Not Exactly What I Was Thinking...

So do you remember the other day when I was whining about discussing my mantel and how I didn't know what to do with it in this in between season?  

Well this last weekend my Hubby did a little redecorating of the fireplace...and I am not sure that this is what I had in mind for the mantel...

Hmmm....Now I really don't know how to decorate the mantel.  This guy is named Steve, and we just got him back from the taxidermist on Saturday.  He is my husbands trophy from 2010. 

I am happy that my husband is so happy, but Steve doesn't quite fill up the space...not to mention that it kinda lends toward a lodge look in my house (not exactly my thing).  This is not Steves final resting place, he really lives in the man cave in the basement so in a few weeks he will be leaving.  But the Husband is so proud that he just wanted to display him prominently for a while.  Meanwhile, I just cannot help but chuckle to myself.  I guess it is a small thing to make the Hubs happy...right!?!

Have you ever had to make any design sacrifices for the significant other?  Are there any animal heads prominently displayed in your living room?  Are you a fan of taxidermy? 

Have a great day!!

Sunny.

Look What I Found This Morning.

This is what I found when I went outside this morning.

Which made me very happy for what I bought last week.

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It is the Columbia Whirlibird Parka.  It comes in many color options, but I got the black plaid. 

I have had the same Columbia coat for the last 11 years.  I bought it in college and have loved the way that it has performed.  But like most things I don't still like the same things that I liked 11 years ago.  So the past couple of years I have been wanting a new one, I knew that I wanted a dark color (my last one was sage green with light gray accents) I just couldn't find the perfect one.  Until this year I found the one shown above...it was the perfect one!!  I found it in the black Friday sale ads and I SOOOO wanted it.  The problem was that spending $200 on a coat just before Christmas didn't seem like the most responsible thing for me to do.  So I waited...I thought maybe Santa would bring it for me, but no.  Don't get me wrong I totally got spoiled, I got a new DSLR, table saw, and miter saw. 

So all through the month of January I lusted after the perfect coat, I wanted it so bad...but I didn't need it.  Then last week I was having an exceptionally bad day when I walked into a sporting goods store and there it was...my coat in my size....on SALE!!!  It was thirty percent off and it was the last one.  I quickly called the Hubs (knowing full well that I would be leaving the store with that coat) and of course he said yes!

It all seemed so perfect...like it had been a part of a divine plan, and that got me thinking.  There are a lot of times that I want something really bad for my home, and it used to feel so painful to have to wait to get it.  Sometimes I feel like I will never get all of the things that I want....but here it what I have realized.  I always get what I want, I just have to be patient.  My entire life I have always mystically been provided for.  It doesn't always come in the time that I think that it should, but I always get it.  The best part is that I usually get it at a bargain simply because I am willing to wait. 

So does that ever happen to you?  You find the exact thing that you have been wanting at the exact moment that you are able to obtain it?$$$  Have you been lusting after anything lately?  Or have you recently gotten something that you had to wait a little while for?

Have a great day...I think that I am going to not do house work and just take a nap with the little man on this snowy day.

Sunny

House Hunters

Ok... maybe it is just me but I kinda think that HGTV should change their name to House Hunters TV.  I feel like everytime I turn that channel on it is always House Hunters. 


Don't get me wrong I like that show, and in college I used to watch it a lot.  But there comes a point when it is a little much right?


I have been watching HGTV since I was like 17...which was only like last week.  Just kidding ;)  But it used to be that there was shows about gardening, and crafting, and decorating and I could watch for hours.  (By the way did I mention that I have been obsessed with all things home for ever?)  But now I would be totally set if I were say house hunting in Barcelona, or California.  I got a house I want to see new and cool things to do with it.


I wish that they would bring back some of the other things.  Like gardening would be good.  I totally need help with the gardening thing.  More Candice, Sarah, Genevieve...more delicious interiors.

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I am in no way saying that they should take it away I still enjoy a nice House Hunters too, I just want a little more of other things.

So what say you?  Do you think that the House Hunters has taken over, or do you think that it is just right?  Do you secretly pretend that you are Sarah Richardson?  No...thats just me?  OK.  Do you hate it when bloggers roll off on some strange tangent?

Have a great day!

Sunny

I Am A Nerd!!

So...I am kind of a big nerd.  I just accidentally subscribed to my own blog.  And now I can't figure out how to unsubscribe.  I thought that I was clicking to subscribe to a different blog...but nope it turns out that I was subscribing to myself. 

I told my husband what I did and he said with grin on his face "well...that is one way to get new followers".

So now the question to you is...do you know how to take myself off my follower list?  Or do I have to look like a nerd forever?

Anywho...I hope that you are all having a great day!  Have a little chuckle at my expense, I can take it! 

Sunny

$5 Table Runner

I have been down for the count the past couple of days with a cold, but before that happened I had planned to share my new table runner.

I find this weird season between Christmas and Spring is a little difficult time to decorate.  Everything feels cold...probably because it is dark and cold outside. 

So after Christmas I wanted to find a new table runner.  The problem; because there just always has to be a problem, is that standard table runners that I find are just too dinky.  They are neither long nor wide enough.  I have only found one ready made runner that has been the dimensions that I wanted and that was from Pottery Barn...which is three hours away, and usually not in the budget.  So I find my self making my own.

So here is what I did:

First I went bargain shopping and found a curtain panel on clearance that had the look of burlap.  The nice thing about making a runner out of a curtain panel is that it is plenty long enough and wide enough to make two table runners.  The bonus of this particular panel was that it was only $10, (originally $40, woot woot) and like I said I have enough to make another table runner too. 

I cut off the existing hems and the top, I could have saved some fabric and used a seam ripper...but I hate ripping out seams it makes me want to rip out my hair.  So it was just worth it to me to just cut them off.  Then I simple cut the panel in half lengthwise.  This took some time to make sure that I was cutting straight and exactly in half but overall pretty painless.

So I had a small amount of fabric left over from making some throw pillows and I added it too the ends of the curtain panel runner.

 I used a simple straight stitch and hemmed all the way around.  Ran an iron over it, and Voila!!  Table runner that coordinates with my living room!  Yay.

The only thing left that I need was some new chargers. I find that if I use chargers then my boys have less of a chance to muck my runner all up.  I like plastic ones so that I can easily clean them like 37 times a day.  By the way little boys are messy.

I found these awesome faux bois plastic chargers at Pier One.  They are rocking my world.

I really like how it all turned out.  Not too fussy just right, I kinda need less fuss after the Christmas storm blows through my house.

So what are you up to?  Got any simple sewing projects going on?  This one was sooo easy I literally completed it from start to finish in the time it took the hubs to cook dinner...HOLLA!

Sunny

I posted this to:

I want to stencil...

I have two bathrooms that I have been dying to change.  Well actually I have been dying to change all three of the bathrooms in my house.  All three are on the to-do list for this year, but I only want to stencil in two of them.  Okay... the actual number of bathrooms that get stenciled ultimately depends on the ease or difficulty of the process.  I may find that I love the monotonous work of stencilling in which case they may all get it, then again I may find that I hate and stop immediately and paint over it.  Nevertheless I have big ideas.

I think that I want to start in the basement bathroom.  This room is also the laundry room and crafting room.  The fact that I primarily craft in there is kind of funny because really there is no work space and no supplies in there, but I always find my self working in there on top of the dryer(?) so I really want it to look great.

I told the husband that I wanted to redo the laundry room and I got that "seriously!" look, so I don't know if he is going to love this or not (actually I know that he won't but he pretty much let me do what I want).  The reason that he doesn't want me to mess with the laundry room is because I have repainted that room like 3 time and I have changed the flooring once.  But the flooring needed to go, we had ugly blue berber carpet....in a bathroom...and a laundry room...who does that?  We replaced it with tile that I still love.  I picked a light brown that really looked nice with the tile but when I got it up it made the trim look horrible.  I wanted to paint the trim but my husband said "no, you can't paint wood".  Why do men say this?  I mean it is wood...its not like I want to paint over 24 karat gold.  Whatever.  I needed to find a happy median that we could both be happy with.

So here is my plan:
I plan to go dark chocolate brown. 

I know that it seems like that will make my laundry room look like a cave but I think that in the end I will add enough light accents that the light/dark ration will really work well.

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Then once the walls are deep chocolate brown I want to add a stencil on top just to make it a little more graphic and cool!
This is what I had in mind:

This is actually wallpaper...but it is like $200 a roll...and...that isn't happening!  So I have found some stencils that replicate this look, and they are only $60.

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I think that it would look really cool and graphic if the back ground was choc brown and the trees were off white.  What do you think?

I also saw where a professional faux painter hand painted one, and that looks really great too.

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I have a lot of experience painting, so I totally think that I could pull this off.  The question is how long would it take?  I don't want this to turn into a long drawn out process....so?


I also saw where another blogger had done some in her bedroom using an overhead projector...that is an idea!

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So that is kind of the short term plan for my basement bathroom/laundry room...what do you think?
Have you ever stenciled?  Do you like the idea of trees on the wall, or is it done already?  Are you contemplating a bathroom remodel? 

Have a great Friday!!

Sunny

Word of the Year

Layla wrote a post about her word of the year.  If you are unaware, the word of the year is a word that sums up your goals for the year.  It is fitting that you choose a word of the year at the beginning of the year versus in the middle or at the end, I think that it keeps you focused.  I guess that it is a lot like a resolution, but maybe more abstract and manageable.


I got to thinking about what I wanted my word of the year to be...I only had one that came to mind.  So here it is, are you ready?


Achieve.


I think that I always strive to achieve to be better, but this year that word has more meaning.  I want to achieve to be a better blogger, a better photographer, mother, I want to set goals and achieve them.  Isn't it a great word?


The last few years I have been busy being a mother.  The only thing that I was trying to achieve was to make it to the end of the day.  Not this year.  This is the year that I become more.  I really hope that you enjoy the ride, there is going a lot going on.


I have also made it a goal to run a marathon this year.  This is something that I really want to achieve.  I feel like the world is my oyster, I just need to dream it and then achieve it!

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Sunny
I linked up to: