Ike's Sleep Number

Ike went to bed early last night.  This is how we found him....

Looks like he found his sleep number!

Food Gawker

Have you been to foodgawker.com? 

If not, head there now.....and drool like I have been.

This will be tonight's supper!! Let's hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Find recipe Here

Let me know if you find anything else that looks tasty (besides desserts...because EVERY dessert on there looks good)!!

Stripey Laundry Room

The week-end brings one of my favorite chores..laundry (**note sarcasm**). 

I'm thinking that if my laundry room was more exciting, then laundry would be more exciting.  Righttt.... 

I am, however, LOVING this laundry room.  I don't think Nate would go for the pink...but then again I'm not sure he even really knows where the laundry room is located in our house. :P

Image found here

I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience to paint stripes...but you just never know....

Master Bath

Our master bath was an after thought.  Sad, but true. 

We love the floor plan but the finishes were given little thought.  The room was one of our last rooms to make decisions in and by that point we just really didn't care and picked whatever was the least expensive but still seemed ok. 

The mirrors were no exception.  Hello, contractor mirrors. Yuck. 

So we made a change!  We painted some trim black and stuck it to the mirror with some silicone based adhesive caulk. Easy! 

Let's take a look at how the bathroom started..(I SWORE we took "before" pictures but they are nowhere to be found)....

So here it is from long ago...

 And here it is today...

Nate's side is getting no love in this blog post....

Differences from the original picture:

• The trim around the mirror.
• Cabinet hardware which was originally nickle and then we spray painted black.
• New faucets.  Maybe I'll post about this some other day...

And my favorite part of the bathroom....the claw foot tub that we had refinished...

The master bath is pretty much finished....oh wait, nothing is finished at our house! 

My mom recently asked me if I could just be happy and content with something in our house...
and the answer was and still is "no"..........maybe someday.....maybe...but what fun would that be......

Before and After: Dog Edition

Check out this before and after!!

Ike before his grooming.

Ike after his grooming.

He is ridiculously cute when his hair is long...but there comes a time when the poor dog can't see and we have to deal with things like a poo bum...not fun (and probably too much info...that's what you get when you read this blog....too much useless info. Why are you still reading? :P).

Wire Fox Terriers need to be groomed because they do not shed (bonus!!).  They have 2 coats.  The top coat is dense and wiry and the undercoat is soft and short.

I have read various things about the "proper" way to groom a wire fox terrier.  The "proper" way mainly depends on if you want to groom the dog as a pet or as a show dog.  Most dogs for show are stripped (the hair is "stripped" out by hand to preserve the colors and glossiness of the coat).  Most pets are clipped, which may cause the coat to be softer, curlier, and duller.  Ike gets the latter.  Why? Because most groomers in the area don't do stripping and we're too lazy to do it ourselves. Simple as that! 

And now you have learned something about the grooming of Wire Fox Terriers.  Very helpful, I'm sure!

Bedroom Progress

While I wait impatiently patiently for our duvet to arrive, I have been working on getting some other things in order.

Let's review what the bedroom looked like before:

And here it is currently:

(The black thing on the floor is Ike's skunk. He kept dropping it in my pictures. Whatever.)

I removed the decals from the wall, started cleaning up the nightstands, and replaced the lamps.

I found the replacement lamps at TJMaxx. 

I think they are a better size than the previous lamps from Target.  The Target lamps will now live in the guest room.

Still on the to-do list:

• finish the headboard
• wait for the duvet to arrive
• look for some cheap blue/grey/silver/white books
• ponder hanging something above the headboard
• talk nate into replacing the ceiling fan with a cute chandelier like this...if only ceiling fans weren't a neccesity in Iowa....a girl can dream....

image found here

Who doesn't love a to-do list?  Any other suggestions?

And the Winner Is...

After looking at every comforter on-line and in every store in the Quad Cities, I FINALLY decided on a duvet.

And the winner is..........the West Elm Parachute Duvet in feather gray.  I'm pretty excited about it!



I have also purchased a few yards of these fabrics.

 

Any guesses what I will use them for?

Mirror, Mirror on the Mudroom Wall

Let's start the week off with my favorite...a before and after!

I've had my eye on this mirror (for sale at a local resale store) for a few months but just couldn't decide what I would do with it.

Michelle: "Nate, what do you think of this mirror?"
Nate: "You're going to paint it, right?" (with a hint of disgust and annoyance because I asked during football playoffs)

Of course I'm going to paint it!!

I even hung it in the mudroom all by my little self!

I purchased it while "junk" shopping this week-end with my childhood friend, Melissa.  I found it along with many other bargains which I will share throughout the week!!

Next Monday will be the headboard's big reveal (read about the project here).  (It just needs a coat of primer and some paint which I won't be able to get to until this week-end...darn job cutting into my decorating time)  Big week ahead!

Oblivious

Notice the deer resting in the trees (located between the 2 smushed couch cushions). 

Notice the dog snoozing away. 

And he tells us he is a guard dog....

Week-end Plans

Our week-end will include working more on this (see details here):

And a good friend is coming into town to go "junk" furniture shopping!  Fabulous week-end ahead!