it's only a month and a half away!!

Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about Christmas!!

I'm not at all prepared so thankfully I have signed up for the Christmas Workshop over at Martha Stewart Living.

I just got my shopping list today, and am kind of excited to see what unfolds.

It looks like we'll be making everything from gifts like dolls and socks to decorations, crafting up some cards, and pretty packages.

There will be recipes and all sorts of other tips, tricks, etc.

If you haven't already signed up, make sure you do!!

I'll be doing as much as I can, on a tight budget.

Budget Bungalow

I recently came across this "Budget Bungalow" in Better Homes and Gardens and felt really lacking in my decor skills.

This place is so pretty and the owners, incredibly resourceful. So I vowed to try and spice things up this weekend at my place. Here's the home that inspired me:

This home technically didn't have an actual foyer, so they just added a table, mirror, and lamp to create an pretty entryway.
The living room is so nice!! I love love love the carpet. Here's some insight into what was used - the scrap piece of tin on the wall was from someone's garage. The chair is a recovered hand-me-down which they paired with Target nesting tables and more expensive Williams and Sonoma lamp.

You may have noticed the beautiful fireplace.. well they covered the wall above the mantel in grasscloth, which they simply stapled on!! It adds an interesting textured background for a vase assortment!
Is there a feature of your home that you hate, but can't afford to remove or replace? Work around it, as this owner did when they used added a painted shelf over the ugly radiator in the room. Oh and the drapes?? Are simply hemmed pieces of menswear suiting fabric!
This dining room is super cozy and I think it has something to do with the colors. That's the easiest way to impact a space, so choose a color and make a feature wall in your place!
Loved the art huh? Me too!! Oh and it was cheap!! Salvaged from an industrial area. Whata agreat way to add an intersting detail to a space!!

I love these floating shelves. The simple collection of black and white items, ensures nothing is competing with the artwork.

I also love the vintage throwback created with the bar cart!! The silver pops against the accent wall, and they've added even more interest by creating artwork themselves on pre-made canvases!!

This family room is exactly what you want in a family area. Warm, inviting and comfy. They added the panelling, beadboard and trim, as well as the coffered ceilings. Plus they just painted over the old wallpaper!

Don't think you can afford intersting accessories? The framed wall piece is a construction paper collage! The other frame features a wallpaper scrap. The coral is actually sea sponge that they spray painted.

** I am definetly inspired to get creative with my home this weekend!!**

Stepping out of my comfort zone, to create comfort zones

You may or may not have noticed that I've never featured anything about rugs, anywhere. It's not that I do not like rugs, it's that I have carpet. yeah, yeah I know, rugs can be placed on top of carpet. But unfortunately, living my limited budget means that rugs strictly for decorative purposes have always fallen to the bottom of my list.

However, in the place we are potentially buying, we plan to shell out a crap load of money to elminate carpet, and all other cheap (that's you - linoleum) flooring options and will be getting hardwood ( nope, not laminate) and tile. Unfortunately, someplaces just need a cozy rug underneath. So I am off to get some sleuthing done to find rugs for three areas of the house. Living, Dining and possible den. In theory I will probably skip the dining area rug, but it's nice to have options.

Of course I love this shag from Ikea. It's so soft and cushy underfoot!!!

I also found this Ikea find interesting. It has a pealescent look to it, and it looks like tile a little bit. Very cool.

Cory and I are both loving the cowhides at either Ikea or Potterybarn, but I'm thinking the cats would not care for it so much.

This "Posey" rug from Pottery Barn is so pretty.

Ties in my color scheme and is visually interesting to look at. I love it!!

"Malika" is another intersting take on my fave colors - I'd buck tradition and instead of having this in a dining room - I'd put it in the living area!

This "Jordan" style reminds me a lot of the print over the sofa right now, and since the pattern is pretty vivid, I'd love it in a small space like a den.

Already dreaming of next summer.

If we get the new house, we're gonna have a new deck!! This excites me, as I love to spend time and entertain outside in the summer. What I would like to do, ideally. Is keep the deck as the "Eating" zone, with the bbq area, and then a lovely eating area, surrounded by built-in planter boxes.

This patio set from Walmart looks great, and is inexpensive. The only thing I would probably change a bit is the fabrics, to something with some light blue in it!

I would love to do a little sitting area grouping, but I'm not entirely sure what style I'd like.

Here are a few options

I think my best bet is to go with this set (also from Walmart) .

It looks very similar to the patio set, but it's a little plain, so again I would change up the cushions and maybe mix in a couple of these chairs and pretty cushions (from Pier 1 for some fun.
If I had a really big deck, I'd love to do another arrangement with a big, cushy lounge area, but for now this pretty set (also from Walmart) will be on my future, future wishlist!

This could be ours!!

So we headed on over to the Showhome again last night. I wanted to take some pics and ask some questions about what upgrades are available, and what the additional costs would be:

Here's the Showhome we love, that is much prettier than the other house they have online:

It was pretty dark and difficult to get a good photo since there aren't much street lights around in this not yet developed area.

This is what the entrance looks like. I love that there are all these little art niches around. The front foyer is actually huge even though it's hard to see from these pictures.

See?? Looks bigger huh?? I love that the Powder room is right off the entrance, plus it's away from the main living area which is nice for dinner parties!

This is the front room right off the entrance. They have it slated as a den, and it's where the showhome office is, but I am thinking FORMAL DINING ROOM!!

This is looking from the foyer to the back of the home. ( Sorry about the lighting)

This is the beautiful Kitchen! I've always wanted gorgeous dark cabinets, but we like these white ones!! Oh, and while we're torn on whether to upgrade to granite or not... we ARE gonna get the upper full height cabinets with glass doors!! So pretty and adds so much more storage and display area!
They wrapped the back cabinet around the corner and I love that area as a sorta bar area, which would be perfect for al the parties we throw!

This is the area where I'd set up a little bar.

This heads to the backdoor and also the laundry area.

The main living area is very open concept, which we're used to and is great for get togethers!!

There are a lot of art niches, and plenty of windows throughout! I really want to NOT have a tv in this room, Cory however, wants one. I'm willing to compromise if I can NOT put it in the niche above the fireplace and instead mount it on the wall!

The dining area is pretty large, so we could technically put a fair sized table there, but I'd like a separate room if I could...

An option we're not sure about currently is what to do with the stairway railings, the showhome features this pretty silver banisters inserted on all three parts. Standard is just plain wall, no cut outs, or we can substitute a wooden slat... it's all pretty expensive... is it worth the extra detail??

At the top of the stairs, the front of the house is designated as a "Bonus room" which is perfect as a family room for us.

The upstairs hallway is so bright and open.

The first room is where we would have a guest room ( until our family situation changes). Both rooms are the same size, and feature great little niche shelving details that are so pretty!

The upstairs main bath is nice and roomy, and love those curved shower rods!

The next room is what would become my office and craft room, again until our family situation changes. Down the road, this could always move to the basement or the front room.
The back of the house has the Master suite which is pretty great. A fair sized room, featuring a large walk-in closet and a nice ensuite with soaker tub, separate shower and we will probably go with dual vanities.

Little bits of lovely

I do a lot of stuff around the house. Often times I take pictures of it, often times I don't. Evne when I do though, my computer at home hates Blogger so it can be rather painful to download the pics, so it takes a while to get things on here:

Here are things I've done:

Cory's mom brought me a little plant the first time she met me. Thankfully, it didn't die, and is actually thriving. So much so, that it outgrew it's little plastic pot! So off we went to Walmart to get a bigger home for it. It was re-planted in it's new home about a month ago, and is going well. Unfortunately, while I loved the pot when I bought it, this picture shows me that it desperately needs a new paint job, as it currently looks like it was painted by a child lol.

Right before I quit being a Demonstrator for Stampin' Up! , they came out with a line

of Wall Vinyl I loved the idea of this definition for the wall in my craft space and finally put it up.

In an effort to save money, and I guess waste in the environment, I have re-purposed some vintage coffee tables that belonged to my mom. These wicker tables were spray painted a glossy black and the glass was cleaned up to go with our decor. During the summer I used them outside as well.

I have always wanted a metal fork and spoon sculpture for the walls in my dining room. I have yet to find something that fits my description, but you can imagine my excitement when I came across these painted metal pieces in Fabricland of all places. Best of all?? I paid less than $10.00 for the pair!!!

They look super cute on a side wall in our dining room