Aspiring to Quirky Cottage Style Decorating

Life has been all about home improvement lately! I wanted to show off our little projects we've been doing around the house. Other news is that we bought another car. We've been saving for 1 1/2 years and we reached our goal to be able to pay cash for a car. It's a sporty two door Honda Accord that G has claimed as "his". He looks so good in it that I can't deny him that! So let's get on to Show and Tell!

Here is the headboard that I built all myself! G was in the field that week. It's super easy, even for me, who pondered how to nail two boards together. I also spray painted those lamps white. They were wooden lamps with a brass accent and have been in my Mom's house since as long as I can remember. They are still a little spindly looking but they'll do until the perfect ones come along. Looking at this picture, I definitely need a new bed skirt too. In the mail are new 2 inch blinds for this room. The whole house has these hideous mini blinds that we are going to replace one room at a time.

This is the view from the other side of the room. I'm still working on this room, and all of the house really. Here are my famous pink chairs. If you are looking for the perfect grey paint, this is Forde Abbey by Ralph Lauren. That is my stack of magazines that I'm working through. Of course some (Domino) I can't ever throw away!

These are our new faucets in the master bathroom. Gustavo labored intensely for several hours prying the bottom pipe loose. Our old ones were so grungy and gross! Now I don't ever want these to get dirty. Those are our new soap dispensers too. They came from Target and I love them! Mine has Dr. Bronner's Almond in it and G's has some Vanilla Bean Bath and Body Works. We have so much of that overpriced obnoxious smelling soap to use up it will probably last us another year.

The view from the other side. I got those topiaries at Target for $9.99 each. The glass canisters were $4.87 at Wal-Mart.

Speaking of soaps and potion bottles, I do have a little goal that I have been "working" on which is using up all those little samples and bits of products I have left. Gustavo is so understanding of my idiosyncrasies that he doesn't bat an eye when I rejoice that a bottle is actually empty. I march it over to recycling and kick it for good measure just so happy for it to be out of my life. Why don't I just throw it out, you ask? Using it is my lesson to be careful of what I buy in the future. Just aimlessly picking up something nifty at the drugstore or the beauty salon doesn't happen because I don't want that bottle hanging around my house forever. I've even proposed that G and I use the same shampoo and conditioner but honestly I don't know if that is going to happen. I'm a bit of a shampoo snob, I admit. It definitely won't happen right now because there are two big imposing bottles of *cough* Pert Plus *cough* in the shower.

I'm even on a no-buy with makeup. After I got my few things from the Mac sale (which I love), I decided to be diligent about using what I have. As it is, I could go until I'm 70 with what I have. I don't like to think of it as excessive, but as having options. (Denial you say? Maybe.) I wonder how long I can last on this no-buy. I do give away makeup though because it's too fun not to share with my Aunts Delores, Karen and my Mom. I even have a picture of my organized makeup collection. It's all here in my little drawer. Ok, it's all here except for what's in my purse. In my defense, I don't collect anything else, not even beanie babies. Actually, I do have a few beanie babies. Nevermind.

I also painted our guest bathroom. I was looking for the perfect green blue grey color just like I did in our master bathroom but it kind of just turned out blue, just like in our master bathroom. It's Glidden Gentle Tide and a beautiful color but not green enough for me. It took me an hour to paint two coats so a super easy project for an afternoon. I love to paint though!

A future project in the works in this dining room table that I bought while I was in NC. My uncle Gerald took it apart for me so I could fit it into the back of the rental car. It was my little miracle! Thanks Gerald for all your sweat and ciphering that went into that ordeal! This will be painted soon and I still have to find dining room chairs to go with it.

This is our living room. Note the beautiful red roses from Gustavo. I was having decorating ADD and decided to take out most of the color in the room. I needed light and white things so I could think in that room. It's a work in progress but we like it.

Facing the kitchen and front door.

Facing the back door and the hunka hunka TV that we got for free from G's college friend.

Living room, much more subdued and calm than before.

Beautiful roses again and Keegan who wanted to get in the picture.

This is Miyagi, G's bonsai, that somehow I always have to take in and out of the house to water.

Besides these little projects, we went on a vacation to Costa Rica. It was our "we're not having a baby" vacation. I hope that isn't too morbid but we wanted to take advantage of our time before kids. We stayed at Mango Moon in Manuel Antonio region and it was divine. Don't let the rainy season scare you away. The prices are reasonable and the weather was fine. It was forecasted to rain every day but it only rained one evening. We had adventures every day which is what we wanted. I'll post pictures later.

In the meantime, I'm happy to be back posting. Tomorrow I'm doing something really exciting that I've wanted to do for a long time. I have an appointment with a personal shopper at Nordstrom. Even though I can look at someone else and really see them, I have a hard time seeing myself. I will try to remember to take pictures and let you know what I come home with tomorrow. My appointment didn't by accident coincide with the first day of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. It's the best sale of the year because they mark down fall stuff for 2 weeks and then it goes back to full price.

That's all for now! I love reading your comments. I'll even take some decorating advice for my work in progress home. I can't wait to report back on the personal shopping too.