Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Happy Halloween- Part 1 (Well Almost)

In honor of All Hallows Eve, I would like to share with you an adorable video.
Adorable
It has been a super busy day for us; work/school, football end of season pizza party, last minute Halloween pick ups, getting Trey showered, read to and asleep,and cleaning while watching what should hopefully be the Red Sox winning the World Series!!! And to think I still wanted to finish The Conjuring in bed.... that movie is insanely scary... like pee in my pants, cover my eyes, while crying scary! A scary movie is bad enough but it is even worse when they add those five simple words..... you know what I am talking about.....
BASED
ON
A
TRUE
STORY!
Ok, now you have got my attention and I am officially freaked out before the movie has even began! I had my eyes any my hubs covered half of the time.... If you have not seen the trailer, you need to check it out.... like right now! The Conjuring Trailer
I am a mad woman.... why I wait on putting things off like cleaning my house, getting halloween candy, grocery shopping the day before I have about 10 adults and 50 thousand kids at my house, is beyond me.
I will have lots of halloween pictures to share with you in a couple of days, so stay tuned!!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

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Quick Easy Garage Upgrade

I saw this pin on pinterest right before we moved into our new house and loved the look and how cheap and easy it appeared to be to tackle... I ordered our kit from HomeDepot.com, because Lowes didn't have this kit. Home Depot only had the Fleur De Lis version available so I ordered it and I think it came to $25.00 with shipping and tax. We got it in the following week and my hubby and I went to work with installing it. Oh-Em-Geeeee it was so easy! 
Here is our garage before... I know I know it is not the best shot, but I don't have a lot of times for these things, because my hubs is a big time RUSHER! 
Boring..
The cars were in the driveway so I had to work with what I had...
Our helper...

Trey was also our photo taker for a while... ;) Maybe he will be a photographer one day... very creative!
And after! Ahhh it adds so much charm and curb appeal and for that cheap... Count me in!
Now don't judge me for my landscaping, this was only after living here for a few weeks! I have tackled that overgrowth dilemma... but I honestly SUCK at landscaping. I can't even keep a fern alive! I have trimmed the roses and the pink fringe bushes, but the roses are not seeming to come back to life, even with regular watering... :( I am going to wait until next season to see if they come to life, if not we will pull them out and try our hand at something else. I'll show you an update of the front yard real soon!
It's the little cheap things in life, guys!
With Love, Dez


Monday, October 28, 2013

Dining Room Table Update

I have had my eye on this table from Pottery Barn for some time now, but was not super excited to spend over $800.00 for the table alone.... 
Until low and behold..... a mom in my town posted one on the Moms Swap N Shop Page for ONLY $100.00!!!! SOLD! Except, hers also came with four chairs AND the leaf! Double awesome!!!
The table definitely needed an update so I bought some Valspar Antique White Paint to bring it back to life. This first picture is after a little sanding:
After the first coat of paint
Can you believe the chairs were painted these colors???? Um.... No thank you. I chose to do them the same antique white for now. I can always add cushions or buy new chairs later. 
AHHH Much better! 
And here they are after the second coat of paint! So pretty! This room still has a long way to go. I need to figure out what color I want to paint it and take out the wallpaper in the bottom boxes. Any ideas on what was I should go in this room are much appreciated. ;) 
I also need to get a new light fixture, because the ones that came in our house are very cheap and ugly. :(

Some of my inspiration for dining room ideas are like these:
I really like the bold stripes and colors of this dining room... However, I think I could do the walls in the same gray as our living room and cross wall with maybe either lighter gray stripes or maybe even white stripes... I am in LOVE with this type of light fixture!!! I could throw in pops of black or pops of a color..http://emilyaclark.blogspot.com/2011/05/now-and-then-look-back-at-our-last.html
I love all of these bold, romantic colors! That wall paint color with those gold accents are definitely swoon worthy!!!! AHHHHHome and Garden Design Ideas
I love the simplicity of this room! White and light grays with light blues.. So peaceful and serene. And again that light fixture!!! http://camilleroskelley.typepad.com/simplify/FAQ.html
Shabby Chic is pretty much my heart. I love it. We did our wedding in a Shabby Chic theme and it is just so delicate and pretty! http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159877855495348945/

Okay maybe I just like all of these different versions because of the light fixture.... Oh well this is more rustic-y and casual, but yet charming and homey feeling.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159877855494766335/
Now I want to go redo my dining room right this second....
With Love, Dez

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Happy Fall Ya'll

Happy Fall Ya'll!
Cool crisp air, the changing colors of the leaves, pumpkin spice.... well kind of... The air is cool and crisp in the early morning, hot and humid in the afternoon, the leaves don't quite change, but that is whats to be expected in Texas.... but hey I still love FALL!! I love love love fall almost as much as I love Christmas... ALMOST! We did our second annual Pumpkin Patch family photo outing with the Adams Family and it went about as well as it can with four kids all under the ages of 7. 
Here are a couple of shots from last year:
photo credit: Lindsey Clare Photography http://www.lindsey-clare.com/
My sister, Victoria and I last year at the First United Methodist Church Pumpkin Patch
I will post the pictures we took today when I get them back! I can't wait for our Halloween party and trick or treating!!!!


With Love, Dez

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Craigslist Lamp Makeover

I got an amazing deal on these four lamps on Craigslist, all four for ONLY $15!!!! I couldn't believe it and couldn't wait to make them over!! Here are some before pictures:


They were really plain jane, rustic looking and either mismatched shades or no shades, but for under $4 per lamp,  I figured I could make them something pretty! So I used......

dun dun dun
you guessed it!!! SPRAY PAINT!!! I bought the Valspar Black and Valspar Peacock Blue from Lowes and went to town. Well first I taped off all of the cords, light socket and anything I didn't want painted. 
My plan was to use the tall floor lamp and sofa table lamp in the living room and I decided to spray paint them black to match our living room console table. I really like the idea of grays, blues and greens with pops of black in our living room. I will probably eventually fade out the black items (like the console table) but we don't have a new media table in the budget for now. 
My inspiration for my living room has stemmed from some of these ideas:
www.younghouselove.com
I really love the wood tones in the photo below and I am really obsessed with the bamboo blinds but haven't made taken the jump to go out and buy any for our house yet. I would like to eventually phase out the black decor with wood accents.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159877855494724506/ 
 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the grey walls with white boarding around the windows and thick, chunky base boards!!! SWOON I love all the natural elements with the woof coffee and media table and cozy ivory couch!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159877855494769430/
OKAY I got a little side tracked, but back to the lamps! 




 I do really love how the lamps all turned out and I probably wont keep them forever because I want to change everything out all the time, but I love them just the way they are for now!

With Love, Dez


Lawn Furniture Update

We had some old lawn furniture in our backyard that I completely hated, but knew we needed to keep for all of our get together's with friends and family. We couldn't ditch our extra seating without buying new and new furniture was not it the budget...... so here are some before pics:


So ugly!!! I hated to look at it and thought it was so drab and blah when we went out in our back yard. After a little brainstorming, I decided spray paint would be my best bet. So I went to Lowes and bought some Valspar Outdoor Color in the Gloss Peacock Blue and Valspar Primer for Plastic Interior/Exterior. I laid out an old sheet and placed the chairs and table on it and did a coat of the primer and let it dry for about 10 minutes. It doesn't take long to dry in the 100 degree Texas heat. After the primer coat dried I did a coat of the Peacock Blue on each chair and the table and once they dried I went back and did a second coat. Make sure you do thin coats so they don't look clumpy. 
Here is the finished project:

Just a little color, some cozy throw pillows and table decor and it made that sitting area look SOOOOO much prettier!!! I am very happy with the update and it was so reasonable to do! I did this project back in July and now in October it looks like I just did it yesterday! No chipping or peeling whatsoever!

I will do a post on my spray painted craigslist lamps soon, so make sure you check back!!!
With Love, Dez

Have you done any spray painting projects lately???



Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Life's a Beach!

So not last weekend, but the weekend before we went to Port Aransas for the weekend and it was so much fun! My dad was working in Corpus and got us a Condo to stay in (so nice of him). We left right after our football game, which we may or may not have won!
WINNING!
We arrived in Port A at about 3 and went straight for the beach, after purchasing Trey a boogie-board, of course.
Trey with said boogie-board being eaten by the shark!!!
We made sand castles, ran from the waves, did some boogie-boarding and just good ole family bonding!! My dad took us out for a late dinner and every restaurant we went to had at least an hour wait!!!! Why is the beach so busy on a Saturday night in OCTOBER???? We think it is because their was some kind of motorcycle thing going on in Corpus where the cast of SONS OF ANARCHY was attending!!! No we didn't venture over to Corpus to see if we could run into my husband JAX, since we had little man with us! WAHHHHH. Maybe next time, Jax! 
After dinner we went back down to the pool with Trey and Poppie G (my dad). It was pretty chilly so we went to walk the beach for a little while. UMMMMMM we saw probably 10 jelly fish in a matter of five minutes of walking. Trey was not digging it and said "Ok guys you have had your fun, lets get out of here!!!!" It was pretty funny. We left around lunch time on Sunday, because bad weather was rolling in. It was an awesome weekend at the beach with the family, with nothing to do, but enjoy each other's company!
With Love, Dez

Friday, October 11, 2013

This Wallpaper.... ACKKKK


When we moved into our new home they had the wall between the entry way and living room wallpapered. This wallpaper was maroon, thick, didn't match the house and it was down right UGLY!! (Do you see that ugly green color on the stairway to the left? The WHOLE living room was that color!!! That was the first project I had to tackle, I will post that soon.) My husband and I have never dealt with wallpaper so we tried a few different things... First we tried boiling water and transferring it into a spray bottle and then spraying on the wall and trying to remove.... NO! This method was no bueno. Like I said we have never dealt with wallpaper and I don't know if it is normal for there to be 3-4 layers... but it was the wallpaper, then another layer, then the paper like layer (that turned yellow) and then another layer of glue. Since our spray bottle method wasn't working, it was off to Lowes for the hubby. He came back with this
It comes in a purple bottle with a yellow lid and it is called Piranha Wallpaper and Paste Remover Liquid Spray. The steps are spray from top to bottom and rub the squishy thing over it to let the spray soak in. Then you start scraping it off. I realized when you really let it soak in for about five minutes per section before you start to peel, it worked much better and was easier to remove. Be careful with the scraper and don't get to crazy with it, or you will get some nicks in the wall :0. After it was all removed and we gave the wall time to dry, we painted in the same color grey as the living room. 
The color we chose to paint this wall is Valspar Hazy Stratus Semigloss. We always do the paint +primer to save a step. 
ANDDDDD here is the final product!!!!
We love it so much more than that terrible wallpaper!!


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