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The NEW Family Command Center

A few weeks back, I had a post on Sprucing up my {office/family command center} Space as I promoted the Cost Plus World Market "Spruce up Your Space Sweepstakes".  I've been diligently plugging away on this paticular niche in the kitchen prior to the promotion due to the fact we put in a dutch door {which needed replacing because the window became broken and I took that opportunity to finally put in the dutch door of my dreams} which consequently is having a domino effect in the kitchen.  

 Kiss, kiss dutch door, how I love thee!  I love to open it when I'm cooking and let the breeze in or when I'm at the computer when everyone is in bed and all is quiet and want some fresh night air.

Here is the space after I painted it Sea Haze by Benjamin Moore, I went with a greenish-grey because the tile on the counter is a light grey and the grout is a teal color.  I would really like to put in a new counter and farmhouse sink but at this time, not in our budget but paint is cheap and makes a HUGE difference.

See that outlet over there...that ended up being a "blessing in disguise"...I was NOT happy it was there, and wondering who in their right mind puts an outlet in the middle of a wall?  Well I came up with a solution..I'll share it in the next few days.

We have moved the computer from the TV hutch to the current location on the desk.  Before if you were on the computer, you had to be hunched over because the hutch area was actually for a TV cabinet {built in the 50's} NOT a computer hutch and IF your back became tired from all the hunching we moved the computer to the dining room table and when it ran out of juice we had to replug it in and the cord was an accident waiting to happen, someone would most likey trip over the cord and all hell would break loose.  So this is now The Cottage on Cullen Family Command Center. The cute tricycle red wire tiered tray is for all the paperwork that needs attention, papers to be signed, things that need to be read and then filed away.  

Slot No. 01 for the parents of the Cottage on Cullen, slot No. 02. for daughter #1, slot No.03 for daughter #3.  It makes it more organized so I don't have to sift through all the paper to find what I need, If daughter #12 says, "Hey Mom, where is my permission slip to go to Disneyland, did you sign it?" I know to look in that tier or they can look for it themself.  

Tada! The menu/memo board.  Here is where I post weekly the menu for each nights' dinner.  No more "what are we having for dinner?"...they already know and I already know I have all my ingredients to make what on the menu because I planed the menu {more on that later}.  I like it so I can look and see what I planned and can get out the chicken to defrost the night before for Cheez-It Chicken on Thursday night.  

I used my chalk markers to label each box with the days of the week and added the entree and side dish. I can clip recipes from magazines and add them to my Memo board if I choose to go "old school" {not my pinterest board}.  For some graphic interest I added the chalk banners, got the idea here. My originally idea was to paint the whole wall where the Memo board is in Chalkboard paint but I wanted to repurpose the memo board that I used in my old house in my craft corner.  But yesterday I DID paint a wall in chalkboard paint!!!  Lots to share with you in upcoming posts.

Do you like my new Family Command Center, do you have an office space or Family command center..I'd love to see it, please send me an email at elliemader82@yahoo.com or leave a comment.

One more thing I'm so excited to announce that World Market will be partying at the very first Pinterest Party on Monday, August 26th at 1PM PST (4PM EST). World Market will be partnering up with two fabulous designers Kate Riley of CentsationalGirl and Justina Blakeney of JustineBlakeney.com to share ways to Spruce Up Your Space for the fall using World Markets' new fall collections. Plus, World Markes is giving away (5) $100 World Market gift cards during the hour.

Hope to see you all over there this coming Monday at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard  time and see what fabulous items the designers will be pinnng onto their designer boards.  You saw HERE what Centsational Girl did?  The girl has got it going on!   

Spruce Up Your Space Sweepstakes

Have you heard of Centsational Girl?  I've been following her blog for awhile now.  She is an interior designer located in Northern California's wine country and she has terrific style on a "Pennies Budget".  Not only that she has partenered with World Market in designing one lucky family's dining room.  Here is a sneak peak but click HERE for a redirection to the link.  

I love how she paired a bit of bling, in the gold hourglass stools with the rustic table and chandelier.  Plum and gold, whou'd a thunk those colors paired up would look so great!  If you enter the Cost Plus World Market Sweepstakes you could win the chance to have Centsational Girl spruce up one of your spaces!!!  I would be so excited to meet her if I had the chance and have her take one of my spaces from DRAB to FAB.  

Disclosure:  I don't think I've mentioned this in any of my past posts but recently I've become a Cost Plus World Market Ambassador and I'm over the moon happy about this.  As you know from here, here, here and here, I LOVE their products.  I live less than 10 minutes away from World Market so I'm always able to check out their new seasonal items on a regular basis which could be a good thing or a bad thing. If you too are a lover of this versatile store, which carry food products, homegoods, gifts and WINE come back I have lots to share in future posts. 

Now head on over to enter a your chance to win....a Spruce Up your Space Sweepstakes and you could possibly be that lucky winner to have the fabulous designer, Centsational Girl knocking on your door . Check out my Spruce up my Space {office} Pinterest board for more ideas.

Sprucing up the Family Command Center/Office Space

You know it's coming!!  Yes, loads and loads of paperwork that needs to be filled out by you from your children's school. That's just the beginning but all through the year there will be notes sent home from teachers, newsletters that need to be read, so you know when "such and such" is happening and you won't be rushing the night before trying to find that white button down shirt for the concert on Wednesday night.  You know your kids won't tell you right?  Well if they are like mine..they don't, "oh yea Mom...I need this or I need to get that for"....you fill in the blank here.  I like to be informed about what goes on in my daughter's school.  We have tele-parent at their schools, do you guys have that?  Where you get a phone call right when you just sat down to dinner to say, "Your child did an excellent job participating in class today!".  I do appreciate the calls, I do but in all honesty I don't need to know if she participated or not...did she turn in her homework?  That's what I want to know...and yes..they do let you know over tele-parent if they do have assignments due.  Anyways...since we have moved into our Cottage on Cullen I have not really established a Family Command Center.  At the old house we had a Computer Armoire with all a bulletin board inside and I hung up reminders on it and I had a file basket with all their important papers that I needed to sign or read to be a well informed Mama.  Now it is time for me to get a permanent Family Command Center on the Cottage on Cullen.

This is the space I'm going to turn into the Family Command Center...yep a complete blank slate and not very big {that's one of the issues we have in a house of 1300 square feet}. This is what it looked like when we moved in 2 years ago. The Cottage on Cullen Family Command Center, a place for my kiddos to drop forms to be signed, to plan my menus for the week and a place to post them so everyone will know "what's for dinner" and not have to ask, a spot to check out the great recipes that I've been pinning on Pinterest, a charging station for all our phones and cameras.  That's a lot of stuff to accomblish in this little itty bitty space but I'll be getting some help from my friends at World Market.  I've been planning this "Command Center" virtually on Pinterest at my Sprucing up my {office} Space board. Go check out my board.  Not only that, Cost Plus World Market is having a sweepstakes to help you too get your space spruced up, wheather it be your kitchen, or the family room, or you dining room.  You can enter to win a $5,000 dollar World Market Shopping Spree, plus a personal shopping experience and design consultation with one of Cost Plus World Market top design bloggers and  3 First Prizes of $1,000 World Market gift cards.  Go HERE to enter!! We all could need a littl help and with the great price point World Market has on their products, $5,000 will go a long way to Sprucing up your room of your choice!   But I'd like to take you on a Virtual tour of what I'd like to do  if I could with some extra $$$ to Spruce up my Family Commad Center /Office space.  

In addition you can earn bonus entries for liking World Markets'  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr  pages for a better chance to win!!  Holy tolitos what could I do with this space....here we go.....

First...I would need to paint....

Check that box, that's already done as of today.

Painted in Sea Haze by Benjamin Moore. 

Brick, Brick I love red old brick...this space is "bomb" Oh shoot..the 13 year old slang is in my head.  Having a great little built-in would be perfecto..maybe adding some brick pavers on the right side wall would be nice, since I no intention of removing the garden window. The light that streams in all day right above the desk is really nice.  

Wow!!  I love this vintage door chalkboard from the Maison de Artises line, wouldn't this be great for writing quotes,  reminders and a place to put up the weekly menu.  No more,  "What's for dinner?" because it will be posted where everyone can see it.

Look at the keyhole detail on this!!! Like this was an old door found in the alley way or on the side of the road,  Remember;  I brake for Junk!.  

When I saw this Owen Desk Cubby at World Market I thought..wouldn't this make a great charging station, just drill some holes in back to run the charging cords thru and a place for everyone's phone and camera and labeled to boot! Sweet.

Of course having a great chair, the metal Jackson Tub Chair, which is so comfortable and really hip right now!  I have a couple of these {in the back patio} and I HIGHLY recommend them for their sturdiness and  they are super comfortable too!

 

Here is another image using the Jackson Tub Chair in a small office space...

Now this is what will be the workhorse of the Mader Family Command Center.   The Austin 3 Tier wire tray tray #1 for Mr. Incredible and I, tray #2 for Madison, tray #3 for Kenzie. It will keep all the papers that will be coming into our humble abode all neat and organzied.  It will be much easier to sift through each individual tray to find what I'm looking for.

Every desk area needs a waste basket I like that it is made of chicken wire.

To match some great magazine racks or idea books...

The Austin Metal boxes in red, great for stashing odds and ends that don't fit in the desk or for overflow of office supply items.  I'm a hoarder ...yes I know this, so I have a LOT of stuff.

 

 To keep track of time....so I don't forget to pick up a kid from practice or taking the Roast out of the oven...this Red Magnetic Clock which will fit perfectly on the refrigerator that sits behind the Family Command Center. See those big font type numbers...so I CAN SEE them!! It sucks getting older and I feel like every day my eyesight is declining at a rapid pace! 

Great office supplies right at your fingertips to write a quick thank you note.

I use these "out of " notes which have a magnetic strip on back and they have a home on the front of my refrigerator.  I'll share in a future post how I do my meal planning and some ideas I found on the internet.

You'll find my "bonjour" cup filled with a nice cup of joe ...while I do my biz going through paperwork,  perusing the internet and writing up blog posts.

This great little padded rug to remind you to keep life in perspective when things may get overwelming as the school year progressess.

Head on over to World Market and sign up for the Spruce up your Space Sweepstakes..

I'll be sharing some free printables.....and a really cool idea for a charging station thanks to Mr. Incredible....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen, Organizing the Garage and a cute girl and her shorts

I'm kind of all over the place right now...I'm at a bit of a standstill in the kitchen.  Mr. Incredible has been working all kinds of crazy hours the past few weeks and I need him to help me install a "three pronger outlet thingy" behind my desk in the kitchen {where in all reality I should be making all my Menu planning} so I can hook up the laptop there. Perfect to look at all the great recipes I've been pinning at Pinterest.

There is the outlet...I also need to finish painting the trim...all around the kitchen..but I don't need him to do that but I want to paint a chalkboard wall on the other side of the kitchen behind the refrigerator and I need help moving the appliances.  

So as I've been in a "holding" stage I decided to record all the paint choices we have painted in the Cottage on Cullen so far...I've dipped them in the paint and after they have dried with a sharpie wrote the color, the maker and the room it was painted in.  

Then I'll drill a hole in the end of the stick and tie it with some twine and hang them in the painting cabinet...I also keep the paint chips in my Home...be Inspired book, it keeps all my ideas about decor for our home in one area but have a lot of ideas on Pinterest too!  I love that place!!  

As you can see I have a lot of beachy colors going on..blues, greens and greys...in our color palette.  

As I've been organizing all my "craft crap" this girl has been getting her craft groove on... 

She is learning how to sew.....she watched a tutorial on youtube...and made

these old pair of jeans into....

shorts.....

with the cutest bows on the back pockets! She was so proud of herself! Looking good girl!!  I'm sure you'll be getting lots of orders from your friends soon....

Kitchen....whatcha gonna do?

I know I keep saying I'm going to show you the dutch door....but for the reveal I was looking at the kitchen walls around it with it's white primer paint still hanging around...I wasn't quite ready.  That led me to well...painting the walls, which lead me to painting the trim, which is leading me to paint the cabinets, which makes me think I need a new ceiling {because the old owner when they took out the fluorescent lighting fixture, left the big drywall scars on the ceiling, which sanding it out is NOT working}. We just finished the Cottage on Cullen Bathroom in April so all the funds went to the redo so there is not a whole lot of mula left to revamp the kitchen. Here is our kitchen...

Here is where the dutch door is now...which I am so happy about....and now I have a deep grey walls I painted in Sea Haze by Benny Moore....to coordinate with the grey tile {which I wish I had the $$$ to change out}.

Here is the sink area....I love washing dishes with the window open and feeling the breeze come through as I watch the neighbors walk by...

If we end up winning the lottery, here is what I have in mind to redo my kitchen......I can maybe take a few of these inspirational ideas and incorporate them now....but not all, but a girl can dream...right?

                                                                           {source}

We have a skinny cabinet up above our sink right now cramed with flower vases and all kinds of empty jars {shhhh, this is my hoarder stash} but I would love to rip that cabinet out and put a cute display shelf....very similiar to this shelf AND I'll take that sink, thankyouverymuch.  I love the little metal light hanging down....so charming so I'll see what I can muster up that won't cost me and arm and a leg to get that look.

                                                           {source}

I also LOVE the idea of a linen skirt below the farmhouse sink...I think I'd do a ruffle on it too....I love her style and recently she painted her her Barn Room in Sea Haze from Benjamin Moore, so thats why  I went a put that color of paint on the kitchen walls....  I'm curious to see how it will look with the cabinets painted all white with black hardware, like this gals.

                                                           {source}

I adore Clarita's Kitchen over at her blog, the blue on her walls, the white cabinets and black hardware.  I also want to replicate her butcher block counters, I think it is such a Cottage Classic look.  I also love how she opened up her cabinets with the added crown moulding to the top.  My cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling so I can not add crown moulding, "bummer...in the summer" {didn't you used to say that when you were 15?} 

                                                                  {source}

Here is another sink area with the cute shelf above it and chalkboard paint around it...I'm soooo doing this!!!  I know my family will think I'm nuts...well, I am!  If you could really get to know me in "real life" you'd know!  And more open cabinets....I have such a mish mash of dishes...I'd don't know if it would look messy if I had all of my cabinets open..but maybe one would be cool...

Here is the other side of the kitchen....where the stove and refrigerator {Mr. Incredible would like to take down that wall and have an open concept kitchen and make an island between the living room and the kitchen..I like that idea but on the other side is my cottage bookshelves which I'm very fond of {because I'm a hoarder collector}, it was one of the reason I was sold on this particular  house.  Keep playing the Lottery honey...

                                                            {source}

because I think we should do this instead..  Oh be still my beating heart.....I'm so completely IN LOVE with this stove hood and I really want a vintage stove to go with it...{my parents had one and I wish we brought it with us when we moved, hindsight is always 20/20 they say}

                                                                   {source}

Right now the microwave is above the stove but having that beautiful scalloped hood means I'd have to put the microwave somewhere else...maybe putting a smaller micro one in an open cabinet like this would work?  Hmmmm my wheels are turning...

                                                                {source}

Here is another look of another scalloped hood...I love the hourglass shape it has...

                                                                       {source}

I would love to find an antique milk glass light fixture like this....from Country Living magazine...or maybe I'll reuse my daughter's chandelier there instead....hopefully I'll be done with all my kitchen sprucing up this weekend...and I'll have the full reveal post up next week.  

 

 

 

 

Making a Banner

Banners make everything look so pretty and festive, don't they?  And they are sooo easy to make for any occasion,{I have a baby shower banner to make for that my friends' sister, it will be in a Shabby Chic style if you been reading my blog...I'm a Rachel Ashwell fan, who knew?} Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, even Bastille Day!  I have put them on cakes, see here.  I've put them above my mantel or on my mantel, see here, I've put them on my hutch and on my brick porch like this past weekend for Bastille Day. You can put them anywhere.  We made this one for Bastille...go here to see that post.  I have some French recipes to share in upcoming posts..so stay tuned. 

First I gathered my supplies, I had the glittery letters for several years now, and I LOVE them, they are by K and Company...don't know if they still make them but you can make your own if you wanted to, with cardboard letters from your local craft store, some glue {I like a spray adhesive} and glitter, { i like to use German Glass Glitter or Martha Stewart's Glitter from Michaels}

Pick out a pretty paper, material  whatever you want to use for you background.  I choose these French-Fry liners from World Market to match the colors of the flag of France.  They were a bit thin cause they are french fry liners and not scrapbook paper, so I doubled them up and glued them together.  I marked evenly where I wanted my line to be so it was symetrical.  If I was using cloth, I'd make a template out of cardboard or heavy cardstock and trace with marker and cut with sharp scissors, maybe pinking shears.

Turning my scalloped punch upside down I punched out my circles out of lined french-lettered papers{ they were in a gift bag from Heather Bullard when we went on the Rose Bowl excursion} they came in handy.  

I used a hot glue gun to glue the letters down on the scalloped circles then glued them to the "banner" flag.

I then evenly spread them out on some wide navy blue ribbon and glued them down to spell B-O-N-J-O-U-R {welcome in French} because I liked that it matched the World Market Coffee Cups.

Here is a close up of the Bastille Day Banner...so easy you can make one for your next soiree....

Don't forget the sweepstakes Paris for two give away at Cost Plus World Market is still going on...deadline Aug 16th.  Wouldn't you LOVE to see the city of LOVE...I know I would.  I've entered and have my fingers, toes, eyes all crossed.  I'd love to see the French Architexture with Mr. Incredible.

 

Happy Bastille Day and a World Market Giveaway Giftcard!!

 Bonjour my Friends and blog readers...It's Bastille Day..

I made this Bastille Day Banner this week in honor of Bastille day today...Oui...All I can say is that my name is French...Gabrielle, I do NOT have a lick of French in me { my mother loved the name because she had a French Nanny named Gabrielle that she was very fond of, my mother came from a French Town in Mexico, that is a story for another day}....but today I'd like to pretend that I am....oui..oui.  You ask what is Bastille Day?  According to Wikipedia, on the 14th of July, the English Speaking French celebrate Bastille day. The French-speaking French Celebrate Le Fete Nationale.  Which occured in the time of the French Revolution, it is the uprising of the modern nation.  

So this morning... I made some French Roast coffee by Cafe Du Monde, I HAVE to have my coffee first thing before this Mommy gets moving.  Aren't those coffee cups sweet? with the bicycle and the hand stamped Bonjour?  Je Taime coffee cups!  

Here is our Batille day breakfast that I made.....Blueberrry Crepes and Beignets, also from Cafe Du Monde.  I've made these Beignets before and they don't disappoint...they were yummy.  Nice and hot with powdered sugar.  I first had them several years ago at Downtown Disney at the French Cafe..they had the box mix there so I bought it and I'm so glad World Market carries it so it is a hop and a skip and a jump from my house.  

MacKenzie invited her French Friend over..as our taste-tester, she is actually of French-Creole desent.  I added some Chicken Sausages to the menu, they came from Trader Joes.  

I moved the banner to the front porch after breakfast....I'll show you this week how I made the banner, the beignets and the blueberry crepes...I did not want to do photo overload...I was able to purchase most everything at Cost Plus World Market...as you know if you've been reading my blog for awhile...I love World Market, have a ton of their stuff in my home. And since  je tamie world market, I would love to share with one LUCKY blog reader, a $100.00 Gift Card to Cost Plus World Market by answering the following question....{in the comment section}..

                                                  {we spelled bon appetit wrong}

What is your favorite French Recipe and/or Food?  I'll put all the names in my Beret and pull one lucky recipient's name on July 20th and announce the winner on the 21st on my blog.  

Also...go to Cost Plus World Market to enter the Paris for Two World Market Sweepstakes  in conjunction with Lorina French Sparkling Lemonade...it ends August 16, 2013, go here to enter. 

After eating the tasty breakfast the girls hopped on the Tandem for some exercize.....Happy Bastille Day my friends!!  Au Revoir!

 

 

Chalkboards and Chalkboard Labels

Using chalkboards have been around since the 1800's when the one room schoolhouse came into being.  Remember little house in the prairie and the schoolhouse Laura Ingalls had to walk to in the city? I loved that show as I was a child who grew up in the 70's.  Yes..I'm dating myself here.

Today the use of chalkboards and using chalkboard paint has gotten so popular.  Here are some inspiration photos I pulled from my computer archives.

The use of a chalkboard in a dining room designed by Heather Chadduck, I love the chalkboard earth image and how is is a bit smuged..makes such a great statement as a backdrop for the dining table.

or how she adds it to this  kitchen,  It looks like the same chalkboard in two different houses.  I'm sure this is one of her prized possessions.

This weekly menu idea from Pinterest...if you have a blank wall or on the side of a cabinet would be a great place to recreate this look.  I'm working on an adaptation of this idea for my kitchen area...I'll share soon.

Address markers....I've been wanting to do this forever since seeing it on Pinterest....taking  two different size terrecotta pots and  spray painting them with chalkboard paint..and bam...instant decor that is functional and pretty too.  Don't forget to plant some colorful flowers inside and you have a shot of color by the front door..how is that for curb appeal?

                                                            Pinterest

Staying with the plant theme for a bit...planting some herbs in a varitey of pots and write what is planted in each pot then if you change what is in them just erase it and add the new name. 

 I've been eyeballing this lacy white metal pots from Ikea for awhile, well this pinner up the anty by adding chalboard labels to them.  Have you seen this labels from World Market with the interesting shaped boarders?

They are for labeling Jam Jars but you could use them for labeling just about  anything. I'll show you some ideas...a few pictures down.

Also from World Market are some spice jars , they have cute colorful ceramic lids what have rubber seals.  If you don't want to put spices in them, you could use them for craft stuff, like buttons or brads.  Quite the multitude of uses and handy when you want to change things out you just erase and rewrite.  

The World Market spice jars are very similar to the spice jars from Anthropologie but are a steal at $4.99, as compared to $10.00 from Anthro.  But guess who has jumped on board with this look from their Threshold Line?

Yep, Target...Ceramic Cannisters in a range of sizes and prices.

I especially liked this little creamer jar...I don't need another creamer so I passed on it.  I did get a few things.....

While buying poster stuff  for Kenzie to make for school, as she is running for  Band Librarian next year I spotted these labels at Staples from the Martha Stewart Line from Avery.  I picked up some turqouise file labels too, {I'm redoing all my files and reorganzing them , all my old stickers have fallen off the file folders.}I've been on the lookout for good chalk pens that that they use at Starbucks on their Meun signs and you see all of the web, people using them to jazz up their Chalkboards I know Amazon sell these...finally Michaels started carrying them and I used my 40% coupon to buy them.

So I've been slapping those labels on everything....

I picked up this crock at the Goodwill for a couple of bucks and slapped one on it with a "kiss the cook" label....

I got this galvanized pail from Homegoods thinking it would be a good size for my kitchen utensils, but it was too deep but I liked it so much I did not want to take it back.  I repurposed it here by my front dooras a flower bucket,  I added some fresh Peonies wrote Welcome with my new chalkmarkers and Shazam..a bit of beauty as you walk up to the door.  Next post I'll show you my chalkboard menu oganizer and what I've done with my Ikea buckets....

Tada!! {long post}

I can say our one and only bathroom is 95% done...we have some trim to paint and the door and I have to decide what window covering to go with{don't have enough fabric to cover this window} and most likely will change out the shower curtain depending on that the window covering, maybe bamboo shades.  So let me take you back in time when we first looked at this house to buy, back in 2010...

I was in love with this house the moment I saw it on one of my many "drive bys", but when we got to see inside and I saw the bathroom I was not a fan at all and especially NOT a fan with the this vessel sink..it was so modern which didn't fit with the rest of the cottagish type of house that it is. In my mind if we got the bid that would be one of the first things I would change out as soon as I got the chance.

This picture was the first we ever took of the bathroom so notice the wall color was a decent celedon green...that cabinet...horrible. The drawers were made out of particle board and would fall out if you pulled them too far, the particle board had disengrated.  The tile floor I could of lived with but we ended up replacing it with something I completely am in love with.

A few months ago the toilet started acting up so that led us into starting the bathroom makeover sooner than later, which haulted the yard work which was sort of our aim to focus first on our cottage projects. 

Here is Mr. Incredible deciding how and which design we should go with on the travertine.  Originally I thought I wanted a hexagon ceramic tile, we went to several tile stores in the Orange County area and when I saw this Silver Travertine rectangular stone, I knew immediately this was the one I wanted and he agreed!  We saw a carrera marble tile in one of the stores.

Here is the marble with white grout and looked very similiar to the silver travertine..I liked them both but with the travertine it had some tanish tiles that matched the tub tiles, so it would all tie in. Below is the travertine before grouting.

I liked that it wasn't white, white and wouldn't be a pain to keep clean all the time.  It also had some tiles that were a bit on the tanish side which would tie into the tub area tiles which I had no plan on changing out. 

 Remember my "design board"? You can see the grout table, I thought again about this being the only bathroom and it would get a lot of dirty shoes {soccer players and construction worker} so I didn't want to be a slave to cleaning the floor so I decided against a whiter grout and went with Delorean Gray from Home Depot.  I'm happy with the choice so far.

I think it looks great with the scalloped- crochet -gray- oval bath mat from World Market, I got it for 15% off online using my birthday coupon which was last month.

Originally I wanted to use my daughters shabby chic desk as the vanity but Mr. Incredible talked me out of it.  The desk is curvy and I wanted to get a piece of carrera marble to fit but he suggested I get a vanity that had it all together but I wanted it to look like a piece of furniture so I went online and found the Vanover Carrera top Vanity from Lowes. I'm so glad we went with it because the desk would of been too low especially with some tall people who live in this house {not me}. 

I'm in love with the Victorian goose neck in brushed nickel faucet from Signature Hardware.  LOVE it!  I wanted to use some of the fixtures that came with the house when we moved in, for example the towel bar, toilet paper roll holder, that's why I went with the brushed nickel faucet and what's to not like about her, her curvy lines.  Bliss.

It also matched my Southern Living Canisters.....perfectly.

Speaking of Southern Living...I've been using this tray that goes with my gravy boat to corral my Fleur de Sel soap and lotion from Williams-Sonoma.

Above the new toilet {which I must say I don't like,  I wanted another one but this was Mr. Incredible choice, I wanted one that had a crown molding lid and he wanted a better price.} I lost but I won the most battles in this redo.

The ivy topiary is happy with it...loves the sun it gets through the window, you can see a close up of the beadboard and ledge Mr. Incredible put in, I think it's perfect for our cottage on cullen.

We had another cabinet in the bathroom that I got on the side of the road, {it was from Target} but when I put it up, it looked too bulky then I was going to have one made our of old window I saw on my pinterest{I have a friend who makes great stuff out of old stuff, he redid my farmhouse table} but while browsing his shop the vender next to him at this little glass-doored wood cabinet.  I thought it would warm up the space a bit so I asked for it for my birthday.  Yes..I don't want diamonds or fancy jewelry, give me stuff for my house, that makes this girl happy.

Ok...let's talk paint colors, I vacillated between a gray, greige, greenish blue, or taupe. I ended up choosing Silver Fox by Dunn Edwards which is a grayish, greenish-blue.  I might change it out down the road to more of a grayish green or taupe.  The beadboard is painted Cottage White, so fitting right? So there you have it. We started this DIYer bathroom in December and now we are in April with it almost done.  Doing the happy dance...one project down...5 million to go. Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spring Mantel, Birds and Bunnies

When it comes to spring I like to pull out all my bird related items that have been hibernating all winter.  It's so beautiful this afternoon that I've thrown open the windows and doors and have been listening to all the birds chirping outside. 

yes..truely all the birds that visit our yard are a gift as I enjoy watching them flutter about.

Another favorite of mine are bunnies...the last two times we have taken out dogs on the "nature walk"...we have seen the rabbits and my Jack Russel goes nuts...our Minnie {the Chihuahua} is going blind so she doesn't see them when they run away.   These little ceramic bunnies are so cute in their "springy colors"  The eggs are small candles with the same colors...

The spring sign I made a long time ago...

I  never tire of it...the small crochet flower was in my scrapbook stash, I have no idea where it came from I just added the rhinestone.

Here is the fireplace, you can see the wood in our mop bucket awaiting another season of winter. Over to the right you can see  a corner of our window bench.  We would like to replace the louvered windows, I am not a fan of them.