Looks I Love: Slipcovers & Mismatched Chairs

Since I don’t have my own house and I probably won’t for a few years… I figured I should daydream about it as much as humanly possible so when the time comes, I’m ready to go!! Because I definitely won’t change my mind between now and then ;)

I have no idea what I ever did before pinterest. It’s really helping my future plans… Here are some of my favorites…

I love the look of mismatched chairs at a long wooden dining table.
And I love white slipcovers that are a little loose and cozy looking…

I love white upholstered furniture but don’t think I’d ever buy a white couch because of dirt, children, and cost. Slipcovers, on the other hand, are washable and fairly cheap. I also love the mismatched chair thing because it’s totally unique and you can keep adding to the room as the years go by. Someday…

Irene

I don’t know about you, but by Saturday afternoon I had had ENOUGH of hearing about Irene. People fighting over cases of water in the grocery story? People in suburban Philadelphia boarding up their windows? My mom getting over 30 weather notifications on her blackberry? Yes. Here is PA we don’t get hurricanes that often. So we freaked out. A lot.

Thankfully, this area wasn’t hit too hard. Yesterday the world started coming back outside around noon and the most damage I saw was some flooding and a lot of down branches. I know some people weren’t as fortunate, but here at my house, we fared quite well. And by quite well I mean we ate like fat rats…

Saturday

8:00pm I got home from work. It was raining pretty hard, but not too scary yet…

8:30pm Mark got here!

9:00pm The five of us all sat around talking and eating friendship bread.
Aren’t our reactions to Irene great?

10:30pm We all went to bed.

11:30opm We all dragged our half-asleep selves to the basement because of a tornado warning.

11:50pm We all fumbled our way back to bed.

Sunday

12:00am Dad comes in to tell me that we don’t have to get up at 6:00am because church has been cancelled. He also scares me half to death.

8:30am Mark texts me from the living room: “Is church cancelled? Cause if not I think we’re going to be late. And I’m not even sure if you’re still here. Should I call your mom?”

9:30am Mom starts cooking up breakfast, Sarah mozies down in her cute jammykins, Mark get’s a backrub/footrub/legrub/handrub.

10:30am Dad comes down and we feast on homemade Egg-Mc-Muffin sandwiches, sticky-buns, friendship bread, coffee, and juice.

12:00pm Mark and I venture out to get some back-to-school items and hit the mall so that he has some presentable clothing.

2:00pm Kayla and Bucky come over!! And we eat again… Buffalo chicken dip, salsa, and guacamole with chips. Cantaloupe and grapes. Cheese, crackers, pepperoni.

3:00pm We play a rousing game of Taboo where the girls kicked some serious bootayy.

4:30pm Dinner time. Lasagna with Caesar salad and Texas toast.

6:00pm Mark and I took a walk in the beautiful sunshine and thanked God for the calm after the storm and the coming of fall…

7:00pm We all laid around sprawled on couches because we were fat and stuffed and super lazy. Yes we survived. And also took way too many pictures on his mac.

10:00pm Bedtime.

 

As I tweeted yesterday: All we did today was eat.
And it was marvelous.

Irene thanks for bringing us all together and giving us an entire 24 hours of laid-back, care-free, full-of-food family afternoon :) It was the best end-of-summer weekend…

How did Irene treat you?!

Movin’ Out

Yes I am singing the Billy Joel song in my head :) But unfortunately there are no motorcycles in this post, or in my life. But that’s irrelevant.

This is a little look back at Moving Day!

A – pizza and chips on the floor, before any moving actually took place
B – Kay and I – we were so excited!!
C – team work – I got them the Lang Calendar and wall frame as their engagement gift
D – Ta-Daa!! It was the first thing they hung up in their apartment – so sweet!!
E – Finished!! They were tuckered out after an entire day of loading and unloading

Congratulations on your first place Kay and Bucky!!

A year ago when Kay and I came home from school I hated living with her. We had to share a bedroom and a bathroom. I have a place for everything, she drops stuff in the first available carpet space on the floor. I’m an early bird, she’s a night owl. Etc. Etc. the list goes on and on. But I’m so sad she’s moving out! We’ve become really really close since I moved home in February and they are two of the best friends I have!!  She’ll be living here until the wedding and then she’ll be gone :(  Thankfully gone only means about 20-30 minutes away…
And I have to admit - sharing a bathroom with one sister instead of two will be nice :)

1/2 Off Friday!!

My favorite thrift store has a huge 1/2 off sale one Friday every month… and that Friday was TODAY! Kayla and I got there fifteen minutes before it opened and there was already a line of about 40 people. You have to get a purple sheet of paper and write your name and phone number on it and put it on the furniture items you want and then go get in line to pay. It’s a big deal. And we were reminded to “follow the rules” more than once.

We were pretty smart because we stopped by yesterday morning to scope the place out. I saw a covered storage bench on wheels that I really liked but it was $45 and I doubted it would still be around come this morning. It was in pretty good condition and that was a good price. I figured someone would snatch it up. But guess who did the snatching? Yours truly :) This morning it was still there! So I got this pretty young thing for $22.50. Right now the fabric matches my room, but eventually I’ll get new foam padding and reupholster it.

I had to move my room furniture around to make it fit. I’ve arranged my bedroom about five different ways since I’ve been home. My dad always shakes his head when he sees it a different way. Oh well :)

Kayla said she’s going to start giving me things to fill it. And she already called it my hope chest. I DETEST the term hope chest. I don’t understand it. Why is it called a hope chest? Not a preparation chest. Or a love chest. Why hope? Do people hope you’re prepared for marriage? Does your family HOPE your wedding actually happens and you move out? Are all of the items inside supposed to give you hope for a wonderful life? I don’t know. It makes zero sense to me. And it’s also a bit annoying: “Oh I can’t I wait to put this in my hope chest! Thank you so much grandma!” I don’t know. I just don’t one. But you understand the meaning behind it – please PLEASE let me know!!

So just to be clear: this is not a hope chest. At some point, yes, it may hold items that will move with me to my first home when I get married – but this is NO hope chest. It’s a bench. Or a chest. Or a bench chest. :)  I’m so happy about the amazing deal I got on it!! For now it’ll hold my afghans and extra pillows :)

Hope you have a fabulous Friday and an even better weekend :)

I'm MOVING!!!!

Yes! You read that correctly! I'm moving!!!

To this very old, very ugly, very in need of love home... Which happens to sit right across the street from this beautiful dairy farm

And has a huge spacious back yard with room for a swing set for grandkids eventually (scary thought) and hopefully a hot tub?!

The kitchen is so pretty. Lots of sun light and a great pantry that my mom LOVES!!

And then the living room... The fireplace is not exactly our style but it's not too bad compared to the other things that need to be fixed... Like the nasty spots on the wood floors. And the lack of landscaping. And the old windows. And the NASTY master bathroom.

But... we're up for the challenge. We love it. It's over an acre of land and it'd be a great thing to invest in, make our own, and have once our family grows. I am so excited!!!

APRIL FOOLS!!

I wish we were buying it, but it'd be a ton of money to make presentable and livable. My parents have decided we like our house just fine :) It was a nice dream for a few days... but I'm happy right here at home :)

What a HOOT!!

Today I stopped at the thrift store by my church because I had a meeting after work. I was on my way out but this guy caught my eye.

Owls have become really popular over the past year or so and I love them. My Nana used to collect owls when my mom was a kid but they’re all gone now :(

Every time I see Owl jewelry my shopping buddy or my Jiminy Cricket reminds me that I already have enough… But I recently started keeping my eyes open for Owl Decor. My bedroom is small, but I’ll either cram it in, save it all for my someday apartment, or possibly sell it. Who knows?? I’ve  also been inspired by Three Men and a Lady and Busy Bee Lauren. I love Michelle’s idea of making it into a lamp and I love the pillow that Lauren has on her couch. They’re both so creative!!

Here are some of the other owls in my life…

Lenox Owl – was in my parent’s curio cabinet. The whole thing is ignored and neglected because they think it’s ugly…. mom had no problem when I asked for the owl :)


And the necklace and earrings are both from Charlotte Russe… I never realized the necklace was missing a chain on the right until I uploaded these pictures!! HAH! Oh well… A missing chain is less noticeable than having your shirt on backwards (Yep. That happened. Last week. Didn’t realize until I had an hour of work left).
           

I can’t wait to paint my new owl! I want to find out if I’d be able to make it into a lamp… I don’t know if the ceramic would crack…. whether a lamp or a cool decorative piece – I’m happy!!

And also – Harry Potter made owls cool, among lots of other things :) 

New Beginnings

Yesterday the whole family went on a little house hunting outing to see my sister and her fiancé's future apartment. The place has it’s ups and downs – but what first apartment doesn't? It’s a flat above a three car garage so it’s small and cozy/tight depending on how you look at it. BUT it’s on a beautiful private estate. The people who own the property raise sheep and have two dogs and have an apple orchard. And they rent out the huge barn-turned-house on the property. The people who live in the barn have two horses in the front field – both of which will be having babies this spring!! It is a beautiful estate, a great location for Kay and Bucky, and the landlords are such nice people.

I am so happy for them.

We’ve been planning and day dreaming out paint colors, curtains, and furniture layout ever since. We’re imagining their bedding, their shower curtain, their dishes, etc. in the apartment. It’s really exciting. Bucky will move in mid-May after we clean and paint and then before we know it the wedding will be here and she’ll have moved out of the house. Crazy.

They met, became friends, started dating about two months later, got engaged about a year later, and now here we are. By the time they actually have the apartment they’ll have known each other for two full years. I remember the first time she introduced him to me. And now they’re getting married. My how time flies…

I'm getting really excited.

These are from this past January when we were in Disney World… In a few months we’ll be taking this picture at the wedding!!

DIY: Dorm Collage Art

A few summers ago, my older sister Kayla and her best friend from high school, Melanie, were both single and bored. They hung out every weekend, got Rita's, sat around my house flipping through magazines, etc. And one day on a Wal-Mart trip they picked up cheap, basic, glass frames with the intention of cutting snippets out of the magazines they had been paging through and making collages... It was like scrapbooking a large sheet of paper and then hanging it on the wall...

Well, I loved the idea and decided to do it myself - only mine were a little different. I didn't cut out images of flowers or letters. Instead, I cut out the edges of the advertisements from my Teen Vogue's- so I had a ton of little scraps of color. I made one that summer with Kay and Mel, and then two this past summer to hang in my dorm room. Dorm rooms are so blah, white, stark, and boring - so you bring in your colorful towels, colorful bedding, hang up pictures and posters, etc. But I love the way that these collages bring color to the room in addition to displaying favorite photos. They are like instant wall art... Here's the process:

Step #1: Cut out images, advertisements, letters, etc. from old magazines

Step #2: Lay out all of your clippings and arrange them. I usually lay them out by color and then can see how many I have in each color family...

Step #3: Choose clippings, arrange them on the template of the frame. The frames I got from Wal-Mart came with a sheet inside that had the dimensions on them and the company's name - I arranged everything on top of that and then glued it right on...

 Step #4: Choose pictures, arrange them on top of the collage, and back them with paper if you'd like

Step #5: Once everything is intact, put the frame back together and WA-LAH! Instant photo collage/ wall art!! This is super cheap (I think the frames are between $5-$10), is really fun, and is GREEN in a way - you're re-using your old magazines :)

Here are two of mine...

 

I used all blue, green, and tan snippets for this one... I got a lot of beach clippings from summer magazine advertisements... And this collage is all pictures from OCNJ and a weekend away in the Catskill Mountains of New York from last summer.

This collage has a lot of clippings from the pink, purple, red, orange side of the color wheel. I also backed these three pictures in different colored paper to help them jump off of the collage. This one contains three pictures from Freshman Year... A girls weekend at the Delaware shore, a trip to Lancaster to stay with my one roommate Rachel, and a shot of Mark and I at the Camden Aquarium where our school had our Spring Formal...

And here is my desk at school... quite clean because I had just moved in and organized all my stuff... but believe me - it didn't always look like this :) The first collage I made is hanging on the wall to the right of my desk - I got better the second time around and so that one is on a shelf in my closet right now...

I hope you enjoyed... please send me pictures if you make collages!! I would love to see how you take the idea and run with it!!

-R

Piles Piles Piles

So this morning I put dinner in the crock pot, cleaned the powder room, and then attacked the upstairs hallway that has become the family junk yard - literally. Kay's Hope Chest, empty boxes, and other various items are in a huge pile next to the laundry room, the towels/sheets/washcloths/etc. are all on another rack that is continually being pulled apart and re-stacked, and then in another corner is everything that we three girls cleaned out of our rooms when I moved home a few weeks ago. That pile was designated for the Purple Heart or Goodwill... Every day something else gets put in one of the piles and I felt like the hallway was going to swallow me up. So I decided to take action...

I reorganized all of the towels, folded all of the clean sheets that have been sitting in a laundry basket for a week, and moved all of the goodwill items downstairs to be moved to the garage once my mother looked through it.

When she got home from work I watched her sort through everything and to my utter amazement, she found a purpose and need for about a fifth of the items... So they were put back into space in - yes you guessed it - the upstairs hallway :)

And I'm sure my mother will read this and will be furious because it sounds like we're pack-rats and dirty people - but I now realize - we're just normal. And someday when I am a mom and I clean out my kids' rooms, or don't have time to fold the laundry, or just don't have time for anything I will have piles... But eventually, I will get to the piles and the things on their way out will find their way to the garage...

Fabulous Find!!

Today my mom, younger sister, and I went out shopping. We needed to get paper and supplies to make the invitation for my sister's surprise bridal shower (which I will be showing once it is completed). Coincidentally our favorite thrift store moved to a larger location that happens to be right across the street from A.C. Moore. We were like kids in a candy shop!!

We browsed through the furniture, the clothing, the purses and belts, the books... but nothing really stood out to us. As my mom was paying for a DDR mat for Sarah, I noticed a ladies wingback chair right by the entrance. I must have missed it when we walked in! I decided to sit because there were a few people in line and was pleasantly surprised. It was in great condition, super comfortable, and the perfect size... so I looked at the price tag: $50! Annnd guess what? Today the whole store was 25% off. Wanna know what's even better? It is the exact color of my bedroom! My mother agreed it was perfect!!

After a little febreeze and vaccuming shes looking FABULOUS. I cannot wait to read, crochet, blog, drink my morning coffee,etc. while sitting in her! She's perfect. I am in love.

 

My next project will be making a footstool to go with her :)

BREAKING NEWS

well, folks... i have BREAKING NEWS to share:
JUSTIN BIEBER
CUT. HIS. HAIR. that famous coif is gone...

                 Before                                                                           After

I think he's going for an older look... and I think it's working for him! It's like the Zac Efron thing... only Justin never let his get long and greasy... PTL!

They're both still adorable...
OH and the kicker - they're auctioning Justin's hair off for charity... I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to buy someone's hair. Slightly creepy. Majorly gross.


On a more important note... Last night I won Scrabble! I beat mom, dad, and the boy!
He was trash talking before the game started and was "so excited to crush me"... not so fast Mister! My Dad thinks I cheated... my mother says I used the circumstances to my advantage... but I think you need to hear my side of the story...

Mark was stuck and when I asked him if he wanted help he immediately said yes! I looked at his letters and didn't see much that I could make a word from... I did notice, however, that he had a U. Mark always went right before me so I was preparing my letters for my next turn and really needed a U to make the word I wanted to make. I knew it would be cheating to help Mark use the U on purpose, so I just figured I'd exhaust all other options first. Well, I couldn't come up with much... so he made the word "EMU"

Then it was my turn. I made the word "QUALM". Due to some double letter score, triple word score, and high point scoring letters, I gained a whopping 50 points! He shook his head and said "You schooled me!!" and I just giggled. My dad scoffed and my mom high-fived me. I was winning and it felt good...

A few turns later Mark happened to be in the same predicament and I helped him make the word "BAND"... and again I just happened to be able to use the A in his word to make "COAX"... for another whopping 45 points... I actually couldn't believe he wanted my help the second time but I really did not help him to get the advantage... He was 100 points behind mom, dad, and I so he knew he had no chance to win and he was a good sport about it! It was nice to throw the trash talk right back in his face :) I beat mom and dad by a few points and that was nice too. They play so often and usually beat us kids wicked bad!

sorry the picture isn't too good... I sent it from my phone...


All in all we had a great time playing and the best part was that he came up for dinner and spent the night with my family :) it was also quite comical that he didn't believe qualm or coax were real words :) ohh boy!!

-R