Finds Around Town...

Here are a few items I found while I was out and about running errands!

Above: a curtain panel found at Hobby Lobby. I've never seen these there before, I found them in the 54" bolts of decorating fabric. One Panel cost $24.99, but could easily be less with one of those lovely Hobby Lobby Coupons!

I don't think I could have made a panel for much less...and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for color wise...the den is painted the Camel color and the other colors I will use in there will be Black and Cream!

Above: Another Hobby Lobby find...clocks for the girls rooms. Regular Price-$9.99. But I bought them when clocks were 50% off!

Above: Cute red clips from Staples (under $5.00)...will be perfect for my little desk space!
Binders- Wal-Mart! Yeah! They had other colors, including a pretty chocolate brown! These ran $3.50 each. Another item for my desk space.

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A Lovely Shade of Blah...

One week and counting!!!!

If all goes well we will close on our house next Friday!

I have been cleaning and washing windows...

but yesterday I decided to repaint Sophia's room.

It was a color called Summer Fields from Lowes, and I really liked it.

But then I found this and really really liked it (the fawn and owl did it!)

And I didn't like the idea of those decals on a green wall.

Then it took me a few weeks to think it over in my head....how things would be arranged, other colors in the room, etc.

So yesterday I took the leap and painted it an original color (I didn't want to buy new paint so I mixed what I had) I call it:

Antique Alabaster

(antique white and alabaster mixed together)

Which is creamy white...which will be accented by creamy white carpet and the creamy white trim....that's right...

a lovely shade of blah for now!

Just trust me...I can see the finished product in my head...and it's not blah!

It will stay in blahland for awhile...until we:

paint her bed and bookshelves the Summer Fields color (thankfully I have over a gallon left!)

Her little kids harvest table will stay stained

the chairs will be painted pink

still unsure about the curtains.

The bedding will be made from this or similar colrs/fabric.

and I can see something like the edges of her sheets embroidered with this pattern.

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Another Update

Not many words...just some pictures of the house progress.

Above: the powder room

Above: the master bedroom fireplace...a few things to do before it's finished.

Above: master bath countertops, faucets and lights.

Above: locker close-up

Above: mudroom lockers

Above: kitchen lights

Above: kids bathroom...we finally have lights!

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The Monster Is In!

The countertops we purchased from a stone fabricator were put in on Friday. The girls countertop is Carrera Marble. Here are 2 tips I found out when purchasing countertops for the house:

#1: If you want natural stone (marble, granite, etc.) -For small areas (like a bathroom) look in the fabricators remnant area. It's leftovers from their other projects, and they want to get rid of it, so they will sell it to you for considerably less. In our case, it was $20 per square foot less!

#2: They have very nice Carrera marble countertops for VERY reasonable prices at Lowes....and the price includes a white, already attached, undermount sink. The only catch is they are in standard sizes, but a little pre-planning is all you will need!

The price for the countertop and sink at Lowes is what the fabricators charged us just for the labor of installing an undermount sink! See, big time savings!

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I Need Your Help!

In about 3 1/2 weeks we will be moving! I am very excited...but there is so much to do in between. Packing up an entire household can take up any "extra" time I may have...but on top of that, a house that we are finishing ourselves, and that has to be finished to move in! I'm thinking about that first week or two in the new house, and how much unpacking and projects we'll be working on...and how that will translate into feeding my family.

I have decided homemade freezer meals is the way to go...it's nothing new to me...I've done it in the past...usually devoting a day to filling the freezer. This time around I don't have an "extra" day...so my plan is to just double 7-10 meals I make in the next few weeks.

Here's where you come in!

Do you make freezer meals?

Would you mind sharing your favorite recipe?

I would greatly appreciate it!

Leave a comment or email me!

Thanks!

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Feeding Baby Link Love

My sister had her first child 6 months ago, and is now at the beginnings of feeding her daughter, Isabel, solid foods. I wanted to share a website that I found and loved with her and all of you!

It's called

wholesomebabyfood.com

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You Asked For It....House Update

In less then a month we'll be moving in....completely done or (probably) not! We have to be out of our apartment the end of July and we have to have the house done enough for the city to give us our certificate of occupancy. As you can see above we have posts on the porch and lights...we have a railing that will probably need to be on before we can move in. The name of the game lately has been first to do the floors so we could do the cabinets so that the plumbers and electricians could come back and finish. All flooring is done except for carpeting! Here's a lot of pictures for you!
The electricians have been at our house the last few days. Here's one of the exterior lights...it's on the ceiling of our side porch. The electrician commented to me that this was the most custom lighted house they've ever done....I think that translates into $$$$.

This is the powder room floor. It wasn't originally supposed to be this, but due to running out of our wood floor and having extra tile, it turned into this. I love it! My husband did this floor.


Here's the office. It may eventually have some beams in it...but this will certainly do for now!

My mudroom lights

My mudroom floor...dirty already!

Sophia trying out the little corner bench in the shower!

Getting warm by the fire! (HA! It's been in the 90's with high humidity here) See the little white box in her hands....I noticed it after taking the picture...it's the lost specialty light bulb that everyone had been searching for!

The master closet.

The master bedroom.

The master bathtub.

Here's the kitchen cabinets my husband has been working so hard on! We deviated from our original plan on the counter tops. Originally we were going to do DIY concrete counter tops....but got a little nervous with my island...it's 8 1/2 ft. by 4 1/2 feet and I didn't want a seam in it, which would require us to pour in place and attempt to trowel it smooth. My dream has always been soapstone with a wood island...and that's what we're doing!

Here's the cabinet in the girls bathroom...I'm going to make a curtain for that curved middle part. I can't wait for my 4 foot trough sink to be put in!

The Great Room fan...this was where the long lost light bulb belonged!

The dining room lights. We may try to hide the swag of the chains by doing some ceiling treatment eventually.

This is the vanity cabinet in our basement bathroom. Jacob made it for me...I was inspired by one in Pottery Barn...but not inspired by the price! After the counter top, sink and faucet it will be 1/3 of the Pottery Barn price!

The sconces going down to the basement.

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