Gallery Wall {Updated}

Ok, updated a tad. I am waiting on my giant print of our new family photo to replace the one from last year.

But this is where I am at now with the updates. What do you think?

 You like?

My hallway in too narrow to get a better picture, but here is what I have (from left to right):

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Small black quote block - "In everything give thanks" Bought last year on clearance at Family Christian. 

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Our family photo art I made last year - here

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We finally have a Crucifix - Yay! Found the perfect one at Family Christian. My brother, Sean, told me I need to take it down after I take the picture, though, so I can get it blessed. Thanks, man. Will do! (similar)

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Next is the DIY Ornament Shadow Box. I saw a great tutorial from Two Yellow Birds Decor. Loved it so much I had to make one, too! (my post here)

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Below that is my other DIY family photo art - here

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Next up is something fabulous!! My Birmingham Plate that my mom and here fab friend, Denise, found while out shopping at the antique shops. And it was $1! Hang on, more on that in a sec!

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Under the plate is something so dear to me that it will never be taken down. A picture of my Bea-Bea and Grand Daddy. He was an Episcopal priest and I remember playing in his church while he worked on his sermons. I made sure to grab it when I said good-bye to my Bea-Bea in October of 2008. Miss you both so much. 

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Next is Andrew's school picture from this year. Such a cutie!

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Finally, the last item to list is so much fun - my personalized subway art from PB&Jcreations I won it in a giveaway last year and I cannot wait to get another couple of items from her this year. Her shop is ahhh-mazing!! (shop here!!) We have all things special to us written out. Just lovely!

Now, how about that awesome plate that was just a buck and super fabulous?! Coolness.

Isn't that so super cool?! A Birmingham plate found in some random antique shop in Pensacola. Love it. AND! It was designed specifically for Bromberg's - where I would love a few pieces to wear on me (coughhintcoughJasoncough). I love it. Thanks again, Mom and Denise!

You wondering how I hung this with out those icky plate holders? Have you seen/heard of these?

Invisible Disc Plate Hangers. Awesome. I first heard of these on French Country Cottage and couldn't wait to get a fabulous plate. Few months later I got it! So, I needed those plate hangers. Courtney pointed me over to her friend, Nancy, who sells these (and about 500 other things I now want LOL). If you are in need of these super cool hangers for your interesting plates, check out her shop!

I'm so excited that our gallery wall is all done - for now. Just waiting on my prints to show up in the next week or so. Yay!!


**Linking up with**
Organize & Decorate Everything - Deck the Halls Holiday Pinning Party!
I'm an Organizing Junkie 
 A Bowl Full of Lemons 
Diana Rambles - Pin It Party  
Smart! School {House} 
Skip to My Lou 
The NY Melrose Family

Home Goals 2012 - update

Remember when I posted about the updates we want to do with our home? Well, I thought I would give an end-of-the-month update :)

January To-Dos:
1. Clean glass between oven door Done! Go here to read about it if you missed that post.
2. DIY dishwasher tune-up/clean
3. Add Velcro to kitchen towels - Doing that this weekend :)
4. Make a casserole carrier - I cannot decide on fabric! How lame is that?
5. Homemade sugar scrubs
6. Rug for under kitchen table - I found it...I just have to buy it.
7. Paint touch-up - Doing that this weekend :)




Now, January got a little side-tracked due to our living room extravaganza, so a few thing of January's will be taken care of in February. Thank goodness for that extra day, eh? But exciting news for February - We are getting our fence!!! We are waiting on one more quote and then we will decide on fence date. I'm super excited! The boys are going to be so happy - and by boys, I also mean Max! He love being outside but he is semi-limited due to the yard leash. Poor guy. He loves to roam, but can only go so far (like the middle of the yard. Not even to the end.). He will LOVE it!

Here are some more updates on the list:

Living Room:
1. Media storage Yay! It is so pretty! I love our living room so much more now that everything is fabulous!
2. Updated gallery wall (hallway) with DIY photo canvases - just ordered some prints for the wall.

Master Bed/Bath:
1. Framed bathroom mirror
2. Better storage
3. DIY headboard
4. Bedframe

Boys' Room:
1. Wall art on Andrew's side - I made a few things last week for this, I have a post coming up soon!
2. Toddler bed for Alex (this will be sometime next Fall - wow!)
3. Book sling & reading area
4. DIY curtains (the ones we currently have are fine, but the two monkeys who live there are a little wild with them...)

Office/Playroom:
1. Window treatment
2. Lamp

Hall Bathroom:
1. Framed mirror

Linen Closet (formerly the hall closet):
1. Add shelving to closet for towels and bedding (there is a sad hanging shelf in there now that doesn't do anything except annoy me)

Front Yard:
1. Planters by front door
2. Brick/stone bordered beds
3. Touch-up mailbox and fix the flag

Now for February's To-Dos (there wont be too much going on since the fence is a BIG ticket item)
1. FENCE!!
2. DIY dishwasher tune-up/cleaning
3. Make a casserole carrier
4. Homemade sugar scrubs
5. Rug for under kitchen table
6. Gallery wall in hallway
7. DIY Chalkboard tray for kitchen

How are your home goals moving along?

Fabulous Weekend Project - Day 2

Click here if you missed the post on Day 1 :)

This morning, I went to teach a Growing with God class at our church, so my AWESOME hubby ran to Lowe's to pick up the paint and a few other supplies, spending $48. So, if you remember from the last post, we spent $213, bringing us to $261 total for this weekend project! Awesome. I still say I win. Jason said we would spend $300. I said, "No way. Molding is cheap." So, see? Technically, I win. Though, the decorative case molding was a whopping $16 for 7 feet - ouch.

Anyhoo! To the pictures!

 Getting the top (since I'm a shorty...) while I take 500 more pictures.

 Everyone say, "Oooh! Aahhh!" Oh, and look to the right! A bit of a sneak peek at some new kitchen decor. A post on that is coming...we got a little sidetracked with this project (you can read about why we started this adventure here - I can't make that kind of story up...)

 Oooohh, another view! So pretty! 

Seriously, I may be in love with my living room :)

If it hadn't been for the paint being slow to dry, we would have been done much earlier. But at 1:45 am, we were completely done!! TV up and powered! :)

 Before the clean up - oh my gosh, so pretty!!

Everything is all hooked up and ready to go :)

 Enjoying the morning after 1 crazy night!

So, what do you think?

Linking up with:
Skip To My Lou
I Heart Nap Time 
Today's Creative Blog
Home Stories A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Homemaker in Heels
Tatertots & Jello
Lil Luna
Tip Junkie
Creatively Living
French Country Cottage 
Thifty Decor Chick 

Fabulous Weekend Project - Day 1

Whew! We are almost finished with the mantle/fireplace makeover! The 2nd coat of paint is drying right now. So I have a bit of time to share some pictures with you.

Friday night until...I have no idea. It was really late... We worked on measurements and the layout of where everything was going to be placed. We were worried that this "weekend project" was going to turn out to be much longer than that. But not at all! We are so happy with how it is coming along!


Here is the icky before. See those nasty wires??? Ew. So messing up the feel of the living room. But soon they will be gone!! Remember, you can enlarge the pictures just by clicking on them :)

Saturday morning we headed out to Lowe's - my new favorite store! Andrew's, too. He kept asking to go to Lowe's...too funny. We got all of the molding that was needed, LOTS of nails, caulk, wood putty, and a few other things. We spent $214 on Saturday's supplies. We had lunch and since we have our 2 little guys, we played with them until naptime. And yes! They must have been tired! They slept a full 3 hrs! Awesome work time for us. So, here we go:

Obnoxious wire mess

Lots of sawing...I really want a table saw. Jason says no.  

The first pieces cut and ready for nailing. And, the last time we see Mr. 55 until the project is complete. 

Lots of leveling and double checking

Check out that little miter job :) Jason wanted to add that in so there would be less bending on the wires. He bought some crazy awesome wires for the Wii and HD stuff going on. He sort of attached to them. Lol, I kid (only a little)

 

So at this point, naptime is over and the little guys are ready to come out. Only...there are things ALL over the floor in the living room. Lucky for us they were ready for a snack and some games at the table. 

Andrew saw what we had done and was like, "whoa!" And then added, "Lowe's?" So silly! The colored and had some juice and goldfish while we finished the rest of the base molding. AND while I was also getting dinner going. Lots of multitasking going on at this house!

We took a break during dinner and played with those cuties for another hour until it was bedtime. Once they were down, the clock was ticking away. We really wanted to get to the point were we would just need to sand and paint on Sunday. And, we did it! Here are the rest of the pics:

 Getting the last of the base pieces up

 Time for me to caulk it like it's hot. LOL I know, lame. But it was late and we had the music going. It's amazing that the boys slept wonderfully WITHOUT their humidifier buffering any noise. 

 

 All the base molding is up!

Now time for the sneaky wire trick! 

Ready???

Sneaky wires!

 Finally! At 11:47 pm, we had everything nailed up, caulked, and puttied to be ready for tomorrow. Sweet :)

The Simple Things

The smell of the lumber section at Lowe's :)

(I will have a few updated posts very soon on our living room!!)

The Living Room Adventures

To read about the crazy beginning to this adventure, click here and here.

Everyone say, "Ooooh! Ahhhh!"

That's right, I'm watching HGTV. Jason calls that my "no-no" channel. I apparently get too many amazing ideas from it. Na-uh. If only I could get Genevieve to come over and help us out. Oh, and then we can have Ahmed from Yard Crashers... and David Bromstad, please...and maybe some others - Oh, getting off track here.

Our tv is up and really not as big as I felt it was when it was just sitting over there on that media cabinet/stand. Maybe because it was blocking my window.

No worries! We do have track molding to hide those nasty cords and such.

I do want to point out a few things that my hubby and I did not know and I'm wondering how many others out there were confused as well:

1. If you do not have an outlet or coax  ALREADY installed above a WORKING fireplace, then you CANNOT have them installed due to a fire wall.

2. If you are building a house and would like the option, get those things installed in the pre-construction stages. Meaning, BEFORE the drywall and firewall go up.

3. There are about a MILLION pictures on Pinterest, magazines, tv, everywhere that show these tvs above the fireplace and NOT a single electronic box or wire in sight (not even track molding!)...how do they do that????

• See number 2
• Have Harmony installed in your home. I still dont get how it works. But basically, you can have all those things (cable box, game system, dvd player, etc) all set up on the opposite side of your room (or in a completely different room!!!) and still be able to control it due to radio frequency. How awesome?! It's all very magical to me. 
• If you aren't building a house anytime soon, well, you are like us. Getcha some track molding to hide the wires and paint it the color of your wall. Ours will be going along the seam of the fireplace and wall. 

Now I have told you how the magic works, I gotta get to waving my wand here.

By the way, if you have used Geek Squad before...aren't they AWESOME?! If not, you totally should for your next Best Buy purchase. Love them!


Disclosure: I just loved the customer service of Geek Squad and wanted to share :)

The Living Room Adventures

I just noticed that I call the big things at the House an "adventure" lol

Well, it is an adventure, I guess. We have the Shared Bedroom Adventures (which sooo needs to be updated due to a certain 2 year old...ha).

Now we have the Living Room Adventures. Only that started in a very unplanned way and wasn't exactly supposed to happen until next month. Oh, well. At least Darth Vader has FINALLY left the living room.

And in it's place - oh the gorgeousness of it all!!

 
LOVE IT! A beautiful Dark Tobacco finish with brushed nickle knobs! A perfect match to the coffee/end tables that are in the living room. It will be going under the left window by the fireplace. :D LOVE!! And where do you think it is from?

Target! Shocker, I know. It is part of the fabulous Avington collection. I think the trunk is next on the list. lol

Jason and I worked on this beauty during naptime. I love doing projects with him! Here are some more pics of the fun :)

There's a hole in the universe, I just know it...

So, Wednesday was crazy...

Around 2pm, I'm getting the boys settled down for their nap and I hear a crash. I figured it was Andrew being silly when he should be in bed. I hadn't even left the room yet. Well, he's right next to me saying "night-night" to Alex. Weird. What was that noise?

I go look in the office thinking something in my black hole of a closet crashed down. Nope. All is well.

Or is it...?

I go back in the boys room to give them a hug and - hmm, I thought that I turned that humidifer on already.

Oh, it is on...but not...

The power is completely out. 

I am texting one of our neighbors after leaving the boys for their nap, and her house is fine. Ugh...those guys out there messed up something... See, we have no cable in our neighborhood. We are a brand new neighborhood, so everyone here has satellite pretty much. The HOA finally decided that we needed it so that is why I said "those guys." They are digging to add the cable to each house... Awesome, right? Not. I don't know anyone who is switching to cable...

Anyway, I look out the window again trying to figure out what that crash was. Oh, I found out...this is what I see outside of the office window:

 Can you see that? Let's take a closer look...

 Um, yeah, that is the meter from MY house that flew off and hit my neighbor's house... 

Naptime is supposed to the be time when moms recharge their batteries. These guys apprently do not know this. LOL So I head on out to talk to them. 

Before I could even say a word (other than "hi")... They knew exactly what I was coming out for. Yep, boys, my power is gone. Dead. Done. And, I'm not positive, but I think my meter is now in my neighbors yard. Too funny. 

Apparently, what happened was their machine that digs the ditch (I'm still not entirely sure) grabbed my lines and tore them from the house. Wowza. They were all extremely nice and said that everything possible would be done to take care of the power and any damage.

Well, 4pm rolls around and no power still. Alabama Power still has not shown up. And, I get a dang splinter in my thumb from a railroad track while playing Thomas the Tank Engine with Andrew. Ugh...what else!?

A few knocks on the door later and I'm getting questions about if I can smell smoke in the house and if I knew there was a wildfire on the hill a few streets away. Seriously? This is why I just know there is a hole in the universe. I look at where they are pointing. Yup. There's a fire blazing a you can see the water from a few firetrucks shooting at it. Awesome. 

Jason gets home and talks to the guys (since we still have no power and Alabama Power finally shows up. They are putting us up at a hotel for the night since it is cold and we have the little ones and STILL NO POWER. That was very nice of them to do that. We are told on the way out that the power should be back on around midnight at the earliest. So we pack up some things and head out for dinner and a PJ party :)

 

Thrilled to be in a GIANT bed with 5000 pillows! He stayed up until about 930, I think...and had school the next day lol

 This little dude, on the other hand, couldn't make it quite that long. He was OUT at 8-something.

Jason said I was a dork for taking this pic...maybe so, but this is genius :)

The morning comes around and we have a message saying our power is back! YAY! So happy that all is good again :) At least until I get home after dropping Andrew off to check everything. Our living room TV - dead... The garage door opener - dead... And, worst of all (lol) MY WII IS DEAD!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT THE WII!!! I have to do my Zumba!! I have lost 3 pounds this week, people. I have got to get my Zumba on! 

Breath....

I go tell the guys (they all said good morning and made sure that things were fine and what not - so nice!)...they bring out their electrician guy and yup...all dead. 

It's ok...I am out of a tv and a wii and have to park in my driveway for now, but they did say that by tonight everything should be replaced (or handled as such so that all will be replaced - due to the garage door...by a certain date). 

See? A hole in the universe. It is not good when the Wii dies. lol. I know, I will get over it in a bit (when I have my new one and I'm 1/2 dead with my attempt at Latin dancing). 

But, out of all of this chaos, I must say that those guys out there are the most amazing, most polite, and most caring construction workers I have ever heard of. One or another came to check on me and the boys almost every hour until Jason got home Wednesday to make sure that everything was alright. They set us up for a hotel and dinner. They are replacing all the things that were damaged. I'm just amazed that these guys truly know the meaning of customer service. Thank you! I am glad someone still does!