30 before 30 part 3

I am working on the following:
I turn 30 in 109 days.  I have decided that I would like to do 30 things before then :)
So, here's my list:

1.  Lose 30 lbs-about 7.5lbs per month (totally doable)!  I have only lost like 2 lbs....I am completely unmotivated right now.  The kids go back to school in 2 days and then it will be much easier!!  I am going to have to step it up a notch and lose more like 10 lbs a month.
2. Get my wedding ring fixed- I bent the crap out of it when I was carrying in paint cans.  I don't know if that's how it got bent, or if that's when I noticed it.  But it happened in like January...needs fixed pronto!
3.  Go out to dinner only 2 times a month-only on kids eat free night!  This should help with our budget :)
4.  Finish painting the kitchen and dining room floor-yep I started it!  DONE  :)  Read about it here.
5.  Finish painting the green dining chairs
6.  Exercise twice a week-anything else is a bonus. I did pilates once...I'll start working more. promise. 
7.  Organize the kitchen cabinets
8.  Help mom decorate her house-working on it!!
9.  Floss daily  I have managed to do it around 5 times a week, better than my old 2 times a week :)
10.  Build a baby gate-need to get on this, Audrey is driving me bonkers with all the stair climbing!
11.  Get a mani/pedi-  I've had manicures twice, but never a pedicure!  Mom you are totally going with me :)
12.  Take vitamins everyday.  Gonna go do this one too....
13.  Paint dresser in the garage for Morgan and Hayley
14.  Wash my face before bed every night-I am usually so exhausted I just fall asleep with it on.  Who am I kidding?  I have ALWAYS been this way! Who am I kidding....I probably will never do this.  How about we change this one to drink a cup of tea before breakfast...I can do that one.  It's my list I can change it if I want to.
15.  Build book shelves
16.  Do something nice for my brothers-all of them
17.  Stencil a wall (I stenciled a tray and LURVE it!!  More on that this week.) Done with the wall....need to post the tray and the wall!
18.  Host Thanksgiving for my family
19.  Plant flower bulbs in the fall, so we have beautiful flowers in the spring! Started cleaning out the bazillions of pine needles yippy!
20.  Go for a couples massage!   ;)
21.  Dress up for Halloween
22. Carve pumpkins and decorate the house at the beginning of October
23.  Make a faux fireplace mantel
24.  Make the girls' lunches everyday
25.  Declutter the house-Working on it!!  Cleaned a whole load of crap for GW from the house and garage.  I have also been cleaning each area at a time to get rid of the crap!!)
26.  Spend less time on the computer.  Only after the kids have gone to bed, or before they are awake.  
27.  Put clothes away after I fold them--I wash them, dry them, fold them and stack them on the dryer.
28.  Make dinner by 5:30 every night
29.  Teach Audrey to walk and wean her around 12 months or so.
30.  Read Janet Evanovich book 17
-Make your life beautiful and your butt smaller!! 
 

New paint?--Nope, just power washed :)

At the beginning of July, Mr. TSL power washed the whole house.  It looks like it has been freshly painted!  It was an amazing difference!  I also snapped a few pics of what I did to the aging fence and the seating area on that side of the house too!!

before

This side was definitely the worst, but the whole house was nasty! 

after 

More pics out there:

Fence before

-make your life beautiful!

SUNDAY: 
The Girl Creative ,
The DIY Showoff ,
Sisters of the Wild West ,
The Tattered Tag ,
Flamingo Toes, 
Under the Table and Dreaming ,
I Heart Nap Time 

 MONDAY:

Skip To My Lou,
Thrifty Decor Chick,
C.R.A.F.T.,
Sew Can Do,
Dittle Dattle,
Between Naps On the Porch 
Homemaker on a Dime
Making the World Cuter

TUESDAY:

Tip Junkie,
Type A
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Today's Creative Blog
Funky Polkadot Giraffe
Strictly Homemade
A Diamond in the Stuff
All Thingz Related
Handmade Tuesday

WEDNESDAY:

Blue Cricket Design
Not Just A Housewife
Someday Crafts 
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Sew Much Ado
Organize Your Stuff Now
Seven Thirty Three
Sugar and Dots 
The Mommy Club  

THURSDAY:

My Repurposed Life
Paisley Passions
House of Hepworths
Beyond The Picket Fence
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple 

FRIDAY:
Whipperberry

Fingerprints on the Fridge
Miss Mustard Seed
Remodelaholic 
Chic on a Shoestring
Shabby Nest
Tidy Mom
Little Lucy Lu
My Simple HomeLife

SATURDAY:

Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different Act Normal 
Tatertots and Jello 
Young and Crafty

My giant checklist of crap to do....

I only have the dining room door that leads to the sunroom to paint and the dining room is done-zo with the exception of the floor, chairs and faux fireplace...okay, okay it's not done-zo it's close-o...I'm move on to a new room!

The living room.

I have to:
1. finish painting the trim
2. build shelves for the weird corner and stencil the back of that wall
3. make some pillows
4. put down new carpet or wood floor that matches the dining room not sure which yet (tax return time...)
5. redo the entry way
6. tile the floor in the entry way.
8. paint the door black/put on the new hardware...maybe a door knocker?!?
9. fix the front closet to hold coats and shoes
10. put a new light in the closet
11. fill the nail holes and fix the dry wall in some spots with super putty crack filler :)
12. touch up the paint
13. organize the office area/redo the license plate wall


Here are some inspirational pics of stuff I want to do.

mirror from Lowe's....maybe a birthday present hint..hint..wink...wink :)

in a frame or on a chalkboard by the front door

One of these setups for the entryway :)

all of these are inspiration for the weird corner in the living room...add function to  useless space :)

white deer head over the piano?!?!  or maybe in the dining room over the faux fireplace.  Maybe a mirror over the piano.

green pillows and lurve the curtains!

love this rug!!!

That's about the color of our walls and I like the crown molding!

All images are via Pinterest, I know big surprise!  you can follow me on Pinterest by clicking that link and pin-stalking me!!  I love it!

Pinterest is so amazing, it's like house and fashion porn!!

-make your life beautiful!!


SUNDAY: 
The Girl Creative ,
The DIY Showoff ,
Sisters of the Wild West ,
The Tattered Tag ,
Flamingo Toes, 
Under the Table and Dreaming ,
I Heart Nap Time 

 MONDAY:

Skip To My Lou,
Thrifty Decor Chick,
C.R.A.F.T.,
Sew Can Do,
Dittle Dattle,
Between Naps On the Porch 
Homemaker on a Dime
Making the World Cuter

TUESDAY:

Tip Junkie,
Type A
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Today's Creative Blog
Funky Polkadot Giraffe
Strictly Homemade
A Diamond in the Stuff
All Thingz Related
Handmade Tuesday

WEDNESDAY:

Blue Cricket Design
Not Just A Housewife
Someday Crafts 
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Sew Much Ado
Organize Your Stuff Now
Seven Thirty Three
Sugar and Dots 
The Mommy Club  

THURSDAY:

My Repurposed Life
Paisley Passions
House of Hepworths
Beyond The Picket Fence
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple 

FRIDAY:
Whipperberry

Fingerprints on the Fridge
Miss Mustard Seed
Remodelaholic 
Chic on a Shoestring
Shabby Nest
Tidy Mom
Little Lucy Lu
My Simple HomeLife

SATURDAY:

Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different Act Normal 
Tatertots and Jello 
Young and Crafty

Raising the bar..er, curtain rod

Curtains hung to low look like those really short Lloyd Christmas bangs...you know the ones, where you wonder if they cut them themselves or if a paid hairdresser did it!

 Curtains that are too short look like when people where the pants that are waaaay too short and you want to say, "Hey your shoes called, they want to know if your pants want to come down for a party!"

Well, my bedroom was rocking the Lloyd Christmas look.  The first thing I trashed when we bought the house was all the curtains and window treatments.  They were awful.  They had terrible colors and patterns and were way outdated.  However, the one's in our master bedroom's sliding glass door were at least white-ish.  I could at least deal with them for a little while.  Until, the other day at least. 

I rehung the existing curtain rod and clipped our top sheet with the clips and it looks way better.  Not a permanent solution, but at least more visually appealing than the originals.

BEFORE WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE:

AFTER I PAINTED THE ROOM:

AFTER I RAISED THE BAR...ER, CURTAIN ROD:

-Make your life beautiful!

30 before 30.... part 2

I am working on the following:
I turn 30 in 138 days.  I have decided that I would like to do 30 things before then :)
So, here's my list:

1.  Lose 30 lbs-about 7.5lbs per month (totally doable)! I'm eating better, and when I reach this goal I will tell you my starting weight until then I'm going with what my drivers license says...135 (It was correct...in high school :)  )
2. Get my wedding ring fixed- I bent the crap out of it when I was carrying in paint cans.  I don't know if that's how it got bent, or if that's when I noticed it.  But it happened in like January...needs fixed pronto!
3.  Go out to dinner only 2 times a month-only on kids eat free night!  This should help with our budget :)
4.  Finish painting the kitchen and dining room floor-yep I started it!  I should be able to post about it this week! DONE  :)  Read about it here.
5.  Finish painting the green dining chairs
6.  Exercise twice a week-anything else is a bonus. I did pilates today, one more this week and we're cooking with grease on the fire...maybe I should cook with something healthier. hahahaha
7.  Organize the kitchen cabinets
8.  Help mom decorate her house
9.  Floss daily  I suck at this one....I'll go do it right now :)
10.  Build a baby gate
11.  Get a mani/pedi-  I've had manicures twice, but never a pedicure!  Mom you are totally going with me :)
12.  Take vitamins everyday.  Gonna go do this one too....
13.  Paint dresser in the garage for Morgan and Hayley
14.  Wash my face before bed every night-I am usually so exhausted I just fall asleep with it on.  Who am I kidding?  I have ALWAYS been this way! Jeez what am I doing to myself... I will do this after I take my vitamins and floss my teeth... yikes I have terrible habits!
15.  Build book shelves
16.  Do something nice for my brothers-all of them
17.  Stencil a wall (I stenciled a tray and LURVE it!!  More on that this week.)
18.  Host Thanksgiving for my family
19.  Plant flower bulbs in the fall, so we have beautiful flowers in the spring!
20.  Go for a couples massage!   ;)
21.  Dress up for Halloween
22. Carve pumpkins and decorate the house at the beginning of October
23.  Make a faux fireplace mantel
24.  Make the girls' lunches everyday
25.  Declutter the house-Working on it!!  Cleaned a whole load of crap for GW from the house and garage.  I have also been cleaning each area at a time to get rid of the crap!!)
26.  Spend less time on the computer.  Only after the kids have gone to bed, or before they are awake.  shame shame....totally calling myself out on this one!  I got so excited about the Chevron floor I spent too much time on here today!  Plus, I am selling some stuff on craigslist to help with the decluttering and I checked my email a lot today.
27.  Put clothes away after I fold them--I wash them, dry them, fold them and stack them on the dryer.
28.  Make dinner by 5:30 every night
29.  Teach Audrey to walk and wean her around 12 months or so.
30.  Read Janet Evanovich book 17

-Make your life beautiful and your butt smaller!! hahaha 

Chevron Painted Floor {Subfloor}

I did it!!  I painted the subfloor and it cost me only the price of 1.5 rolls of painters tape!!  I used the leftover paint from my painted stairs and some charcoal and white I already had also!!  I hand painted the whole floor with a brush.  I started just to see what it looked like and didn't stop :)

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!!

Before we moved in it looked like this:

I ripped all the carpet out and exposed the subfloor.  We lived on that for 3 months before I decided to paint it.

Here are pics of the floor after the carpet was taken out.

This is actually the kitchen floor where the nasty foam carpet was.

So much better :)

During....

Ran out of painters tape twice...the yellow is automotive painters tape :) Use what you've got, right?

The stray yellow piece is from Audrey, she started pulling the tape off.

And all the Afters...........

 I know this floor is just temporary, so I didn't fill in the cracks, sand it, prime it or anything fancy.  I literally swept it and started painting.  I don't care if it wears off in spots or if it's perfect.  The dog walked across it in a spot, I was going to paint over it...but I like it :)  I also messed up a little in one spot where I went over the tape.  Oops!

I also painted the vents because I couldn't have the fabulous floor and nasty old vents.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 I cleaned them and sprayed them with Krylon's oil rubbed bronze :) Love them!

This whole project took about 3 days.  I was only working in 15 min to hour time spans because that's all I could squeeze in.  I painted 2 coats of the white and it probably needed 3 or 4, but I am into the worn look :)

I just realized that I have a lot of :) in this post....I really love it :)  It makes me smile!

-Make your life beautiful!!





I also entered this in Creating with the Stars!!

SUNDAY: 
The Girl Creative ,
The DIY Showoff ,
Sisters of the Wild West ,
The Tattered Tag ,
Flamingo Toes,
Under the Table and Dreaming ,
I Heart Nap Time

 MONDAY:

Skip To My Lou,
Thrifty Decor Chick,
C.R.A.F.T.,
Sew Can Do,
Dittle Dattle,
Between Naps On the Porch 
Homemaker on a Dime
Making the World Cuter

TUESDAY:

Tip Junkie,
Type A
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Today's Creative Blog
Funky Polkadot Giraffe
Strictly Homemade
A Diamond in the Stuff
All Thingz Related
Handmade Tuesday

WEDNESDAY:

Blue Cricket Design
Not Just A Housewife
Someday Crafts 
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Sew Much Ado
Organize Your Stuff Now
Seven Thirty Three
Sugar and Dots 
The Mommy Club 

THURSDAY:

My Repurposed Life
Paisley Passions
House of Hepworths
Beyond The Picket Fence
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple

FRIDAY:
Whipperberry

Fingerprints on the Fridge
Miss Mustard Seed
Remodelaholic
Chic on a Shoestring
Shabby Nest
Tidy Mom
Little Lucy Lu
My Simple HomeLife

SATURDAY:

Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different Act Normal 
Tatertots and Jello
Young and Crafty

Before and After with One Project Closer

I submitted my bathroom remodel for the One Project Closer Contest!
I can't wait to see the other entries!!

Here’s how it works:

You submit pictures and a story from a renovation you* worked sometime over the past year. Every Sunday throughout the Summer (starting June 20, 2011) , we pick the best of the submissions we’ve received so far and we run the story on our site. If your submission is picked, you get a $50 gift card to either Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon. And, the best part – we make a donation of $100 to Habitat for Humanity in your honor!
At the end of the Summer, we post all of the entries together, and the community votes for the best project. The winner gets a bonus $150 gift card to one of the three stores above.
*You (including your family and friends) have to have done at least 75% of the work on the renovation! No contracted jobs for this contest!

Raising Awareness for Habitat for Humanity

We started this event two years ago as a novel way to help raise awareness for Habitat. We chose Habitat because we support their mission (decent houses in decent communities) and we like the way they go about it (by requiring those receiving assistance to put in sweat equity into their own homes and other homes in their communities).  We also like that Habitat operates all over the world, so you can view your donation as helping your local community.
Of course, this blog and most of its readers are all about home improvement. And Habitat is about community improvement through housing… it’s a great match.
By the end of the Summer, we’ll have given more than a $1000 to Habitat. But that’s really just the beginning! We hope that you’ll partner with us along the way. Each week, we include a short fact about Habitat’s activities around the world (like their work in Haiti, for example), and we ask that you commit to partnering with them financially by donating online, or by volunteering with Habitat in your own community.

How to Submit Your Entry!

E-mail us your submission at beforeandafter@oneprojectcloser.com.
Your entry can be in the e-mail itself or you can attach a Word document. If you are attaching multiple pictures, make sure to number them in timeline order so it’s easy for us to reconstruct the story. Please attach the pictures as JPEGs even if you also embed them inside the Word document.

Upgraded Prizes!

Besides the good feeling you get for contributing to Habitat’s mission, we’re also going to send you a $50 gift card to Home Depot, Lowes, or Amazon. Even if you aren’t the weekly winner, definitely check out our Lowes Coupons and Home Depot Coupons to save some dough off your next purchase!

Please Tell Your Friends & Readers!

We’d also really appreciate it if you’d write an article on your site letting people know about the contest. One thing is definitely true about this event: the more submissions and comments, the more fun!

If you’d like to support us throughout the Summer with a badge, there’s a few different colors to choose from… If you don’t see the color scheme that will work with your site, just shoot us an e-mail at beforeandafter@oneprojectcloser.com with the colors you want and we’ll be happy to make one up!

- Make your life beautiful!!