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December 15, 2014

Restoration Redoux Christmas Home Tour

The countdown to Christmas is on my friends!

I have done a couple of Christmas tours showing you different areas of the house. I thought today I would put it all together for you, so you didn’t have to go searching all over the place.

Let’s start off with my mantel.

I made my new feather boa wreath, and hung it at the top of my mirror-turned-temporary-chalkboard that I wrote about here. I used my deer (that were part of my center pieces last year) to flank the mantel.

This year, my marque letters were my new focal point. I took my DIY Ornament Wreath (which was on my front door last year) and removed the ribbon and set it on my vintage suitcases….

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December 15, 2014

Quick Cleanup During the Holidays

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CleanForTheHolidays #CollectiveBias

I’ve mentioned many times how much I love Christmas: the sparkly lights, the cozy nights by the fire, and getting together with friends and family.

One thing that I don’t like is the panic I feel when someone calls you at the last minute and wants to pop over — as in “I’ll be there in 5 minutes” short notice.

As soon as I put down the phone, there’s mad dash of grabbing all of the junk off of the counters, shoving it into drawers, picking things up off the floor, and throwing it in the closet.

When you only have a few minutes to prepare, you don’t have time to pull out the giant vacuum, and you certainly don’t want them to hear its roar as they are making their way to your door.

With 3 dogs there are always dog treat crumbs and hair everywhere, and it has to be cleaned up quick. I found that the O-Cedar Pro-Mist spray mop I picked-up at Wal-Mart is the perfect solution!…

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December 12, 2014

Laundry Room Makeover

Do you have a room in your house that is a complete disaster? One where you make sure the door is closed anytime you have company so they aren’t appalled by the way you live?

Well, I actually have two of those rooms, but I decided to conquer my laundry room first.

Let me prepare you my friends. We have lived in our home for 9 years, and we have not done one thing to this room in that time, except for add a bunch of hoard to it. I have no idea how things like dog clothes, purses, hair bands, etc. made their way into this room.

When I was contacted by Pittsburgh Paint and Stain about doing a room makeover together I knew just what room to tackle.

First of all, I made my way to Menard’s (who is one of their paint retailers) and picked out my paint….

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December 11, 2014

Throwback Thursday #4

Welcome to my new Throwback Thursday series, where we blast to the past and check out some of my favorite projects. Since I have so many new readers, I know a lot of you haven’t seen some of these pieces, so now we can all get caught up.

It’s also pretty interesting (and sometimes entertaining) to go back in time and see what me and my family had going on in our lives.

When this dresser first was posted it was two years ago, the unnamed child was 15, and at times we would butt heads. It still happens today, but at a … less volatile rate, and it’s becoming less frequent.

Anyone who has raised a teenage daughter feels my pain. You love them so much you would lay down your life for them, but through the ages of 12-15, you have to wonder if either of you will survive the journey.

For example: Here was a day that I was trying to make the unnamed child go to the gym

Me: Ready to go to the gym?

The kid: I’m not going.

Me: You have to go

The kid: I just straightened my hair today, and if I sweat I will have to redo it … and I hate working out.

Me: So did I, but if we don’t go we’re going to get fat, have a heart attack, and die. Or even worse … get cellulite

The kid: Fine I’ll go but you can’t force me to sweat.

So apparently this was not going to be a stellar workout day if she wasn’t allowed to get hot….

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December 10, 2014

Stenciled Antler Ornament Art

Do you have a certain person that is super hard to buy for during the holidays?

Yeah, me too.

A friend of mine and I exchange gifts every year, and each year I rack my brain trying to figure out the perfect gift. This year, my friend and I decided to make each other a gift instead of buying one. That way every time we use or bring out the item, we have a fun memory to look back on.

Here is what I did.

First I nailed four boards together. And actually, I reused these from another past project….

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December 8, 2014

Home For the Holidays Christmas Tour

Happy Monday everyone!!!

We had a great weekend at our place. Friday night we hosted a small holiday party that we have every year. We got to see an old family friend of ours that we rarely get to see, but I will share more about that with you later this week. Saturday night, Topher had his Christmas party for work where we had a lovely dinner and then took a bus tour to go look at Christmas lights. During the day Saturday and Sunday, I stenciled the walls in my laundry room. I am almost finished, and honestly, I can no longer move my right arm, so I may still be wearing these same clothes until Christmas. But I am determined to finish it tomorrow, no pain no gain right?

Luckily, with all that went on over the weekend I had already finished all of my Christmas decorating. I’m not a big winter kind of girl. I hate cold weather and the grey dreary skies don’t do it for me. I do, however, love to be able to turn on all of my sparkly lights on those grey days, and that cheers me right up.

This year, I changed things up a bit with my mantel. As you saw in last year’s mantel decor, I have a giant mirror that hangs over it. Now hanging this baby up was nearly the death of Topher and my brother as it weighs about a million pounds. So when I told him I wanted something different over the mantel this year, I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head, …

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