::success

Hope you all had a Great weekend. Thanksgiving here went off without a hitch (excluding the lovely weather). Black Friday went even better (aside from Walmart selling out of a DVD too quickly). The rest of my weekend was spent putting up Christmas decorations, realizing I'm too non-sentimental from the lack of Christmas ornaments I own, buying nothing but vegetables for the upcoming week (need to purge the diet!) and relaxing. Here's the black Friday recap:

12:00am - Old Navy (aside from Target...this was the longest line outside a store...shocked? Yes, so was I) Waited in line here for an hour an a half. Worth it? Yep.

2:00 am - Walmart (didn't actually buy anything here but my friends cleaned out the DVDs)

3:00 am - Kohls (not nearly as busy so I was able to get everything I wanted out of the 5 they had! Woot!)

4:00 am - Target (met up with Aaron who had been standing in line since 2. He was determined to get the Xbox and he did! I also cleaned UP here! I think I got 5 gifts. We actually RAN through the store and picked up everything we were dying to get. Checked out. Then our friends showed up from getting coffee and we went through the store AGAIN. lol...I know. This time we waited in line for a long time, but again...it was totally worth it.)

5:30 am - Drive by Pet Smart to see if it's opened. Nope. Oh well.

6:00 am - Breakfast at Chickfila. Long standing tradition of the black Friday shoppers. It's always the best after staying up all night. Definitely feeling tired at this point.

6:45 am - Impromptu stop at Lowes. I think there were maybe 10 other people in the store and the employees looked way to chipper. Picked up last gift of the morning.

7:15 am - All the gifts are thrown in the house, shoes kicked off, and I'm in the bed. :D

Did any of you shop this Friday? How did you do?

::spare me the vanity

One of the fun, and maybe not-so-great, aspects of gift shopping is finding many lovely little things for yourself. Here are a few things I would spend some money on:

Polaroid film - Aaron's parents gave me their old Polaroid SX-70 camera for my birthday this year and I'm dying to try it out!

Perfume - I can't remember where I saw this scent but it's a mixture of sparkling grapefruit, fresh lime and warm cedarwood, softened in a base of rich Madagascar vanilla. Yum!

Modern Family - This is definitely one of the shows I'll watch over and over.

Rainboots - I won't lie. I already have some. But these are cuter.

Sheets - Boring as it is, I've loved these since the day the came out. And no...in several, several months they still have yet to go on sale. Leave it to West Elm...

What about you? Anything you've found for yourself ;) Go ahead...no shame.

::happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. We have many, many reasons to be grateful. Take a few moments to reflect. Enjoy all the festivities. If you end up getting anything good over black Friday, let me know! I'll be out with the crazies!

::change of plans

Well, I've been up since 4:20, what about you? Our power went out this morning and apparently it woke me up. Of course I wake up and immediately start thinking, "Oh no...what do I do about work? I can't get my car out of the garage. I can't see anything to get ready. I hate to call in sick though...." This goes on until 6:00 when I just decide to get up and turn on the radio to see how many other unfortunate souls there are in the city. Turns out...you need electricity to turn on the radio. *sigh* I can't find the portable radio and it looks like the entire street behind us has power. Awesome.

I end up getting a ride to work and here now I sit. The adrenaline from the morning has worn off and I'm hanging on to consciousness by a thread.

On a lighter note, who's excited about Thanksgiving?! I'll be up and at em to watch the parade...and I mean the Whole thing. Cooking only happens in between commercials. These next few days are jam packed and I'm so ready! Yay for the holidays.

::interim

Not much to say lately. Just cleaning the house (I may or may not have put out some Christmas decorations...*wink) and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'll be back to blogging soon. Anybody else pumped for Black Friday? I've already started planning my attack!

And since you're being so nice and patient, tell me...what do you like best about this room? What do you least like?

::zgallerie love

Just some cute gift ideas from zgallerie.

::happy friday

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

::happy birthday

Here's to my hubs now one year older. Happy Birthday!! Love you! :D

::design your space, part 7

You might have thought I'd forgotten about these. I hadn't. I just haven't found the perfect inspiration pieces behind those whom I think I know well enough to give a bit of advice. So today's design your space is for my friend Kim. Kim likes all things old and new. So designing a cohesive space which incorporates both old and new the way she likes can be a little challenging. However, there came a day. Just a regular day. I was looking through some of the blogs I follow, and I found it. The perfect house. So, I'm taking most my inspiration from there and adding a few things I've picked up along the way. So, Kim...this is how I envision your home:

First we'll start with the entryway:

Now, you might be thinking you're not a huge fan of wallpaper, and I'll be the first to say I'm not either. But I think strategically placed (preferably in a smaller room/space), wallpaper can add SO much to a room. This is a lovely choice. Just enough print, just enough color. Not overwhelming. This is a great example of mixing old and new. The chair and even the table look kind of antique while modern. And the pop art print throws everything into the 21st century.

Onto the den:

Everything about this screams Kim to me. (well, maybe a pass on the zebra printed throw pillows) This room is fun, yet not juvenile. This is what I was talking about the other day, Kim...when you mix older pieces of furniture, but put an updated upholstery on them. Make it modern with color. Like that black mirror over the fireplace. Perfect harmony. I also like the mixes of color in the space. I like a den to be a little more comfortable and livable. Obviously this is all personal taste, but to me, a den is a great place to throw in your color. That's where all the living is happening anyways.

The office:

I love how clean and monochromatic everything is in here. Less distraction for you to get some work done, but very luxe and inviting.

Master bedroom and bathroom:

If Jane Eyre had a bedroom today, this is what I think it would look like. So romantic and luxurious but not fussy and crowded. This to me could border on too much, but I think with it being a master bedroom, you have a little more room to verge on excessive especially with your linens. Love how they painted the trim black in here. Very unexpected and unusual but it works really well in this space. The bathroom is so "just sit in here and put on your makeup darling". I would switch that zebra print for something deep teal colored. But I even think this paint would compliment that purple paint from the bedroom. I'm all about the compliments.

Kitchen and dining room:

The kitchen is SO lovely. Feel honored, because this is an inspiration piece for my own kitchen and dining room (we share similar taste sometimes :D ) The kitchen is very clean, modern, simple and so classy. I love the metallic finishes in the dining room. There's that wallpaper again. See how pretty it is when used sparingly? This dining room, again, I think pulls in so well old and new. The light fixture could not be more George Jetson (in a good way) but those Louis XIV dining chairs are rocking the days of yore (cue the Friends reference).

So there you go. If you have a penchant for the estate sale, or just love those inherited pieces from your grandparents (like me!), these are great ways to bring them up to date. Throw on a shiny coat of a brightly colored paint or change out that upholstery and hardware and you've got a great looking piece/room there.

::project kitchen, part 2

And now onto the second installment (in a currently 2 part series) of the kitchen update. I say update, because neither thing really "changed" the kitchen all that much. This time, I took on the kitchen cabinets. No...there's unfortunately no paint involved (though give it enough time and a break down will happen...things will be dismantled, white paint will line the walls, an angry husband will sigh in disbelief) ;). For today, I decided to tackle the hardware. Previously my cabinets were rocking some serious 90's-fabulous brass.

Lighting=poor=bad camera. My apologies. Hopefully you get the idea. Now switching out your hardware could be an easy task. Just switch things out and presto, you're done in 15 minutes. But such is life that I would have these beautiful brass hinges that are very visible and a husband who's very reluctant to remove said hinges for me to spray paint.

Answer= Rub n Buff!

I'm going to go on the record saying that I'm not sure if I've properly used this product. It's not found at your major home improvement stores. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby. This makes me think I should've used it on the frame I just redid instead of these cabinets...but who's keeping track!? It worked. 3 hours later (yes...3), several used cloths, permanently damaged fingers (for the night) produced lovely silver(ish) hinges. Thus allowing my cabinets to look like this:

*sigh

Isn't the pewter just so much more calm than the "look-at-me-shiny-brass". Plus the "slightly more trendy" cup pulls are just adorable. I got my hardware at Home Depot (the only place I could find a pewter 3-in. pull). I also purchased the knobs in a bulk bag saving me about 50%. I'm eventually going to do this to all the cabinets in the house so I went ahead and bought big.

There you have it. Cabinets somewhat brought into the new millennium. Now just have to take on the finish, the door fronts and counter tops...but then we'll be good ;)

::project kitchen, part 1

I started updating/upgrading the kitchen a little while ago. I've got several more projects to go...but I think I've gotten a good start on things. Now we just have to wait for the money tree to bloom and I'll tackle everything else. : ) Today is a minor adjustment. Aaron's mom had a part of a cabinet door in her garage sale a couple months ago. It didn't sell and I asked for it. The shape of it was perfect!

It is truly a worn piece. Some of the wood started to shred off the side/bottom and the back had pieces of wood just hanging on for dear life. To me, that just gives it character...a little worn-in life. So of course I decided to paint it. (Who knew that was coming? Raise your hand) I had originally intended to put this in my guest room over the bed but changed my mind. Thus the white pom poms now grace the "girl room" (as I affectionately refer to it) instead of my kitchen wall. Anyway, I've been obssessed with yellow now for a while and there came the color choice.

And here you have it. Nice shiny coat of paint:

I just put some burlap in the frame for now. I can't decide what I want to do with it. Nothing's good enough for the perfectionist in me. Ideas?

Here's the frame in action:

Doing it's best to save the most awkward wall ever. Good job frame.

Coming up on part 2...tackling the kitchen cabinets!Stay tuned.

::new fossil love

Got the fossil catalog the other day. I really like some of the stuff they have coming out. Take a gander won't you?

::i want. i love. i have.

I want: How cute is this lamp from Anthropologie?

Perfect for hanging over my kitchen sink. *sigh AND it's on sale. *sigh again

I love: Pom poms in a bedroom. Really I love them anywhere :) but I've recently moved mine.

I have: A new chair in my den. Found it at a garage sale for $8! It's in almost perfect condition (had the dad tighen up some screws and polish it...thanks dad!). I recently pulled the tag off the underside of the chair and it was made in 1970 :D Love a true, vintage piece.