Christmas Break To-Do List

One of the few things I love about my job is that we get a Winter Break. Our site is officially closed down from December 23^rd – January 2^nd. I just spent Christmas at my parents’ house and now I’m heading home to do some projects! I’ve put together a list of 7 projects I really want to finish during my break. Of course I’m not that productive, so I’m hoping for 3 out of 7.  

Mount TV to Wall in Master Bedroom

Make a Headboard for the Master Bedroom

Install Baseboards in Living Room and Master Bathroom

Finish Organizing the Pantry

Sew Roman Shades for the Kitchen Windows x3

Expand Gallery Wall

Stain/Paint Desk for the Office

Send some productive vibes my way! Hopefully I’ll have some finished projects to show off next week…

Meet This Messy Business!

Today I want to introduce y'all to my BBFF - Meaghan from This Messy Business! I invited her here today to show off her two favorite DIY projects (so far). Meaghan is currently working on updating her kitchen, so be sure to stop by her blog and check out the progress.

Hello there! My name is Meaghan and I'm visiting from This Messy Business!

I'm soooo excited that Sam asked me to help her out with a blog post here at The Junk House. I was lucky enough to find The Junk House back when I first started my blog in June, and ever since Sam and I have become BBFFs (Blog Best Friends Forever) because we have a lot in common. For starters we are both 20-somethings who are trying to navigate our way through this whole home ownership thing, and it's definitely been an adventure!

Sam asked me to share a couple of my favorite projects from my blog so far, and I was more then happy to oblige! My very favorite project that I've done so far is in my laundry room. Over the summer I bought a new front loading washer and dryer and decided to make an awesome counter for folding and maximizing storage.

Check it out before:

 

One piece of MDF and some small molding plus a lot of white paint later...

And the after! A beautiful finished laundry room counter top! It's been so handy for folding and sorting laundry!

 

My next favorite of all favorite projects is my custom built-in jewelry cabinet! I recently remodeled my bathroom and during the demolition we found that there was an odd and large mirror hiding an even stranger and larger hole in the drywall.

 Using some beadboard, MDF, and crown molding we were able to avoid replacing the drywall and made instead a jewelry holder sunk into the drywall. Looks like it was meant to be there!

Using an extra tension rod and some inexpensive shower hooks from WalMart I created a department store like necklace holder. It makes me feel like I'm in Macy's every time I pick out a necklace to wear in the morning!

And the final before and after! Pretty handy right? Bye bye ugly hole, hello luxury!

DIY is always such an adventure and I'm so glad that Sam invited me to share a couple of mine with you! Feel free to stop by This Messy Business and say "Hi!"

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

(Ringo opening one of his Christmas presents)

Sugar Sugar

I’d been going back and forth about what to get my boyfriend’s family for Christmas. At first my stance was: I don’t need to get them anything. But Christmas isn’t about “needing” to give gifts, am I right?! So I decided to put together homemade sweets gift baskets (1 for his parents/siblings living at home and 1 for his brother/his family).

I had the gift idea, but I still needed to decide what sweets to make.  I’ve seen hundreds of delicious ideas on blogs and Pinterest lately. But as soon as I saw Jen’s dipped pretzels and knew I had to make those!

I wanted to make 2 different kinds – a dozen of each. And guess how many unbroken pretzel rods were in my bag? 24 exactly! WINNING!

If you want step by step directions, check out Jen’s tutorial. I did everything the same except I didn’t add oil to my candy melts.

One dozen M&M dipped pretzels

One dozen candy cane-striped dipped pretzels

(I wanted to do red and green, but Wal-Mart didn’t have green candy melts)

I packaged them in cellophane treat bags that I bought at the Dollar Tree 5+ years ago (but you can also find them at Wal-Mart).

One sweet treat done!

My next idea came from my Christmas gift for my grandpa and his wife. I ordered them a gift basket from Harry & David. It came with a delicious looking Moose Munch. So I searched ‘Moose Munch’ on Pinterest and found this tutorial. I topped mine with crushed semi-sweet chocolate chips and a white chocolate drizzle.

Seriously, this is so good I could eat the batch in one sitting!

I bagged my Moose Munch in ziploc bags to keep it fresh.

But of course I couldn’t leave them like that. I folded and stapled a scrap piece of scrapbook paper to each bag so they’d look more festive.

One more sweet treat done!

And of course I had to include my peppermint bark! My recipe can be found here as part of Type A’s 25 Days of Christmas Guest Bloggers.

Oh, and I couldn't forget the furry family members. I made these for Molly (our family dog) last Christmas and she loved them. I had already made a batch for Molly and Ringo this Christmas, so I just packaged a few of those up.

 

OK, so maybe I should have called these homemade sweets gift bags instead of gift baskets. I found these  gift bags in my stash and of course I already had white tissue paper.

All bagged up and ready to gift!

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25 Days of Guest Bloggers

I’m excited to announce that I’m guest posting today at Type A as a part of 25 Days of Christmas Guest Bloggers!

I’m sharing how to make peppermint bark. It’s yummy…trust me!

Check it out here.

Twelve Crafty Days of Christmas

I’m excited to announce that I’m guest posting today at Before Meets After. I’m joining some seriously talented ladies for Twelve Crafty Days of Christmas!

I’m sharing how to make cinnamon applesauce ornaments and why they are a special part of my Christmas.

Check it out here.

Swap Goodies!

Back in September I signed up to be a part of the Festive Faith Hope and Charity Swap.

I was partnered with Dana (aka Flo) from Atomic Betties.

Guess what I found when I got home from work yesterday? My swap goodies!

(Yes, I unwrapped and took pictures on my sheets. The bedroom is one of the few puppy-free zones)

The guidelines were: £12 (~$19) spending limit, minimum 3 items – maximum 5 items, at least 1 item had to be thrifted, 1 item had to be handmade, and there had to be 1 Christmas item.

Thrifted

Handmade

Christmas

How cute is this Christmas owl? I love me some birds…not real ones…I’m terrified of real birds! No joke!

The pile of unwrapped goodies, including the scarves my presents were wrapped in.

Thanks to Dana for all the lovely gifts! And of course a big thanks to Lakota for organizing the swap! As usual, I waited until last minute and haven’t sent Dana her package yet…I swear it’s in my car and going to the post office today!

Storage Solutions

I’ve been working on prettying up my pantry since I moved in. Although, if you saw it right now you’d disagree….let’s call it a work in progress. Anyway, I’m still planning to paint in there, but for now I’m working on storage. Everything looks better in a glass jar, am I right?!

While I was home for Thanskiving my mom and I found these jars at Goodwill. I’m pretty sure they’ve never been used…or someone cleaned them really well.

Large Jar - $2.99

Medium Jar - $1.99

Small Jar - $1.49

Total $6.47

I knew immediately these would be for flour and sugar.

Yep, everything looks better in a glass jar.

This is just a teaser...wait until you see the rest of my pantry! 

The List – Kitchen

I’m a forgetful person (or I just don’t pay enough attention to fully absorb the information), so I like to make lists to keep myself on track. I have a to-do list for every room in my house. I’ve decided to start posting my to-do lists to hold myself more accountable (I’ve already shared my master bathroom to-do list). And it’ll be a great way for you to see parts of the house I’ve never really shown before. Don’t get too excited…I think a couple areas could qualify as disaster zones!

Today we’re talking about one of my favorite rooms in the house – the kitchen. I fell in love with the house because of its open floor plan. The kitchen, dining area, and living room all flow together. Yep, I can watch the TV in the living room while I cook in the kitchen!

The kitchen probably has the best “before” pictures. The previous owner had already installed new cabinets, countertops, and tile. It was really only missing the finishing touches…and a refrigerator…and a working dishwasher.

Before

Now let’s take a tour of its current state:

Time for my favorite part: Making Lists!

Done:

Paint Walls (unknown color)

New Refrigerator

New Dishwasher

Change Switches and Outlets to White

Paper Towel Holder

Napkin Holder (not shown above)

Menu Board

Weekly To-Do Board

To Do:

Replace Stove to Match

Replace Microwave to Match

Replace Faucet

Sew Roman Shades for Windows

Add Tile Backsplash

Add Cabinet Hardware

Add Crown Molding to Cabinets
Add a Kitchen Island?

Re-Pot Plant

Hang Hook for Pot Holders

Mail Organization

System for Returning Items Left at Our House

Rug In Front of Sink

Finishing Touches

I guess that list isn’t too bad…

Just don’t expect to see a new stove and/or microwave anytime soon. Both of those work really well, so I’m in no rush to replace them - I have other house projects I’d rather spend my money on.

I think adding window treatments will make the biggest difference – time to stop slacking and find some fabric!


Oh, and I posted a funny video of Ringo on my facebook page! Check it out!