Home Improvements - Wall Decor

That's right everyone... our walls aren't completely bare!! Yes... I still have a ways to go, but this is so so so so so so so so so so so so so much better than it use to be.

You probably remember the mirror at the end of the hallway. I got that mirror at my bridal shower and finally got it up on the wall... I was waiting for the perfect place to hang it... and isn't it perfect. That mirror is HEAVY so I give Chad some major props for getting it hung up so securely.
I got these next items from Garden Ridge on sale :)

The first hanging:
And here it is looking at the whole wall (say hi to Chad in his blanket cocoon) I was kinda hoping for this to take up more space on the wall, but I'm still happy with how it looks... I'll add something else to that wall at some point.
This one I absolutely love... and backtracking what I love about both of these hangings is I could stare at them for a long time... they are very visually interesting to me.
And full wall
I excited to keep developing the wall hangings... I ordered a BUNCH of pictures (finally Snapfish ran a deal I was waiting for) and should be able to actually display some pictures of us and our friends in this house.

Home Improvements - Vent Painting

Have you ever had one of those projects that doesn't take much time at all, and isn't particularly hard yet you put it off way longer than you ever should have?

Touching up my living room paint was that project for me.... I know how embarrassing. You may recall us originally painting the living room back in December of 2008... I know... I'm crazy.

The other thing was painting the air intake vent... at first we thought we didn't need to paint it... I'm not exactly sure what we were thinking that thing stuck out like a sore thumb!
It really makes a world of difference...
We've also moved the caricature (spelling?) into the bedroom... which I'm pretty happy about... for the longest time we've had that thing hanging on the wall and NOTHING else... well that's changed... stay tuned tomorrow for that

Home Improvements - Recycling

Here in St. Louis County we have to pay for recycling service whether we use it or not. In our house we were having a hard time using the recycling trash can just for recyclables... for a long time now I've wanted to get second trash can solely for recycling for the kitchen. If we can separate it right in the kitchen we are more likely to actually use it.

Like I said I've had this idea for quite awhile, but I was wanting a fancy expensive trash can to match the fancy expensive trash can we already have. Then I realized we really don't need a fancy pants trash can... we just need one that looks good enough.

I was at Garden Ridge with my mom and picked up an inexpensive black trash can. It goes in our black, white and red kitchen and it still looks pretty sleek. We were just going to know the black can was for recycling and the red was for other trash... but then realized that no one else that visited our house would know our system and inevitably throw their trash into the black can (I mean typically recycling goes into a blue bin or green or something at least Earthy) So I printed off a recycling symbol onto some card stock and we taped it the the top of the trash can... problem solved there!
This system is already making a world of difference in our household... I should have just bought a cheaper trash can sooner!!

Home Improvements - Toilet

I came across this home improvement blog - Younghouselove and their post about a recent toilet update they did. I told Chad about it b/c I thought he would think it was pretty cool.

As you can see in that blog entry this device is installed in your toilet to help cut down on the amount of water needed. It gives you two options... one for the lighter loads and a one for when more force is necessary.

Later that night Chad read reviews about this toilet update and decided the reviews were overwhelmingly good... he ended up ordering two that very night.

Some background on our toilets... they suck at times... they don't flush like they should... and sometimes we have to flush twice to get everything... (wow that really came off as gross... but really it's mostly toilet paper not going down... I promise you that)

Anywho Chad install it on both of our toilets. Although the master bathroom took some major adjustments to get it to work properly... we had problems with the toilet running... really annoying in the middle of the night when you're trying to get your beauty rest... but my amazing husband came to the rescue and fixed that!! Chad said it was very easy to install as well.

I'm really liking the new system. It's really helping our toilets flush better... I really enjoy having the two flush options. I can't say if it's saving us water or not, but just the fact the flushing it better in general scores the points for me. Here a picture of the button on our toilet.
So I would give this product a thumbs up!!

And if you were playing the toilet drinking game with this post you should have taken ten shots... whew... (that includes the word I used in the above sentence)

Home Improvements - Light Switch Covers

As I've said before (if I haven't said it on this blog, I do say it IRL) outlet and light switch covers can make all the difference in a house. The ones that came with the house were this ugly off white cheapo ones (like this although I think ours were more yellow) After we painted the hallways we couldn't just put up those plastic, off-white craptastic ones... so for a few bucks we bought these pretty ones. I tried to match the ones we have in the living room:
But it's amazing how you can look at something every single day and not be able to recall it. I know researchers have done studies on this... it's pretty amazing... anywho... when you're standing in front of a bunch of different outlet covers you're not going to remember exactly what the ones in your living room look like... or at least I couldn't... So I got these for the hallways:
I'll admit... this comparison picture isn't very good b/c these look very similar... they don't look quite that much alike in real life. The difference I can point out is the living room have pointed edges and the hallway have rounded edges. Either way they both look great on the wall (and the hallway matches the new doorbell score!!)

Random thing that somewhat relates to this. That above picture of the double light switch... I've got to give some major props to the hubby. We use to have one of those annoying light timer switches for the porch. Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of people who live by those things, we just did not like it. So we bought a new actual light switch (we actually got 2) and Chad made the switch over... we got the 2 b/c all the switches in the house are that gross off-white color... and we wanted both of these switches to match in the clean white switches. But at <$1 a pop not a huge deal. So with this minor switch switch and the doorbell I know that Chad can play electrician at times... yay!!

Home Improvements - Doorbell

After we got done painting the hallway I realized I couldn't stand our ugly plastic doorbell... Sadly this is the best picture I can find... the red arrow is pointing to it.
Sure it didn't look too bad in this ugly, bland hallway... but with the new sleek purple hallway it looked outdated and just plain yucky...

So we updated to this shiny more modern model.
I really like the difference it made. Chad was able to install it all himself (without my help.) We also got a new button for the doorbell since we were already having problems with it. Both parts cost us under $35. Isn't it pretty?

Home Improvements - Hallway Paint

I am finally catching up on posting pictures of some recent home updates we've done. I told you awhile back that I had no camera to take pictures. Shortly after that blog Chad found my old camera. Tonight I finally got around to taking the pictures for this post.

First up - We finally got our hallway painted.

Back for my birthday my mom bought me paint for the hallway - We got that Behr paint with the primer in the color 'A Touch of Lilac' (review below)

As a reminder this is what our hallways looked like before... boring, bland and completely uninteresting... not to mention I hated the chalky feeling they had... gross
.

It's amazing what a little paint can do... check out the difference! I also need to give some major thanks to my sister Lindsey who so graciously spent the Saturday and helped me paint. She really did a great job helping me out... she did 75% of the rolling... and when I did the last 25% I realized what a feat it was to do the first 75%... so GO LINNY!!

I'm envisioning a vase filled with some swirly things on the table with the electronic picture frame we have... or keeping that special box my mom gave us as an engagement present. How beautiful does that mirror look as well... I'm in love.
Chad recently hung that black blanket (or is it a towel?) on the door for some reason. I'm actually really wanting a new front door... I sometimes like the window but mostly I'm not liking it at all... I guess when I'm home alone and someone comes to the door I don't want them to know I'm home...


I'm really happy with the look of yellow and light purple together... it really ties in the rug we have as well.
So what do we think? Nice update?

As for my review on Behr's Paint with Primer... it. is. AMAZING. I was able to paint my entire hallway with less than one gallon of paint... and the absolute BEST part is we only had to do one coat. It covered well, it looks and feels great. I will be buying this paint in the future. It saved so much time and effort and I'm all for less time painting and more importantly less effort :)

New Orleans - Day 3

Our Final Day!!

The walking and the heat and the humidity really got to us on Saturday.

We walked around trying to find a good place to eat. We ended up at Oceana right off Bourbon St. where we each had Mimosas for breakfast. Crazy enough the ONLY alcohol we drank all trip.
We checked out the Pharmacology Museum.

We saw lots of street performers.
The above picture is from around Jackson Square. There were SO many artists with their art out. There were some awesome pieces and if I had the money there's a a bunch I would have gotten.

Next we took a Steamboat ride... it was relaxing... but hot at times.
After the boat ride we ended up back at the hotel to take a little nap and then we met up with some of my mom's friend that are from New Orleans. It was very nice hanging out with them. We got to hear them talk a lot of about Hurricane Katrina... it made it feel more real I guess. Sadly this is the best picture I've got
They took us to their local spot for Po-Boys with this awesome crusty french bread. It was a very nice way to end our New Orleans trip. They tried to convince us to come back for Mardi Gras and I will say it's a very tempting proposition so we will see.

I had a great time spending time with my mom... it was fun to bond and see a brand new place. I really hope to visit NOLA again!! Thanks mom for an awesome trip!!

New Orleans - Day 2

We woke up early on Friday and had breakfast at the hotel since the air boat people were picking us up pretty early. After breakfast we were off to take our swamp tour.

While waiting for our boat we posed next to the goofy gator.

Then we boarded our boat.

And we were off
The guides coax out gators by feeding them marshmallows which they refer to as "swamp crack"
And the gators came out.
We got to see cool moss that grows on trees
We got some good picture opportunities.
And got to hold a small gator... check out my goofy smile
And we got to see a 12-foot gator.
That about wraps up our air boat swamp tour. When we got back to the city we decided to tour Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World where they make 80% of the floats for the parades.
We got to put on crazy heads.
I got to snuggle up with the king
while the queen laid in waiting...
I also got to put on a funky hat and eat some king cake... sadly I didn't find the baby...
They had all sorts of statues and floats and everything
After Mardi Gras world we checked out the RiverWalk
Then we checked out the farmer's market
And then we walked down aaaaalllllllllllllllllllll the way down Bourbon Street... sadly this is the best picture I have.
We ended up eating at Huck Finn's. I had a Po-Boy... it was tasty!!
After all the walking and the loooooong day we headed back to the hotel and watched another $14.99 movie (Shutter Island which was pretty good.)