Stairs transformation

 Over the years that we’ve lived here this house has gone many transformations but I have to say these stairs are one of my favorites.  We’ve lightened the walls up, painted the stairs a dark gray so this runner could shine like the diamond of colors it is. Going thru photos and the various stages of the stairs is incredible.   We changed out the window (the last of the original windows).

Retro Awning

I was tired of rain constantly dumping on me out as I came out this door.

We rescued this retro awning and put it to work for us.

Rigging the hardware for it was tricky but it’s up and love not getting drenched.

 

Stress! How have we been managing?

 After being home since March with a husband working from home and an 12 yr old finishing up school last year remote then starting this year virtually I’ve been purging items.  Clothing, excessive furniture, baby items and honestly anything that hasn’t been used or useful for our lifestyle lately.  To say it’s been cathartic is an understatement.  I joined Instagram as well which has been both interesting and eye opening.  The peer pressure is outrageous if people that follow some of the influencers have don’t like what they talk about or provide the content they want to see the bullying is unbelievable.   I’m glad my account isn’t in that realm.  I’ve also really enjoyed Pinterest for ideas and general info.   

I guess what’s really saved the mood around here is taking pride in he home we live in.  While DIY is fun even the 12 yr old is getting into it.  We repainted her room and she’s been personalizing it.  

Well we did a thing last weekend.

 Welcome to the family Bruno!

Bruno joins the other pack members  Olive a Goodendoodle age 7 and Sophie boxer age 3.  He was a little shy at first but he’s definitely warming up to everyone.

 Over the past year I’ve been doing something I truly love.  I am now an Arbonne Independent Consultant.   I’m actually loving helping people replace their every day cosmetics and personal care products with quality clean products.  I have to say I’m loving the new Age Well line.  October the holiday line comes out and I’m excited to see what will be released  

 

Ceilings!

 I had looked at this ceiling with the strips on it for far too long.  Finally a plan was set and we got to work.  It wasn’t easy but determined to finish it off with a new ceiling fan too.  

An oldie but a goodie

 I just love the transformation of this lamp.

I wanted it to have a pottery barnish look.

Knocking out windows continues

 Well why not!  On a roll of removing windows we took out the last two outdated, drafty, single pane windows and replaced them with French doors.  We had added a patio on the back side of the house with hopes of one day removing the windows and putting in access to the back yard.  NOW we have it and I’m thrilled. The patio is small but oh so worth it. 

You see that ceiling in there? Yeah that was a challenge but so worth it   

Makeovers in quarantine give a house new life

 We took out two windows in the family room that didn’t have one wall without a door or huge windows. In closing up these two windows the room actually feels bigger, not brighter but that’s ok it cuts down the heat in there too.

Replaced the two large double windows with a pair of windows that were listed at the ReStore for weeks but thanks to quarantine orders and luckily for us had been sitting there for over three weeks   I kept an eye on them and the first day they opened for pickup no contact we purchased them  they were brand new and once I measured realized that they would fit PRRFECTLY in the space without needing any adjustments.   Meant to be   Oh how they open up the space   I’m in love   

Quarantine life: we’ve been on a roll

 This project was one I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.  Now to keep these plants alive. 

Pallet wood and leftover wood/trim made this all possible.

I’m in love with it!

Quarantine Life

 Well life around here has been fun, crazy, and honestly down right productive.  

Back in March just two days prior to quarantine my husband was scheduled for a surgery on his heart.  I was worried that with all the news that what was to finally going to happen did and worried surgery would be cancelled.  It wasn’t and within 2 days we were on full stay at home orders.  That suited us all just fine. Time for him to heal.  Izzy had an EEG just one day prior to the stay at home orders and school to remote learning.  It was stressful but gave us all time to PAUSE!  All life was on hold. I was the only one to venture out for groceries every two to three weeks.  

While we paused we also took time to decide on small projects and go from there. 

This little stool had been begging for an update so I tackled that myself.

It’s been a while since I sat down and did any blogging.  Many renovations.  Several medical issues with various family members.  Several deaths but I’m ready to start up where I left off.

I’m a fairly new Independent Consultant with Arbonne.  I’m loving it but more important,y I’m loving how great I’m feeling and my family members too.

Don’t know anything about Arbonne?   Take a look via my page  www.TeriMcgilvray.arbonne.com

If there is anything that I can help you with or answer questions just let me know.

Currently on the renovations I’m painting up a storm.  Living room, hallways upstairs and downstairs are all getting painted.  We are going to do a little ceiling updating in the living room.  We are going gray and changing up the color on the fireplace as well.  Plaster ceiling will be getting a facelift too.

A decision!

It is with great sadness that we helped our 2nd oldest dog over the bridge today.  She was not quite 12 years old, shy by 2 months.   Over the past couple of days her health and ability to get around turned into a case of not being able to even realize where she was or who she was around.  She was frightened all the time and crying all the time.  It was too painful not to help her end her pain.  My husband is awesome, he came home early and picked her up, took her to the vet where the vet then went over her and agreed that there was something horribly wrong neurologically.  He couldn't see putting her thru multiple tests and waiting for them to return either.  She was suffering so much.  We have the BEST vet ever!  He is patient, kind, loving and so very comforting.

We will miss you Penny!  Run and be pain free!

New project!

While everyone seems to be either coming down with something here or just getting over it, the hubby has decided that now is the time to start a project.  Before I knew it he had taken apart a cabinet and was proceeding to get it wrapped up to put in storage.   The next thing I know we are at Home Depot because they were running a 20% on cabinets.  After debating layout and which ones to get we now have 5 cabinets in the basement waiting for installation. :)  Next backsplash tile and paint color for the walls.  To say that this is a small project is an understatement.  This "ahem" little project has turned into a total room makeover.  The paint color is yet up in the air but I think we have it narrowed down to a deep blue, yes that's right blue!  You can find it thru our house as it is my favorite color.  This will be the media room and hubs doesn't want a light color on the wall.  Draperies picked out!  Rods picked out!  Now we are down to what the countertop will be with this little renovation.  We've been wanting to do this since we moved in here and finally we have decided to do it.  It is our biggest living space in the house, we use it for TV viewing, Wii, movies and general play.  There is a little area that had a bookcase in it that was begging to be made into a snack area for movie viewing!  I can't wait.  Let the popcorn start popping, well..... not yet at least!

The countertop might end up being 12x12 marble tiles:

 The paint color contender, we do have another one that is a bit deeper blue that we are considering.

The cabinets!  I love them American Classics from Home Depot!

 The backsplash tile!  It has the same color blue as above, with a light gray and a deeper smokey gray and a marble with a lighter blue/gray.  At $4.97 a tile at Home Depot these were a nice find.

My Fridge

I have a love/hate relationship with my fridge.  While I love it because we did just get it over the summer when our other one bit the dust.  I am not a fan of the side by side at all.  It is a lot less room, the shelves are narrow leaving a lot of spaces for things to hide.  Yes that's right I said things hide in my fridge.

I actually woke up this morning thinking that I need to clean out my fridge and organize it, only to open up the blogs and find that there is not one but two blogs doing a giveaway about organizing the fridge.  :)

http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/

and

http://goodbyehousehellohome.blogspot.com/

both had a post about how to organize the fridge and the nifty containers used.  Since I'm not great at giveaways I will use them as a reference in time to get the fridge cleaned out and organized prior to Thanksgiving.  Yes that's right I'm giving myself the month to get it organized.

We are bound and determined to clean out the clutter by the end of this year.  Most will see it's way onto the thrift stores for donation.  I cannot wait to be clear of the clutter, it feels like it is taking over the house.

Happy Halloween!

I'm looking forward to seeing the little kids prancing down the driveway! Izzy has her outfit ready, painted a pumpkin today, made cookies too. We are definitely ready to have some fun!

Christmas is coming!

Before I know it Christmas will be here, so I've already gotten a jump on the holiday with some shopping.  A couple of people are already taken care of thanks to gifting my mother a dishwasher while we were visiting her in NY and my mother in law received a refrigerator.  Those are definitely gifts that will continue to keep giving for the years to come so I'm thrilled we were able to do that for them.  Now onto the rest of the gang and a couple of friends that are more like family now, I can't wait to get started on sewing some projects up.

What about  the rest of you?  Any big projects, crafts that you're anticipating doing for this holiday season?  I would love to hear.

Fan, loving the fan

We repurposed a fan from the family room to put in the computer room.  I liked it but didn't love the blade colors so they were spray painted a dark brown.

This room really needed a fan in both the summer and winter months, I'm so thankful to have it in here.

We have color on the walls

That's right we're moving right along with the computer/sewing room.  Happily I say that as we have color on the walls, baseboards are all in (even though they still need to be finished up with caulking the nail holes, etc.) and the doorways are almost complete with new trim.

I've learned that with miter cuts not to sweat the small stuff like the pros say on HGTV.  Watching Scott McGilvray who filled in a pretty good size gap in his molding that came out beautifully.  Before I would fuss and fuss until it was absolutely looking good, now not so much! LOL

We hung a shelf and a picture last night, yes the shelf is level however my skills at holding the camera level apparently aren't. :)

I just love this picture from the local art show that is held every year.  I have three prints from there and hope to one day get them all hung up in the house.