The Half Bath

I wish I had taken a before picture.. Oh well, nobody really wanted to see the outdated little flowered wallpaper,hickory cabinet, brass faucet,one pieced clam shell sink, polished brass with flowered glass light fixture, almond colored toilet or the builder grade flat mirror.... here is our finished half bath.....
We tore off wallpaper, painted the walls, took off the mirror, replaced the toilet, towel bars sink, light fixture and faucet...

The sink was on sale at Menards.. we were able to get a quartz countertop with attached vitreous sink for $99.00. I repainted the hickory cabinet in a dark chocolate brown color. The paint came from the mistint section at Lowes for a whopping 1.00. I bought it last summer with intentions of using it somewhere...

The color is really darker in the bathroom than what the camera flash shows here. Threw on some clearanced brushed silver knobs for a little sparkle and I have a new complete vanity/sink for less than 110.00. We did purchase a new mirror, faucet and light fixture as well, so our costs did rise. But this bathroom is 100% better than what it was when we moved in.
The towels I had from our previous house and the picture I found at homegoods for 24.99.


And there you have it, our half bath redo...

EASY DIY for my friend, Heather :)

Lately, I have been reading blogs for so easy, CHEAP, and cute decorating ideas. Each blog I visit, I am facscinated by what can be accomplished. So with other bloggers wisdom, I have ventured to the local goodwill store and here are my SIMPLE creations.... ALSO- before I post photos, I titled this for my friend, whom I hope will get the same inspirations for her home. :)
First up... the cute little crystal vase that I picked up from Goodwill for 1.00.



I'm sure the vase was to hold olives during a dinner... it is not tall enough to hold flowers. I liked the lines of it and it was more diamond in shape than round. Now I do not do enough formal entertaining so, holding olives was not for me. I had other plans....How about a Q-tip holder to put on my shiny mirrored tray in the bathroom??? Do you like?



I think I like it best without the powder holder and add a few "jewels". The mirrored tray was a steal from Homegoods about a month ago... loved it when I saw it.
Next on the goodwill stop was a cute KITCHEN sign that I picked up for 1.25:


If you noticed in my previous post, I've been highlighting the Apple Green color for spring this year. It seems to be a cute trendy color and I can accent a few spots in the kitchen with it... so HELLO little spray paint can of Apple Green:


I think I'm going to attach this sign to the door in the kitchen for a little color boost. Then, next season (LOL) I repaint it with my next color du jour!
The next 2 pieces I picked up at goodwill also, just for some color splash... no DIY makeover required... just enough color pop:


The plate came with the hook attached for putting on the wall, no bad for $1.50 and the candy dish, I will use for candy or keys and change.. a steal for 50 cents.
Wanna see some more of my "treasures" ??


The candle I had purchased over Christmas, 2.00 paid. The candlestick holder: .50 again, from goodwill. I painted some brushed pearl on the candlestick holder, took off the top of the candle, used that for the base and voila.....



Next is a lamp I boought from goodwill for 4.00. A good solid and heavy lamp... only problem was the brass. Not my taste right now..

So, again, to the spray paint section in my garage I go.... and find....
Hammered gun metal.......

I do not have a shade for the lamp yet... but as soon as I do, I will upload it. But it is going to be cute in one of the boys' rooms!!
Obviously in the very first photos, I did buy more at goodwill than what I have been able to "redo" so stay tuned for some updated posts showing some more EASY and cheap redecorating objects!!

Blue Counertops

As I posted earlier, our "new" house is only 10 years old. The house that we came from was around 10 years old as well. Our other house did NOT have Blue countertops... they were a nice neutral color... WHY did the owners of this house (the one we are in) pick BLUE? I'm a fan of blue, dont get me wrong... I love the Maize 'n Blue, I love sky blue and of course the blue and brown that is hot right now. But I would NEVER pick blue for a countertop. ANYWAY... lets get rid of those countertops and replace it with some... I dont know... quartz... granite... recycled glass... Now, for those that know me, I tend to be very BUDGET FRIENDLY. I tend to wait for sales, shop the clearance racks, use coupons and scour a thrift store like nobodys business. So I started with looking at qoutes for new counters. Recycled glass - wow - beautiful and expensive. Quartz - again, wow - beautiful and expensive. Granite - wow - beautiful and expensive BUT LESS than the other two. I only need to replace 30 sq feet of countertop, what do you mean It will be around 3500.00 ??? At this point, my only real affordable option is laminate. OK, I can do laminate and maybe do granite on the island.... that would work. BUT I really want a solid surface/granite counter for the entire kitchen! So off to the internet I go.
For most inspirations I head to HGTV's Rate my Space page. I love looking at other peoples DIY projects and get inspired. While there I found Kristin's kitchen and O M G ... I fell in love with it. I posted her blog on the right, take a look.

Her kitchen transformation was amazing! In my mind, I would love to paint my kitchen cabinets white like hers... but lets be real - I DO NOT have the patience for all of that work. But I like her layout and I like her Island and I think I can "sorta" copy it. But first, I needed to decide on countertops.... again after looking at Kristin's kitchen and noticing her Granite tile countertops, I thought, I can do that too. So again, back to the internet to find out more info on DIY granite tile squares. That's where I found the CabinetBarn2 in Shelbyville, In. Give this guy your cabinet dimensions/layout etc and he will quote you granite pieces to fit your kitchen, give you a DVD for installation, give you the epoxy to seal your seams and the silcone to set your pieces. He was only 2 hours away and I saved BIG! Now granted, not as big if I were to stick with laminate, but compared to the other products I was looking at, I saved at least half!
Do you like the granite???

Now for some kitchen re-arranging....

We started with removing the peninsula and moved a few cabinets around.
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Added a kichen island in the middle of our space, finished installing the granite countertops and next on the list was a new backsplash.

I chose tumbled marble in a classic subway pattern. I like the softness of the colors and the way it will brighten up the space under the cabinets.
While I wish I could tell you that I had a coupon or bought the tiles on sale... I did not. However, we did do all of the installation ourselves, so I guess that counts a savings right there.... right?? :)
Anyway, we finally finished up with the backsplash and the countertops are down. The only thing left for me to do is paint the island and add a towel bar. I just can't decide on a paint color for the island. I have a dark chocolate brown paint that I purchased from lowes ( in the mistint section.. paid 1.00) or should I go out and get a quart of black to match the appliances???? Decisions, decisions....



I do not have a big kitchen by any standard. My old kitchen was much larger and had more drawers/cabinets. However, I love the upgrades we have done to this kitchen. While I wish it were a little larger, I love it!

Holy crap, it's been awhile.

It has been over 1 year since my last post... are you kidding me? Am I that busy that I cant take a few minutes to type down my thoughts, accomplishments and tribulations? I YI YI.... Long story short... our house sold, we moved and have been working on "updating" the new house. The house is not old, just 10 years.. but after 10 years, paint needs to be changed, fixtures updated and appliances need to be replaced. I hope to blog about our updates and hopefully inspire you to do the same. I have found some AWESOME blogs lately and have been really inspired.

Who knew.......

That if you put your mother-in-law's Grolier Disney Ornaments on ebay in January- she would receive over $700.00 ???
Who knew that if you put the Gymboree coupon you just received in the mail on ebay, you would fetch $2.00 for it and charge THEM the .42 it cost for the stamp?
Who knew???? I can't believe, that I almost threw away a profit of 1.25 (after ebay/paypal fees) in the trash can. I mean really..who knew??? I guess I need to start looking in my Christmas decorations for ornaments and come on Kid's stores (childrens place, gap, oldnavy) send me more MONEY..ahemmm I mean, coupons. :)

Helloooo??? Anybody home?

Whew... that was quite the break from blogging... sorry. I would love to blame it on being so incredibly busy that I just did not have time. But, I would be lying and I'm not in the mood for that today. So, how is everybody? We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I am so blessed to have beautiful family and friends. I love my job as a "lunch lady"- it gets me out of the house, lets me pop into my kids' classrooms "whenever" and gives us some movie and pizza money to boot. We are ready for some warmer weather and for some baseball to start. All three will be at the diamonds this summer and we are so looking forward to it. Alex says that when he grows up he's going to be a : Policeman, Baseball player and a president. we will begin on the baseball first since it is the most fun and then let the other professions sneak in.
Are you guys missing my "shopping tips" ? I will try to put together a shopping list for you...There's a few things I need to pick up today from Owens, but for the most part I'm stocked! I've been keeping a running tally for the month of January... and I went WAY over budget. For the month of January I spent a total of $348.00 at the grocery stores. My goal was to keep it at $300.00 for the month...February will have to be better. The January total came out to less than 70.00 per week, but I would like to see that down to 50-55.00 per week. I think I can manage that in February, just because my pantry is so stocked with cereals, poptarts, soups, tomato juices (we love us some chili and goulash), raviolli and oatmeal. Our biggest hurdle is keeping enough milk in the fridge and backing the truck up AWAY from the Mountain Dew/Pepsi displays. :)

Target Shoppers...

Here are some Target toy coupons that you can print and use at Target. Somewhere in there I believe is a 5.00 coupon off of Mario cart Wii- if you need it.
Target