DIY :: Chalkboard Wall

Chalkboard walls are floating all around Pinterest, and obviously having a child now it seemed fitting to have one at the house.

We spotted our first one over at our good friends house (thanks for the idea, Julie!), the hubs and I instantly fell in love! 

I couldn't believe with how easily he jumped on board when I mentioned that we should put one of these up in the playroom for baby girl (and friends!). 

With all of this hot weather going on around here, it was the perfect Saturday night + Sunday afternoon project to start! 

I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out...

:: paint is up ::

:: hubs putting the molding finishing touches on :: 

Voila!!

I'm pretty sure this little one is going to love it!!

Happy Weekend!!

I am Busy

:: image via ::

So leave a message! 

Sista sista is in town again this weekend, and while we are planning on having ourselves some fun, there is also some business we have to attend to.
Val is the savvy techy in our family, so she is going to help me with a few blog changes, along with being the mastermind behind my new website.
For those that don't know, if you check out this post, you might be able to figure it out.
**More fun details to come soon, promise**

Oh- and we'll probably partake in a little of what is going on in the picture above!

Have a great weekend!

help needed

Alright blogger friends. I need your help! 

I'm gonna get straight to the point. 

Where (and the city your in) do you get your items or children's items monogrammed (embroidered)? 

And if you don't mind sharing...

 What is the price range you usually pay, depending on initials versus full name?

AND what is the usual turn-around time? 

If you could help me out with just these three little easy peasy questions, that would be fantastic! 

That's all! 

THANKS!

Fabulous Friday :: DIY edition

Earlier this week I decided to get a little crafty! 

We've had this table below for quite some time, and it's been living in our foyer. 

While I've liked it, I just thought it needed a little color. 

I first got the idea over here! 

I know I've mentioned before, but Julia has impeccable style and taste and when I saw how great one of her side tables turned out with just a couple bottles of spray paint, I made a mad dash to Home Depot! 

Now mind you I've had the paint sitting here since February, but finally got around to painting this bad boy, and I'm pretty thrilled with how it turned out! (it's not styled yet, but you get the drift)

:: Before :: 

:: In-Progress :: 

:: After ::

:: sitting pretty with flowers from our backyard :: 

And while I had the bottle out, I decided to spruce up this silhouette picture that my mother-in-law had done of baby girl, with a gold frame. 

It gave it a nice little pop that it needed.

My sis is in town visiting for the weekend, so we plan on having ourselves a good 'ol time!! 

TGIF!

**Sample Sale will be left up through tonight, then it will be closed. Be sure to check back soon for more items being added**

It's the small things

We aren't moving. 

We aren't renovating.

BUT, if we did by chance decide to stay where we are and expand our little abode, these are just a few ideas burning a hole in my decorating head.

i mean, half of these ideas are GENIUS!!

:: all pictures via my pinterest ::

Let me mention that I will actually be really sad if we do in fact decide to move, lots of fun memories lie here.

But until then, we'll enjoy our pretty new roof we had put on last month and the new windows we had installed last week.

:: before :: 

:: after :: 

:: new windows being installed ::

Definitely not the "fun" things a homeowner wants to do, however necessities.

I'm not going to lie though, I'm pretty stoked about the new windows. They are SO clean and I can actually open them without having to bang on them with all my might.

We've got one last project to complete on the house that we're both pumped about, but we'll save that for another post.

Here's a sneak peak into what's gonna go down...

Can you take a guess??

Project "Gallery Wall" :: Complete

Next up, we have project "Gallery Wall"

I tried to pick a few personal + fun knacks

Of course I forgot to snap a before picture, so this will have to do (just focus on the picture collage in the background)

Before ::

{just plain and simple box frames that had only been dropped/broken a million times}

After :: 

{excuse the crappy iphone quality}

{there's our new little walker}

A few details about what went in to our gallery wall selections...

{Coltrera Family Name History- this was given to hubs by his grandmother and we even decided to keep it in the original framing- I love this}

{a canvas from our family pictures + a sign found at my friends mom's tea room ... if you are ever in the Tampa Bay area, i highly recommend checking it out}

{and a few knick knacks i picked up, originally spotted here}

This was the perfect wall for this creation and still lends room if we want to add something else here or there.

Done and Done

Project "Foyer" :: In-Progress

We've been busy over here in this household.
 January and February are the perfect months to nest if you will (no, do not get any crazy thoughts).

So, here it goes.

First up... Project "Foyer"

It got a minor revamp last week.

 Thanks to a sweet friends advice (our fun post-Christmas visitor!!), we decided to give it a whirl!

**Inside Scoop :: we painted it to match the rest of the house + door**

Before :: 

After ::

Front view

{D loves it so much that he's got the paint on his tail to prove it}

Interior view

 I LOVE how it turned out!!

It makes the front area look so much brighter and fresh, and more importantly, hubs doesn't hate it!

:)

We aren't quite finished in this little space, but complete look coming up next month....

Paint Interior Door
Paint Foyer
New lighting (on order + hubs waiting on assistance from father)
New interior door mat (on order)

"Paige the maid"

Anyone out there like to clean? Anyone? Anyone? 

Yeah, I didn't think so. 

Anything that has those five little words in it, I cringe. 

And if you have a child whether it be a baby, toddler, teenager--there is no "better" stage, it just gets worse and worse. I mean, I don't have a teenager yet, but I imagine we'll still have a mess, and she'll probably fight with me when I ask her to pick up her own room. 

I can't complain too much because we are lucky enough to have two ladies that do come and clean for us. It use to be every other week, and then that slowly turned to once a month and now, it's just when I get so desperate and can't stand to look at it anymore I call them in a panic to come over ASAP! Hubs is a little retentive about cleanliness, or rather, he doesn't like clutter. Well, clutter is our new middle name with baby girl around. Everyday I find that I am in some form or another "clean"ing. It gets old. Really fast. 

I remember one day he said, "Paige, if you do maybe just one or two things a day then you won't have to spend days doing it". Well while I got all heated for a hot minute, I realized the guy has a point. I have spent many of nap times scrubbing this house down and it takes the full time , so by the time she gets up, I just want to sit and she is ready to play. Of course playing wins.

While purusing Pinterest recently, I stumbled upon THIS. It's basically a M-F list that you can customize to the chores around your house that need attention. It shouldn't take you much longer than 15-20 mins/day to tackle. So I printed it out and got to work on figuring out what my "clean"ing week will look like.

Here's what we got ::

MONDAY :: 
laundry (lots and lots of it!) : p/u the piles : vacuum


TUESDAY ::
clean bathrooms (my least favorite)


WEDNESDAY ::
p/u the kitchen (it gets messy quickly!) : p/u dining room (it collects most of our clutter) : wipe down surfaces : vacuum (just kitchen & family room)


THURSDAY :: 
iron : organize something, somewhere (closet, car, cabinets/drawers, baby girl's room)


FRIDAY ::
vacuum (entire house)

This is part of my New Year's Resolutions, so we'll get started in 2012. I'll check back in after I give it a whirl to let you know what I think.