House Creeper

Do you have a house you’d like to show off?  Do you like to creep in other people’s houses?  (I do. Don’t be ashamed.)

If so, stop by Houseography today and show off your dining room (or creep on other people's dining rooms).  Each Monday you can show off a different room.  The more rooms, the more fun!

Do you want to show off your entire house?  Sign up to be on the house tour at A Bowl Full of Lemons.



I’ve found this is a great way to get your blog some exposure!  If you're into that sort of thing.

Off to an end of tax season party.  Drunk accountants.  You know you are jealous….

Stupid Curtains

I asked Nate what I should title this post…and there you have it…

For my new readers, I have been waiting on West Elm's Opaque Linen Pole-Pocket Panels for 2 months.  You can read about my impatience here, here, and here.

They finally arrived 2 weeks ago.  We were busy doing yard work last week-end and didn’t get them hung.  It just about killed me.  Seriously.

This week-end it decided to snow (awesome) so I am happy to report that they are now hanging beautifully in our bedroom. I wish I had some better lighting this morning.  It was gloomy yesterday so I waited in hopes of some sun but still gloom.  They are talking 12 straight days of significant rainfall. Go Iowa.  I also really need to learn how to use our DSLR….and get rid of that ceiling fan…

 

 

I like how they soften the room but don’t disturb the view.  I think they are perfect (but not perfectly fluffed yet).  I’d almost say that they were worth the wait but I won’t go that far.  My impatient side won’t let me. I did get 5% cash back from the wait though (my credit card started offering 5% cash back on purchases at home stores…awesome!).

Anyone else have a husband who loves hanging curtains?  Who can convince Nate that the ceiling fan must go?

Did you notice our curtain rods?  We made them ourselves….more on that tomorrow!

Pinterest Anonymous

Hi.  My name is Michelle.  I am a Pinterest addict.

Pinterest is a website where you can create a virtual pinboard that stores all of your favorite ideas.  I am cleaning out my “bookmarks” and “pinning” every craft idea and room inspiration photo that I have on my computer. 

I think this site will be extremely useful for meal planning or helping me decide what craft project to tackle next……if I can pull myself away from the computer that is. 

The site is currently by invitation only but I received an instant invitation from here. (Scroll down to the very bottom!)  I am warning you that this is a giant time suck….seriously.  Consider yourself warned.

Follow me at http://pinterest.com/decorandthedog/. I’m excited to see what inspires you!

***Our headboard is featured today on the Best of the Blogosphere over at Centsational Girl. Beyond cool.***

Knock Off Decor

Our headboard is getting us some blog love this week!

Tonight we are featured on Knock Off Decor. Check it out here…

Knock Off Decor is a site to showcase all projects inspired by the designer home decor catalogs.  Check out our feature and all of the other amazing projects…looks like I know how I’ll be killing some time this week-end (hopefully in between some crown molding installation and curtain hanging)!

The headboard is also getting noticed on Curbly and CasaSugar!  And Maybe Matilda (a fellow QC blogger…small world!).  Thank you all so much!!

What a great way to end tax season!! :)

Have a great week-end!

**Edit: Home bloggers: Do you like to answer surveys? (I do.  It’s a weird sickness.)  Or maybe you just like to help out fellow bloggers…stop by Things To Do While Wearing an Apron and help her with her homework (man, I don’t miss homework)!**

Apartment Therapy

We’ve been featured on Apartment Therapy!!!  Check it out here.

Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to jumping up and down!!! :)

Chalkboard Bandwagon

I’m jumping on the chalkboard bandwagon. 

My friends and family are going to think I’m a genius….my fellow bloggers will be like “great, you made a chalkboard like 50 million other bloggers”…..but do chalkboard posts ever get old??  That’s what I thought.

I bought this picture for $2.00 at the Salvation Army…



Not a horrible picture but what I really liked was the frame.  Simple but not too simple.  Just needed a fresh coat of paint.

I purchased some Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint…



Taped up my picture….



And spray painted away….in the grass..so I didn’t get in trouble for painting the concrete..oops!



And here is my new chalkboard frame in our kitchen….pre-chalk




Post-chalk…



Look…Herb is growing hair…



Now I want to use Chalkboard paint on EVERYTHING!

Have you experimented with Chalkboard paint? 

Does your menu consist of the Cap’n?? I’m getting my fill in before they discontinue it.  I hope it’s an awful rumor but I’m eating up…just in case.

Linking up to: Domestically Speaking

DIY Window Headboard Tutorial-Queen

We’ve had a few requests for queen sized dimensions of our West Elm Window Headboard Copy Cat. 

Here they are!  All directions are the same as the king size bed (follow them here)…only the cut list has changed! 

• Using 2x4: cut to 55" (horizontal support on very bottom) 
• Using 2x3: 
  • cut 2 - 55" pieces (top and bottom horizontal of headboard) 
  • cut 2 - 55" pieces (side pieces)
  • Using your 1x2s cut: 
    • ten 6.75" pieces (horizontal part of "window") 
    • ten 18.5" pieces (vertical part of "window") 
      • (the picture shows 20" but this takes into account the other pieces)
      • ten 6" pieces (for top and bottom of "window") 
      • six 3.5” pieces (in between “windows”)

Let us know if you have any questions and please e-mail us a photo of your completed project!! 

On a totally unrelated note…what accent color should I use for pillows?  Remember we are pretty boring traditional…

Faucet Switch-a-roo

Yesterday we discussed our "must-haves" for our bathroom. 

Awesome faucets were also on the list.

We fell in love with Price Pfister’s Ashfield faucet.



It was old yet modern.  Our favorite style.

The only finish Lowe’s had in stock was Rustic Pewter.  I wasn’t too excited about having different finishes (brushed nickel for everything else) but we decided that the finishes were close enough.  The coolness factor won out.

We knew when we purchased the faucet that it had water-sense technology (a water-saving low flow faucet) but we weren’t prepared for how low of a flow it really was.  The extremely low flow made it hard to do most anything that you needed to do in the bathroom…clean, wash your face, etc. It was basically only good for a nice flow to wet your toothbrush.  We had to run hot water in the bathtub to get enough hot water upstairs to wash our faces without freezing. How’s that for water saving?

We tried to make it work but the annoyance finally beat the looks.

We decided to replace the faucets with Price Pfister’s Hanover faucet…



It still had Water-sense technology but had a higher flow.

We love the change.  We can now wash our faces with warm water..the little things in life.

The satin nickel and style also better matches our clawfoot tub’s fixture….



We are hoping to sell the Ashfield faucets on our garage sale in May…otherwise we will Craigslist them.

What did we learn from this adventure?…looks only get you so far in a bathroom.  Now if we can only remember that in the future….

Anyone else learn the hard way regarding looks versus function?

**I attempted to add Disqus for comments last night...let me know what you think/if it doesn't work!**
**Update: I deleted Disqus.  It was annoying.  I lost any comments from today and I am too lazy/not smart enough to know how to bring them back...if you know how, let me know!***

Singing in the Shower

I wish I could tell you all about our new curtains hanging beautifully in our bedroom.  But my husband wouldn’t help me hang them (and I can’t be trusted with a hammer and level)…the Masters was on, he only had one day off this week, and we had yard work to do in the beautiful 80 degree weather. Weak excuses.  Everyone leave a comment letting Nate know how much you want to see those curtains hanging in all of their glory….GO!

In the mean time, I had some questions last week asking if we also had a shower in our master bathroom. 

Yes, we do!  The thought of Nate taking a bath in the clawfoot tub every day makes me laugh.  A lot.

When designing our master bathroom, I really wanted space for a clawfoot tub.  Nate really wanted a walk-in shower.  I had no complaints.  Walk-in shower equals no shower door/curtain to clean.  Works for me!

The original floor plan (on the left below) for the master bathroom did not have either of those.  By mixing together a few other floor plans, we came up with our current plan (on the right below). 

 

The addition of pocket doors allowed room for the clawfoot tub.  We also liked the idea of having separate sink areas beings we get ready for the day at the same time.  We took a small amount of room from the closet to allow for the walk-in shower.

Here is the entrance to the shower….

Here is the inside of the shower…

Here is the view heading out of the shower….

As you can tell, Ike enjoys the lack of shower door as well. 

Nate’s smart and designed the shower so the shower handle is in a location where you can turn it on without having to get into the shower with freezing cold water.  Good work husband!  Now let’s see you use that brain power to hang curtains…

What would you/did you include in your dream bathroom?

**Today I’m linking up to the house tour on HOUSEography. Check it out!**

Millisecond Muffins

It’s Sunday morning…which at our house usually means MUFFINS!! 

Our recipe uses the Magic Bullet….do you have a magic bullet?  If not, you must purchase one….or put it on your Christmas list like Nate did.  It’s a fabulous little blending machine.  I’m sure you could make this with any blender though. 

Millisecond Chocolate Chip Muffins (courtesy of the Magic Bullet 10 seconds recipe book)

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 cup Bisquick
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (we use the minis)
• splash of milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin tin or line each cup with a paper muffin liner.

Add all of the ingredients, in the order listed above, into the Tall Cup (included with the Magic Bullet) and mix until smooth.

Pour 1/2 of the muffin mix into the Short Cup (again, included with the Magic Bullet).  Add in most of the chocolate chips and a splash of milk and pulse until blended but slightly textured. Repeat with other 1/2 of muffin mix.

Pour into muffin tins and add a few a lot of chocolate chips to the top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Enjoy!

Don’t those look delicious…if only Nate was up to make them for me this morning….

Enjoy your Sunday!  It’s supposed to be a hot and humid 86 degrees here.  I can’t wait!

Linking up to: Remodelaholic