Carpet!

We have carpet! Finally! You'd think choosing carpet would be quick and simple. Pick your color, texture, order. Done.

Nope. 

I wanted grey and brown carpet to go with the slate look tile in the basement. But there are 1 million options for grey and brown carpet. I lugged home 6-8 sample boards filled with carpet squares. It took forever to commit over which 4x4 sample would look the best spread across my basement. 

Some were way too grey. Most were way too light. This would be a basement with a bar, and kids running around. It had to be able to both hide stains and look good. 

I finally narrowed it down to 2 options. I then basically decided which was the lucky winner by playing eeny meeny miny mo. We measured and ordered.  The carpet would butt up against the tile in the basement bar, and be in the hallway and guest suite.

We went with Weathered Wood by Shaw. After the baseboards were installed, the carpet layer came and finished the whole basement in a few days. He did a great job. It seamed up very nice.

I'm happy with the texture, and the level of softness-- but only about 50/50 with the color in the end.  Most of the time it looks great. But, if you catch it in the right light it can give off too much of a grey + brown tone, which can almost be a shade of purple! Not in all lights, just a certain time of day. Which is so weird to me! However, I think when we actually have furniture in the room and the right lighting, it will brighten it up and pull some of the lighter shades out. It will be less grey/brown/purple than what I'm seeing right now. It's just a sea of carpet!

The carpet being installed did help me to decide that while furniture shopping, we need to go for the light colored furniture not the brown I was originally leaning towards.  Shopping for a couch has all been a pain in the rear for us, I'm hoping the hunt for a comfy sectional does not follow the trend.

In all, we love having the basement carpeted and moved playtime with Ben down stairs immediately. There is so much more room to run..and since we have hardly anything else down there, less things for him to get into! We will be spending so much time in this space!

A treat for our feet....and paws.

We purchased an area rug carpet remnant we plan to bind ourselves a few months back. It's snuggly and warm and it's the perfect size. But it didn't really have that much cushion. When we would get down on the floor to play with Scout, it was not as comfortable as we would have liked.

Then Rug Pads USA came to the rescue. They wondered if we'd like to try one of their pads, and we sure did. 

Because our area was so large (12x12) it arrived in two pieces. 

Adam hauled them in the house...perfect fit. The nice thing about Rug Pads USA is that even though they have about every size rug pad imaginable-- they give you the option of having the rug pad cut to custom size if you wish!

My husband always looks like a model when he vacuums. Or at least, he thinks so....

 Look at them legs...

There's plenty of reason to get a carpet pad. So that the rug doesn't slip around, to the protect the floors, and for comfort. +
We have a large area with heavy furniture anchoring it down, so we aren't really worried about the rug scooting around. Our biggest concern was comfort. Since we will probably be spending more time on the floor playing with the future Baby N, we decided we needed some cushion! We chose one of their memory foam rug pads.

We rolled them out, and Scout tested it first.

 Seems happy enough...

Then the tricky part, getting the rug back on and lined up nicely. This is probably a two person job. But I had two excuses not to help:
1. Preg ladies cannot lift heavy stuff. 2. I had to take photos for all of you.

Scout helped by standing on the carpet as we tried to re-align everything...he was a big help.

All three of us took our shoes off as soon as it was all set up and OOO-ed and AHHHH-ed. The floor was now super cushion-y and super dreamy feeling.

See for yourself up close. It was ultra plush and thick, but still kept it's shape when you walked on it. Since it was memory foam.

Scout approved of the upgrade.

 Scout laid right down on the carpet instead of his snuggly bed.
He was a little annoyed that I wouldn't let him go right to sleep with all my click click clicking on the camera and Adam still OOOO-ing and AHHHH-ing over the difference the cushion made on his toes.

 But he just looked so cute. So I kept snapping...

 And he rolled over to get more comfortable.

Then moved further away from me and gave me a dirty look...

Oops, sorry for all the Scout photos. I've turned into that creepy person that takes photos of her boyfriend dog sleeping....anyway....back to the rug pad.

If you in the market for a rug pad, go to Rug Pads USA first. You will not find better selection out there. They also stand behind their MADE IN THE USA (yay!) products with a 15-20 year warranty on all rug pads. Oh, and did I mention FREE SHIPPING? I hate paying for shipping!
Pop over to their handy buying guide and see which rug pad works best for your needs.

Anyway, thank you Rug Pads USA for providing us with your memory foam rug pad. Our feet, and paws are much happier. We've even had a few compliments on the extra cushion from friends and family who have noticed the difference of the extra cushion already!

New Art: Dad in house!

We have some new semi-DIY Art in the living room/hallway. Adam has been on me to get stuff hung up in this house. I guess he's tired of staring at bare walls. Hence my golden mirror gallery wall--which already needs some updated photos, we've added more! Lots more!

But today I'm sharing something different on the walls.

If you've been a reader for awhile you know my dad did our beautiful stonework on the front of our home, and the fireplace. By himself. Just my dad.
He pretty much moved in with us for a few weeks at a time and worked 12 hour work days jamming out to the radio, cutting the stones, mixing the mortar, and placing the stones to the fireplace and exterior of the house.
He doesn't do this for a living or anything, it's sort of a hobby for him. When we told him we were building we nicely asked for his help with the stonework. Not sure if he knew what he was getting into...however, it's our favorite feature on both the inside and the outside of the home. It's very special to both Adam and I.

So I was playing around with the Waterlogue app, and turned these photos:

into these photos:

I emailed them to a buddy at a local print shop, and ~bippity boppity boo~...I have some beautiful prints!

I spray painted some old wood frames from the thrift store (which I forgot to take a BEFORE photo of! I'm slacking lately!) and also spray painted mattes white since they were an ugly peach color.

I'd say I spent less than 20 bucks for both prints and the revamped thrift store frames and mattes combined. Not bad for some large art pieces with meaning. Am I right?

We hung them in the living room hallway. It's a nice reminder of my dad's hard work, and it's nice to have meaningful artwork in our home for us to see, and our guests too!

PSSSSTTTT! Read more about my dad doing the stonework himself on our home Here and Here!


Do you have meaningful artwork in your home?
Have you tried to Waterlogue any of your favorite photos? 
Are you late to the Waterlogue party too?

Then & Now: The Loft

The loft. This space was not in the original house plans, but we had to opportunity to add it since there would have been a wall up taking up valuable space.

So it began....

Andy, our friend and serious multi-tasker. Juggles beer and under laminate...in the loft.

Last time I showed you the loft it was right after move in and the floors were finished.

fresh after move-in day...still dust everywhere in this photo...

Since our bedroom is on the main floor, we didn't think we would use this space much just yet. I picture this room a perfect spot for built-ins and toy storage.

But, for some reason, I’ve been spotting furniture steals perfect for the loft! And, why in the world would I pass up a bargain?
Let me introduce to you to our bonus space now:

The large vintage map has been on the list of makeovers since I purchased it this summer at Kane County Flea Market. But I just can't decide what to do with it yet, so we hung it for now.

If you've been a reader for awhile the succulents in the Prince Albert tin were a past post on the blog. But have since died, and been replaced with fakes. Shhh.

A view of the staircase

Desk is Target... a few years back.
B&W letter name sign: gift from my bridesmaids.
Banana leaf basket storing Scout's babies is from HomeGoods. 

Chair $5, estate sale

Ottoman $5 (needs a makeover, but works for now) Goodwill

Green desk chair $7 estate sale

Vintage USA map $20 flea market find
Barnwood end table: parents garage
Prince Albert tin: parents garage
Rug...I think Wal-mart

Not too bad huh?

For now, Scout seems to think of the loft as his lookout, since he can see out the windows into the creek, and also out the front door from his perch.

His babies are also stored up here...when they are put away.

Looking down into the open living room.

You might also notice we switched out the living room rug...trying something new...more to come on that!

What do you think of our bonus space?
Would you antique the map or leave it as is?

Monogram Wall Art: My take on the 3D Wall Art Trend

I won this fantabulous wood monogram from a giveaway back before the crazy holiday season began. I could only find time to blog about holiday crafts and parties and décor when it came in. Sorry so late. But it still deserves blog time.

I entered the giveaway at Dixie Delights and was super giddy when I won. I was so excited that I placed my order the same day I received the email. Then, I started decorating in my head. (I’m not the only one to do this right?)  I planned to spray paint it gold and tie a ribbon on it and hang it in my entry way mirror. I love gold now. I think blogland has influenced me… But I lurrrrve gold right now. I need more golden-y goodness to accent my gold glam table.

bare wood monogram.

But then the box came. And my golden decorating vision was demolished. Apparently, I was so excited I didn’t read the measurements when I ordered. It was too large for the entry way mirror. In fact it was bigger than my entry mirror itself. My decorating daydreams were squashed. Squashed I say!

Okok, not really squashed I suppose, I'm being a tad dramatic. There are plenty of other places it could go.  Like 100 places actually since we have about 5 things total hanging on our walls.
(We paid a chunk of moolah to get these babies smooth, so it’s hard to put holes in the walls…3M strips are our friend, but we still get all sweaty and nervy when we hang stuff with them.)

So anyway, I started redecorating. Real life decorating this time. This time I just ran around the house with the monogram, holding it up and asking opinions of Adam, my visiting friends, the dog. I liked it everywhere, but just didn’t LOVE it anywhere.

Then I remembered how jealous I was that Ashley and Kelly both did this cool looking 3D wall art. It just seemed too modern for my decorating style to do the same. I could never have modern-y words or phrases looking all high tech and 3D and amazing on my walls like they did. But I had a rainy afternoon, and a big bucket of leftover SW Restrained Gold in the garage. I got to work.

All it took was a teeny craft paintbrush, & a small roller. 30 minutos later I had a beautiful painted monogram. It took 30 minutes because there were 1,028 nooks and crannies I had to fill. If I were using spray paint, or if I had a handy paint sprayer, it would have taken 30 seconds. (Hint hint, I want a paint sprayer) Either way, it will be easy to change the color if I need a change. Which I will someday. Obviously.

But for now I really love it. It's a little extra touch to the room, yet still sort of subtle. I think this is the start of a gallery wall on the staircase. Actually, I know it is. I finally have my ticket for the gallery wall train.

A better view of the entire entry.

(See more about those vintage ski poles and why they are there right here)


From the landing:

One more thing. I didn’t look up monogram etiquette to order it. I don’t really know whose name is supposed to be first. The husband? The wife? Not sure.

Either way, we really only have one choice in order of initials when it comes to monograms. I learned this when we were engaged and ordering all types of monogrammed stuff for showers and the wedding.

The only order we can go with is: ANT. If my name comes first then the monogram would be TNA. I’m sorry, but that is just inappropriate to be on a cookie at a bridal shower, or hanging in your living room. Dirty monograms!

Do you daydream decorate?
Do you have a potentially PG13/odd monogram?

Decking the Halls! (for 4 bucks) Yep.

Have you had enough Holiday home tours yet in blogger-land? I hope not. Don’t worry mine is short and sweet. With a treat at the end.
I was in bed sick alllll weekend long so I didn't get to finish taking all of my photos. 
So this will be more like the nickel tour today!

Hurry in...it's snowing!

Here is a better shot of our front door wreath. I rescued it from an estate sale in a big box of wreaths and garland for 50 cents. Watch and see how far this box of greenery takes us this Christmas..

I took off all the ugly bows and ribbons, spritzed the wreath with some gold spray paint for some pizzaz. Then I hot glued some ornaments from the dollar store, and smack a big sparkly gold "N" on it to finish it off. I love it.

When you come in the front door you will immediately see another rescued wreath from the same estate sale box-o-greenery.

 This one got spritzed of white spray paint and real pinecones hot glued on there. I needed a little something else, so I made some rosettes out of scraps of lace. I like this one so much I think I will use it for my front door wreath after Christmas.

DIY wreath.

After you walk in the entry you see our beautiful tree. She is new this year. Last year we had a real tree. Which we LOVED. We would have gotten another real tree this year....

But this one came unexpected to us in July. My Aunt and my parents got it for me at a moving sale, get this...for: $3.

That is not a typo. $3, 10-foot tree. Pre-lit. With the stand and everything. We are lucky ducks. It fits the spot next to our fireplace perfect.

And next, our mantel.

I used garland from the same estate sale box as the wreaths. Luckily this was still in the original packaging.  I didn't need to rip anything off.
I took it outside and gave this a spritz of white to match the snowy look on our tree. It took about 5 minutes of random spritzing.

The white doesn't show up in the photos as much as in person...

The Noel sign was a craft night project. I just cut the boxes and stenciled right onto the burlap. The hard part was stringing the twine through the burlap. The trick was tweezers!

you don't see our dirty fireplace doors...amiright?

Our dining room is festive too.

On top of my china cabinet sits my lantern collection. They are now surrounded by few mini trees. Also from…you guessed it, the box of estate sale greenery. They too got some white spray paint spritzes to freshen them up and match the other greenery in the house.

The believe banner was made at craft night too. So easy!

These trees will hold our holiday cards as we get them through the next few weeks. It's an easy way to display them. I didn't even put hooks in them, just perched them in the tree branches.

Thank you for visiting!

Linking up today for the Dare to DIY: Deck the Halls....with NewlyWoodwards, Primitive and Proper, Decor and the Dog, and Maybe Matilda.

If you haven't entered our giveaway from  PorterDesignCo to with a set of 3 vintage postcard ornaments enter below! Today is the last day! More info in this post.

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