A Major Letdown, A Score, And A Rebound

So way back in December I found the perfect fabric online that launched the color scheme for my bedroom makeover.

(Source)

Ain't she pretty?  Best part was that it was on sale for $6.95/yd!!!  I was so super duper excited when the sample came in the mail that I set about getting the walls done before Christmas and figured I would order the fabric right after the New Year.  Mistake.  Anyway, we installed (our version of) board and batten on the bottom 2/3 of the wall and then I chose this glorious blue pulled from the fabric and painted the top 1/3.

 

(Source) 

Everything was coming together beautifully.  Well FINALLY on Friday I decided to order the fabric.  I go to Interiormall.com to place my order and find letdown number 1.  It was no longer on sale.  Yeah, I know, I couldn't expect the sale to last forever.  My bad.  Not so big a deal though.  The regular price was $9.00/yd and I'm only ordering 10 yds so it was only $20 more.  I happily go about placing my order and sit down to start sketching out the design for my curtains (I'm also using another fabric that I bought 2 years ago on sale at Hancock's for $5.00 yd).  Well about 2 hours later I get a phone call with letdown number 2 from Interiormall.com that this fabric has been discontinued.  Do what?  NOOOOOOO!!!!!!  I was livid to say the least.  What really gets me is that this fabric is STILL listed on their site.  Grrrr....

Here's where the score comes in.  When I got the call I happened to be at Target getting some things for my kids bathroom that we just redid and for my LMSS's room that I'm also working on.  I go down the curtain aisle and what do I see?  The very rod that I had seen online and it was the only one on the aisle on clearance.  1/2 off!  I definitely don't mind shelling out $17 for a rod, especially when the ones I normally sell to my clients usually START around $300.  I had everything I had come for and was on my way to check out when the sign caught my eye.  LIGHTING.  Dare I?  What the heck.  Doesn't hurt to look, right?  I turn down the aisle and there it is.  Them.  The ones.  They were (almost) perfect. I've been desperate to find 2 gourd lamps for our night stands that I don't have to mortgage my house to pay for.  Not an easy task I tell you.  These gourd(ish) beauties:

were 1/2 off their already awesome price of $30/ea and the shades were 1/2 off, which means I paid a grand total of $45 for these delicious lamps.  I know, they're different colors (neither of which is what I was going for), but I.DO.NOT.CARE!  Nothing a little spray paint won't take care of:o)

Now onto the rebound...and then I promise to be done with this seriously uncalled for long post.  Last night when the hubs and I got home from our date, he told me I should see if I couldn't find the fabric on another site.  I had looked for it before to see if I could find it cheaper than the sale price with no luck.  But I looked again and ended up finding it at warehousefabricsinc.com.  Woo to the hoo!  Now, it was $1.00 more per yard, but the shipping was half what it was at interiormall.com so it ended up being a wash.  Yay!  Now it looks like I've got some sewing and painting to do!

Unimaginable Loss

Well apparently I'm having a pretty hard time getting this whole blog thing going. I wonder if anyone else had this problem in the beginning?!?! It seems like life starts getting in the way whenever I decide to start something new. Same thing happened last year when I started on my weightloss journey, but thankfully I managed to overcome it all and get off 90lbs (now if I could just get my mojo back and drop that last 40!!!).

This time it's something unimaginable that's gotten in the way. On Tuesday, one of my closest friends since high school was cooking dinner when her son came into the kitchen and said, "Mom, Hailey's not moving." Hailey is her gorgeous, sweet, precious 3 year old daughter. She ran into Hailey's room to find her lying on the floor completely blue. She picked her up and ran to a neighbors house where the paramedics came, but sadly after 2 hours of working on her, Hailey passed away. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain my beautiful friend is going through...and quite frankly I don't want to imagine it. They are still awaiting autopsy results to discover what happened to poor little Hailey. The visitation is Friday and funeral on Saturday. I'm just sick and heartbroken for this poor family and even though I know you don't know them, if you happen to be reading this, please say a prayer for their family. We know Hailey is fine and happy and pain-free in heaven with God, but her family is devastated and could use as many prayers on their behalf as possible.

So that's where I'm at on my latest journey. At a standstill. Once things calm down though, I'm hitting this thing full steam ahead.

Rest in peace, sweet Hailey girl.

L

Love Muffin Super Sized Bookshelves are DONE(ish) and a GIVEAWAY

So I finally have another project to check of my LONG list. Finishing up LMSS's bookshelves/nightstands for his room. It will be so nice to have my kitchen back. Hopefully after the gym tonight I can get them all set up in his room and have some pics to post. That will definitely help keep me motivated to get his room DONE!

Now there's an AWESOME giveaway going on over at All Things Thrifty. It's a Silhouette!!! I must get my grubby little hands on one of those things!!!

Ooooh House of Smith's is giving one away, too!!!

Wow Beneath My Heart, too! These ladies are awesome!!!

Oh mercy, another one?!?! I need to do a whole blog dedicated to these Silhouette giveaways. Check out Craftaholics Anonymous for another great giveaway...and a great blog, too!!!

Gotta Love A Giveaway

Head on over to here for a chance to win, too!

Yeah, I'm A List Maker

The list is long...very very very long. I'm not fooling myself into believing that all of this will get done this year, but I am hoping to put a major dent in it. It feels like we're moving along at a snails place, but we really have accomplished quite a bit considering we started just before Christmas. So here goes the longest and most boring (to everyone but me) post in all blog history:

Master Bedroom:
Board & Baten treatment...check
Paint...check
Find a new (to me) nighstand...check
Sew runner for top of armoire...check
Sew curtains, duvet cover, pillows
Lamps
Refinish both nightstands
Rug
Chair, table, and lamp for corner
Paint some art for the walls
Accessorize

Entry/Living Room:
Build coat rack/shelves/storage bench for entry
Built-in bookshelves around fireplace
Paint
Sew new curtains
Slipcover chairs
New sofa (or slipcover old one?)
Find game table and 2 chairs
Unique coffee table
Paint side tables and sofa table

Office:
Refinish dresser
Sew new curtains
Replace love seat with chair
Paint chandelier

1/2 Bath:
Paint

Laundry Room:
Tear out closet and replace with cabinetry

Kitchen (happening this year in my dreams):
Close in door and replace window with french doors
Tear out half wall
Reface cabinetry
New counters and sink
Build (or get super lucky at a thrift store) farmhouse table
Build new shelving for pantry (using these AMAZING lazy susan's from the Decor Chick's daddy! (I have GOT to sit down and figure out how to do all the links and stuff)

Upstairs:
New flooring for hallway, kids rooms, and sewing room

Kids Bathroom:
Paint...check
Paint cabinets...check
Add crown...check
Build shelves and towel rack...check
Build frame for mirror...check
Lighting...check
Add fabric to bottom of shower curtain
Paint artwork

Max's Room:
Paint...check
Paint bookshelves...almost check:o)
Sew curtains, duvet cover, pillows
Add my lamps (redone) once we find some for our room
"Rebuild" wall unit
Lighting

Sewing Room:
Slipcover love seat from office
Clean out and organize closet
Buy (or build) table for serger and tabletop sewing machine
New shelving
Sew curtains

Savannah's Room:
We'll think about that next year since hers was done less than 2 years ago!

So there it is. I'm sure there's many things I've forgotten, but I'm trying to be smart and write them down as they come to me. I said it was long...can't call me a liar. I didn't even include the plans we have for the Master Bath either, and that will actually probably get done even before some of these other things. Even I'm bored now though! I'll definitely be spending time this weekend working on learning the whole picture, video, linky stuff. It can't be THAT hard, right? Right?

Oh before I go, I'm so excited that I actually won TWO blog giveaways in the last month. I won a bunch of different Elmer's Glue products to try out (I believe that was from Roeshel at The DIY Showoff) and just today I won some ScotchBlue tape from Jane at Finding Fabulous. So even though I have no clue how to link to these blogs, I thank them just the same. Obviously from this list I've written these winnings will be put to good use!!! And if anyone out there is reading and wants to tell me how to do some of this bloggy stuff, I'll be your BFF and hug your neck!!!

L

How We Got Here

So where to start? I started reading crafting/painting/decorating blogs a few months ago and it's really inspired me to get out of the rut I've been in over the last few years and start making my home somewhere I love to be again.

When we moved into this house 8 years ago we (ok me) were on a 5 year plan. I figured this would be a great (not so little) starter house, but that eventually we would move on to our forever home. Apparently the housing market and the economy had other plans. Even though we didn't purchase this home during the boom of the market, it's a generous size, and is in a sought after school district, it still sat on the market for a year at nearly what we paid for it back in 2002. Our house was even featured on the Barbara Corcoran's real estate segment on The Today Show. I thought (hoped) for sure that would help the offers come along. We finally had ONE offer, but it was a contingency and theirs was in a not so great area and never sold. Finally I just got tired of living on pins and needles constantly worried that the house wasn't spotless for potential viewers.

I'm a SAHM, but am also in school full time right near where we live, the kids love their school, we found a great gym that we love and so we've decided to just suck it up and deal. We will stay in this house until I'm done with school (2 more years for my Bachelors and another year for my Masters) and then we'll try the whole selling thing again. In the mean time we're going to make this home (almost) exactly what we want it to be and in the process hopefully make it more appealing to potential buyers in the future.

So I'm finally starting a blog. I'm hoping this will help keep us (me) motivated to keep on trucking on making our home somewhere I WANT to be and not somewhere I HAVE to be and also as a reminder that God doesn't work on our time schedule on anything. He has a plan for us (and who knows, maybe His plan is for this to be our forever home) and no matter how much I kick and scream and want want want want, if He wants me to have it, it will be in His time.

Now, where's that paint brush?

P.S. I'll post a link to The Today Show clip once I figure out how!!!