Monday, December 19, 2011

Twas the Project Before Christmas

I know you're not supposed to do big projects right before the holidays, but once I get an idea and a plan in my head, I can't stop until it's done. I painted our bedroom. I've been thinking about it since the contractor put a hole in the wall while building the porch. The old gray had a blue tone to it, but the new paint has a purple tone. It a little darker, but it's a warmer color. I didn't like all the different colors of blue in the bed quilt so I ran out and got a cheap navy comforter and folded the quilt at the end. The solid color makes it flow better I think.







You can see the new curtains in this picture. They are navy check with a berry ring for a tie back. I'm not sure I'll be able to use the other blue ones in the Summer with the new wall color so luckily these go well.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Final Rudolph Day of the Year

Today I made sure my Christmas cards were ready to drop in the mail at the end of the week. I just finished wrapping Christmas presents. I'm done shopping. I did a little shopping for next year since it's cyber Monday and I got some deals. The house is all decorated. Now it's time to sit back and relax (on the new porch since it's over 60 degrees today!).

Christmas Decorating

I finished my Christmas cross stitch just in time for decorating last week. I put it in the dining room.



Here's the concentrated snowman collection.



Here's the mantle area.



Here's our new Christmas tree. It's a slim one so it takes up less room and it's nice and full and sturdy. We are using scat mats under it this year to keep the cat away. So far, so good.

Black Friday Craft Fair

We went to a craft fair on Black Friday and I got a few things. I got this little shelf that I like every time I go, but I didn't think I had any place to put it. I put it in the dining room. I also got the little Santa on a stick that's on the top shelf and the snowman angel that's next to it.



I got this candle holder box and I hung it in the dining room above the microwave. The picture is dark so it's hard to see, but I put a greenery candle ring and some red berries around the bottom of the candle.



I also got another little poofy snowman and a little decorated mitten.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Scary

This is what the Nor'easter before Halloween left us. It was a foot of heavy wet snow that was a pain to shovel. The worst part was that the leaves hadn't fallen off the trees yet and the extra weight snapped big branches and made small trees bend over. Lucky for us we didn't lose power, most likley because they clear cut around the big lines and replaced all the parts a few years ago when we were out of power for a week during the ice storm.

Houseworks Holiday Plan

I took a few weeks off from the HHP because I was ahead and frankly, I just don't have that many rooms, but 2 weeks ago I resumed and did the kitchen and pantry cabinet. Yesterday, I finished the HHP by cleaning the dining room. The whole house has had a good Fall cleaning. I will still follow along with the holiday prep part.

This morning I made my last Christmas orders for Hubby. All I have left for shopping is gift cards and stocking stuffers. I might do the stuffers tomorrow afternoon. Today I might do Christmas cards, we'll see...

Friday, October 28, 2011

Look What We Woke Up To

So it's not even Halloween yet and it was snowing like Winter last night. We're supposed to get more tomorrow night. It won't survive the day probably, but it's a good kick starter for that holiday mood.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rudolph Day and HHP

I haven't done anything for Rudolph Day this month so far. I'll be finishing up in the next few weeks and I'll start watching my large collection of holiday movies. I put a couple on Netflix too. I took the past few weeks off from the HHP because I was ahead of the plan, but this week I cleaned the kitchen and finished cleaning the windows. I only have the dining room left to clean, yay! It's such a relief to be done with the porch so I can focus on finishing cleaning and Christmas prep.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Now The Fun Stuff

Here it is before we started finishing the inside.



Here it is after I painted the inside.



The edge decorated. This stuff might change, but this is all I could find for now.



Finished.



Finished.



Finished.



I wish I could get better pictures, but the room is kind of small and the front corner is too dark right now to get a good one. Hopefully, you can see some details. We put trim around the windows and a window shelf on each. There will be a table in the corner next to the loveseat, but it's not painted yet. We're just so happy to be done working on it every night.

Porch

This is how it began.



This is how it ended. We put the shutters and the storm door on this past weekend. It took forever. Next year the lattice and the railings will be stained gray to match the front stairs.

Monday, October 10, 2011

HHP

This week is bathroom and linen closet week for the HHP. Today I cleaned the upstairs bath. I checked the linen closet, but it's still pretty organized from Spring cleaning. I did the downstairs bath last week because it was laundry week and that's where the washer and dryer are. The whole upstairs is completely clean. I just have the kitchen and dining room left. The porch is scheduled to be finished this Friday so we'll be trying to finish the inside this weekend.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Puzzle

I did my new Fall puzzle last week. It was really easy for 1000 pieces. It only took a week to complete. It was still fun.


Boo!

I decorated for Halloween this past weekend. I did above the mantle area a little differently this year. I have a Halloween wreath that was there last year, but I think I'm saving that for the porch door.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Jumping Ahead

I jumped ahead of the HHP again. I cleaned the downstairs bathroom today. Running the washing machine cleaner through right now. It's also the laundry room and that's the room for next week. I just have to go through the closets and bureaus next week so that should be an easy week. I didn't do anything for Rudolph Day yet this month. I don't really have much to do. I will probably do one more order for Hubby and then he's done and everyone else is fairly quick and easy. I do stocking stuffers in one trip to the trial size aisle in November and I do Christmas cards in November in one sitting. I've got ideas for the people on my list it's just a matter of running to the stores a couple of times and I'll be done.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Houseworks Holiday Plan

I'm doing good on the plan. I'm actually ahead of the plan right now. I cleaned the spare bedroom last week and yesterday I cleaned the living room. That was the last of the carpets that needed cleaning. I also cleaned the mud room and decorated it for Fall this weekend. I just have the bathrooms and the kitchen/dining rooms left. I've got curtains in the laundry right now and I'm going to wash a couple of rugs next. I put my Winter picture up in the living room over the loveseat because I don't have a Fall picture and I figured it was easier to put it up when I was changing the slipcover since I store the other picture behind the loveseat. Holiday prep is going pretty good too. I've done most of it on Rudolph days all year. Looking forward to finishing early and having a relaxing December again this year.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Fall Basket

My Mom, Aunt and I did the Fall arrangement for our year round baskets this weekend. I think they came out pretty good.



Yesterday, I deep cleaned the master bedroom. It's fresh, clean and ready for Winter. I just have to pull out the clean blanket when it gets cool enough and I have some Fall leaves flannel sheets to keep us cozy.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Houseworks Holiday Plan

So the plan started last week. I got the computer room cleaned top to bottom. I had cleaned out the files a few weeks earlier. I shredded for days after that. This week was the craft room. I have it clean and fresh and I cleaned the carpet in there when I was done. I also cleaned the front stoop so I guess I'm mixing the plans a little, but I'm trying to stick mostly to the houseworks plan. Next week is the master bedroom, but it's still too warm for nice thick blankets. I have to clean the carpets though so I will probably stick to the order of the rooms.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Done! (Finally)

I finally finished staining the new front stairs. I put in about 16 hours total. We moved the plants from next to the porch to next to the stairs along with as many of the decorative stones as we could move. That way they won't be lost while the porch is being built. I even painted the trim around the front door and washed the siding and the light.



Then, I decorated for Fall.

Finished My Fall Stitch

I've been working on this cross stitch for 3 months and I finished it just in time. I'm going to start one more this year. It's a Christmas one, but I think it is easier than the ones I've been doing so I'm hoping to get it done by the end of November when the Christmas decorations go up.



Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Touch of Fall

I started decorating for Fall during the hurricane last weekend. I have to take out the floral basket that will hang where the polka dotted cow picture is now. The scarecrow on the right is new from a recent shopping trip and the one on the left I snagged from my Mom's give away bag because it balances out the mantle.



New Stuff

I snagged the jug in the middle from my Aunt's give away box and I rearranged the tops of my cabinets. I took a couple things down and added the jug.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Rudolph Day Again

I didn't realize it's Rudolph day until late this morning. I still managed to get some Christmas stuff done. I made a gift order, wrapped the remaining gifts I already have while listening to Christmas music, and updated my gift list. I also just added another gift to my Amazon cart for later. I'm going to write out a couple of gift ideas on the master gift list. That's about all I have time for today, but it's something.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

New Stairs

The new front stairs are finally done. You can go back in the blog to see the ugly old concrete stairs that were there. They were sinking on one side and they were about 4 inches away from the house. We have to stain all the wood parts, but they look much nicer than what was there. We're going to do some planting around it and finish it off. Possibly tonight, since it's the only nice day we have this week.



Monday, August 15, 2011

Slipcover

I had some trouble with the new Summer slipcover pulling up in the front so I ordered a new one from Surefit. I have a Surefit one for the Winter and it fits great and stays tucked pretty well. The new cover is the same style and fabric so I hope it works better than the cheap one I got at Walmart. It's on for a few weeks before Fall cleaning and the change over happens.


Monday, July 25, 2011

Christmas in July!

It's already more than halfway to Christmas. The assignments for today are to finish up stocking stuffers and to make Christmas cards. Both of these things I like to do at the beginning of November. Sure I grab some stocking stuffers along the way if they call out to me, but in our family we go to the trial size area (Target has a good one)and we buy trial sizes of things we know people like and a few new things to try. Anyway, one trip is all it takes to be done with stocking stuffers. The Christmas cards I like to do at the beginning of November when it's getting cool outside and I already have my cards because I usually buy them on clearance.

Over at OC the assignment is to pick a holiday plan. I always do the Holiday Houseworks Plan and the Christmas Countdown. I like the Houseworks plan because it seems to go in a room order that's better for me over the Holiday Grand Plan. I find more things don't pertain to me from the Grand Plan, but I do peek at it as it goes along. I always change the order a little bit because I do the living room early so I can change the slipcover.

Today I'm going to update my Christmas gift list for Hubby and watch a Christmas movie hopefully.

Update: I've made my Christmas list current, I ordered Hubby's big gift today and I updated my adresses for Christmas cards. Watching A Christmas Carol now.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fancy New Driveway



I know you're thinking what's so fancy about a driveway.Well, there are fancy heater coils under all that new tar! No more sliding into the street on ice all Winter.



The transition into the other driveway is much nicer too. The whole driveway is less steep and I can't wait to try it, but I have to wait a few days.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

June Rudolph Day

I was crafting yesterday on Rudolph Day so I didn't get to update anything. This month I ordered a few more gifts and added a couple things to my Amazon cart. The focus of this month is recipes on OC and parties and gifts on MHH. I don't have to round up any recipes for Christmas, but I do have to have a recipe session where I cut out all the recipes from pages I tear out and put them in my binder. Maybe I will have time to work on that later today. I've been working on my gift list for a couple of months now so I'm doing pretty well with that already. I don't have any plans for Christmas in July, but we have a vacation coming up and I have Disney's A Christmas Carol on the DVR so maybe we'll watch that. We went to see it in the theater in 3D but it wasn't very enjoyable because of the kid next to us who didn't really want to be there and kept talking, singing and eating as loud as possible. I'm sure it will be more enjoyable at home with just us. Maybe I'll burn a Winter candle scent to enhance the mood.

Craft Day

My Mom, Aunt and I had a crafting day yesterday. We created Summer arrangements for our new wall baskets. We'll make up Fall and Winter arrangements to go in soon and then we can use our project year round. I put my basket in the computer room where I stole the picture frame from. I had to adjust the nail position so I think I will do a little wall patching and touch up today.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

It's Done!

I just finished the cross stitch I've been working on for months. I don't think any of the next ones are as involved as this one. I think it looks nice for late Summer, but I put it up now. Maybe someday I will make the July quilt one to use in July and this one can be for August.


Friday, June 17, 2011

Angel

I got this cute angel the other day when I went shopping with my Mom. I got the one with the tan dress so I can put her anywhere. For now, she's in the living room on the shelf in the corner.

Monday, June 13, 2011

4th of July and Stuff

I decorated for the 4th of July this weekend.





We got another chunk of the basement cleaned out. There's not too much left to do down there. After I go through the shed I'll put the stuff we don't need/want on freecycle. We're thinking about building some shelves just for the AC storage and then it will free up a whole shelf down there for other storage. That might come in handy. We've got a pile to go to the attic for storage too.

I fixed the cracks in the first set of sailboats I got. I didn't want them sitting around broken for too long. The one that isn't cracked bad looks as good as new, but the badly cracked one is only good enough for a higher shelf. I had trouble matching the paint color for some reason so it always ended up being too dark or too light. Oh well, you can't really see the cracks on the shelf where it is now.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Pajama Art

So I had a really really old set of pajamas that I loved because they had a cow on the shirt and I was wearing it the other night and I noticed that the shirt was getting pretty thin. I was sad about getting rid of it so I thought I could turn the cow part into a little pillow, but then I wondered where I would put it so then I thought I could frame the cow. I remembered I had a matte from another project and I stole the frame from a picture in the computer room. I think it came out good and I hung it in our bedroom because I thought that was fitting since it's made out of pajamas. Now I have to find something to put in the computer room...


New Stuff

I got these punched tin nightlights and put them all under the kitchen cabinets for a little cute under cabinet lighting.



I got a set of these sailboats because I've always liked them. The first set came with cracked bases so I got another set, but I decided to keep the cracked set and I'll fill in the crack and touch up the paint and then I'll have 4 boats to spread around the house. Right now I've got one in the computer room, 2 in the spare bedroom and the worst one in the box.







Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Yay! It's May Rudolph Day!

So today I got my first Christmas wrapping session done while I listened to Christmas music for the first time since last Christmas. I only got a few things wrapped because I separated out our Anniversary gift and part of hubby's birthday gift. I added a couple of items to my Amazon cart, but I'm going to wait until June to make an order in case they have Father's Day sales. I recorded everything in my holiday planner and added a few ideas.

I always make the same standbys for dessert for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners so I don't really have to gather anything yet. I probably don't need to buy anything in catalogs for gifts, but I'm hoping to find an idea for a Christmas craft project soon. Next month is halfway! I guess I should be halfway ready by then too, right?

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Candle and Sconce

I just got this cute sconce and candle. I had the candle ring already. It's a little smaller than I thought it would be, but it still works fine in the living room. I can change the candle ring with the seasons too if I don't need that space to hang something else.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Reorganizing

Over the weekend, I organized the top drawer in my nightstand with some plastic baskets I had lying around and I ended up emptying a whole drawer. I then moved all my PJs into the nightstand drawers and that emptied 2 drawers in my plastic drawer organizer next to my bureau. I then moved the beach towels and swimware into one of the plastic drawers which emptied out a spot in the linen closet. I got rid of some stuff in the linen closet and put off season curtains in there. I also moved all the upstairs bathroom seasonal decorative towels into the little black cabinet in the upstairs hallway.

I ordered some new decorations over the past week so pictures will come soon.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Front Door- A new place to decorate!

So I've seen a couple of doors that have grapevine around them or forsythias with a wreath on the door and I thought it was really cute. Yesterday, my Mom and I ran to the crafty gift store and picked up a couple of things, including the berry garlands for my front door. We don't use the door much so they shouldn't get in the way. The front of our house is really plain and I think this adds a little welcoming touch. I can now put Fall leaves and Winter greenery around the door too!


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cow Picture

This is my abstract cow picture that I've had for many many years. I just got a new matte for it which I love. I put it in the old frame from the picture in the dining room and it makes it like new.


Monday, April 25, 2011

Rudolph Day- April

Happy Rudolph Day! The work for this month is organizing holiday crafts and organizing Christmas dinnerware. I don't think I'm making anything this year for gifts. I'm busy right now doing many cross-stitches for myself. I do wish we could find a project to do because this year should be a Christmas project. Me, my Mom and my Aunt usually do a craft project each year and we go between Fall and Christmas. Last year we made pumpkin centerpieces, but I haven't come across anything I want to make for Christmas yet. My holiday dishes are under the hutch already organized, but I'm not sure they will get used this year. Someone had a fun idea of using them on Rudolph Days and all during December on the MHH forum and maybe that will be a good idea so they get some more use. I will be putting Easter decorations away today and I added a new gift to my Amazon cart the other day. I don't think I will be making an order today, but we'll see. I guess I'm not going to get much of anything Christmasy done today, but I did start to clean up the basement so I'm making progress on something. I also started some Christmas lists the other day so a little progress has been made on Christmas this month.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Got Some More Cleaning Done

I finished washing the windows Monday and today I finished washing the rest of the curtains. I put out our new solar lights around the front stairs this morning and the little decorative chair on the front stairs. Tomorrow, we have a lot of stuff to get done so I've tried to get a head start. I also fed the bushes this morning. I got about 1/2 the raking done this past weekend so there's still that too. Fingers crossed we get the rest of the list done tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Upstairs Hallway is Now Complete

My Mom gave me this little cabinet because it was the perfect size for my upstairs hallway and the perfect way to finish it. The only problem was that it was white and didn't go with the other new stuff, so we spray painted it black. I love it so much I wish I could put it somewhere where I could see it more/better. The cow in the middle of the top is Bartholomoo, he is borrowing a sweater from my Mom's bunny, Fred. I found a sweater with tulips on it this weekend on clearance because it was a little dirty. I threw it in the wash and he's now wearing it for the Summer. I also got the little jar in the top cubby at the crafty store this weekend.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Attic Floor

This is the little floor space we made in the attic. I cleaned out our closet this weekend and we put the stuff we wanted to keep, but didn't need in the closet, up there. The little area is pretty much full, but we don't have anything else to put up there so it worked out well.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Attic Door

Hubby picked up some cheap bargain wood at Home Depot on his lunch break the other day. He said if he was going to carry it in, he should just carry it up to the attic, so he did. He popped a screw in each board and now we have a little area in the attic to store stuff. I decided to paint the attic door ceiling paint white so that it would blend into the ceiling and brighten up the hallway a little. It used to be stained the same color as the other trim and doors you can see in the picture. Now we can cross two things off the To Do List (attic floor & painting white).

Monday, March 28, 2011

It looks a little like Easter

I decorated for Easter the other day and I went through all my decorations to weed out things I didn't need anymore. Here's a little sample.

Hope Chest Update

As I was Spring cleaning our bedroom I thought the cedar chest could use some new updated hardware instead of the old granny hardware that it had (you can see them on the floor). The new hardware has a little leaf pattern and it matches the button latch better than the old ones.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Happy Rudolph Day!

I had the whole day off yesterday so I decided to take the opportunity to Spring clean the master bedroom. It takes forever, but it is so fresh and dust free now. All the major cleaning is done. Yay! For Rudolph day I ordered a couple of gifts and they are on their way. I ordered Christmas in Connecticut to watch because it was only $5.50 and I've never seen it. I look forward to seeing it when it arrives. Not sure what I will do for Rudolph prep this month because everyone's birthdays are near Christmas for me so it doesn't help much to do Christmas/birthday shopping together. Oh well.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

New Curtains

I got some new curtains for the Summer for a couple of rooms. The first one is in the downstairs bathroom. The middle of the daisies are a button. So cute!




These are my new living room curtains. I wish they were a little lighter in color for the Summer, but this is the only blue they had. I need a swag for the front windows because the windows are so long and it looks funny with just a valance.




Yesterday, the weather was so nice (near 70) so I wanted to clean at least some of the windows and change out the curtains because I was sick of snowflakes and snowmen in the bathrooms, and how can there be snowflakes and snowmen when it's almost 70 degrees? I have about half the windows and curtains left to clean when the weather is nice again. I've been Spring cleaning and all I have left is the upstairs hallway/stairwell and our bedroom. I should be done in the next few weeks. I've been going through everything and throwing stuff away and giving stuff away. It will make it easier to clean next time.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

New Craft Projects

Over the weekend, my Aunt came by with some stuff for me to freecycle and she also brought a bunch of cross stitch books for me to borrow. I started to do a nice Summer one with a quilt on a porch swing, but I stopped Sunday becuase I figured I could get this whole bunny done. I did. I had to change a color in it because it was too dark and didn't look right. I think it came out really cute and it's perfect for Easter. Some of the flowers got cut off in this frame, but I already had the frame so it works.