Action and Reaction

I have two separate but exciting things to share today. First the reaction:

I saw this idea on Pinterest and put it to use! I punched a hole in all my store member cards and put them on a key ring. Now I can keep them in nether regions of my purse, rather than in my wallet.

Now the action!

Right now you can enter to win one of three copies of FLICKER on Goodreads.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Flicker

by Melanie Hooyenga

Giveaway ends November 13, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

It’s set to be released next week Tuesday (November 13, 2012) and that’s the day the winners will be chosen. Go forth, enter, and share por favor!

Race of the Chairs

As I told you a couple weeks ago, I ordered a pair of beautiful bird chairs from Target. You’d never know the cuteness hiding inside these ordinary-looking boxes, but that wasn’t on my mind when I they arrived. The first thing I thought of was “we need to have a race putting these together.”

Isn’t that what you think when you see this?

I decided we should open the boxes first so no one (me) accidentally sliced into a chair in their (my) excitement. We did a Ready, Set, Go and were off! The first challenge came when we removed the pieces from the chairs and couldn’t find the legs. I was the first to discover the legs and hardware tucked into the seat base, which meant I also grabbed the scissors first and gave myself a bit of a head-start.

Well, a lot of a head-start. He was still screwing in the last leg when I finished! He argued something about my smaller fingers making it easier for me, but I think I’m just a better assembler.

My chair is now in the office, and his is upstairs in our bedroom. The room is now complete!

New Chairs!

I’m so excited! I haven’t bought new furniture since 2005, and that was a couch that I was coerced into and never really liked. But THESE! These I love.

One chair will go in the bedroom, while the other will be the office chair. It’s not the most convenient desk char, but who actually sits at their desk anyways? (besides my darling who eats his breakfast there while checking sports scores…) BONUS: we’ll have extra seating when necessary and — gasp! — if we ever have a larger living room we’ll have a matching set.

Best of all, I got them at Target for half the price I’ve seen listed elsewhere.

What do you think? I won’t mind if you copy me — they ARE fabulous.

Decking the Halls… and the Kitchen

One of the hardest things for me to decide when I’ve moved into a new place is where to hang stuff on the walls. I’ve accumulated quite a mix of art over the years, and Jeremy has added his own flavor to the mix. Yesterday I put him to work between quarters and we decorated a few rooms!

He bought these in Germany and as they have matching frames, I wanted them to stay in a group. The wall at the base of the stairs had a huge hole from the previous owners, so whatever went there had to cover the spackle.

Solution: hang three prints! It fills the vertical space and I love that we can showcase these pieces.

Next up: the kitchen.

We originally hung this day-of-the-week piece in the upstairs hallway, but I think it compliments the kitchen much better. I thought it was a chalkboard but have been told otherwise (but between you and me I’m curious what happens if I write on it with chalk). How fun would it be to write the dinner menu for each night?

FYI: the canned fruit and veggies are from Jeremy’s dad and step-mom. They can EVERYTHING and have us set up for the next few months.

Owen is not a canned vegetable.

A Pin-Worthy Post

I first joined Pinterest when I was in the process of buying a house, and because it’s so easy to get sucked in for an entire afternoon, I limited my boards to only house-related posts. Since moving in I’ve expanded my boards to include Do-It-Yourself projects, and now that I’m getting things put away I’ve put a few ideas to good use.

The Scarf Holder
This is actually a twist on a different idea I saw, but the tension idea was my idea. Add a dozen shower rings for $3 and you will always be able to find your favorite scarf when you’re late for work. (Or is that just me?)

The Jewelry Organizer
I used an empty picture frame I hadn’t been using, some twine from a few Christmases ago, and the other metal rod form the scarf project. I love how it turned out!

Boot Noodles!
Two swimmy noodles for $1 each + a pair of scissors and you’ve got yourself a neato way to keep your boots from falling over.

Have you put any Pinterest ideas to work? What are your favorites?

Gift Idea

If you’re ever feeling the urge to buy me a present and aren’t sure what to get, buy me this.

In bulk.

The following conversation may have taken place after a good hand washing:

“This smells so good it makes me want to lick my hands.”

“It makes me want to *ahem* with my hands.”

If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what does.

*B&BW did not pay me for this endorsement, but I’m happy to accept bribes in the form of more soap.

My Brand-Spanking New Bathroom!

I will apologize in advance for the length of this post, but the master bathroom is finally finished! I’ll start with the before photos.

The green was close to what I like, but off just enough that I knew I’d want to repaint. The previous owners had a piece of furniture to the right of the sink–something I do not have–so this was the first thing in the house that I knew would change.

There wasn’t much wrong here, but toilets aren’t that expensive…

and once you’re tearing out the sink and toilet, you may as well replace the floor too, right?

They’re cheap, but do require a bit of assembly.

Thank goodness for family help!

And…. AFTER! I found this vanity at Home Depot and absolutely love it. My mom donated the owl print and I painted the trim around the medicine cabinet this past weekend. I also painted the inside white. Believe me when I say you don’t want to see the yellow it used to be.

The bathroom is only four-feet square so I needed something that didn’t stick out too far into the room. This gives plenty of storage space and a full-sized sink.

The new toilet is slimmer, which is awesome since the bathroom is so small.

The bathroom only came with one towel rod–in the shower–so this gives even more storage along with two towel racks.

I’m not a huge fan of the color of the blinds, but I do love the style. Works for me!

And my favorite part? The fancy blow dryer and flat iron holder hidden on the right side of the vanity!

So what do you think?

I Made This on My Lunch Break Today

As much as I love putting my house together, I also love LIVING in my house. We’ve taken full advantage of the huge kitchen, making everything from chipolte shrimp quesadillas to blueberry bread to marinated NY strips (we also got a new grill that ROCKS). One dish that’s been requested more than the others is my mango salsa. It’s a really simple recipe and tastes delicious, but the eye-rolling comes in because it’s very time consuming.

We’re having friends over for dinner tonight, and of course I decided to make mango salsa (for the third time in three weeks), not remembering that Wednesday nights are shot because we play beach volleyball at Lake Michigan (we won a game! woo-hoo!). Lucky for me my adorable house has an added bonus I haven’t thoroughly emphasized: it’s 1.3 miles from my office. That means even WITH the newly lowered speed limit (45 to 35) I can home in under five minutes.

That left 50 minutes for the salsa. (And playing with Owen, duh). Turns out I can whip this gloriousness out in 30 minutes!

This may also be the first time I’ve worn an apron unironically.

I Present the Kitchen!

Hey, remember how over a month ago I bought a house and promised pictures of the renovations? Yeah, well it turns out that renovating takes a lot out of a person. I’m sorry I haven’t posted more frequently, but lucky for you (yes, YOU) I took pictures!

Here I present the kitchen, as it appeared when I signed on the dotted line. (It wasn’t actually dotted. I think those went the way of dot-matrix printers and two spaces after a period. (Yes, I had to get that in there.)) The color wasn’t bad, but seeing how this was my first ever full-sized kitchen, the green had to go.

As most of my wardrobe proves, I adore teal, aqua, and any shade in between. When choosing colors the BF and I had no problem in the rest of the house, but the kitchen eluded me. While perusing paint chips for the 50th time in two weeks I plucked a color that I LOVE.

“But I can’t do that.”

My lovely BF decided that was silly and if I want an obnoxious color, I should paint it an obnoxious color. So I present to you…

Obnoxious Teal!

OMG, it makes me so happy.

I’m not a hesitant painter so the minute I popped open the can, the paint was on the walls. And the giggling began. It is SO bright! As the afternoon wore on and the color kept getting brighter and brighter I worried that the kitchen might be the first room that would need to be re-repainted, but a month later and I still love it.

What say you?

More Photos Coming Soon

Whose idea was it to relaunch their blog in the middle of a move? Silly Hoo…

I’ve been taking pictures every step of the way and promise I’ll be sharing everything in the very near future. In the meantime, this is what happened in Hooville last night.