Housewarming Gift

We received the most beautiful house warming gift

A giant canvas print of the girls

which was perfect for all of our bare wall space! 

not only is this one of my favorite pictures

the colors just go perfectly in our front hallway

Family Pictures Spring 2011

These beautiful pictures were taken by a friend of ours at Jackson Park

Giant Ruler

We thought it would be so fun to measure the girls when we moved into our new house

and every year after. We wanted something that we could take to our next house

(except after this move we resolved to NEVER move again :)

We started with a solid oak 1/2" x 6" x 6"

and primed and painted it Whipped White by Dutch Boy in a semi gloss finish 

At this point I was not sure whether to paint the numbers on or 

use vinyl but decided on a decal ruler from Abbie's House

After the letting the paint dry for 48 hours we applied the decal

which went on perfectly and looks JUST like a ruler

We then secured it to the wall and both the top, bottom, and middle
(it was bowing a little in the middle but a screw dead center fixed that)

now I just need to keep them still enough to mark it!

Never Underestimate

Never underestimate a 70 year old man with a Cricut machine.

Lilly and Elise's Uncle David (actually their Great Uncle) 

bedazzled their wagon that he gave them for Christmas

Hope you are all out side enjoying this beautiful weather too!

Easy Wall Art

I was looking for something easy and interchangeable for the girls room for wall art

I found these great scrap booking papers and loved the colors and design

I went to Target and bought 4 white frames 

added in the paper

and...

exactly what I had in mind! 

Now they can easily be changed out if we change bedding when the girls

get toddler or twin beds in the next year.

We are working on a fun giant ruler for the girls room!

Pictures to come soon..

Vintage Starbucks Mug

One of my favorite coffee mugs is one that my mom found at a thrift store

its a vintage Starbucks mug and I just love it

How could you not wake up happy drinking coffee out of this mug..

Kitchen Tile Back splash

We really wanted a glass and stone tile back splash for our kitchen

to help us get that homey look

We found the perfect tile at HOBO

and bought just one sheet to start matching paint 

see the details about paint shopping here

Then once the tile had gone on sale 30% we went back and bought

the rest of the tile we needed (HOBO will price match any sales

with in 30 days so we brought the original sheet back too for the 30% sale price)

It cost us less than $100.00 for all of the tile.

After we finished all of the painting,  Russ and his friend installed the 

tile themselves and it turned out amazing! The tile came in sheets of 12 feet squared

and he rented a tile saw to make the cuts around the microwave and outlet sockets. 

He used thin set underneath the tiles and then a tinted cream grout. 

So, just to re-cap 

this is what our kitchen looked like a few days before we closed on the house

you have to love the "staged" furniture  and decorations

and this is our kitchen one week after we moved in!

Paint and the back splash (and appliances)

make such a huge impact! 

Have a great weekend!