Junk Decor

Donna from Funky Junk Interiors is amazing. Her blog was one of the first I followed and she has impressed my decorating style in past posts like this one. In my recent post about redecorating the bathroom I showed you a couple junky improvements to the space. 

I couldn't let the chance go by to link-up to Donna's Copy Me Challenge, so here are some details of my favorite junky pieces.

After a brainstorm of mine one sleepless night, I described these shadow boxes to my husband. It didn't take him long to cut up and screw together some authentic barn boards into these junky lovelies!

One holds extra washcloths, the other is for my husband's shaving gear.

I love this knotty detail!

Next up is a sign in my bathroom that I stenciled.

Cut authentic barn board into desired length, stencil on some letters, sand them to show the yummy texture of the board and now you will never get lost in your own home! In case you were wondering what this room with the tub and vanity and toilet was... 

Add a hook and you have back of the door storage!

Another piece of barn board with a Bible verse became a focal point in our living room.

We store firewood in a tin bucket that I found in the barn.

I found this watering can in the barn too, and painted it white. I love keeping flowers in it in the spring!

In true FJI style, I hung a curtain on a hanger to spruce up a corner of the kitchen. You can read about it here.

My husband found this cool old trunk at a flea market. It's now serves as our coffee table.

Last but not least, an FJI inspired mantle. Nevermind it's really the top of a bookcase I keep in the kitchen for extra storage... It has layers of color and junky finds just like Donna would use. The window is from our barn, by the way!

Hope you've enjoyed my homage to Donna and her Funky Junk Style. Keep it coming, Donna! You're an inspiration!

What's for Lunch?

What tastes better than hot soup when you're snowed in? Not much!

source: AllPosters.com

Ashli from Maillardville Manor included this link to a tomato soup recipe in her menu plan for this week. It's a new family favorite that I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot. We're planning to make it with fresh tomatoes this summer and canning it for use next winter. Yum!

I served the soup with garlic toast and steamed broccoli with a vegan "cheese" sauce (made from cashews, seasonings and nutritional yeast). My boys gobbled everything up and wanted more ... of the broccoli! 

I must be doing something right.

The Way You Do the Thing You Do

Does your kitchen ever look like this?

Do you ever have projects stacked around you?

How about kitchen gadgets put to use as wood clamps?

I'm sure no one else would use a stack of books as weights when gluing a drawer back together.

And you certainly wouldn't sand wood filler with your drawer sitting on the kitchen counter...

... making your faucet and sink and counter and everything look like this.

Even if the end result looked something like this?

That's a sneak peak of the vanity that matches the dresser I'm now working on. Can't wait to get it done so I can show you the rest. Even if I have to work in my kitchen! Do your projects sometimes take over your house?

Living Room Inspiration

Living Room Inspiration by ellie1005 on Polyvore.com

Living Room Ideas

A few months ago I posted about our plans for our kitchen renovation. 

 www.myhomeideas.com

I think I got ahead of myself. See, I got to really analyzing my ideas and realized that I kept wanting to squeeze in more counter space and storage and that really crowded the dining area. On a whim one day when I had my graph paper out, I decided to knock down the wall between the dining area and the living room. It worked! I had room in the kitchen for an island or peninsula that I'd been dreaming of!

Carmel's beautiful kitchen

Of course it's never as easy in reality as on paper. There's wood burning stove on the living room side of the wall in question. Moving it would require a lot of effort on my husband's part. Scooting the dining table and chairs further into the living room would also make our long and narrow space harder to arrange without being crowded. But I showed my sketches to my husband and he liked the idea! 

So now the tentative plan sometime in the next couple of months is to move the stove, knock down that wall (it's not load bearing, but there are 3 outlets and the thermostat to move) and install flooring throughout the living room and kitchen.

Gina's 2x4 flooring 

That's probably all we'll get to this year, what with bunkbeds to build, the boys moving in together, repainting their room...

www.bhg.com

...and getting the nursery ready for our new arrival. (Ok, this is just a dream. I'm pretty sure we're having a boy, but I love this nursery so much!)

www.target.com

As I mentioned in my 11 for 2011 post, we also need to focus on fixing the basement walls so we don't have any more wet floors. 

So back to the new floorplan in the living room, here's the rest of the plan. I'd love to get this sectional...

"Soho" by Value City Furniture

...and this rug 

www.lowes.com

...and use this color as an accent for pillows and pretties

"Rain" by Sherwin Williams

...and do this popular board & batten technique (same colors too!)

via Miss Mustard Seed

...and it wouldn't be complete without dropcloth curtains, right?!

Traci's dropcloth curtains

I'm excited! I hope we're able to pull it off. Hope you enjoyed the inspiration!

Pregnancy Update-24 Weeks

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: Just over 1 pound and almost 1 foot long--about the size of an ear of corn.

http://www.babycenter.com

Maternity Clothes: Loving my maternity yoga pants from my first pregnancy. They're faded and have paint on them, but so comfy! 

Gender: Boy. Not that's it's been confirmed, but I don't feel yucky and horrible and I don't look that bad, all things I've heard about carrying a girl.

Movement: Yes! Lots! 

What I miss: I'm not uncomfortable enough yet to complain. Give me a few more weeks!

Sleep: It's been more interrupted with potty breaks lately, but that might be the water I drink in an effort to mitigate heartburn. :(

Symptoms: Still no crazy cravings (I'm vegan and totally craved carbs both times and meat the second), but the heartburn has picked up. I also got a crazy tummy ache after using my elliptical. I guess I need to use it more frequently but not as long to build up those muscles!

Best Moment This Week: I got to really feel the baby move once with my hand on my belly. It really felt like a little foot! 

What I am looking forward to: Being DONE with the birth and just snuggling and getting to know this little human!

Stuff & Nonsense

I've been a bad blogger. Again. It's not the lack of inspiration, it's motivation that's been keeping me away!

I've been working on this: 

And it's beautiful! I'm so in love with how it's turning out! Just some poly and putting the handles back on the drawers and it'll be done! 

Then there's this to finish:

Just wish our garage wasn't below freezing so I could sand it...

My husband hung crown molding in the bathroom:

Gorgeous! Hello beautiful DIY bathroom on a budget! Of course most of the work was done two years ago and the pictures are hiding somewhere on the internet... Cuz they say things on your computer never really go away, you just don't know how to get to them. Right?

Meanwhile, we're in part of the country experiencing sub-arctic temperatures. That means some loooong days at home for me and the boys! Don't they look a little cabin-fevered?

My husband read about an experiment where you boil water then take it outside in the sub-zero temps and fling some in the air. 

Cool, eh? Kinda like a snow machine. It was -13 without calculating the windchill at sunrise (7 ish).

There's more, but I promise to be a better blogger and actually post stuff as it happens, kay?