Third Time's A Charm

Our kitchen window has gotten the most DIY attention out of any other object in our house.

It started with the blue circus-y striped faux roman shade:

Those got taken down and replaced with these:

which I liked, but thought they were too matchy-matchy with the cabinets and wall color.

And now, my favorite option:

I used Better Home and Garden pillowcases, that I found on sale at Walmart, to create the cafe curtains....if that is the correct term? Unlike the others, they actually give us some privacy and allow for natural light to brighten up that corner of our kitchen. Before, when I was washing dishes or cooking dinner, I could see straight into our neighbors backyard, and they could see straight into our kitchen...especially at night. This 30 minute DIY solved that issue, and the curtains can easily be closed while still allowing light to come in. Win-Win! And, it's an added bonus that I actually like this choice. It just me 6 months and three different fabrics to figure it out.

life lately according to my iPhone

1. quick trip to tyler, and a stop at mcalister's. 2. i never make pretty eggs, so it deserved a picture.
3. speaking of eggs, shannon introduced me to homemade fried egg sandwiches...i'm addicted.
4. chicken n dumplings for shannon's birthday dinner. 5. surprise m & m's waiting for us in denison.

1. shannon's birthday table. 2. dinner at bois d arc  to celebrate.
3. dark chocolate m&m cookie sticks.

1. kady distracting me from studying. 2. laying on/in shannon's shoes.
3.  doing yoga.

1. grayson's first baseball game of the season. 2. the boys playing tiger.
3. kindergarten graduation.

1. top golf for my mom's birthday. 2. new glove for co-ed softball this summer.
3. hunger games, enough said. 4. passed my ACSM certified personal trainer test.

House Tour

I debated on whether I should post this or not. Mainly because:

1. I don't like hearing my voice
2. I say umm....approximately 743 times
3. Watching this video is the equivalent of riding The Texas Giant

...but I would rather post this one video rather than 50 pictures.

Enjoy!

mini master bedroom update {diy headboard}

Our bed has been looking a little naked ever since we bought our king-sized mattress. I have been wanting to make a headboard for a while to give our bed a more finished look. Although, I was originally thinking of making an upholstered headboard, I decided to go in a different direction. 

Here is our bed before: 

(these pictures are from our house in McKinney, because I forgot to take "before" pictures)

Here are some projects and tutorials that I got the inspiration from.

tutorial

tutorial

tutorial 

tutorial

I bought four 1x4x14 pine (I'm pretty sure it was pine) boards and had the guys at Home Depot cut them down into eight 6 feet pieces. Each board cost $3.34, so I spent less than $15 for lumber, which was much less than I had anticipated. After getting boards, stain, protective finish, 2-inch drywall screws and a level, I was ready to get started.

I laid the boards on a few trash bags and used a hammer, nail and screwdriver to beat up the boards a little bit.

After giving them a good beating, it was time to stain. I did one coat, and ended up liking the way it looked so left it at that. The directions on the back of the stain said to let it dry for 24 hours.

After the stain had dried, I put on a coat of the protective finish. As it was drying I measured and marked the center of the wall where I was installing the boards. Once they were completely dry, I grabbed the first board and marked the center. I screwed it directly into the wall where I previously marked. Then I used the level to make sure it was straight and put a screw on each of the ends. Once the bottom board was secure, I set the next board on top of it and screwed each end into the wall. I continued that process until I had all seven boards where I wanted them.

After living with it for a week, I have decided that I love it.  It looks different in person, and I think it actually makes our bed look smaller. The hardest part of this projects was being patient enough to wait on the stain to dry!

diy window treatment

This is how our kitchen window looked when first saw our house.

 The first thing I did was remove the blinds to let some natural light in. And, then I saw this.

I bought some fabric and tension rods from Wal-Mart and followed this tutorial. Here's how it turned out (with our dirty dishes strategically cropped out).

I like them but they kind of feel circus-y. I looked for fabric for a couple of weeks hoping I would fall in love with some either at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart (the only two places I know in Paris that have fabric), but I settled on this navy and white striped fabric. Hopefully I can go to Joann's or another fabric store soon to see if they have something I like better. I'm thinking something light and airy. Or maybe these will grow on me. The good thing is this project only took 30 minutes so it will be easy to re-do, and I can use this fabric somewhere else!