Living Room Upgrade!

We've made some changes in the living room and we LOVE it.  By completing our upgrade we were able to check off some items on our to do list.

Here is our new living room layout! The wall color is looking very yellow in these photos so I apologize...

I moved the bottom part of the buffet that was in the dining room to the back part of the living room.  I took off the top part of the buffet and added the mirror that was on the mantle...

We have always wanted the living layout like this and were only able to because we got a new T.V.!  We moved some pictures around and the small bookshelf was placed under the window for components and other things....

We also added a new light fixture by the front door.  It used to be a rusty nasty thing but we upgraded it to a new but vintage looking fixture...

Looks great!  I still need to polyurethane that closet door!

So as far as our "To Do" list goes, here is what we've completed:

Front Door Light: The light in our entryway consists of a bulb hanging out of the ceiling. I want to find an inexpensive, yet vintage inspired fixture to place here.

Bathroom Fan: Our main floor bathroom fan is NOT cutting it. You can see the moisture on the walls and our shower curtain rod is showing rust spots. This is something that needs to be addressed ASAP before the moisture starts breeding mold! EEEK!

TV: Our weird flat screen/tube television set has proved to be nothing but an awkward eyesore for the living room. We would like to upgrade to an ACTUAL flat screen that could be put in a more fitting location and provide one focal point in the space.

Vent Oven Hood: We have a hood above our oven, but now we need to vent it so that it will actually take the cooking air outside so our smoke alarms won't go off on a daily basis.

Stickem Linoleum: Our entry landing and steps at the garage and basement doors has tired nasty stickem linoleum that show every dog hair, dirt and whatever else gets dragged in. We want to purchase a darker linoleum to put there to give it a fresh look and hide some of the grime.

Caulk Moulding: The baseboard in our living and dining room needs to be caulked. We have the caulk, now we just need to do it!

Clean Paint Off Hallway Floors: I was a little bit messy in painting the baseboards in the hallway. There are a few areas where I accidentally got some paint on the floor. I purchased some Goof Off wipes that I will review and used to clean up my mess.

Dining Room / Kitchen Revamp: I'm tired of all the tan. It's broken up nicely in the living room with color and such but the dining room is baaaaad. The tan walls with oak trims and table is not working for me. My plan is to paint the dining room and kitchen a lighter beige color that will create a cohesive look with the two spaces but will also compliment the darker tan I have going on in the living room and hallway. I also plan to make some new window treatments and recover the dining room seats for a fresh, new look. I also want to paint the open cabinet backs an accent color to break up the white and add a little flare.

Stain Closet Door: It took a blog photo for me to realize that I need to do this.  So I am adding it to the list!

Working on the dining room and other project now! These snow days are making very productive days in the Dobson home!

Snopacalypse 2012

Everyone in Western Washington is snowed in today!  It is SO beautiful and wish that we could have snow days more often or at least have it stick around a little longer.  It's supposed to all be gone by tomorrow.   :[

Right now we have about 6 inches.  That is the most snow I have seen in our area in a looooong time!

It just stopped snowing but I hope its cold enough to stick around for a while. :]

This morning we took a family walk to Starbucks and I took some photos!

New Pieces!

I picked up a few new items for around the house right before Christmas and am JUST NOW blogging about them!  Geesh!

The first thing I found was this cute black lab canvas picture.  I picked it up at Marshall's for $10!

It looks JUST like my boys! I love it!  I decided to add it to my photo wall to brake up the brown frames. 

The next item I picked up was this floor lamp from Goodwill.  I only paid $4.99 and it is the best addition to our living room.  I used an existing lamp shade I had and it works perfect!

I love the black/brown color and the round non-symmetrical shape.

Another goodwill find is this antique luggage rack.  I scores this for $9.00 but I love it. 

I love how it looks with my grandma's old suitcase on it and it will be great for guests to set their bags on when they come stay with us!

I love my new pieces and can't wait to find more fun stuff for the house!



FINISHNG TO DO LIST!

We are gearing up to finish the upstairs!  I know I've said this before, but I'm for real this time!  We are using Christmas money we received to buy all the supplies we need and will start on the labor end of things next week!  Before we do this, we I have compiled a list of odds and ends that need to be wrapped up before we venture upward. 

Most of these fixes are small and inexpensive which is good for us.  A couple will be more spendy, but they all need to be finished before we move on. =]

Front Door Light:  The light in our entryway consists of a bulb hanging out of the ceiling.  I want to find an inexpensive, yet vintage inspired fixture to place here.

Bathroom Fan:  Our main floor bathroom fan is NOT cutting it.  You can see the moisture on the walls and our shower curtain rod is showing rust spots.  This is something that needs to be addressed ASAP before the moisture starts breeding mold!  EEEK!

TV:  Our weird flat screen/tube television set has proved to be nothing but an awkward eyesore for the living room.  We would like to upgrade to an ACTUAL flat screen that could be put in a more fitting location and provide one focal point in the space.

Vent Oven Hood: We have a hood above our oven, but now we need to vent it so that it will actually take the cooking air outside so our smoke alarms won't go off on a daily basis.

Stickem Linoleum: Our entry landing and steps at the garage and basement doors has tired nasty stickem linoleum that show every dog hair, dirt and whatever else gets dragged in.  We want to purchase a darker linoleum to put there to give it a fresh look and hide some of the grime.

Caulk Moulding: The baseboard in our living and dining room needs to be caulked.  We have the caulk, now we just need to do it!

Clean Paint Off Hallway Floors: I was a little bit messy in painting the baseboards in the hallway.  There are a few areas where I accidentally got some paint on the floor.  I purchased some Goof Off wipes that I will review and used to clean up my mess.

Dining Room / Kitchen Revamp:  I'm tired of all the tan.  It's broken up nicely in the living room with color and such but the dining room is baaaaad.  The tan walls with oak trims and table is not working for me.  My plan is to paint the dining room and kitchen a lighter beige color that will create a cohesive look with the two spaces but will also compliment the darker tan I have going on in the living room and hallway.  I also plan to make some new window treatments and recover the dining room seats for a fresh, new look.  I also want to paint the open cabinet backs an accent color to break up the white and add a little flare.

Wish us luck!  I will keep you updated on the progress!

Christmas Gift Making

I love homemade gifts.  I think they are more personal and I like getting crafty and making things.  This year I only made a couple different things but next Christmas I fully intend on owning a sewing machine and making every gift I give.  Pretty ambitious I know, but I really want to do it!

One gift I knew for sure I was going to make was chalkboard wine glasses.  I had the chalkboard paint already from this project, and after the purchase of four wine glasses, had a fun unique gift at a low cost!

I was inspired by Pinterest and read a few different ways to apply the chalkboard paint to the bottom of the glass.  Some tutorials dipped the bottom in while other painted on.  I went for the painted on method because I thought it would be less messy and would give the paint less opportunity to drip.

I used a small sponge brush and added the chalkboard pain on thin layer by layer and set them on parchment paper to dry.

After it was dry, the chalk went on nicely and now my mother-in-law has four wine glasses to use for hosting and everyone can write their name on them so there's no oopsie switcheroos!

The next Christmas craft I chose to make was so easy and fun! I have been saving wine bottles for something and was excited to finally find a purpose for them!

I set 4 bottles at a time in the sink and soaked the labels off.  Once they were all dried out, I used the chalkboard paint again to paint a chalkboard square on the front of the bottle.

I picked up a couple packs of 12 free flow pourers for $4.99 each and put one on top of each bottle.

With the chalkboard paint on there, the gift receivers can used it for whatever the deem necessary!  Some ideas I gave them were soap, olive oil, coffee syrups and really anything else liquidish!

Many people received one of these this year and I still have a few a home that need to be gifted!

While perusing on Pinterest, I found some other ideas I can't wait to DIY...

These I plan to make with my future sewing machine:

adorable dish towels

Christmas burlap pillows

sweet ruffle aprons

sentimental date pillow

At work, a group of ladies (including myself) and being taught how to knit by a co-worker.  I plan to make the following with my newly acquired skills:

Chunky Knit Scarfs

Blankets

Kitchen Extras

and much more!

For more fun Pinterest inspired DIY ideas, check out my DIY Board on Pinterest!

Holidays 2011

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year!

Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season!  I am waaaay behind on filling you in with our Christmas activities so I'll try to catch up these next couple of days.

We had a white Christmas this year!  We celebrated in Spokane with at my in laws gorgeous home.  Most of the weekend was spent relaxing by the fire and enjoying our white surroundings. =] 

The pups had a BLAST (as usual) and spent all of their days running around...

and napping by the fire.

We had lots of quality time with family =]

Justin's aunts Peggy and Joy were able to spend the weekend with us...

And the Diettert's joined us for Christmas day dinner!

After spending the weekend in Spokane, we made our way home and spent some time with my step-brother Alex, Sister-in-law Erica and my nephews and niece Cale, Cash and Riley.

We brought in the New Year with some of our greatest friends (sorry no pics) and were able to spend New Years day with my Mom's side (sorry no pics). 

We are looking forward to what 2012 is going to bring, I foresee lots of adventures this year and can't wait!