It is almost fall...

A few months ago I was desperately trying to give my mantel a makeover, the problem is...it is MASSIVE! And by massive, I mean like 18 feet long and 2 feet deep.

 I really loved it when we first saw the house but it is pretty overwhelming to decorate. No matter what you put up there, it always looks to small and out of place. 

I had pinned this pic awhile back on Pinterest so I decided to give it a try.

 

http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2012/01/giant-picture-tutorial.html

The Blog claimed that you could print a 4 foot x 3 foot pic at any office store and mount it on insulation board for less than $10. 

So I gave it a shot...

I actually made two because I was not sure how the pics would turn out. 

I followed all the steps on the Sugar Bee Crafts Blog 

beginning of course with gathering the supplies.

Then I painted around the edge of the insulation board so that when 

I mounted the pics it would have a black trim. 

Once it was dry, I used spray adhesive to attach the photo...

The top pic turned out better because the picture itself was a lot lighter but nonetheless,

 I put the bottom pic on my mantel. For $10 it works for now...

The Laundry Closet

When the hubs and I lived in our humble little apartment on the Paseo, we had a Euro washer/dryer combo in our kitchen. I think we maybe used it once or twice. You could wash a couple of shirts or two towels at a time because it was so tiny. The complex had a normal size washer and dryer in the garage that we paid to use but we also went to a laundromat when we had several loads to do. Needless to say when we moved to our home we were overjoyed with the thought of having our very own washer and dryer! Even better...the previous owner left her washer and dryer behind so we did not even have to purchase them...they were all ours...and the laundry closet is right outside of our bedroom...talk about awesome! 

Here is what the laundry closet looked like when we moved in...

And quickly it started to look like this...

We don't have an linen closet so the laundry closet is pretty much our storage hub...towels, linens, cleaning supplies, iron/ironing board, extra toiletries/tp/paper towels.

It was functional but it was a mess so I took everything out and started organizing.

Back to where we started when we moved in. 

The first step was painting the shelves because the wood 

color was just not working for me.

Much better, right? I think it looks so clean and crisp.

Next, I went to Target to get some organizing bins. I made a list of everything that needed to be stored in the closet so when I went to Target I would know how many and what size bins I needed. 

I get really excited about organization and storage so I spent a few hours browsing Target to evaluate all my options.

And of course the bins needed labels...

Not only do I love the organization, but I love all the color too! 

Perhaps I am odd, but I get excited to open the closet door and see all those bins!

And now for a little before and after comparison...

Garden Update

Things are lookin' good in the garden!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, we shall see! I enlisted the help of my very willing sister and planted a garden in our backyard. I have no idea if it will produce anything but I am keeping my fingers crossed! 

I went for a raised bed garden since our soil is pretty much clay around here but nonetheless, what I thought would be a pretty quick project turned in to more work then I expected. 

Here is the before...

A few pics of the process...

We used 7 - 4 foot long 2x4 pressure treated boards to make the frame. I stained only the outside (so the part that you see matches the deck and fence) then used 2 "L" brackets in each of the corners to build the frame.

Once the frame was together, we laid it over the section of the yard that we manually tilled (that was the worst part because of all the clay). Then we filled it in with equal parts of top soil, mushroom compost, and manure (nice right??). Once we spread out all of the soil, I laid out the vegetables paying close attention to their individual need for space. 

I planted corn, zucchini, squash, eggplant, and peppers.

Once I knew where they were going to go, I got to planting...

Now lets just see if they actually grow!

*A very big thank you to Emily who is always 

willing to help out when I have a project to do!*

Christmas Time...

Remember a few months ago when I was decorating for fall and I said that fall was my favorite? Well I do love fall until Christmas rolls in then Christmas becomes my favorite! We moved into our home the last week of October last year so at Chirstmas time, it sort felt like we were just trying to get settled in so the Christmas decor was pretty minimal. This year however,  I had been planning the mantel in my head for several weeks. I saw this photo on Pinterest and it was love at first sight...

Of course I followed the Pinterest link for the details and came across this blog...http://mydesigndump.blogspot.com/2010/04/diy-antlers.html.  Believe it or not, the deer is made out of foam board and wrapping paper. I had a piece of foam board that I had bought at Hobby Lobby when they were half off a couple of months ago (you never know when you are going to need foam board and when they are just $1 a piece, I have to grab a few). So, I headed to Target and found the perfect wrapping paper. At $5 a roll it was a little more then I wanted to spend but the red houndtooth was just to perfect and plus since I already had all the other supplies, the whole project was going to be $5. The blog has really great directions so if you are interested in making a deer of your own, jump on over there for a great tutorial. 

Here is a pic of the supplies that I used (I went with rubber cement rather than the spray adhesive but if I was making another, I think I would have used the spray adhesive...I think it would have been a little more secure).

It was really as simple a cutting around the pattern and then wedging the peices together. 

Here he is all finished and on the mantel! I added a couple 3.5ft prelight trees and some garland and totally love how the mantel looks (remember is it 14 feet long and 3feet deep so decorating is pretty overwhelming...nonetheless I love how it turned out). 

Tis' the season...Merry Christmas!

Mission Accomplished!

I have a little secret...look closely at the pics I posted of the mantel last week and perhaps you will see my little secret. 

Or let me help you...here is an uncropped photo of the mantel.

The whole room had that terrible palm tree border. I always tried to crop it out when I posted pics of the room because I disliked it so much. Here is a better view of the room with the border...

Yep, see the palm tree border?

Well I have wanted to take it down since we moved in but I was worried about what was underneath. If it had been painted before the border was put up, I figured taking down the border would be quick and easy but if it had never beed painted that would be another story. My suspicion was that it had never been painted...I assumed the former home owners were to lazy to paint around the top of the room so they just put up a border. Turns out, I was right... 

 The border came down super easy (it look less then 20minutes) but like I suspected, there was not paint underneath. There were roller marks where the former home owner rolled the paint up high enough to be covered by the border but left a 3-4 inch uneven white gap. I was able to find the paint in the basementh but I worried that it would not match since I had no idea how long the paint had been sitting in the basement. Turns out,  the paint matched almost perfectly.

A couple of hours of painting and this is what it was looking like...

Nice! I instantly asked myself why I waited a year to take the border down! 

The other reason I never took it down was I was worried about this area...

 Above the exterior door in the family room, it is two differnt colors. Above the border it was white (which is really the dining room wall) and below it was beige. I didn't really want to paint above the border to match the beige below because then I would have to paint all the other sections of the dining room to match. I didn't know how it would look when I took down the border, but my original plan was to put a piece of trim molding up to break up the colors. But when I was painting with the beige, I painted a straight line and it turns out it looked pretty good so I don't think it needs the molding.

Mission accomplised! Finally after living here for a year, the palm trees are gone! YAY!

Fall is simply my favorite!

Oh, I do so love fall! 

I love baking, going to the pumpkin patch, fall festivals, decorating, the weather, and my hubs favorite day of the year...Halloween. Here are some pics from my phone from the start of our favorite season...

A little burlap wreath for the front door!

The start of the mantel decorations...pumpkins made from dryer vent  tubing!

An owl familly, burlap pendent, and some mini pumpkins!

Red Barn Farm in Weston!

Pumpkin scones, oh so yummy!

A little owl candle and a bowl full of fun gourds!