Around The House

Happy Tuesday! I'm back with another round of "around the house" pics. I know a lot of the country is dealing with blizzard like conditions, but here in Texas, a few flowers are still blooming and it's been in the upper 60's lately. But having said that, I'd absolutely love to have a little snow. Not blizzard snow, but maybe an inch or two once or twice a year. Although I don't think that'll happen anytime soon. :)

Some of you may remember a long time ago, I talked about painting my fairy door in the backyard. On a whim the other day, I grabbed a can of sterling silver spray paint and gave it a quick coat...

I've shared our full sized bottle brush trees in the backyard before, but I don't think I've ever shared these miniature ones we have. I should have taken the pic a few days before when they were in full bloom. They were starting to fade at this point, but were still pretty.

I picked a few knockout roses the other day and brought them inside. I love the cheerful look of roses. :)

And of course, I've been moving my Valentine's Day decor around a bit. It sure doesn't stay the same for long. 

As I mentioned before, we're getting ready to replace our current checkerboard tile backsplash with white subway tile. I've been busy taking some "before" pics of the kitchen and we also priced everything at Home Depot last weekend. I think we'll get started on it in the next couple of weeks. 

I love this teeny tiny bit of Valentine's Day decor in the dining room. :)

So, I know y'all couldn't care less what kind of detergent I buy, but my grocery store was out of my regular detergent for two weeks in a row. Since I was forced to buy a different brand, I just kind of quickly threw this box of Surf in my cart and you know what? I really like it! As a bonus, it was also cheaper than my old brand. I think it was only $3.97. So there's my household tip for the day. :)

After a few days of dark skies and rain, the sun finally appeared and I couldn't resist taking this pic of our sun filled breakfast room. 

Hope y'all have a great day and stay warm!

~Lisa

Valentine's Day Decor 2015

Hi there! I finally had a chance to put up my Valentine's Day decor and thought I'd share it with y'all today. :)

Get ready because there are a ton of pics coming up...

Still loving this garland I made with hearts and baker's twine from the dollar spot at Target. 

I added in a few pink and red touches to the living room. 

Here's a close up of one of the framed Valentines on the mantel. 

And here's the other one...

The chalkboard is just a Dollar Tree silver tray that I painted with chalkboard paint and added the glittery heart with a dot of hot glue. 

I JUST put those red pillows up after Christmas and now they're making a return for Valentine's Day. I should have left them out the whole time. :)

I totally forgot I had this pink Wood Wick candle, so out it came as part of my Valentine decor. 

This isn't really "Valentine decor" because I keep it out year round, but I thought I'd include it because of the little chalkboard heart. It sits on the sofa table in my foyer. 

Wow, I can't believe I was able to keep the talking to a minimum! Usually I can't keep my mouth shut. :) Hope y'all have a great weekend!

~Lisa

A New Look For My DIY 3-Tiered Tray and Book Bub

Hello! Did y'all have a nice weekend? I sure did. I bought about 10 new books for my Kindle and read a lot. I think the only things I accomplished one day were reading and changing the wallpaper on my Keurig! #lazy. :) And if you're curious, I changed it to a kind of reddish color, you know, for Valentine's Day. ;) Speaking of books, do y'all know about Book Bub? You can sign up for free and you tell them which genre of books you're interested in and they'll email you daily deals on Ebooks. Most of the books are either free or between $1 - $3. I bought a set of four cozy mysteries the other day for only $1.99! My aunt told my mom and me about this site and we've all bought tons of books from them. You can click HERE to sign up with your email. 

You can even tell them which authors are your favorites and they'll notify you if they get a deal on one of their books. There's a search button where you can search for authors. For some reason, it couldn't find one of my favorite authors, and if that happens, there's a box where you can request them. And you know what? Within 24 hours, they added that author to their site. So cool!

So anyway, today I wanted to share the new look for my DIY 3 tiered tray...

I liked the idea of keeping it in my bathroom and filling it with lots of girly things. :) 

Below is what it looked like back in December when it was decorated for Christmas...

You can click HERE for the tutorial on how I made this for only $15. 

After Christmas, I just kind of plopped it down on the side of my tub and wasn't sure what I would do with it. Then I had the idea of filling it with spa-like items. I also wanted to keep the colors mostly grey and white to match my bathroom.

So, off to Walmart and Target I went. :) I purchased some sea sponges, lotions, wash cloths, soap, a candle, loofah, pumice stone, and a grey scrubber sponge. I was so happy to find a grey one! 

Here are some pics of the top, middle, and bottom trays...

So, the cat soap above was actually purchased at a craft fair last summer. My hubby bought it for me when I wasn't looking and surprised me with it later. :) 

Oh, and I did add some soap we brought home from a hotel stay. Love those little soaps!

That little candle in the fresh cotton scent was only $1.

I also moved my cotton stems into my bathroom. Here are a few more pics...

Below is a little collage I put on IG to show some close ups of a few things. And yep, that's Holly in the bottom right corner. These were taken before I bought the stuff for the trays. 

I'm really happy with the new look!

So, I guess that's it. I'll be back soon with my Valentine's Day decor. Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

~Lisa

Dining Room Changes

First of all, I have to share a family milestone with you all...we officially had our last orthodontist appointment the other day!!! Yippee! I feel like I've spent half my life in that waiting room. Lol! My oldest needed braces a little late and my youngest needed them a little early, so they were in them at the same time. Luckily, they could schedule most of their appointments at the same time, but I still logged in countless hours there. Thank goodness they had THE most comfy leather sofas and a coffee bar in their waiting room to keep me company. Ha! I also read through countless books while waiting, so at least I accomplished something. :) My youngest actually needed braces twice (phase one, at the same time my oldest had them and phase two a couple of years later) So yes, we only have two kids, but paid for three sets of braces. ;) 

Anyway, they've had their braces off for awhile now, but we just finished up the last big retainer appointment. My 15 year old had one stubborn 12 year molar that hadn't come in yet and we've been waiting on it so they could make a new retainer to accommodate the new tooth and it finally appeared! So after about 8 years of braces and retainer appointments, I'm so glad to be done! :) I think there was only about a 6 month period during the last 8 years where we weren't going to regularly scheduled appointments. 

 Okay, here's the deal...every year in September, I take pics of my whole house in its "normal decor mode." Meaning I just photograph how everything looks on a regular basis, without any holiday decor. This helps tremendously in January after the holiday decor is put up and I'm trying to remember where all my "normal" decor went.

Then as usual, as soon as I get everything back in its proper place, I start switching things up. :)

This year, the dining room was the recipient of my constant changing mind. 

I didn't change too much, but it was still fun to pull out a few rarely used items. 

This side table pretty much stayed the same. That clock will always be one of my favorite purchases from Pier 1 and those pillows and slip covers from Walmart are still a favorite of mine. 

Here's a couple of wider shots... 

I moved the cake plate over to this kidney table and added a few pieces of my mom's crystal she recently gifted me. The rest of my mom's crystal and china is stored inside the kidney table. 

Here's a closer look at the crystal. It really doesn't do it justice. It's such a pretty pattern. 

Over on the sideboard, I added my sugar and creamer, along with my yellow soup tureen and the little caddy from Homegoods. I've had that soup tureen for years, but never displayed it until now. I kind of like the pop of yellow it adds to the dining room.

I love this caddy. I just filled it with some silverware, yellow napkins, and a few napkin rings. 

The foyer stayed exactly the same. Still loving the botanical prints. 

 Oh, and stay tuned because we have some exciting projects in the works. I think we're finally ready to start the subway tile backsplash in the kitchen and I just convinced my hubby to make me a shelving unit for the living room (which will cause another round of musical decor as I move things around to accommodate the new shelves) As usual, everything will be done on a budget with us doing all the work ourselves. :)

~Lisa