Wordless Wednesday (Only on Thursday)

Can't.put.it.down!

How can one mess up house numbers?

When we bought out house back in 2010, we knew going into it that it was a flip. We were so in love with the house at the time of purchase that I think we were oblivious to a lot of the "shortcuts" taken to make the house sale ready. After purchasing the house, things really began to show (bad paint jobs, Spackle on everything, half painted closet door, entry doors cut to the wrong size, etc, etc, etc). At the time, we did not know the true story behind our house ( that is deserving of its own post!).

One of the things that have been bothering me for the longest time were our house numbers. They were crooked and someone clearly did not know how to paint them, as evidenced below.

Checkout the AWESOME paint job!

I forgot to take a "before" while the numbers will still up!

So one Saturday, I decided to take them down. It was then that I found out they were literally glued onto the house. Which lead me to believe they were painted green when the house was painted then someone took a brush and painted the fronts white.Hence the two toned numbers in the picture above. So a crowbar and some elbow grease later, the numbers came down. As did some stucco. Not in the plan.

Don't you love short cuts! I wish you could have seen how crooked they were!

Now my problem was twofold: 1) I had to do some stucco repair and 2) I did not have the paint to my house. After about 5 trips to Lowe's to finally color match the paint, we had a match!

After I matched it to a test pot of interior satin, I purchased a quart of exterior paint to have on hand.

Onto the Stucco repairs. I used this.

Worked perfectly.

And ended up with this:

After some paint:

What patch?

Things were starting to look much better! Since we were working with a clean slate, we could have technically just bought some numbers and screwed the right into the stucco. However, I liked the idea of an address plaque. Of course they did not come in white. So I purchased a black one, along with some white numbers, a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB) spray paint (All our door hardware is ORB) and a can of white satin spray paint. The results:

These numbers are made for this plaque and self adhere.

 

And the final product, all hung up! 

What I thought would be a simple, one day project ended up to being much more work than I thought. However, the end result is a 100% improvement. I am still toying around with the idea of spray painting the edges of the plaque ORB. What do you think?

Natural Products

I am an avid recycler. Ask anyone who has every had the pleasure of working with me. I do not hesitate to pick something at the trash that I can bring home to recycle ( frozen lean cuisine boxes, water bottle etc.). However, aside from my recycling addiction and my reusable grocery bags, I am not very "green".
Lately, I have started to become more conscientious of the products I use and the ingredients: harmful to me or the environment. Don't get my wrong, I am not by any means prepared to throw out everything I own and proclaim that I only use Natural ingredients going forward. But here are a few of the switches made around the Casa De Harrigan thus far.
1) I traded in my long time love, Dove Body Wash, for a natural soap bar. I ordered one bar of Oatmeal and Honey soap from Goat Milk Stuff and I am hooked! I would love them to make a liquid body wash but so far have been content with a bar in Soap Saver ( like this but I purchased mine at CVS).
2) We threw out the Mr. Clean and purchased a Shark Vac & Steam. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this cleans my tile floors with ZERO chemicals. I would highly recommend this product ( just be sure to use distilled water to prevent build up in the machine, if you have hard water).
3) We traded in a few of our cleaning products for natural versions. So far we LOVE Method Cucumber dish soap, Seventh Generation dish washing liquid, Seventh Generation Bathroom Cleaner, and Method Shower and Tile Cleaner.
4) Laundry. I am in the process of making changes to more natural products. I currently use Method laundry soap. I did buy a sample of detergent from Goat Milk Soap and am considering making my own laundry soap using a bar of Laundry Soap from a tutorial I found on Pinterest. People say it is much cheaper that way. I am all about saving money AND getting a great natural product.
5) The pups. So because I am a crazy doxie lover, my dogs use only all natural products as well. I love Earthbath products. They eat Orijen and only get all natural flea remedies.

With the switch to more natural products, I have realized that some things are hard to part with including fabric softener and my Bath and Body Works Air freshers. I also need to find a good natural body lotion and shampoo line, nothing I have tried so far really sold me! So feel free to send any suggestions my way. :)

Wordless Wednesday: EEK!

What my pantry currently looks like

Out with the old, In with the new.

After 5 loyal years, I traded in my Nissan Sentra today. 

 

And am the proud new owner of this 2011 Ford Fusion, 

I am not sure why but I feel like this car is so much more "adult". So far, I LOVE it!

Seamstress in the Making? Unlikely but....

I have wanted a sewing machine for some time now. Problem is, I have no idea how to sew. I made the curtains in my guest room with hem tape ( this was both because I didn't have a sewing machine and my lack of skill). I have as a desire to learn how to sew but when it comes time to actually sit in front of the sewing machine and get to work, I get nervous.

Growing up, both of my grandmother's had sewing machines. My maternal grandmother's sewing machine was a Sears's model from the late 1960's early 1970's in that very fine avocado green color. My mother inherited this a number of years ago and they thing was nothing but problems: constantly breaking and in the repair shop. Mind you, my mother does not sew either so perhaps this was from user error? My paternal grandmother is quite crafty and actually a very good seamstress. She has a 1940's (maybe older) singer model sewing machine that has its very own table it pops up from. The thing is a cast iron antique. She has attempted to teach me on the machine over the years but its ancient and not so practical in comparison to modern day machines.

So back to my desire to purchase a sewing machine. Obviously, this was not something I wanted to spend a lot of money on. I wanted something inexpensive that I could practice on. I was not even opposed to a second hand machine from Craig's list. My only fear of this was I would not know if I purchased a broken machine or if I myself broke it.

So I decided to ask for a sewing machine for Christmas. One of my favorite blogs is Young House Love and Sherry, a self proclaimed novice sewer like myself, had a lot of luck with a Brother sewing machine. So on the list it went. Target had a great sewing machine on sale for $54 on Black Friday but I passed hoping to get this Brother  model for Christmas.

 Sure enough, my in-laws came through. Here she is in all her glory:

I will admit that I haven't done more than take her out of the box, as of yet. Prior to getting the sewing machine, I had plans to make a table runner with my handy dandy hem tape. I have already cut the runner to size, I just need to sew the edges. So this will be the first project I attempt.Easy right? I guess we will find out soon enough. 
My goal is to be able to make a quilt one day. Baby steps! :)

Wordless Wednesdays

Obsessed.

Mousepads

My second Pinterest project was to make mouse pads for both our desk at home and my office. At home we were using the Dell one that came with our All-in-One, At work...Nada!

I thought this project would be relatively easy to do. My inspiration was from Modern Day Moms.

I purchased a flat sheet of cork at the craft store, as opposed to a roll, as I thought this would be hard to flatten. The only other items needed was Steam-A-Seam 

 And a Quilters Square. I also picked up this bandanna  for $1 as I wanted two different Mouse pads.   I used the template from my inspiration picture linked above. However, I will admit that it is smaller then it looks in the pictures.

First I traced and cut my cork to size.

You can easily make 4 mouse pads from one Quilters Square if you don't mind them all being the same, (or maybe to use as gifts?)

I am a little obsessed with my new ironing board cover (purchased from this Etsy Seller). I was afraid I would get steam-a-seam on it so I covered my work space.

 Next, trace your shape onto the Steam-a-Seam. Steam your fabric, pull of the back of the Steam-a-seam and press together with your hand. It should stick. Once it is adhered, cut the fabric/Steam-a-Seam using traced lines and then adhere to your pre-cut cork with your iron. I left some cork exposed and then went back and traced it with Sharpie.

The finished product(s).

 Since I had enough cork for one more, I decided to try fabric Modge Podge to adhere the cork and fabric. This was not as successful. It showed through onto the fabric unevenly and did not give a smooth look like the Steam-a-Seam does. I ended up trashing #3...you win some, you lose some!

Pinterest Project: Holder for Charging Iphone

I have been a bit obsessed with Pinterest these days. Last weekend, I set off to my local Joann Fabrics to purchase supplies to make three projects I "pinned". It is small in the grand scheme of pinning I have been doing, but made me feel accomplished nonetheless. The first project was the Phone charger holder. Original Inspiration picture posted  by MakeitAndLoveIt

 

I started with an empty bottle of Nivea lotion that I had just finished. I cut in down, unsure of how much to take off. (FYI: cutting the bottle was the most difficult part!)

This was the outlet I had in mind for my new holder. Its right next to the cabinet in the kitchen (where I spend a good deal of time after work...)

 I marked off where I wanted the front pocket to be. I just used a sharpie and a ruler.

 This were things started to look a little rough...I don't know if it was the type of bottle I used but it was HARD to cut, let alone cut straight!

I did not have any sandpaper and Lowe's was closed. I used a nail file. It worked very well and really helped clean things up!

There are many different types of Mod Podge, I already had the Fabric kind from another project.

I just purchased a single Quilter's Square for $1 at JoAnn's. Just one of these will give you enough fabric for two of these!

Coat in Modge Podge and wrap fabric

The Finished product!

I am happy with the way it turned out but would do a few things differently next time. I think it would be better with a deeper bottle (given the depth of the Iphone/Ipod plug). If I use another Nivea bottle, I would leave some more height to it, just to make more room for the plug and the phone to fit. I do have plans to make another one. Even the husband was impressed with how it turned out!

Project #2 tomorrow...

Resolutions

resolution- noun.

the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

I have never liked New Years as a holiday. I can't explain why. I have never had a bad experience but for whatever reason, I do not get into the spirit of the holiday. This year was spent at home, on my couch, with my husband, a glass of champagne and our three Dachshunds. To me, it was perfect! Since I have never been a New Years kind of gal, its a safe to bet that I don't typically partake in resolutions either. Well, I did. Once. In grad school. I tried this diet which eliminated caffeine from my diet. I literally felt like a zombie for two days before giving into a cup of coffee, I figure if that is my worst addiction, I am doing pretty well! 

Anyway, this year is no different. I did not make a "resolution". This however, does not mean that I do not have goals for myself. They are not things to accomplish so to speak. I am aiming for constancy (which is actually a synonym for resolution but for some reason, I like it a whole lot better). So without further adieu...

1) Move more.  

I would love to sit here and say, " I am going to go to the gym 5 days per week at 5am". Realistically, this is not going to happen. My goal is to move more. I have always enjoyed working out and it is something that I do now. I simply want to do more of it. The overall goal for me is to do some type of exercise for 30 minutes each day. However, since I have been inconsistent with my work outs as of late, I am aiming for three days per week, for now. 

2) Eat more Greens. 

I love vegetables. I eat them daily, but not as much as I would like to. I plan to buy one bag of greens (Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, etc.) per week at the produce stand and incorporate it into as many things as possible so that the bag is gone by the end of the week. Plus the husband LOVES Green Monster smoothies so I am thinking this will be feasible albeit, more work for the cook in the house. 

3)  Focus on my license/Clinical skills

I have a list of books to read. I am about half-way through my supervised hours for licensure and would love to be able to wrap that up this year. Sans the exam, I don't like to think about that. 

4) Walk the pups daily

Again, I am already walking the pups but I NEED to do this more. I love the doxies to pieces and know that they are prone to IVDD. And while I know this is not preventable, I also know there are things I can do to help their odds (ie: making sure they get exercise every day, keep them thin etc.) 

That about wraps it up! What type of constancy do you want to aim for in 2012?  

A Year too late?

I have been wanting to start a a blog for quite sometime now. More like a year. December 17th, 2010 my then fiance, Tim, and I purchased our first home. An 1800 sq foot, three bedroom, two bath home that we fell in love with the moment we laid eyes on. A year later, my now husband and I, have made quite a few changes to the Casa de Harrigan. My only wish is that I would have started this blog LAST January to chronicle not only our DIY adventures but also our first year of marriage. Oh well...Better late then never right?

What I have come to realize in our first year of home ownership is: there is always more to do. Some things are needs, others wants but there is always a list of projects to be done. If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE projects...and lists in general for that matter. So of course, there is a "House Projects 2012" list. So even though a year of major projects has passed, I am not giving up on 2012.  I hope to take pictures and blog about our projects both big and small (hello Pinterest!). Since blogs have been such a huge source of motivation for me in tackling projects of my own, I thought it was high time I start my own. Plus, the blog will serve as a great way for us to give ourselves credit for all the work (and love) we put into our home.