Easy Entry Remodel

Awhile ago I decided I wanted our entryway to be a bit more useful, so I grabbed my Husband and went on a mission.

We found a fairly inexpensive shoe storage piece from Ikea and went from there. It was incredibly easy to install (although, I did not have to do the work).

I think this new piece of furniture is incredible practical for this space. I was sick of shoes getting piled up by our front door and frustrated with the lack of color in our entry way. This gives us a hidden home for our shoes as well as a place for me to put a few decorative pieces. Certainly more welcoming than muddle shoes and bare walls.

Here is the finished product:

We keep Chapstick, writing utensils, wallets, gum etc. in this top drawer. We no longer have a desk downstairs, so this drawer works to keep certain odds and ends at our fingertips.

 My pop of color. Anthropologie vases = amazing.

We keep winter-type clothing in the top drawer: mittens, hats, scarves, doggie sweaters, etc. And in the bottom we put shoes that get left downstairs - that way they are not cluttering our entryway.

Blue garbage can to use for umbrellas.

Inspiration

I absolutely love this blog on organizing. I was recently introduced to a really fun website where you can put together your own inspiration board to use to decorate different rooms in your house. Since we have been making numerous changes to our home in the last month, I decided I would put a few boards together.

Kitchen Inspiration

Living Room Inspiration

Bathroom Inspiration

I used items I already had, as well as new inspiration. We have since made some progress on creating these styles in our home and I will gradually share those updates.

Stay tuned to see how these rooms came together in real life.

I'm Floored...

This week has been a busy week filled with moving furniture, boxes, ripping out carpet, sanding and painting - not to mention the endless trips to Home Depot. Needless to say, we are exhausted!

I have been so excited to update our home with new floors (anything but carpet!). After doing my research and talking to people who in my mind are experts, we decided to go with Laminate flooring. The reasons we chose to forgo on the hardwoods are because hardwoods can scratch easier and they are more expensive. In the long run we hope to use our house as a rental, and spending thousands on hardwood floors probably isn't the best investment for us. We also found that the quality of Laminate floors is actually pretty good. I am no expert, but sometimes I can't even tell the difference!!!

Anyway, onwards to our flooring adventure. To save money we ripped out everything ourselves (we being my Husband and his Dad) and had the floors ready to go. This took hours. We did decide however, that paying someone to install was well worth it. Lucky for us, Home Depot was having a special where installation was only $400 no matter how many square feet you are getting installed. Wonderful!

Since we had to remove all of the trim to get the flooring installed, we decided to repaint. I did not realize what a chore this would be, but the results were totally worth it!


Before: Although we did have carpet, it is ripped out in this picture.

 Trim painting project:

Had to sand it all before painting...sad story.

 

 Trim Before:

 Trim After: Huge difference!

This was a family project - we all did our part.

 

After:

I am relieved to be able to cross this project off my list! We also made a few more changes this weekend that I am very excited to share (that will be coming soon!).

Backyard Beginnings

 We My husband, Dad and our friend Ryan, have spent a few weeks re-landscaping our backyard. It has certainly proven to be a lot of work, and we may not get around to planting vegetables this year (sadly). I am very excited about how it is turning out.

 We purchased this cherry landscaping lumber at Home Depot, you can get them for about $2-$3 depending on where you purchase them and if they are on sale. My husband and dad cut these and used Rebar to hold them together.

 Ollie loves being outside. That pot of strawberries is no longer with us...thanks to the Doggies. I will have to find a new home for any potted plants.

Oliver helping his Dad in the yard. More like making things much harder!

Stayed tuned to see the finished project! Might be a bit since we have taken on many small home projects in the last month. 

Book Labels

This post probably does not matter to most, because I would say most people do not have a major need to use book plates on all of their books. Since I have acquired roughly 300 children's books over the years, labeling each one with my name will be quite the task. I am going to use these books in my classroom someday (fingers crossed), so I want it to be obvious they are mine.

Most teachers recommend simply writing your name in Sharpie on the top of each book. That makes it easy to see and it's a bit easier than sticking book plates in each and every book. Of course...I chose the long and tedious process...book plates.

 Only $4 at Nordstrom Rack! So cute and came with over 100, I would say it was money well spent.

I still have a ways to go. This was just a start and I wanted to share since it was on my projects to complete list.

Crab Cakes

These are so easy to make and taste delicious. Sadly, they are not really budget friendly, so my husband and I only have them on special occasions and I do not usually make them when we are entertaining (I know, so selfish).

It will be hard to write out a recipe, as I usually do not use one and just throw in what I have. Over the years I have followed many different recipes while making crab cakes and have just taken what I liked from each one and sort of do my own thing.

Ingredients:
Unshelled Crab (1 lb.)
1/4 cup of Mayo
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1/2 diced yellow pepper
1/2 diced red pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 large egg
Garlic salt
Pepper
1 cup Panko
1 cup Corn Flake crumbs

In a bowl, mix crab, mayo, mustard, peppers, onion, beaten egg, salt, pepper and Panko.

I usually mix with my hands. Clump the crab meat into cakes with a 2-3 inch diameter depending on your preference. Put the Cornflake crumbs on a plate and coat each cake. Once the cakes are formed and coated, cover and place in fridge for a about an hour.

Meanwhile, you can mix the spicy mayo sauce. Mix 1/4 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons of Sirracha sauce and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.

When the crab cakes have been refrigerated for about an hour, heat olive oil in a non-stick pan. I will usually take a crumb from the cornflake crumbs and place in the hot oil. If it sizzles then it's hot enough to cook the crab cakes. Place crab cakes in oil, about 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan and place on a plate lined with a paper towel to allow the oil to soak up.(This usually makes up about 10 crab cakes)

Serve with sauce and ENJOY!

Project Dream List

1. New Floors (this project is actually in the works)
  
 June 2nd is the day I am hoping for. We are doing all of the prep work ourselves which is a bit      daunting. I am going to start packing up the downstairs tomorrow so we don't have to cram all of the work in to one day.

2. Label my children's library (probably with book plates)

3. Finally finish the guest room

4. Finish the yard

5. Repaint the molding downstairs (if you look closely in my previous post, you will see why)

6. Make over my hutch (my hutch currently has no glass in the doors. However, it does make reaching in for the sugar so much easier)

 Photo courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

7. Start shopping on a budget again, which means meal planning and attempting to coupon

8. Plan a fabulous baby shower! I already have compiled some brilliant ideas, however, those must stay secret so the mommy to be will not find out.

Photo Collage 2

It has been a long time since I have been able to Blog and I am happy to say, that from here on out I should be pretty consistent. With summer approaching, my list of home projects is growing (much to my Husband's dismay).

Since Thursday afternoon my Husband and his friends have hijacked our downstairs and have been playing a computer game for four days! I, of course have been trying to be the perfect  good wife and stay out of their way while still providing them with delicious food when I can.

To keep me busy while they click away in their own little world that I do not have even the slightest understanding of - I decided to tackle a project that has been on my to do list since we moved in: A photo wall going up the stairs with a collection of old family photos. Here is the play by play of completing this mission.


Compile the supplies:
Since I am a shop-o-holic, I already had quite the collection of picture frames laying around, however, a trip to the craft store was still a must. I was dreading this project because I am aware of the insane price of custom framing. I am fortunate to have some fabulous old photos from both sides of my family, but sadly - they are not standard photo sizes. I went to Michael's and was happy to hear I had a few options aside from custom framing. I had the option to purchase a frame and get matting cut to the right size. If I chose this option I could "float" the photos on top of the matting. I have seen this done before and it actually looks quite good. The option I chose was to buy a floating frame, with no matting. You tape the pictures in between the double glass and the color of the wall behind it will show through. I also purchased a wooden "W" and some light blue paint to add some color.

Arrange:
Yikes! I hate this step. I am such a visual person and it's hard for me to imagine what the outcome will be without actually hanging them on the wall. I did the next best thing which was arranging them on the carpet to get somewhat of an idea how the layout would look.

Templates:
This step is certainly the most tedious, but it's so necessary! You trace all of the frames on newspaper or paper bags and cut them out.

After you trace each frame, you flip the frame over, place the template against the back of the frame and mark where your screws will go. This honestly makes hanging the frames a piece of cake! And come on, who doesn't love cake?

Practice:
Next, I taped all of my templates on the wall. This allowed me to move anything that did not look right. I also traced templates for two to three extra frames just in case I saw some spots that needed filled (I ended up using all of them).

Nails:
 When the wall looks just how you want it...put nails in all of the spots you marked!

Finish:
 Once all of your nails are in, start hanging everything! I just rip each template off the wall as I replace them.

I am so proud!

Mission Organization: Fridge

Organizing the fridge is something I have not placed a lot of importance on in the past. Let's face it, no one ever looks in your fridge but you...so what's the point?

Well...the point is...I see it. And when it's messy it makes cooking stressful. Also, if you are trying to save money, having a clean and organized fridge helps you determine what foods you have and what you need to eat before it goes bad. Since my fridge has been organized I have definitely noticed less waste happening.

I wanted to have a lot of healthy options for drinks so we are less likely to drink soda. The entire top shelf is filled with liquids (ignore the Cherry 7up in the back). I also LOVE my Anthropologie egg crate and berry crate, they make the fridge look so pretty.

The blue tub is filled with snacks for the week; Yogurts, baggies of chopped vegetables, the sort of stuff you can just grab and go.

Cheese...we love cheese. Currently in my fridge I literally have at least ten types of cheese. We have so much cheese, we had to dedicate one whole drawer to the delicious food! 

 I am waiting for us to go through our condiments, as of now we have multiples of a LOT of items.

Every other weekend, I have been removing MOST items from the fridge and scrubbing it out. It's amazing how quickly the inside of your fridge get grungy and icky. Since I have re-organized, I haven't had to dedicate any time to cleaning out old food...which has been wonderful!


Below is my pantry which I have previously mentioned in a post. I have since made more progress, check it out: