unidentified treat

ben loves treats and i love buying treats for him. [a potentially bad combination.] i was in the area today and picked up this delectable sweet for him. ten points if you can tell me what it is. totally predictable, btw.

[sorry for the bad shots. this is probably practice for when we have kids and i have to capture fast-moving things. :) that dessert didn't last long, but he did offer me a bite. yum!]

new creations

last week, we got the electrician started in the master. our master still looks a lot of ugly. big time.

i thought i might fill in the post gaps until things get more beautified by going outside the happenings of this house. i posted about design*sponge being an inspiration, but there are plenty more sites out there!

first up is new creations here in minnesota. the owner/president/CEO steve tuttle attends our church. i had spoken to him and his wife about renovations at my parents' Christmas party, but a recent facebook request brought me back to his site to check out his work again. definitely inspiring.

the company's name comes from 2 corinthians 5:17: "therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has passed away; behold, the new has come." the company works on remodeling projects including kitchens, bathrooms, additions, and basements. from the looks of the before-and-after pics on their site, they do some great work. it is so cool to see the "new creation."

 [image from new creations]

i love the company's foundation of faith. taking something old and run down (like a house that has seen better days) and making it beautiful and useful definitely has a spiritual parallel. check out his site. (and no, i'm not being paid to say this!)

in my next post, we'll flip to the other side of the renovating coin: interior design. have you gathered yet that i am extremely interested in this topic? ;)

d*s jewelry project

do you read design*sponge? it is one of my favorites. some of the posts don't interest me, but there are usually more than five posts a day—enough to keep everyone happy! my favorite categories are the before and afters (usually posted on thursdays), the sneak peeks, and the DIY projects. i was inspired by their embroidered handkerchiefs post and used the idea to make some hankies for ben (but i used my machine instead of doing it by hand).

d*s is where i got the instructions for this little lady, which i finished last week:

d*s posted the instructions in february, and i saved the post because it totally seemed like something my sister-in-law, maggie, would like. she sells premier designs jewelry. her birthday was last week, so i made one for her. but i thought while i was at it, i would make one for myself, too!

now this project involves a jig saw. i didn't have one. BUT, one saturday after church, i found out my parents-in-law had bought a scroll saw for their kids many years ago as a Christmas gift...and it was sitting in their basement, unused, ready for a project. i pretty much squealed.

so here are the pics. i cut out the template, glued it together, traced it onto the wood (i used pine because it is soft for cutting and paints well), and went at it with the scroll saw. it took almost an hour for each form. many relief cuts and a few coats of paint later, i was done! 

it is fun to style it up with my favorite jewelry pieces. go explore design*sponge!

and happy memorial day, by the way. thank you, veterans!

saturday {5.22.2010}

another hard day's work! i bet you are getting sick of these demo photos. bear with me...we are at the turning point. things will start to look different soon.

[image from imdb.com]

why this picture? because we cut a skuttle hole into the ceiling! ha! ben just rolled his eyes at me. (and then he handed me the wii controller and asked me to beat a mario level for him, which i did. now i'm back!)

ben had to climb up into this odd ceiling space (we have a one-and-a-half story, so we have some strange attic stuff going on) to pull out all the insulation. it looked like poodle fur. i stayed down below and stuffed it into garbage bags. ben cleared the space so we can spray foam insulation, which we have in the kitchen and love! it keeps things plenty cozy.

then we tore down the ceiling in the former bath, to-be closet. ben's mask was very dirty, but the inside was clean. it's cool/gross to see what he didn't breathe in but could have.

and look what fell out of the ceiling!

weird. there seems to be a theme of easter eggs at our house.

then, ben taught me how to place electrical boxes. it wasn't hard. i just followed the incredibly "official" electrical plan we've mapped out. :)

it was a good day.

some new additions around the house

good morning! looks like we have some hot weather coming our way!

i did a little shopping on thursday. first up was odds and ends furniture gallery in st. louis park. they sent me a $50 gift card in the mail, with no minimum purchase. i thought it would be worth checking out! they had a lot of scratch and dent pieces, and they were really nice quality. a lot of things were more formal than what we need (very edina looking, ha!), but they had some fun upholstered pieces, too. should have brought my camera.

here's what i bought:

because of the coupon, it ended up being about $13. and ben likes the shade! score!

when i got up on thursday morning, i saw that i had missed a call at 6:30am from my mom. i was worried. i listened to the message—she wanted to tell me about a great table she saw at her neighbor's garage sale. :) i'm so glad it wasn't some serious bad news, but i was thankful for the insider tip!

anyways, i swung over and took a look. it needs a LOT of work, but it is a sturdy oak table with a great shape. and the price? eight dollars. i promptly loaded it into the explorer. it needs to be stripped and re-stained, but i think it's a winner. we'll just us a tablecloth for now. and eventually we'll get some real chairs that don't fold. :)

so those are my thursday deals. seriously, all the garage sale signs make my heart race. i love a good project. speaking of projects, i'm off to work on a super-secret birthday gift. it involves me operating a scroll saw in the garage. if it turns out well, i'll share pics here.

have a great weekend!