Featured at The DIY Showoff!

Holy wow!
I've been featured at The DIY Showoff again!
And not just any feature, but one dedicated solely to me!
Roeshel and I seem to have the same sense in style, as well as a deep love for high style for low price (but who wouldn't?)

As I've said before, if you're not a follower of this blog, you need to be!
Her own soon-to-be bathroom remodel is highly anticipated on my part!

Click on the button above to check out her site, you won't be sorry!
Thanks Roeshel!

Keep DIYing!!

Tiered Topiaries

This is a fun project that started with a trip to St. Vincent's.

I found these awesome goblet-looking bowls for 99 cents a piece.

Oh, the possibilities!

Tiered Topiaries

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-3 bowls/pots

-dowel rods

-3 Styrofoam balls

-decorative moss

-newspaper (for fill and to protect your surfaces)

-green plant Styrofoam block

1. Bottoms of the pots: scrunch newspaper in the first one until you are level with the top. 2nd and third ones- place a green plant Styrofoam block on the bottom of each. Spray the tops of each with adhesive and pile on the moss. The first topiary is done!

2. 2nd and 3rd topiaries: break off a length of dowel rod and stick into the two pots. Stab a Styrofoam ball on each. Spray the balls with adhesive and pile on the moss! 2nd topiary is done!

3. 3rd topiary: break off another piece of dowel rod and stab it into the 1st Styrofoam moss ball. Then stick another ball on top of that. Spray with adhesive, then pile on the moss!

It's a really pretty, but cheap project. I absolutely love them in my modern/contemporary/classic bedroom.

Stick around for: Pumpkin Pie recipe, Love for Everything Chalkboard, Staircase Redo, Chronicles of 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest, Wall Sconce Redo, My New BIG REVEAL, and of course, pumpkin carving with my kids.

A Touch Of Luxury

This one's going to be a long one, folks, so bear (bare?) with me!

Are you ready to see what's been consuming my life for the past 2 weeks?

It's my bathroom!

This is what it looked like before...

I didn't necessarily hate it. The shower curtain was leftover from my old apartment, so when we bought our house, it just came with. I designed the bathroom around that curtain.

(hehe, there's a burned out light...)
My step dad, Wayne, actually really liked my bathroom. Even though he is a child of the hippie days, he has an odd modern taste. You should see some of the vehicles he fixes up! So fun! Purple steering wheel? Check! Lime green brake pads? Check!



So it's no wonder that he liked this bathroom. My good friend, Kayleigh, helped me do this.

Though I appreciate everyone's wonderful comments on this old bathroom, I couldn't have it anymore.

1. I painted in flat. Who does that in a bathroom?!
2. The rest of my house is more eclectic. Except my bedroom. The modern is being toned down gradually, but I love it!

3. It's a small bathroom, and with the dark colors, it just makes it worse.


It had to go.

Seriously.

So, here's what I got!

Ooooo, it feels like I can breathe again in there!

Here's that old basement window! I pressed some flowers, painted and distressed the window, ordered some glass, and stuck the pressed flowers between the glass! Now, I've seen a lot of things done with old windows (tables, mirrors, chalkboards, message boards, pot racks) but I can honestly say that this is an original idea of mine! Please, steal away!!!

And then we move onto the mirror. Oh my gosh I almost passed out when I saw this at St. Vincent's! It was a terrible red, and beaten. I loved it! I gave it a fresh coat of white stain, distressed it (so that you can see the red, I'm nostalgic), and added a cute ball to the bottom to hide a screw hole and to have a place to hide my ponies (scrunchies, elastics, watches, etc) while I'm showering. Awesome idea, right?!

Here's a closer look at the ball. I tied some ribbon to it to go with the vase next to the mirror.

Here's a closeup of the flowers in the vase. A touch of luxury......(sigh.....)

My new moto: It's all in the details.

It's really true. I loved finding this knob at Menards.

Let's accessorize!

Let's see....The yellow Yankee Candle I got from Younkers for only 99 cents (people want to kill me now...) Let me explain: a customer returned it. It was wedding gift from 2 years ago. It went through our system: regular price, sale price, clearance, yellow dot, price point. Price point is 99 cents. So she got the full return price, but then I bought it for "that day's" price of 99 cents.

Do you need any more reasons to apply to Younkers?

Anyways, the lotion pump is from Bed Bath & Beyond.

The mounted soup dish is from Younkers as well (only paid around $3 for that)

These shower curtain hooks are what I had on hold at Younkers. Only paid around $10 a set. They are Croscill, so they are definitely worth the price. I fell in love as soon as they hit the store. I will pay extra for something I love.

I also picked up some towels from Younkers. The bath towel is only $2.97 as a Bonus Buy! And the price goes down from there for the hand and fingertip towels. Hurry up! The sale is ending soon!

Let's see....these I both got at Younkers. About $1.50 each item (yes, that's a Comfort Candle for only $1.50!)

I love my job =)

Here's a wider shot of that corner. More towels from Younkers (you can also find these at our sister stores: Elder Beerman, Boston Store, Herbergers, Bergner's, Carson Pirie Scott, or our parent company: BonTon)

Notice my awesome towel display skills, lol. Things I learn on the job.

Here's the rug I picked up from Younkers for $13. I NEEDED to have this. It looks like rags, but it was worth it! It gives a modern touch to the room.

This is a towel/robe hook that I picked up at Walmart. It cost $7.97 on Sale. I could have went for the cheap $3 one, but remember "it's all in the details"

I wanted something better ;)

Here's one of my favorite features of the bathroom: the shower curtains.

Since I wanted the curtains to go from the floor to the ceiling, I needed to have a longer shower curtain.

So I bought two white paneled tuxedo striped curtains from Younkers, and one chocolate tuxedo striped one from KMart. My mom/expert seamstress (Superwoman?) made these for me.

Didn't she do an awesome job?!

And here comes the disappointment:

Right where that arrow is pointing to. Yeah, that's supposed to be a wall decal from an Etsy seller that I ordered weeks ago.

I'm not going to link to the seller, because I don't want anyone ordering from them.

They have a perfect rating, but I don't know how. I finally got an invoice saying that they just shipped it today, after two f-ing weeks. Oh man.....I'm irate.


Here's what will go up there ...

Wouldn't that be cool? IF it was here.....Oh don't get me started!

This is the ambiance that I get when the lights are off. There's a window behind that curtain (wait until I get a new tub/tub surround. You'll love those posts!)

No, I didn't put this is black/white. It just came out that way with the lights off.

Now excuse me while I enjoy that yummy glass of white wine ;)



Coming up: Pumpkin Pie recipe, Love for Everything Chalkboard, Making some Topiaries, Staircase Redo, Chronicles of 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest, Wall Sconce Redo, My New BIG REVEAL, and of course, pumpkin carving with my kids.

A lot? You bet! Stay tuned!






This renovations is part of The DIY Showoff's Suprise Party: Home Improvement Makeovers.

If you arent' a follower of this blog, you need to be! It's creater, Roeshel, is an amazing woman. Her attention and dedication to each one of her followers (big and small) is so impressive.

She makes every person feel special! Check out her site and FOLLOW HER!

Life Lessons

I have learned many life lessons from friends and family. Some are good, some not so good, but all are important.

I'm going to share with you one of my favorite life lessons that my Aunt Cathy (unknowingly) taught me:
Don't take life too seriously.

Simple!

Do you want proof that this woman's living the life?

Aunt Cathy's husband, Tom, has a trail cam set up in their yard to watch the deer stealing apples from their apple tree. One day, Tom checked his trail cam, and this is what he found was stealing those apples.....

Sasquatch!!!!

Then Sasquatch started doing the gangsta dance...

=D Cracks me up every time.

The moral of this story: Don't take everything so seriously! Whether it be in decorating, cooking, creating, or just life in general, just have fun with it!

Thank you Aunt Cathy for being the goofy person you are! ;)

Alright, one last sneak peek until the big reveal tomorrow!

Ooo, that's dusty....darn it.

Coming up: BIG REVEAL, tiered topiaries, wall vase, ANOTHER BIG PROJECT (I had an amazing day thrift shopping...), and starting Nov. 1st, I will be sharing my chronicles from Nesting Place's "31 Days To A Better Dressed Nest"

Magic Bullet Mousse

I'm going to share with you one of my favoriter, and oh so easy, Magic Bullet recipes.

I recived the Magic Bullet for a wedding present (I believe my sister-in-law, but I could be wrong) and I love it every second.

I found that it will even grind coffee beans (sigh.....)

Anyways, everything that in parenthases () and bold are MY words. Everthing else comes straight from their cookbook.

Chocolate Mousse

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You will think you died and went to Heaven...all for about 4 seconds worth of effort. This rich and tantalizingly decadent desert will impress everyone who tastes it.

1/4 heavy cream

2 tbs. chocolate syrup

(I never measure these out. It's a waste of time to be precise in this recipe)

First... (Using the Flat Blade) Add the ingredients to the Short Cup and blend until smooth. (The motor sound will change to a "whirrrrr" when it's ready)
Then... Serve. (I like to serve mine in martini or margarita glasses to give us a further sense of luxury, lol)

Notes: This makes one serving. For more servings, double of triple the recipe. (Duh...)

Serving Suggestions: Using the Flat Blade, grind a few chocolate chips up in the Short Cup.Twist on the Shaker/Steamer Top and sprinkle a little on the top of your chocolate mousse.

You can also whip some cream (they have a recipe for that also on pg. 25 in their cookbook) and add a dollop to the top of each serving of chocolate mouse.

(We also like to add crushed oreos to ours. Experiment a little!)

Looks yummy!

Anyways, stick around for tomorrow for some giggles! You don't want to miss it! (Yes, that means you'll have to wait until Thursday for the big reveal!)

Speaking of the big reveal, let's give you another sneak peek!

Almost there guys!