We are MOVING!!

After a long debate and thinking we have decided to move back to my hometown!!!  I am excited, nervous, happy, nervous, overjoyed, nervous....  this is a big step (not to mention culture shock for my kids) We have lived in Minnesota for almost 12 years and we have decided it is time to go home.  God has made my decision a bit easier, too, thanks to the 3 foot of snow he has dumped on us up here the last month.  Now we are not going any place tropical and yes we will have snow, just not as much for as long of a period of time.

 Deck after first 2 feet of snow

my car after the first 2 feet of snow, we have had another foot on top of this.

We have also made this decision to move home so we can be closer to family.  WE will be living with my dad until we can get our house rented out up here.  I have MANY plans for my dad's house and can't wait to get my hands on a few projects there :-)  My mom wont be far away either so I will have free babysitting now! (another exciting prospect for me)

We are moving in 3 days so wish us luck and stay tune for the trouble I will get in to fixing up my dad's house.  He is going to LOVE it!

As always, Karie

It's been a while...

It has been quite a while since I have felt like blogging.  My life has not been very rosy lately but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  A few things have crashed down at us all at once and I hope that the solution that we have chosen is the best one for my family.  We are moving back home!!!  Which is a small town in Iowa and I am SO excited.  We have lived in Minnesota for almost 12 years and although most of it has been great, it is time to get back closer to family.  This being said, I want to share with you my latest project.  Funny how once our decision was made to move home, I felt creative again...

I painted this cute little night stand for a very special little girl.  Her name is Avi and I use to get to take care of her for about 2 hours every day when I worked at the gym.  Her and her brothers were my buddies.

Here is the night stand that her mom, Lulu, found at Unique (mine and her favorite thrift store)

and here is what it looks like now...

I painted it Spring Green from Sherwin Williams

Gave it a little sanding

And a little antiquing...

and painted a cute little knob for it as well.

I gave it to Lulu yesterday and she told me it far exceeded her expectation.  You gotta love that!
Well I am off to do some packing ~ well a lot of packing.  I will keep you updated on our move south...
As Always, Karie

Halloween decor

I love fall and I have been trying to decorate for it but it has been a slow go.

Here is what I've got so far.

I need a bigger boa to hide the cords from the TV

and give it a little more punch. Back to

Michael's

found these baby ghost pumpkins at my grocery store.  Love them.

and since my birthday is in the fall, I get lots of presents that are related to the season.  My sis gave me this cool pumpkin one year.

Better get back to decorating...

As Always, Karie

Almost done.

A while back I started a project for a friend.  She had these chairs and matching table.  She bought 2 sets of them and just uses them side by side.  There is a total of 8 chairs and 2 tables.  We have been working on this is phases since July.  We didn't want her family to go without a kitchen table and chairs :-)

Here is the color they started out as.

and here they are now

She wanted a little distressing

and here are some more

Sorry there was a spot on my lens when taking this picture.

And finally I got to do one of the tables.

Can't wait for her to see the table.  She is coming tonight to get the chairs and I will deliver the table on Sunday.

Only one more table to go and I will be done!

As Always, Karie

Another fun little project

I was cruising through the free stuff on Craig's list the other day and someone was giving away these gems...

I have been looking for spindles for a while now and have been finding them for about $8.00 a piece.  HELLO I will take these guys for free!!!

So I gathered my supplies

And away I went

A little cutting, a little drilling and a little paint

Just what this corner needed (also a preview of my Halloween decorations)

I love free home decore.

As Always, Karie

Hooked on Canvases

I have ordered 2 more canvases from the Canvas People  they run great deals and I got the 2 small canvases for just the price of shipping!

I love deals like that.

Again I have to thank my friend Angela for taking the pictures.

Please check out the Canvas People and see the great deals they have.

As Always, Karie

Quick fix

I have wanted a globe for a while now.  I thought it would look cute in my blue office.  I finally found one at Goodwill that was in good shape,

and a price that I was willing to pay.



I just didn't like the goldish color of the base so I got out my trusty silver paint and had a go...

 

Much better!

 

I love it!  Just what I wanted for my shelf.  With a globe in my office, maybe I will look smarter ;-).

 

As Always, Karie

Back from Junk bonanza

I had great fun at Junk Bonanza.

I got to see gorgeous beautiful things

Isn't all of this fun!  I really wanted it all.

here is a sofa, my friend Amy made from a claw foot tub.  Isn't it awesome.

Would love this for my little guy's room.

This whole booth was great.

I even met Layla and Kevin Palmer, from the Lettered Cottage, as they were filming a segment for a project they are doing.  I applied for this project but they chose someone else :-(  I forgive them...

Can't wait to see what they are doing.

I was also so excited to meet them that I didn't get a picture of them.  Maybe next time...

As Always, Karie

So excited!!!

If anyone is looking for me today, I will be at the JUNK BONANZA.  I am so excited.  Heard many wonderful things about it so far.

Hope they are ready for me!

Junk Bonanza

New Gig!

I am SO EXCITED!!!  I have a new part time job!  I no longer work at the liquisation furniture store ~ remind me never to do that again~  I found a new part time position at Pottery Barn Kids as an in-store designer.  I can't wait to start.  There product is so cool and it will be fun to design with.

Wish me luck!  I start on Sunday!

Bathroom cabinet

I have been working on my powder room since we moved in, 5 years ago.  It had a horrible wallpaper and it took me weeks to take it off.  It was a floor to ceiling pink and green floral nightmare!  I pained it my favorite brick color and got the cool picture for $18.00 at Gordman's many years ago.  Last week I decided I was sick of the oak vanity.  I had been checking out Craig's list for a pedestal sink, but thought I would give painting a try first.

Here is the before.

Boring ol' oak cabinet.

for the base coat I used 2 coats of tinted primer.

Sprayed the hinges silver.

Then I glazed with a brown.

TA-DA... Bathroom is complete...

or is it??? 

I may want to paint all the woodwork yet.  I really have way too much oak in this house.  We will see, my work here is never done...

As Always, Karie

My Living room

Here is a room that I haven't done much to but really like how it looks.  I was fortunate enough to inherit the walls.  They are faux yellow, brown and cream.  I really like them.  I was lucky that the furniture that I had from my last house went well in there.  I was pregnant at the time I bought the "matching" set.  My husband wanted something for our basement that we just finished and I just went out and picked out the set.  I am not a good pregnant person and do not feel well most of my pregnancies.  Hence that set... quick and easy.  Next time I pick furniture I will put more thought in to it.  It works for now and I like the results of this room.  The drapery are from Pottery Barn and I got a great deal on them.  They discontinued them for a while but then I see them in their catalog again.  I love getting deals like that.

We keep the ottoman in front of the window because that is where our dog likes to sit and watch the world go by. 

If we move the ottoman and put the tree there this is what she does...

She is not going to let the tree stop her from making sure the neighborhood is safe.

This is also the ONLY room in the house that stays halfway clean most of the time so I really like hanging out in here...  mama needs her own space.

As Always, Karie

My new favorite place... Cat and the Fiddle

So a friend of mine told me about the gem of a store.  It is the kind that is only open once a month, for just a weekend.  I finally got to go last week since the kids were in school and I finally had time to myself.  I have been missing out!  This place is great!

Thank you Amy, next time we will need to go together!

What a fun place this is.  It is 2 old houses and 2 shops that they turned in to shops. Oh the treasures these shops hold...

Outside one of the sheds.

outside other shed.

please check out their website and visit them if you live in the Twin Cities area.

Cat and the Fiddle.

Have fun shopping.

As always, Karie

My office and my Dilema

So this will be another project that I will show you in phases... 
or will I... 
I am trying to figure out if I should rip up the carpet in my office and just paint the concrete.  I have been thinking about it for a while and I get up the nerve to so it, then I chicken out. I know I live in Minnesota and the winters here are brutal but I can get a nice area rug to help with the chill.

I have been working on it for a while and I thought if I actually put it on here, that would give me incentive to actually make a decision on the darn floors.

My office is the dump all room of our house.  When we moved in here a lot of the house was mauve (yuk)
Let me show you what I have so far and I will still think about the carpet/painted concrete option.

Before, small corner.  As you can see I was testing paints on the wall.

Small corner after, cleaned up pretty well.

The dreaded desk... before

Clean and shiny after...

other side of desk before

and after

So now that you have seen my office, I need to get back to thinking of the floors in here.

As Always, Karie