Uppercase Living my house

Recently I took on a new venture - becoming an independent consultant of Uppercase Living. I've only had one party, but so far I am really enjoying it! I was looking for something without a huge commitment since I have a full time job, but something that I could still be creative while making a little extra income, and getting out of the house & meeting new people. I came aware of UL because my mom had attended a party before Christmas and ordered my sister's and I each an expression. I loved it, so I looked into the UL company. For those of you that don't know, Uppercase Living is a company that sells vinyl expressions for almost any surface through in home parties. You can choose from products from a catalog or create something on your own in their designer {which I have more fun with!} So far I've applied vinyl to the wall in our kitchen, our bathroom door, the front door, a mirror, a picture frame, & Trudie's dog food canister. It's a great way to spice up any space without damaging the wall or surface with holes or paint, and if I get tired of it I can just peel them off. So fun! Here's a few projects that I have done so far:

{front door before}

{after}

hello!

  {Trudie's Dog Food Canister before}

{after}

{Our Bathroom Door}

{Above our sliding patio door in dining room}

I'm working on a few other projects and will blog about them when I'm done. I'm excited to continue this new venture of being an Uppercase Living independent demonstrator. The one party I've had so far was so much fun, helping guests pick items & colors {there are about 50 to choose from to make it perfect for your space}. If anyone is interested in ordering anything, hosting an open house, or becoming a demonstrator please contact me!

http://abby.uppercaseliving.net/Home.m

a more complete living room

As my last post said I went to IKEA last weekend to get some shelving for our living room. I knew which ones I wanted to get, but once I got there I of course picked out some different ones. :-) The ones I wanted were $69.99 each,  I of course picked out ones more expensive.. But I was willing to pay more since they had a little more character. I wrote down the aisle and section they were on and once Emily and I made it through the store we went to get them. To my surprise when we got downstairs the shelving that I had picked out were marked $79.99 - not $99.99 that was posted on the display upstairs! YEAH! Not sure why they were marked down but I didn't care! Here is what I got:

{IKEA Expedit Shelving Unit}

{Adam putting them together}

{Adam starting to put his records on the shelves}

{and complete}

The brown rug was my purchase from Urban Outfitters. A 5"x7" chenille rug for only $29 - it must have been a return or something to be marked so low! It's a good thing I got it because I got an email today from Urban Outfitters saying that my charcoal rug I purchased was on back order and they don't anticipate getting any more in. I'm kinda bummed because I think the charcoal one would look really good, but for the price difference I'm happy with brown for now.  We defiantly needed a rug!

The only negative about the shelving is that I had to move the end table and lamp from the one end of the couch. I think it looks pretty good between the 2 chairs {at first I was really worried that the owl lamp would be too big next to the little chairs, but I think it works}

I'm really happy with how they turned out, and Adam's records fit perfectly which was the main reason for getting shelving! I'm still working on accessorizing the shelves, but for now I love it. I feel like we have a cozier/more complete living room now!

Trip to IKEA

Adam has a pretty large record collection, and he listens to them almost every day! His records have never had a home except for laying around in the living room and lining the guest room wall. So we've been on the hunt for some shelving to house them. At one point we considered building something, but after my mom priced some wood we found that getting something already built would be about the same cost and cut out the tricky building part & painting.

I've been parusing magazines and blogs trying to find some ideas and inspirations for a shelving unit. That's when I came across Chic Little House. The layout in her living room is the same as in ours and I loved the way the shelving looked on both sides of the TV.  Would this work in our house?

{I did a little quick photoshopping to see}

Yup! I think I like it!

So an IKEA trip was quickly planned. Adam hates IKEA, so he came up with a plan, "I'll stay home but I'll put together anything you bring home." DEAL! I was already planning on meeting my bff Emily so it worked out perfect! I woke up early Saturday morning, got ready, made Em & I sack lunch, and hit the road! We met at Bridgeport for a little pre IKEA shopping and coffee. While there we went to Peets for coffee {yum!} Anthropology {where I got some cute soap and lotion for the bathroom} and Urban Outfitters {where I found a rug that I had just ordered online only in a different color for $29 - instead of $49+ shipping online, I got it}. Then we were off to IKEA. I had made a list of things I needed with measurements and also packed a tape measure, trying to cut down on the indecisiveness of "will this fit?" "will this work?" "do I really need it?" that is inevitable to happen there! 

A few hours later, and a few extra things in our cart that wasn't on the list.. and we were done! I was happy with my purchases.I dropped Emily off at her car at Bridgeport then headed home.

This is what I bought:

 

 :-) Wondering what it is? Check back soon for an update!

Bathroom...

I've just realized that besides a new sink post over a year ago I have never blogged about our bathroom. Our only bathroom! For an older home it's decent sized, and pretty simple - nothing fancy. I've been slowly working on changing that. Nothing major, just some cosmetic changes. Here's a peek of what it's looked like and a peek of where I'm headed.

{vanity when we moved in}

{vanity after some TLC} 

{window molding & closet door before} 

{after some TLC} 

{new toilet - pew}

{new mirror!!!}

{just a peek...}

 stay tuned.

Spring Fever

A couple weekends ago I had spring fever and decided I was going to spruce up our front yard. I pulled weeds, raked, and painted the mailbox. When we first moved in, Adam was gone for a weekend and my BFF Emily came down to help me paint and fix things up. We were painting my office, you guessed it, PINK - and we had some left over paint, so as a joke we painted the mailbox to see how long it would take Adam to notice once he got home. He noticed, right away, but didn't seem to care - he's used to pink by now. And so, for the last year and a half our mailbox has been pink! {I can't believe I don't have a before picture!} I decided that it was time for the pink mailbox to go and I had plenty of paint from the front door left over so I painted it green. After I had finished I decided we needed some flowers. I went to HomeDepot and picked out some Primrose to plant. By the time I got home it was getting dark so I decided I'd finish later. It was a good thing I did because in the next couple days we got SNOW! I love when it snows so this was a good thing. But, sadly it melted fast.

Trudie LOVED it!

Anyway, so a few weeks have past and this last Sunday I finally got them planted. I dug out a spot around the mailbox, and put a rock border.  Since I do not have a green thumb I thought this turned out pretty ok.

Now I am ready to work on the yard some more. Come on Spring!