Splashing the Back

This house has always deserved a back splash.

It's an older house that was built in 1957.  The people who lived here before us did an awesome job of updating the kitchen.  They bought all new stainless steel appliances, including an awesome microwave that I still haven't figured out even though I've lived here for almost five years.  The kitchen is probably the most awesome room in the whole house, so much so, that even when we were approached at a Home Depot and asked what would we change about our kitchen, we couldn't come up with a single thing.  

Except for the back splash which we were there buying tile for.

So a couple weekends ago, the back splash went in.  Here are a few pics of the loveliness that I get to look at in the kitchen every day now.

I so love this kitchen.  And doesn't the back splash look beautiful!  I love getting these home improvement knocked out!  I'm ready to put in the second bathroom.

That one is probably not going to happen for awhile.

Upcycle - Birmingham

Sorry for the short hiatus here on the old blog.  There have been quite a few things going on that have prevented me from being able to write.

But now that I'm back, I want to showcase an awesome company in Birmingham, that we just happened to find through Living Social.  

Upcycle Birmingham.

The only website I can find on them is their Facebook page, and they do a great job of showing off all the pieces that they've created.

What they do is find old wood from houses that have been torn down in the Birmingham area, and they create beautiful pieces of furniture.  We had been in the market for a new dining room table ( to get rid of our college aged IKEA one), so when a Living Social popped up with these guys, we were all over it.

We met with one of the owners to discuss what kind of table we wanted.  We decided on a darker finish table of 2x4's.  And when we finally got the table, we were blown away!!

I am absolutely in love with this table.  I am thoroughly convinced that there is nothing that makes a house look more grown up that a freaking amazing coffee table.

If you are looking for a unique piece in the Birmingham area, give them a shout!  You honestly won't be disappointed.

A Small Project + A Little Known Fact

I have noticed something about myself that is just a tad bit disconcerting.  

When I wear socks to bed (which could be disconcerting on its own, but believe me, it doesn't happen often), I always end up taking them off.

When I'm asleep.  

I'm not kidding.  That happens.  It sort of weirds me out, but it happens.  I always wake up snuggling with both socks.  I thank Jesus that I don't have smelly feet.

Anyway...onto something less weird.  One day while perusing Pinterest, I came across a lot of wine bottle projects.  A lot of them were way out of my creative league, but I though a-ha! there are some on here that I can mimic, and maybe, just maybe they won't come out sucking so bad.

So I took five of the many wine bottles I have around the house ( I have been saving them for awhile waiting for the creative/non-lazy bug to hit), spray painted them glittery gold, and added a stripe of chalkboard pain for good measure.

All done with paint tape, glittery gold spray paint, and chalkboard spray paint.  I will tell you a few things that I learned in the process:

1.  Hope you like gold glitter, because wherever you spray paint (umm, it was below 40 degrees outside, and homie don't play that game) is going to turn glittery.  I've always said that everything is a little happier with glitter, so I thought of it as a good thing.

2.  If you can (or have the patience) try to soak or peel off the wine label.  I did not do either of these things, and you can sort of tell on the chalkboard paint stripe.

3.  Be sure to tape the bottom part extra well; my chalkboard paint sort of seeped through, creating a few streaks of the black amongst the gold.

They came in quite handy to write my War Eagle, Beat Bama message.

And are coming in even handier for the Beat Mizzou!

And just because it's never going to get old...

War Eagle folks, War Eagle.

Another Sweet Home Improvement Project

Since we've decided to stay in Birmingham a little while longer, we thought we needed to have a list of home improvements.  On top the list is a new bathroom; but seeing as how we are neither rich, nor seeing that coming through any time soon, we've set our sights on smaller, much less expensive projects. 

 

So...

 

We started with a couple of pendant lights over our sink.  They are industrial looking, and fit right into our house.  Once B gets his anniversary present, I believe our kitchen will be done.  Well, unless he finally lets me paint that kitchen window black.

 

I won't hold my breath.

 

Anyway, here they are!!

 

 

We got these pendants from Home Depot, and they have old-timey light bulbs in them . My favorite part about these lights?  They glow....when they turn out.  Instead of just turning out, the filament just glows.  It's incredible.  As much as I wish I was moving, I really still do love this house.

 

 



Mirror Makeover

In addition to smaller projects like the spray painting of my artichoke lamp, we also decided we wanted to do something to spruce up our bathroom.

Wanna know a secret?  Maybe not so much a secret, as I've said it before, but there is only one bathroom in our entire house.  We (and when I say, we, I mean B) never thought that it would work.  I tend to be a little on the messy side; I leave my bed clothes on the bathroom floor; I leave out pretty much every ounce of makeup I put on my face on top of our counter.  So you can imagine my B's disbelief when I told him that I promised I would take care of the bathroom.  

I haven't.  So I guess he was right.  

Anyway, we replaced the lights in the bathroom as our first project in there.  We had always wanted to do a frame around the mirrors, but they are glued pretty tight to the wall, and are pretty damn close to the wall and the counter.

So we decided to do something that would look like a frame, but A.  would be cheaper and B.  wouldn't be pulling perfectly good wall out of our house just to frame a mirror.  We headed to Lowe's for some single tile, and stuck them on the mirror.  Best.  Idea.  Ever.  It looks just like a frame!  Both of us absolutely love it.

Before mirrors (notice that my clothes have spilled onto B's counter, right picture) and also notice all the crap on my counter (left picture).

And see the cleanliness in these pictures?  Sometimes it's awesome to be married to a neat freak.  Doesn't it look fantastic?  We love how it just almost matches the tile on the counter, but not quite.  B did an awesome job making sure all the pieces fit perfectly.

That man.  Sometimes he's just so dang handy.

My New Dresser! Woo!

Ok, so I've had this dresser for awhile. And fortunately for me and everyone, the world did not come to an end this weekend, so I will get to enjoy my new dresser.

I love how antique-y this thing is. It's incredibly old. My mom gave it to me when I moved to my last apartment in Auburn. While she always told me not to change it, I pretty much guarantee no one in the family even knows this dresser still exists, let alone where it or wants it very much (sorry Mom!), so I decided to not make it an eyesore in my house.

Befores......

Afters!

A fresh coat of white paint and some new hardware. I really didn't want to take away from the oldness of this, so I wanted to find some really old looking drawer pulls. I thought it was going to end up costing me a fortune, plus a month looking online for 10 of these babies. But, I'm sorry, have you ever heard of Hobby Lobby? AKA drawer pull heaven? If not, you should get yourself there. I also got a really cool silk orchid bundle for one of my vases in the bedroom, and scored a sweet fleur-de-lis door knocker!

I'm in love. That's the only project I've been working on for right now; I've been a little busy with everything, but the day in the baby pool with sangria? You only wish you would have been here!