Home Tour {Entryway}

While trick or treating I still walk my little guys up to the door. Not because I'm an overbearing mom (well maybe a little), but because as you're commenting on how cute their costume is and handing them sugar they don't need, I'm looking over your shoulder to get a glimpse inside your house. Weird? Maybe, but it's the truth.
I love taking my little guys to trick or treat not for the love of candy, but for my love of seeing how others live.  I love to see inside other peoples homes, even if it may just be a glimpse. I love to see how others decorate their homes. It's a reflection of the family that lives there. Your home tells a story. A story of who lives there and what they're like.

 Since I probably just creeped you out a little with my nosiness, I thought it'd only be fair to give you a glimpse of what you'd see if you came knockin on our door.

The coat rack was a garage sale find. 

The Fiddleleaf Fig tree (Ficus Lyrata) is from Home Depot for $10.00!! I've been wanting one of these trees for quite some time, but because of their usually hefty price tag and my non green thumb I was hesitant to buy one. When I found this one a few weeks ago for $10.00 I quickly snatched it up.

Since we technically don't have much for an entry way, I extended our "entryway"  into our living room..which technically is supposed to be our dining room according to our builder, but who dines on carpet?? Not us!

I found this entry table on craigslist along with the white mirror for $75.00 

Here is a before picture

I had a hard time picking a paint color. I didn't want to pick my usual safe paint choices of black or white. I wanted a statement piece that added a pop of color. I think this adds the "pop" I wanted.

The color is Safety Red by Rustoleum.

The Van Gogh print was also thrifted. You should of seen my sons face when I brought it home. He thought it was an original piece and we were rich. Broke my heart to tell him it wasn't real.

All of the frames and mirrors were thrifted or garage sale finds. The H is from Kohls (old) and the black and white horse photo is from World Market. I painted a black strip on the gold mirror to make the mirror pop a little more against our beige walls. The yellow ottoman is from Home Goods.

Hope you enjoyed "Trick or Treating" at our house today!

Here's a peek into our living room that I'll be sharing next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

                                                  

Halloween Party

Last year we had a Halloween party at our house for the cousins.  I must say that it turned out to be one of the funnest parties we've had so far. We all had a blast! Although the dads and Grandpas wimped out didn't dress up, the mommas and Grandmas did and it added to the fun! There are 9 cousins total including my two. 

I wanted it to be fun for the kids, not scary so I kept to a black and white theme of spiders and bats.

The spider plates were made by gluing googly eyes and card stock paper legs to them. The black candlesticks were all thrifted and spray painted black.  Since we were serving green punch I wanted lids on the mason jars. My husband drilled a hole through the top of the lids for the straws.

The "web" ball was made with yarn. There are a lot of tutorials on how to do this on Pinterest, but basically you blow up a balloon, cover it in vaseline, heavily dip your yarn in glue, hang it to dry, pop and remove the balloon. 

The spider deviled eggs were a hit!

After seeing these cute cupcakes on Pinterest I had to give them a try.

Umm, yeah they didn't turn out so cute. Pinterest Fail!  Not sure how they were able to split an oreo so perfectly?? At least they tasted yummy! 

Cousins (2 are missing and 1 was still in the oven)

     Wonder Woman costume:

 I watched several different you tube videos on how to make a tutu. It turned out to be easy, just time consuming.

 I found felt star stickers at Michaels and added them to the tutu. I used a wonder woman iron on that I purchased from ebay and ironed it to the red tank top. The crown, cuffs, and belt were all made using gold glittered card stock paper from Michaels. I cut the red stars out of red card stock and glued them on to the crown,  wrist cuffs and belt. The wrist cuffs are fastened with velcro. I glued ribbon to the crown and belt to tie them on.

xoxo,

                                                       

Keeping It Real

So I've had a few thoughts on my mind that I've wanted to talk about.

 First up, was why I blog. This blog has been on my heart for long over 4 years, but out of fear and timing I've waited until now. I started this blog to share my ideas, in hopes to inspire others to DIY. This blog is a HUGE step for me, as I really don't like putting myself out there.  If you read my first blog post, you would notice that I wrote it well over a year ago. Last year I had thought that I would have the time to blog, but with my boy's having two different school pick up times, the timing wasn't right and my family comes first. Also, fear was/is a huge factor in starting this blog. I had a huge case of the "what ifs"..What if people don't like it, what if people think I'm bragging, what if I get overwhelmed, what if I run out of ideas, what if... what if.  I feel that God has put this blog on my heart to inspire other moms/women in making your home, YOUR HOME. I decorate and DIY because I enjoy it. Others may not enjoy it and that's ok. I think that EVERYONE is creative and some need help in finding their creative side. That's what I'm hoping to do. This blogs intent was/is to inspire, not to ever make anyone think that I've got it all together because I don't. As a wife/mom/woman I have my own short comings and am far from perfect. In showing you pictures of rooms in my house I will "style it up" and make it "picture perfect" but my house DOES NOT always look like that. I have the same struggles in keeping up with a tidy house as every other mom. 

Last week I showed you this pretty picture of my office.

This is what my office really looks like:

Yes, there is a treadmill, keyboard and a plant needing a pot in the middle of my office.

 If your thinking "How does she...?"  She doesn't! Over the years I have always taken pictures of projects that I've done, always knowing that one day I would have the time to blog. So, with that being said, a lot of the projects that I share or will share are "old" projects. I don't want anyone to think that I'm busting these projects out left and right. Some of these projects can be well over 4 years old.

Just needed to make sure you all knew that although I'm showing you these pretty pictures, it doesn't mean that's what my house always looks like!

xoxo,

Fall Porch

 I have a confession to make. I've never carved pumpkins with my sons. I know. But, before you judge and think my boy's are being deprived, let me explain. They do carve pumpkins every year,  just not  with me.  My husband has always been the one to do it and I've never complained. I am content with being the photographer of the event. I enjoy watching them carve, I just have no interest in carving. Never have. Never will. I know lots of people that LOVE carving and are great at it, but I'm not one of those people. Something about taking all that time carving all the little details and then it only lasts a day or two. Just not my thing.
  However, painting pumpkins ...now that is what I'm talking about! No carving needed and they will last through Thanksgiving.

Makes me happy!

I probably spent a total of an hour painting these 4 pumpkins and it was pretty simple.

For the black and white striped pumpkin I taped it off with frog tape and then sprayed painted it black and then removed the tape.

For the deer head silhouette I printed the silhouette (downloaded from the internet) on card stock and cut it out. 

I then traced the silhouette with a pen onto the pumpkin. I purposely found a pumpkin that was a little flat on one side, which made it easier to trace onto.

Once traced I then painted it using a Rustoleum paint pen

For the "hello" pumpkin I painted it with chalkboard paint and then used my white chalkboard pen to write on it. The yellow pumpkin I taped off with frog tape on a diagonal and used yellow spray paint that I already had.

Also, why I was already sprucing up our front porch I spray painted an "H" on our door mat. Years ago it did say "welcome", but faded over the years. I printed off an "H" from the internet onto card stock and cut it out, and then used it as a stencil.

I then taped it to the mat and then sprayed over it with black spray paint.

                                                        

So tell me...are you a pumpkin carver or painter?

xoxo,

My BFF's

I love Ikea for a lot of obvious reasons, but one of them is for the fact that you can buy something from them and easily put your own twist on it.  Earlier in the week I showed you my office, which has pretty much been done for well over a year and a half. However, I didn't put the "finishing touches" on it until last week. By "finishing touches" I mean organizing and styling it.  I've had the expedit shelving unit in my office for a long time, but it didn't always look as pretty and organized as it does now. Partly because I have project ADD and usually start another project before I finish the one I'm currently working on and partly because I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the baskets I originally wanted for storage.

 So, in wanting to finally finish my office I decided I would use the Kassett Box from Ikea which would cost me $20 for four, rather then $70 for the baskets.

It's no secret that spray paint and I are BFFs, but I have found two new friends that I can easily become BFF's with too. Want to meet them? Let me introduce you to my new friends  Rub N Buff and contact paper. I have used a lot of both of these products lately and am loving the endless possibilities. 

Since I have gold accents in my office I wanted to add gold to the boxes to glam them up a little. I added Rub N Buff to to name plates on the boxes. Rub N Buff is a metallic wax paste that can easily be rubbed on with your finger or paint brush.  Since the name plates were not attached to the boxes yet, I found it easiest to just rub it on with my finger.

I then added a 1 1/2 inch strip of gold contact paper to the top and bottom of the boxes. Since this contact paper was a little pricey, I just added it to the front of the boxes.

I also used the Rub N Buff on the Kassett Magazine Files

The top pieces were not yet attached, which made it easy to Rub N Buff.

The label holder was already attached to the file, so I found it easiest to use a paint brush when putting the Rub N Buff on.

The paper tray  is also from Ikea and for this one I used my true BFF, spray paint! I used this Gold spray paint.

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,