SOLD: $200 Vintage Kitchen Chairs

Chad found these amazing dining chairs at a yard sale this summer!! They did need some lovin' but that didn't scare us away :) Chad worked on fixing and painting the chairs and I recovered the pads. While recovering, I found the tag and it dated back to 1929!!!!!!!!!!! We were super excited to have TRUE vintage chairs on our hands! :) They look so good now, I wish I could keep them ;)

We are selling these, $200 for all 4!!!

Getting Organized...Finally!

My Kitchen cabinets are organized!!!!!!!!!!!!! Phew...Chad was nice to remind me that it only took me 3 months :) Too bad there are closets and cabinets upstairs that still need help....I'll get there! I'm that person who is always working on 5 projects at a time with 50 more ideas running through my head to do next! So things kinda take awhile.. :)

This morning my lower cabinets looked like this:

And now I am happy to show that they look like this!:

I Started by grouping like items in the same cupboards. Bowls in one,

baking dishes in another, misc. items...etc.

Most of the racks I was able to find at DI! I also picked up a few at Walmart,

like this two-level dish rack I stacked my bowls on

This still looks somewhat crowded, but everything is similar and 

has its own place so I don't have to dig around or take everything out 

to find what I want :)

These totes where a life saver! Before I just had all these small items floating around,

making a mess and taking up way too much space!

Ahh.. I can breathe for a bit :) Its nice to finally check something off my list!!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

While we were in NY Erin took us to this cake store and we got AMAZING cupcakes!!! Chad and I have been wanting them ever since. So I googled for a recipe :) I have to admit, this recipe is pretty dang good, but I am not sure if it beats NY's, I think their cupcakes were more dense..is that the right word? But I loved that about them!!  You can find her recipe HERE

You would be a fool not to try these out!! They are so good! I am going to attach the link to the blog I found them from, her pictures are way better. :) ..A few things about the recipe: she does a caramel center which I did not try, she also does salted and unsalted butter plus salt, I just did salted butter and left out the additional salt.  ENJOY!! These are delicious :) 

Peach Cupcakes

I LOVE peaches, they really are my favorite fruit!! I couldn't help but buy a few the other day...even though I knew their season was at an end. I was super disappointed when I went to eat one and the texture was too weird, mushy. Luckily I had found this recipe via Pinterest that I was wanting to try out! They turned out really good! The cupcakes actually weren't super sweet, more like a muffin. Her frosting recipe was super good as well! I didn't add quite as much butter and powder sugar as her recipe called for; I'm not a big frosting fan and the less sugary the better! I also added half a teaspoon of Almond extract to the frosting. It was amazing!! Nothing goes quite as well with peaches as almond extract does ;)

You can find the recipe HERE

Oh, one last change I made; She used dried peaches as well,

I used only fresh puree and just added extra!

We're Still Here!

We're Still Here!

September has been a crazy month!! We have been working on a billion projects...all at once so none of them ever get fully finished ;) We have also had multiple weekends of family visits which have been so fun!!!
Here are a few of the things we have been working on lately:

Gold painted Picture frame=Done! It used to be black

Stenciled wall=not done... I mixed my own paint for this project and ran out :(

Now I need to mix more and get motivated! 

Closer view of stencil

Chad built these bar stools for me! Plans via Ana White.

Love them :) I need to sand them 

and put a clear coat on.

I used the Jigsaw for the first time!!! It was super easy :)

Finally getting our back entry/ mud room area organized. I'm also getting a few pictures

up on the wall :)

These are just cardboard  moving boxes that I painted and stenciled the same color

as my bar stools!

Thrift store lamps redone! I'm still debating about stenciling

the lamps shades.....

And getting some things up on the wall in the front entry!

Painted Iron work...it was a dark brown/bronze before

Whew! well here are a few things we have going on around here :) I took this whole week off from projects; I needed the break! Now its back to work on Monday!! :)

Our Home Tour: Family Room

The family Room is the only room in our house that I feel is somewhat "finished". I still have a few projects I want to do for it but they are small. So I figured its about time I show it off a bit! :)

One of my future projects: This lamp needs some lovin' and updating. We have

also discovered how NOT sturdy this little end table is...Lucy enjoys knocking it over :) So I need

to replace it soon....

I Love, love, LOVE these curtains from IKEA. $25 for a PAIR!!! Future project:

I want to add some stripes to these curtains

 Chad made me this curtain rod! I love windows and I didn't want to break up our view by hanging individual curtain rods 

over each window. But as you might expect, its not easy finding a curtain rod over 15 feet long! :)

We found this easy and cheap tutorial HERE, total cost under $20!

 This DIY ladder was another simple Chad project :) I stained it with a simple 

vinegar stain to help it look worn. 

Window as vintage Picture gallery. There are pictures of Chad and I as babies, 

his Mom and family, and Chads G.Ma as a baby. I need to get pictures of my parents 

when they were young to fill in the empty panes.

Its coming together! I still have a little more work to do and I will update as I finish!

Our Old Rental; Before and After

I have been meaning to post these pictures FOREVER! They got tossed to the side when we started packing and moving. We did a lot to fix up the house we were renting before we purchased our home and I thought I might as well share some pictures!

Kitchen:

The first thing that need to go was that hideous carpet!!!!

 

 We ripped the carpet up and started laying down the laminate flooring. Our landlord was buying it and wanted whatever was on sale and cheapest! :) But ANYTHING would be an improvement!

Ahhh....much better :)

The cabinets came next. We painted them "chocolate" brown using a cabinet painting kit from Home Depot, it was from Rustoleum. The kit was only $75 and it included paint color, glaze, and clear protective coat. For this small kitchen we ended up only using half of it! I really liked it and would use it again!

Before picture of cabinets: 

 

Last were the walls. We stripped off the wallpaper (easier than I though, it all came off in about 20 minutes!) and we also painted the family room that connects to the kitchen the same color to add a better sense of flow to the house. Here are some before pictures of the family room:

 Love those walls? ;) And The green carpet!?!

The family room was also SUPER crowded. Our landlord still had some of his furniture in the house which made fitting all of ours difficult. Thankfully we were able to put his stuff in a storage unit and rearrange our stuff!

And Afters of everything:

These were taken right before we moved, so there aren't any pictures up and I had already bought another couch for our new place...so it looks a little crowded :) But I LOVE the change it brought to the house! Paint color is "Gentle Rain" by Behr.

This cream couch is the extra...   :)