch or two at a time...

I didn't take pictures of the whole gluing process, but let me tell you, it was so easy!

And less than an hour later, this is what my set of eight looked like!

I love them!! and they are so nice and neutral that they could be used in just about any room in our home...or on our new patio!

Cute huh? I was so happy with them!

I thought they also might be a cute, inexpensive houswarming gift to make for a friend, so I bundled them up like they were a gift, just to see  how they would look...

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Thursday!

Here are some Parties I am linking up to, check them out for more great ideas!:

p.s. Does anyone know how to make these links tiny-er and in a neat little row?

Discount Tom & Pep!

So today I gave in to the urge within me and I took a trip to a wonderful place known as:

This place is fabulous...they have the most expansive collection of items for entertaining at the most incredible prices...

and although I was really just there for window shopping, and idea gathering...

I did fall in love with a little couple that I had to bring home with me=) 

Allow me to introduce you to discount Tom & Pep:

These little one's were on summer clearance for 50 cents a piece, how could I leave them behind?

So home they came, where I promptly saturated their soil, aerated it with a fork, and planted my little seeds=)

I cannot wait to see what these little buggers will do! 

Now, I know what you are thinking...those little grow kits are for toddlers who have a fascination with neon plastic tubs full of "easy-grow" ingredients...hehe...

but let me tell you, when your backyard looks like a construction site, and gardening is not in the budget until next summer,  it is so refreshing to plant a little something, even if it is in a little neon tub!!

So I will nourish discount Tom and discount Pep, and keep you all informed as to their progress:)

Wish them well!

Have a great night!

Linking up to:

Inspiration for tomorrow!

So tomorrow I am going to attempt to make my own rope-framed mirror for the bathroom that is attached to our den, which has a fishing/boating kind of feel to it. Here are some inspiration pics that I found while perusing the web today=) gorgeous huh?!

Source: myevergreenonline.com via Adriane @ fruitfulhomejournal on Pinterest

Source: thenateshow.com via Adriane @ fruitfulhomejournal on Pinterest

Source: 80milestobrewster.blogspot.com via Adriane @ fruitfulhomejournal on Pinterest

Wish me luck!

Our Cozy Den

So...in the last few days, our outside projects have taken off, and the transformation of our home's dated 80's exterior is well underway...but I'm going to give it a few more days before I write about any of that;)

Instead, I thought I would share with you a little makeover that happened spontaneously at the beginning of this week in our den.

BUT, before I show you pics of our den, I have a small disclaimer...

the pictures of our den represent the downstairs of our home only...the Adirondack/cabin-y style in this room is not a true glimpse into the style of our home...the rest of the house is more like what you see here in this post.  Just so that you don't think we are total rednecks (hehe, only partial).

Ok, now that that is cleared up...

This little makeover began when Mike and I were browsing our local thrift store and came across this beauty made completely of solid oak with lots of nice scroll-y detail at the top...

I fell in love instantly=) and knew it would be the perfect addition to our den, as well as a welcome upgrade from what we had, which was an oak dresser (on the outside) with a particleboard/cardboard interior, that had a tendency to fall apart when the drawers were opened..not pretty...or practical...

Here it is...

So although it was love at first site, we weren't really in a position to spend very much at all, and since it wasn't a total necessity, we were a little hesitant. It wasn't marked with a price tag, so Mike and I delineated before approaching the salesman, and decided that our max budget for the big guy would be $100, which in all reality would be a steal, and a highly unlikely price...

So I prayed silently as the man examined the piece to determine a fair price...and I prayed, and prayed...and lo and behold the words "ninety-five dollars" came out of his mouth...

Wooooohooo! I tried to contain my enthusiasm and act calm as I replied, "ok, we'll take it"...

and so we did take it, to it's new home in our den.

Here is a pic of us doing the swap...look at the difference in stature of the two pieces...doesn't the one look like the grown up version of the other? I LOVE IT=)

The excitement doesn't end there though...nope it just kept on getting better when I received a call from one of my girlfriends asking if Mike and I would be interested in taking a beautiful, leather recliner of their hands...oh and did I mention...it matches our sofa almost to a tee? oh and did I mention it was free??

Here it is...and just like our new entertainment center...I LOVE IT=)

So now that you have seen the two newest, most wonderful additions to our den, I thought I would just give you a little photo tour of the rest of the room. (sorry for the overexposed portions of the pictures, the den was getting very intense morning sunlight pouring through the windows while I was taking the pictures:)

Here is just another view of the new guy...

The dark blob in this picture is Sadie's crate... she loves it, and basically, this whole room is hers anyway=)

Here are the built in bookshelves on the one side of the den, which are filled with deer antlers, shotgun shells from prior hunts, sepia-toned pictures, hunting books and decorative decoys..oh and of course, the mug on top of the books is filled with treats for Sadie=)

Here is the other side of the room, where we spend so much time cuddled up with Sadie, who at that moment was wistfully looking out the window at her dad who was working on the house...hehe...

See the great big safe behind our new recliner? here is whats on top of that...more antlers and decoys of course!

Here is a close up of some of the lamps in the room, although the picture quality is bad, you get the idea... The antler lamp was a handmade gift from Mike's pop-pop, and it has survived a few near-death experiences, like moving day, and Sadie knocking it over when she was little. The rustic twine wrapped around it is hiding some of the repair work that I have had to do in the last year;)

The other two lamps were big splurges from when we first bought the house...we just couldn't resist! In case you can't see it very well in the picture, the one has a deer head engraved in the base, and the other has a sweet little bear clinging to its post:)

 One of our favorite things about or den is this...the wood stove...

In the winter, this stove provides the absolute coziest environment, and we all hunker down in the den every evening.

The branch-like thing that you see on the one side of the wood stove is this guy...

My grandfather made it years before I was born...He had good taste:)

So there you have it...our den, one of the most well loved corners of our home=)

Oh and Sadie wanted me to leave you with this...

She posed only under the pretense that it would make it onto this post..hehe...

Have a great night!