Friday Five: Home Reno Before & After Pix

Happy Friday y'all! We made it to a THREE DAY WEEKEND!! The house is almost where we want it- there are a few things to move/unpack/paint but other than that we're good, and despite not having everything 100% done I'm fine!

OH and miraculously we are surviving without an oven. We've had kale/mango/seed salad, crockpot green chicken, and crockpot ribs (recipes coming soon). To try next: crockpot meatballs, taco night via crockpot (thanks again, Meg!) and some veggie wraps (thanks Ursula for that idea!).

So here are my before and after pix of the finished downstairs areas (more pix coming next week- and soon tutorials on the stuff my mom and dad  we DIYed- I put a * next to things "we" DIYed. Shameless plug: My dad is a Virginia contractor. If you're in the DMV or Richmond area, he does a good job and finishes things- unlike certain contractors we had on this house- and gives honest prices).

Ok also, I know I'm a terrible photographer. I have no idea how to do this. Harrison majored in photography and is a realtor so I'll have him take some legit pictures to put up next week- I'm just too excited not to share!

Looking out from the kitchen (wall) before: 

Looking out from the kitchen BAR after:

What we did:

• Tore up the carpet, finished the wood floors
• Painted*
• Got new windows installed
• Installed a new door*
• New vents

To Do:

• Figure out a good way to store all our liquor (ideas anyone?) that takes up no room
• Learn how to take pictures of rooms
• Return the sad rug rolled up in the corner
• 
  
• 

I don't have a WAY before picture from this angle- aka before the carpet was torn up. Isn't it crazy how much bigger the house looks with that wall torn down?

To Do:

• Find a rug (Target one came in and looked like 70's colors on a nintendo screen)
• Throw away plastic cups and water bottles on the table haha
• Hang stuff on the walls
• Get a small side table- I don't think there's really room for a coffee table?
• PS how sweet is this couch? The top of the ottoman is actually a LID so we can store blankets and pillows in it. It also folds out into a bed. Who's coming to visit!?

RIP giant orange wall. And plastic black countertops.

Kitchen Corner After:

What we did

• Knocked down the wall (literally my mom did this by herself with a hammer while everyone was at Home Depot. Wonder freaking woman) and replaced it with a few cabinets to make a bar*
• Moved some cabinets around, bought a few extra cabinets, and painted the cabinets*
• New appliances (we got a serious hook up at Home Depot- seriously recommend)
• New sink in a new spot
• New counters (again- serious hook up. Let me know if you're in the DMV and need a granite guy- I've got one)
• Ripped up (what turned out to be 5 layers of) linoleum and replaced with tiles* 
• Added subway tile backsplash (thanks to the genius idea from Julie who is not only now my decorator but also doing my wedding invites)*
• Bought a step stool from Ikea so I can reach everything. Best $7 spent in this home reno so far.

Question: any space-saving liquor storage advice? Also: See that giant red grocery bag? That is full of about 50 spices/seasonings. Anyone have storage solutions for this? In the old place we kept them in a cabinet where I could never find what I was looking for.


Main Bathroom Before:

After:

QUESTION: I LOVE the ombre zebra shower print. Harrison doesn't. Can it stay or does it have to go? Is it tacky? Let me know thoughts in the comments!

still need to cover up that light switch... we ran out oopsies!

What We Did:

• Tore out that blue-gray tile and replaced with subway tile in the shower, dry wall everywhere else
• Replaced the floor with this strange faux-wood-floor-tile
• Put that nasty white shelf in the laundry room*
• Moved the sink to the basement bathroom (that will be finished someday in the far off future)
• Moved towel racks to back of the door (thanks Pinterest!)*
• Tore out the moldy medicine cabinet (almost threw up typing this) and replaced with a mirror from Ikea 
• Got rid of those random pants hanging from the door (like what?)
• Put the toilet seat down (new toilet has a "soft shutting" seat so gone are the days of a certain someone slamming down toilet seats and waking everyone else up when they get up to pee at 3 am)
• Put in a new toilet- look if you ever own a house you have to get a Toto. Every house my parents flip gets a Toto, every bar I worked in switched to Totos- never been a clog, leak anything. And think about what drunk girls are trying to flush down toilets in college bars. They aren't that much more expensive and they live forever. Really, the day our Totos came was Christmas morning for this girl. Also- I've got a Toto guy. E-mail me or comment or tweet or something me if you want a hookup on the Totos.

And here is one last question for everyone out there: what the heck should I do about this closet? The space isn't big enough for a door that opens out, and we despise accordian folding doors of any kind.

Friday Five: Home Reno Before & After Pix

Friday, May 23, 2014

4 Ingredient Crockpot Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken + House Updates

Ok first off I want to send a huge thanks and send lots of v-hugs (virtual hugs, not vajayjay hugs which is what I just thought as I was reading over this, how old am I??) to everyone- friends and bloggy bffs- who has been so encouraging and given me advice over the last 2 weeks. I hate moving. I can't think of anything I want to do less- I get crabby, I can't find anything, unpacking takes a decade, and Harrison and I snap at each other because we can't really snap at the move itself. But every time I logged onto social media, the blog, and my email it was like a virtual cheerleading squad, so thank yall- your comments and e-mails mean a lot! Aaannd I'm officially one of those people who has online friends haha.

This weekend my parents were here to help out around the house and we worked every waking second (minus about 30 minutes for me to throw a 5-year-oldish temper tantrum, eat food, realize I was hangry, apologize to everyone, parents to say "it's ok you've been a hangry person since you were born"- thank you, Mom and Dad for helping out even though I'm such a hangry a-hole). We didn't want to take time/spend money to go pick up food (not to mention I may actually go into cardiac arrest if I spend one more penny) so I threw some of the food I found in the fridge into the crockpot and came up with this delicious dinner of Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken (I def had to google how to spell vinaigrette). OH also our brand new oven broke and it will take 7-10 days to get the new parts in so please please please share any clean(ish) recipes that don't involve an oven or stove- we also don't have a grill (sadface). At this point it doesn't even have to be totally clean, I just can't do Lean Cuisine or anymore take out. 

Servings: 4 

Prep Time: less than 5 mins

Cook Time: 4 hours in the crockpot

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breast, thawed ($6.00)
• 1 Cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (I used Paul Newman's, I know it's not exactly clean but it's close enough right now. This weekend I'm going to make my own clean dressing via Pinterest)
• 1/2 onion, sliced ($.50)
• 2 tomatoes, diced ($1.00)

Throw it in the crockpot for 4 hours then enjoy! I had a bag of frozen veggies that I just microwaved (didn't even have to take them out of the bag!!) for 3 minutes to eat with the chicken. Yall this was so freaking good. 

So when I was getting ready to move I told my dad I was frustrated with having incomplete projects to which he said "welcome to home-ownership". I was like NO EVERYTHING WILL BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY. But there are little things that need to happen and boxes unchecked and you know what? I'm still alive. But here's progress on the paint. 

My dad thinks he's so funny because he hung those paper towels from the hand towel ring. I had to leave it so he can share his jokes with the world.

Look at that oven. Sitting there being broken.

Not pictured: the bedroom we painted. Every time I think to take a picture Harrison is sleeping in it, and I don't need to offend the internet with pictures of 250-lb man sleeping in his undies. Not that kinda blog here.

Left on my list:

• Find a rug for the living room area
• Find a side table for the living room area (Goodwill here I come! Taking notes from Meg)
• Hang stuff on the walls (I am the WORST at this- anyone know of a guide for how-to make it look like not just a bunch of crap randomly thrown on the walls?)
• Mount the TV on the wall (oh hey surprise brick wall behind the actual walls that is making this harder than necessary)
• Blinds
• Curtains 

Happy Tuesday and have a great week! Don't forget to leave me links to any of your healthy recipes that don't need to be cooked in an oven/on a stovetop!

OH PS: Zulily has an Under Armour sale today! go get your's! I love me some Under Armour!

Linking up today at Delicious Dish Tuesday, Turn It Up Tuesdays, Tuesday Recipe Swap

4 Ingredient Crockpot Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken + House Updates

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Happy Friday! Move In Update!

Back in the day, Fridays meant drinking, sleeping for 2 days, hanging out with friends, and drinking more. However on THIS grown up Friday I am looking forward to a Friday night trip to Ikea and a weekend of painting the new house. That's right, my 28th birthday came and turned me into a grandma.

I'm also really excited for my parents to come this weekend. They're going to help paint and fix things up and my mom is going to mom-ify things. Yes, I'm 28 and I still need my mom to come "mom-ify" my house to make it feel like home. But moms just have this knowledge of home things that I haven't yet developed I guess? 

Here are some pix:

AAAGHHH. Notice the only furniture- dog bed and TV. And of course, champagne. Last night I threw out the pink paper and scrubbbbed the floors. Andi has a new fear of Swiffers and hid the entire time. Those pits are ferocious man! Also we're painting this whole area a light gray. I ordered this rug for the living room, and most furniture is dark brown and neutral beige-ish. What color curtains would you get?? I am horrible at curtains. I think about it for hours and end up buying 10 to try and hate all of them!

I finished unpacking the kitchen yesterday. This is going to be that gray color too!

When moving I found Harrison's collection of steak knives. I have no idea why we need all these. Maybe we'll have a steak party? But really a whole drawer...

Andi "helping" me take the last load to the new place. The move was just too much for her.

Celebratory champs in the new house (check out that granite! If you're in the DMV looking for new granite let me know, we got an AWESOME deal):

Here is Andi loving her new yard. Almost brought tears to my eyes! It must feel so good to go from being cooped up in an apartment all the time to having a yard to run in!

Anyone have advice/resources on linen closet storage and under-the-sink storage? 

Happy Friday! Move In Update!

Friday, May 16, 2014

Friday Favs: Southern Komfort Blog (guest post- How to Make a Twine Wrapped Bottle)

For today's Friday Fav I have a post from one of my FAV, happiest, spunkiest bloggers, Kelly at Southern Komfort- go check her out! Thanks, Kelly, for taking over while I hop on a plane to Milwaukee to celebrate one of my best friend's bachelorette parties!

Twine, twine, twine...

Oh the things we can do with twine. I love the idea of twine wrapped wine bottles. It’s such an easy, decorative DIY craft! After looking over different steps on how this can be done, I gathered my resources and began the process. 

• Glass bottles - they can be any shape or size you so desire.
• A roll of twine - the twine I purchased from Hobby Lobby is a pretty, hunter green color. The length was 208 feet (random, I know) and 3 ply.

**Note: Feel free to choose any length and thickness of the twine to your liking. Remember, the thinner the twine, the more you will need.

• Elmer's Craft Bond Multi-Purpose Spray Adhesive.

**You can pick up this little can of wonder at any local craft store and it goes A LONG WAY! In addition to not receiving near third-degree burns from a hot glue gun, I was able to continuously wrap my twine around the bottle without much hassle... But I'll explain that later.

• Floral piece 

Here's how it's done: 

1) Using an old wine bottle, I removed any outer labels by running it under hot water and scraping it off.

2) Once the labels have been removed, dry the bottle thoroughly to make sure the spray adhesive works properly.

3) Working from the bottom up, spray the adhesive about an inch around the bottom of the bottle. Don't worry, it won't dry quickly!

**Note: It helps to have either wax or parchment paper down to keep the adhesive from getting on your countertops. Another smart thing to do... Don't have your phone nearby since you can easily get the adhesive on that as well...

4) Once you have sprayed some adhesive onto the bottle, start wrapping your twine. When you have reached the point where you are almost out of adhesive, spray about another inch above what you have wrapped thus far.

5) Continue to spray and wrap the twine until you reach the top of your bottle.

6) Once you have reached the lip of the bottle cut the twine, spray the inside of the lip of the bottle, and place the twine in there.

7) Add a decorative flower or any other artsy item and ta-da! You have a twine wrapped bottle!

Based on the size of my wine bottle, it only took me about 25 minutes to complete everything. To help get the sticky off of your fingers from handling the adhesive, you can use soap and hot water or pour some nail polish remover over your fingers and that should do the trick.

I hope this has helped inspire your creative juices to decorate your homes with twine wine bottles!

Friday Favs: Southern Komfort Blog (guest post- How to Make a Twine Wrapped Bottle)

Friday, April 25, 2014

Easy Homemade Dog Treats

Ok so these are essentially beef flavored cookies and I am pretty sure Harrison would enjoy these just as much as the dog (for the record- he refused to try them. If you are successful in tricking a human to eat these please let me know).

Anyway I couldn't help but laugh while I was making these for two reasons:

1. This 3 ingredient recipe is pretty much clean. Hey if I'm gonna have a bougie diet so is my dog. 
2. These are laughably easy to make. And cheaper than spending $15 on dog treats that picky dogs like Andi may or may not like. 

So here it is, the world's easiest clean eating beef flavored cookie:

Servings: 12 medium sized biscuits (of varying sizes. Next time I'm going to try to make them the exact size to fit into the Kong. Def spent a few minutes weighing the possibility of actually baking a treat into the Kong. I mean...)

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• 2.5 Cups of Steel Cut Oats
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Cup Beef or Chicken Broth

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together 2 Cups of oats and the egg. Next mix in the broth. Once it is all mixed together add another 1/2 cup of oats. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. Make your dough into any shapes you want on a non-stick baking sheet and heat for 25 minutes.

These treats don't have any preservatives so remember to keep them refrigerated in a bag or tupperware.

And that's it. Yep, that easy.


Linking up today- check them out!

Easy Homemade Dog Treats

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Organizing Life Without Spending Money: Part I

Right now I picture  life in our tiny apartment as a House Hunters intro: "We just need more space! We've been barely getting by!" as the BF, dog and I awkwardly rub bodies in the impossibly narrow galley kitchen during coffee hour, then the camera pans to me as I stand on a chair to reach the food in the cabinets that are built for comfortable accessibility to NBA players.

I'm not one to present problems without solutions, but we're in the home-buying process so our time in this place is limited which makes me hesitant (hesitant is not the right word- refuse maybe?) to invest any money (literally any, even $5) into organizing or bettering our current abode. However, for my Type A personality, some things need to be fixed (junk drawers, tornado-ridden pantries, cluttered closet space). Enter: new series: Organizing Life in a Place You Literally Can't Even Invest $1 On.

Part I: The Kitchen Junk Drawer
Every time I opened our junk drawer I needed a paper bag on hand to breathe into as panic attacks set in. No more panic attacks (over the junk drawer at least).

Here's what I did:

1. Saved all things cardboard (pictured: Freezer bag box, aluminum foil box, cereal box)
2. Cut the bottom out of the boxes (my new box things are about 3 inches tall. this depends on how big your drawers are. You want them big enough to hold a few items but short enough to close the drawers)
3. Arrange them in the drawer
4. Put junk in them (Sidenote: if you get as excited as me try categorizing the sections! Office supplies in here, oven stuff in here, wine stuff in here) 
5. If you have time/paint you can paint these or mod podge them and make them  pretty! But really I'm not trying to do anything permanent here. 

Organizing Life Without Spending Money: Part I

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Best Couples Halloween Costumes on a Budget {DIY & Where to Buy}

Time to get creative! These are my favorite classic couples costumes with DIY and Where To Buy. What are YOU going to be for Halloween? What are the best couples costumes? 

1. Mario and Luigi: The best price on the full costume I could find was at Oriental Trading for $28 each. Not so great if your budget is like mine. Fortunately this is a super easy DIY. I found overalls at Goodwill and Martha's Outfitters. Target and Wal-Mart have plain green and red t-shirts AND white gloves, and these days fake adhesive mustaches are everywhere (Target, Oriental Trading, any gift shops). We found red and green hats (thanks, neighbors!) and drew an "M" and "L" on white paper, cut it out, and taped it to our hats. Easy and done for under $10 each.
2. Bacon and Eggs: We ordered our's from Fantasy Toyland for $24.99. 2 costumes, $12 each!
3. Thing 1 and Thing 2: Adult onesies are quite an investment. The best price I found was on Amazon for $34 . Let's be real- onesies are the gift that keeps on giving, especially in red (hello tacky sweater party!?) so definitely can be worth the money. If you want to keep it simple (and not sweat your ass off), EBay has a store that sells Thing 1 and Thing 2 tshirts and gear.
4. Monkey and Banana: How cute is this. And easy. Also I could start a business if I charged every person who borrows my banana costume and Amazon has options for UNDER $10! They also have simple monkey costume pieces (cue: not sweaty) under $10 here.
5. Flintstones: This is an easy DIY that I have done more than once. For Wilma we made a toga using a white sheet, borrowed a pearl necklace, and sprayed my hair orange. For Fred, we bought 3 yards of orange felt and about 1 yard of black felt. In the center of the orange felt, we cut a hole for the head to go through (envision a pancho), and hot glued black felt pieces all over the orange "pancho". You can also buy the costumes at Wal-Mart for $20 each.
6. Loofah and Bubbles: Thank you, Pinterest! How awesome is this costume! I've seen it done with "soap" but the bubbles take the cake. This is amazing. Here is a tutorial video for a no-sew loofah costume.  You can put this costume together for less than $10 total.

Need a hot glue gun? I ordered this gem for $20 and it has lasted years. Hot glue guns are TRULY the gift that keeps on giving.

 

Best Couples Halloween Costumes on a Budget {DIY & Where to Buy}

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Homemade Doggie Shampoo

I subscribe to BarkPost which is pretty much the most useful/happiest newsletter on earth for dog owners. Today they published a list of 17 Life Hacks Every Dog Parent Should Know which includes HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DOG SHAMPOO!!! With things from around the house!! Do you know how much money I have spent on doggie shampoo? #LifeChanging .

Lifehack #4: Make your own shampoo.

With 1 cup of dish soap, 1 cup of vinegar, and 1 quart of warm water, you can have a simple, natural shampoo for your pup! (Info source, Image source.)

My other favorite that I will be using this winter:

 

Lifehack #17: Protect your pup’s paws in the winter with Vaseline.

Oof. Can you imagine what it would feel like to walk around on those salty + snowy sidewalks in the winter? Protect your pup’s paws from chapping and cracking by applying a bit of Vaseline to them before you go out each time. After your walk, you can just rinse the paws in warm water to get rid of any salt or chemicals your four-legged ruv might’ve picked up. (Info from ASPCA.)

Homemade Doggie Shampoo

Friday, October 18, 2013

Broke & Bougie Halloween Costumes

It's Halloween! The most wonderful time of year for those of us who are extremely Type A and DIY-centric! Every year I resolve to DIY the shit out of Halloween, and every year on the night before Halloween as I rush to freaking Arlington to the closest arts & crafts store (really, DC? no Michael's? No Hobby Lobby? NOTHING?), I swear I will never ever do a DIY Halloween again. Old dreams die hard though.

These are my all time favorite group costumes- who doesn't love group costumes? A time to get creative, show off that you have friends, and boss everyone around (I SAID WEAR THE HAT TO LEFT SIDE. LEFT. SIDE.). Check out my DIY instructions as well as where to order the costumes (time to order now!) if you have learned your lesson about DIY Halloweens.

Note: None of these are my pictures, but they are all costumes I have done at some point in time. Man wasn't college great?
 

1. Tetris Pieces: This is an easy DIY, but not so easy to wear to the bar. You can either tape boxes together and cut out room down the center for your body and a hole for your face, or do what I did in college. We cut out cardboard squares, painted them, duct taped them together to make the shapes we wanted, and then taped those to our clothes. This method was much more mobile, and you can make your tetris pieces any size you want.
2. Legends of the Hidden Temple Teams: Who doesn't love this show? My brother and I used to save the 30 minutes of precious TV time we were allowed just to cheer on our beloved Blue Barracudas. This website is devoted completely to Legends of the Hidden Temple gear, and nothing is more than $20. 
3. M&Ms: This is a SUPER easy DIY. Envision a sandwich sign. We bought a few yards of green, red, yellow, orange and white felt and cut them into large circles (about 2-3 feet in diamter). We cut "m"s out of the white felt and hot glued them onto the circles. Then using the leftover fabric scrap, we cut strips (about 10" by 3"), hot glued one end of the "strap" to the top of one circle, and the other end onto the corresponding circle to serve as "straps" and hung them over our shoulders like sandwich sign M&Ms. If you don't have time to make them (slash venture all the way to Arlington for fabric), Amazon has $5-$20 options .
4. Power Rangers: Great group costume, not as easy to DIY.Amazon has $25-$50 options. While that seems like a lot of money, it's a REAL badass costume, and let's be real- there will be plenty of opportunities over this lifetime to wear this costume.
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: My old go-to! It's so easy. Supplies needed: 1 yard of yellow felt, 4 yards brown felt, green tshirts, string, newspaper. We got green t-shirts and hot glued yellow felt squares (i.e. the abs) onto the front of the shirts. For the shells: cut 2 large circles out of the brown felt (the size of a backpack- about 2' by 2'). Stack the two circles on top of each other and hotglue them together around the edges, leaving the top open. Once the glue is dry, stuff the "shells" with wadded up newspaper, then close off the top with hot glue. Glue the strings onto the shells as "straps"- just like backpack straps- that you can slip your arms through. We just cut up old sheets to be our face masks. If you need to,Amazon has options for real turtle costumes.
6. Crayons: This doesn't have to be "sexy". One year we kept it simple and each chose a color, wore that color on top and bottom (i.e. blue tshirt, blue shorts), and painted pointy party hats (you can find these at Target) our color to be the tip of the crayon. If you want to be elaborate or "cute" you can make tube dresses out of fabric from Michael's, but that's a lot of work. This website has $10 Crayon Costumes too.

Broke & Bougie Halloween Costumes

Tuesday, October 15, 2013