Kitchen Cabinet Decor

I recently was browsing on Pinterest and found a website for decorating the tops of kitchen cabinets. The website is www.thriftychickdecor.blogspot.com she had some great ideas for decorating. I know not everyone likes to decorate the tops of their cabinets but I have to have something up there. Before I changed it I had vases and greenery which was fine but I was ready for a change. I didn't take a before picture but here is the after:

Small grouping on top of the refrigerator

I wish I had more space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling. I bought the green vase in Colorado and the wood bowl was a birthday gift from my friends Sarah and Cat

I love the be happy sign..it brightens it up

There you have it..my updated cabinet decor! 

On a Pontoon

Yesterday, we rented a Pontoon boat on Beaver Lake with some friends. I haven't been to the lake since high school. We had a great time cruising, tubing, knee boarding, and cliff jumping. I only participated in the cruising! I was so afraid that it wasn't going to be nice but it ended up being a perfect day. We hope to make this an annual trip!

Andy and Ben fixing to jump...the cliffs weren't that high.

Kelly and Adam fixing to jump

Chillin on the boat

Andy knee boarding

Chevron Craze

As most of you know chevron is quite popular right now. I love how it looks. I have seen it in bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, and hallways. I recently made a chevron tray for my living room. I decided to go a little further with the chevron and do a wall in our living room. Our living room has an odd shape and there is one wall that isn't very big. I decided that would be the perfect wall to do! First, I had to convince Andy to do it! It did take a bit of convincing but I finally got him to agree. So this past Friday night and Saturday morning we worked on the wall. The hardest part was figuring out the width, how many chevrons, and then measuring it all off. I left all of that up to Andy! I just assisted! Here is the wall before:

I decided to keep the neutral in with the chevron.

The start of measuring off the chevrons. It is hard to see but we used a chalk line to make the lines straight. It is such a handy tool!

Then we had to tape it off. This was the most time consuming part! 

I painted it green because my walls are neutral and I wanted to add a pop of color. I definitely accomplished that! Most of the decor in my living room is green, cream, and brown. So this green went well with the rest of the living room.

And the finished product! I love love how it turned out! The green is definitely brighter than I thought it would be but since it isn't on a focal wall I think it will grow on me. So happy with it!

3rd Anniversary

Yesterday Andy and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years, the time has flown by. We had a low-key celebration with just going to a nice dinner. We decided to not do any big gifts this year. We had dinner at Table Mesa in Bentonville. It was really good!! We did take a picture at home before we left...

Happy Anniversary!

Celebration Weekend

This past weekend we celebrated Andy's birthday and passing his engineer test. He is an official engineer now! HA! I am so so proud of him! He has worked so hard and it has paid off. I have to brag on him a little bit. His test was on a Friday in April in Little Rock. I took the day off and we spent 2 nights there. He had to be at the test site at 7:15. I took him and dropped him off, brought him lunch at noon and picked him up at 5:45. It was literally an ALL DAY test! I could not have done that! After he was finished we went and celebrated with friends at the restaurant, BRAVO! It was so so good! While we were gone on our mini-vacay to Charlotte he found out that he passed!! If you know Andy he doesn't get too excited about much. I was more excited than he was. There were over 100 people that took the test and only 25 passed! My smart husband was one of them! Now that he has his license he will get a raise and a stamp that he can use on his projects. So exciting!

I know its hard to see, but this is the stamp he will use on projects! We celebrated his birthday and getting his license at his mom's on Saturday. She made him a cake and got an ice cream cake from DQ. She had them put his stamp on the cake! So neat!

Andy with his cake..here is a close-up of the cake:

We had a great time celebrating Andy.His parents live on Lake Brittany in Bella Vista and their neighbors have a pontoon boat. We took the boat out and relaxed on the lake all afternoon! It was so nice! We had a cookout with family and friends that night and had a wonderful time! On Sunday, we celebrated his birthday with my family at Marketplace. After lunch we enjoyed some time by the pool at my parents house. It was a great weekend!

Bathroom update

If you know me well, you know that I like to change my decor A LOT! Andy would prefer I didn't because it would be much cheaper. Ha! I did try to not spend a lot of money on this bathroom update. I used several things that I already had and just painted them to fit with my new color scheme: gray, white, and yellow. We first painted the bathroom gray and I love how it turned out!  Here is a look at the new bathroom:

I already had the yellow frame. I made the poster inside of the frame. The poster is foam board with scrapbook paper folded into fans and hot glued onto the board. It wasn't too hard but it did take some time. I got this idea from my friend, Leah. She had created a bigger one for a bridal shower she was hosting. I loved it and thought it would go great in the bathroom. I think it turned out pretty good!

I found the sign at Whimsy Whoo in Springdale. It is very fitting for above the bathtub. I bought the white frames and rod iron scrolls at Hobby Lobby. I used left over scrapbook paper to put in the frames. 

A look at the mirror once again! So proud of my husband and his handiness! I don't know what I would do without him! So glad to be finished with the bathroom, now on to the bedroom. Pics coming soon!

Chevron

Chevron is such a big trend right now! I love it! I was looking on pinterest for some chevron ideas and I found a tray that I thought I could attempt for my first chevron project. As most of you know my husband is very handy. He actually did most of the work, I helped paint and tape. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of our tray.

I'm hoping to put it on our ottoman in our living room! I'll post a picture of that later! If your interested in painting chevron I would highly suggest googling how to paint chevron. 

Bathroom update

For my birthday, I wanted Andy to put some crown molding on our bathroom mirror. I was tired of just the plain mirror with nothing around it. I looked on pinterest and found some inspiration like this:

I loved the clean look with the molding at the top and down the sides of the mirror.

Here is the mirror before we added the molding. We also painted the bathroom a gray and I absolutely love it! Here is the mirror with the molding:

I love the way it turned out! Andy did an awesome job! More pics from the bathroom coming soon!

It's about time..

So...it has been an extremely long time since my last post and so much as been going on since then. Here is a little recap of things that have happened this past Spring. I finished my National Boards and mailed them at the end of March! Woo Hoo! I took my exam in May and will know if I passed in November. I have had two of my closest friends have babies, one in February and the other in March. They are the sweetest babies ever! I just love it when I get to see them and love on them! Andy had his big exam in April to earn his license for becoming an engineer. We found out last Tuesday that he PASSED!! So proud of him and all of his hard work! He is one smart man! I got out of school so much earlier this year and am super excited about my long summer! We just had a mini-vacay to Charlotte, North Carolina. We went over Memorial Day weekend and watched a NASCAR race, shopped, went to some museums, and white water rafting! We had a great time! I am so excited about this summer and ready to relax and read some books. We have also redecorated the house since my last post. My living room has all new decor and we are working on our master bedroom and bathroom right now. Pictures coming soon!

Gray, white, and yellow

Last fall my parents asked me to help them decorate their guest bathroom. I was so excited to take this on! I had the perfect color scheme in mind...gray, white, and yellow. I have seen a lot of these colors put together and I love how they look. They painted the bathroom walls a dark gray (it almost looks black) and my dad and I painted the cabinets black. Mom and I found some yellow knobs at Anthropologie in Chicago last October. It took a while to find things to hang on the walls but I think what we came up with looks great!

White and yellow curtain that was made by the Fabric Gallery. I love this print!

Shower curtain from West Elm

The yellow medallion was a diy project I found on pinterest. I bought 3 of these at Lowes and spray painted them yellow! Super easy and cheap!

Frame from Pier 1 with yellow and white scrapbook paper inside. Those are just a few of the details of their guest bathroom. I love how it turned out!

New Year, New Look

This year for Christmas I asked for some gift cards from my family so I could re-decorate my living room. My living room walls have been bare for over 6 months and I was ready to get something on them! I got lots of gift cards to Hobby Lobby, Pier 1, I.O. Metro, and Pottery Barn. I spent one afternoon shopping with my aunt and we bought a lot! I finally feel like it is coming together. I still have one wall that is bare but I know what is going on it! Here is our new look:

Found these mirrors at I.O. Metro. They have barnwood on them, which I love!

All of the pillows with green are new. I bought the two in the back at I.O. and the ruffle pillow at TJ Maxx

I saw this look at Pottery Barn and wanted to try it. I already had the mirror and the plates, so I just had to put it together!

This is by far my favorite in my living room! My aunt came over and helped me organize it all. I love love how it turned out! I used frames, letters, keys, mirrors, initials, and rod iron. It fits the wall perfectly! All I need now is a lamp to go in the corner!

I took down the blinds in the living room and put up roman shades! It is hard to take a picture but you can see it a little. This changed the whole look of the living room! I have had so much fun re-decorating and am so happy with the new changes! I will post more pics when I finish the other 2 walls.

New Years Eve 2011

Andy and I hosted a New Years Eve party with some of our friends last night. We haven't hosted a party in a long time so I was pretty excited! I was wanting to come up with something fun that everyone could remember this night by. I came across Kara Paslay Designs blog and she had posted some New Years Eve ideas. I attempted to re-create her photo backdrop idea and took pictures of the guests as they arrived. It was super fun and I think everyone enjoyed it! Thanks to Kara for the awesome idea! Here are some snapshots of the guests:

Happy New Year!