Random Happenings

Sometimes taking pictures of life events just plain skips my mind. Take for instance my best friend Shelby coming into town to visit for the weekend (the best friend whom I maybe get to see once a year if I'm lucky). We spend the whole weekend together and some how end up with NO pictures! The only thing I have to remember our weekend together is a pic I snapped afterwards to show her what I did with her gift she gave me...

Also, Brandon and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. We dressed up and went to a fancy dinner at V's. Do I have a picture of us all dressed up? Do I have a picture of our delicious prime rib dinner? No. I have one picture. A picture I snapped two days later of the roses he picked from our rose bush in our yard....

Alas, I did snap a couple pics of the 2010 Kansas City Susan G. Coleman Breast Cancer walk...

This one TERRIBLE self portrait may be one of the only camera captured moments I have taken of us this past month....

Sad, sad, sad...

Finally, Furniture

Okay, so we bought new furniture. IN MAY, and I am just now posting about it. Do you remember our hand-me-down furniture from before? It was blue, and leather, and OLD. See, Cove tried to cover it up with her bed just to hide how old it was...

I guess I should bash it too much. They were free, and we are STILL using them in the newly remodeled basement. So on to the exciting stuff, the new furniture looks great...

We bought them from NFM. We spent $1052, plus some extra money for the furniture protection spray stuff. We actually got the sofa and the chaise from separate sets, because I couldn't find a sofa set I liked with a matching chaise. I kind of like them mismatching, so it wasn't too big of a deal. The chaise has become Cove's new bed. We typically have a chocolate brown blanket on it for her to lay on but it was in the wash...

As you may also notice, the new, wider furniture made me invest in some new, narrower side tables. I snagged the ones in the picture above for $60 apiece from Cymax online + free shipping. I sold these old ones on Craig's list for $40...

Now that I have new furniture, I've thought of a few things I want to do next with the living room, including purchasing an area rug, investing in blinds and curtains, and building an accent wall (think Lettered Cottage guest bedroom look) behind the television stand to give the room and "true" focal point. See, this wall is really bare and boring...

Maybe Brandon will be up for a new project once the weather turns cold again ; )

Confessions

You may remember my first confessions a long time ago, found here. Well, here I am with a few more to add to my list...

1. I now know what it feels like to drive a on a VERY FLAT tire. Little did I know I likely drove a day and a half on a flat tire before a kind person stopped at a red light behind me honked and pointed down enough times for me to realize something was wrong with my car. Funny part is I pulled over in the nearest parking lot, looked at the back of my car to figure out what they were pointing at and still couldn't find anything wrong. I drove the rest of the way home on my flat tire, thinking maybe my care has been accelerating slow for a day or so. I took a closer look in my driveway at home before FINALLY realizing my tire was flat. I'm a quick one, huh?! I had to drive on this lovely thing for 3 days before getting my tire replaced...

2. I have had a brand new, really nice, vacuum cleaner in a box since our wedding! We registered for one for our wedding, before purchasing our house which had NO carpet. We opened it for the first time shortly after getting the carpet installed downstairs over a year and a half later.

                                                   

3. We went to the lake for the 4th of July and the only pictures I took were of Cove. No family, no fireworks, just our smelly little bog doing thing like playing in the water with her best dog friend Riley...

                                 

And laying on the pile of limbs Brandon and his dad cut down...

                                 

It's sad isn't it?

4. Finally, I did not realize super glue CANNOT be used on plastic. I learned this the hard way. I had collected miscellaneous pink buttons to make a little letter art for my friend Mary's new baby. After learning she named her precious baby Hannah, I went right to work gluing down the buttons in a simple little H, for her adorable pink room. I came back hours later to realize the button looking like they were dissolving in the middle...

                                               

Whoops! I think I will stick to fabric glue now on...

Basement Bliss

Brandon's finally (almost) finished it, and I couldn't be happier. He has put in countless hours turning our blank-slate basement into an inviting rec room. I thought it was about time to put his progress down in print. So, this is what he started with...

(front corner view)

Yes, we had to install a new heater, duct work, air-conditioner when we moved in. That lovely hot water tank was included though! In case your wondering, the stairs come down from our dining room.

(back corner view)

Like I said, it was a blank-slate. Brandon went right to work. He started by framing in some walls.

(front, inside corner)

We left that side of the basement as our laundry room and storage area. Apparently we have a lot to store. I really need to get down there and organize that area. But, moving on...

Next, Brandon rented a paint sprayer and primed and painted our ceiling rafters...

It's kind of hard to tell, but they are a dark-gray color. Eight cans of paint later, he came out looking like this...

After all the painting was done, some foam insulation (that was laying on the ground during the ceiling painting process) was put in between the boards...

I'm sure you can guess what went up next...

Finally, we added some paint, trim, carpet, and wood accent walls (see inspiration post here) to come up with this...

(front corner)

(back corner)

(fireplace close-up)

Let's not be modest about this or anything...I LOVE HAVING OUR BASEMENT (almost) FINISHED!!!Surround sound and high-def television take our movie nights with friends to a whole new level around here.

Oh yeah, and I say almost because Brandon still has 4 more windows to change from this...

To this...

But who really spends time looking out basement window anyways...

so...

Things HAVE been going on in my life. I can't wait to start sharing all the dirty details SOON. Until then, you get this picture...

It's Cove rolling around like a crazy dog on the new carpet downstairs. Who'd of thunk a dog would love a little plushness so much. I mean, she really has had only hardwood floors to lay on until now. I guess she is making up for lost time. Silly pup.

Finally, Flowers

After my husband went around the yard using this...

And I went around spreading these...

We finally decided to do something with our boring front yard...

And spent Saturday afternoon planting these...

(Yes, we still have disposable paper blinds in those windows....shhhh)
We didn't go all out or anything. I was dreaming of a black paver lined flower bed full of lush blooming annuals, but settled with chepo quick edging and $3 perennials (I will admit there is tons more selection when you bump up to the $5/plant section, but resisted the temptation).

Want a little breakdown on what one, simple flower bed costs a couple people? Here ya go...
Roll of weed-ex black cloth to put underneath flower bed     $11.97
Black quick edging to line the bed with   $ 9.97
50ft weeper hose to weave around flower so the self water when you turn the hose on    $8.97
The Y adaptor to be able to use your other hose with the weeper hose     $5.97
4 bags of pre-fertilized soil     $32 ($8/bag)
14 Hosta perennial plants (small size)     $42 ($3/plant)
14 Candy Stripper Phlox flowers      $42 ($3/plant)
6 bags of cedar mulch    $17.88 ($2.98/bag)

For a grand total of $180.73
After my 10% discount and $30 giftcard we actally spent $145.21 though...not to shabby for a little more curb appeal, huh?!

Change

Don't you just love when you realize something you've done isn't a good as something else you could do? It happens to me all the time. I find an idea I like, do it, then find another idea that I like better. It drives the hubs crazy. In my defense though, he only had to help hang the second idea ; )

So, remember this picture wall...

(pictures compliments of my sister, Kara Elaine)

And these Craig's list find chairs...

They look a bit different now...

I decided that I like Pattery Barn Holman shelves better that the previous picture collage. I also re-did the chairs with white paint and new fabric. I took pictures of all the work that went into the chairs, but the death of my last phone was also the death of those pictures. I will admit I had the help of my very talented Gma who not only sewed the front portions of the seat covers together (thanks,Gma!), but gave me tips throughout the whole process.

I actually am thinking of revamping the collage idea into another corner of the room using this picture as inpiration...

I went ahead purchased a few unique frames from the thrift store and spray painted them white to start my collection...let the fun begin!