Christmas Decor can be elegant...

I always relish a country styled white Christmas.  Horray for Martha Stewart!  And Linda M. 

 

mini garage makeover

Usually the garage is a cave for men to put their crap in, but with a lot of us going in and out all day, I had to do something about the very oily and dusty old garage floor.  I still haven't painted the walls, but with a one coat Epoxy paint, I could almost sleep on these floors and be alright!  The little white spots are chalk marks from a few kids who have already played on it. 

Exterior Home before and after

 Before and After pictures are my fav, but this before and after house picture was 2 years in the making! 

Nasty Cellar turned into storage/laundry area

      When we first creeped into our cellar, it was the worst nightmare of any arachnophobic.  Nowadays, it's rare to see a creepy crawler down there.  All we needed was cleaning, painting and a dehumidifier! I can't say it's 100 percent where I want it to be, but at least I can do my laundry without screaming.  For a cellar from 1901, I think we are in pretty good shape.  I added a little privacy curtain so I didn't have to see my water meter while I do laundry either.

     Also, thanks to Benito or "Nito" as Rigby sweetly calls him (our worker), we have a smooth bilco door floor.  yay!

The OCD Fridge!

Yes, it's really my fridge- and yes, I really do have OCD.  But it's not the flavor of OCD in which one often hoards, but rather, quite the opposite.  I jokingly call it binge hoarding- I do love to shop but I clean out as well! 
   I love to re-organize, even though I'm not a natural.  My friend and I were talking about how his mom would use clear skinny bottles to store milk in so that she would have room in her kitchen.  It really got me thinking about how that bulky one gallon of whole milk really does take up an entire section of a refridgerator. 
     So yesterday, my friend Sam and I went to Target and found these cool plastic bottles that resemble glass bottles.  They make pouring milk so easy.  As for the other things, I ripped off labels (provided I could still see the exp. date somewhere on the bottle) and put things in pretty containers that pull out like drawers.  

    Not only is my fridge attractive now, but it's much more functional without a bunch of things tossed in there randomly.  Not to mention, with less color (minus the labels) your eyes don't divert everywhere at once to try and find what you are looking for. 
    The clear cereal containers for organizing come from IKEA and the porcelain egg holder up top is from William Sonoma- an early Easter gift from Andy!

Living Room Door Makeover!

Sometimes I still feel icky when I think of what the living room used to be.  It's sad to think an old lady lived in a home in such shambles but I like to think that in better times, she must have had a cute living room.  It certainly feels homey now, although I'm not sure anyone could have foreseen the room looking like this when compared to the original picture of the house on the market....yuck!  And who tapes their door shut anyway? 
  *Couch: Ikea,   Flatscreen: black Friday deal at Walmart!,  Carpet Sample: 1 dollar at Darien Carpet, Shelf: TJ Maxx,  Bookshelf: BoyScout Flee Market,  Mirror and Letters: Anthropologie,  Wall Paint: Ticonderoga Taupe (992) -taken from the Benjamin Moore website,   Floors: original pine that Andy finished himself.

Garage Before and After (part 1)

( *Picture blurred on purpose to give privacy to neighbors, etc)
It has been a long time since I updated this majorly outside of our farm house, but it's such a relief.  It's hard to believe this is the same place, when you consider the record breaking blizzards this past winter with 10 foot snowbanks.  It's so refreshing to see boxwood along the crevice of the garage!  I'm not sure I will keep it this white, but it's better than puke green peeling paint.

Master Vanity-before and after

Our little bathroom has come a long way since it first reared its ugly head to give us nightmares!