Out with the old, in with the old...

I've finally taken down all of my Christmas decorations! (With 2 sweet girls "helping" me, it was a 3 day process!) And just as quickly as I cleaned off shelves and boxed things up, I found myself rushing to put something back in it's place. The problem is, I don't remember what I had there. And even if I did, odds are, that I wouldn't want to put it back the same place anyway.

So...I decided to give all of these old books a try. I came across them when I was organizing the garage (a project for another day). My husband read some of them as a kid, so they're kind of sentimental, but I actually just like the look of mixing old stuff with new stuff. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to display one of the few Valentines decorations that I have!

Do you have old pieces around your house that add charm??

My Resolutions {House Edition}

The Nester is hosting a linky party today featuring house goals. She mentions that in the past one of her goals was to "pay cash for a new sofa". I have never been one to actually sit down and write out goals for the year - be it for the family, myself or MY HOUSE!! But, I am inspired... so here it goes.

All of these goals come with an asterisks since my husband and I are in the middle of making a HUGE decision. We live in a college town and our house is in prime rental location. So, we are praying about whether or not we will try and rent out our house and move on from here to something else. It all hinges on several financial markers so we will just have to see what is in store for us. Now... on with the show!

1. Get a chair for this area ... on the cheap! :)

2. Tackle this wall.


This is my family room wall. The big hole in the middle used to be where the piece of art from the above picture lived. Now I envision beadboard & a darker color up top. I am "living" with the secretary as is and don't know if I'll ever paint it.



3. Fill all my empty frames.

I am notorious for buying frames and they stay empty for a long time... or they have the stock photo in them forever. I've had a frame on my nightstand for months with a sepia picture of a man and a little boy in cowboy gear... it's about time I put one of my own family in there I think

3. Keep this area CLEARED off!


This is the first stop when you come in our house so inevitably it gets cluttered fast! (like it is here). My little tray that needs to be spray painted helps but the counter still has piles on it most days.

5. Baskets and better organization for the playroom shelves

We were fourtunate to have these shelves already built into the room we use as a playroom. I have some baskets but it drives me crazy that they are all different sizes, colors and shapes. One day I'd like to have them nicely organized like they look in Pottery Barn. Seriously...do any of you live like that? :)

I have some others too:
1. Make the backyard kid friendly
2. Keep my house in drop-by condition so when/if people drop-by I'm not totally mortified.
3. Reupholster my sad Goodwill chair.

And if we ACTUALLY do rent out our house and have to find another one my overall goal will be to make that feel like home as this one does now.

What about you? Do you have goals this year for your house?

New Year, New Bedding

Well, after 6 years of the same quilt bought at Ross (or Marshalls or TJ Maxx) I broke down and bought new bedding. I'm almost more excited about the deal I got than I am the actual bedding. ALMOST. I'd been eyeing this set for a while off and on. I occasionally check the website for deals and was shocked to see the set marked down from $250 to under $75. I decided to take the plunge and make the purchase. I am proud and still shocked that I got the comforter, two shams, dust ruffle, two Euro pillows and one throw pillow for $100 (thanks to a promo code saving me additional % off). When one Euro pillow has a sales price of $60 I feel like I robbed the store.

I'd like to think the bedroom looks more grown up and a 'little' luxurious. Let's face it for $100 it's not going to be luxurious...but it feels better to me and that's what matters right? :)

Let's take a stroll down memory lane...
It began like this:

Quick changed to this:

And today looks like this:

New Year, New Arrangement

Ahh... January. The time when you take the Christmas decor down and pull everything else back out and put it in the same place you had it before, right? Well NOT THIS YEAR! I decided I was tired of things as they were so I did a little rearranging. I didn't know this would happen so I don't really have before pictures without Christmas decor. And... is it just me or does anyone else "think" their stuff looks good until you see it in photos. Whew... I have got to get better at this decorating thing! HAHA.

Piano area BEFORE

I hated how this looked with the big frame. It was just not right and I didn't know what to do with it. Without Christmas decorations I had the wreath on one side and a few smaller picture frames below it...nothing with height and nothing eye catching.

Piano area AFTER

it almost looks like a piece of furniture instead of a piano. My husband had this mirror in his office at work and it wasn't working well there. I'd planned to Craigslist it but when I mentioned the other night that I needed to try a mirror over the piano my sweet husband gave me the look... you know the one where he's telling you "no need go buy a new one when we have a perfectly good one here". Tell me I'm not the only one who gets that look? :) I figured I'd give it a try... and you know what? I like it. With a few accessories I bought from the good old Hob Lob I am pretty satisfied. The lamp... 66% off!! I was so happy I decided to buy it and find a place for it. For now this is its new home. The frame... yes it's sideways and no it is NOT my family - when I finally get around to putting a picture in it my kids will be in high school (they are 3 & 4 now!).

The built-in shelves BEFORE

It pretty much looked like this with out the Christmas frames and decor... just with regular frames.

The built-in shelves AFTER

I added a more substantial plate rack for the plate & grouped some finials together instead of the red pot which I moved to the mantle. I still need to get rid of the willow tree angels, but they were a collection a while ago and it's hard to part with them.

The mantel BEFORE

The mantel AFTER

I like the red pot on the mantel much better... It still doesn't help the massive white fireplace ... but that's another project for another day. What do I paint it anyway??? If any of you have painted fireplaces I'd love to have you weigh in on that decision.

So... is my husband the only one who asked "Can't things just go right back where they were before Christmas?"

Prayer Pail

Are you taking down Christmas decorations and wondering what do with all of those Christmas cards?

Create a Prayer Pail!!

We let our girls pick out 1 card each night & we pray specifically for that family. We love looking at the pictures ALL YEAR & are hopefully teaching our kids how to pray for others.

The best of 2010!

We've had such a good time this year!!

Thank you so much for keeping up with us, leaving us comments and featuring us on your own blogs! We truly appreciate you!! Because what fun would it be to do all of this and have no one read it??

So here's a recap of your favorite projects of 2010!

Colorful Bird Canvas

This was the the Pottery Barn look-alike that Tiffany decoupaged for her girls' room.

Lindsay's "New" House

Remember Lindsay's house transformation??

Absolutely beautiful!

Living Room Rearrange

With your help, we re-arranged Tiffany's living room!

Board & Batten

Lindsay taught us how to do board & batten. So impressive!

Fabulous shutters

And she turned these junk-yard shutters into a beautiful kitchen centerpiece!

You're favorite recipe was the Chocolate Chip Dip. Yum!

And your favorite Quick Change were the white pumpkins.

Then we wrapped up the year with some present topiaries!

Whew!! We've had fun!

Join us in 2011 for a whole new slew of projects and decorating ideas!! We can't wait!

Lindsay & Tiffany

(Recipe) Chocolate Cupcakes

Do you need a dessert for that New Year's Eve party that you're going to? Try these bite-size chocolate cupcakes! I've taken them to many events and they're always a crowd favorite!

Ingredients:

Devil's Food Chocolate cake mix + whatever it calls for (water, oil, eggs, etc)

8 oz creme cheese

2 cups chocolate morsels

1/3 cup of sugar

1 extra egg

Directions:

Mix cake mix by "back of the box" directions

-Separately- Mix creme cheese, sugar & egg and blend until smooth

Fold in morsels

Grease mini-muffin pan

Alternate cake mix and creme cheese mix until 3/4 full

Bake 15 minutes (or use toothpick test) at 350

Enjoy!!