So you've decided to build a house. What an exciting life event! All the builder upgrades will be awesome! But wait, what if I screw it up? What if I forget important details or my builder doesn't have the designer's touch? Should I build the largest house I can or should I build the nicest house I can afford? Well fear no more. I LOVE the building (and remodeling) process, have been through it many many times, and am here to help. Builder Upgrades: What you SHOULD and SHOULDN'T upgrade (because of the huge volumes of information I am sharing on this subject, this will be a mini series, so stay tuned for follow-up posts on what upgrades you shouldn't do and what you may want to change that could cost you nothing).
Whether you are building a large custom-house in the suburbs or remodeling a classic row house Read more [...]
Ar you interested in 1 hour closet organization? Well, my sister and sister-in-law both put their houses up for sale the same month! I immediately knew how I could help. I begged both of them to let me reorganize their master closets. I know, I'm really weird. I followed as many of the steps from my post "From Blah to Boutique: Organizing a master closet". Here is closet #1 before:
Pretty typical for a master closet. Built in shelving that is not adjustable.
all kinds of crazy colored, covered, plastic, metal and wood hangers (even the "free" ones from Target)
Shoes piled on top of each other
clothes facing different directions
I feel like these clothes are being disrespected when they are inside out, barely hanging on to a scrappy hanger. Check out all of hangers poking out between the clothes. Read more [...]
This is my sister Amy's beautiful traditional home. I have wanted to share her fabulous design talents with you since I started my blog, but wouldn't you know it, it took her putting her house up for sale for me to actually give you a traditional "Open House" tour. The great news? You can buy it!
The entry is very open. Straight ahead is a great staircase and is open to the living room to your right.
The entry is adorned with a huge black and white gallery wall.
The entire main floor is covered in a medium tone hardwood that flows into the living room in the front of the home.
A set of two marbled columns define the space between the living and dining rooms. We have played a lot of games in this dining room, especially after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
If the family room and kitchen is the heart Read more [...]
This post is sponsored by Home Depot and Blogher.
My idea of a great date with my husband is a stroll around a home improvement store. I know, kind of weird but true. We build our house 8 years ago in a track neighborhood. Our kitchen didn't come with any bells and whistles so we added a few items that we purchased at...Home Depot. Here are a few ideas of how you can update your kitchen with The Home Depot.
Read about my "Midnight Beach Kitchen" HERE
These drawer pulls and cupboard handles are from Home Depot.
This classic white subway tile is from Home Depot.
Right now I have Corian (available at Home Depot) but I hope to soon have marble or granite from my local Home Depot.
Be sure to check out the video below and see why Home Depot is my go-to place for home improvement!
Read more [...]
Recently our church youth group held a group date with a waffle bar. I was lucky enough to be a part of it so I'll share how it all went down so you can recreate this really fun date night for any age. We started with long tables covered in brown craft paper. Then decorated the area around with some fabric pennants that I had made for another event. Then we placed four waffle irons on the paper and all the toppings. One of the young women wrote with a black sharpie instructions and labeled the syrups and toppings.
Long tables were set up in a U shape. We found these to work better than rounds since everyone was closer together and their dates sat right across from them. The tables were also covered with brown craft paper and simple mason jars and flowers were added for decor. Groups of sharpies of all colors Read more [...]
Today's post is not a normal "project". This is the note my eight year old son brought home about donations for Boston:
Instead of his usual "I'm going to my friend's house" line, he asked if he could go door to door canvasing our neighborhood asking for donations for Boston. Who cares that the fundraiser is for 6th graders and he is in 2nd. He has such a huge heart. So after a couple of hours of going door to door, he raised $91! he was so excited but really wanted to reach $100, so he ran up stairs and took $9 from his wallet and added it to his pile. Here is picture of him running out the door to deliver it to school.
He is my inspiration to do a little more, help others, and your are never too small to make a difference. And thanks to all of our neighbors who trusted him to take their donations safely Read more [...]
I can't wait to share my DIY Suitcase Dog Bed with you! Okay, this post is really just a way for me to introduce you to my adorable new puppy! We got him just in time for Easter and the whole family is in love with this little fluff ball. His name is Chancho, as in "I would never leave you Chancho" from the great "Nacho Libre". Can you tell I have all boys and a 13-year-old named him? Oh well, I love it too. Now for the dog bed.
My awesome father in law found this old suitcase for me. When he gave it to me we didn't have a pup yet so I imagined it sitting on a shelf somewhere adding charm to my house. But, once Chancho came in to our lives (literally later that day), I knew it would make the perfect dog bed. This is not a new idea, but new for someone like me with my first dog ever. The sandy colored exterior Read more [...]
A few weeks ago we celebrated my husbands 40th birthday! I threw him a surprise party and had a great night. One of the decorations I threw together was this birthday photo pennant.
It was a very simple construction project, with no lasting marks. I took 11 8 X 10 photos and clipped them with clothes pins to an old piece of trim from a blanket I deconstructed years prior. Then I pinned it in front of the kitchen window. The light shinned through the photos giving them a nice glow (albeit pink in some of the older photos :)
I loved the festive look the photos gave and all the guests loved looking at the photos of Justin growing up. Once the party was over I just pulled all the photos down and placed them back in his memory box.
Linked Up: Tatertots & Jello
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This is the inside of a children's play area in our basement (full post on The Castle coming soon). It is a two-story castle with a trap door on the second floor. There is one small problem though, how do the kids get up to the second story with out climbing on the trim?
We considered building a ladder but that seemed like a lot of work and could take up a lot of space in this small area. I even bought an old aluminum pool ladder from ReStore for $2 but it stuck out quite far and ended up re-donating it. That is when I came up with the rock wall ladder. I had my own vision for the space and thankfully my husband went along with my crazy idea once again. We started at Home Depot (we like their lumber better) and went to their "project" lumber section. We found a piece of laminated pine that would need to Read more [...]
I love avocados! I even went to an elementary school that was named after an avocado, "Fuerte". That's what happens when you grow up in So.Cal. There are avocado farms all over the hills in San Diego. After making lots of guacamole, turkey sandwiches with avocado, and yummy salads topped with avocado, I thought I'd share a few tips for using these delicious treats of nature.
I always slice my avocado lengthwise then slide the halves apart. Then with a gentle squeeze pop out the seed. If the avocado is not perfectly ripe, strike it with a knife blade and turn it slightly, then lift up the knife and the seed will be attached. You can throw the seed away, or keep it and place it in the leftover guacamole to help preserve it's freshness (this is kind of a joke to me, since we NEVER have leftover guac!).
Whether Read more [...]
FREE download for Burlap & Denim readers only! Keep reading...
I want to share an AWESOME website that I found recently. It's called:
They have the best fonts! You know I love a great font and graphic design and they have both. Once you become a FREE subscriber you can even download a bunch of FREE fonts to try out. (And don't worry, you won't get SPAMed for subscribing, I've checked them out, they are legit!)
Their Hand Shop pack is totally Burlap & Denim style. It gives you the look of a hand drawn sign using their fonts. In the past I have spent hours (seriously, hours) picking out the best fonts that go together and work for the project that I am working on. The great thing about FontsCafe is that they do the matching for you. So lets say you want to make a chalk board art piece that looks Read more [...]
Design Steps, Home Improvement, Lighting, Organization, Recomendations 
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