Light and Airy Laundry Room

I found this "Deluxe Wooden Coat Rack" at a garage sale last week for one dollar.

I had been trying to find something that would be the missing link for my little laundry room makeover. I needed a row of hooks on the empty wall for hanging delicates and items that couldn't go in the dryer. But every hook I could find at Lowes and the like were at least $2 a piece. Adding a whole row of them would prove costly.

A can of white spray paint made this coat rack fit in nicely with the rest of the items in my fresh and clean laundry room.

Here's what the laundry "nook" looked like when we bought the house. Notice the paneling, the lovely wallpaper on the left wall, and the psychadelic colors of the cabinet on the right.

My father was kind enough to spend a few hours painting this room before we moved the washing machine and dryer into the room. I spent a few months searching for the right fabric to bring some happy color into the now fresh and clean space.

I hung a sheer panel over the doorway where the carpet covered doors had been. I used a blue on white polka dot cotton to make a screen to cover the electrical box. It's hanging from curtain clips on a wire, so it can be easily moved aside when we need to access the panel.

I had the wooden shelf with a heart cutout already, given to me when my parents moved. A couple of coats of white paint helped freshen it up, and I "accessorized" it with some faux blue hydrangeas, a picture of Lover and I, some Oxiclean in a white jar, and a white plastic box holding dryer sheets. I had all of these things, so there was no additional cost.

On the left wall, I took cork panels taken off the walls of the office and covered them in another polka dot print, this one with richer colors. I figure I can use these panels to hold spare buttons, stain remover tips, etc.

Below the cork panels I hung a watercolor I did of some laundry drying in the breeze. Isn't it pretty?

On the left wall, I put some pegboard hooks on the now white cabinet, and the coat rack on the adjacent wall. (Opposite the washer and dryer) Above the rack I freehanded the saying "Life and Laundry, Loads of Fun!"

Doing laundry in this area is much more pleasant now, and I love that I spent about $15 to make it enjoyable. Here's to makeovers on a dime!

Linked to Metamorphosis Monday and Thrifty Treasures. Check out the other tranformations and great finds!

The Year Of Yellow: Culoare Zi 2009

Summer time at Wendhurst Castle means one thing; Culoare Zi! If you don't know what that is, check out last year's post about the blue party.

The invitations set the tone for the party, with their sunny yellow color and lemon graphic. We included all of the pertinent information, as well as a short fictional description of why yellow was being celebrated this year.

Walking up to our back yard, you were greeted with this little sign;

And plenty of yellow decor to get you in the spirit! I made these pretty oversized paper flowers that we stuck into all the planters,


The tables were covered in yellow tablecloths, and we had decorated with lemons, yellow balloons and other yellow fruits.


I found these yellow tiki torches last year on clearance, and although I initially purchased them for the Mid Winter Summer party we were going to do, they fit in perfect for this party.


The only rule we have for this party is that you must wear something yellow. Last year several people showed up without the color du jour, and were not invited back. This year we informed everyone of the rule, but I also bought some of those hideous plastic leis in school bus yellow for the non-conformists. Here's some friends in their yellow garb and one dissenter with her lei.
She is preggers though, so we cut her some slack. :-)

By far the highlight of our night is the food. We work hard to come up with an easy menu that is filled with foods that either are yellow, or have yellow in their name. Here's our menu for the night;

In case you can't read it, for appetizers we had Yellowfin Tuna on Cheddar and Crackers, and a fruit tray of Golden Delicious Apple Slices, Mango, Frsh Pineapple and a Lemon Fruit Dip.

The entrees consisted of Grilled Lemon Chicken, and Tortilla Patata (a Spanish dish with eggs and potatoes), with three sides, Saffron Yellow Rice, a Grilled Vegetable Medley of Dutch Yellow Potatoes, Summer Squash and Yellow Onions, and Golden Sweet Corn.

Dessert was delicious, as we served Love the Mama Lemon Bars, Banana Splits and Golden Honeydew Melon.

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and Lover's dad even brought along his guitar and played Yellow Submarine and a few other "yellow" songs. It was a lot of fun, and we can't wait till next year!

Next year is red, so start planning your outfits!

Image courtesy of this site

I am linking this post up to Julia's Hooked On Fridays as I love to throw an awesome party, and also to Foodie Friday over at Designs By Gollum, because of all our great food!

Price My Space: Our Master Bedroom

Nester is holding a Price My Space party today and I thought I'd join in the party! I am pretty proud of our master bedroom and the meager budget that we used to make it pretty.

First the big stuff,

• Wooden Bed Frame, Headboard and Footboard - $40 off Craigslist
• Comforter and Two Shams, bedskirt - $30 at Big Lots
• Two Dressers - free hand-me-downs from family
• Nightstand on left - free hand me down
• Nightstand/Table on right - $1 at a garage sale
• 600 thread count sheets, wedding present from JC Penneys
• Wall color - First Anniversary by Glidden $20
• Sconces on wall - $5 from bargain outlet

Total for this category: $96.00

Window treatments;

• Roman Shade - Goodwill $4, I added $2 worth of beaded trim
• Red Silk Panels and Gold Silk Panels, $7 each at Christmas Tree Shop on clearance
• Curtain Rod - Bed Bath and Beyond for $70, found at garage sale for $10

Total for this category: $44.00

Frames, Pictures and Mirrors;

• Frame to left of bed - $15 from Burlington Coat Factory (wedding picture and vows inside)
• Full length mirror beneath the frame $5 from Target
• Frames opposite bed - $0.07 each from Christmas Tree Shop (no lie!)
• Glass, mats and prints for frames - $35
• Scroll-y mirror between frames - $1 from garage sale
• Mirror on dresser beside bed - free with dresser
• Frame on candle wall - $0.07 from Christmas Tree Shop
• Glass, Mat and Print - $15

Total for this category: $56.36

Accessories;

• Accent Pillow on window seat - $1 from garage sale
• Accent Pillow on bed - $0.50 from garage sale
• Silver Frames on Dresser - Various sources, $10
• Iron Floor Candlesticks - Lakesidecollection.com $20
• Burgandy Pillar Candles - Bed Bath and Beyond $7
• Bedside Lamp - $0.97 on clearance at Christmas Tree Shop, spray painted. Shade was $3 from Goodwill
• Vase - Dollar Store $1
• Table Runner on dresser - wedding gift, Pier 1 Imports

Total for this category: $43.47

Grand Total for this room: $237.83

(if you add in the mattress, which I forgot to list, the total is $537.83)

Check out my original post about the master bedroom to see the full transformation from hideous to beautiful!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We went to the drive-in this weekend to see Transformers. Despite what you may think, this was a not a noble move on my part to earn brownie points with Lover. I'm such an anti-girl. I like sweet cars, comics and action flicks. I also like a great fight scene. Needless to say, I thought this movie was awesome. :-)

A lot of people gave this summer blockbuster bad reviews, mainly citing a lack of plot. While I have to agree that there wasn't a ton of story or character development, what did you expect? I mean this is a movie about robots, a hot girl, a fun guy, and lots of fighting. And it totally delivers. Side note, has Shia LaBeouf totally lucked out or what? This kid's star is seriously on the rise, and it kind of makes me sick that he is two years younger than I am and has already made more money than I will ever have a chance at. Not that I am jealous or anything. :-)

The soundtrack is pretty awesome as well. I may even put it on my MP3 player for my next workout. Seriously, what better to get your heart racing than the music from the fight scene for a bunch of robots?

In summation, if you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it. You'll enjoy it, believe me. :-)

P.S. The drive in was a double feature, and the first flick we watched was G.I.Joe. If you have to choose between them, go for Transformers all. the. way.

All images from transformersmovie.com

Lady Caroline: a table's story from rags to riches

Going to garage sales and thrift stores is a little bit like a blind date. Most of the time you walk away with nothing to show for it. But every once in a while, you meet someone special and it is love at first sight. So it was with Caroline.

Caroline was sitting in a huge moving sale a few streets down from my house. She was a little dirty, and was starting to show her age. People obviously didn't think much of her, because she was only being sold for a dollar.

For me, however, it was love at first sight, and the price was right. For a dollar I knew I could transform little Caroline into quite the lady that would soon be sitting pretty on my front porch. I made a quick trip to the Walmarts for some spray paint in Hosta Green, and found a spare hour to work my magic.

One can of paint later, Caroline was transformed into Lady Caroline, the perfect companion to sit with me on the porch, providing a place to set my drink, and happily holding up a pretty violet. Here she is showing off her feminine curves. Isn't she a beauty?

Here's the step-by-step:

Take before picture :-)

Use wire brush to remove any flaking paint. This table is plastic, and some of the white paint had started to peel off, so I helped it along.

Outdoors, set the table on a dropcloth and start spraying with the paint. Do several light coats one minute apart, being careful to get really good coverage.

Let stand for 24 hours or until fully dry. Spray paint dries quickly, but it's always best to give the paint time to cure, and to allow the vapors to evaporate, especially if you will be using the item inside.

Take After picture!

I'm linking this little beauty up to Today's Thrifty Treasures, and Metamorphosis Monday. Make sure to check out all of the other great finds and transformations!

Not-So-Northern Lights

Another important part of Project Curb Appeal was the porch lighting. Our old light fixture left much to be desired, as it was:

• Boring
• Ugly
• Rusted
• Dirty

See what I mean? I couldn't stand it another minute, so I took it upon myself to replace this dated fixture with something much classier.

I spent some time researching what a traditional craftsman style porch light would have looked like. Pretty much all of the sources agreed that it would have been a hanging rectangular pendant, with multiple glass sides, either transparent or semi-opaque. Something like this;

Or this;

The first fixture is from Rejuvenation.com and would have set us back $265. The second is from Craftsman Lighting Universe and costs $140. Neither appealed to me because of the price, and I was at a loss.

But, lo and behold, on one of our daily trips to Lowes, I found a mission/craftsman style hanging pendant for $30 buckaroos. No, that's not a typo, it was really only $30! And the best part was, I actually liked how it looked better than the pricier reproduction versions. I scooped that baby up faster than you can say "Arts & Crafts" and then asked Lover to install it for me. (He's our resident electrician, I don't touch cables.) It took some eyelash batting, but he did it for me, and here's the result!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Isn't it beautiful? The previous owners made a bit of a mess of the ceiling when installing the old fixture so we're going to need a ceiling medallion, but for now it is perfect and I love it. Have you scored a great knockoff? I'd love to hear about it. :-)

I'm participating in Julia's Hooked On Fridays party this week with my lovely new porch light fixture! Check out the rest of the party here!

How to Still Be Newlyweds...no matter how long it's been!

Image via yell.com

It seems like many of our friends that have gotten married around the same time we did are beginning to have some real struggles in their relationship. The proverbial honeymoon period is over, and the reality of a lifetime commitment to someone is setting in. For some, there are issues that need to be dealt with that haven't been up until now. For others, they've simply stopped doing the things that helped them fall in love in the first place. For one reason or another, these couples no longer feel like "newlyweds."

When Lover and I first began to talk about marriage, we discussed this common trend of losing that "new love" feeling shortly after getting married. We were madly in love, crazy about each other, jealous of our time together. We didn't want that to ever change. And so, we made a promise to each other that we would forever remain "newlyweds" even after being married for more years than we could count. Three years later, it seems to be working quite well, if I do say so myself.

Here is a short list of the things that we do to keep that newlywed feeling:

We still date each other.

Yes, we are married now, live together, spend 90% of our non-work time together. So why would we still go on dates? Because it is fun and exciting, and it reminds you to make the effort to have a very special night with the person you love.

When we were dating we would take the time to look nice for each other. We'd go out to dinner and talk all night long. We would take long walks on the pier and ask each other all about our day, and our future plans, and our wildest dreams.

We do the same thing now, post-marriage. About once a week we will take a few moments to look nice, pick a place to eat, and go out and spend the evening together. No cell phones, no TV, just good food and lots of conversation. Knowing we have special time set aside for us means that we can fill the rest of our week with whatever else needs to be done.

We say our marriage vows to each other on special occasions.

We wrote our vows to each other for our wedding, and later framed them and hung them on our bedroom wall. We make a point to say our vows to each other on special occasions, such as our anniversary, or on normal nights when nothing is out of the ordinary. Repeating our vows to each other instantly takes us back to our wedding day, when we said them for the first time, and it ensures that those promises we made to each other stay fresh in our mind, instead of forgotten in a scrapbook.

We are affectionate with each other, in private and in public.

We have pet names for each other, in fact we rarely call each other by our first names. We're not afraid to hold hands in public, or link arms, or even kiss! :-) If you stop being affectionate towards your partner, eventually you will stop feeling affectionate towards him or her. These little physical touches are constant reminders of the love you feel for that person.

We don't "air our dirty laundry."

Although at times Lover will do things that make me want to tear out my hair, and I will drive him to drink, we don't share this stuff with our friends. Our issues are exactly that, our own. We work hard to protect each other, and to share only the good of our spouse with our friends. We don't pretend to know it all, or to never fight. We'll share a disagreement and how it was resolved with a friend if it is pertinent, but never in the "Can you believe what an idiot he is..." kind of way. People tell me all the time that Lover worships the ground I walk on, and I know for a fact that he knows my flaws. But he doesn't go around sharing them with whomever will listen. I do the same for him.

We say "I love you."

While this may seem obvious, it is an important part of our relationship. We make a conscious effort to express our love as much as possible. No matter what is going on, we have that assurance that the other person loves us, unconditionally, and always will. We make it a point to not just write it in a card on our anniversary, but to say it on the way out the door for work, at the end of a phone call, before falling asleep at night. We'll mouth it across the room to each other, write it on the mirror, leave a note for each other. We remind each other whenever we can of the love that keeps us together.

A few months ago, we went out for lunch and while standing in line waiting to pay for our sandwiches, the cashier asked us if we were married. He was sure that we weren't because we "weren't acting like married people" (his words) We took it as a compliment that we are still acting like newlyweds who can't get enough of each other. Hopefully, some of the things we've put into practice in our relationship will work for you too!