Yellow may not be so sunny

Isn't yellow suppose to be a happy, bright and cheerful color? It isn't when you're trying to cover it up! The girls' room is good sized for our tiny house, coming in at 11 feet x 10 feet. I really didn't think I'd be needing more than a gallon of paint to finish the job but the yellow will not go away! After two coats of paint and primer in one, you can still see just the slightest bit of yellow. Hopefully after one more coat I can start freshening up the trim and getting the room put back together.

Let the makeovers begin...

Hi all! If you're still here reading my blog I really appreciate it. It's no secret we've been trying to sell our house. It's been going on for 2 1/2 years. We've worked with several different realtors and we've tried to sell by owner. Nothing is working and things in the housing market are just getting worse in our area and there is no end in sight. We have put so much money into this house on things like the roof, furnace, water heater, sump pump, well pump and tank not to mention all of the general fixing around the house that we just can't sell the house for $50,000 like the realtors want us to like the foreclosures are going for.
So, what's next? I'm on a painting/redecorating kick trying to make it our own again, trying to make us a little more comfortable. I am done living out of boxes and if it doesn't fit in this tiny house then I guess it's time to get rid of it.

First up is getting rid of the 2004 bathroom. This is the first thing we touched when we moved into this house in the summer of 2004. I have been digging and digging trying to find a picture of the bathroom from when we first moved in but I haven't found one yet. So this is what it looks like today and what it has looked like since 2004... Don't you love my yellow sponged walls? Hey, it was better than the ivy wall paper that was there before.

I even got Lidia to willingly help take down the fishing wall paper border. A little hot water in a spray bottle and a lot of peeling and it was off in no time.

And this is where I'm headed. Something bright and clean. Lots of white and some classic bead board for this 1946 house.

Mudroom Makeover: Part 1

Last Thursday I decided I really wanted to take the old ripped indoor/outdoor carpet off the mudroom stairs and hopefully paint them. That little simple idea turned into a full fledged budget makeover.

The mudroom serves several purposes in this house. It is the closest entrance from our detached garage so we never use the front door because it would involve passing the side door, walking halfway down the driveway, up the porch stairs and in the front door. The mudroom also houses the basement stairs and like any mudroom, it is our general storage area - coats, shoes, dog food, etc.

On Thursday, the room looked like this after we took the carpet off the stairs and found a mess. This is at the bottom landing by the side door. Lovely paneling huh? It goes so perfect with the peel and stick red brick linoleum don't you think?

 View from the kitchen looking back down the stairs. Our general catch-all room.

A different view looking into the kitchen.

 This is how it looked on Friday after I pulled the baseboards off and started priming. I would have much rather hired someone to completely gut the room and drywall but we're trying to keep this a budget makeover so yes, I painted the paneling. The mudroom is also known as Crystal's room (the dog that keeps showing up in the pictures.) She lays on that little bench in the window and watches the world go by. She's not too happy about being displaced from her room for the weekend.

 This was the view Saturday after more painting and pulling the carpet up on the top landing. The bad and the ugly. More dirty, brittle, broken peel and stick laminate tiles.

Sunday involved more and more painting and more cleaning and prep work.

Kitchen Aid Mixer Makeover

Have you seen the painted kitchen aid mixers going around Pinterest? I've been drooling over how amazing they look with a custom paint job but I don't really have the extra money to get mine painted. My Kitchen Aid has been around for about 9 years now and always wished it was one of those fun bright colors but I'm starting to think it's probably better that it's white so I can change the look of it as my kitchen or mood changes. If you do have a Cricut or Silhouette or one of the home craft type vinyl cutters I'm sure this is something that you can probably make yourself but I don't have either of those machines so I don't know the details of exactly how.

What do you think about how she looks now? I'm sure I'll change it a million times though!

Office Makeover: Part 2

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. We were going to tackle painting the garage but we were predicted to get rain for 3 days so thought it was best to postpone that big of a project and work on something smaller instead. In the end, we probably could have painted the garage on Sunday and Monday because we barely got any rain and it was just on Saturday. Back in August I showed you some sneak peaks of my office makeover. Our "little" project over the weekend was to complete start building the new desk for the office area. The plan to complete the desk went out the window when we starting having equipment problems. We finally ended up going to Sears and buying a $30 Craftman Evolv jigsaw, which I have to tell you that I can make pretty straight cuts with it all by myself! So proud of that! 

All we were able to  build was the legs. I did all of the cutting, drilling and screwing myself with just holding help from my husband. We are making this desk based on the Narrow Farmhouse Table plans on www.ana-white.com. It won't be exactly like the plans as we've modified it to fit our space, our needs and the size of the pre-cut top we will be using but the plan was a great guide to build the type of desk we wanted.

*I am not affiliated with Sears or Craftsman. I purchased the Evolve saw with $30 of my own money.

Office Makeover Progress

Since the girls and I arrived back home I've been giving my office(which resides in our bedroom) a budget makeover in preparation of reopening my etsy shop. Miss G is almost 4 months old and Miss L starts kindergarten soon so it's about time Mama got back to work. The first step was getting Evie moved into what is now the girl's room. Second step is getting Mama moved back into her own room without pushing the husband out. Here's a few sneak peaks of the progress that you will see when it all comes together.

I finally found a place for a handmade wedding gift we received. Almost 9 years later it finally has a safe home where I can see it!

Am I crazy that I can't wait to get back to work?

Ta-Da! Baby Storage!

Whew! We made it through putting the Sauder cabinet together without arguing. Nick does not like to put things together like this and I actually kind of enjoy seeing something come together but I read the instructions and Nick did all the hard work and ta-da we have baby storage! Here it is in it's place where my old dresser used to be. I can't really change my mind about where it goes now since Nick already anchored it to the wall.

Here is all the of the glorious storage it has! Yes, glorious. When you live in an old house, extra storage is a glorious thing!

I have rearranged the adjustable shelves so many times and probably will again. I went to Big Lots again looking for some storage baskets with no such luck. Their selection of storage and organizational items was lacking. While I was there though I picked up a small tension rod that I'm hoping will be able to handle a few hanging baby clothes. Even with the rod installed, I was able to space the shelves out to allow ample storage on the shelves. Now comes the fun part. I'm off to fill it up with baby things!

The Great Furniture Swap

Baby has less than 6 weeks before we get to meet him or her so even though we still have faith that God is going to bring a buyer for this house, even if it's after the baby is born, we need to make a few moves to be prepared for baby to arrive in this house. First swap was moving my childhood dresser and mirror into L's room. This is what her room looked liked previously looking out into the hallway. These are real-life photos of our house! No cleaning up just for the pictures here.

And this is what it looks like now with my old dresser. That dresser is so much more appropriate for a little girl's room. Yes, there is a dog on a bed in the doorway. No, she does not normally sleep in a doorway. On another note I REALLY want to change the paint color in her room but I'm trying to refrain myself because we are going to sell this house and I'll get to decorate a new room for her!

Now over to our room...

L's old dresser is now tucked into the bottom of our closet. The short little wall next to the closet is where my dresser used to sit. Yes, it did block a little of the closet but hey, we're working with 866 sq ft with 2 adults, 2 dogs and soon to be 2 kids. And our bedroom also serves as an office so there was no other place for it. The wall where the dresser used to sit needs to serve as storage for the baby so we went to several furniture stores looking at real furniture but came home with this Sauder cabinet from Big Lots that needs to be put together. This is the closest picture I could find, ours is the same except the handles are rounded.

The dog bed and our greyhound sitting in the hallway are usually in front of our closet too but they were just temporarily moved while we put this cabinet together. Although I do need to figure out a new spot for Lindy to sleep, probably in L's room.

Calendar and Menu Planning: Complete!

Ta-Da! My completed calendar and meal planning board!

Look at yesterday's post if you missed my before shot of the side of the fridge. Since our wall space is so limited the side of the fridge was perfect. I applied the 20"x24" piece of chalkboard vinyl right to the side of the fridge so I can also put magnets on top of the chalkboard. The white rectangles on the menu are made from a sheet of printable magnet that has been sitting in the file cabinet for who knows how long. I just printed some of our favorite meals on it and cut them out. The meal magnets are definitely a work in progress because I know I'll be constantly adding to them. I found chalk markers at Hobby Lobby today and I am in LOVE! They are so much nicer and not as messy as real chalk. Plus who doesn't love the vibrant colors they make. I'm not completely sure about the grey I made the calendar from but it will do for now, I might end up changing it to something brighter.

Calendar and Menu Organization

Since I still can't put baby things out being in limbo between waiting for the house to sell and not having a new place to go to yet I needed to do some sort of organization or decorating of something since I'm going crazy not doing baby decorating. I have been looking at all these great ideas for different calendars and menu planning boards but since we don't have much extra space in our little 866 sq ft, I figured whatever I made needed to serve a dual purpose. This is the "before" of the side of the fridge.

And this is what it looked like this afternoon when the warm sunshine was still streaming into the house. Can't wait to show you the "After" photo tomorrow!

Weeding the Recipe Box

Does anyone else out there have a recipe box overflowing with recipes that you thought sounded good and had every intention of trying... someday? Or recipes you've asked for from parties but never actually made? I'm guilty of it and it needs to change! I want a recipe box I can go to that's filled with dishes I've made, have liked and will make again. I did a quick sort of recipes that I knew were staying but I had an even bigger stack that I don't know if I've ever made before or even like! I'm going to keep a stack at the back of the box that I can slowly go through and to see if they'll make the cut to the good part of the box or to the trash.

I also have TONS of recipes we've printed from the internet that are on 8.5x11" paper that I want to convert to recipe cards if they are a favorite. Tonight I made one of those recipes that I knew we liked but had forgotten about - Layered Meatball Bake from Kraft Foods. And you'll be proud to hear that I've already copied the recipe onto a card and put it into the box!

 And have I mentioned lately how much I love my marigold Fiesta bowls?

Made in the USA

While I keep saying that I'm not making any resolutions for 2012, my husband and I do have a goal for the future - buy more American products. We have already been in the habit the past few years if we have a choice between products and see one if American made, we buy that one. We would like to make more of a point now this year and in future years to find other American products and continue to buy them.

This weekend while doing our Christmas exchanges we returned a pair of snowboots to Big R and went off into the store to pick up some winter socks for me. About 9 years ago, when we lived in Kansas, my husband worked for Cabela's and he introduced me to the most wonderful and expensive socks I'd ever had. While not wanting to drive all the way to Bass Pro or Cabela's to buy them, or wait to order them I tried these Fox River socks last year. Much to our pleasant surprise this year when going to buy another pair, they said "Proudly made in the USA". I never knew they were made in the USA, in Iowa that we drive through all the time. I love that it doesn't just say Made in the USA, but they are proud to me making them in the USA! So my husband said get two pairs of them instead of just one!

Another American product that came into the house over the weekend was a few Fiesta ware bowls in 75th Anniversary Marigold color. We received 2 place settings in the dark blue from our wedding and they are the most used dishes in our house. Our plan is to slowly change out the Made in China dishes and fill the cabinet with a rainbow of Fiesta ware colors! For now it's just Cobalt Blue and Marigold.

No matter what country you are from and even if your whole house isn't filled with things made in your country, I hope you at least find some products from your country that you love that you can support.

The first glow of Christmas

The living room is starting to glow with the lights of Christmas and my mother-in-law's gift shop Christmas skills came in handy today at our house. She worked for several years at a gift shop that had a Christmas section all year around, but come Christmas time there were soooo many trees all over the huge store! She brought our Christmas tree up from the basement for me, fluffed it, drove us to buy lights and strung the lights on the tree while I fixed dinner, until we ran out of lights! The decorating will have to wait until tomorrow when we can get more lights. I am very happy with this tree though. We bought it new-to-us for $10 and while I have dreams of a big fluffy tree, this is 100 times better than our previous unsteady tree. One whack of our greyhound's tail and I'm afraid the old tree would have been laying on the floor in a mess.

On another note, in preparation to putting our house back on the market we had new carpet installed today! It's a shaggy mix of browns and tans and I wish we would have put it in years ago! L loves the new carpet too! Before the furniture came back in she was rolling from one end of the room to the other.

Meet Fred

I would like to introduce you to someone. This is Fred.

This is Fred in the barber shop. Does he look a little worried there is a 4 year old about to cut his hair?

No, he should be very proud of his barber's work.

Fred is an Eye Grow that L got in her Easter basket. Last month when I reorganized her closet I found him and got him started. L has been having fun cutting his hair and best of all, it grows back! She did a pretty good job cutting his hair even. Then she directed me where to cut it and even it up. I'm not sure how long he will last but he's been a smiling face sitting in my kitchen window.

Budget Book Ledge

I couldn't wait for our second wood working project to be completely done to show you. This is number 1 of several book ledges we are building for L's room. So simple and so easy! The plans are the $10 Ledges from Ana White. All you need is 2 1x4s and 1 1x2 cut to your desired length. These ledges are 35" long to fit in a short wall between a corner and a window.
I did all of the cutting, drilling, screwing, sanding and painting on this project - Cowboy just lent a hand when I needed something held.

Linked up with these link parties.

First Completed Build!

I have been drooling over Ana White's sight for far too long. My husband was interested but not as willing and confident to build all of the things I wanted to build. Our first project was her Spa Bench that caused lots of headaches but lots of learning. It is still sitting in the garage with it's end yet to be determined!

So Cowboy decided that I should try using the saw. Now mind you, I had never picked up a saw in my life. I watched my dad use his plenty of times but I always had to leave the workshop room when it was time for him to turn the big table saw on. I was a little nervous turning the circular saw on for the first time but we clamped a make-shift jig onto where we needed to cut and I just followed the guide. Success!! Me doing the cuts was the key to building things together!! This was our first project that we got through it without too many hiccups and without any arguing about the best way to build it!

No, it's not a fancy piece of furniture but we built it ourselves. It's a slightly modified version of Ana White's Laundry Basket Dresser. We built it to hold outdoor toys that stay in the garage so it may or may not get painted because the garage walls are unfinished. We used 2 - 1 by 2s screwed together instead of the metal angle. The basket on the bottom we just chose to sit on the bottom. We also put it up on small plastic wheels we picked up at Menards to keep the bottom dry plus it will be easy to wheel it out to clean behind it.

101 ways to cook Eggplant

As much as I love eggplant, I have a hard time finding a variety of ways to cook it. I can only think of 3 ways! The only way I remember my mom making it was breaded and fried. When I started growing eggplant myself we starting making eggplant parmesan. This year I added ratatouille to that list of what to do with eggplant but I have so many more eggplants waiting to be picked and as much as I love fried eggplant, I don't want to fry all of them. Do you have a favorite way to make eggplant?

This is the breading recipe my mom always used:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 slightly beaten egg

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced into rounds or cut like fries

Add salt to flour, stir in egg and oil and gradualy add milk. I tend to only use 3/4 cup of milk. I think using the whole cup makes the batter too runny. Dip eggplant in batter and fry in hot oil. I have also adapted the recipe for my own family by adding other seasoning into the flour - Mrs. Dash or a combination of seasonings that I'm in the mood for! I also lightly salt the eggplant when it's done frying.

Power tools!!

My sewing machines have been wondering where I've been and this time it's because I've been in the garage with power tools!! And working a LOT but the power tools are more exciting. Can't wait to get some pictures after I do some more sanding and a final coat of paint. I've been working for a non-profit for the past couple months and while it's rewarding and a very good cause, it is taking up way more time than I originally had thought it would. Can't wait to show you my new found love of using a saw!

I need your remodeling opinions!

A little over a month ago we put our 866 sq ft starter house on the market. We had 3 showings scheduled - one was a no show, one said cute house but too small but all of them said the price was too high. We bought when the market was higher 7 years ago and know we can't move down on the price as much as they want us to so we've been doing a lot of praying and both my husband and I have gotten some answers, basically that we need to be content with God's plan, it's His timing, not ours. So... this leads me to something we've been thinking about for awhile. We were in a house awhile ago that had a very similar sized kitchen and living room as ours and they had recently cut a hole/pass through in the kitchen wall into the living room and both my husband and I really liked how it opened up the two rooms to each other.

Now we haven't checked to see if it's structural or mechanically possible yet but we're thinking about cutting a large hole in the wall or taking it out all together. Right now the lonely fridge has it's home on the wall. (It was doggie dinner time) If we took the whole wall out it would be up to the end of the white wall - that's where the hallway starts so it's not a huge section but enough that we're thinking it would really open the rooms up.

So we're thinking the fridge can make it's home in the eating area... since that's the only other wall in the kitchen!

This is the other side of the wall in the living room. Ah my bare room, since the house is off the market now I'll be getting some of my collections and things back out. My shelves and walls are just too bare. And the rest of our couch is in the basement!

This is all there is of the living room... yep, that's it. We're thinking if we took the carpet up and it was all one big room our table could go by the big windows.

What do you think?

Christmas Time is Here!

The tree is up and decorated! We were really hoping to get a new tree this year but we needed to make due with our current tree. We got this pre-lit one on Black Friday at JoAnn's two years ago for something like $30. It's the perfect size for our small house it's just not the sturdiest. We put a wooden dowel inside of the center of the hollow metal trunk and it helped a little bit.

We have acquired quite a large ornament collection, so many that not all of them will fit on our tree. One of these days we'll be able to have a big enough tree to hold them all. For now, here are a couple of my favorite ornaments.