The Nest Chapter

Built-in-spiration: Fireplace Built-in Bookcase

2012-02-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

We currently have a built in bookcase next to our fireplace. We're considering adding more shelves up to the ceiling, which would bring some more height into the space. I also would like to enclose the bottom three shelves to give some more functional storage.

I've found some great ideas through Pinterest and I'm trying to figure out if these would work in our space. Most of the fireplace bookcase built in photos I find have bookcases on either side. We don't have a centered fireplace, so these options don't work for us. The photo below has a bookcase on just one side, but it still has a centered fireplace.

Southern Living

Most of the photos I find are like this:

Decor Pad

I love the look of this, but it's unrealistic to think ours will look like this. Right now I'm loving the idea of the extra storage, especially adding the closed storage on the bottom, but we have a bit of reservations about the project.

Will it look lopsided?

Will it take the fireplace away from the focal point?

Will other people like the look of it? (resale value in the future)

What do you think? Add the storage, or keep it as is?

Small Bathroom Space Savers

2012-02-20T08:03:00.000-05:00

We had big plans for a bathroom renovation this year. I don't know where we got our intial budget number, but it was a far cry from what we would actually need. It looks like a complete reno is out of the question for now, but we're still hoping to do a few projects to make the small space work better for us.

One of the main things we need help with is towel storage. We currently have no where to put them. One option is adding a rack over the toilet.

Better Homes & Garden

Another option is to add a shelf over the door.

Shelterness
Another towel issue is where to put the wet towels. We currently just hang them over the shower pole, but it doesn't look nice. I think a couple of hooks on the back of the door would help. Another idea I like is to add closed storage over the toilet, like the one below from Frugal Home Designs. However, we could only do the towel rack, or this option so we'll have to decide which is more needed.

Frugal Home Designs

The most obvious storage fix is to get a medicine cabinet with storage. We currently have a mirror, but if we could find a mirror/storage combo, it would go a long way.

Better Homes & Garden

Do you have any space saving or storage ideas for a small bathroom?

Valentine's Activities

2012-02-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Valentine's week has been pretty fun around here. I haven't always been a huge fan of the holiday, but I'm starting to turn around because a. who doesn't like chocolate? b. who doesn't like cards? c. Who doesn't like flowers? and d. who doesn't like love? This year, I embraced the holiday and it was probably my best one to date.

To start off, I took a chocoalte making class with my mom and sister. We went to a local shop and took a two hour class and learned how to make amazing truffles, ganache and filled candies. We learned alot and I kind of want to go back for a refresher.

I also made a dinner this week for some family and ended it with an oreo cheesecake from scratch.

If anyones interested in the recipe, I'd be happy to post it.

Jim and I went to dinner on Valentine's day. He came home from work with two dozen roses and a card. It was simple and perfect. My favorite part has been fresh flowers in the house all week.

Are you a fan of Valentine's day? What did you do this year?

Recycling Paint Chips

2012-02-09T19:45:00.000-05:00

We've painted four rooms now and since I'm indecisive, it's left us with a lot of paint chips. I don't like to throw them out, so I hold on to them until I can find another use. I've seen some really cool projects in the past where people turned them into artwork or used them to create holiday decor. I like to use them for cards.

I had some downtime this week, so I decided to put some of them to use. I created some nautical stationery and cards for some upcoming spring events. I used my Martha Stewart anchor craft punch on the paint chips and used them to embellish some cards. I think they turned out good and the project was super cheap!

Do you recycle paint chips? What do you do with them?

Guest Room: Vintage + Modern

2012-02-06T12:04:00.001-05:00

I'm home with Sky today, so I thought I'd share the guest room progress. When I'm home, he follows me wherever I go, so he decided to get in a photo. I think he actually goes with the room pretty well though.

Anyways, now that we have the paint complete, the rug and bed have arrived, we moved on to the decorative touches. We decided to go with the West Elm striped bedding set. I had really wanted to incorporate stripes in some way and the bedding was our winner. I still like the idea of using a bunch of decorative pillows instead of a standard bedding pillow, but we'll have to see if it's in the budget.

Between the bold striped bedding, the graphic rug and the graphic lighting base, I feel like the room is getting more modern than I'm used to. I decided the room needed a few vintage-esque pieces to balance it. We had the perfect solution with a few of our past projects. Awhile back, I had shared our dresser reno project on my friend Amanda's blog, Love & Renovations.

We also renovated the matching nightstand.

These two were hanging out in our office/craft room, but we thought they would look better in the guest room. The mix of vintage and modern gives the room a little more character. I have an idea for another family heirloom piece I'd like to add, too. We'll just have to wait for the spring to work on that one.

I like the mix of old and new. I'm kind of all over the place in my design tastes, so I like incorporating a few styles in this room. We still have some work to do, but we're happy with the progress.

Do you prefer modern, vintage or a mix? What other styles inspire your home design?

Look for Less: Anthro Knobs

2012-02-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

Awhile back I found the Anthropologie hardware section and immediately knew I want to add fun hardware to our next diy furniture project. I was especially drawn to the mercury glass melon knob in silver. I pinned it as a reminder to look at Anthro when we start a future project.

This past weekend on one of my regular trips to HomeGoods, I ended up seeing these in the checkout line:

I have no idea what we're going to do with them, but I couldn't pass up the price. The Anthro knobs are $8.00 each, the HomeGoods version? $7.99 for four! One knob is 25% of the price of the Anthro version, or you can think of it as getting three free.

We have three months to decide if we'll actually use them, or these will be returned. I was just too excited about the deal. I've become a fan of Sabrina Soto's show the Look for Less on HGTV and I always wonder how she does it. This was probably the first time I've found something so perfect at such a great deal. Here's hoping I get better at it!

If you are an Anthro knob fan and have a HomeGoods near you, they also had similar options to the bubbled glass knobs in mint. They had other options, too. I know all stores carry different things, but it may be worth a look at this price.

Are you good getting the look for less? Where do you go for deals?

Rugs USA Review

2012-02-01T18:30:00.000-05:00

Now that the painting is done, we were able to put down our new rug from Rugs USA. We purchased the surya archive rug in gray. I was really happy with the quality of the rug. I first saw it in coral on the Cailin Wilson Design blog. I absolutely loved it in coral, but was excited to see it in gray, since it works perfectly in the design we're going for.

I am happy with Rugs USA. It was my first time ordering from them. They had a sale going on and from the looks of my inbox after ordering, it looks like they have sales often. When I first opened the rug and felt the material, I wasn't sure I liked it. When I felt the texture, it felt a little rough. Originally that's what I wanted because we have a cat and dog and we wanted something more durable. Jim said let's just put it down and decide if we want to keep it (they have a good return policy). After putting it down and stepping on it, we did like how it felt on our feet. It was perfect, so we decided to keep it.
The one thing I think I made a mistake on was the size. I didn't want to completely cover the hardwood floors because they were our big splurge on the house. I love the look of hardwoods and thought we wouldn't even use rugs before this. I like that you can still see the floors, but design wise, I don't know if it should be bigger.

How do you feel about area rugs? Do you like to cover the whole floor or smaller areas?

This review is my own. I receieved no benefit for doing so, I just really like the rug!

Chalkboard Gallery Wall- Final Reveal

2012-01-29T17:57:00.001-05:00

This weekend, Jim added the fifth and final diy chalkboard to our gallery wall. He also fixed the others, which were really crooked. He used self adhesive rubber bumpers, which can be found at your local hardware store, to straighten out the chalkboard which were crooked.

They are super easy to use, you just apply them to the back of the frame on the corners. Then straighten them to where you would like. The bumpers are also helpful to protect furniture, we have similar ones on our bedroom furniture, which hold the glass tops onto our dresser and nightstands. I'm not actually sure they are supposed to be used for straightening wall hangings, but Jim thought they would work and they did, which is helpful since a few of the frames were looking too crooked to me.

Before:

After:

Are there any products you use for something other than their intended use?

Incorporating Stripes

2012-01-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

In our last post, I revealed our paint choice- Benjamin Moore's Harbor Gray. We opted not to do the stripes I originally wanted, so now I'm looking for other ways to include stripes. We're working with a neutral color palette, so I want to punch up the design with some bold patterns. Bold stripes are high on the list.

The first option is West Elm's stripe duvet cover in white and feather gray. I originally planned to purchase a daybed cover and get lots of fun pillows in different prints. Then I realized how much all those decorative pillows will cost and nixed the idea. I think it's much more practical to go with an actual bedding set for the guestroom, since it will get a decent amount of use. This room has also made me realize I really want to learn to sew, so maybe in the future, I'll be able to make my own pillows.

West Elm

I found this amazing mudroom closet makeover via pinterest. It's from The 36th Avenue
blog. We have a decent amount of paint left, so it could be a good way to include striped walls, but in a more subtle way. It may also make me want to keep the closet a little more organized, which would be a bonus.

source

We're planning to renovate a couple hand me down furniture pieces for the room, which is another great way to use the left over paint. This dresser I found on the Michaela Noelle Designs blog is really inspiring. I like that she included both stripes and chevron in the design. It definitely has that mix of patterns I'm looking for.

source

Another option is to include stripes in smaller details throughout the room. There are a lot of options. I think once we start pinning down other elements of the design it will be easier to narrow down.

Have you included stripes or other bold patterns into your home? Any suggestions on how to incorporate them?

Progress: The Guest Room

2012-01-16T16:52:00.001-05:00

We're finally making progress in the guest bedroom. Until this weekend, it has been the holding spot for miscellaneous furniture and boxes. Since we gave away the way too big for this room queen bedroom set, we haven't had anywhere for guests. We really didn't think a guest bedroom was that necessary until we no longer had the bed and realized how much we actually use it.

Way back in November, we ordered the West Elm window daybed. It was on back order so we just got it this month. It was the push we needed to get working on this room. We ended up finding a rug this month and we finally painted the room.

We had been going back and forth between doing striped walls or one color. I was really pulling for the striped walls, but the more I thought about it, it seemed like it may make the room feel smaller. If we had a large room to work with, I would have gone with the stripes. I love how bold they are, but I don't know if it would work in this room. I'm thinking of other ways to work stripes into the design.

Once we made the decision on the stripes, we could finally pick out a paint color. I originally chose Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter, but after spending time narrowing down our choices at the Benjamin Moore Store, we both thought Harbor Gray would be a better choice.

I know you're supposed to get paint samples and test the colors to see how they look before making a decision, but we tend to just pick our favorite and go with it. This is the fourth room we've painted without testing first and we've been 4 for 4.

I like the idea of going somewhat monochromatic. I think it will make the room feel brighter and more open. The Harbor gray seems to have done the trick. Here's a sneak peak:

I'm excited to add the rug and finish decorating the room. I think the white furniture will look amazing.

The room has already come a long way:

Have you found any design ideas you love that just don't seem to work in your space?

DIY Chalkboard Gallery Wall

2012-01-08T15:37:00.001-05:00

Last month, I shared Jim's DIY mirror to chalkboard makeover. It ended up being the first of five chalkboards. Four of which now hang in our dining area. I've seen tons of photos on Pinterest that have a chalkboard included in a wall gallery, but I thought it would be fun to do all chalkboards.

The plan has always been to do neutrals in our living spaces, so I can mix up the decor for holidays. I think the chalkboards will be a fun and cheap way to get more festive. All we'll have to do is write something like "Merry Christmas" and it instantly makes the room a little more holiday ready.

We still want to add one more chalkboard in the top right hand corner, but I was getting to impatient to share the project. Jim has literally been working on this for months. It started back in the summer, when we went thrifting for the first time. I found a mirror and Jim transformed it into a chalkboard, you can find details here.

Over time we've slowly been collecting the next few to add to the wall gallery. We wanted to get a couple interesting frames and some that were less ornate. We ended up finding everything we needed at our two local shops, it just took some time. We used 2 mirrors and the rest were empty frames.

It's been fun collecting the frames together. It's my favorite project so far.

We still have a ways to go though. We need to add the last frame and we need to get some thing to make the frames centered. They are looking a little crooked right now, but Jim said it's nbd, he can get something form the local hardware store to fix that. Once it's complete, I'll do a final reveal!

Are you working on any exciting projects you want to share?

New Year, New Projects

2012-01-02T13:29:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

This year we had big ides for our little home. Due to the plumbing fiasco of 2011, we had to hold off on many of these projects. However, we were able to accomplish a few things like refinancing the house, painting the shutters, makeover the craft room, paint the dining room, paint our master bedroom, hang some curtains in the living room, renovate some furniture pieces, make a chalkboard refrigerator and start a chalkboard project for the dining room. After a pretty long hiatus, we have lots of work to do to accomplish the projects on our to-do list. Many of these won't happen this year, but I think 2012 will be a big yearin our house.

The major one will be renovating the bathroom. It is currently a pink, floral, handicap bathroom. Not really our style. It desperately needs to be updated. We're hoping to tackle this project sometime before the fall. The main goal is to get rid of the handicap "tub". I say "tub" because although it is shaped like a tub, it can't actually be used as a tub due to the dip to get in. I also want to change the color scheme, get rid of the wallpaper and make it more functional. Right now we have no place to hang towels and the only storage is underneath the vanity.

Another big project is the guestroom. It's actually not that big since we already purchased all of the main components. We really just need to paint and decorate. However it feels like a big project because the room is a pretty empty space right now, so this room will seem like a big change. It looks a lot like the before picture in the home tour:in the beginning post, except there is hardwood flooring in it now and a lot of boxes that need to go to the attic.

Our biggest project that we're dreaming of is a kitchen renovation. The kitchen was renovated less than two years ago by the seller. However, the sellers were the children of the original owner who is deceased, so they went the cheap route on updates. It looked pretty nice when we purchased, but 1.5 years later and everything is falling apart. The covering they used on the pink counters is chipping (it gave a granite effect). Plus all the drawers and cabinets are literally falling apart, breaking, or sagging. It's too expensive of a project for the near future, but it's something we're dreaming of doing nonetheless. While we won't be starting this project in 2012, we will start pricing it out, so we can start budgeting and savings and get a more realistic timeline.

Those are the big projects, but we have lots of little things to come. We're in the middle of one of my favorite projects right now, which I hope to share soon.

What are your goals for 2012? Any home projects on the list?

Inspired: Striped Walls

2011-12-28T21:08:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been really drawn to striped walls. I've been especially drawn to gray and white stripes, which happens to be the color scheme we're going for in the guestroom. We're hoping to paint the room this weekend, so now the question is to stripe or not to stripe?

with this nest

nest design studio blog

Option two is to go with a pale gray like Benjamin Moore's revere pewter.

traditional home

What do you think? stripes- yay or nay?

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-26T21:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays! We've been busy enjoying all of the holiday festivities. We had a busy season between hosting our first ugly sweater party, making 12 different types of cookies, seeing the nutcracker, attending holiday parties, wrapping presents, making holiday cards, outlet shopping and of course, chopping down our tree.

We went for round two this year and had a blast.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday, too!

Guestroom: Decorative Pillows

2011-12-20T19:26:00.002-05:00

Our guestroom daybed is scheduled to be delivered in a couple of weeks. Now I get to start picking out the fun things like the decorative pillows I want to cover it in. I'm debating on whether to do all grays and whites in the room, or add some pops of color. I've thought of coral, yellow, blue and green. The photo below has me thinking gray and white is the way to go, at least for now. I love this room from Centsational Girl.

I'm already starting to find a lot of fun options. I want this room to be filled with interesting prints. I love mixing different prints. Sometimes I can go over board, so I'm trying to hold off until I have an overall vision. I've found so many different options, everything from prints, to texture to starfish icon pillows. For now though, it's fun collecting ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:

DwellStudio Labryinth Ash pillow from All Modern

Greige Deco Pillow from Caitlin Wilson Textiles

Charcoal City Maze Pillow from Caitlin Wilson Textiles

Crystal Beaded Pillow from Crate & Barrel

Taza Pillow from Crate & Barrel

Starfish Pillow cover from Etsy seller KainKain

Do you have any recommendations on where to get great pillows or pillow covers?

Mirror to Chalkboard re-do

2011-12-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I discovered chalkboard paint and I've been so excited to test it out. After we bought an old mirror, I thought it would be fun to swtich out the mirror and make it into a chalkboard. I loved the ornate frame.

I was really excited to start this project. We went to Home Depot and bought chalkboard paint, spray paint, a wood panel, and some extra paint rollers. I had every intention of starting the project that week. Then things came up and it sat in the garage. As the weeks went on, Jim was getting antsy. One night while I was making supper, Jim told me he was going to cut the wood for the backing. Jim traced the shape of the mirror on to the wood then used a jigsaw to cut it down.

He then used a sander to fix the edges and smooth it out.

After the backing was complete, I thought I'd step in, but he just kept going. He did a coat of the chalkboard paint and let it dry. The next night he added a second coat and then decided to spray the frame. He did it outside and had the smart idea of hanging it so he could get all the different angles.

I absolutely love the look of it. Now we just have to figure out where to hang it.

Didn't Jim do a great job?

Making a list and checking it twice

2011-12-17T13:06:00.000-05:00

We had lofty goals for 2011. Way back in the Spring, I put together a to-do list of home projects. I kind of forgot about it until I started putting together a list for 2012 (I like lists). I went back and started checking off what we accomplished and it definitely wasn't nearly as much as we wanted, but our house has come along way in the past year. I think next year will be even better, since we have some things set in motion for some big upcoming projects.

Here is what we planned to do. The items crossed off are the items we actually accomplished in 2011.

Bathroom:
Install new Shower
New Tiles or Beadboard on walls
New flooring
Paint
New curtains and shower curtain
New vanity/sink and new mirror
New hardware, including towel racks, hand towel rack and toilet paper holder
Add more storage

Bedroom:
~~Paint Walls Navy~~
Hang Artwork
Purchase white comforter
Work on storage in closet, maybe add a shoe rack?

Kitchen:
Arrange storage spaces

Dining Room:
~~Paint~~
New Artwork over breakfast buffet

Office:
Hang Diplomas
Move wine fridge out
~~Paint dresser white and move in~~
Paint closet interior

Living Room:
Paint
Find Artwork for over fireplace
Find storage for kindling/paper for fire
Find wall decor to hold keys in entryway
Purchase rug for entry way
Hang Curtain Rod
Purchase drapery
New Door for entry way closet
Find decorative items for mantle

Garage:
Add storage for KayakBetter Laundry Set Up
Storage for year round
New Flooring/ paint?

Multi:
New Windows

Outdoors:
~~Pull up rocks off patio~~
New Deck
Paint Shutters Black
New Mailbox - black or silver/charcoal
New house number
Fix Siding
Plant Flowers
Remove Bushes - after choosing new ones
~~Remove trees~~Remove tree stumps
Remove Fence
New lounge furniture
Add outdoor lighting
Purchase all year door rugs
Create Fire Pit Area
Purchase, put together/paint adirondack chairs for pit area

Guest Room
Sell Bed Set
~~Purchase twin/day bed~~
Refinish night stands

We had a few unexpected things come up, which aren't on the list. OverallI wish we got more done, but there are only so many hours in a day and so many dollars in our budget.

Here's hoping for a more productive 2012. Did you accomplish as much as you wanted in 2011?

Guest Room Plans are Coming Along

2011-12-15T21:25:00.001-05:00

Awhile back, I asked for some advice on style or function when it comes to our future guest bed. After a couple months, we finally made our decision and we ordered the West Elm window day bed.

It was the clear winner. I love the graphic design and I'm really excited about putting the guest room together now. We've been saving up and we finally have some money put aside for this new project, which is a good things because I'm starting to find a ton of elements I love.

I recently ordered the Surya Archive rug from Rugs USA in gray.

I saw it in coral on the Caitlin Wilson Design blog and instantly fell in love. I really wanted to get the pink, but Jim didn't really care for this idea. He finally got me to say goodbye to the pink shutters, he's not looking to add more pink antyime soon. I still think it looks awesome though.

I'm looking forward to both of these coming in. Now we just need to paint and then it will be on to the fun part....decorating!

How are your home projects coming along?

Project Refinance

2011-12-11T19:08:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, we went to a house warming at our friend's new home. We went expecting to have a good time, but we ended up coming away with much more than a fun night out.

While we were there, we were talking to a friend of the couple, who happens to be a realtor. Somehow we got on the topic of mortgages and he mentioned how low rates were. This wasn't something on our radar at all up to this point. We got a good rate when we purchased. We knew it's gone lower since then, but we didn't realize how low. We just bought our house less than two years ago, so looking at rates wasn't something we thought to look into. However, the next Monday, I decided to peak and see how good they actually were. We learned a 30 year loan is one percent lower than our current rate. This gave us something to think about. A lot to think about actually.

Researching the pros and cons of re-financing is the biggest home project we've taken on since the actual purchase of our home. It involved a lot of research and looking into the future. We had to think about:

Can we afford to re-finance? (there are lots of up front fees)
What loan providers would we consider using? Stay with our current loan provider, or look elsewhere?
What's better in our situation, a fixed rate or variable?
What is better, a 15 year loan, 20 year loan, or 30?
Are points a good option?
Could we afford to pay points?
If we could afford it, is it better to pay points or pay down some of the principal?
What loan gives the best monthly payments in our situation? (this gets answered by looking at the up front costs vs. monthly costs of the different types of loans and how much paid in points)
How long do we plan to live here?
Does it make sense? Will the cost to refinance be worth the savings in the long run?

Most of these questions can be figured out using online calculators to see what makes the most sense. Deciding how long we want to live in our current home was the hardest question. It was also the most important in deciding if the re-finance would be worth it at all. Because of the up-front costs, refinancing doesn't always make sense. If we only plan to stay for a couple of years, we would essentially be throwing money out the window. Paying points especialy is only worth it if we plan to stay longer term.

We used this calculator to do a comparison between 15, 20 and 30 year loans. It's incredible to see how much you can save by moving to a shorter term loan. The down side is the monthly payment can go up significantly. We could also see what the payments would be based on how many points we spent, if any. After putting in our information, points and the rates we were considering, we were able to see the approximate monthly payment and the savings potential over the life of the loan.

We finally decided what was right for us and we closed a couple weeks ago! It was pretty stressful, but it ended up being worth it. Looks like we'll be sticking around this little nest for awhile.

Have recent rates enticed you to consider buying a home or refinance? What resources did you use to make the decision?

Chocolate Mint Snow Cap Cookies

2011-12-06T18:12:00.001-05:00

I recently receieved an e-mail chain for a cookie exchange. Usually I delete all e-mail chains, but I love trying new cookie recipes, so I decided to play along. The rules asked for an easy recipe, so I went with a new favorite that I tried for the first time last year- chocolate mint snow cap cookies. They are Jim's favorites and one of mine, too. So as soon as I decided to play along, I knew I wanted to send these out.

To make these, you'll need:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon mint flavoring (or a bit more if you prefer a stronger flavor)

Powdered Sugar

Pinch of Salt

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Combine flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt; set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, microwave 1 cup chocoalte chips and butter. Make sure to check every so often to avoid burning- take out an mix smooth every 30 or so seconds.

4. Beat in granulated sugar until combined, then beat in eggs, vanilla and mint flavoring. Add in flour mixture stirring until combined. Add remaining chocolate pieces.

5. Shape doughinto 1 inch balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on a non-stick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 9 1/2-12 minutes (I like mine a bit softer, so I go for 9 1/2 minutes)

7. Cool for a few minutes on a baking sheet.

Makes about 40 cookies.

They get devoured pretty quick in our home.

What's your favorite recipe? If you want to participate in the cookie recipe exchange, leave your e-mail in the comments.

Now that I posted this, I have a feeling Jim's going to be making a reqest for more soon :)

Tree Decor: DIY Newlywed Christmas Garland

2011-12-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

Last year we purchased our first tree together. We didn't have a lot of ornaments since we never had our own tree so I came up with an idea to craft a wedding photo garland. I knew it would be time consuming, but I was really excited to include our wedding photos in our holiday decor.

So I purchased red and white cardstock and bakers’ twine. I then resized and printed off a ton of pictures of our families from the wedding.

Then, I used some craft punches to cut out scalloped circles for the “ornaments” and attached the punched out photos, and finally, I strung them together with the bakers’ twine to create a garland.

I loved looking at our tree decorated with family faces.

Especially photos of our family on the happiest day of our life (so far).

We then needed a tree toper. I wanted to be traditional and get a star, but couldn’t find any we liked. So we tied two Starfish left over from the wedding with the bakers’ twine to create our “star.”

Our tree was filled with love and wedding memories. So, here we are a year later. It seems funny to have a newlywed tree, since we aren't newlyweds anymore. Instead, I'm thinking of exchanging some of the photos with every day pictures because I love it too much to just not use it. Plus we don't have a lot of ornaments still. So it looks like the garland will be around for a bit while we work on building our collection. Jim's birthday gift to me this year definitely helped.

How'd you start building up your ornament collection?

O' Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

Clark: We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.

Audrey: We're not coming all the way out here just to get one of those stupid ties with Santa Clauses on it are we?
Clark: No, I have one of those at home.

Jim and I bought our first tree together last year. It was probably my most exciting newylwed moment. After about 7 years of dating, 5 years of living together and 2 months of marriage, we finally did it. Not only did we buy it, we also cut it down, true Griswold style. Except, instead of driving to the middle of no where, forgetting an ax, and having to dig it up- we just drove to the local Christmas tree farm and used a sawzal. Maybe it wasn't true Griswold style, but it was as close as I'll ever get.

We made an event out of of it. Jim and I had really wanted to cut our own and while we were chatting with some friends, we found out they did too. So we did a little research, picked a place and planned a date.
We started off by stopping at Starbucks to get some hot chocolate- true yuppie style. I used to buy my tree in the parking lot, but after we moved to the burbs I felt the need to be a bit more fancy. Starbucks seemed more appropriate than Dunkin Donuts.

Once we bought our hot chocolates and lattes, it was time to take care of business.

We drove for about 20 minutes (this is how you know you live in the burbs), then pulled into the tree farm's parking lot that looked packed. Luckily this was decieving and it wasn't too crowded. We were all amped up thinking we'd find the perfect tree in no time. We were sadly mistaken. Instead we roamed the farm for over two hours finding short trees, fat trees and short and fat trees.

Nothing that fit my images of "Griswold style" tree. If we wanted to go "Charlie Brown style", there were quite a few of those. I wanted big and perfect. Not too skinny, not too leafy.

Jim told me we had to go "where no man has gone before- you know, like outer space" to find the perfect tree. By outer space he meant down the hill and to the trees near the main road. I have to give him credit, he was right. After the two hour search, we finally saw some decent trees.

After we thought we found the one, we got a call from my sister and were told they found tons of amazing trees. So we dropped ours like a bad habit and headed to the other side of outer space. There they were...they were magnificiently...short. But they had to do, as they were the best on the lot. They didn't look so bad.

It was pretty appropriate that out of all the trees on the lot, my sister and I chose two trees next to each other. Typical.

I decided I wanted to cut our tree down. Jim laughed and said alright, I told him not to worry, I'd start it and make it easy for him and let him finish up.

But, since we had a sawzall I was able to do it all by myself. Even thought it was ridiculously easy, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

So much so, I felt the need to carry the tree over my head in victory to the car. Until Jim let me know I looked ridiculous. So I put it down and realized I had about a hundred pine needles in my hair.

While the guys packed up the car, my sister and I picked out our wreaths. We both debated going basic and decorating our own, until I found one that fit our red, white and snowflake theme. Once my sister realized she'd have to decorate hers on her own, she went pre-made, too.

When we got the tree home and set it up, I realized just how small it was. I should have figured this out by the fact I could lift it over my head. Oh well, Jim thought it was perfect and it grew on me.

Around the time we went to get our tree, I realized we didn't have the tree basics. I told Jim, "we really need to get a tree skirt". He told me, "Our trees gonna be a man, it won't wear a skirt." Where does he come up with this stuff?

And that is the story of our first Christmas Tree.

Have you ever cut your own tree? We're going for round two this weekend, it'll probably become a tradition around here.

Christmas Baking Extravaganza

2011-11-10T17:18:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year! As the holidays quickly approach, I've been planning my upcoming weekends and it's time to plan out a cookie date with my family.. Every holiday season my mom, sister and I have a cookie baking extravaganza. It goes on for days. We pretty much set aside a few Sundays in the month of December for cookie prep.

We have the system down. We spend the first day making all of the doughs. Last year we made sugar cookies, chocolate chip, snowballs, molasses, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter blowouts, peanut butter kiss, mint chocolate, and Cinnamon sugar to start. Then these all get frozen until ready to bake. Last year we decided to do double, sometimes triple batches of each cookie mix. We then divide them up and labeled freezer storage bags, so we know which is which later. The second day we get together is to make the Sugar Cookies. These are the most time consuming, but they last longer than the other cookies.

Last year, my Mom decided to make our annual event a bit more special. When we arrived at my sister's house, she had a surprise for us. She bought matching holiday aprons from Etsy seller momomadeit.

I love anything cheesy and over the top when it comes to holidays, so I loved it. Good job, Mom. Once we were all decked out in our new attire it was time to cut, bake and decorate.

My Mom always gets stuck with the "boring" jobs. She rolled out all the dough, while my sister and I got to do the fun parts and decorate.

Most of the cookie cutters have been around longer than I have, but a couple years ago my mom gave me mitten and snowflake cutters from Crate and Barrel. I think these are my two favorites.

My mom is partial to the nostalgic ones and loves the holly and the tree.

After lots of rolling dough, cutting out shapes, and sprinkling non perils, sprinkles and jimmies, it was time to get these guys in the oven.

We have a big cookie debate every single year on the length of cook time. I like mine kind of fluffy, so a bit undercooked, while my mom and sister like theirs crispy. Usually they ignore me and make them all crispy, but last year we compromised and made about a 3rd the way I like them.

These ones were perfection:

After lots of baking, we took some time to get a couple photos in front of the tree with our new aprons.

I can't wait for this years bake-a-thon.

What holiday traditions do you have with your family?

RIP Pink Shutters

2011-10-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

Back in Spring of 2010 we decided to purchase the house with the pink shutters. Jim said it wouldn't be pink for long and that the shutters would be the first thing we changed. Fast forward about 20 months and about 20 projects later and we finally completed project #1 on Jim's list.

They had a good run. They made our house look especially festive for Easter and easy to locate when friends come over, but it was definitely time for them to go, along with our pink mailbox. I think we'll now be known as the house with the cool mailbox (according to me), instead of the house with the TV or pink shutters.

This past weekend our little nest went from this:

to this:

It took a little longer than expected. When we first looked into the project, we realized our shutters are not standard size. We decided to paint the current ones, instead of purchasing new. This was all well and good for the shutters on the back of the house, but mid-way through the project, Jim realized repainting the front ones was not going to happen. They broke easily as he took them down. So, we ended up doing a special order for the shutters on the front of the house.

I really didn't do much with this project, it was all Jim. He did all the research, purchasing and work. I helped hold up a few shutters as he drilled the holes in. He did teach me something about paint though. I thought we could just spray paint the current ones, but thanks to the helpful person at our local home store, he learned you can't necessarily just spray the old shutters, it depends on the type of paint used previously.

We still have a few more curb appeal projects to do......
1. New house number
2. New color for the entry door
3. New screen/glass door combination with coordinating hardware
4. New doorbell plate & fix the doorbell so it works
5. New awning/get rid of it
6. Remove large bushes and replace with something on a smaller scale

It sounds like a lot written out, but we're taking it one project at a time. We're just hoping it doesn't take another 20 months to complete our curb appeal makeover. We did however make a decision on the mailbox and it's already gotten us a few compliments. Thanks to everyone who gave their opinion, it definitely helped in making up our minds. The envelope mailbox was the clear winner!

Did you have any projects that were at the top of your list that dragged out way too long?

Guest Bedroom- style or function?

2011-10-19T07:23:00.002-04:00

We have a guestroom, which we haven't done much with. When we moved in, we put in a hand-me-down queen bedroom set. It fit in the room, but it was over powering. It left the room with little function, other than holding guests and some extra clothes.

We want the room to function better for our lifestyle and do some double duty. We aren't exactly sure how to utilize it yet, but we want to start by using a twin bed instead of a queen. It will give us much more room. We pretty much only have one guest at a time anyways.

We are in the process of selling the queen bedroom set on Craigslist. It's my first attempt at Craigslist and it's not going as we hoped. Maybe it's the time of year? Not sure, but hopefully it sells soon. We're hoping whatever we make from that will cover a decent amount of the costs of the new furniture. We only plan to get a daybed, mattress, matress cover, and sheets.

We're struggling with whether we should go for style or function. I'd love to include more pieces that have a design element. Our current pieces are all more traditional and functional. For style, I'd love something like the West Elm window day bed. I love the graphic design.

Our guestroom is small, so style may not win out. We may need to go with something with more function. I like the idea of having a piece with storage. I'd like something similar to the Pottery Barn Kids Belden bed. I love that the lack of a headboard makes the bed minimal and the storage adds function. Extra drawers are always a plus for us.

For the next 5 or 6 years, I think style works fine, we don't actually have anything that needs storage in that room, but long term, the storage would be good. Although, things could change in 5 years anyways, so who knows if we'll actually need a bed with extra storage.

What would you do? style or function? Any tips for selling on Craigslist?

diy door updates

2011-10-11T05:58:00.000-04:00

Lately, I've been really inspired by doors. It all started with the September issue of Martha Stewart Living.

There was a whole feature on door updates, which included a door with nail head trim. I love nail heads on head boards and chairs, but this idea is completely new and genius.

source

It looks like it takes a lot of effort, but I love the outcome.

After seeing all of the amazing updates in Martha, I also started noticing bright colored doors on Pinterest and in the blogosphere on sites such as Love & Renovations. I grew up in a home with bright doors. My mom loves red, so every door to our home including the bulkhead was bright red. I think red is one of the more traditional bold choices, but it seems like anything goes now. In our neighborhood, I've seen lime green, tiffany blue, bright blues, reds, and yellow. Shortly before we moved in, our own front door was pink, our back door still is. We're looking for something a little more us.

source

I'm really drawn to bold doors, but when it comes to choosing a color, I keep hesitating. I've considered light, but bright greens, yellows, red, and blues. When it comes down to, I don't know if I'll actually be able to commit to a color. I love decorating for the holidays, so I like having more neutral colors in rooms and spaces that are optimal for holiday decor. When I think of holiday decor, I become more drawn to going with greys or black. They just don't seem as fun on a daily basis though.

source

Along with color updates, I've been really inspired by hardware. Hardware is a simple update, but definitely adds more character to a door. When we first bought our home, I didn't really care for the generic gold door knobs going into every room. So far we've only updated the main door, but after seeing lots of fun options at Anthropologie, I'm pretty inspired to consider doing a few more updates in the future. I went to Pinterest to look for some unique options and I've been finding a bunch. The only concern with door knobs is all of ours bedroom doors are pretty close together, so it would look pretty random to swtich out just one. If we do something a little more unique it would have to go with the vibe of all rooms, or we'd at least have to find ones that coordinate well. Otherwise, our hallways may look really random.

source

Another find from Martha Stewart's feature was the stenciled geometric door. We are on a tight budget with most of our home projects, so this would be a fun way to update a door. I like how this project has two layers, it looks more interesting than other stenciled doors I've seen.

source

One I definitely want to do is add molding. This seems like the simplest update and it's classic. So if we tried to re-sell our home at some point, it has more mass appeal than some of the more tatse specific updates we're considering.

source

Have you updated any of your doors? Are there any door updates you are hoping to try?

Curb Appeal: The Box

2011-10-10T08:30:00.004-04:00

We're in the middle of a front house makeover. The first step was choosing a paint color for the shutters and now we're looking at mail box options. I've looked at a bunch of different online sites for mailboxes and our two favorites happen to be from the same site, Pottery Barn.

I love the character of the envelope mailbox. I haven't seen anything like it. It scores extra points because it will fit our new color scheme well, black and white. The aluminum will be a nice touch without looking out of place. We have silver details on our door.

The second option is the Post mailbox. I love fonts, so having a pretty font on the front makes this simple mailbox a little more fun. It only comes in bronze, which I'm not completely sold on with our color scheme, but I love everyhting else abut it.

We aren't sure which one to get, so we're thinking it over for a bit. Either one will be a huge improvement from our current mailbox.

Which would you pick? Do you know of any websites that sell simple or unique mailboxes?

Night Stand Re-do

2011-10-06T20:41:00.001-04:00

I recently shared our dresser renovation on my friend Amanda's blog, Love & Renovations. We actually have more pieces to the set and we recently finished piece number two- one of the night stands.

We followed all of the same steps in our first post, but this time, we sanded down the drawer more to prevent from sticking.

I had originally said this set was from my grandparents, but after my mom read the post she corrected me and let me know that it was from my great grand parents. So it's more of an heirloom than I thought, which makes it all the more special. We still have another night stand to refinish and a bureau with a mirror, which is at my mom's. Some where along the way, the bed was given away, but I'm happy we have the other pieces around. When my mom and brother heard we were renovating our pieces for future kids rooms, they both offered to give us their pieces to complete the set.

We aren't planning on having kids any time soon, so we're good with the three pieces we have now for our craft room storage, but I'm excited to one day have all these pieces together. I think they'll look perfect in a kid's room because the white pops so nicely against bright colored walls.

Do you have any heirloom pieces in your family? Would you renovate an heirloom or want to keep it in original condition?

Let's Get Cooking

2011-09-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love to bake, but I don't consider myself a cook. I'd like to change that. I grew up with a mom who was an incredible baker, so I was always in the kitchen with her making delicious treats. When it came to meals, our family dinners were pretty basic. This was mostly due to me being a finicky eater. When I moved out of the house, I pretty much knew how to make poultry and pasta dishes.

J grew up in a more adventurous home and loves trying new things. Luckily, he's got me to try new things too and I'm no longer a finicky eater, but I'm still not so adventurous in the kitchen. To help me get over my fear, my sister, friend and I decided to take cooking classes awhile back.

At first, the class wasn't what I expected. I was thinking we'd be in a big classroom, watch a demonstration, then start to cook ourselves. Instead we followed a recipe and the instructor came around to make sure we were following along and would give us tips as we went.

The food we made was incredible, but I was a little disappointed in the format of the class- at first. It's been a few months since the class and I've noticed I'm definitely more adventurous cooking at home. I've realized all I need to do is follow the recipes. Once I get comfortable with the basics, I get more adventurous. Which is pretty much how things were when I started baking.

Taking that class definitely boosted my cooking confidence in a short time. I'm no longer afraid to tackle any dishes and I'm really starting to enjoy cooking- almost as much as baking!

My new favorite dish actually came from the class. We took a Comfort Foods Class in our area (at the BCAE). Every thing we made in class was amazing and I have since made multiple times at home. I was expecting mac and cheese, but our instructor definitely stepped it up. My favorite dish was the french onion soup. I've always been afraid to make french onion because it seems kind of fancy and complicated. After taking the class, I've realized that while it is time consuming, it is probably the easiest thing to make. It tastes so good, so it's worth the time.

If you want to try it out, here is the recipe.

Easy French Onion Soup
6-8 Servings
4 tbs. (1/2 stick) butter - I use salted
1 tbs. olive oil
2 lb. yellow onions, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbs. all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp. Williams Sonoma Beef Demi-Glace
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
6-8 french bread slices
1/2 cup gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Carmelize the onions. In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter with 1 tbs. olive oil. Add the onions and cook, stirring occassionally, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occassionally, for 15 minutes. Uncover, add the sugar and saltand cook, stirrign occassionally, until the onions are carmelized, about 25 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Simmer the soup. Add the stock, wine and demi glace. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the black pepper. Reduce the heat to medium, cover partially and simmer until the onions begin to break down and melt into the broth, about 45 minutes.

My only recommendation is to make double, it's that good! It's also a great make ahead soup. I like to make it in advance when we have guests coming over. It's super impressive and easy to heat up. The flavors intensify over time, so it tastes just as good or better.

Where did you learn to cook? Do you consider yourself an amateur or a bit more adventurous?

Works in Progress

2011-09-08T22:03:00.003-04:00

J and I have been pretty scatter brained lately. Instead of just focusing on one project, we have a handful going on at the moment. Most of it has to do with the weather. All of these projects require painting, mostly outside, but it's been humid and rainy, so they get pushed aside and we start on new projects.

Here are some of the projects we have in the works or on our to do list:

Give new life to some thrift store frames and mirrors for a future collage wall.

Jim Jimma's still working on his chalkboard refrigerator. He may even change up the design a bit.

Painting the Shutters & the metal awning above the door, plus searching for a new mail box and house number - pretty much an outdoor overhaul. We're planning to remove the bushes next Spring, but that's a project for another day.

Back to projects, we finished our dresser renovation and I'm now working on one of the matching night stands.

We're hoping to paint an accent wall behind the fireplace soon.

Oh, and we just decided to find and renovate a piece of furniture for my brother's new apartment. Here's hoping we get a couple of these checked off our to do list this weekend.

What are you up to this weekend? Do you like to finish one project at a time or juggle a few at once?

I guess its about time.....

2011-09-05T13:49:00.007-04:00

First off, Hello. I guess I've been known as Mr. Starfish or Mr. Newport. I kinda prefer Jim. Its a little easier to spell, less punctuation and less letters and all. I am 100% new to Blogging, but have been doing the whole DIY thing for a while since we bought the house. I have to this point been the help behind Melissa's ideas. So I guess its time for me to post up some of my projects and or project ideas.

And don't go expecting a clean edited post from me. I start projects before I know they are coming here. I already forgot to take a before picture of my first project which is about 25% done right now. And now without further wait...my first project....

I told you it was 25% done. I have decided to take My Fridge...the one in the garage filled with beer and frozen food...and clean it up a bit. From the awful picture I took with my cell phone it doesn't seem like that bad of a fridge. It is. This is a $50.00 Craigslist fridge I bought a few years ago. I cleaned it for about an hour just get it looking decent. Then I filled it up and never looked back.

After seeing a few friends do the whole chalkboard wall thing, I decided to do my fridge. Only problem is that its full. So I have to do parts at a time. Today I just happened to have enough room in the freezer in the house to be able to do the freezer door. Sorry its not the cleanest work space, I'm working on that.

When you are undertaking a project like this make sure you have all the tools so when you do have the time to get things done you are not making several trips to the hardware store to get what you need. For this I needed some tools to get the door and handle off. Then just chalkboard paint and a roller. Before I started I used a Mr. Clean Magic Erasure and a damp paper towel. Then it was off to the races. Get it done fast enough so the stuff in the bottom part of the fridge doesn't go bad. This will be an ongoing project as its in my garage and not in the living room where it will drive me nuts.

Pinspiration: House Warming Gifts

2011-08-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love using Pinterest to store up thoughtful gift ideas. This past year has been the start of the home buying surge in my group of friends. This has meant a lot of house warming parties. I usually try to be creative, but I ended up just doing home baked treats and wine for most of these. Now I'm wishing I had been a little more creative because there are so many more thoughtful things to do on Pinterest and a lot of them are pretty easy!

Card making is a hobby of mine, so I especially love the idea of making a card with cute home details. This one is adorable. I also think it would be fun to add a Home Depot gift card or a home made coupon offering to help paint a room.

Source: bbpaperandink.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

For a first time home buyer, I think a little work bucket filled with home essentials, would be unexpected, but appreciated.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Home themed cookies are a fun treat. We bought these for my in-laws when they sold their home as a little congratulations, but it would be equally as fun for a new home - especially with kids!

Source: elenis.com via Melissa on Pinterest

My favorite house warming gift that we received was a custom address stamp from my cousin. It was fun to show off our new address in a fancy way.

Source: feltandwireshop.com via Melissa on Pinterest

This isn't exactly home related, but I love the idea of giving something more personal. I have a lot of friends who love to bake and think this would be something fun and different to give.

Source: bakeitpretty.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Since I usually go the wine route, this bottle is al ittle more appropriate and I know they sell it at a local win shop.

Source: magnificentwine.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Not all of our friends are purchasing homes, some are moving into new apartments. I think this diy planter is super fun.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Melissa on Pinterest

This one is probably my favorite. It's for new neighbors. It's a printable which gives information for local favorites. This would have been such a help to us. I'll have to remember it when we get new neighbors.

Source: beneathmyheart.net via Melissa on Pinterest

What was the best house/apartment warming gift you've received or given?

Progress: The Living Room

2011-08-15T05:30:00.006-04:00

I love Emily Henderson's Secrets of a Stylist on HGTV. When J and I style our home, we really try to incorporate both of our styles a la Emily. The living room has probably achieved it best. J wanted neutrals, comfort and function. I wanted details, texture and an overall cozy lived in feel. I think we've really achieved a cross between the two in our living room. I'll call it cozy function.

We see our living room as a place to relax and entertain friends. We definitely wanted it to be livable. J is a big guy, so more than anything he wanted a big couch. When we were searching for furniture we ended up with an extra long, extra wide couch in a neutral color - it literally hit all of J's points. It worked out perfect because in the same collection was a chair with a floral print that hit all of my points.
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Curtain Conundrum

2011-08-11T05:30:00.000-04:00

After purchasing curtains for the living room, J's moved on to the dining area. We have a sliding door from our dining area to the back yard. I love the light it brings in, so I never thought of adding a curtain to it, but J brought up a good point of conserving energy. When we lived with my mom, we didn't use the A/C nearly as much as we do now and a lot of it has to do with the sun beating down into our dining area. It's the warmest room in the house during the summer. We've noticed an improvement in the living room since we purchased curtains. The curtains are closed all day, so it makes sense to get curtains for the dining area, too.

"Those" Neighbors

2011-08-09T22:05:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty excited about our most recent purchase. It probably should have been number one our list back when we bought the house. That is besides the point, because as of now we'll hopefully no longer be known as "those neighbors".

You see, we have a distinguishing factor when it comes to our house. There is something you just can't miss and we are teased about it often......the T.V.

Fenced In

2011-08-07T17:08:00.001-04:00

This little guy ended up having a big impact on our housing search. We each had our own lists of must haves, but we also had a few must haves for Sky pup. Sky's top must have was a big yard. He's a Siberian husky and needs room to run. He isn't the kind of dog you can go for a walk off the leash, so running usually only happens in the back yard.

Since he loves to run so much and we can't catch up with him (without bribes of treats), we also knew a fenced in yard was a must. The house also needed a door with easy access to the yard. He has a habit of waking us up at 3 a.m. to go outside. Easy access was a top priority for all of us.

When we were looking at our current home it had all three criteria- big yard, fenced in and easy access. We just forgot to add that fence should be in good condition. When we moved in, the fence was falling down. J found a plaque on the fence with the makers name and number. He called them up and found out they had moved to a new location and changed names. They had done this over 20 years ago, so the fence had definitely seen better days.

Getting a new fence moved to the top of our priority list because we couldn't have Sky pup with us with the current one. Since our yard is fairly big, it wasn't a cheap task, but luckily for our family and friends, it was definitely do-able.

We purchased new fence sections and posts from a local company. It was a bit more expensive than going to a big home improvement store, but the quality was much better. We splurged there, but after getting a quote on installation, we decided to go the diy route. J, my dad and a few friends took on the project of tearing down the old one and putting up the new one. It wasn't easy, there was a lot of fence (a year later, we are still getting rid of the debris).

Because our land isn't completely level, they had to get a little creative with the construction. As you go across the yard some sections are higher than others. In some areas, there are gaps between the fence and the ground. This was definitely going to be an issue with sky, so my dad ended up getting wood slabs and securing them in the gaps, so Sky stays fenced in.

If we didn't have sky, this project wouldn't have been a huge priority, but it definitely makes our yard look better. We have a very happy dog , too. He's become a yard snob though and hates visits to his grandma's because he doesn't have a big yard to play in. She now has to babysit at our house to keep the pup happy. Good thing his grandma loves him just as much as us, so she doesn't mind.

Did your pets have any impact on your home search?

Bedroom: Inspiration to Reality

2011-08-04T19:25:00.001-04:00

sources: bed set, wedding photo, lamp, paint chip, chair, rug, water photo, nautical objects

Sometimes inspiration is found in the least expected places. Long before J and I even had a place to call our own, I knew exactly what I wanted our future bedroom to look like. It all started with a trip to Newport.

Getting Thrifty

2011-08-03T19:04:00.001-04:00

As soon as I finished renovating our dresser, I knew I wanted to try out some more renovation projects. So when we were on our way to the movies this past weekend, we came across a thrift store and I asked J to stop. I thought he was only humoring me, which I'm sure he was at first, but I think J and I found a new hobby.

As I perused the vintage frames and furniture, he kept pulling me over to show me some cool antique gadgets he'd found. Usually he's not much of a shopper, but when you have random oddities, it definitely keeps him interested. We had totally different ideas of what was purchase worthy, but it was fun none the less.

I was especially excited about this trip because J is really hard to shop for and now I know where to go for future fun purchases. Although, I'm still not exactly sure what his taste is. He was fascinated with an old fire extinguisher, record player, fan and brewery glasses. I'm not sure I would ever think to pick those out, but at least I know where to go and I have a new shopping buddy....at least for thrift stores.
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Progress: Office/Craft Room

2011-08-02T19:30:00.005-04:00

The office/craft room is still taking shape, but since it's my place to create things I'm sure it will constantly be in progress. For a long time this was the only room painted in our house. It quickly became my favorite room to spend time in. When it came to choose a paint color, I wasn't sure where to start. We are doing mostly neutrals in the rest of the house, so I wanted a fun splash of color here. I thought of yellow, light gray, tiffany blue or colonial blue. When we went to the store, J handed me the paint chip for the current color (which I don't remember the name) and I really liked it, so we just went with it.
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Christmas in July

2011-07-31T09:32:00.006-04:00

J and I try to collect a Christmas ornament that represents something big that happened each year. It started the first year we lived together. The first place we lived together was J's parent's house. We lived there during our summer breaks in college. There was this really cute Christmas shop with ornaments nearby and we got one that said "Our First". I'm sure it meant Our First Christmas, but it had two flamingos and a beach ball and looked like summer, so it kind of fit as a fun ornament to represent our first summer/living together. The next summer, I turned 21 and a friend of ours got me a 21 themed ornament for my birthday (he worked at the same shop). After that we started thinking it would be fun to start an ornament collection with all the big milestones.

So far, we have those two and an ornament of our school from the year we graduated, a proposal ornament, and a wedding ornament. The one we had the hardest time finding was an ornament to represent the purchase of our first home.

Recently I started thinking of the holidays and remembered we still don't have one, which means we are a little behind since we usually buy it the year of the big event. Regardless, I didn't want to skip over this milestone. So, I turned to Etsy. I did a search for "custom home ornament" and came across the shop of LittleMissDressUp. She will make a custom ornament based on the photo you give her. Her ornaments were way better than what I was originally looking for.

The Home Tour (in the beginning)

2011-07-28T18:16:00.003-04:00

Before I get further into all of the home projects we have going on (and already completed), I thought I'd share what we started with when we first purchased our home. When you walk into the entry way there is a coat closet and there was some ceramic tile flooring.
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Dresser Re-Do

2011-07-25T18:35:00.001-04:00

When my mom sold my childhood home last year, she gave me a dresser that was originally my grandparents. It's third generation now that she handed it down to J and me. We've had it sitting in our garage since we moved. I'm pretty excited because we finally dusted it off and we have some big plans for it!

Even though I'm not crazy about the finish, it has amazing character.

Divine Inspiration

2011-07-24T21:16:00.003-04:00

I've wanted to test my hand at renovating a piece of furniture ever since my brother showed me his amazing chair from The Divine Chair Company. He has awesome style and often finds really interesting pieces at the Brooklyn flea, which is where he bought a chair similar to this.

He got it before I even started looking at furniture or home decor, so I had never seen anything like. Actually, I still haven't seen anything like it. I didn't know furniture could be so fun.

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A Little Help

2011-07-20T21:21:00.001-04:00

When we first bought our house we had no contacts as far as professionals to call when we needed help. We moved to a new town and didn't know many people that we could ask for recommendations.

Somewhere along the line we were introduced to Service Magic. It's a website that you can put up a post for different services you need. For example, when we purchased our home we didn't have a washer/dryer hook up. So we placed a job on Service Magic. We added basic info. and the details of the job. Then professionals in our area contacted us if they were interested in the job.

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When it Rains, It Pours

2011-07-16T10:08:00.001-04:00

J and I consider ourselves to be fairly responsible adults. We are savers and love seeing our nest egg increase. It's a good thing we were like this before we bought our home. When we purchased our house there were a couple projects we knew we wanted to tackle. We had a home inspection done and kind of thought/hoped we wouldn't have anything major to do unexpectedly in the first couple of years....so naive.

I think the thing to do going into homeownership is to expect the unexpected. It's like the cub scouts motto- be prepared (this pretty much means financially, there is a reason they have a term called house poor).

As we were coming up on our one year mark of homeownership we were still totally in love with our newish home. We were slowly making updates and making the house "our own". Then in an instant I began to loathe it.
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Rejected

2011-07-13T22:32:00.002-04:00

When J and I started looking for houses, we had no clue what we wanted in terms of the shape of the house. We were all over the place from new homes to total fixer-uppers. One of the homes we put an offer on would have literally needed to have all of the walls knocked down, and a ridiculous amount of other work, luckily they didn't accept our low ball offer. We ended up somewhere in-between move in ready and fixer upper- leaning mostly towards the move in side.

Realistically, we didn't really have to do anything. It was move in ready, but when we bought the house we were well aware that we wanted to make some changes. The main thing we wanted to change was the indoor/outdoor carpet, which was covering every floor in the house, with the exception of the kitchen and the bathroom. Yes, it was livable, but it wasn't likable.

Other than the flooring, a new fence and having a wahser and dryer hook up installed, we didn't really need to have any initial projects done to move in.

Looking back, this was the best case scenario. When we bought our home, J was working crazy hours and didn't have time for sleep, let alone home improvement projects. We had big dreams for little projects, but we're literally just getting around to them now (a year and a half after the purchase). Every time we start a new project, I'm so thankful that we dodged the bullet of purchasing the fixer upper. We are having a lot of fun choosing to make changes. We can do it in our own time, which apparentely we like going slow.

It definitely didn't feel good to have our offers rejected , but now we can look back to our low ball offer and know the phrase "things happen for a reason" is very true.

And just for fun, here are a few of the rejected homes....

Got Wood?

2011-07-10T22:08:00.002-04:00

When J and I were looking at houses, we both had our own lists of wants. In the end we had to compromise a bit on things, but there was one thing I really didn't want to compromise on- hardwood floors.

This may seem like no big deal, plenty of people live with carpets, but it wasn't something I could live with. We have a dog and a cat, they are messy. A carpet with Sky pups wouldn't last a month. J was fine with this until we fell in love with a house, which was fully carpeted, indoor/outdoor carpet to be exact (with the exception of the bathroom and kitchen).

The Nest Chapter

2011-07-09T18:32:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my blog! You may know me as Mrs. Starfish on Weddingbee or Mrs. Newport from my personal wedding blog, NewportNuptials. If not, welcome! :)

I started blogging on LiveJournal during my freshman year of college and it was such a fun release for me. Back then I didn't even know it was called blogging, I just thought it was an online journal you share with friends. After about a 6 month stint, I forgot about my online journal. It wasn't until about four years later that I rediscovered the world of blogs, well actually I discovered the world of blogs, since I didn't know that's what I was doing back in the day.

After getting engaged, I quickly became fascinated reading along with brides' journies to the alter. I found the world of blogs to be the most helpful wedding resource out there. About a month into my own planning, I started my own. I loved sharing ideas and getting feedback.

During the wedding planning process, I also reignited my love for crafting. I grew up in a pretty creative household. My mom was always creating something in the kitchen. She also loved to sew and try new projects. My dad loved to build things, including my first tree house, my dollhouse with furniture to go with it, and tons of other miscellaneous projects. My brother was an art major in college and tried everything from painting to photography. My sister was creative in a more social way. She loved to sing, dance, and act.

Being the youngest in this family, I was exposed to a lot of creativity. I never really had one true passion growing up, instead I dabbled in it all. I still do. I love trying new projects.

It's been almost a year since our wedding and I've realized how much I've missed being able to share my random thoughts and projects. So I decided to start a new blog.

I'm not really sure where this blog will go as of yet, but it will have a lot to do with the next chapter in my life, which pretty much seems filled with home projects and ideas, which is why this was dubbed "The Nest Chapter". So I hope you enjoy following along!

I'm also looking for new blogs to read, so if you have your own home decor, craft, recipe or newlywed related blog, I'd love to follow you, too!