If only we were rich.....

Brad & I have been watching a lot of HGTV & DIY Network, so our minds have been running wild. We have all sorts of projects we would love to do. We don't mind doing the work our selves (although it would be much easier to pay someone else to do it). However, it takes a lot of money to do the things we want to do around the house. We have only lived in our home for a little over a year and we already have a wish/to-do list a mile long.

Below are a few of the projects we would like to do around our home. Granted it will be a long time before we are able to do some of these (most of these), but we can always dream right?

*make a covered patio out back-we are talking river rock stone walls, built in grill & mini fridge, built in planters, ceiling fans. I would also love to have the flooring of this area be slate tile.

*tile the back splash in our kitchen-this is a more realistic project for us.

*tile our Master bedroom shower. Our last home had this so we are a little spoiled. One day maybe

*finish the area above our family room-this is totally something I would love to do (I don't know what Brad's thoughts would be on this). We could have a really nice size area there for a playroom or extra bedroom

*plant trees in the back yard

*paint our master bedroom -don't have any clue what color though

*hang pendent lights in the kitchen over the bar area

*I would like to remove the vanities in each of our bathrooms & replace them with granite counters with vessel sinks and also frame out the mirrors.

*re-do our laundry room area: right now our laundry room is the walk thru area as you come in from the garage into our family room. I know that there is no way for me to make this area larger-however there is a lot I could do to improve it. I would love the front load washers in there. I would them put a granite counter top on top of the washers to make a nice folding -counter area. I would put a nice little basket to put things as we enter the house along with a little lamp to make this area cozy. I would also put some cabinets to match the others in our home above the washer & dryer for extra storage along with a bar to hang clothes to dry.

Now its time for my purchasing wish list (again this would be if money was no issue)

*bonus room furniture-nice sectional, new end tables & storage ottoman that would double as a coffee table. I would also love a new desk & photos on the walls (we don't have anything on the walls now)

*playroom area- we have our playroom in the bonus room which is great, but I would love to really make this area more kid friendly. table with chairs, mirror on the wall, chalk/magnetic area on wall

*Redecorate our master bathroom- nothing crazy here, just some new rugs & hand towels

*front load washer & dryer

*dining room- I would like a counter height table with leather chairs & a nice buffet cabinet for this room along with some nice black & white photos and drape.



*entry: I would like a new wooden front door with glass in it (you would think this would be a reality item since my parents own a door company.

I know this sounds like a lot or like I am not happy with our home. This is not the case~ we love our home, however there is always room for improvement. When we purchased our home it was brand new, so now its time to make it ours & do the updates to fit our personalities. Granted many if not most of these things will not be happening anytime soon. Again, this list is if money were no issue (a.k.a.= if we had a money tree in our backyard).

Looks like I better get to clipping more coupons, spending a lot less money and perhaps Brad & I would both need 2nd jobs to make all of this happen. That's why this is all just a wish/dream list. Who knows maybe one day we will win the lottery (but then again, that would mean we would have to actually play it to win it).

Dining Romm Makeover

This is a photo of our dining room with the builders colors.

Here is the new Dark Gray color we painted.
I have been wanting to paint our dining room dark gray since we moved in and finally for mothers day my wish came true. We painted it and I LOVE it. I still have to decorate it, but it will do for now. I need to get some photos and curtains on the walls and I want a new table and buffet to go in there.

Backyard Makeover

The above and below photos are both taken of our house last February right before we moved in. Look how bare it looks.

The above photo was taken before this past weekend and our latest yard makeover. Notice we have painted the patio a gray color to help with the mud that the dogs were getting all over the patio. Also notice that the grass is a little fuller and nicer. You really cant tell from these photos but we also planted some bushes on each side of the step down, last summer.
These two photos are of the area that we did all the planting in this weekend. Brad sprayed weed & grass killer to get rid of the grass in the area we would be planting in.

Above: shows the 3 Arborvitae's that we planted. One on each side of the patio and one on the corner of the house. You can also see Bernie checking one of them out. Eventually I would like to put some flowers in around these plants but this year they will probably just be in big planters. You can also see the fence we had put in last year.
Above: Is the large area we planted in. We did 2 kinds of bushes and some monkey grass. In between the windows were are going to get a crape myrtle, just haven't found one yet that we are happy with.

Brad and I spent the entire weekend working in the yard and on projects around the house. Needless to say both of us were a little sore after this project. We cant wait until next summer when the plants have all really grown and filled in this area. We are also still wanting to get some big trees in the back of the yard, but have not made it that far yet. For now I am on the hunt for some large heavy planters (that a toddler or crazy dog cant knock down) to plant some flowers in on the patio, and also a new umbrella for the table. I still need to take photos of the planting we did behind the fence. We have been some planting fools this year. I think we have been watching a little to much DIY (yard crashers & rock solid).

Board Book

So I came across a posting on a blog today talking about making your own board books. Little A loves Board books so I am think of making him one and including some photos of our family in it. There is a great tutorial here. Hopefully I will be able to do this soon and post some photos.

Transportation Day @ School

The above picture is Austin playing with someones Tricycle. Looks a little too big for him.
Class photo with the police man. Hopefully this is the closest encounter Austin & his friends will ever have with the men in blue
Austin driving the big truck


Each of the kids were allowed to bring there mode of transportation to play with.
In front of a nice boat.
In front of the school bus

Little A's pre-school had a transportation & petting zoo day in April. The petting zoo had pigs, goats, snakes, ducks, and all kinds of other animals the kids could touch and learn about. After the petting zoo they went to the transportation area where they were able to view and explore boats, ATVs, cop cars, ambulance, big trucks, buses, etc.

My Office Redesign

The above and below photos are of my desk by the window. I updated this area by moving the items on the desk around as well as removing the fabric on my cork board squares and decoupaging scrapbook paper (which was from my son's 1st birthday party) so this was FREE. I also sewed the curtain panels which cost around $12.00 for the fabric (I already had the curtain rod & thread).




I purchased the above cube book case at Target for $39.99 on sale. Then the green fabric cubes were on sale for $6 (I think that's how much they were). I reused the wire shelving unit in the next area pictured below. I also finally hung the two collage photo frames that I have had for almost 3 years (FREE).
I finally got around to hanging mine & my husbands college degrees on the wall (Free), I also re purposed the wire shelf from this room and sewed a wrap around cover for it from fabric I already had, so this was another FREE project.
Not much changed here. I still need to change some photos in these frames, but have not got there yet.
This is my scanner desk for work & my scrapbook/craft table area. I purchased the 3 wall shelf's at Kohl's for $25.00 (this price includes the vase holding the cherry blossoms on the desk also). All of the frames were re purposed from around my house. I hand made the cherry blossoms for a friends baby shower so these were also FREE.
The above showcases my new found mad sewing skills. I am so proud of myself for making this wrap around cover for the shelf unit and the curtains (which I even lined).

My office is a really nice sized room. When we moved in to this home last year we decided to make it my office (since I work from home)/craft room (which I have always wanted). So it was my girl room to decorate. I stressed at 1st about the desk- I needed a new one and couldn't find one. Finally I found this corner desk (the other desk we have had for about 8 years and it used to be a light wood color and we painted it an espresso color). Then I tried to go with the pink & brown color design but never really made it too far. Then last week I came across this scrapbook paper and fabric I used at my sons 1st birthday party last year and thought How fun! So I finally got to make my room cute and me. I think that over all its AWESOME. I still need to add some new photos to the frames and add a chair to my craft desk ( I am thinking a yard sale/goodwill find with a cute cushion or pillow with the fabric). I would also like to use some paper lanterns that I already have (hot pink, light pink, white and green) from a baby shower I threw for a friend. But I am not really sure where to put them. Other than that I think the room is done. And I completed it all for less than $100, so I stayed on budget!

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Mothers Day

We had a pretty relaxing Mother's Day this year. Austin was a little under the weather so he was a little calmer than normal. We went over to Brad's parents house for a cook out and thankfully it was nice weather. His Dad had set up a little tent in the yard and had Austin's toys out to play with. Austin made me some super cute stuff at school (which I need to take pictures of still), it was so nice to have something hand made from my little man. Brad did really good too. He and Austin got me 2 really great cards and a nice picture frame with a sweet quote on it. I also got my dinning room painted. Which is something I have been wanting to do since we moved in. Its now a dark gray color and looks amazing. I will also post pictures of that soon. I still have to work on getting the decor in there. A new table being the big item. But over all i had an amazing mothers day with the two men in my life.

Super cute & easy cakes

I was just looking around online and came across the below cakes at Kraft Food. You can view all there cakes here. I cant believe how many cute cakes they have with all the directions to make them. Most of them look fairly easy enough to make. I don't know how many people are like me, but for Little A's 1st birthday we spend around $100 on his cake. Now I find these cakes that I could make for less than $10. Are you kidding me. Needless to say I will be trying some of these out in the near future. I don't have any upcoming birthdays but I am sure I can come up with something. Maybe I can take something next week to Little A's school since it is his last week. Anyways, just wanted to pass along this great info I can across. Let me know if you try any of them out. I would love to know how they turn out.