My Favorite Household Cleaner

If you haven't already discovered the cleaning power of Vinegar and Dawn, this post will change your life!

I've never loved cleaning my kitchen and bathrooms with strong, commercial chemicals. When we moved into our house, I started reading about people using Dawn dish soap and vinegar to clean. Having recently used up all of our cleaning products in the move, I thought I'd give this idea a try and...it really does work! It makes sense economically to clean with everyday products vs commercial products AND it actually cleans better, in my opinion! 

Vinegar and Dawn Cleaning Solution

1 cup warm Vinegar
1 cup Dawn dish soap (*If you have light colored grout, I would suggest buying the clear version of Dawn, not the blue)
1 empty spray bottle

Mix equal parts warm vinegar and Dawn in an empty spray bottle. Spray on surface, lightly scrub with a sponge, and rinse.

For tougher stains, leave the solution on longer or even overnight. The longer it sits on the surface, the better it works and the less scrubbing you will have to do. You can also use baking soda for more scrubbing power.

There are so many uses for Vinegar and Dawn that I just haven't had time to try yet, but you better believe I'll be posting about them when I do!

Curtain Rod Art

Just stopping by to share one of my favorite art pieces in our master bedroom.

I don't know why it's my favorite but it seems more romantic than the typical wall hanging and I'm all about romanticizing our new bedroom! 

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

1 - spool of your favorite ribbon
1 - curtain rod (mine is from Ikea)
3 - lightweight frames (I chose 2 small frames & 1 larger frame, cheap ones from Michaels)
1 - hot glue gun

Step 1: Decide how you want your frames to hang on the curtain rod. 
I decided I wanted the two small frames to hang a bit higher and the larger frame to hang a bit lower, but this is one of those projects that you could do whatever looks right to you.

Step 2: Measure your ribbon accordingly and cut.
You'll want to make sure you measure the ribbon for your two smaller frames exactly the same or they won't hang at the same height from your curtain rod. 

Step 3: Use your hot glue gun to glue both ends of your ribbon to the back of the frame so that you are making a loop with your ribbon.

As you can see, the back doesn't have to look pretty.

Step 4: Hang the curtain rod and hang your frames on the rod.

Easy peasy! The great thing about this project is that you can change out your frames or the ribbon to create a new look without making new holes in the wall! So many possibilities!

Canvas Drop Cloth Curtains

My Dad gave us this table when we moved into our first apartment in Texas.

Much to his horror (I'm pretty sure), I painted it red last summer. I think it looks awesome in red!

The table has a country feel to it so when we moved into our new house I knew I wanted to do curtains that complimented that look. I'd seen a lot of posts about burlap curtains and although that would give me my country chic look, I just don't really like the loosely woven look of burlap or the smell. 

After seeing a friend of mine (who should totally have her own blog, btw) use drop cloths as curtains in her bedroom, I decided that I could achieve the same country chic style I wanted by using drop cloths instead of burlap!

Here's what I did:

First, I purchased two packages of this drop cloth:

Source: Lowe's

Then, I transformed them into curtains:

Step 1: Wash & Dry per instructions, then Iron (they will be wrinkly)

Step 2: Cut in half lengthwise so you have 2 - 3ft x 9ft panels, per drop cloth

Step 3: Fray the cut edges for a soft look or hem them - I hemmed but it's just a personal preference...both look nice.

Finally, to hang the curtains, I bought four packs of these curtain rings:

Syrlig Curtain Rings

Source: Ikea

I clipped them on the edge of my drop cloth curtains like so....

*I measured so each clip would be the same distance apart on all of my panels, but you can just eye ball it if you're not crazy like me.

...and voila, they are ready to hang!

I've done the math and Ikea's curtain rods are truly the most inexpensive. As long as you like the look, they are the way to go. 

Total Cost per Window: ~$28

1 - 6'x9' Canvas Drop Cloth - $10.98

2 - SYRLIG Curtain Ring Packs - $5.98

1 - RACKA Curtain Rod - $2.99

2 - BETYDLIG Curtain Rod Holders - $2.98

1 - VASENTLIG Finial 2 Pack - $4.99

Not bad for curtain rods and curtains.

I have a sewing machine but this project is totally doable without one. You just need a little hemming tape that can be ironed on OR just go for the soft, frayed look!

Now to hang up some art and finish this room!

*Side note: Always hang your curtains close to the ceiling and on the outer edge of the window, if you have the option. It gives the illusion that the room is bigger.

Friday Favorites

Just a short post to share a few of my favorite things this summer.

1. Border Brunch

Chris and I had On the Border cater our wedding (and they did an amazing job), if that tells you how much we love the restaurant. So when we walked in on a Sunday at 1:30pm and were handed a border brunch menu....I fell even more in love. $2 mimosas, sweet cream pancakes that melt in your mouth? Yes please!

2. Fresh Flowers from Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's sells the most gorgeous mixed bouquets and most are only $3.99. They're irresistible and they make my kitchen look cheery!

3. Care Package from New Orleans

My sister sent an amazing care package to us via my Dad. It contained all of our favorite New Orleans foods and it totally made our day! Chris was particularly excited about the Crystal's Hot Sauce. Thanks, sis!

4. Essie Nail Polish in Lilacism

I haven't purchased a new bottle of nail polish in over a year! It was time and this is the most perfect shade of purple. Just dark enough to make an impact but totally work appropriate when school starts (next week for me, eek!).

5. Doctor Who

Source

So many of my friends and students watch this show, so this summer Chris and I started our Netflix subscription back up and checked it out. I'm now completely addicted. 

Office Makeover

This office post has been 11 months in the making! 

The office was our catch-all as we painted and completed little projects in every other room in the house. It held our ladder, paint cans, paint supplies, drills, hammers, etc. It made sense to use it this way, but it became sad to have guests in our house for the first time and as they entered have to explain our construction zone.

It was definitely all worth it though and I think we made the biggest transformation yet in this room.

Things we added/changed:

*Paint Color
*Entry Casing
*Chair rail
*Curtains/Curtain Rods
*Decor
*New Desk

*There are no photos of the chair rail being installed because that is a pain in the you know what to install. I did not feel like taking photos of that project. Many thanks to Chris for persevering and getting the chair rail finished and looking amazing! 

I'm working on a few more art pieces for the area where the lamp is located...expect a post about those soon. :)

Laundry Room Makeover

Just stopping by today to share my quick laundry room makeover.

As you can see, it was a dark, dusty place to do laundry. 

It's a decent sized room but we didn't have a need for a 2nd fridge or freezer so the space across from the washer and dryer was wasted space. This got me thinking about what I could do to better utilize this space and that's when I decided to give the room a little makeover.

Here is what I used in my makeover:
*Benjamin Moore "Stem Green" Paint Tester - FREE!*
*Ikea Expedit - $39.99
*Ikea curtain panel (left over from our bedroom curtains) - FREE!
*Curtain Rod left over from old apartment - FREE!
*Shower Curtain Rod - $12
*Framed Laundry Printable - $7 (see my Affordable Wall Decor post)

*(We originally bought the Stem Green as an option for the game room but ended up going with another green color. I liked the color so much I knew I wanted to use it somewhere in the house. The tester is real paint and comes in eggshell so after testing out your wall color, you can actually use the testers for small areas. Yay, Benjamin Moore!)

Here is my new laundry room:

I now have a folding table (Ikea Expedit), a place to hang clothes and a little decor!

A few things I'd love to do to the laundry room later on:

*Tile the floor in that gorgeous dark faux wood tile you can see in the top right pic.
*Add the Stain Guide Printable
*Paint the cabinets white
*Change the light fixture from a dome to a chandelier ;)

Still plenty to do but it's definitely a brighter, happier, more efficiently used space now.

Affordable Wall Decor

Over the years we've collected some nice things to hang on our walls. In fact, we had our walls nicely decorated when we lived in our 750 square foot apartment. When we bought our house, we gained 2,000 extra square feet! This left us quite lacking in the wall decor department. 

While trying to find affordable decor for our house, I discovered free printables and I'm obsessed. I mean, they're FREE and perfect to mix with a photo gallery or hang on their own.

I spent hours on Pinterest checking out different websites and downloading free printables. Once I had them downloaded, I ordered my prints through Costco's Photo Center. An 8x10 print costs $1.49 and a 16x20 print costs $5.99. You really can't beat those prices. 

I bought my frames from Ikea. A nice 8x10 wood and glass frame is $4.99 and a 16x20 frame is $12.99, they come matted too. Each individual art piece never cost me over $20 and most were under $8. What's even more exciting is if I get tired of the decor, I can change it guilt free!

Here are some of my favorite free printables around our home:

Guest Room

Source: ModPrintables

Kitchen

Source: eighteen25

*I'll add these fun kitchen printables, in a smaller size, to this wall area later.

Guest Bathroom

Source: Raising Hope

Laundry 

Source: a Pop of Pretty

*I also want to add a framed stain guide print to our laundry room.

These are just a few of the printables I chose to use as decor in our house. The things you could do with them are endless - I'm thinking pantry organization, classroom, holidays...! Just search Pinterest for "free printables for the home" - you'll be amazed at what people are creating and sharing.

Fun Baby Shower Keepsake

I had the pleasure of helping plan one of my best friend's baby showers back in May. We chose a nautical theme since she had chosen to decorate the baby's room in nautical decor. I was put in charge of cupcakes and a couple of us were in charge of games. One of the "games" I had in mind was a "Wishes for Baby" card. I'd seen a lot of these on Pinterest and decided I could make the cards myself to fit into the nautical theme. Here is what I came up with:

I had the cards printed on cardstock and the guests at the shower filled them out as they were arriving. I wanted my friends to have these as a nice keepsake, so I offered to bind the cards afterwards.

Binding them this way just didn't seem special enough so after some creative thought, I decided to scan the cards and use Shutterfly to create an actual book. 

I was also able to add photos from the baby shower and match most of the faces to the corresponding wish cards. I couldn't tell if it was going to turn out as sharp as I wanted, but I gave it a try and it turned out even better than I'd hoped.

*Faces are blurred to protect everyone's privacy

I returned the originals along with the keepsake book to my friends and I think they really loved it! 

If you aren't sure what to do with those sweet little cards after they're all filled out, I think this is a super fun idea.

Happy Friday!

My Favorite Paint

After buying a house with walls painted almost entirely in terrible gold/brown paint, Chris and I have tested out quite a few paint types and colors. I can say with complete confidence that Benjamin Moore paint is my absolute favorite brand. I tell anyone that will listen about this paint, how our entire house is painted in it and they should use it too. 

Using Benjamin Moore paint also allows us to buy local instead of from a big box store. The employees are awesome too!

Here are a few of my favorite colors and where we have used them:

Living Room, Bedroom, Dining Room and Game Room (One Wall) - Can you tell I'm obsessed with this color?

Hallways and Foyer

All Three Bathrooms


Office

Laundry Room

Game Room

Soon to be Kitchen...

Most of these are from the historical color line but we went a little wild on the colors for our game room and laundry room.

We buy the Ultra Spec 500 paint - it's paint and primer in one and low fume. Amazing coverage, no paint smell and very forgiving on streaks and texture.

One tip: always pony up the extra cash and buy the tester first. You never know what it will actually look like on your wall until you paint a big swatch. We've saved ourselves from painting some pretty atrocious colors on our walls this way.

Surprise Baby Sprinkle in a Box

My family is spread out all over the country and I've made it my personal mission to get them all to Texas. I'm envious of my friends who have family just down the street or at the very least, in the same state. It would be nice to have that BUT until we convince everyone to move out to Texas...we make the most of phone calls, texts, emails and Facetime. Technology is amazing, isn't it?

So, not too long ago my sister got pregnant with baby number two. I had racked my brain trying to figure out a way to throw her an amazing baby shower when she got pregnant with baby number one but we were poor newlyweds relocating to Texas so I wasn't able to do much of anything. I knew with baby number two I wanted to do something really special but with family and friends all over the country, it's pretty impossible to throw an actual baby shower...so I decided to throw her a Baby Sprinkle in a Box.

Here's how I did it:

Step 1: I sent an evite to everyone on the "guest list". I explained what I was doing and asked for each "guest" to mail me...

*a favorite baby book

*a onesie that would remind my sister of them

*their due date guess and

*a baby picture of themselves (for a game).

I gave them about a month to mail everything to me and asked them not to spill the beans to my sister.

Step 2: I made a gift list as the gifts arrived and wrapped them. I wrapped them in matching paper and pretty ribbon to give it a theme and more of a party feel.

The sesame street paper denotes the gifts my sweet baby nephew got along with all of his new brother's things.

Step 3: No party is complete without games! I scoured Pinterest and found....

*the celebrity baby name game - you can find that here.

*Baby Photo Name Game - I used the baby photos of the "guests" to create a matching game. I strung the baby photos on a piece of yarn to double it as a "decoration". :)

*I also made a cute little calendar with everyone's due date guesses, just for fun and more "decoration".

Find the Free Baby Printable - Here

Step 4: Party Favors for the Guest of Honor! For this, I bought some Bath and Body Works Foot Scrub, Foot Cream, Hand Cream and a bottle of blue Essie nail polish. See a theme of relaxation and pampering? Something my sister doesn't get a lot of with a toddler...I also included some cute thank you notes since I sprung this little party on her with no warning.

Step 5: Box it all up and send it off! I lined the box with pretty tissue paper, stacked all of the gifts, an envelope with the games and added a letter on top explaining what she was opening. I tracked the box so I could alert my sister when it was being delivered without blowing the surprise too early.

I also enlisted the help of her hubby to take pictures of the surprise when she opened the box. I was then able to share a few photos with the party "guests"! We totally pulled it off too - she was so surprised and I think it really made her day! :)

Her Haul :)