Thursday, May 29, 2014

Decorating for Summer - Show and Tell Friday




 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!




 

I'm happy to be finally decorating for Summer! With the colors of my home, summer just comes easy!




 

I love the beach cottage look and I love pulling out all my seashells. 





Unfortunately, I don't get very much light in my apartment except for the early evening when these photos were taken.




 

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Thanks to all of you that

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Time for a new fence!

A few years ago, the Santa Ana winds blew over the longest part of our fence. Together with our neighbors behind us, we got a new one built.

This time on May 13th, the front side of our fence got taken out by the wind. We tried to prop it up again, but that didn't last a day until it fell over the other way. :P

This part of our fence has been up since we moved into the house in 1993, so at least it lasted that long. I'm not sure when we'll be getting a new one put in, but it has to be sometime soon because of HOAs.


It could be worse. This was around the same time that all those wildfires started in San Diego - we live sort of close to the Cocos/San Marcos Fire, but I'm glad it stayed on the other side of the freeway the whole time. So, the good thing is that at least the fence was only blown down by the wind and not burnt in a fire or we would have to replace so much more than just our fence.

As you can see, our grass is pretty much dead as well, so all that dry grass would've been good fuel for a fire. They talk a lot about having "defensible space" on the news, but up where I live, there's pretty much no defensible space that would keep a fire away from our house, so I'm very glad we dodged another bullet with the fires. They've always come close, but luckily never dangerously close to do any damage in our neighborhood.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Back on the diet - Show and Tell Friday




 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!

 

I had planned to post something different today but as usual I procrastinated until the last day and then, even though I left early, I got home late because the traffic was so bad. 

 

 Since I didn't have time to take the photos I wanted I'm resharing some of my "diet" food from the past.  As many of you know I lost quite a bit of weight a few years

Monday, May 19, 2014

Backsplash Inspiration...

They are installing our backsplash tonight!  
We are getting close, but all of those "little" things take time to finish up.  
 We still have to add wood molding to our cabinets and finish painting the moldings and a few baseboards.

Here are a few of the kitchens that were my inspiration for our backsplash:
1- I like the grey and white color combo of this one.

2- The color and geometric design is really fun on this one.

3- I love marble...I wish this was in our budget!

4- The beadboard backsplash looks really fresh, I also love the stairs and clock!

5-  We decided to go with white subway tile like the picture below, hopefully it looks this good!  

Which backsplash is your favorite?


Sharing with these blogs:
Just A Girl & Her Blog

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Old Books - Show and Tell Friday




 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!

 

Every day on my lunch hour I take a walk. It's about a mile and a half and the highlight of my day at times!  There are chickens that I pass by, squirrels running around, moms and tots in the park. It's a great walk and I forget that I'm in the middle of Silicon Valley and it's a great break from sitting in a cubicle all day!

 

 This week it's been

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day!




 

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mother's out there! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Friday, May 9, 2014

New Kitchen...New Furniture

Last night, It was after 11pm and our countertops were still being installed!  
Poor guys, that is what you call a long day!
We are getting SO close to being done with our kitchen remodel!!
My sweet sister helped me put together my barstools and we also got our table & one bench put together.  
The fun part for me is decorating our "new" space!
I sold my old table that looked like this...
It was a great table, but it was just too square for the new space.
Our new one looks like this...
This table is from World Market, I scored a whole set that included the table, a bench & 4 chairs for $499.00!! 
I was able to sell my other set for a good price, so I only had to pay $100.00 out of pocket for the new set!  I love that it has a built-in leaf that extends, so you can have seating for 8 people.
I'm trying to find two accent chairs to put at the ends of the table.

We will now have a big island, which I am so excited for!
We decided to extend the countertop on the island so we could have a place to sit.  This sent me on the search for barstools that would fit under the counter.
I really like the industrial look, but didn't love the prices I was finding to purchase them.  
I did finally find some at Target when they were on sell & they shipped to the store for free!

I love that they also adjust to different heights, just by spinning the seat.
I can't wait to start cleaning up all of the dust around here and start putting my house back in order!
Sharing with these blogs:
Make It And Love It
Domestically Speaking

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Little Changes - Show and Tell Friday




 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!

 

I've made a couple little changes around my little apartment. I mentioned that I want to go more with aqua blue than French blue so I painted the shutters an aqua color. 

 

I also bought some new pillows with a gift card I had from Pier One Imports. These pillows are great because the have yellow and a few different shades of blue which sort of ties

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Show and Tell Friday





 

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday and Happy May Day! I can't believe it's already May!  I don't have any new photos to share so I just grabbed a couple old ones this week.

 

I'm ready for summer! We've had a taste of it this week, it's been hot here in California...up in the 90s already! My new apartment stays fairly cool but I'm running the air conditioner tonight for the first time!

 

Sneak Peek...

Our kitchen remodel is "slowly"moving along, but we are making progress...
I LOVE woodwork, it completely changes the whole feel of a room.  It adds so much character.
I knew it was a good sign when it was beautiful before it was even painted, but
I couldn't believe my eyes when the paint was actually applied. 
It's gorgeous...
They are finishing up the paint this week, upper cabinets will be installed on Monday & then counter tops are next.  I'm starting to see there is an end in sight!
I'll admit my patience is beginning to run out.  
We have been under construction for over 4 months now!  
When they delivered the appliances & we had to move furniture & take off the front door, I couldn't help but think it would of been easier to just move! ;)
It is going to feel like a whole new house in the remodeled area when it's done though!
Hopefully, I'll be able to have a final reveal soon!!

{UPDATE}
You can see the final reveal HERE.

I'm sharing with these blogs:
Chic On A Shoestring
Love Of Family & Home
The Idea Room
Tatertots & Jello
My 1929 Charmer
Under The Table & Dreaming
Thrifty Decor Chick