The Handbuilt Home Giveaway

Those of you that have been reading this blog for awhile know that I like to make my husband we like to build furniture.

West Elm Inspired Bedframe

West Elm Inspired Window Headboard

Nate likes to try to come up with his own plans but sometimes it’s easier to not have to reinvent the wheel.  That was the case with our farmhouse table.

Farmhouse Table

Ana White’s plan for the Big Ur Farm Table was very straightforward.  We loved the look of the table and there wasn’t much to improve on.

Ana White's site has also been super helpful with any building related questions that Nate has when I show him a piece of furniture and say “Please build this dear love of mine.”  She introduced us to the Kreg jig and our lives have never been the same since.  Seriously.  True story.

I was recently asked to review Ana’s book, The Handbuilt Home.

via Ana White

The book is full of furniture plans for every room of the home.  The book is very visually appealing with many photos of diagrams and completed projects.  I enjoyed the first few chapters of the book that explain what tools are needed, what kind of wood to purchase for the various projects, and what type of finishes to use on the projects.  The book also includes information on different types of cutting and assembly.

After reading this book I almost thought I could build furniture on my own.  Who needs that husband?  Not me.  Okay, wait. I do.  I can’t cut straight to save my life. I am, however, seriously thinking about learning how to use a saw. Seriously.  Baby steps.  I won’t be wearing heels though if I do.  That Ana is an impressive lady.

Would you like a chance to win a copy of your very own?  Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***I was not compensated for this review.  I was provided a copy of The Handbuilt Home for free.  All opinions are 100% mine.  Like always.***

Nate Goes Hunting

Sorry the blog has been lame-o lately.  I’m still recovering from the bacteria that has invaded my body.  Round two of antibiotics appears to maybe be doing something.

I, obviously, haven’t been into house projects.  Unless you count making a giant dent into my couch as a house project.  I’ve made fine progress on that front.

What do you post about besides your couch cushions’ giant dent? 

You post photos that your husband took while he went hunting in South Dakota.  The boys of the family head off west once a year to hunt pheasant.  I’ll save you the dead bird photos and share the pretty ones.  You. Are. Welcome.

I really want a cow.  Ike does too.  Nate’s not really into it.  Weak, Nate.  Weak. 

Winning, Cheating, & Mummies

How’s that for a post title?

Today we are having a meeting.

First order of business:  Winning.

The winner of the Soggy Doggy Super Shammy Giveaway is entry #45…Lisa!  Congrats and I’ll be in contact with you!

Second order of business: Cheating.

Today is the Random Acts of Craftiness challenge reveal.  This month’s challenge was “Odds and Ends from the Hardware Store.”  I am cheating.  Erin said it’s okay.  I am linking up our console table.  It’s only sort of cheating.  We did originally go wandering through the hardware store trying to figure out what we could cheaply/uniquely use for legs for our distressed top. Copper pipe for the win. Be sure to check out the other unique ideas from people that put forth effort this month.  (You can do so here!)  I’m just ahead of my time.  I totally like bands before they exist.

Third and last order of business:  Mummies (and ghosts)

Today is a big day at work.  Almost the entire medical clinic dresses up for Halloween.  It’s always a good time. There are prizes for group and individual costumes.  The pharmacy always goes the group route.  This year we are going as the Peanuts (Charlie Brown and company). I’m Pig Pen.  Check out my Instagram feed on the right side of the blog for photos.  Halloween is also cause for a potluck (as is Columbus day, Flag day, etc.).  I whipped up these cupcake mummies and Nutterbutter ghosts.  I don’t mess around on potluck day.

Both are super easy to make.  The cupcakes are from a box with a powdered sugar + butter + vanilla + water frosting.  My frosting was a tad too runny but I was kind of over baking by this time so I went with it.  The ghosts are Nutter Butters coated in white chocolate with mini chocolate chips for eyes.  Easy peasy Mcsqueazy.

Are you dressing up for Halloween?  The kids?  The dog?  What are you/they going as?  What’s your favorite Halloween treat?  Did you participate in the Random Acts of Craftiness challenge?

Linking up to: His and Hers

Scrappy Iowa Pillow Cover

Ike and I did it.  We took on the Pinterest challenge.



We made this Iowa pillow cover with exactly 99 little pieces of fabric. By “we” I mean, I cut a ton of fabric pieces while he drug stuff out of my fabric closet.  Super helpful, Ike. Super helpful.
I was inspired by this pin…

Source: seekatesew.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

My take on this project was to make the state of Iowa instead of the United States.  Sometimes it’s hard having a doctorate.  You see, I thought the WHOLE United States seemed like a lot of work and Iowa would be much easier.  Until I dove right into the project and soon realized that the 99 counties of Iowa would make my take on the project almost twice the work.  Genius.  The upside is that Iowa counties are pretty square so the top stitching was easier. (That’s what I kept telling myself when I realized my genius ways.)





I do love how it turned out though.  It is currently living happily in our master bedroom next to our headboard. I like the little dose of happy color it brings to the room!

Want to make your own state?  It’s honestly fairly easy.  It is, however, time consuming.

• Print 2 maps of your state (counties included).  Cardstock is preferred.
• Number each county on both maps.
• Line up some fabric scraps.  Apply Heat N Bond to them as directed on the package. 
  • I recommend buying the strongest Heat N Bond.  I had a little trouble with the counties coming off as I continued to work on the project.  Annoying.
• I placed the counties in a Ziploc bag and randomly drew them.  Neighboring counties sometimes had the same fabric.  But I was okay with that. I told myself to forget my perfectionist ways and just have fun with this.
• Cut the counties out of the cardstock and use them to trace on each fabric scrap.  When tracing, remember to flip your county or you’ll end up with backwards pieces.  Not that this happened to me…

• Place the completed counties on your intact map.

• I decided to make my map into a pillow cover.  You could frame this, hang it on the wall, etc.
• Find the center of your piece of fabric and find your center county.  Remove the back of the Heat N Bond and iron away.  Be sure to take crummy cell phone photos on your dirty ironing board for your tutorial.

• Keep on ironing.  I promise you will make it.  Looking back on this, I’m not sure how I didn’t burn myself.  Go me.

• Now for the fun part.  Top stitching.  If you used strong Heat N Bond you could probably get away with leaving it. I think the top stitching gives it that great scrappy/quilted feel though.  I did mine with my sewing machine but by hand may have been easier.
• From here, I finished off my pillow cover and told myself I’d never make another one.  But now I’m thinking a little black and gold Iowa Hawkeye pillow might be pretty cute.  Hmmm…

Did you take on the Pinterest challenge?  Anyone with a dog assistant?  Who is sad that work interferes with taking quality daylight photos?  Would your state/country/homeland be easier or harder?

***Check out our past Pinterest challenge projects…. West Elm Inspired Bedframe, Stenciled Powder Room, Painted Tub Claw Feet, and a Washer Monogram!***

Linking up to: Young House Love, Our Fifth House, The Ugly Duckling House, Bower Power

Diggin’ It

I wish I had something witty to start this post out with. I’ve been a little under the weather all week and I lose all wit when I get sick. Lame. 

Our favorites from the week, however, not lame.

• Exterior House Reveal at Hazardous Design: It’s amazing what a little paint can do.  Stop over to Hazardous Design and check out the before and afters of Carrie’s house.  It’s worth the click.  Carrie’s got a fancy style. I want to decorate like her when I grow up.
• Rustic Powder Room at Buffalo Roam:  Stop over to Buffalo Roam to check out Amy’s awesome powder room.  I love Amy’s unique rustic style.  And she’s funny.  Like really funny.  She’s not even paying me to say that. Or is she?
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins at Food.com:  I’m OBSESSED with these muffins.  As in I sometimes eat them for breakfast and lunch.  They are ridiculously good. Bring on the muffin top!

• Shirt Woot:  If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you may have noticed that Nate has a love for ridiculous t-shirts.  I think it’s mainly just to annoy me.  One of his favorite sources is Shirt Woot.  They have a deal a day.  He especially loved Wednesday’s “Two is Better” shirt.  I really hope he didn’t order it…

• Political Poop Bags from Smear Campaign:  Ike is getting all political on us this week.  How about a line of limited edition waste bags available in packages of 80 degradable bags, as your favorite Democrap (Obama) or Repooplican (Romney)?  Ike’s not telling which ones he would like.

What was your favorite thing from this week?  Do share!

Thoughts on The Tile Mat

On Monday I shared with your our backsplash reveal.

I also mentioned on Monday that I would share with you our thoughts on The Tile Setting Mat from Simple Mat.  I said on Monday that I would share that tomorrow.  Tomorrow actually means Thursday.  A virus has been eating my brain this week.  P.S. I need to start eating vegetables.

Anywho…tile setting mat. 

Nate and I had seen this product on some HGTV shows and HomeTime.  I also read a review by Maury the week before we started. If Dean and Maury says it’s cool, then we’re in.  Off we went to the Home Depot to pick up 3 boxes.  (We ended up using 2.5 boxes to cover the 25 square feet in our kitchen.)

As the box suggests, it is a quick and easy way to install tile. It removes that messy mortar step.  The mat is a sheet of plastic with raised adhesive.  There is a protective cover on the side that sticks to the wall and also on the front adhesive side. 

The tile mat was easy to install. Easy as in Michelle could actually help and not be a nuisance easy. We each worked on a section and covered our entire kitchen in one hour.

We placed the mat on Friday and left it until that Sunday afternoon.  We made sure to keep the front cover on all of the adhesive so it didn’t dry out.

We placed the tiles on the mat using spacers.  Tile placement was fairly easy.  The adhesive did like to pull the tiles up or down a little.  The spacers helped keep it in place.  We’re both Type A so this was a little bothersome to us at first but it ended up being okay.

We had a little trouble with tiles sticking if we applied the tile to the mat and then had to remove it for whatever reason (wrong cut, not level, etc.) We ended applying Loctite Powergrab to adhere those tiles to the wall. This was really only an issue up next to the cabinets where we had some cutting issues.

We then grouted and cleaned the tiles…as you would in a normal tile installation.

Look! I do work.  I should go into professional tile installation because I’d have some killer arms.  Just saying.  Especially if all of my clients choose white tile with dark grout.  Kim warned me that cleaning the dark grout would be a giant pain but totally worth it.  She was right.  (As always.)

So what did we really think? I’m glad you asked.

Pros-

• Great for beginners.  We have little tiling experience.  Nate tiled our front steps but anything inside our house we hired out.  (It was hire it done and have it completed in 3 days or not move into our house for another month.)  Based off of Nate’s little experience, he thinks the mat allowed us to do a better job.
• You don’t have to be quick.  The tile mat allowed us to take the extra time needed to cut the tiles correctly and apply them evenly.
• Set up.  Set up only took us 1 hour.  You can leave the mat for as long as you need.  You can also grout immediately after applying the tiles…if your work and social life don’t interfere. 

Cons-

• Cost. The tile mat boxes were $20 per box.  We used 2.5.  The cost is definitely more than mortar….but was totally worth it for us.
• Not all of the tiles stuck.  I’m not going to lie.  We were pretty nervous to grout because we did have a handful of tiles that wouldn’t stick to the mat.  These were the tiles that we have applied and then removed and applied again.  We used the Loctite Powergrab on the tiles that we knew were loose but we were nervous as to how many tiles were loose that we didn’t know about.  This turned out to not be a problem.  We grouted and scrubbed and all of the tiles are still happily living on the wall.

Tips-

• Clean the back of your tiles.  As commonsense would suggest, you will have a harder time adhering tiles that are dirty.
• Make sure your tiles are in the proper position.  There was some wiggle room when adhering the tile to the wall but not a lot.  It took a little getting used to be we eventually found a happy place were we could lightly stick the tile to the wall, adjust, then adhere.
• Only apply the mat where you want tiles.  Yep, commonsense right?  Yeah, we’re smart kids.  The mat sticks out a tiny bit above the tile under the hood.  It’s really not noticeable but we know it’s there and it’s annoying.  We cleaned most of it up without destroying the wall.  We just wished we were more careful.

Would we use The Tile Mat again?  Most definitely!

I’m off to splatter spaghetti sauce all over my kitchen because I can now that I have a protected wall.  Not that it stopped me before.

Had you heard about The Tile Mat?  Any tiling plans in your future?  Any tiling horror stories?

***We were in no way compensated for this post.  That would have been cool but not the case.***

What do we think about The Tile Mat a year later?  Check out our update here!

Soggy Doggy Super Shammy Giveaway

Bath time.  A dog’s worst nightmare.  It’s not exactly a dog owner’s dream either.

Look at that sad, dirty face. 

Bath time got a little more fun around the casa de Décor and the Dog.  The fine folks over at Soggy Doggy sent us a  Soggy Doggy Super Shammy to test out!

This shammy is 5x more absorbent than a regular cotton towel.  It is made from millions of textured, ultra-fine strands of microfiber chenille that are woven together.  The increased surface area of this shammy allows it to dry faster than cotton towels and it remains bacteria and odor-free.

The verdict?

The hand pockets were handy for drying the face and underbelly.  The shammy is super absorbent.  Ike has two coats of fur, a top wire coat and an undercoat.  The undercoat is tough to dry.  The shammy honestly did a great job of soaking up water that a towel normally doesn’t touch.  He snuggled up next to me after his bath and my arm wasn’t damp like it normally is after bath time.  Super Shammy for the win!

Besides bath time, we think this towel is super handy to keep by the backdoor for after walk cleanups! We tested it out last night after a gloomy/wet walk.  A little scrubbing and his paws were clean and dry.  My wood floors could stay clean for another night.  That right there won me over.

Did someone say walk?

Be sure to check out the Soggy Doggy Shop where you can pick out your own Super Shammy, Doormat (especially handy for those winter months ahead), or Slopmat (for those messy eaters!).

Soggy Doggy was kind enough to offer up a Super Shammy to one lucky reader (enter below)!  And because not everyone can win, use the code DECOR20 for 20% off of your purchase!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***I was not compensated for this review/giveaway.  We were given the Super Shammy  to test out.  All opinions are my own.  For real.***

Kitchen Backsplash: Subway Tile Edition

Our backsplash is done! Our backsplash is done!

We had intended on installing a backsplash soon after we moved in…almost four years ago. I’m glad we waited because we had originally planned for a mosaic tile backsplash. Sometimes laziness patience pays off and you end up finding a perfect fit for your kitchen.  I like mosaic backsplashes but I think the subway tile ended up being a better fit for our overall design style.  (I act like I know what I’m talking about because I write a blog with the word “Décor” in the title.)

Our ivory cabinets made finding the perfect tile a challenge.  We ended up choosing the Imperial Bone Gloss subway tile from The Tile Shop.  The employees in the Des Moines store were awesome to work with.  (Not a sponsored post, just the facts.) We used Delorian Grey Premixed Grout. Contrasting grout is a love it or hate it type of thing. We both loved the look of it so we went for it. Good choice.

Installing the tile was fairly easy.  We used the Tile Setting Mat from the Simple Mat in place of mortar. Cleaning the dark grout off of the ivory tiles was less easy.  We’ll share our thoughts on the Tile Setting Mat tomorrow. I think I will also share some things to think about when installing a backsplash in a later post. 

This project wasn’t the cheapest.  The tile for the entire kitchen cost us ~$280.  We also had $100 in supplies.  (Luckily we had a $100 gift card to the Home Depot from a previous blog thing.  We paid the Home Depot $0.11.  It was pretty awesome.)  The cost was worth it to class the joint up.

It kind of looks like grown ups live here.  Weird.

Did you think we would ever finish this project (darn old age!)?  What are your thoughts on contrasting grout?  Do you prefer subway or mosaic tile or do you have a love for both?

Diggin’ It

Hey.  We made it through another week.  Go us.

It’s hard to write a blog post while watching Jeopardy.  Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Here are our favorites from the week.  Enjoy!

• 1. The Beetlejuice House on Hooked on Houses: I’ve always been obsessed with the house from Beetlejuice.  I have no idea why but I’ve always loved it.  It’s quirky farmhouse perfection.  This post over at Hooked on Houses shows the house in it’s country and mod states.  I have an appreciation for both.  Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.
• 2. 9 Weeks of Healthy Habits with Paisley Print Shoes: Those lovely ladies over at Paisley Print Shoes are at it again.  Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions, they are encouraging us all to pick a healthy habit to work on.  The “challenge” will take place on the next 9 Mondays (the number of Mondays between now and Christmas…eek!).  Who can’t use a little extra motivation to be healthier human being?
• 3. Samsung Galaxy SIII Flip Cover: Fellow Android users probably know that there is a shortage of great phone covers for Android phones.  Apple wins again.  Things may be changing.  I’m loving the idea of this flip cover.  I’m adding it to the ol’ Christmas list.  I wonder if it helps prevent me from dropping my phone every 2 seconds.

1. iitala Krouvi Beer Mugs from Crate and Barrel:  Nate is liking these unique mugs from Crate and Barrel.  What guy can’t use more beer mugs?  And now he knows the wonders of the Crate and Barrel catalog…but he won’t admit it.

2. Sam Adams Octoberfest:  Nate tells me those mugs would be perfect for drinking his favorite beer.  Such a dude post.

Ike is debating what he should be for Halloween.  Nate thinks he should be a dog. (He’s not a fan of dogs in costume.) What fun is that?  Ike is thinking either:  1. Astronaut  2. Sherif or 3.  Maybe Nate would compromise on a Dapper Dog costume?

What’s your favorite house from a movie?  Beer?  Dog costume?  Do share.

Stool Make-over

Do you all remember my mission to find stools?  Kitchen stools.  Beautiful kitchen stools.

Like these stools I found at a local consignment shop.

Beautiful, right? 

$10 a piece.  What a steal.  Nate was super excited about them but humored me anyways because the three stools combined were a third of the cost of all of the other stools I was looking at. 

I tore them apart, spray painted the bases and stained the tops.  I was afraid to bring them in the house for fear of hating them.  So they sat in the garage disassembled for 2 months.  It’s really hard being me.  And my husband.  And being a blogger that takes night photos on her cell phone.

The problem is that I’m debating if I like them.  I mean, I like them.  But do I like them in my kitchen?  I’m such a weirdo.  I always have to grow to love new things.  Even though I really like news things.  They look less JCPenney catalog than our saddle stools but I’m not sure about their size.

I’m a sneaky blogger too.  Kitchen backsplash reveal has to wait until next week.  I have an annoying non-matching outlet plate cover situation to deal with first.  Use your imagination.

So what are your thoughts?  Because you know what?  I’m not really sure what my thoughts are.  I just keep typing “stool” and laughing.