January – A Look Back

I can’t believe it’s already January 31^st! Time flies! That means it’s time to look back at all that was accomplished over the month.

You can’t start the New Year without some goals! So, I shared my 2012 Home Goals…and I’m doing pretty well on them so far!

(source)

I finished 3 projects during Christmas Break:

I expanded on my gallery wall.

We mounted the bedroom TV to the wall. Top of the dresser decorations and cord solution still pending…

I sewed and hung faux Roman shades in the kitchen.

I finally bought some furniture!

I bought an IKEA TV stand…and we damaged it. I still need to buy the other 3 pieces of the entertainment center.

I bought the dining room table set I’ve wanted forever.

My mom bought Ringo his very own house.

And he’s spending a lot more time in there after chewing up my couch!

Oh, and we are getting another puppy!

I think January was my most productive month so far!

Make a Splash - January

I’m excited to announce that today you can find me over at Crafting in the Rain! I’m joining some very talented bloggers for January’s Make a Splash Challenge.


 
You can read the challenge details here. But basically, Steph gave us a “secret supply” and our project had to incorporate that item in some way. Our secret supply was: sweaters!

And here’s my project:

Bedazzled Sweater Frame!


You can read more about my project and see the other sweater projects here.

Trading Up!

A couple days ago I showed y’all my new dining room table…but I never mentioned what happened to my old table. Have any of you been wondering? (Probably not) Well, I’m going to tell you regardless - I (kinda) traded my table for this little face!

Yep, in a few weeks we’ll be a 2 puppy household! Gluttons for punishment!

Now let me tell you about this “trade”:  

My boyfriend’s brother’s black labs had puppies (11!) at the beginning of January. While Lucy was pregnant I said, “We are not getting one of those puppies! I don’t care how cute they are! We finally have Ringo house trained (for the most part) and I don’t want to start all over again.” My boyfriend agreed.

Then she had her puppies and I saw their cute little faces…then my boyfriend’s sister-in-law told me how sweet the white female was…then she said she wanted her to go to a good home and I could have her…then the puppy fell asleep in my arms…GAME OVER!

A few days later I mentioned I was getting a new dining room table. His sister-in-law had been looking for a new table, so she said she’d buy my old one from me. Obviously I’m not going to charge them for the table when they are giving me a puppy, so we agreed to “trade”.

That’s our sweet little Abby! She’s only 3 weeks old right now, so we won’t get her for another month or so. Luckily they live really close to us, so I get to see her all the time!

In other news, it’s time to announce the My Memories Giveaway winner!

And the winner of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software is:

Congrats Ang @ Taking a Sunday Drive! I’ll e-mail you shortly with more information!

Faux Roman Shades

7.       Sew Kitchen Curtains

I’m finally sharing the third (and final) project I finished over Christmas Break. I was done sewing on the last day of Christmas Break, but I’ve spent the past couple weeks obsessing whether or not one of the hems is straight. It is…I’m just crazy.

Anyway, I’ve been planning to sew window treatments for the kitchen since I painted in there (April). I searched and searched for the perfect fabric. Finally, I found something I could live with and ordered 3.5 yards of Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Royal Suzani Blue Moon fabric.

I picked this fabric because:

It’s indoor/outdoor, so hopefully it won’t fade as quickly.

It’s thick, so I didn’t have to worry about lining.

It was wide enough (54”) to cover the large middle window.

I love me some teal and white.

And it was on sale.

Side Note: My boyfriend HATES the fabric...

So, I’m not going to write a faux roman shades tutorial. Imparting Grace already has a great one out there. In fact, it was her genius idea to use tension rods! I saw the idea on Tatertots & Jello and she got the idea from Richella at Imparting Grace. Blogs are definitely a great place for sharing/finding new ideas!

Before

After

The middle window is 47” wide. The cheap tension rods extend to 48”, but the middle sags when extended that far. I had to buy a heavy duty tension rod for the top, but the cheap ones still worked for the folds because you can’t see the sagging under the fabric.

This is the window I was obsessing over. What do y’all think? Is it even?

One last shot because I’m so happy I finally have window treatments in the kitchen! And that they’re finished…it seriously sucked making these! I almost gave up and paid someone to make them for me!

Cost

Fabric – Fabric.com 3.5 yards x $7.18/yard -$5.00 coupon code = $27.08

Thread – On hand

Tension Rods – Walmart $2.17 x8 = $17.36

Heavy Duty Tension Rod – Target $6.84

Total $51.28

Dining Room Table

Guess what I bought over the weekend?

(If you read the post title you already know)

A new dining room table!

It’s the Better Homes and Gardens Pedestal Dining Set from Wal-Mart. I’ve wanted it for FOR-EV-ER and I finally bought it on Saturday!

The table was $258, but I had a $100 Wal-Mart gift card from my credit card points. The table ended up being a great price…and I don’t have to worry about painting/fixing it up like I (probably) would with a Craigslist set.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared a picture of my old dining room table. If not, this is the dining room table I’ve had for the past 3 years.

It’s still in good shape (except a few puppy teeth marks), but it’s time for something more “me”. I also wanted a regular height table, so I can pull up extra chairs when friends come over.

(I need a new centerpiece!)

Oh, and don’t those chairs look similar to these?

Image via Pottery Barn

$179 a pop at Pottery Barn! Yikes! I'll stick with my $158 set!

One last look at my new table (and Ringo playing):

And I can't forget: Big thanks to my boyfriend for putting it all together! Love him!

My Memories Giveaway

It’s The Junk House’s first giveaway of 2012!

Yay!

A couple weeks ago Liz from My Memories contacted me to see if I’d be interested in trying out (and hosting a giveaway for) the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking program. Um, yes please!

You might not know this, but I used to be a hardcore scrapbooker. I have a rolling scrapbook suitcase full of papers and embellishments. Seriously! I have a scrapbook for every year of college. After college I started a new scrapbook for each birthday. I have 21 and 22…yeah, I’m 2.5 years behind.

Digital scrapbooking software is definitely easier and faster than paper scrapbooking. I whipped up this page for my “23” scrapbook in a matter of minutes.

Not in to scrapbooking? No problem! You can also create calendars and other fun products.

Here's a page from my Ringo 2012 calendar:

I really like the My Memories suite and will use it again in the future. Once I played around a bit, the program was easy to use. You can also download freebies from the My Memories website (that’s how I created my calendar).

So, are you interested?

Here’s How to Win:

(please leave a separate comment for each entry)

• Visit My Memories and tell me your favorite scrapbooking kit (1 entry)
• Follow The Junk House publicly via GFC (Google Friend Connect --à) (1 entry)
• Follow My Memories blog  publicly via GFC (1 entry)
• Like The Junk House on Facebook (1 entry)
• Like My Memories on Facebook (1 entry)
• Post about this giveaway on your blog (include link in your comment) (1 entry)

6 chances to win!

I will verify each entry…

Giveaway will close Thursday, January 26^th at midnight (AZ time). The winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced Friday morning. I’ll e-mail the winner (please leave an e-mail address if not on your profile). If you have an e-mail, you’re eligible to win!

Big Fat IKEA Fail

Remember how one of my 2012 Home Goals was to buy a new entertainment center?

Well, I did it! Kind of…

Before

(Name that movie!)

It’s bad. I know.

The boxes, cabinet, and bricks were there to block the puppy from chewing on the drywall. The puppy pen is there to block the puppy from chewing on the boxes. Sigh.

A few weeks ago I went to IKEA to buy fabric for my headboard…but the lady 2 carts in front of me ended up buying the entire bolt of fabric I wanted. Ugh! Luckily the trip wasn’t a complete bust because I ended up finding my new entertainment center.

BUT I couldn’t buy all the pieces because they were too long to fit in my car, so I only bought the TV stand part. I need my boyfriend and his truck to get the side bookcases and the bridge piece.

After

Hello Ashton!

Oh, you didn’t think that was the end of the story did you? If you saw my facebook post from that day you know better!

Long story short: We got the TV stand put together and then realized 2 of the pieces were backwards…which meant we put nail holes in some of the front pieces! Yes, nail holes in my brand-new $225 TV stand.

I cried. And swore like a sailor.

I eventually calmed down and noticed that the nail holes weren’t really noticeable from the couch.  So I can sit on the couch watching TV without noticing the nail holes and filling with rage. Hooray! I'm going to try filling them with white putty. Hopefully that will help even more!

Today’s Lesson: Make sure your IKEA furniture is correctly built before nailing the back piece on!

#2, Mounted

2.       Mount TV on Bedroom Wall

I’m finally sharing the second project we completed during Christmas Break! The master bedroom TV is finally off the dresser and on the wall!

Before

I should have taken a new before picture. A few weeks before we mounted the TV we moved the Blu-ray player into the bedroom. It was sitting on top of the cable box, hanging over the dresser about 6 inches. It looked stupid.

Anyway, I bought this TV Wall Mountfrom Amazon on Black Friday for $25 (it’s currently $27.99). Yes, that means we had everything to complete this project sitting around for about a month.  

Following the provided instructions, mounting the TV was easier than I thought it would be. At least it looked easy…my boyfriend did most of the work. My job was to hold stuff and go get the tools.

After

Yes, the cords bother me, but I didn’t have the balls to cut holes into the wall…yet.

You’ll be seeing this area again. I have plans for the top of dresser and of course something has to be done about the cords. And someday - a larger dresser.

You can’t really tell from the pictures, but there’s so much more room in that area now. It looks so much more open and spacious.

So, let’s talk about the third project I finished over Christmas Break. It’s done, but I’ve been obsessing over one of the hems (that might give you a clue about the project). Some days I think it’s straight and some days I think it’s crooked. I haven’t posted it yet because I’m *this* close to ripping out part of the hem (for the third time). So let’s just say that post is on hold this week.

*Link contains affiliate

2012 Home Goals

Y’all know I like making lists, so I’m sure no one is surprised that I’m participating in Nester’s 2012 Home Goals party.

Instead of just listing specific projects I want to write this list a little differently.

#1

It’s almost been a year, time for my house to stop looking/feeling like I just moved in!

This means I will finish unpacking boxes and actually make some decorating decisions.  Instead of waiting for the perfect piece I need to start using what I have. I can always update/replace things, but for now, something would look better than nothing.

(Not a good look – The tile has been fixed since this picture)

#2

Stop being a cheap ass and spend some of the money I’ve been hoarding!

I’ve been saving money for a couple big projects/furniture pieces, but I’ve yet to act on any of them. I’m planning to:

Extend the Back Patio

Buy a New Couch

Buy a New Entertainment Center

And I’m planning to use my yearly bonus (depending on the amount) to replace my stove and microwave to match the other kitchen appliances.

#3

Simplify!

This one is going to be hard because I love stuff!

via Pinterest

However, I don’t like dusting stuff. And I’m starting to feel like I’ve accumulated too much stuff! My boyfriend and I recently dropped off 2 boxes and 1 trash bag full of stuff to the Goodwill…it’s a good start, but I’m sure we have more.

#4

Stop apologizing for my house!

We work full-time and have a puppy – our house isn’t going to be perfect. It will get messy and things will be out of order. I need to remember that.

And I think we all know DIY projects take time. I can’t expect everything to happen overnight. This year I want to stop being embarrassed about the things that need to be fixed and start enjoying the fact that I have my own house. I know I’m very lucky and I want to try and be more appreciative of that.

Here’s a great “Quit Apologizing” post from Nester.

The Dog House

Ringo has been spending a lot more time outside after chewing up my couch. He’s no longer allowed in the house unsupervised. But don’t feel too bad for him – we have a HUGE backyard and thanks to my mom, he has his own house.

1 bedroom/0 bath – 6 sq ft…perfect for our little pup

My mom won the dog house at a silent auction just before Christmas. Yes, it was one of his Christmas presents. And yes, she wrapped it for him.

(I had to bribe him with treats to get this picture)

If you are interested, this is his house. And no, Ringo and I aren’t getting paid to share this product.

Ringo vs. Couch

Alternate Title: Damn Pup!

Sigh.

Photo Challenge

  
Today I’m partying with Leslie for Photo Challenge Monday…except I’m joining on a Thursday. Let's just say I’m fashionably late. And I didn’t even take pictures for all 5 categories...Photo Challenge FAIL!

Transportation

 And this is why you don’t stain furniture next to your car…

Light

I just bought new lamps for the master bedroom!