a new year & a great deal for you!!

So did you all have a very Happy New Year?  Scott and I didn't really do anything special since he has to work today. We just hung out at home chowing down on some yummy appetizers and having a Rules of Engagement marathon.  Exciting, right? Honestly, I love just having a low key night with my favorite guy.  We never have been the type to do something uberly glamorous and that's okay with me.  We always have fun when we are together and so that works for me.

I am so excited that it's a brand new year and I know that this is going to be the a great one for us!!  I know that God has awesome things in store for us this year, and I can't wait to see what comes of 2011.  Yesterday Scott and I were talking about the "house to-do" list for 2011 and the biggest project we have it to finish our 2nd bathroom upstairs.  If you remember, when we built our home we only had them rough in the plumbing for our 2nd bath.  We are currently using it as a closet, but we really want to get it finished up this year not only because we will need it for our future little bambinos, but it will be so nice to a  full guest bathroom for company. 

With this in mind, I was so excited that I was contacted by Ovestock.com the other day! They asked me if I would be interested in working with them to offer a special discount to my readers.  Of course, I was SO thrilled about this and couldn't pass it up!  If you aren't familiar with Overstock.com, they only have everything and anything you could ever need, and not only that they ship your entire order no matter how big or small for only $2.95! Can you believe how great that is?! 

I absolutely love their site and if you remember I got my gorgeous kitchen chandelier from there. I am so glad that we got our chandelier from there! If you remember I had a horrible experience with the initial fixture I ordered, and thankfully I was able to get my money back for the first one that I ordered, and then went over to Overstock.com and bought the one we have.  Not only was their selection way more amazing, but I ended up saving $60 over the other fixture I had initially ordered from another site.  You absolutely cannot beat that!! After having the worst online ordering experience of my life, and then ordering from Overstock.com it was like night and day! There prices were great, the quality of the fixture is wonderful, and I received it so quickly! I can't believe that I didn't think of them in the first place, and I know that I won't make the same mistake again.

I was just browsing through their site, looking for all the things that we will need for our 2nd bathroom revamp and I found so many things that I am in love with!  Here's  a sampling of some of the things I am eying for the finishing touches we will need.

Love this light fixture! It's absolutely gorgeous and totally in our price range!

 How adorable is this vanity?! I love love love it, and it totally fits our style!

I am in LOVE with oval mirrors! We have one in our 1/2 bath and I really want to carry that into the next bathroom too!

So, here's the exciting part! They are offering all my readers a 10% discount on your next order with them!! Like I said there is so much on their site to choose from, that you can use this 10% off for almost anything you need.  What a great way to start a new year! I know I love saving when I can, and this is a great offer!

So, here's your code to save!! ?121745?

The code never expires, but can only be used once per email address.  I'm so excited to share this offer with you all and I really hope that it's something you take advantage of.  I know that I will! Big thanks to Overstock.com for offering this to my readers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 ***All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.*****

mirror mirror on the wall

So, I finally ventured to the new thrift store right by my house.  I can't believe its been there for a few months and this was just my first visit!! I had a few things in mind when I went looking, but I couldn't believe I actually found one of them, it usually doesn't work out that way on my first try!!

I browsed through the store and nearly missed this beauty because it was hiding behind another bulky piece of furniture.  I about freaked out when I found it, it was only marked $12!! I love the gorgeous detail of it and I knew I could make it something fabulous!  The best part was that everything in the store was 30% off so it actually only cost me $9! Can we say steal of a deal?! 

I brought this baby home, and got right to work.  It had these weird metal rods attached to it, I'm assuming that it was a part of a set or something???

I unscrewed the legs, and then sanded this puppy down.  I decided that I wanted to paint it white (shocking right??) but I choose a glossy white this time so it would match the other pieces in my living room.  I really wanted to get it covered, so I did about 4 coats total.  

Here's the final result!!!

Love, love, love!!! Honestly I can't believe this was only $9!!

Here's some close up of the gorgeous detail that I fell in love with.

Oh so perfect!! It's not hung up yet because I don't have all the hardware that I need to hang it up since it's so heavy, but I will definitely get it done this week.  I was just too excited to not share it with you guys!

Ok, one last little peak at it!

It's gonna be SO perfect in my entryway, I can't even stand it!! :)  Tell me your thoughts, do you love it too???

monogram love

Remember that corkboard revamp I blogged about here?  Well, I decided that it needed just a little something extra.   If you know me, you know that I LOVE me some monograms! I simply adore everything about them, and I decided that it would be the perfect touch to my corkboard.

I browsed Etsy in search of the perfect little monogram to add to my corkboard.  Everything I found was a large scale monogram, but I finally found the perfect little monogram here.  It was only $5 and you really can't beat that deal!  It finally arrived in the mail today, and I just couldn't wait to add it to my corkboard!!

Here's what it looks like now! :)

I picked the monogram in chocolate brown to match all the wood work and styling of my upstairs loft!! I just love it!! 

Here's a close up of the monogram.

Love.  Love. Love!!! 

I think it adds the perfect little touch to my board! I wanted something that would stand out, but not totally overpower the board and I think it looks awesome!!  

One last peek!!

So what do you think??? I hope you love it as much as I do! 

customizing a store bought piece

Before I was introduced to this wonderful world of thrifty DIY-ness, I used to have a tough time find the right pieces of furniture for my house.  Either something was the right color, but there was something off about another part of the piece, and so I would have to spend a lot of time searching for something that met everything I wanted, and we all know that those pieces are pretty non-existent or very few and far between.  My whole perspective in looking for pieces to add to my house has now changed because I now am so very aware of how easy-peasy it is to fix the small things you don't like.

Recently, I ordered this entryway bench from Target.com.  I have always loved the bench, mainly for the size of it and the additional storage it offers, but I wasn't quite sold on the color of the storage baskets and the cushions.  It's not really that there was anything wrong with it, it just wasn't me.

So, when this baby arrived to my house, I did what I do best and revamped it slightly to fit with me.  First off, I spray painted the baskets black.   Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of this, but you all know the drill.  Just that one little change made all the difference for me!  After I finished the baskets, I debated what I wanted to do with the cushions.  I went back and forth between choosing a fun print, or keeping it classic with burlap.  In the end, I went with burlap!  Affordable, and timeless, it doesn't get better than that.

Here's the cushions before, what I didn't really like was how peachy-ish they looked against the white wood, they just kind of clashed in my opinion.  So I recovered them in burlap in my own no-sew way (which I won't disclose because it's pretty ummmm....let's say inventive and I am ashamed how I managed to do it LOL!!)

And here's the AFTER!!

I really love what the burlap added to it!! Definitely blends more with my style!

Looks so different than the basic bench that it started off as!! I love it! It's added such a cute little quaintness to my entryway!  I love how easy it was to customize this store bought piece to what I love!!

So now what I am trying to decide is if I should number the cushions 1, 2, 3 or if I should monogram them with a D? Not all would be monogrammed but maybe the center cushion and then a design on the other two? I'm torn!! I would love if you would leave me a comment with what you think would be cutest! :)

(P.S. I added this post to DIY Day at a Soft Place to Land, swing by & check out other great projects!!)

dreaming of corkboards

I haven't had a great DIY project in a while, and I am just itching to get back in the game and re-vamp something!!!  I have been dreaming of making a great new LARGE corkboard for over my brand new desk in my loft.  I absolutely love corkboards and I am going to be digging into a project here very shortly.

In the meantime, I have been admiring & being inspired by other great corkboard projects here in bloggyland and wanted to share some of them with you all so you can be inspired as well.

This great corkboard done by Rachelle over at Fingerprints on the Fridge is just AMAZING!!

Here are the rest of my inspiration pics, I am SO bad and don't save where I get them from.  I am really not trying to not give proper credit, I am just bad at collecting data!! :)

Ahh, complete corkboard bliss.  I can't wait to get working on this project!

simple changes

Do you ever get a mood where you feel like you need some freshing up but don't want to spend a lot of money in the process? I kind of had one of those days this past week and I found myself holding a brand new can of spray paint (it's amazing how spray paint can revolutionize one's life!). After my last chalkboard re-do (see that post here) I found myself thinking RED for the accent color in my kitchen/living room. I found these gorgeous toile curtains that I just fell in LOVE with but the red was slightly deeper than the apple red color I had painted. Easy peasy to change and not much money either!

I chose a more fitting red to match the curtains/pillows I am in the process of saving for (everyone's gotta have a goal!!) and this can fell into my hand!

Colonial Red=LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I decided to repaint the chalkboard frame as well as two picture frames in my living room. Here are what the frames looked like previously.

I got these frames for $1 at Joann Fabrics and I loved the detailing on them but the silver just wasn't working for me anymore. After two coats of paint, I had brand new frames that my husband didn't even recongnize! (I got the where did you by these look!! haha)

I love the new look it adds!! I love the little punch of color against my white end tables and it feels like I got something brand new! Now, I just need to get new pictures in these frames! I am constantly taking new ones but I am horrible about printing them (anyone with me on that?!)

Oh, and here is the new look of the kitchen chalkboard!

I've said it before and I am sure I will say it again, it's amazing what a little can of $4 spray paint will do!!

Hope you enjoyed my latest fixer uppers!! :) Have a great weekend!!

Lots of love from me to you!!

Kimmy

our kitchen motto

So, Scott & I spent some time this weekend deciding what we would write on the new kitchen chalkboard. After googling many sayings and quotes, some funny, some EXTREMELY cheesy, we came to agreement on this "motto."

While it may not be our everyday motto, it definitely describes how we feel a least once a week, and more importantly it fits who we are. I am stilling loving this board!! Every day when I come home I still have to take a quick peek at it since I love what it adds to my kitchen. The only bad thing about it is that it is REALLY making me want to paint my walls!!! We still have to wait a bit for that, but it's in the near future!

Sending you lots of love!!!

xoxo :)