Ikea Chandelier- love

I bought this pretty thing two weeks after we moved in, it was crazy I had wanted it but they didn't have it and I went up there as soon as they had them available at 4:30...on the beltway (should have known better)....it was a big ordeal. But husband just finally put it up today...there was no begging or pleading just a big please put my light up!! And right timing I guess! :)

I love it! I hated the little dome thing that was there before and is installed in every room in our house...they're also very dim. See....

So not only does the chandelier look great, I can see so much better. But there will be no sneakily turning on the light while Chance is sleeping in the morning because it's so dim it won't wake him. But that's okay, we'll figure it out! :)

Oh, I also found homes for my goodwill treasures from a few weeks ago...

This chandelier is around $40, awesome deal! Love it.

Meh, I reeeeeally need some new curtains, they look like giant brown potato sacks, but you really can't see anything.

Wondering what happened to our awesome bedspread from this picture?.....

Cat threw up on it when we left all day...nice...I've washed it like 6 or 7 times and it won't come out...boo.

p.s. how cute are my puppies?

Georgetown Cupcakes

I convinced my hubby to go with me to Georgetown cupcakes last weekend, the one in Bethesda because it's closer to us. I was so excited I could barely stand it....I've been wanting cupcakes so bad. I can't wait until Sprinkles opens next month! woo!

Anyway here are some pictures from our adventure....we got a 1/2 dozen but the chocolate salted caramel one.....to die for!

Sauteed Shrimp

This is so yum, sometimes I put it in brown rice or I guess you could put it in a salad. But just by itself really isn't enough, you'll need to make something else with it...vegetables, whatever.

I buy a pound of medium raw shrimp and cook it in olive oil & sprinkle some of this McCormick's Perfect Pinch Garlic Pepper seasoning....it takes less than 10 minutes and it's sooo yummy.

Snow

We got some snow on Wednesday, not enough to miss a whole day of work but luckily we didn't lose power so that was good. It was a pretty snow, the kind where it stuck to trees...wish I got some more & better pictures....

Work, after I finally made it Thursday morning!

Painted Living Room - Yeeey!

Finally, that's all I can say! I've been dying to do this since we moved in and FINALLY I've started. It's not a huge difference but I do love it! I wanted a brown gray and sometimes it looks like that and then sometimes it looks really tan, but either way it really does look great and it feels so much better. Though I gotta say it doesn't look as good in the pictures as it feels (sad face)! Instead of using SW Foothills, we decided on Martha's Natural Twine....she has great paint...we bought two gallons thinking this big room needed it and we only ended up using one! Ahh now we are stuck with a second gallon, but that's okay, I may end up painting the hallway....more on that in a minute!

I bought a cheapo bookshelf from target until I get a better one. And some new accessories from target & home goods. Oh and some extra curtains from ikea. The brown ones baaaarely fit all the way across so it was a pain to open and shut them every night. Now I think I'll just get two little pull backs so I can pull back just the tan ones.

Here's before the paint:

Here's after:

Now I didn't paint the hallway coming out into the room....plus it matches the color well so I figured why do it but sometimes when we look at it, both colors look the same. See....

Flash:

No flash:

I mean you can't even tell I painted in the picture with no flash!! :) But I promise it looks good.

Here's the accessories I bought:

Lamp $23 from home goods...still contemplating on painting the base white....

Two candle holders on clearance from target! One was $5, one was $4 (Oh and the picture frame from home goods for 5.99 too)

A big old jug from home goods...$9....yesss

And this awesomeness to hang on the wall $19....

which I felt like needed a little touching up (at 9am in my pajamas in the cold, snowy backyard)...

I'm excited and definitely enjoying the start of my "new" living room....still lots left to buy....new console table, rug, chairs, blinds for the back door, etc. etc. etc ......but we'll get there! :)

Mason Jar Soap

When I first saw this project, I couldn't WAIT to do it...it just so happens that I was out of soap in my kitchen, good timing.....and I keep seeing this project more and more...probably because of it's cuteness...

First I needed a mason jar....I thought this things were all over thrift stores? Not mine, couldn't find one....I had plans today to run to another thrift store (yes I know I can go to the grocery store and buy the pack but I just needed one!) but they didn't have any either! But they were selling jams and applesauce, etc. So I bought an applesauce jar, poured it into some tupperware and rinsed out the jar and lid so I could get started.

Bath and body works was a little disappointing....I only wanted two things of foaming soap....you know their sale was 4 for $15....but they also had the old bottles (with the old dispensers!) for $2.50, so I got two of those, but of course I couldn't find a matching one so I could fill my jar all the way up when I was done. Oh well...at least I got one of the good dispensers!

So my hubby had a little drill bit that was the perfect size, he cut it quickly for me and even helped me get the sticker off the jar while I went and sprayed the lid black. Love him! :)

Once the lid was dry I hot glued the dispenser top in there, even though it was super snug anyway....filled the jar, snipped just a little bit of the tube going into the jar (is there a better name for that or am I totally blanking...I couldn't think of anything better to say!) so it fit. Then I screwed the top back on and all done! Love it...so cute! I still feel like it might need something but for now, it's perfect just plain and simple! :)

My 100th post!

No pressure to say anything important....I can't believe it's been 100 posts, and at the same time, I've had this blog for a year and a half so compared to some, I'm way behind! :)

I thought I'd take my 100th post to share whats been making me crazy for the last 4 months....and what I plan to do about it...starting next weekend!

Oh yeah, mess, bad pictures, Christmas still up and everything...don't judge :)

This room is frustrating. It's big but it's small, very small...it's hard to fit two rooms in here especially with the back door and the front door all in the way. Then in the living room side of it, I only have two walls, so trying to set it up is a nightmare.....at first I had it like this

.....husband did not like it so we moved it, feels a little more cramped but I get it, at least he hangs out more now! :)

The first week we moved in I knew exactly what colors I wanted to paint the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, we even did the basement and I eventually did my craft room (though that is the only room I wish I had done a different color).....but the living room/dining room I just haven't been able to figure it out.....mostly because there's no turning back after I've done this big room, I realize it's still small but that's still going to be a lot of painting....and because of the hallway that comes out....do I paint the hallway? I really don't want to....but it will probably look weird? Hmmm that I have not decided yet.

What I have decided is that I want to paint the living room a taupe color....and I think I found a good one....Sherwin Williams "Foothills". I have a long weekend next week so I plan to get out the roller and some ugly painting clothes and go to town...er the living room!

Next I want to do crown molding....I want to do it soon but I may wait just a little bit. I've already priced it out but we may replace our shower head/tub faucet in our bathroom first....it's old and leaking a teeny bit too....anyway back to crown molding... First I want to do the regular crown molding then do this technique a la Bower Power to make it look aaamazing! I just don't know if I should continue into the hallway! .....Stupid hallway

Next on my list...hmmm well I don't know what comes first, a chair so we can have more seating or a new console table for our "entryway"...I need something chunkier and with more storage to fill up the space, hating the look right now. I keep scoping out craiglist for dressers, buffets, console tables, etc. too but I did find this one at Walmart that isn't too bad!

The chair I want is from Ikea...though I can't seem to find it on their website now! Ahh, hopefully that means they aren't discontinuing.....

I want to get a big nice rug for the living room side but I just haven't found the right one for the right price yet.

Speaking of rugs, eventually we want to rip up all of the carpet up....we found that there is hardwood floors underneath but I imagine they need to be redone! I'm dying to rip it up and see but with no plan b, I don't think that's a good idea yet.

Then I need an ugly lamp for my console table....really trying to find a lamp I can redo! I was drooling over shades at target today...p.s. their decorative section is sooo awesome right now...could have bought everything in that aisle, all of the purples, teals, black....looooove.

Oh oh ...the curtains! I might do these soon....I plan on keeping the brown but leaving them open all of the time, as you can see they barely fit and there's always a crack somewhere in the curtain....so I think it would look great with them all open and then I can buy the white ikea curtains, several of them and fill the space in the middle so light comes in through the day but hopefully it's enough to keep the peepers out at night! :) And you may notice that the curtains for the other window and the door are awful....not sure what to put there but I must find something better than that! Working on it!

And of course, many, many more decorations,...I need to get rid of that collage on the wall I tried to do....it didn't work out but I was so exhausted that day and it wasn't THAT terrible, that I just never took it down....better than nothing up there....but it's gotta go.

Eventually I want to get a new dining room table, not that I can get something bigger but I was thinking of something round.

The storage bench isn't staying as the coffee table, I just disliked my coffee table so much that I moved this here temporarily....so I'm looking to replace that too.

Those are my immediate plans, who knows if I'll keep it in order and I do know I'll add another 20 things to this list before I feel like it's mostly done :)

Happy 100th post!