Lawn Mowin' Fanatic

This is why I can no longer mow the lawn unless some of it is done while Tyler is asleep. As soon as he hears the motor running he comes hauling over and demands to be put on my shoulders. By demand I mean he backs up to you so you can't get around him and yells "SHOULDERS" over and over until you do it.

Brandt's Mr. Tough Guy and can do the whole yard this way. Mom is Mrs. Sissy and can only do half. It sure is pretty cute though...as long as he's on Dad.

The best is when he holds onto the cheeks REALLY tight and you get that stretched lip look. I was trying to get one of Brandt but apparently he only holds onto me that tight.

Home Show #3

Theme for the LAST home show post is home decor. There were some great decorating ideas (and some disasters), but here's a few that I liked.

Just some 1x4's holding this valence up. Thought it was cute to include the baby's name with a love note using vinyl lettering.

I like the brown garage. I'm not sure if it would be cheaper to order it brown or paint a white one. I'll be looking into that for a possibility on our third car garage. Adds character I think.

I'm not sure what surface they covered with the fabric but I would thrown it over some cork board and it could be used to pin up pictures, messages, school papers, etc...

An adorable idea for a boys room. I love the pictures on the wall as well as the complimenting fur pillows/rug. You could take this theme a lot further with some color on the walls and maybe a rope lasso strung across another. Add some horse shoes, or a shelve with boots and a hat. Fun!

I just thought this picture was unique in how it was concaved from the wall.

Some vinyl iron-on decor. Kinda different but I could see it working if you got it right.

I absolutely LOVED the chandelier in this little girls room. If I could just transport this whole room into my home I would do it. CUTE!

Recognize this book? Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go". What a fun way to make some decorations for a playroom, reading area, or place to do homework. Or maybe your child LOVES to read. I'm using this idea for sure.

Don't have a great mudroom area? This is how these owners created one in the corner entrance from the garage. A shoe rack would fit under the bench to organize shoes. Also, if you thought to put some plugs above the bench you could have a little charging station for all the phones, Ipods, DS, and other gadgets that have batteries.
Just some more fun art. It was common to see groups of three especially with squares. I'm going to get rid of a bunch of the cheap decor I've gathered through the years just so I could have something on my walls and actually spend a little $ on nice art. It might take me 10 years to decorate my home but it will look nice when I'm done right?

So NO MORE pictures about the home show but at least now I can delete them from my hard drive and refer to my blog for ideas. Hope you have a great day!

Home Show #2

Here's a few more pictures from the Parade of Homes. They cover ideas for paint and windows.

~~~~PAINT~~~~

Look how they've tied the bedspread in with the polka dot paint. How easy!

Just a little wood-work and paint to get this look. The light green paint between the 1x4's was just the wall. I think this was still simple enough that even I could do it but still makes a big impression.

I LOVED these next two ideas. This first one just took a paint sample that has all the shades from light to dark and used that pallet to create this wall. The second shade down matched the paint on the rest of the walls. The paint color is kinda, well, blah...but again so EASY!

Same house, different way to create a fun focal wall. You don't even need a headboard because the paint creates it for you.


I wish I had a bigger picture of the whole bedroom to go with this one but hopefully you get the idea. They just took little wood strips and put them across the whole wall. It wasn't bad but kinda looked like siding. Maybe if it was done in different widths? Still, something different.

Textured the wall between the woodwork in the entry of this home. I don't think the walls above the trim where textured.

~~~~WINDOWS~~~~

This was SO dang cute! I am definitely going to put a window box somewhere on my next home. It was pleasant to see these flowers from inside the house as well and brightened up the living room.

Isn't this darling!?!

Great pointer to have nice sliding doors instead of swinging ones leading from the dining table to the back patio. That way the door doesn't get in the way.

It seems to be a trend to have three square windows like these. I like the look but it would have to look good on the outside of my house as well. It does look really good about a bed so you can still have the natural light without a headboard blocking the window. Plus the windows are high enough that you can still walk around in your skivvy's and not be seen.

That's all for today. I've just got a few left of some decorating ideas that I thought were great but if you could care less then skip the next post if you see Home Show #3 for the title but I promise it's the last one.

I did throw up something kinda fun on my fitness blog if you haven't seen what Brandt and I have planned next month. http://www.imafitnessjunky.blogspot.com/

Home Show #1

My Mom and I attended the Parade of Homes show a couple weeks ago together and it was fun to gather ideas for my house that sometime in the next 5 years I will build. (Feels like I've been saying "in a few months" for so long now that I figure 5 years should cover it. ) There's a ton of pics but if you like to look at other's houses as much as I do than maybe you won't mind. I am breaking them up into a couple posts though so it's not home show overload.

Kitchen -

It wasn't the color combo in this pic but the thickness of the granite that I liked. They said it didn't cost too much more (yeah right) but to cut $$$ even more my Mom's counter top is granite tile and it looks great for a lot less. Plus, it's thicker like this pic.

The back splash here was unique in that they used the same wood as the kitchen floor. It was a nice fluid look but I question what grease splatters and heat does to the wood. If it holds up I would love to do this.

Thought this color combo was nice. Sometimes this kind of back splash is too busy for me but it worked here and didn't hurt my eyes. White cupboards are starting to grow on me.

Not sure about the different colored cupboards. What do you think?

Cute pantry door. Country charm all the way.

Bathroom/Laundry -

I like large mirrors but I also like my medicine cabinet mirrors because they open and I can see the back of my head. This huge mirror was hinged so it could still be opened up. Nice!

Little privacy wall. Love it. Who wants to see the toilet anyways.

Now you see it...

Now you don't...

Great space saver for hanging clothes.

That's all for today! I think I've probably got two more posts worth of pictures but I gotta take a blog break. Sorry if this is boring for you but I'm a fan of copying other people's ideas as I'm not too good at coming up with them on my own.