Glamorous Glamorous!

Seeing as I am working hard on my March Madness Before and After project I figured I should show you my favorite part of the whole cosmetic face lift that I did in the bathroom! 

Remember the traditional, classy, though remarkable boring shower curtain that previously existed? 

Well of course Pinterest has this lovely way of reminding you that what you have... isn't the best that you could have. My roommate found this gorgeous set up:

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So amazingly gorgeous right??? Who would have thought a shower could look more like a luxurious window? And I don't mean like the weird draw back ones that you see in old homes that haven't been updated in the last 30 or 40 years.

We decided to do our own version... using the existing curtain rod we pulled it all the way up to the ceiling and took some inexpensive 98" curtains from IKEA for 12.99. Love IKEA.

I used two separate shower curtain liners for each panel. I have learned from my roommates (after they used it a few times) that longer liners are needed. I'll be ordering those off of Amazon.com soon if I can't find any at Bed, Bath & Beyond soon. I used the original hooks that were still really cute for the inside so that it was also glamorous and bejeweled a little bit inside of the shower. 

It makes the ceiling seem sooo much higher then it used too! I just love it!

And here's a final shot of the new shower curtain set up! It looks so pretty. Luckily it's three girls that are living at my house which allows for the more feminine type of decor. But it makes the small space seem so much bigger.

And your view from the doorway...

Pretty crafty right? I am madly in love. I may or may not have sat in there just admiring my creativity.

My total investment on the new set up was only $12.99. The price of the curtains from IKEA. Pretty great right?

Linked Up To: House of Hepworths Making the World Cuter Savvy Southern Style  Shine Your Light Blog

March Madness: Guest Bath II

For my March Before and After project I've been working on the guest bathroom. This bathroom is shared by both of my roommates so it requires some smart choices and a bit of neutrality. The first thing that had to go was the awful blue paint color. Truly terrible choice on my part.

I decided to use the left over grey from my bathroom because I am a poor college student and a $30 dollar gallon of paint has to be justifiable. 

Here's the painting in progress...

I won't lie to any of you.... painting over baby blue was hard.



and terrible.

And not advised.

I feel like every roll of the brush made the room brighter and bigger. Plus it became far more updated and lovely.

It's interesting that the grey took on a slightly blue hue. Perhaps that's just my eyes seeing blue through all the paint. Hoofta. I spent roughly 3 hours trying to cover that.

The next thing that I did was paint the beat up looking corner round that surrounds the shower and is along the floor. Of course I went white.

It made a huge difference! Plus if you look in the mirror you can see the cabinet that I hung up on ONE TRY! Yeah. I am that awesome! It's been working out really well. Yay me!

Here's a closer shot of the new cabinet...

My roommates love it already which I think is a positive sign of a job well done! I'm pretty excited by it myself. What do you think? Does it look more grown up with the gray?

A Little Teal Makes Life Better

I love accessorizing my glorious new kitchen. Especially since it's so cute now! My roommate's friend came from Denver (about 4 hours from here) and told me how much she loved my kitchen! It was a great feeling. She even commented on my vintage vibe and everything! Seriously. Made my whole entire day. 

So when I was at Habitat for Humanity (still attempting to find a mirror for my entry way) I came across these lovely mugs!

Now certainly I have a massive amount of mugs so these ones were purely for decoration. Lucky for me there were 4 of them. I decided to break up the white against white of my backsplash to cabinet. I had some little white hooks already from another cabinet. (Thank you previous owners for leaving something useful.)

I selected the desired location....

The whole process took me about 6 minutes. I used my little Ryobi drill and made 4 holes under the cabinet and simply hand screwed the hooks in....

 Check it out! Totally cute right? They almost look like Fiesta ware! Though of course they aren't since they were only .49 cents at a thrift store. But! Still teal and cute.

Now it designates our coffee area! And looks awesome. I won't even lie. 

ChalkUp

Wow! I have been out of it this week! Let's just say that it's been back to midterms week... thankfully one of my last as an undergraduate student. (Collective applause cue!) 

Anyways! We all know that I've been on this ultra vintage kick... I just love vintage. I am also going to be a teacher. If you put these two things together you get...

Chalkboards!

Practically a thing of the past, even our boards at the school are what's now called "smartboards." Seriously. No pens, markers, erasers... Nada. Just an interactive board.

So my roomie and I decided to bring back the beauty of chalk boards.... super cheap like.

I took these 1.99 frames from Salvation Army and simply removed the glass...

Which I then covered in Chalkboard Spray paint! Yay!

Since it was sunshiney outside and the board is black it took it probably less then two and a half minutes to dry, I was going to spray paint the frames white but when I put the black back into the frame it gave it this timeless vintage feel,which I love. (Lucy walked across the words... cat...)

We are going to put these up in our new entry way area once I get it all rearranged. Plus a big mirror, so we can check ourselves out on the way out the door. hehe. Just another element to our gallery wall!

Linked to: Christina's Adventures

Cabinet Assembled!

I have assembled my new cabinet! The lovely guy I bought off Overstock.com. Course I didn't realize that when I opened the box I would find a whole bunch of different pieces...

Thank you Overstock. But it was fairly easy to follow the directions and assemble the cabinet. Clearly with Lucy's assistance. Its just the right size for the bathroom now!

It  looks so pretty and classy! It will match the new color scheme amazingly! I'm just waiting to put it up until after I finish painting the bathroom. I was going to buy new paint but I need to do this redo as cheap as possible and I have almost an entire half gallon of paint left from my master bath that I may just reuse for the small space. I was considering doing stripes again? We'll have to see!

It's got plenty of space to hold tooth brushes and other small things that girls need in the bathroom. How exciting! Can't wait to show you the whole thing!

Mid Century... Cheap Century

For a long time I've been plagued by the heavy ottoman that I've been using as a coffee table for over a year. It was small, heavy, and didn't really work for what we needed in the living room.

So I ventured off to my local Habitat For Humanity store because I was attempting to find some sort of console table for the entry way and some mirrors. Well no luck on those two options but I did find this guy...

For only $10 dollars! Unbeatable really! He's a little worn out... obviously he's been heavily used by someone. The top part of the table is wood and the legs are obviously steel. Gives that vintage vibe that I love while still being a little trendy.

I plan on sanding him down and perhaps doing a darker-deeper colored stain to give him a fresh look for this century.

This pic is a little dark but you can tell how much better the table works in the space.

And of course Lucy tested out the comfort level of the new table. She laid on it for several hours. I'd say it passes the test.

March Madness: Guest Bath

Since both of my roommates are out of town for the entire week of Spring Break I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on finishing that guest bath. So as you already saw here's the before pictures again:

Remember this broken up and hideous fellow?

After many hours in Lowe's, Home Depot, and at local thrift stores and Restores, my roommate Karly (who is amazing P.S.) Found this fabulous guy on Overstock.com! It's much smaller but still offers that classic look that I personally like and that the roommates desperately need in that small bathroom. The little shelves will be great for accessorizing! Totally looking forward to getting him in the mail! And at $51.00 he was the least expensive option that we were able to find!

Since we're going with a clean classic look I went to this particular photo for inspiration! I love. Love. LOVE. The shower curtains and you better believe that it will be happening in my guest bath! I think that it will first of all hide all the bottles and soaps, etc. Plus it will make it look less cramped if we can move the curtains to the side. I prefer the curtain closed cuz I think the inside looks messy but the roommates love it open because they don't want someone (ahem. Lucy-cat) to jump out of the curtain.

It's all about compromise! Plus the added height looks awesome.

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I took down the ugly stripes that I hate so much and started the process of puttying the walls. Which is also something that I wouldn't put on my top 100 list.

Ahhh such a beautiful void of space that used to be a big ole broken cabinet. So lovely.

I do plan on painting the crown molding and replacing the vent cover in there also. The corner round used to look awesome with the former paint color but it's been through a lot of abuse and needs a little refinishing.

Still have a lot of work ahead but at least I have a good game plan! The main items like the vanity and shower and tiling, etc. are already done so really I'm doing a cosmetic before and after but. still. It's gonna be prettier.

Target is Love

I have found the new love of my life. Well... I've known about it all along but I have finally succumbed! Gave in! Allowed my heart to feel it again! Who is it do you wonder?

Well...

It's no boy! It's Target! I've always loved Target, it's true, but this weekend I realized that it was a true deep love.

Check out all the super clearance goodies I got!

Beautiful new pillows: (They were only 7.48 a piece! I also bought a yellow one that I forgot to grab a photo of)

They are big and comfy! I love them sooo much!

And my most prized new possession...

A new lamp! Finally! It was a bit of a splurge at $68.00 but wow... talk about a difference! It provides some great light, plus looks super cool. Which is always important I'd say!

The other day I was talking about getting new hand towels for the kitchen, I had found a few on Etsy.com but! Alas! Target also delivered with some (much) cheaper lemon hand towels for only $2.99 a piece! Sooo cute!  Also if you look in the top right corner you can see some adorable new canisters! They are teal and they were 50% off! Finally replaced the old thrift store ones that I had.

I also made a little bit of art for the counter! You can buy the print of the lemon in a much larger size for only $29.00 but I got this little print out for free. And I bought a cute little milk cow! Totally adorable.

 

I also went on a little bit of a ceramic animal shopping spree also. I evidently felt as though there was going to be a run out of little ceramic owls soon. (Did you know that a group of owls is called a "parliament of owls?") I thought that was prettyyyy cool myself! Maybe because I'm an English nerd. hehe

Welcome!

I've decided fairly recently that the wall art in the living room needs new life. Translation: I'm totally bored with it. So! I've been scouring blogs and magazines for some new ideas on decorations. I found a great idea where one lady made a print of her address and last name and put it in her mudroom.

Sadly I have no mudroom, double sadly there are three different last names in our casa. 

So I decided to DIY my own version!

First stop was Michael's for 2 frames at 50% off, two sheets of cool looking scrapbook paper and large sticker letters. (If you have a cricut or silhoutte it would have been easier to cut out the text then to use stickers but they were on clearance and it was basically a first try.)

I fit the paper into the frame and used the stickers to form the first framed image:

And since the idea of just doing one last name didn't really work out I just decided to put "Welcome to Our Home."

And then I hung them up together! I do really like the idea! I think I may try to kidnap my Mom's CriCut in order to make the text a little better because it's not quite as clean as I would prefer for it too look but it's not too bad either!

Here's a little bit further back view:

Total invest: $12.00


Even though I am not 100% on the letters themselves it really personalizes the space and that's what I like. What do you think?