a tale of two houses

 well...one house...but doesn't it look like two? i still cannot believe that Philip did this all himself. 

...goodbye seafoam green...hello 21st century...

so

i just checked out this book from the liberry. 

& mark my words...i will learn to sew something from the book before returning it. 

i think i can. 

i think i can. 

i think i can. 

-the little engine that could

how to make a fabric covered bulletin board

{ make this cute bulletin board }

Supplies...

• Home Decor Fabric (a few inches extras larger than the area of your bulletin board)
• Cheap Bulletin Board (i got one at Ollie's...super cheap)
• Staple gun
• Hammer (i just used this when the staple didn't go in all the way to hammer in)

Instructions...

1. Lay fabric on bulletin board to make sure it covers the entire surface area. If you have extra, cut it off, but leave at least a few inches along the borders.
2. Align the fabric on top of the board to make sure the design is situated at the way you want it to look. 
3. Begin by putting one staple in the center of the right side of the frame. Pull the fabric tight, then do the same on the left side. Continue putting staples on opposite sides, keeping the fabric tight. Repeat on the top and bottom sides, and make neat hospital corners when you reach the edges & staple them down. 
4. Viola! Enjoy your fun + easy bulletin board. 

holy dishwasher!

We have been hard at work again. Still a lot to do on the kitchen. 

Philip finished up the wiring today and the dishwasher is running! 

It has been tough living like this...We thought our counter space was limited before...

And now it's running! Yahoo! No leaks yet!

{ floors + island }

yahtzee! Philip finished the floors and island late last Friday. We were so excited to finally have a little bit of the kitchen in working order again. We are now shopping for a countertop and are planning on looking for butcher block. We still don't have quarter-round on the edges, but its' on its way!

Christmas Card Wreath

I got this idea from an old Martha Stewart magazine this season. It is a Christmas card wreath. It was super easy - I just wish we would get more Christmas cards so I can fill it up! 

Here's how you do it...

Need: 

• Embroidery Circle
• Clothes pins
• Strong glue (I used Aileen's Craft Glue)
• Ribbon

Directions: 

1. Spread out your clothespins facing alternating directions evenly around the circle
2. Glue them into place & let dry for however long it requires
3. Tie up nicely with a fun ribbon

I feel like I didn't need to type that out it was so easy. Seriously. I don't normally have it sitting in the window, but my house is a mess with renovations & I wanted it in the sunlight...So there is it. 

wood floors { in progress }

Here are a few pictures of the floors in progress. Philip tore out the old flooring & put down felt paper which is pictured on the left. He has already put the new cabinets in for the island. On the right he is nailing in the new hardwood floors. We got a steal of a deal at Floor Traders - I think that is what it is called. We were originally going to put in unfinished and he would finish the floors, but it was going to be incredibly disruptive & time consuming. We found this oak floor on sale & it was exactly the amount of square footage we needed. I'll be posting pictures later of the rest of the floors if we finish today! 

We are going to blog.

I have decided that with all of Philip's do-it-yourself home stuff + all my do-it-yourself craftiness + the cuteness of Lucy + other things that I can't think of right now, that we should really blog. I know - the crowds go wild! (insert rooaarrrr...) So here we go. Philip is currently nailing in hardwood floors to our kitchen and putting in an island with a dishwasher. Just a refresher, this is what our kitchen most recently has looked like...

Painted cabinets, new hardware, subway tile backsplash + tile countertop, yellow walls....yet that terrible linoleum has continued to haunt us. By tomorrow I should have some updated pictures, woo hoo!