House Tour with some Morning T

Today I wanted to leave you with a cozy feeling for the weekend. So I decided to feature a house that I feel is so very homey, comfortable and beautiful. Its not a cookie cutter, all done in one weekend kind of house. It's a flea market, antique style, loved home. A house you want to open a bottle of wine in and chat with good friends. I came across Morning T Blog last night and got hooked. Lets just say I was up waaaay past my bed time (like 2:30am).  I couldn't tear myself away. I had to look at every single post. I'm such a Peeping Tom, so I  loooooove getting a virtual tour of other peoples homes. I take my dogs on their walk just around dusk, because thats optimal peeping time. Oh my gosh, I sound like a total creeper. I don't want to see people, just their decor, furniture and paint colors! Anways, enough of my freaky stalkerness, lets get to the tour...

 

 

 

  

Last night I copied this idea (above) which I have also seen on here on Finding Fabulous. I made my own (or three) twine wrapped wine bottles and added some pottery barn style letters painted on them. I'll show you soon.

Get Your Face On Party

Because I'm feeling brave...

I'm joining the Party over at The Stories of A to Z. Its a Before & After party, but its not about furniture this time. Its my face. Ahhhhh. Wait... please don't run away.

She is bearing it all for the world of blogging, well her face at least. I had so much fun looking at everyone who linked up to the party. It would be unfare not to join and I love playing with makeup. I use to work at M.A.C. (well technically I'm still employed there, just "on-call") so I've had a lot of fun applying makeup on other people. This brought me back to those days. Not that those days were long ago at all. A year maybe...?
 I'm not a full face of makeup kinda gal, only sometimes. Most days, its concealer, eyebrow powder, tinted chapstick, and mascara. Anyways, here it goes. I'm feeling brave. (deep breath)

BEFORE. I got dressed, but thats about it. I haven't even brush my hair yet.
(p.s. I'm cameraless today, so these are all taken with my scotch taped iphone.)

Time to bust out the goods.

 

Can you see me in the mirror? I'm waving at you. 

I dont know if you can tell from this photo, but my eyes are done (without mascara yet), and I have little dabs of foundation on my forehead, nose, and chin. I'm almost there. 

 

I love the "mascara face". Does anybody not look goofy putting mascara on...? I doubt its possible. 

And if you're wondering what in the heck I am doing in the little picture on the bottom left... I'm bronzng my cleavage. Hey... every little bit helps. Its a little trick I use to do to my bridal clients. But dont put too much or it will make them look really far apart. ;)

 

And thats it folks... Much better I think. Now if only I did this every day. Nah, I'm too lazy.

 

I decided to wipe off the natural color lipgloss and go for some RED. Ohhh la la. Sometimes a girl just needs some RED lipstick. My favorite: Mac Red, by M.A.C. obviously.

  

 I have that song stuck in my head now...

"Red red wine you make me feel so fine
You keep me rocking all of the time". 

Maybe that means I need a drink. Yes, wine will be great right now. Off I go. 

 

Don't forget to go over and check out everyone else's Before & Afters too! It's really fun to see people without makeup on.

Oh, what paint can do...

A little elbow grease and paint goes a loooooooooong way, all the way to this...

 Beautiful custom floors for not much mullah.

Roeshel from theDIYshowoff created these beautiful floors, beginning from this...

 

 to this...

 

 With just a little paint and hard work.

 

 Oh The Inspiration!!!!

 

For those of you who don't know... Roeshel ROCKS!!! You should run... (not walk) over to her blog to be inspired with great ideas from all over..

 Here is one more that is so easy, yet I never thought of....

BEFORE

 

 getting there....

 

 AFTER

 

 click here for more on her faucet project.

Now, don't you just wanna bust out the paint?  Here's to inspiraton!

Here's Hoping...

The very first blog I ever read was that of Anna maria Horner. I religiously followed her every post for over 10 months before I ever read another blog. Then the domino effect occurred. This blog led me to that blog, so on & so on. Who would have known there was so many good ideas out there. But my first love was the colorful, cozy home of Anna Maria Horner and this is my favorite photo from it. This photo makes me think of a warm, inviting home. Once I saw his photo, part of me began a mission to make this happen in my own home. I enjoy decorating even on a tiny budget and just doing whatever it is that I like, whether is might look good to others or not. I want to have a warm, cozy home that reflects my family.

 

When we were searching for our first house, one of the main things I really really really wanted was a fireplace! Needless to say, that didn't happen. I told myself I was just fine with that and I wouldn't even notice.I grew up in a house with a huge brick wall fireplace that heated the entire house. It was great, and I always loved it. I still love having a fire at my parent house.  These last couple of days its been getting chili in Bakersfield and... well... I've been thinking. I know I cant get the warmth of a fireplace since I don't have one, but maybe I could get the "feel".  So I've been "craigslisting" for a fill in- just the mantle. I can put candles under it and hang stockings at Christmas.

This one got away...

I wanted to paint it a creamy white and put a bunch of candles under it, but someone beat me to the punch and now its gone.

I've also seen some electric fireplaces, those tend to be a bit more. Does anybody have any experience with an electric fireplace? Do they look ridiculously fake, or do they feel cozy...? I'd love to know someones experiences regarding a faux fireplace.

image from apartmenttherapy.com

Here is an electric one...

image from wecovet.com

LOVE this...

  image from apartmenttherapy.com

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that an amazing deal on a great faux fireplace will pop up on craigslist sometime before the Holidays begin. Its my new obsession.

My Prize is In and My Pups are Happy...

The day is off to a good start. I received my very first blogging prize: a  new doxie pillow made by Roeshel from one of my all time favorite blogs, The DIY Show Off.  She is a fellow mini-dachshund lover, and has come up with the cutest little doxie design pillows. She even had a doggie parade on her blog, and my pups Rocky and Sadie Bella had to join. I was excited to find this on my door...

Mail... for ME! I love getting packages, it feels like Christmas every time. 

All cutesy wrapped and everything!

She is so sweet, I won the doxie pillow but I got a necklace and a card too!

Sadie and Rocky love their new little friend. Here they are snuggling on my bed while Rocky protects the new guy. 

Don't forget to stop by and check her blog out, you'll love it if you don't already. Here is one of my favorite posts from her blog. Its a full house Before & After. The nosiness in me gets kicked into high gear when I get to peek in other peoples houses, so have fun checking out all her rooms - I did.

Thank you Roeshel!

Love of One Pretty Thing

If you are not a reader of one of my favorite blogs, One Pretty Thing you must check her out on the daily. Rachel posts great DIY's from all around the blogging world. I don't know how she finds such cool stuff so consistently but she does! Its great for some inspiration for a new project. ...and I find it goes great with morning coffee.
I was super excited today when I saw RockyBella featured 4 times! It makes me happy to share my projects with everyone.
So head on over to One Pretty Thing to check out lots of cool projects. Here are my four that are listed on todays post:

Wood Mirrored Shelf turned Blue Chalkboard:

Thrift Store Chairs turned Mid-Century Modern:

Goodwill finds turned Silver Cake Stand:

Ugly Wooden Chair Turned Funky Damask:

(click on the photos to be directed to original post)

And the Award goes to...

I'm so excieted! Its been a great week for my blog. I received me very first award from the lovely Julia at Open Hand Living. She is a great blogger and as addicted as I am. And was also featured twice at OnePrettyThing (a wonderful DIY blog). Rachel featured me here for my counter tops and here for my flower hair clips.

Here is my first AWARD:

It makes me happy. Thank you Julia. You rock.

But this award comes with strings attached ;)

Here are the guidelines:
1. Thank the award giver. (CHECK)
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. (CHECK)
3. Link back to the award giver. (Double CHECK)
4. List 10 things about yourself people may find interesting. (CHECK)
5. Nominate another blogs for the award! (CHECK)
6. Comment on your nominees blogs to let them know about the award. (Will do)

I'm not that interesting so here it goes... (Wake up, don't fall asleep on me!)

1. I illegally went skydiving when I was 17 using my older sisters ID. (eeek, I shouldn't have admitted that online.) It gets even better: My mom went with me! If I'm goin' down so is she. (sorry mom)


2. If I had to pick ONE man in the whole world to marry (besides my husband) - it wouldn't be Brad or Beckham. I'd go with the almost 74 year old Robert Redford.


3. I love raunchy stupid comedies that most people think are absurdly disgusting and dumb (which I guess they are) Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Zoolander... and pretty much everything by Judd Apatow. Its a guilty pleasure.

4. A rare but great friday night to me would be staying in, watching Sex & the City on DVD, eating Baked Cheetos, drinking wine and spray painting something.


5. One of my dreams is to have a "Puppy Farm". A big lot of land where all the dogs who don't have homes could come and live, play and snuggle!

6. I want LOTS of kids like 4+. I say that- but I don't have any yet, so that definitely might change after I have one. =)

7. When I was little my childhood friends and I started a "neighborhood newspaper" where we would spy on neighbors and then make up stories about them, PRINT it and then put it on everyones door step. The Harrisburg Herald. I'm still too nosey for my own good. Which is probaly why I love blogs so much, because you get to peek into somebody's life.
8. I won a scholarship in 8th grade to go to Japan as a foreign exchange student. An amazing experience.


9. I LOVE Tattoos but don't have any. Skin commitment issues. Halloween last year is the closest I got:
10. I totally stalked my husband before I ever met him, on at least 4 occasions. I kind of stole a picture of him out of his house while babysitting his little sister. Hey, it paid off.
So there ya go!
And back to the guidelines... here is number 5:

1. I chose Knack who does the most amazing makeovers with old furniture. Here is a recent sneak peak. Anytime I need inspiration, her blog is the FIRST place I go. Her style is amazing, soft and spunky. *sigh* I could live in her studio. I recommend you go check it out.

3. And we have the ever passionate Kara over at Made 2 Create, she sold me with her super budget makeover that turned out great. I love the colors. This makeover makes me very sad that I don't have a fireplace. When you check out her blog, get a look at her buff arms! Work it girl.