Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tile-Looking Carpet---Seriously?!?

My name is Kari and I have carpet in the kitchen....Oh no, I said it.  Now everyone knows!  It looks like tile, but it's not!!  I also have very plush gray/blue extremely stained from the previous owner and maybe a little from my kids carpet in the dining room.  NEVER NEVER NEVER put carpet in a dining room!  With that being said I was at an impasse for what to do with the kitchen and dining room floor.  In a world where money is no option and dollas' freely flow from my wallet which would never happen because I am too frugal I would get wide-planked hand-scraped hardwood flooring!  Eventually, I will (over many years) save up for my dream floor.  Until then, I had to find another alternative.

Here are some pictures of my dream floor:
I love the brick too!!
Swoon!
This floor is so fantastic! I want Walnut flooring, I love all the multiple colors!
  Until then I have found a few alternatives and I think these are cool too!!
Plywood flooring, I know plywood.  I thought, "Are you kidding me?"  Then I researched it and was very surprised! 
I first came across the idea when I found Quarry Orchard from another blog (yes, I skip from blog to blog like a monkey swinging from the vines!)  They actually made a planked floor out of plywood.  If you click their name it will take you to a tutorial about  it!!  Here are some of their pics:

Awesome, this cost them around $1 per sq foot!  Then I was intrigued and decided to google plywood floor.
Check these out:
plywood tile 
Fantastic!
lovely!
$1 per square foot isn't bad....but I can do better than that.  All of these people just added plywood to their subfloors.  My subfloor is plywood.  Why would I add more plywood, if I could just use that?
Then I googled subfloor to see if anyone else had ever done this as an alternative.  They had, check these out:

Little Blue Chairs' Blog
I love the huge checker board pattern!
Coastal Living
Design Sponge
Another Large Checkerboard
Oooo Diagonals!
I like the border around the edge, definitely doing this for ours.  It looks more finished.
Loving this!  I'm thinking I like the colors and worn look for this floor!

I like the idea of striped too, because this would be much easier than checkerboard.
This could be an easy alternative to checkerboard, because you could just use really wide painters tape!
This is nice and I love the ceiling!!
So what do you think?  I am still looking for more ideas, but I am pretty sure I'm going with one of these!

  But, which one????

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

What have I been up to you ask?!?

Okay, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway!! :)  The entry way is done for now (Mr. TSL is building me a bench and I am super excited about it!  The one sitting there is only temporary and will find a new home on the sun porch when the new one's finished!)

Before entry way:
Remember-not my picture! 
I lost the curtains for some bamboo blinds. Mr. TSL and I made the coat hooks and I made the letter/number art for above at my New Years Party....yes I said AT...I know, the party was off the hook.   I couldn't drink and no one else was drunk enough for board games yet (that came later).  I had wanted to complete it prior to every one showing up, but I was cleaning for-e-ver!!!  Apparently having two big kids, a baby, a neurotic border collie who likes mud puddles and eating 2x4's, and Mr. TSL and I, our house can get messy quickly!
So, without further ado..... here it is!
Okay, a break down of the costs.  Most of this stuff I've had for a looooong time, so I am trying to remember it all.
  1. Picture Frame Art-$3 each (Dollar General Frames) $15 total
  2. Art inside-$.75-(It's just poster board!)  I use poster board as mattes in pictures because it's  über cheap! 
  3. Bench-Free (it was a gift from my mother-in-law!)
  4. Umbrella holder-$15 on clearance at The World Market (It has handmade kites from my mother-in-law in it, a few umbrellas and our racket ball rackets.)
  5. Coat hooks- $2.50 each (from eBay like 3 years ago, I lost them for a little while and found them while we were moving!) $15 total
  6. Clock-my aunt use to sell Home Interiors (I did too...well mainly I just bought discounted stuff) $10
  7. Frame with post card- $3 (Goodwill)
  8. Hanging Giant Keys- $5 clearance from Hobby Lobby
  9. Metal Locker Baskets-FREE (Their were 6 in the garage cabinet holding old spray paint when we moved in!)  Pottery Barn sells some like it, but they are way to expensive for my tastes!
  10. Potted Plant-FREE (mom gave me the fake plant and the crock was here when we moved in holding a fake plant with real dirt-strange)
Total cost- $63.75 (It didn't feel like that much because the only thing I've bought since we moved in was the frames!)

I know your thinking, "What else could she be up to?"  Well, thank you for asking. I would love to show you!

In an old post I told you that Mr. TSL and I have dreamed of moving to Colorado for a very long time.  We found a house out there a while back that was in Red Feather Lake, CO.  At the time, we were no where done with college and knew it wasn't going to happen, but we still looked at it and we still talk about it.  So I made a sign from a piece of wood I saved from the burn barrel.

Cost-FREE   We had all the paint leftover from other projects.  It's kind of warped because it sat outside before it's life as a sign, but I still love it just the same!

Oh wait, there is more!!  This is my favorite.... 
I had really ugly faux Tiffany stain glass butterfly lights in the kitchen-I hate them!  They remind me of a cheap version of the lights that hang above the tables at Scrapplebee's (that's Applebee's for those of you who don't speak kid).  They looked like this:
 
Here is another view:
Not my picture!
Here they are done!!

I LOVE THEM!!!! 
Cost- I scored the bases for both lights for $10 each on eBay (No shipping charge!!)  The Mason Jar is a half gallon blue mason I picked up at the flea market for $8!  The other blue jar is currently housing homemade pickles in my mom's fridge, but she's bringing it to me this weekend and then they will both be up!!  Right now, Mr. TSL put my big clear jar up from my beachy tablescape.






And a sneak peak at the front bathroom redo.  The rest is getting done during spring break!!!!
It looked like this before:
Just a sneak peak-remember?
I can't wait til it's done!!  :) 

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

Violet is turning Violet!- Part 7 of Add Some color to your life

What's that movie?!?!-----Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! :)
In the house we just moved from the girls room was purple, I let them pick the color and they each wanted a different color purple.  Compromise-accent wall.  Needless to say when I was done painting, they were happy.  I was a little overwhelmed.  They also had a closet that was open to the public for viewing and it was Watermelon pink!  I don't think I have any pics of it...so sad!


Here are some purple kitchens:
Love it!
Easy way to add color, but not be permanent!

Dining Rooms:
I like it paired with white!
Can you tell the legs on the chair are purple? Plus there are purple dragonflys on the underside of the glass top :)
Bathrooms:
Very Modern 
I thought this had wallpaper at first glance. That is a fabulous shadow from the window scroll! 




Bedrooms:
Cute!
Very cool!
Living Room:
The couch looks like it's floating!
Oh fireplace!!
one more for fun....
So sleek!
Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

Monday, March 14, 2011

Wake me up, before you Indi-go go!! -Part 6 of Add Some color to your life

I know that the color is suppose to be indigo (ROY G BIV), but I went more with a turquoise blue for this post!  I am trying to decide on color schemes for the girls' bedroom.  I like Turquoise and Red and also Turquoise and Hot Pink. :)  So, here are some fabulous turquoise rooms!

Kitchens:
So bold!
Hello sink, we meet again! (p.s. I love you!)
  Dining Rooms:
Very Nice!
Love the chandelier!
Living Rooms:
Oh, how I long for a fireplace....
I am loving the black frames!
Bathrooms:
A-M-AZING Mirror!
I may have a love affair with large old sinks! I love the cute rubber ducks! 
Bedrooms:

Very nice!
I am thinking something like this for Hayley's room! 
So cute!

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari