Philadelphia trip

This summer we made it a point to go to Philadelphia so my son could see the Rocky statue outside of the Museum of Art. It was  a fun trip & Philadelphia is a neat place to go if you have the time.We were short on time so we didn't get to visit everything we wanted to but ...at least we seen the Rocky statue. Along the way I came across the statue of the 3 naked men, of course I had to get a picture but I didn't get to see the information about them. We did walk the steps to the Museum of Art, but couldn't run them like Rocky did lol.I came across the sewer sign..... didn't know what to think about that other than I'm glad I live in the country where we don't have to worry about that ! All in all we had fun & it is a great city, we will be going back when we have more time !

my trip to Amish Country PA

We recently went o PA to go to Hershey Park and to go to Lancaster to tour Amish Country.I believe I enjoyed the trip more than the kids did.This was our second year going up and we absolutely love it, I believe I could easily move to Lancaster PA.  Along the way I took some random pictures of some cute stuff. I will post more pictures soon.  

Repurposed quilt rack

I recently remodeled my bedroom on a budget and I had one blank wall that needed something. My mother-in-law gave me this old quilt rack that I didnt want to take because I didnt think I would ever use it but I took it anyway.After I had the room painted and stuff put back in place I knew I just needed somewhere to put all my perfume,my husbands cologne,necklaces, nail polish earrings etc. I got to looking around and it hit me, why not repupose that old quilt rack into a multi-purpose shelf/jewelry holder. I cleaned the quilt rack up and left all the dents & dings in it for a rustic feel and mounted it onto the wall using 80lb drywall anchors.I then sat all my perfume,lotions and cologne on top and hung some of my favorite & often worn necklaces on the bar for easy access. I used the drawers for earrings,fingernail polish etc.I took a old mirror my great grandad gave me many years ago and hung it on the wall because it needed a new home too.This project gave me alot of storage for items that usually get cluttered on our dresser and it allowed me to repupose a quilt rack that was about to get thrown away. Of course it also gave me a new home for my "Always Kiss Me Goodnight " sign that I love so much too! The whole look is gorgeous and it had that free sound to it !       

My bathroom barn door remodel on a budget

Here is the bathroom door that was made for a rustic bathroom remodel. It was made with only 9 old barn boards that I had.IT was simple to make and is a great conversation piece lol. All 9 boards were planed down to reveal the grain ( they were aged pretty bad) then they 6 of the boards were cut to the height of the bathroom door way & I had to measure the width to figure out how many boards I would need for the door. Then all boards were laid down on a work table and the top board (which we measured and cut the right width) was placed at the top of the boards and screwed in using black wood screws.The next board which runs from the top corner of the door to the oppositee bottom corner was cut & screwed into place then the bottom piece was cut & screwed in.I bought big hinges at a farm supply store for about $1.50 and I found a front piece off of a old lock that I had and screwed it to the front of the door for a rustic look.So this door only cost me $1.50 & about a hour and a half of my time ! When you get to looking around you will find that most of the time you have great materials that you can re-purpose and use for something, in my case that old barn wood that I had for years turned into a great bathroom door that was simple & quick to make !

Rainbow

Wow...on my way home and this was n the sky above the mountains....too bad there really isn't a pot of gold at the end :(

Country kitchen remodel on a budget

As a woman who is always updating something in her house I knew I needed to update our kitchen without blowing a bunch of cash.My husband was away on military duty and I wanted to surprise him and get this project done before he got back. My first notion was that I wanted to tear out the big counter and move stuff around and build a island,then at last minute I changed my mine.I bought some laminate sheets at the local home improvement store along with all the necessary supplies (glue,roller ,dowel rods,etc). I also bought a gallon of paint to paint my walls and a white kitchen sink that was on clearance because I was tired of my old outdated stainless steel one !  Me and my son loaded up the vehicle with all of our supplies.The laminate sheets were 4x8 which was difficult to get into my SUV,they went up over my seat and I was slumped over in my seat trying to drive with laminate sheeting resting on my head. As you can imagine i was getting some stares and some laughing, of course my son wanted to go to a local drive in for some food, I was humiliated !   

We finally got our materials home and unloaded and started our project.First on the list was to remove the old sink which was simple then start removing the old laminate (this is where I decided not to tear out my old big counter). When we tore out he laminate on the big side of the counter we were thrilled to find what we did underneath.Under the old counter top was some type of old wood counter.It was so rustic looking with all the old dents and dings that it was perfect for my kitchen.On the old wood I noticed the people who built my house had carved their names on the wood counter so I decided to add some more character to it.I got out my wood burner and me and my son carved all our names in the counter.We stained the counter a dark walnut color then applied several coats of polurethane.It looked outstanding !

Next we had to measure,cut and install the laminate. The first piece was difficult but the rest was easy. I used my old laminate counter as a guide and took the laminate cutter to cut it, then applied the glue, let it set for about 20 minutes then (this is important) positioned the dowel rods on the counter about 12 inches apart.I laid the new laminate sheet down on top of the dowel rods and slowly removed the dowel rods starting on the left side.As each one was moved my son took the laminate roller and rolled the laminate sheet to the counter, it was a tedious job but simple.

After the laminate was done we installed the new white sink. My teenage son is by far the best person to have helping you, he is so knowledgeable about how to fix anything.He took the old sink out then installed the new sink and it works great ! To save some money I used my old fixtures, I just cleaned them really good and they look amazing.I love re-using what I already have.I also found some old vintage black knobs for my kitchen cabinets at a yard sale for $1,just adding those made my cabinets look new.Sometimes just cleaning or painting a item can breath new life into old stuff.

Finally I painted my kitchen, which I hated more than anything...I hate to paint. I chose "Moroccan Henna" by BEHR which creates a gorgeous contrast with my white cabinets.All the earth toned colors seem to blend well to create that country/rustic look I was going for.

All together I spent less than $200 to revive my old dated kitchen.It was alot of work but it was easy stuff that anyone could do and it completely changed my kitchen. Needless to say when my husband got home he couldn't believe the quick transformation with so little money spent.

Nipple mountain lol

I get tickled each time I head toawrds NC, this mountain looks like it has a big nipple on it...hence the name I gave it..Nipple Mountain lol

Neville...the cutest kitten in the world :)

Pretty sure this is the cutest kitten in the world !

The funny things I randomly see

I do not know how but I am constantly running up on some of the most humorous things.Everyone tells me I should always keep a camera with me because I take pictures of the funniest things. I was leaving the store one day when I seen this, its some sort of 3 wheeled moving vehicle ! I don't even know if its legal to have on the road but I would be afraid to turn curves in it lol. 

Bathroom remodel on a budget

We needed to redo our bathroom and we didn't have alot of money to put into it. I also wanted to keep our rustic theme so finding the right materials was a must.I made a bathroom door to look like a old barn door ( I will post picture soon)  and I knew I needed to find something to tie in with the barn door look. So While I was at the local home improvement store I seen sheets of metal roofing...perfect for a rustic tub surround I thought.So I bought 3 sheets of the roofing not sure how much I would need  and I still needed a bath tub. Later that evening I went to the Restore Home furnishings and stumbled upon a brand new garden tub bathtub, it was  perfect and it was only a $100 so I bought it & took it home.Now came the tricky part, how to assemble all this so that it will look ok.I called upon a good friend who knows how to fix/repair anything and told him my idea. He told me it was do-able and so it began.
After tearing out and gutting my bathroom down to the sub floor we were ready to reassemble my bathroom.I had found some waterproof laminate flooring on sale the same day I got the tin roof, so I was ready to get going.After the floor was down, my friend worked his magic on the tub, after a days work it was all together and looked amazing. I reused all my old bath fixtures after cleaning them up and shinning them real good .All my bargain finds were then put into place and the finishing touches were added.When it was all said and done I had completely remodeled our bathroom on about $200 maybe a little less. Sure there was some minor issues like when my honey wouldn't listen to me about turning the main water line off to the house before installing a new toilet and we got drenched & shorted out a bathroom light.......but in the end after all the madness,laughing and pure HELL I  had the rustic bathroom that I wanted, and it had that cheap sound to it ! :)   

Beautiful country moon

L

You know youre in the country when...

No one ever believes me when I tell them I was late because of cows in the road lol...now I have proof !

Omg...

This tree looks like it has a butt lol

Old tree

I love big old trees,I took this picture at Cadens Cove in TN...such a beautiful place

Omg lol

I chased this truck down to get a picture...it says ...I got a lance in my pants bahahaha.I'm so easily amused :)

Moon

Thought this was a neat picture...looks like a shark jumping over the moon lol

my dad freaking out over the Superbowl lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZDikK1FwjE

my dad freaking out over the Green Bay Packers Superbowl lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2puIwQLpYOo&feature=plcp

A funny video of my dad playing the Wii Just Dance lol

pallet garden

I did this project a couple of months ago and it turned our really good.I had a few people ask me about it so I thought I would put it on here. The total cost of this garden was about $20 and that was for plants and top soil. I already had the chicken wire, screws and pallets on hand, I always have pallets on hand lol.All I did was measure out the size garden I wanted ,laid the pallets down (I used 2 for this garden but next year I will use more) then i filled then with top soil and put my plants in. After everything was planted I run the wire around the garden and secured it to wooden stakes I made to keep the deer and other wildlife out (note how happy my husband looks after hammering in all those stakes lol) !  So far this garden had done great! Easy to assemble and to weed !  

shabby chic crate shelf project

My next project for my bedroom as to create some more storage room without spending a fortune.I had seen several cute crate shelves and decided I was going to make me some crate shelves, easier said then done ! Although the project its self was easy, some of the aspects to assembly were a pain.. a major pain ! First of all old apple crates are hard to come by now, so I made several and I do mean several phone calls all around to see if anyone had any old crates, no such luck.Then I made a last call to a craft store and they said they had 6 wooden crates, I told them I would be right over to get them. I dashed over to the store only to be told that they did in fact have the crates but....they were on the top shelf and were full of items, great I thought. So i told the sales girl I was going to buy the crates and I before I knew it I was unstocking and then restocking their shelves ! At one point someone asked me where the floral department was ! After my temporary job assignment at the store I took all my crates to the cash register  then stopped and bought 8 cans of flat black spray paint . I made it home with all the crates and paint  got to work.First of all, I hate spray paint, it always runs or you run out and in my case inhale too much and nearly pass out ! It shouldn't take 30 minutes to spray paint one wooden crate , just sayin! After I got them all painted and dried I took them into my bedroom to assemble them on the wall around my old black dresser that my great-grandad gave me many years ago. Let me say that you cant just screw them to a wall that is drywall, you have to use the drywall anchors, it is a must ! This part was easy once I figured out where I wanted them all, my son was ready to pull his hair out because I kept rearranging them. After it was all said and done it turned out good and provided alot of space for rolled up tshirts,pants,shorts,etc.Total cost of this project was less than $60 !    

Bedroom project continued..the Pallet Bed

After searching and looking and planning I finally decided to make a pallet bed.It was by far the simplest project yet with pallets.I first took the pallets cut them to the measurement s of our king size bed (78x76) which is very important ! Then I painted them a flat black color and ran some LED rope lights under the pallets. I did take some wood screws to screw the pallets together because I knew someone (mainly me ) was going to stub their toe on one if it moved any at all ! After  the paint dried we simply put the box springs, mattress and bed skirt on and ta-da ! Please note my gorgeous helper who was passed out on the bed after the project was done lol !

my bedroom project

So I finally got around to redoing my bedroom, it has been one of the last rooms for me to renovate.After getting tired of nothing being organized & no room for anything I decided it was time to make some changes and clear some stuff out and create that romantic bedroom I have been wanting! First and foremost I had to get everything out of the bedroom, that was a job best left to someone else ,so I struck up a deal with my daughter who not only agreed to take everything out of the room but to also paint it ! I came home and true to her word she had everything emptied out of my room and had already slathered on one coat of paint.All looked well except for one thing....the old boarder that i thought would be ok to paint over was peeling up and looking horrible so something had to be done.We waited until the paint dried then took the board down & sanded the wall, then we could paint again.Two days later the painting was finally done and the daunting task of putting everything back up and going through stuff started.The biggest thing on my list was making a headboard and getting a lighted bed canopy over my bed.I didn't want any thing modern,I wanted a vintage/shabby chic look that wasn't going to break the bank so I started looking at what I already had around the house that I could reuse in a different way.I found a old wooden oblong mirror that was give to me, a black wrought iron curtain rod and I bought a $30 bed canopy but I will still missing my stand out piece to mount on the wall behind the bed to tie it all together.As luck would have it I went after work one day to find the perfect piece.I went to a local second hand store and found what I was looking for. I found a gorgeous mirror with shutters built onto the sides that opened with the milky white antiqued paint...simply gorgeous ! So I bought it took it home to work some magic on all these pieces.I found some old white Christmas lights that can be used on most anything around the house to add some appeal.  I mounted the oblong mirror as a headboard then put the black wrought iron curtain rod above to  hold back the canopy fabric the mounted the big vintage shutter mirror to my wall, that was a pain in the rear ! but it turned out very pretty.This was a very inexpensive diy project that was simple and ended with the romantic bedroom I wanted :)