Walkway

The previous owners of our house had left a pile of about 12 pavers on the driveway. I decided to find a place to use them as I did not know what they had originally intended them for. I had thought about making a path to a birdfeeder that stands in the middle of our backyard, but thought that that may be hard for Randy to mow over week after week. I then focused on a small area in the backyard that had some pretty landscaping and led to a gate, but did not have a defined edge or walkway and it seemed to be the perfect fit.



I think that the walkway turned out beautifully and was the perfect finishing touch for the area.

Mother's Day Flowers

Mother's Day was already weeks ago, but I finally got out and took some pictures of the beautiful hanging flower baskets that Randy and the kids got me.



I absolutely love them! The main reason that I love them is that I can just toss them when they die and buy new ones the next year. The previous owners did a wonderful job planting a variety of plants and flowers in the raised bed underneath the deck, but I do not have a green thumb. Thankfully, this year it looks like everything grew in, despite my worst efforts. I actually pushed all of the leaves off of the deck and into the flower beds this past fall. I hate weeding and my weekly attempt to weed all of the grass and other weeds out of the bed have pretty much been in vain. Hopefully everything will continue to grow back in the coming years!

Finally have my basement back!

After a break from the month long remodel of our main floor, our carpenter told us that he would be over to finish up some miscellaneous stuff and put the carpet down in the basement. We were reusing the old carpet from our master bedroom and laying it on top of the old carpet that was glued down in the basement. I cleared out as much of the room as I could by myself and then had my husband help me to get the mattress and heavy stuff moved out. Finally we laid the old carpet out so that all he would have to do is trim to edges down. The next day when he didn't show it was not really a big deal. He worked for us whenever he had spare time and we figured something must have come up. After several weeks I was really getting frustrated trying to maneuver around everything we had moved out of the bedroom and into the living room and laundry room! The inspiration to finish the room came when I happened upon a gallon of mistake paint at Walmart that was in a color I could use for the room. I bought the gallon of paint for only $9, usually I cheap out and buy the Walmart brand which is $14. I cut the carpet down to fit the room, it is not perfect, but at least it isn't folded over and a tripping hazard. Then I painted the room, it took 2 coats to get the right coverage. Finally, I had my husband help me move everything back into the room. I was really glad to have the room finished, but think that I was even more happy to have the rest of the basement back to normal!


Well pretty much finished! Need to attack that pile of stuff that accumulated on my work area during the whole remodel!

Personal Shopper

My sister recently moved into a home that she and her husband had built. The house has lots of potential and she is looking to decorate it on a budget. One area in particular is calling out for something- a large cutout/shelf in the living room wall. We did some shopping while they were still building the house and she told me that she would like to get some large jute vases to put in this cubby. We found some at Kohl's that were $30 to $50 each, definitely out of the price range. I have told her that we could look for some large glass vases to cover in jute ourselves, like The Thrifty Decor Chick, but my sister is a little scared of do-it-yourself projects. Well, recently I went to Goodwill to drop off some of my husband's clothes that he was no longer using. While I was there, I decided to go in and browse. I looked through the kids clothes on my way to the home decor. I was just browsing the shelves when a jute vase about 3-4 feet tall caught my eye at the end of the aisle. I grabbed it up without even looking at the price knowing that it was perfect. When I did look at the price tag, the $10.38 seemed kind of high for Goodwill, but I knew it was still too good a deal to pass up. I wanted to suprise her with it when I went to visit this weekend, but I was too excited to keep the secret for more than a few hours. I can't wait to take it to her this weekend and see how good it looks in her house! Just call me a personal shopper, if I know of something that you are looking for for your house, I will be looking for it while doing my shopping just as if it were for my own house!