Baby Shower Ideas

My best friend is having a baby. I'm throwing her a baby shower to welcome my new niece.  She has decided to go with a butterfly theme. I LOVE butterflies so I'm super excited. Today I put together and an Inspiration board. So in between the house projects, I will have some shower projects too.

Hope she loves!
- Crystal

Other Options

Today I found this beadboard tutorial on House of Smith. Instead of using crown molding like we did, they created a frame. I love the way it turned out.

Check out the tutorial on House of Smith.
Have a great day! Crystal

Stair Runner

Today between Sunday Football we installed a new stair runner. Our house is almost 60 years old. The house has original hardwood floors. The floors are beautiful, but in need of some work. We decided to save money we would install a stair runner, plus the hardwood floors are a little slippery.

I looked high and low for a new stair runner. I found some reasonably priced runners at Lowe's. Unfortunately they did not work for us. I was looking for a neutral runner that would go with anyone's decor. I found a great one from Rug Studio.

The runner came earlier in the week. So today we tackled the project. First I needed to paint the base of the stairs. They were a little beaten up. I painted the stairs Vermont Cream W-B-620 by Behr Paints.

I focused on painting the edges, since the middle was covered by the carpet.

Then we stapled the rug pad.

Then we started laying down the stair runner.

And this is the finished product. I love they way it turned out. But for some odd reason it has freaked out the cat. But we love it!

- Crystal

Re-grouting

We had a loose tile on the kitchen floor. We have tried re-grouting it once, with  no luck.  The grout just crumbed up in a few days. I think we mixed the grout with too much water. We tried again, making the grout a little thicker. Grout should be mixed to the consistency of wet sand. 

Here is our before, cracked grout 

 Grout Tip

When we did the kitchen a few years ago and first laid the tile, we bought extra grout for this reason. Grout colors are always changing, so buy extra. 

Finished Tile

We now need to wait 24 hours for the grout to dry and hopefully we did it right this time and can walk on the floor again. 

Weekend Fun

Weekend Fun by hart57 featuring a straw hat

I found this crazy website today - Polyvore. Polyvore is this fun site that allows you to create style boards, so you can see what different outfits look like together. You can even see which designer makes the clothes and where to purchase them. I think I'm in love.

I have seen others use this site for Room Boards. I plan to play with this a little more to firgure out how that would work.

14 Beautiful Home Makeovers

Msn.com has a slideshow of 14 beautiful home makeovers on their Real Estate section. I could easily live any any of these homes.

Cllick here for some inspiration of how to make your home fabulous.

- Crystal

Check this out!

Hello and Happy Tuesday. Today I wanted to share a giveaway from Erin at House of Turquoise. Erin is turning 30 soon and is hosting a fun giveaway. Check out her website,  House of Turquoise, for some amazing inspiration photos.  Another of her websites, Decor by Color , can help you find some décor items by your favorite color.  I found this awesome peacock pattern rug on Blue and Green.  I can’t wait for a bigger house so I can start decorating new rooms!

Kitchen Ceiling Update

The Kitchen Ceiling is so close to done. All the ceiling paneling is up and painted. The trim is on. The only thing left to do is caulk the gaps. Our house is almost 60 years old and our kitchen ceiling is not level. Therefore, in order to put the crown molding up level, we had gaps. We need to caulk the gaps and paint.

Remember this is what we started with - a popcorn ceiling, that had a LOT of flaws.

Here is the kitchen ceiling finished. In this picture, you can see some of the gaps that still need fixed. Oh we also put in a new light fixture.

The other side of the kitchen is completed.

I'm so happy how it turned out and wish I would of did this 5 years ago! Just a few small projects left in the kitchen and it will be done!

-- Crystal

Under the Weather and New Project

I have been  under the weather. We did not get a chance to finish up the kitchen ceiling, I'm hoping do that this weekend. In addition to the kitchen ceiling we have been working on other projects.

One project, I'm excited about is this mirror, I spotted in a Better Home and Garden magazine. Love it Love it!

I love the clean lines of this mirror and the vintage appeal. I looked and looked for this mirror on line, but no luck :( So I have decided to make it myself. Stay tune for the finish mirror soon. 

-- Crystal

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 1 year anniversary.

It's been a wonderful year and I'm looking forward to many more.  

 Love you Husband.

- Crystal

Placemat Pillows

I saw this tutorial on Welcome to Heardmont. It looked so easy, so I thought I would give it a try.  Meredith at Welcome to Heardmont found her placemats at Target. I loved the pattern so much I headed to Target. 

To start, I ripped open some stitches on the side, got some Polyfil and started stuffing.

Then I stitched up the open seam with some white thread. 

Super easy and a perfect addition to our bedroom. I can't wait to find another placemat to  make a new one 

Total Cost:

$3.99 for each Placemat

$4.99 for Polyfil

$0 for Thread (used what I had).

$13.00 plus tax for two throw pillows.

Come back on Tuesday for our kitchen mini-remodel. Have a safe holiday.

- Crystal

Lessons Learn

After every project, I like to think about what I learned.

For our driveway project, I learned:
- Thank god for family. Having my brother help us out, saved a lot of money.
- Take your time with big projects. Plan out all the details and ask questions.
- Call around for pricing comparison. We save almost $200 on the concrete. Calling a few different places helped us find a fair price.

Crystal