Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Homesite Sweet Homesite


That's right folks.... we are BUILDING a house!!!  Well, let's get real.  Of course WE are not building the house, but we are paying a builder (whose name is Dave) and I naturally felt the need to sing "Dave, the builder.... can he build it? Yes he can!!"  I know I have mental health problems that need to be addressed, however I am too excited about our house to care.

What brought this on, you might ask?  Well, while our house has served us very well for the last 5 years, it is too small and we are growing out of it for sure.  We bought this little brick trailer, thinking of it as our starter house and assuming that we would sell it in a couple years when we had a double income and could afford something bigger.  But boy were we assuming a lot.  Now our house is literally worthless, since our old-as-dirt neighbors are dying off and their children are selling their already-paid-off-in-1975 houses for pennies (wow, that was a lot of hyphens).  So you get the idea- we are stuck in this tiny house until the day we die!  (Or at least that's how we felt). 

As we were wallowing in self pity about our situation, we heard an AD on the radio that changed everything.  Apparently there is a company that is capitalizing on the crappiest of housing markets!  Lucky for us.  The company is Marketplace Homes, and, in a nut shell, they get paid by the builder of our soon-to-be home (in our case Ryland Homes), to rent our current (tiny) house from us for 6 years.  It really sounds too good to be true, but it isn't.

So without further adieu, here is our pile of dirt...

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

March Showers bring April Flowers??

Yeah, something like that.... 

With Spring in the air and budding all around us, when I stumbled upon Little Birdie Secrets' adorable handmade peonies, I knew I had to make them.  I invited my bestie Joy over (you can check out her blog here) and we went to town on this simple and fun DIY project.  Take a look at our finished products....




Aren't they adorable?!  They are made from coffee filters and wooden skewers!  Some people are so so clever. 


It was a super easy and quick project.  Once I got going it probably only took me a half an hour to make one small bouquet of four stems.  Surprisingly I was able to get almost all of my supplies at the Dollar Store which saved a lot of cash.  One vase of flowers cost me less than $5-- pretty good.  I made a couple bouquets to give as hostess gifts for Easter.  And boy were they a hit!


I love the blush pink version too!!



These would make a perfect decoration for a bridal shower, too!! Or really any kind of shower for that matter.  I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Surprise!!!

Comfy Cozy Crazy got a MAKEOVER!!  I know, I know... how thrilling, right?  Let's have a moment of silence for the old look........
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But really, I am thrilled.  Thanks to the fabulous designers at Designer Blogs I was able to get a full blog re-design for a great price.  If your blog is looking a little tired (like mine did), make your way to their website for great deals and awesome quick service.

Blog Design, Custom Blog Design, Premade Blog Design

 
Happy Friday!!
&
Happy Easter!!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ten June Love

Hey!  Today was a good day.  One of my DIY projects was featured on one of my favorite blogs...



Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! 

Remember this....

Robin's Egg Necklace

Michelle over at Ten June included my lovely necklace in her DIY Easter Project Round Up.  She also features several other adorable Easter projects that can definitely be finished in time for the weekend. 

 If you haven't been over to Ten June you really must check it out.  Michelle uses her quirky sense of humor to relay awesome DIY project ideas and home renovation projects.  She also includes clever posts about life in general. One of my favorite projects of hers is this DIY rustic wall art...



... just beautiful!

Thanks again Michelle for including me in your post!!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

DIY Personalized Silhouette Art

It seems that these days silhouette-ing is ALL over the place.  It's not just your run-of-the-mill Disney World souvenir anymore (am I the only one whose tiny black-framed silhouette is still gracing the walls of my parents house? I think not!).  So, in the spirit of bringing a little old-school wall art into modern times, I have decided that my husband and I should be cast in black!  I know, the suspense is just killing you...




First:
You are going to need some fabulous and possibly unflattering profile pictures of your subjects.  I say unflattering and you will soon understand what I mean.  I apparently felt the need to pose for my profile pics in the middle of the night and looking particularly grungy.  So you'll start with this:


See what I mean? eeww. Anyway, no time for vanity people!  We must get going. 

Second:
Print this lovely photo from your home printer in the size needed to fit your frame.

Third:
Cut your photo out following your profile carefully.  This is important because any mistakes here could have you looking a bit... skewed.  And the whole point is having PERSONALIZED silhouettes, if you didn't care if it looked like you why waste the time??

Now you'll need to gather some supplies:
A pencil
Black card stock
Background paper in a contrasting color
Scrap booking tape
A pretty frame



Fourth:
Tape your cut-out profile onto the BACK of the black card stock and trace carefully around your profile.



Now if you have a wonky ponytail, like I did in my profile pic, just kinda re-draw it so it looks sassy.  I also added a playful little eyelash, too. 



Fifth:
Cut it out-- carefully again.


And you'll wind up with this:


Lastly:  Arrange your silhouettes on your background paper and tape with double backed scrap booking tape, put in a frame and there you have it!



Now, where to put it??  Any ideas?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Money Laundering: A How-To Guide

Did I get your attention? Good, 'cause I'm lying.  It's just plain ol' boring clothes laundering.  I know, I know-- cheap tactics.  Anyway, This is the next installment of my home makeover.  The notorious Laundry Room!!  How exciting!



By some miracle our little old house had an actual room made for the purpose of washing clothes.  I mean, we barely have any closets to store clothes.  So you can imagine my shock and awe, when we realized that hanging off our kitchen was a not-that-tiny room with the appropriate hook-up for a washer and dryer.  Hallelujah!

Unfortunately, like the rest of the house, this room was ugly when we moved in.  So we needed to make some changes.

The laundry room before...

After:


























The first thing we did was paint the walls the same cheery color as the kitchen.  Then, I knew I wanted to paint the cabinets white, but I thought it might be pretty (since the cabinets were so plain and ugly) to take the cabinet doors off (like we did on those upper kitchen cabinets) and paint the insides the wall color, and leave the frame-work of the cabinets a nice white contrast.  The only downside is, of course, not being able to hide messes behind those cabinet doors, but really, it just made the space more functional for us.  I was able to see everything we had instead of just stashing junk in the cabinets. 

























We also painted the utility door white to match the new and improved white cabinets. What a difference!

Last, but not least, we added this super awesome drying rack from.... IKEA!  It folds flush to the wall when not in use, and pops open to dry those delicates.  Love it!


This whole laundry room makeover only cost us $50.  Twenty for the drying rack and hooks and the rest in paint.  So worth the money for such a big improvement! 

I hope you liked my laundry room makeover!  Have you made any laundry room upgrades lately?  I'd love to hear from you!




Thursday, March 29, 2012

5 Things I Would NOT Want to Find in my Attic

5. Dead bodies
I know, I know- that's an obvious one, but really-- any living, dead, or UNDEAD body.  Really ANY body, no matter the degree of decomposition.

           
           
4.  Giant Hair Balls
No, not adorable Puss in Boots hairballs...

Like giant, nasty "any-old-cat" hair balls, or like the My Strange Addiction "I eat my own hair" hairballs


3.  A family of gypsies
I don't know how they would all fit up there, but, hey, regardless of their sleeping arrangements, I do NOT want to find them in my attic.

2.  A meth lab
I wouldn't even know a meth lab if I saw one, but I have a feeling it would not be as clean and tidy and picturesque as this wonderful pic, not to mention the potential for explosions and all that face picking!


1. Little Richard
By far the creepiest dude I can think of.   My worst nightmare is to open that attic door and there HE is sitting in the corner at a piano, and starts in on "A-Whop-Bomb-A-Loo-Op, A-Whop-Bam-Boom.... "  **shudders** With those crazy eyes and all that eyeliner.... eek.


Anything in particular that you would not want to find lurking around in your attic???  Let me know!
Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Spring Bling: Robin's Egg Necklace

Spring is in the air, and so is my need for fun, cheap accessories!  Sure you could go out and spend $20, or $30, or $40 on a cute new necklace, or you could pop into your local craft store and spend about ten bucks on supplies and about 10 minutes of your time and make your own!  This Robin's Egg necklace is the perfect Spring accessory. 

Supplies:
One strand of Beads
One yard of Ribbon
Tapestry Needle

(double your beads and ribbon if you want to make both variations of my necklace)


First:  Gather supplies 



Second:  Thread your beads onto the ribbon using the tapestry needle


Third:  Tie a pretty bow and cut the ends at an angle to decrease fraying


And BAM!  Necklace complete! 
P.S. I never said it was the most original idea.  But keep it simple and mix it up with fun Spring colors to make it your own.




If you're feeling really froggy, get yourself a coordinating ribbon (try a yard and a half, to give yourself more length options) and make another.


Dress up a plain white tee with a funky, chunky necklace... or two!



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Kitchens Smitchens?

I think smitchens is my new favorite word.  Anyway, the next installment of my home makeover is the kitchen.  While I would have done many many many more elaborate things given the budget-- this is what could be done on a shoestring. 

 The breakfast nook before (peeking into the laundry room... but we'll get to that later)
Again with the flesh tones- the previous owners must have bought this ugly paint in bulk... bleh. 
 

You can barely see it, but above the upper cabinets is another set of cabinets which are impossible to reach and not the most functional.... so I had a PLAN!!


Because these upper weirdo cabinets were just so HIGH up I figured if I did store stuff there it would be stuff I never used and never looked at.  In other words- stuff that should have made its way to Good Will already.  So, I thought, "By George, I will rip the cabinet doors off and make them DISPLAY cabinets!!"  Off came the doors and I painted the inside of the cabinets the same color as the walls, had the hubster install cheap and easy under-cabinet lighting and VOILA!  A place to display stuff worth displaying.... ahh the beauty of it all. 






This DIY kitchen makeover cost me less then $50.  About $30 for the lighting and the rest in paint.  All of the items on display were already mine and just hidden behind ugly cabinet doors.


Have I mentioned my intense burning love for IKEA yet?  Probably.... but let me just tell you that IKEA single-handedly allowed the poor Findley newlyweds the ability to still have a beautiful and functional home.  Fo' real.  We have something from IKEA in every room, and one of my favorite buys (next to our entryway makeover- see here) is the awesome railings and racks we hung in our kitchen.  For another $50, we were able to buy all of the hooks and rails and accessories to optimize the usable space in our kitchen.  With limited drawer space-- and I mean severely limited-- we were able to hang our most-used kitchen utensils and our spice rack and our paper towels and our spoon rest AND our measuring cups AND our wine opener AND our....  you see how the list goes on and on. 






Last but not least on the kitchen tour is the breakfast nook.  Now really, who paints chair-rail molding dusky nude?  These prior inhabitants really made my makeovers more impressive, because ANYTHING is an improvement over what our house looked like before.



We slapped a little white glossy paint on the chair rail and a nice spring green on the walls and it really brightened up the space.




We got the table and chairs from IKEA (of course) for about $70.  Also from IKEA is the artwork and frames and little lampy light on the microwave.  We got the rolling tea cart at a thrift store for about $30.  For a total of about $150.  Not too shabby!





This whole kitchen makeover cost us about $250 including a new kitchen table and chairs-- you can't beat that with a stick!  Have you completed any BIG payoff kitchen makeovers on the cheap? I'd love to hear from you!