Our Home - Bathrooms

Here is a BEFORE picture of our GUEST bathroom. All yellow (even the toilet) with duck wallpaper. 

GUEST BATHROOM

before

It now has a GORGEOUS blue paint color (oops paint from Home Depot $5) 

and new shower curtain (from Salvation Army for $5)

after

GIRLS BATHROOM 

before

More wallpaper in this bathroom. Tan toilet, sink and shower.

We have painted the walls PINK. We have 2 girls and this is THEIR bathroom. We are definitely going to add DOUBLE sinks! 

MASTER BATH

before

mint green shower, toilet and sink. and carpet on the floor. 

FINALLY we have a half bath off the kitchen. I don't have any BEFORE pictures of this bathroom. But I can say that the sink and toilet were DARK BROWN. 

We have replaced all 4 toilets. One toilet I found at a garage sale for $20! It was NEVER used. I really don't think I would have bought it if it was. eww! I KNOW I would have NEVER bought it if it was used.

What a weird feeling to be thankful to have WHITE toilets! 

I will be adding more pictures as we update and decorate our home with Garage Sale and Estate Sale finds! 

I am very excited about our progress. I love our home now that it is coming out of 1979. 

(All of these BEFORE pictures were taken BEFORE we moved in.)

Our Home - Dining Room

This is our Dining Room BEFORE we moved here in 2004. I will be posting AFTER pictures. Or should I call them DURING. Because we are not at all finished decorating and updating our home that was built in 1979. I have added a tab at the top of this site called OUR HOME where I will be telling this story of personalizing our home with garage sale and estate sale finds!! 

Dining Room

The dining room is in the background. It was setup as an office. We installed a new sliding door, removed the ceiling fan and ripped off the carpet from the stairs. The chair is facing the living room.

Some treasures for this room are:

Click on the picture for the story of the item. 

Our Home - Family Room

I am adding photos of our home BEFORE we moved in (2004). I cannot wait to show you the AFTER photos. 

Family Room

yucky brown carpet. gone! brown panel walls painted white. top half of the walls painted blue. 

some of the treasures for this room are:
Click on each picture for the story on the item.

(new carpet. yucky brown gone.)

(blue walls)

Our Home - KITCHEN

This week I am going to share the photos of our home BEFORE we moved in. These were taken in 2004. Each day this week I am going to add another room. THEN I will also share how we have transformed our ENTIRE home with garage sale and estate sale finds! I cannot wait to share all the treasures I have found. We still have a long way to go in updating our home. It was built in 1979 and we want to change EVERYTHING. This summer I just KNOW I will find even more furnishings/necessary accessories to continue our HOME PROJECT!

KITCHEN

It is a really long kitchen. 30 feet long.

Here are some of the treasures we have added to our kitchen so far. Click on each picture for the story on the item.

Giveaways in Blogland

I want to share some great giveaways with you on some fabulous blogs that I like to visit. Enter today! Good Luck! 

A BEACH COTTAGE 

is giving away a 14 megapixel CANON Camera. ENTER HERE.

(ends April 25, 2011)

 

I HEART NAP TIME

has a SILHOUETTE Digital Cutting Machine (retail $299) for you. ENTER HERE. 

The Silhouette is a digital cutting tool for personal use. Similar to the functioning of a home printer, it cuts paper and other materials like vinyl with a blade instead of printing onto it.

(ends April 24, 2011)

 

at THIRTY HANDMADE DAYS 

you can win a $200 Gift Certificate to MODERN BIRD STUDIOS. ENTER HERE.

They create masterpieces of personal photo art! 

(ends April 25, 2011)

Good Luck! Good Luck! Good Luck! Good Luck! Good Luck! 

Taste of Home Cookbooks

Today I was making my grocery shopping list and organizing my stacks of coupons. I decided to have the girls help me pick out some new recipes. I handed each one of them a cookbook and asked them to find something they would like to eat. Of course they found all the pictures of desserts. smart girls. But this was a fun way to talk about new foods. We read over ingredients and talked about different fruits and vegetables. 

I found Bruschetta Chicken that I want to try. 

Taste of Home

I have never heard of Asparagus Corn Crepes before.

Taste of Home

My three year old pointed out the summer drinks. Sensational Slush

Taste of Home

I MUST try the Mozzarella Sticks. They look so easy and delicious.

Taste of Home

They giggled over these Cute Egg Chicks.

Taste of Home

so cute. Easter Sugar Cookies

Taste of Home

I love these cookbooks from Taste of Home. Each book is a collection of all the recipes that were printed in the Taste of Home magazines throughout that year. 

I found these cookbooks at a garage sale for 50 cents EACH. Over 300 pages in each book. 

Each book retails for $24.99. I picked up all 5 cookbooks for $2.50 total.

Recipes don't expire. :-)

You can find HUNDREDS of recipes for free at www.tasteofhome.com.

Another New Table (from Craigslist)

I finally found our perfect dining room table! After weeks of searching on Craigslist it showed up one day and I called on it. I knew I wanted a dark color, rectangle table with round legs. I had traveled out to see 2 other tables, before finding this one, that were nice but were not 

THE ONE.

This is perfect. I LOVE the curved edges! It is 70" x 39". I had to take the legs off to fit it in my car. It was only about 30 minutes away from our house. And I paid $125! Now I need to find 2 benches and 2 chairs to go with it. I just know I will find them this summer SOMEWHERE on my garage sale/estate sale adventures!! (or maybe on Craigslist). 1 new table this year + 6 NEW TABLES from last year = do I need anymore? (maybe)

Before and After - Kids table

before

I purchased this table last summer. ADORABLE. for $30! The chair fabric was cute. My ADORABLE 3 year old used a marker on that cute fabric. I knew it could be easily changed. This week I went to JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon and purchased 1/2 yard. For $2 I recovered BOTH chairs. LOVE THIS FABRIC. I think I am going to use the scraps of fabric in the girls scrapbooks. LOVE THIS FABRIC! (it was $7.99/yard)

after

Today's baking challenge. Cake Mix Cookies.

We tried this cookie recipe using a cake mix. 

The picture looked so adorable I had to try it!  

The 3 frosting bowls came from a garage sale. $1 for all 3 bowls.

Recipe is from Parents Magazine, April 2011, page 190

1 box yellow cake mix

1 large egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

colored sprinkles

1 can vanilla frosting

yellow, red, blue food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. 

2. Combine the cake mix, egg, oil and buttermilk in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Shape 1-inch mounds of batter into balls and flatten slightly. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. 

Top with sprinkles. 

3. Bake until cookies are golden and firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 

4. Divide the frosting among three bowls. Use a few drops of food coloring to tint frosting. Sandwich the cookies together with frosting. Makes 30.

YUMMY!

Ok, so this makes 30 cookies, which makes 15 sandwiches. And when the 3 cooks must sample a few you only end up with about 10 sandwiches. :-)

Linking up to Creative Party at http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Treasure Hunting Last Week

We are updating our guest bathroom and have painted the walls a calming, light blue. The paint is OOPS paint from Home Depot. It was a great deal. $5 for a gallon of Behr Premium Plus paint and primer in one!!

I needed a new shower curtain and this one is SO FUN and a perfect match to the paint color. A great Salvation Army find for $5!! The shower curtain hooks were BRAND NEW from a garage sale last summer for $1 ! 

On Friday my girls and I went to Cari Cucksey's, RePurpose Estate Sale in Northville. They were filming for Season 2 of Cash and Cari. 

- our treasures - 

oval mirror, decanter and glass set,

ADORABLE lemon salt and pepper shakers,

petite accent vase,

and a UNIQUE set of 18 connected vases.

I CANNOT WAIT to fill each vase with spring flowers for a centerpiece! 

It was a FABULOUS week. Cannot wait to see what we find this week!!!!

I am still debating on the table I found on Craigslist. We took a look at it in person. It's a nice, oval, oak table. But I am thinking I want a rectangle table. Hmmmmm.....

Thirsty Thursday!

Another trip to Salvation Army today! This week is 50% off yellow tags. So I scanned the shelves for the yellow stickers. I found this set of 6 glasses. They are sturdy and simple. The price was $8.99 for 6 (then 50% off) = $4.50. The sticker on all the glasses reads "Schott Zwiesel Made in Germany". Since this label is still intact on all 6 glasses I am guessing they haven't been used.

I researched Schott Zwiesel online and this style is called "Paris" and they are listed at $9 per glass!

$4.50 vs. $54.00 

There are some great deals out there! 

Cheers!