Multi-tasking may not be my strong suit.

So as we all know I love to make to-do lists.

 Crossing off things on said list may not happen as often. 

This weekend I finally got around to finishing two things I've been wanting to do. 

May have not been the best idea to start them both at around 10 pm on a Sunday night when I have to work the next morning. Oh well gotta keep up when I have motivation. 

So last night when I should have been going to bed I started making a Tiramisu cheesecake. Thought to myself oh it only bakes for an hour I'll be okay... Yeah prep time did not enter my mind. 

Still haven't tasted it so maybe I'll share the recipe if it's good.

While I was waiting for the cheesecake to bake I decided to frame our guest bathroom mirror. I've been wanting to do this forever. These are pretty popular around blog land and was something I really wanted to do. Big huge builder grade mirrors leave a lot to be desired. 

So I had gone to Lowe's earlier and bought some pretty molding, adhesive, caulking gun, paint, and painter's tape. Yeah the OCC household usually has nothing I need for a project. 

Here's my builder grade mirror in all it's glory. 

Side note- it is really hard to take a picture of a mirror in a tiny bathroom without being in the mirror.

I got the rope molding for about $7 each for an 8ft piece. 

Which worked out pretty perfect since my mirror was about 43" on each side.

In case you were wondering balancing molding on a ice chest between your boyfriend's two prized possessions is the best way to paint. He'll probably lecture me when he sees this picture. Oh well!

Once I was finished painting the front and back (since you can see the reflection in the mirror) I pulled it inside to do my cuts. I just used a regular saw with my miter box.
I didn't take pictures of me cutting since
1. it would be hard/dangerous and
2. I don't want to encourage bad saw safety. 

Let's just say my fingers were dangerously close to the saw. 

I used some adhesive that said was for mirrors...now I realize it was to hang mirrors. 

Oh well just means it's tough. It actually comes off pretty easily if you smear it where you don't want too and it dries there (not that I did that).

The frame is up in all it's taped glory. Don't pay attention to the left corner there may have been an incident. It's true what they say measure twice cut once. Anyway I caulked all of the seams and now just need to paint them/fill in some spots that missed paint.

I actually didn't know if I was going to like the paint

 but I really do and can't wait to do our master bathroom hopefully this weekend!

 I will have pictures of the finished project on Wednesday since 

Tuesday Topics is tomorrow and I missed last week!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

I was pretty behind in the decorations department this year. Usually my tree is up before Thanksgiving. I know I'm one of those people. But this year it didn't make it up until November 28th...then wasn't decorated until like the 30th. Like I was I was WAAAY behind.

For some reason this year I hate all my ornaments. Don't ask me why they just look like chaos to me. 

The ornaments are still there but when the tree is not lit I hate them. My lights are also all kinds of crazy but that's okay. I decided to not wind them this year and instead just draped them up and down. I also added red. We usually only use white. But I love that it finally feels like Christmas.

My favorite decorations this year?

I love these little birds. I picked them up at Target last year at the after Christmas sales. I feel like they definitely need names. Penelope and Stan perhaps? 

They just hang out on my toaster oven and I love them. 

On another note Roxy apparently hates reindeer. This was proven by her attacking a neighbor's yard decorations. Straight up growling/attack bite status on that poor baby reindeer. Thankfully I snatched her back before she was able to latch on. 

What is your favorite Christmas decoration this year or every year?

Finally Focused....

So last week I talked about how I usually just bounce around from project to project and quickly lose interest in the one I'm working on. Well I'm here to say I have finally found some focus. I decided to focus on my master bedroom and it's actually working. 

I bought the biggest fluffiest comforter I could find and couldn't be any happier with it. 

Via: Overstock

It's definitely oversized. The boyfriend thinks it might be too big...like that's possible. It's super fluffy and I love it. Yes it's white and yes I have dogs but I came up with a solution for that too. I bought a nice soft blanket to cover it when we're sleeping and the dogs are on the bed. That way it's easy to throw in the wash and it protects the white comforter. 

Via: World Market

I got two of these accent tables to use as night stands. I've been looking everywhere for some affordable options and these are just what I wanted. They match the other table in the room and they're small since we don't have a lot of space on either side of the bed. 

The lamps I currently have may be too big and might not go with the rest of the room. So I might have to replace them which makes me sad since I love them so much. I also need some accent pillows, new curtains, and some art. But I'm making progress and that's all that matters!

Let there be....darkness!

We usually keep our house pretty dark. We don't really ever open up blinds or curtains and our room is usually pitch black throughout the day. One thing we could not get around was our back door. The door has a huge window and let in a ton of light into the living room. Usually right onto the TV to create an annoying glare. I always knew I wanted to cover it with some kind of window treatment but just couldn't figure out what to do. I didn't want to drill into the door so I figured it was just something we had to deal with. Until I discovered that there are magnetic curtain rods! 

Via: Lowes

The rods were $13.97 a piece and I needed two. So not the cheapest they could be but it's okay since I saved money in the other part of the project. 

I started looking for curtain panels but all of them were way too long so I would have to hem them up a lot. Then I remembered that some people in blogland were using table cloths as curtains! I headed on over there and picked up a plain brown table cloth that was the exact length I needed. You want to double the width so you can get a good scrunch going on. 

I took everything home and almost got super lucky. The hem on the table cloths was open but a little too small for the rod. Oh well...I pulled out the sewing machine and just folded over the ends to create a rod pocket.  

After I got everything up I was left with this:

Sorry for the crappy picture...it blocks so much light I had to turn on the overhead light. It blocks out so much light, our house is literally dark all day. I've actually been opening the blinds to let a little light in.

The boyfriend loves it...he says I've created the perfect "gaming" environment...he's a nerd.

The dogs have only pulled it down once on top of me. Let me tell you those magnets are heavy duty. 

It was the perfect easy project. Total cost? About $35. The table cloth was only $9 with a coupon. Half the price of a curtain panel and lot less need for adjustments. Plus it will be super simple/cheap if I decide I want to change it out.

I'm feeling the itch...

We've been in our house for close to 3 years now and I'm feeling the itch... you know the itch to change EVERYTHING! I cannot go into a room without wanting to change something. My decorating ADD is making it very hard for me to focus on one room. Instead of I'm jumping room to room and not doing anything. Minus cleaning the laundry room. I did do that and believe me it needed it incredibly bad. But I still want to add a new rug put up some new shelving. Maybe a curtain to hide all the supplies. You've heard of people with one track minds mines more like 6 tracks. 

I need to corral this and focus on one room at a time. I think it's going to be our bedroom. 

It's really the only room in the house that has not been decorated. 

How sad is that? I figured no one ever sees our room so what's the point. 

But we see it! Every day. Shouldn't it be a room that we want to go into and relax? 

Here are some of the inspiration pictures I've been looking at

Via: Centsational Girl

Via: Canadian House & Home

Via: House of Turquoise

I'm definitely not painting. Our room is already a nice khaki color so it's not like staring at stark white walls. I think I definitely want a huge fluffy white comforter and definitely some new curtains. I feel like my subconscious is saying I need that mirror, since it appeared in two of the pictures.

Motivation is hard to come by...

When I'm super jazzed about a project that's pretty much all I need for motivation. When I saw this pin I knew it would be the perfect thing for my living room.

Source

 So I headed on down to Lowe's. They boast that this is a cheap project but over $20 for a doormat doesn't really spell cheap to me. Oh well, I was committed to it and $40 for a fairly large piece of artwork really isn't that bad.

Our Lowe's doesn't cut wood boards anymore (apparently some guy cut off his hand because they don't have the right saw) but they did it for me anyways. I may have mentioned I would just go to Home Depot.

I bought two 6ft boards and had them cut them in half. I made the mistake of only buying one can of spray paint. Don't do this get two. My second board's paint is a little thin but I'm so impatient I stuck it up there anyways.

All you do is stain the boards with your favorite color wait for it to dry. Lay the mat on top and spray paint over it a few times. Lastly, add a coat of poly to seal it. Or actually lastly would be put hanging hardware on the back.

Here are my finished boards

And in my living room.... it's at night so excuse the poor lighting...and yes I'm a horrible blogger I use my iPhone instead of my big fancy Canon Rebel...

Horrible picture aside you get the gist. I really like them and they're easy to decorate around. I do consider this a pinterest success!

Did you know there is a whole blog dedicated to pinterest disasters? Pintrosity... wish I'd thought of that...lol

My love of Etsy...

Like most bloggers I have a love of all things crafty. I love Pinterest, reading other blogs, and of course Etsy! I have mentioned before that I do have an Etsy shop that is slowly but steadily selling more and more. But I also love to buy from Etsy. Since I am a crafter who puts myself out there I think it's important to support others too! 

Here are some of my favorite things I've bought.

Via: IdenticalSAM 

Via: IdenticalSAM

 I got these cuties from one of my favorite shops: IdenticalSAM. I've given them as birthday presents to my younger cousins and they loved them. Bernice is so awesome and really goes above and beyond. My cousins live in Texas so she not only shipped it directly to them she also included Birthday Cards for me! 

Via: Anastasia Mak

I got this 8X10 Art Print of Wrigley Field for my Dad on Father's Day. He's a die hard Cubs fan so this was a great gift to add to his wall. Anastasia Mak has some really beautiful art in her store and her prints are very reasonably priced.

I love Etsy because it's unique. It's not the same thing you'd find in Target or Amazon. It's something that a person took time out of their day to create. I highly encourage looking at Etsy for any upcoming occasions where you might need a gift. Or if you just want to buy something cute for yourself! Like the ear warmer I just bought below from a cute shop in England!

Via: Purl Rose

p.s. I was not compensated by any of these stores. I just really love the products I have gotten from them and wanted to pass them on.

Headboard for Master Bedroom...Check!

I really like the look of upholstered headboards. But the price that comes with them? Not so much. So being the crafty cupcake that I am I decided I could make my own. I bought everything I needed over the weekend/yesterday and got to work at about 6:45 p.m. last night.

First I went to Lowe's and bought a $15 piece of OSB plywood. It was originally 4X8 but I had them cut it down to 78 inches wide but left the height (mistake). I have a king bed and really love the look of a tall headboard. But it's way too tall I should have had it cut down probably to 36 inches. I then bought 3 yards of burlap from Joann's and a package of queen sized batting which ran me $29 with no coupons. Both of which were not tall enough to cover my gargantuan headboard.

When I finally started my project I just laid the burlap down then laid the batting on top of it. Then I laid the HUGE piece of plywood on top of that.

See how it's too short! Talk about a buzz kill. But I lined it up best I could and contemplated ways to fix my too short fabric.

Would I add a piece of stained wood and make that the top? Definitely thought about it. But that wasn't really the look I was going for. So I just went along stapling and tugging...stapling and tugging. I may have over done it a little.

I didn't really care how pretty it was since it's the back and no one would see it. I really just tried to make sure that I was pulling it tight. 

My hand was definitely getting tired by the end of this. It might help to have at least one more set of hands. So my temporary solution to the not enough fabric problem was to take the excess from the sides and add it to the bottom. Since you won't see the bottom anyways just the sides. It looks kind of messed up in the picture but trust me you can't even see it when it's behind the bed.

Not to shabby for $44. It looks kind of wrinkled in the picture but it's really just the texture of the burlap. I haven't hung it behind the bed yet (I plan on using heavy duty D-rings). By the time I was done and got it into the house (all by my lonesome, that sucker is heavy) I really didn't want to hang it so I just stuck it behind the bed and pushed the frame against it to keep it there.

I don't have any pictures of it in the bedroom because I have horrible light in there and it was so dark you couldn't even see it very well. But the boyfriend really likes it so I'm happy with it for now. What makes this a good piece is that if and when I get tired of the current fabric I can change it out pretty easily.

This is the list that never ends....

It just goes on and on my friends....I'll stop. It's probably already stuck in your head though!

I have a major problem. I tend to just keep adding to my to do list without really ever crossing something off. We have lived in our house for 2 1/2 years now and I have literally accomplished maybe one thing on my to do list. Hang pot rack...check! That is so sad. I want to start holding myself accountable and actually getting things done. So here is where I'll keep my list and hopefully I'll work through it better than I have been.

1. Headboard for master bedroom Check!
2. Frame our boring/plain builder grade mirrors
3. Nightstands for master bedroom
4. Art for master bedroom
5. Hang shelves in craft room
6. New curtains and blinds/roman shade for master bedroom
7. Refinish dining room table
8. Possibly recover dining room chairs
9. New bed set for guest bedroom
10. Add more shelves in laundry room
11. Find way to store towels
12. Purge closet
13. Get Patio Furniture
14. Clean grill
15. Pressure wash house
16. Clean and reseal all grout
17. Find better way to store yard tools
18. Upholster box spring of both beds

Now I know there is more than this but this will do for now. I can always add to it later. Some of this stuff is decorative, some organizing, and some just plain cleaning. I need to get motivated and some of these will actually give me something to put on my tutorial page. So I need to get crackin'. I'll be back Wednesday with at least one of these checked off!

Christmas in July!

I love that summer is finally winding down and Fall will soon be here. The best part of Fall almost being here? It means it's almost Christmas time! I LOVE Christmas. Not just because of gift giving and receiving or the good food. But mostly because of the decorating. I may or may not put up my Christmas tree the week before Thanksgiving. I can't help it I love to pull out all my decorations and fill up my house. After having two Christmases in our house I pretty much have the inside covered. But my outside is definitely lacking. We don't put up Christmas lights on the house because my mother scared me to death with the number of people who are injured falling off roofs and I would never forgive myself if something happened to the boyfriend. So everything's gotta be on the exterior or on the porch.

Here are a couple pictures of what's serving as my inspiration right now:

via

This one I would need to tone down just a little bit it's a tad much for me. But I am starting to get on board with the deco mesh. 

via BHG

I really like how they incorporated the deco mesh into a traditional garland. I could definitely see me doing something like this.

I have never worked with deco mesh but now I'm intrigued and want to try my hand at it. Good thing I have about 3 months to perfect it! 

p.s. my birthday is on Friday! I am really annoying everyone I know with this information but oh well. 

Small Spaces

So this past week I've been in San Antonio visiting some family and friends. I really enjoyed my week off of work and am definitely not ready to go back. It's been pretty relaxing but geez it's so hot! I swear I thought I was physically melting at times. I can't believe I lived here for 2 years!

Anyways this week has been filled with a lot of shopping. Today, we shopped the outlets in San Marcos for about 4 hours. These are literally the best outlets ever. This weekend kicked off their 4th of July sales so there was some great deals to be had. Williams-Sonoma and Calphalon were having GREAT sales. Williams-Sonoma was combined with Pottery Barn and if my mom hadn't dragged me out kicking and screaming I might not have ever left. Plus they had the best air conditioning.

The biggest score today:

8-piece Calphalon Contemporary Non-Stick 8-Piece Set for only $120; Retails $349.99

To say I'm in love with these pans is kind of an understatement. But as much as I loooove them not only because they're beautiful functional but also for their quality, I am very concerned with where to store them. I really like my house but at 1234 sq. feet it definitely lacks storage space. First-time homebuyers should definitely have a checklist on what you will definitely need that I didn't even notice until it was too late. For one, a linen closet! We don't even have a coat closet. All we have is the closets in the bedrooms which don't really provide any room to store towels or extra sheets. But back to the kitchen. We have a decent sized pantry and my boyfriend eats so much usually it's only packed with food for so long. The biggest problem is the cabinet space. We have four upper cabinets, two lower cabinets, and a corner lazy susan. With one completely taken up by various spices and cake decorating supplies it doesn't leave much room for dishes or cookware. Also we don't really have room for a hanging pot rack especially with the boyfriend being so tall. 

Here are a few ideas I've been thinking about that I might try making work in my kitchen not only for the new pans but maybe free up some counter space or cabinet space:

I really like this idea of using a wall mounted planter to store fruits and get them up off the counter. Definitely wish I had this much space between my cabinets and counters. But alas, I don't. I might be able to make it work on a different wall though. Found this on pinterest but there was no original source. 

Pantry Reveal at Domestic Imperfection

I really like the use of these drawer organizers to store spices on the pantry walls. This would free up about two shelves in a cabinet and definitely is a smart use of unused space. 

These wall mounted pot racks are something that I'm considering. I just really don't have the wall space. I would have to remove two corner shelves that I really like. Do I have anything on the shelves? 

Not really, but I really like them :(. 

I am also considering putting a hanging pot rack over my sink. That way it's out of walking space but might give the boyfriend a reason why he can't do dishes. Possible head trauma is an acceptable reason I guess. 

I'm going to take some pictures and some measurements and see if there really is room. Update on that later this week.