Lettin' the Light On In

Update! I've linked this post up with all the other awesome bloggers for Katie Bower's Pinterest Challenge- Winter Edition. C'mon and join the fun!

Has another week passed already?? Sheesh. I'll be honest, guys. I totally bombed the photo challenge this week. Not one picture. :(

BUT!

I did make up for it by KNOCKING OUT some serious projects this weekend! *Happy Dance*

I've finally gotten our spare bathroom lookin purty- a post on that process later this week. :)

What I'm realllllllly excited about is our kitchen.

I've always liked the layout of our kitchen. Tons of cabinets, a generous pantry, dated appliances but in decent shape and good working order, and gorgeous laminate floors. I posted some weeks ago an update to the kitchen. We started its transformation with some "Gleeful Green" Ace Premium satin paint. I love this color! It truly is gleeful. :)

Next I took some scrapbook paper and put it into two 8x10 frames to hang above the stove.

I then hung a basic curtain rod and using Heat 'N Bond and my trusty iron fashioned a curtain for the window above the sink.

The result of it all was something like this:

I liked it. It was cozy and reflected our my personality a lot better than the 'before'. I was okay with my faux Roman shade curtain (I simply used a tension rod and draped the fabric over it to give the layered look) but it meant I couldn't use the blind because it would pop the tension rod off. I didn't like the loss of function because I looooove sunlight in my kitchen!

So needless to say, I fell in LOVE when I saw this on Pinterest:

Gorgeous, right?! I just knew I could do this, and it would be a perfect solution: Lots of natural light in the kitchen, cute curtains, and privacy when I want it. I convinced Hubs to take down the blind and the brackets that held it along with my cheapo curtain rod. He then helped me hang the cafe rod (I could've used a tension rod, but there wasn't one in a bronze finish) and I got to work making the curtains. All I did was take apart my original curtain, cut it in half, re-adhere (is that a word?!) the edges to make each mini-curtain smooth, attach each to rod clips and slide the curtains onto the rod.

While at the store my first go-to would have been satin nickel metal, but after following the Petersik's kitchen reno over at Young House Love, I decided to be bold and go for the bronze!

The result:

 

 I am SO in loooove!!!! The photo does not even do it justice! It's so perfect. Tons of gorgeous sunlight fills the kitchen now, bringing life and energy to a room that needs it! The bronze really sets everything off and complements the other colors/metals in the room; in my opinion, anyway.

The other touch I added to the kitchen this weekend, in my husband's words (and trust me, his comments on decor are few and far between!) 'make the whole thing'. Again, thanks to Pinterest and this pin I found some cutie patootie art to give our grub hub a breath of fresh air:

 

Can I just say that looking at this makes me want to have a 'Legally Blonde' moment?!? Like, I just totally love this art! It's sooooo cute! Eeek! Okay, whew. I'm done. For now. :)

I liked my kitchen before; I really did. But now I am totally head over heels for it.

I won't mind coming home bone tired at the end of a long day and cooking dinner in such a bright, cheery space! It will be wonderful once our yard is fenced in and I can watch our pups, and one day our kiddos, playing in the backyard out this gorgeous kitchen window.

So what home projects are you up to? Sometimes something as little as an 8x10 print can really make a big impact on a space! Lots more projects are on deck here in the Atkins household- finish painting the kitchen (you can see the spot above the cabinets), fencing our yard in, planting our flower bed, doing a lil landscaping, and finishing up the guest bathroom. Stay tuned!

Hopefully I'll get my rear in gear on this photo challenge and do a better job this coming week. Feel free to follow on Instagram- ajatkins4120

Much love and until next time,

Feb Photo A Day

This week's February Photo A Day Instagram round up:

I hope your weeks are going smoothly and you're as anxious as me for Spring to get here!!!

Until next time,

Up To Date

Wow; the past few weeks have FLOWN by!! I'm not complaining because, and especially as a teacher, this time of the year sucks and I'm more than happy to see it moving quickly.

Just to give a quick update since time to blog has been scarce with a pretty busy schedule the past couple weeks, I'm going to have to do better about keeping up with the Feb Photo A Day Challenge! It's a good challenge for me cause it seriously is a challenge!! I've missed two or three days but I'm gonna do better this week. Here's a quick peek at what I've posted so far using Instagram-

Also, I've completed another installment of The Burlap Project! Click the text to check it out.

Hopefully you and yours are doing well and staying warm since Winter has finally decided to check in for a while. I'm looking forward to completing my next burlap project and sharing what Josh decides to do for the special little holiday coming up- Valentine's Day!

Lots of balloony hearts and until next time,

February Photo A Day!

I heard from a friend and fellow blogger 'Ol Mother Hyder that there is a super cool photo challenge going on over at Fat Mum Slim!!

Now, I've never been one for keeping up with photos well. I'd love to be able to document every special moment I encounter, but between being great at breaking cameras and a super busy middle school teacher, it just doesn't happen. That is...

.... until I discovered my newest LOVE! A little app on my new iPhone4 called Instagram! It's so great. I take a picture, put a cool filter on it so I totally look like I know what I'm doing, and load it onto my Instagram profile. It's so easy now to keep up with all of those special, funny, unique, memorable moments I've been leaving in the dust.

 So each day I'm going to document whatever it is that Ms. Lady at Fat Mum Slim has saideth and load it up to Instagram for everyone to check out and enjoy! I'll also post a link to the picture here so even my friends and family that keep up with Hubsy and I can follow along. :)

Ain't life grand?!

My first photo is to document 'my view'. Well after getting home from work sick and tired (literally), my view has been thus- http://instagr.am/p/m-Q0Y/

And if you'd like to play along instead of follow along, sign up on Fat Mum Slim's website and check out the challenge below.

Have a great evening everyone!

Burlap Project Blast Off!

I have officially kicked off my new challenge, The Burlap Project! I'm so excited to share with you all how I'm using the seventy-some odd feet of burlap we used in our wedding AND it's a great way to hold me accountable to using it.

To check out what's up first (and what's on deck) you can click the "The Burlap Project" link on the right or click here. If you'd like to see my inspiration and ideas, you can click here to check out my Pinterest pinboard.


I hope you enjoy!

House Update!

It's been a little over 7 months since we've been converting our suburban shack into a sweet love nest. Insert *awwww* here. :)

Seriously, though. In all honesty it has gone a lot slower than I originally thought it would. Darn HGTV shows... I guess it doesn't take 30 minutes to reno your house. :P

So the pictures that follow show our progress so far. Please forgive the poor photo quality- my camera is out of comission and I've been using Hubsy's older point and shoot. I just can't get the confounded thing to work the way I want it to!

Hopefully our progress reflects our inspiration, which can be found in my last post. Enjoy our blood, sweat, and tears; and feel free to shoot some love, questions, comments, ideas, and suggestions our way!

P.S. Feel free to take a look around the blog. I've updated the layout, my contact info, and our Furry Family's page with some update pics of Mr. Maverick. Also check out what I'm up to with the Burlap Project!! Looking forward to kicking that page off very soon. :)

P.P.S. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

I have a pretty major crush on our green curtains. I grabbed them in the store and held on like Rose held on to Jack. Well, until she let him go. Moving on-

I'm so in love with our fireplace. <3

I can't quite reach the top... brainstorming how to get 'er done.

I caulked the heck outta that chair rail! :D

It's still cadaver colored. *gag* All in good time...

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to 2012!! Ours has been full of fun, laughter, and love. I'm looking forward to sharing how God has taught me about perseverance and trusting Him. I also can't wait to roll out some (to coin my husband's favorite synonym for 'great') bangin' burlap projects!

Much love and until next time,

Color Me Happy!

Mostly because in just a little over 6 months time Josh and I have been able to accomplish A LOT in our house. In fact, I didn't realize just how much we have gotten done until I perused through some 'before' pictures I found the other night. Although I don't have any 'after' pictures to share yet (they are coming soon, I promise!!) I would like to share the color inspiration in each of our rooms. Thanks to America's (women's) new favorite pastime, Pinterest, I was able to organize some awesome color swatches via Design Seeds to pull together the look we want for our nest. Enjoy!

Master Bedroom; pinned here

Master Bath; pinned here

Living Room; pinned here

Kitchen; pinned here

Spare Bathroom; pinned here

Future colors of the office; pinned here

Future colors of the spare bedroom; pinned here

 So there you have it! Again, pictures of our progress are to come soon; there's still a little cleaning and organizing that needs to be done due to the holidays. I hope yall enjoy poking around Design Seeds- I know I did; if you are on Pinterest, check out my link to the left to follow my pinboards and if you would like to join leave me a comment and I will email you an invite!

Until next time,