home tour: kitchen

So this is my favorite room ... probably because it's the room with the food in it! Ha! Seriously though, I love to eat, I love to cook, I love plates, I love little pretty kitchen stuff. I love a lot :-)

 

I got these sweet little measuring cups for Christmas, and brace yourself for this ... I love them.

I cannot tell you the happiness I experience when I get up in the morning and drink a cup of coffee out of one of these happy cups. I. love. them. Shocking, I know.

Chris gets full credit on this idea. This is the kind of man I married. A man who doesn't like a fridge taking up a bunch of space in the kitchen so he says, "Let's just put it in the wall!" And I've gotta say, I LOVE IT! haha  The best thing about the fridge of course is Lincoln's precious artwork hanging on it :-)

home tour: dining room!

So Jami asked if I would do a home tour via blog world. Someone else asked me to do this a year or two ago and I almost did it ... but then I was too embarrassed to do it! Who would want to see the inside of my house?! Jami, I am blushing as I am even typing this. Anyhoo... I thought I would do one room at a time.

 

This is our dining room! Chris bought me these shelves for my birthday right after we got married and I looooove them.

 

This is the opposite wall looking towards the kitchen. More family photos! And yes, our refridgerator is inside the wall :-) Oh, and please ignore that white dot on the wall. After almost four years of Lincoln abuse, our walls desperately need a touch up!



project : plates on a wall

I've mentioned my love for plates a few times on the blog ... and my love for plates on a wall. Well, it has finally happened ... I put some plates on a wall! Actually, Chris put some plates on a wall :-)

project : picture frames

We completed a few projects while we were both on break. One of them was to print off photos (eek!), put them in frames and hang them up! I should have titled this post These are a few of my favorite things: World Market ... but I didn't. If you haven't been to World Market in Louisville, you really should go. They have lots of neat stuff and their prices are a lot better than most places. Anyhoo--when we went to World Market a couple weeks ago, we found just the frames we were looking for. Project complete! 

More completed project posts to come!

a mantlepiece

I love holidays. I also love decorating for holidays. A few weeks ago I found this shabby garland on Etsy, and I thought it was so cute! Then, I read that the yo-yo's were detachable so you can interchange different colored yo-yo's to match the season. That is when I knew it was meant to hang on our mantle. I guess lots of people think the garland was meant to hang on their mantle, because the price has went up since I ordered mine.

Click here if you want to buy a Festive Shabby Garland!



Oh, I took this picture a few days before Halloween---hence the orange candles and haunted house :)

how to make a yarn wreath

Last week I was browsing Etsy and I came across a cute yarn wreath and I said to myself, "Self, you must have this yarn wreath!"

Then I noticed that the yarn wreath was $55 and I said, "$55? You are not going to pay $55 for a wreath!"

As I stared at this wreath, I realized I could make one. "I will make a yarn wreath myself and not even pay half of that!"

So that's exactly what I did. Now, did my yarn wreath turn out as cute as the one on Etsy? No. But did my wreath cost $55? No. Try $15. And I didn't have to pay shipping either :)

I bought a foam wreath at Hobby Lobby and yarn at Walmart. You start by tying a piece of yarn around the wreath.


Start wrapping!


I wrapped the wreath in one layer of brown yarn first.


Then I wrapped the wreath in a layer of cream yarn.


I wrapped it in cream again ... and again ... and again.


Next, I wrapped brown yarn around the wreath to make stripes. To do that, you just make a knot with the brown yarn, wrap it a few times, and then tie it off using the extra yarn from the first knot.


I bought all the things I decorated the wreath with at Walmart and Hobby Lobby too. We decided to go with Christmas decorations.


I pinned on felt stars, flowers, snowflakes and gold beads. Chris helped me cut out some of the felt shapes too!


Then we attached a string of ornaments.


And there it is, our Christmas yarn wreath!



I know it's only October but I thought I'd go ahead and post about it in case you all want to make one for your door! I think they would make sweet gifts too. I can't wait for Christmastime so I can hang it on my door!

these are a few of my favorite things {plates}

Hello. My name is Megan and I'm a plate addict. My addiction began when our sweet friend Ruth bought us a You Are Special Today plate as a wedding gift. The tradition of the red plate is that when you want to acknowledge a family member's accomplishment, celebrate a birthday, or simply say "You are special!", you serve them dinner on the red plate. Our plate also came with a pen so you can write why you we're eating on the red plate and the date on the back. We've used the red plate at many birthday celebrations. I even used the red plate to tell Chris I was pregnant!

Can I digress for a moment to tell you that story? I can? Why, thank you! I just love monologuing ... to myself.

Back to the story. I had suspicions that I was pregnant but I would convince myself otherwise. "Surely not! We've only been married a little over a month! I just have the flu."

I finally decided enough was enough. I drove to the nearest Kroger, prayed that no one would see me, and purchased a pregnancy test with some of my allowance money. Yes, Chris and I get allowances every other week. But I digress again. Of course, I locate the pregnancy tests and they're locked safely behind the pharmacy counter. Great. I'm not sure why, but I about had an anxiety attack when I realized I was going to have to ask the pharmacist for a pregnancy test.

I finally make it home and rush to the bathroom. Those 3 minutes felt like an eternity. I look down and there is one dark pink line, and a barely visible second line. I check the box. One line, you're not pregnant. Two lines, you are pregnant. I look at the picture of what they say pregnant looks like and my lines don't look like that. Am I pregnant or not?

After I finally pick my jaw up off the floor and stop staring at the pregnancy test, I call my doctor's office and they scheduled me an appointment for that day. Turns out my second line wasn't dark because I was only 2-3 weeks pregnant. I leave there, go straight to Target, and purchase a book of baby names. I hurried home, made dinner and pulled out the red plate. As soon as Chris walks in the door, he notices that the red plate is sitting on his side of the table.

Chris - "Who's using the red plate?"
Megan - "You are."
Chris - "Why would I be using the red plate today?"
Megan - "Because you're special today!"
Chris - "Why am I special today?"
Megan - "Because you are."
Chris - "Are you special today too? Did I forget something? Is this a special occasion? Did I forget some kind of anniversary?"

After this goes on for a while, I talk Chris into sitting down and eating his dinner :) I hand him the present. He opens it, and looks up at me. "That is why you're special today," I say. His reaction couldn't have been more perfect. He was surprised, overjoyed, and probably a little confused as I was. It was wonderful.

So yes, I love my red plate. And I love plates in general. Here are a few of my favorite things {plates} ...

My red plate!


The rest of these plates, unfortunately are not mine. But I like to pretend they are. And I like to wish on shooting stars that they will magically appear in my cabinets. And I like to look at pictures of them on the internet.

Oh how I love these Happy Birthday plates. You're probably thinking, "Isn't that what the red plate's for?" My answer to you is no. The red plate is for the birthday person. These plates would be for everyone else!


12 Days of Christmas Plates


Chris told me I could do this in our kitchen! Vintage dishes, lookout because I'm coming for you!


Love.


Love.


Thanks a lot, Ruth. I blame this on you.

the "B" stands for Birke

After reading Anna's post on how to make a Fall wreath for under $10, I was sold. If you haven't visited Anna's blog {Bless Our Nest}, I suggest you do. She has such a sweet spirit and an adorable little family. Anyhoo ...

Chris and I went to Walmart and bought a grapevine wreath, ribbon, flowers, Goop (although we didn't really need it), and a "B" for Birke.


Chris used some of our extra house paint and painted the "B" a sage green.


Next, I wrapped the ribbon around the wreath and weaved the flowers in.


Last, we attached the B.


Here's the finished product hanging on the door!


I'm so excited for Fall! I even pulled out a few of our Fall decorations. Lincoln's excited too ...


Thanks for buying Lincoln these adorable jammies, Mom!

the girl's got talent

Hilary, our niece, made us a beautiful watercolor painting. We were absolutely blown away by her artistic ability! The colorful piece is now hanging in our kitchen. It fits perfectly. Hilary, thanks for putting so much hard work into this piece. We're proud to have it hanging in our home and we're proud of you!

Here's the artist ...


Hilary picked the perfect colors for our house. It goes with almost every room.


Usually art sits around our house a long time before we get it up, but we couldn't wait to get this framed and hanging!


We can't stop looking at our new piece of art! Thanks Hilary

trash to treasure

Chris and I went to Architectural Salvage on Saturday. They carry antiques that have been salvaged from old homes, hence the name Architectural Salvage. Clever, I am indeed.

The store was super neat and we could have looked around for hours if Lincoln hadn't been strapped onto my chest ... and if it hadn't been 100 degrees outside ... and if we had endless amounts of money. Nevermind.

Here are some pictures of a few things we saw.



We bought one of these old window frames. There are pictures below of what we're doing with it.




We also bought this frame. We're going to hang it on a wall in our kitchen and then we're going to hang smaller pictures inside of it. I'll post pictures once that project is done.


We hung the window frame over our bed and I think it turned out nice!