New Blinds!!!

My husband stayed home from work today to install blinds in our house for my 30th birthday!! I've been wanting them since we moved in and he worked so hard all day to get them installed!! Totally one of the coolest things he has done for me!! I'm so impressed! They look great!!!

And here is a photo of our Christmas tree in our new home!!

New Dining Room Table!!!

Justin's father built us this table with his own bare hands. It weighs about 350lbs. It's made of Jatoba wood, one of the more hard rare woods out there. It will naturally darken overtime. We are so thankful to have this amazing piece in our household. It will be in our family forever. We LOVE our new table so much. We couldn't be happier about owning such a beautiful piece of furniture in our home. Thank you cannot say enough. Thank you, Dad Jack!!!!

This is our first dinner at the table!! We felt like such grown adults!

These next photos are of a piece of art work that I have been eyeing for over a year. I finally saw it at 50% off and I couldn't resist! It's from JCP. Justin hung it above our couch in our living room and we LOVE it!! I love how the tan ties in our couch, and still leaves thing light and airy, and I love pulling in nature (trees, birds, etc... when I can).

The next photos are of the new rug we purchased for our new dining room table. I looked all over for about 2-3 months and landed on this one. Now, sure I loved TONS of other rugs but their price tags were closer to $500-$800... and we are on a budget. I found this one for $60!!! It has a low pile (so easy for dining room chairs to move in and out), the color matches perfectly to our walls, its a neutral color, it has a pretty pattern to it, and it has a protective seal on it against spills (perfect under a dining room table). We just love it!! It's perfect for what we needed it for.

This photos is for the beginning collection of my birdcages. I painted the one a tiffany blue to add some accent color to the room. I can't wait to get more! Again, I heart nature.

This project we did (still in the works actually) was we decided to frame a bathroom mirror. We bought trim at Lowe's and painted it to match our cabinet. I guess the trim wasn't real wood because the paint peeled right off when we tried to tape it up to the wall while we let the "liquid nails" glue dry. And the trim didn't want to stay glued to the wall either. So we are doing some touch up fixes, but it makes a total difference and looks great! We will be doing this to our other bathrooms as well.



 (Before)

(After)

And here are a few of my adorable pups to end this blog post. They mean the world to me and I don't know what I would do without them.

Gracie on a car ride.

Brunswick taking a nap.

This is where they sit every day waiting for us to come home from work.

They just love each other so much, they are bffs.

They are the best pups ever. They are perfect.

Little Touches

Below are some little touches we've made lately...

The first one is we had to replace a light that broke. It was my favorite light from Pottery Barn (I posted about it in the past - http://theroadhome2.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-lighting.html). I loved loved loved it!! But it started randomly cracking one night, it was the strangest thing, and then the entire light shattered and cracked! It was so bizzare! So we had to get a new one because Pottery Barn discontinued the light. I was seriously heartbroken for a few weeks. Here is the replacement. It's nothing close to the original, but it will have to do I guess. This one if is from Home Decorators and reminds me of a tavern light style. It's made from recycled glass.

Next up, we put a clock above our fireplace and next to our TV. It was 50% off at Hobby Lobby! It's hard to see the hands but I don't mind that part. You can see them if you want to. Plus there is a digital clock on the cable box, so its more for decoration anyways.

I also found a large letter "T" for our last name and painted it dark brown, from Hobby Lobby.

This is the before color of our bathroom cabinets, and changed the faucet... BEFORE:

And this is after we painted it an espresso color and added hardware (and the faucet too).

A few other little touches are: I added a few bird cages (I'll eventually add a few more), I love this windchime, so I added it to add a whimsical feel, and I had this sign made off Etsy with the date year we bought our home. :)

I found this Welcome birdhouse at Hobby Lobby as well (some great finds this weekend)! My mom has the same one and I love it! Also, I just wanted to show the planter our front our home and how fast the green plant has taken off!! 



Before:

After:

This is my window garden above my kitchen sink.

And a few last touches:

We added some photos of our pups in the office.

This is a vintage piece we hung on the wall.

These are some wine corks we've collected from special moments,

and this is a wine decanter from our wedding.

This is a white coat rack I found at a thrift store,

 that we hung near the front door.





New Wall Art

I've been wanting to add some art to a large empty wall we have right when you walk in the front door. We have vaulted ceilings there so you really need a large piece of art work to fill the space correctly. Well, art is not cheap. So the other weekend I was at the flea market and got some ideas. I saw some old tin ceiling tiles turned into art work, but it was expensive, so I decided to make my own!!

I searched online and found these silver tin ceiling tiles that were $6 each! I got them in three different patterns, and they are each 2'x2' so it would fill the space perfectly.  I had to spray each one with clear spray paint to protect them and so they don't rust/oxidize. I'm sure they will alter their color over time, but I actually wouldn't mind a more antique feel to them. :)

I got my island!!!

I thank Craigslist again. I've had my eye out for this island at Ikea but it was close to $400, so I decided to see if Craigslist had anyone getting rid of theirs for cheaper. So I've been looking the past month and finally someone did! We had to drive to Chicago to get it but we were able to visit my brother while we were there. It fit perfectly in my Ford Escape (as the original owner had the same type of car, so knew it would fit). Of course I worked the price down from $300 to $225 :) so almost half of the retail price! It's not brand new but for 1/2 price I don't care.

And here it is (after a light sanding and oiling)... I love it!!!!

It's Summertime!!

That means... enjoying the swimming pool (for the pups) and getting my thumbs green. :)

I can't want to plant more trees, more flowers/bushes, and do more landscaping!
Good thing we have forever to do it. :)