A Long Winter...but a few new things that make me happy!

There's this wonderful occasional sale called The French Flea. It's somewhat dangerous for me, if I'm being honest. I go online and see what they have coming up at their sales and decide if I want to go or not. NOT such a good idea! I went online last week and spotted this:

Do you love it like I do? I knew I had to have it, but I WORK when they open on Thursdays at 10 a.m. and I knew it would be snapped up by someone immediately. I showed Alyssa and how nice is she...she went and picked it up for me! I feel so lucky! The best part about this chair, my friends, is that it was $105. That's it! Did I mention that I feel lucky??? Here's one more pic with the pillow that Alyssa also found for me:

I'm hopeful that Spring is on it's way. I want to start creating an outdoor room that we can enjoy for a few months out of every year. Until then, I decided to show you a couple more things that make me happy around the house. I love these green apples...they are so cheap and easy to add for a pop of Spring color! You can get them at Pottery Barn. I didn't get my bowl there but, wow, it looks similar!

And without these I would be lost...

Oh, and this one too...

Okay, okay! This one too...not me, the other one! My husband, Jason.

Spring Break is coming for me and I will get some projects posted. Do something cheap and easy around your house in the next couple of weeks and think of Spring! Things are feeling fresh and alive!

Salut!

Stacy

Mini pick-me-up...yes, I'm being serious!

I know you all have one of these and I would encourage you to replace it once in a while. I got my new one at Home Depot and you can find one there too! So here it goes...

Wait...you don't see that? Maybe you can see this...

Sorry for the flash glare, but can you see that scratch? It's gotta go! Can you guess what this is? I know you're fooled because I put the cute heart around it. Let me give you a hint...

I told you we all have one! I was sick of looking at that ugly scratch on my toilet seat so I got a new one! To be exact I got this toilet seat. It was cheap. Cheap like one latte at my favorite coffee shop.  So don't tell me you can't afford this mini (and inexpensive) pick-me-up! I had about ten minutes so here's how it went...

I unscrewed the bolts underneath the seat. I was not looking forward to this part, but I did it anyway. All for the greater good....I did this for you. If I can do it then I know, for a fact, that you can too!

Once I got the seat off I remembered how much I loved France. They don't have toilet seats in France, you see. So off I go to Home Depot to return the toilet seat. It's all about saving this year so I might as well suck it up and go without! I sorta like this new "clean" look. What do you think?

No can do! Here's the new one. Ten minutes and $5.74 and I have a new start in life. Happy buns for me! Now go get a new toilet seat and see how good you feel. I'll see you back here in a few days with a more colorful, creative project that I'm working on. Don't say I didn't do you any favors.

Au revoir,

Stacy



Little Touches of Happy

A little touch of happy in my bathroom.

I think they went out drinking last night... What do you think? :) 

Ciao, 

Alyssa 

**Oops... I forgot to give credit...
The cotton branches are from my favorite little florist in the hood - Brown & Greene

Ricky & Lucy are from CB2.

The 1st of Many 'Mini Pick-Me-Ups'

Welcome to my home! This starts the segment Mini Pick-Me ups. Little day projects to help our home function and look better. As a bonus, we feel better as well!


My first project is the sink area in my laundry room. What a disaster this has been for the last three years. Once upon a time I did have a curtain that was velcroed (spell-check is telling me that is not a word) to the apron under the counter. Alas, with overflows from the sink due to my inability to multi-task in a timely matter as far as the sink filling is concerned as well as painting project clean-ups, etc... etc.. the curtain finally gave way and now it looks like this...

Can you say 'Yuck!' Not a place I want to do any hand-washing of unmentionables! So, Sunday I went to work. I started about 10 am and finished at about 6:30 pm. First things first.... I tackled the spackle. (I know.. somewhat dorky.. but it came into my head.. so I had to type it..) I had a little sanding and filling in of holes from some shelves we had there previously.

 

  Anyhow..with that done I moved to the window that has a layer of over spray from when we sprayed the ceiling white. I scrubbed that ever so softly with a steel wool pad and soap. Amazingly, no scratches and a super clean window! I will paint the frame white and clean the outside this summer, when I can take the window out for a bit.. no snow would help as well for accessing this outside..

Next, I measured the shelves and the area beneath the sink and went shopping for baskets. (The fabric I had bought a week earlier, but wanted to double check my measurements.) 

Off to the Container Store I went.... I had numerous options of which I would show you if I had my creative suite active and could do some nice photoshop montages... but alas you will have to wait for those...

My 2 final choices were the following: 

The ivory version for the top shelf. Mine are lidded without the loop. I have all of my outdoor paper goods from past parties, etc in there. I like the lids because it will keep the dust out.

For the bottom shelf I got the smaller of the 2 feathergrain wood boxes. This will hold, lightbulbs, cleaners, and other miscellaneous items.


Well, back to work I go. When I arrived home from my shopping spree, I ran down and sanded the spackled areas, vacuumed with my trusty little shop vac and washed the walls for the final paint prep. After that I did all the touch up...

For the painting I choose a small foam roller. It works great for touch-ups.. and feathering out brush marks. After I got the first coat on I put a plastic bag around the tray to keep it moist for coat number two. Then, I ran upstairs and started to work on the curtain for below the counter. The fabric I choose is a laminated fabric.. It is shiny and will help in repelling any water mishaps.

Fun fabric to go with my orange walls... but not the most fun sewing experience. I got the fabric from Sewtropolis and I am sooo glad I asked Nikol for some pointers on this fabric. Her pointers were to use clothes pins rather than needles, because as once you make a hole it is there and also double/triple check to make sure you have the stitch you want ready to go.... again.. once there are holes... there is no going back. I used binder clips instead because I actually do not have any clothes pins. These worked just great and once I got the rhythm down life was good. I did have a little slippage because the fabric is smooth, but I solved that with some masking tape on my machine. All in all a stressful, but good learning experience.

Once the curtain was done, it was time to go down and paint the second coat... move our "junk" into the baskets and set it all back up... for the final reveal.....

Overall, I love the new look... upon reflection of the finished project... a few things I am going to add.

1.  Some lighting under the shelving.
2.  A basket in the corner for some random items I still need in this area.
3.  And I think I am going to find a hot pink slice of fabric to add to the bottom of the curtain to give    it a little more style. So check back, as this little 'Mini Pick-Me-Up' may will be looking better in the coming days.

 Ps.. I will get a photo in the day as soon as it is sunny again... the lighting will be much better for the photo then..


Ciao for now!

Alyssa

Welcome to our Cozy Urban Home!

We are just starting out so be patient! Stop by for more fun to come. We look forward to chatting with you.

Alyssa & Stacy