measuring matters

Great scott, I have to stop watching HGtv!  Actually, what I am really obsessed with is Rehab Addict.  Nicole Curtis is basically awesome and I wish I had her skills.  I would have built a mini mansion at this point.  Well, the mini mansion would be for Simon but I would definitely have some shelves!

I wish I had a dog to blame my mess on!

She talks a lot about salvage yards and they always look incredible.  I found one online here in Kzoo and headed down there yesterday.  I wanted to price out an old door for a possible headboard, some storage crates for my bathroom and possibly some for shelves for my kitchen.  Or some reclaimed wood for those shelves.  From a barn.  Natch. (Can I even express how much I HATE the shortening of the words?!  I’m still not sure why I wrote that)

I got it in my mind that “salvage” meant “cheap”.  Nope.  In fact, this is not the case at all!  I did find a cool door but it was almost $200.  There was a mirror that had possibilities but even that was expensive.  I did get this nifty crate (and a sliver) for $20:

someone painted the inside pink – lame. But I can put my dvds in there along with a decoration

I headed out for wooden wine boxes next.  A local liquor store has them for $20.  They were all out so I drove to another one and they gave me two – FOR FREE!  I was beyond excited and celebrated by buying some alcohol.

What did I actually accomplish this weekend in regards to some DIY?  I created my masterpiece!

I love it!

I wanted a white trash can to blend in but could only find black in the style I wanted.  A serious moment of inspiration and my polka dot garbage can was born.  I’m in love.

these were my two ingredients

Next, I decided to give my cords a makeover.  I don’t have much of an option of hiding the cords so I took some washi tape to them to make them less ugly.  They are cuter for sure.  I have a little white box that I’m going to hang then they won’t dangle quite so much.

ew – ugly

much prettier cords!

Then I took three trips to my storage.  The stuff that went in was mostly items I want to keep – Christmas and Halloween decorations.  Two other bins are things (scrapbooking supplies) I want to sell but don’t have time at the moment to organize it.  Also, I wanted it out of my living room.  I basically added over 3 feet to my living room by getting it out.

“there’s so much room for activities!”

My super epic plan for the weekend was to take one of my very bland walls and add some pizzazz.  How?  Temporary wallpaper!  My original plan was to washi tape it but I don’t know dimensions and ended up with little tiny, skinny rolls of tape.  Apparently, size matters when it comes to DIY and so does learning how to read dimensions.

I went onto the Sherwin-Williams website and fell in love with a few different prints.  I headed to the store ready to purchase a roll – yay!  Wah-wah… you have to order it.  They don’t have any on-hand in the store.  I feel I should have had that info in my brain already but whatever.  Since we have established I am not a patient person, I figured I should re-imagine what to do with this wall.  I’m still thinking.

A couple of other projects are in the works (yes, I do start several at once!) but they aren’t picture ready just yet.  This week, I’m looking forward to my maint guys hanging my curtains along with my wine boxes (as shelves) in my kitchen.  I feel like it will then look like I’m actually making progress.

Oh yeah, and a long run on the docket today!  OUTSIDE!  Wahoo!

Are you in DIY?

Do you start a number of projects at once?  Or concentrate on one?  Tell me about your projects!

stream of consciousness – this is how my conversations go, too

Yesterday morning, I woke up EARLY and even got out of bed to do a mini workout.  Yes, I did a double take in the mirror as well.  When the alarm clock went off at 6:15 am and then again at 6:30 am, I was fairly determined to go back to sleep.  I grabbed my phone and went through some facebook and e-mail and then I was awake (well, sort of).  Again… should I get up?  Sleep for another hour?

I had an early morning meeting and needed to get a few things ready for it.  So, I actually got out of bed and did some burpees, butterfly sit-ups, planks, some other ab thingy and push-ups.  It didn’t take too long but it definitely woke me up further.  I have no idea if this will become a habit but I can see the appeal.  Yesterday was rest from running and coming home from work and not having to think about an impending work out was nice.

This weekend, I completely failed my breasts.  I’m not kidding.  I totally disregarded my advice from Monday.  I ran on Sunday evening at 8:30 pm when it had finally cooled to a nice breezy 83*.  I had been rearranging my furniture all day and I didn’t feel like changing from my older/slightly too small sports bra and didn’t think it would be that much of an issue for a short run.  Oh silly, silly Amy!  Once again, HEED MY ADVICE!  I did get the run finished though, despite the heat (and chaffing).  I was also wearing the white t-shirt that I had on all day and by the end of the run, it was a disaster.  My vacuum cleaner exploded a bit earlier in the day, moving the furniture, an unfortunate incident with a very squirty orange and then the run.  I probably should simply burn the shirt!

yep… this is how it went

Other than that, I rested up on Saturday.  I got 4 runs in this past week!  I am very proud of myself.  My “getting my sh*# together” plan is working!  The apt overhaul is also underway.  I moved all of the furniture around yesterday and I’ve created some distinguished living spaces.  I now have a living room that is separated from the kitchen by my couch and a shelf (acting as a couch table).  There are a few tight-ish traffic spots but overall, it really adds to the illusion of space.  Pics coming soon!

There is still more to do.  Organizing, throwing away, giving away and selling some of my stuff.  A friend is helping with the selling part so all I have to do is take pictures and she will take care of the rest.  Funny enough, I can now see the changes coming together so it doesn’t feel as daunting and I am more interested in putting forth the effort.  Thankfully, when I moved everything around, it ended up looking like the image in my head – YAY!  Midway through, I was thinking I was going to have to move everything back or it wasn’t going to fit.  Needless to say, I did a little jig!

Oh my gosh… I’m a bit gif crazy – see ya later alligator