The Master Suite

I think the our favorite feature that we added to this home is the master bathroom suite. When we walked into the original bathroom it was Baylor yellow with a standard shower/ tub combo and its only entrance was in the hallway. After an extensive design meeting with Wes :) - I think the more opinionated of the two of us...  and several drawings later we landed on our solution.

Solution: We walled off the hallway entrance and busted through the master bedroom wall. This proved to be a great use of space because we were able to add another closet.. SCORE. So we went from a Baylor yellow color with a pedestal sink with a shower/tub combo, and a toilet to.......

A walk in shower with a bench, custom cabinet double vanity sink, his/her closets, and a toilet tucked nicely around a half wall in a calming blue/ neutral tile combo. Like every room in our house there is a window that makes it a bright space.

Chrome is my favorite finish so we did a chrome light fixture with Delta chrome sink fixtures and rain shower head.

I just like these pulls I found at hobby lobby... less than a dollar on sale and a vintage touch.

                           OH yea almost forgot here is the original bathroom... all Baylor bright:

This toilet is actually where we put our shower.

The sink is where our toilet is currently. This door was way too great to get rid of ... it is in our garage waiting for its new home.

Kitchen Clean and Quaint.

I am a little eclectic when it comes to my style. I think that is why I love the idea of flipping because its almost like every home has its own character to take and run with.  With the fireplace, giant windows and "secret garden" back yard - this home already felt peaceful and cozy to me. So the finish out was almost like just putting make up on an already pretty face. I was taking what was already existing and enhancing it and drawing attention to its good features.

The kitchen already had clean lines and quaint details. I love clean and quaint. There was an existing huge sink, and a lot of room for improvement. But my favorite part about the kitchen was and still are the windows! One giant window, a door with windows, and a sink window. Although the walls and floors were painted the same shade of navy blue, I could already envision a light, crisp, clean kitchen flooded with  natural light.

Before: Navy blue concrete floors and walls, washer and dryer in the kitchen, old red and white cabinets, rusted white sink, no refrigerator, a water heater in the pantry, and one light fixture that didn't give off much light.

We still have this antique if anyone wants to buy it let me know - as far we know it still works.

The insides of these cabinets were fire engine red, the grout on the white hexagon tiles were pretty nasty

 The washer and dryer were below this window and covering part of it.

                           This was the original pantry with the water heater in the corner.



After: We put in new tile floors, moved the water heater into the attic and put a stackable washer and dryer into the old pantry, installed granite counter tops, new subway tile backsplash, fresh coat of an oil base paint on the cabinets, new hardware, kept the quaint metal detailing under the sink (love that), re-finished our sink, had four can lights installed as well as a single pendant, Kept the same cabinets for the most part but added a cookie sheet slot and took some out to add a dishwasher and bought all new appliances.

 No more washer and dryer and no more navy blue! So natural and bright. I feel like I am in a sanctuary when I am cooking (except for the time the oven caught on fire).

 Brazilian Black granite with black hardware makes my white subway tile and white cabinets look very clean and crisps. I love my butchers block - my parents gave me that as a house warming gift - and it has made this kitchen not only cute, but incredibly functional. Its on wheels to I can wheel it around to the stove when I am chopping food... its awesome!

 Chrome! I love chrome - its just enough pop to keep it clean. I put a chrome sink faucet and light fixture in. My counter tops look a little cluttered...but like I said we live here so its going to look a little lived in :).

We put Sea Salt on the walls (Sherwin Williams) which is in my opinion one of the best paint colors ever created. It has just enough blue/ green for some character, but enough grey to be a neutral.

 I love this little ditty :) - I painted the stool and the wooden frame the same color as the wall. I wanted them to blend it and not carry any weight. This kitchen is not big by any means so to have something heavy and bulky there would make me feel cramped. I am eventually going to get a tall, small table so Wes can set his drink down while he watches me cook. He likes to be in the kitchen with me so he needed a stool. He is so sweet! I love these tea cups they pull in the quaint detailing under the sink.

 This is our washer dryer creative solution. We re-located the water heater and put them in the original pantry. I am more than happy to not have a washer and dryer in my kitchen. They are so quiet and do a great job we are thrilled with this investment. When I close the door I cant hear them at all.

This is my storage solution. Because the closet we had to work with was a little on the narrow side I decided to hang baskets on the wall. Perfect! They hold all my cleaning supplies and laundry detergent no problem.



The Colcord kitchen is one of my favorite parts about the flip. As a newly wed learning to be a great wife I needed an inspiring kitchen. 

**Side note I don't have a big fancy camera - so these pictures are just taken with my iphone. Sorry they aren't the best quality maybe a few flips down the road the blog and the pictures will improve a little :)**

The First of Many: Sanctuary on Colcord Ave.

A few months back Wes and I decided to find a house, or a dump, and renovate it to make it home. Because of my degree, my job (designer for Magnolia Homes), and his job (credit analyst at a bank) we  felt like it was a set up.

Turns out it was a total set up. His bank more than supported us, my job experience in flipping homes, and my degree more than prepped me for this new adventure.

Apprehensions: we were going to get in a million fights over finishes and selections, it wasn't going to be cute at all when we were done, fail, and money would get out of control. After praying through all the apprehensions and acknowledging them as fears we jumped in!

Found our adorable little house while driving around - it was an estate sale and the sweet lady who lived here before us built this home and lived here her whole life! Awesome - just one homeowner before us and raised all of her children here. I love that story. We picked this house because of its bones. It has great features such as: huge windows, chimney in the front, fireplace, hardwood floors (original to the house), incredible blue hexagon tile in the bathroom, and a solid foundation. The owner also replaced the roof not too long ago with a 45 yr. shingle...that is GREAT! She also had recently update the AC unit and the water heater. As soon as I walked in it was a no- brainer!

No one else wanted the home because they had a hard time seeing past the painted blue concrete floors in the kitchen, the washer and dryer in the kitchen, the outdated appliances, the nasty/ musty floral carpets and the stains on the walls. And of course our favorite fix up ... there was no master suite.

Pictures our home before: Kind of reminded me of McDonalds with the yellowish brick and red-ish roof.


I want to bring God into everything I do because then I know for sure it is his design - his idea not mine. His is and always will be WAY BETTER THAN MINE! So I prayed through this whole process - some of you might think that is silly, but I'm dead serious. Anyways I was a little stressed over the paint color because my challenge was picking a color that didn't make the roof look more red. My first thought was a shade of green or grey.. neutral or complimentary ... right?? Well after praying I knew it had to be blue. What I am saying is: it was God's idea for the house to be blue. No matter how hard I tried to justify a different direction it had to be blue. I felt like this home was to be a "sanctuary" a refuge for the next owner (thats why we bought it ... to sell it, but we are currently living here). We will see if that is case we hope to put it on the market soon. But that is my prayer and inspiration word for this home: Sanctuary. Of course lo and behold I found the perfect shade of blue from a local paint shop in town called sanctuary. Before I ever knew - God knew- gosh its sweet to follow Jesus. Anyways like I was saying I had a word for this house and after searching through major paint companies I landed on the perfect color which is called the inspiration word for my house. Coincidence?? - I don't think so ... God. Call me hyper spiritual or whatever you want but I just couldn't believe this, I was so encouraged and affirmed to move forward. It was exactly the confidence I needed to finish the job, and create the perfect blue house on Colcord Avenue.

So we painted the exterior Sanctuary blue and almost the entire interior the perfectly peaceful shade of blue called Sea Salt (sherwin williams color).

Here is the final product of the out side of our home. I plan on posting each room over the next week and the major changes we made...all the before and afters.


The Sanctuary on Colcord:

We actually ended up taking down all the white railings around the front and back porch and put 8" cedar beams instead that we stained to match our new custom shutters. My favorite part is that the roof looks brown with this color - no more Mcdonalds. God knew the perfect color.

We love living here and will definitely be sad when we move into the next project, but we have found a hobby/ job that we LOVE!!!

Remember all of my apprehensions... well here was the final outcome: we worked so well together (only like 3 arguments over layout ideas), Wes handled the finances like a champ and we came in EXACTLY almost to the penny on budget, we are more than happy with the outcome of our home, and we feel like do live in a sanctuary. Concept accomplished.

More to come - room by room transformation!

Losing Yourself.

There was a moment today when I thought... Who am I?? and where did that just come from? Oh the woes of being a human. We so easily lose ourselves. All I need is 100 degree weather, driving the beast (my husbands awesome Z71 Tahoe that I have a really hard time driving), and an angry sub contractor for me to become monster Sarah. In my defense today was a rough day and around four o'clock I found my self: hair completely disheveled, drinking a coke?? (I hate coke.. I haven't had one in years), and screaming at another human over the phone. This is a very scary picture.

After hanging up and realizing what I had become, I felt lost. I was defending my company from a sub contractor who really got us into a terrible situation by deception. Yes that is a good bone in me, its the justice bone and the loyal bone, and I honestly wouldn't trade them. But oh to be like Jesus to channel my loyal justice into a self controlled person. I finished the work day and crawled onto my bed, lit a candle and reflected my mind flooded with scripture.

 Galatians 5: ^"13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. ^(Y)Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love ^(Z)serve one another. ¹⁴ For ^(AA)the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ^(AB)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you ^(AC)bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. ¹⁶ But I say, ^(AD)walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^(AE)the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For ^(AF)the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^(AG)to keep you from doing the things you want to do." - If I had been walking by the spirit would I have solved the problem with wisdom.. probably. Instead I lost it and ended up solving nothing - just hanging up the phone.

Not to mention the fruits of the spirit, love your neighbor as you love yourself, and just the character of Jesus. He was mocked, accused, slandered against, forsaken....etc. Yet he maintained his character, he was constant. He showed grace and mercy. Even to monster Sarah he is merciful. Something I love about Jesus that is so over looked is his kindness. He was so kind to the lowest of the lows, he was so kind to liars, cheaters, and prostitutes. He didn't hold his nose up and think lowly of them he considered them the same as himself, and he was kind. 

I'm thankful for grace, but I refuse to take advantage of it. Repentance, meaning to change your ways is in order as well as an apology. My prayer and hope is that I would become such a woman of the word that before I speak scripture would flood my mind, and that I would be equipped for the day, and first to seek wisdom from God. 

One Down and Forever to Go.

The Kiss that started it all....

And now almost one whole year later I am more in love with my husband than ever imagined possible. I am so excited to find out what two, three, four, five.....twenty-five years of committed love will be like.  

This year has been sweet, so sweet. Full of surprises, a small amount of tears, tons of laughter and so much love. Wes is an amazing husband so full of life and adventure I feel like everyday is something new. I feel like since we have been married I have come more alive than ever - coming into all that God made me to be. It's fascinating what a covenant relationship looks like on earth, I can only imagine the depths of covenant relationship with God. 

Intimacy - In-to-me-see: I have seen/ heard this in multiple books and teachings. This is absolutely the truth. I think this applies not only to marriage but to relationship with God. Opening up and allowing all the good, bad, and ugly to be seen. I have noticed that this has been difficult for me with Wes. There are times when I just say "I'm fine" or "whatever" or "hmmm doesn't matter" when that is NOT at all what I'm feeling. I have really had to press in and open up this first year - and allow him to really see into me. I feel so silly sometimes with the things that "hurt my feelings" :), but it is important to be known. We were created to know and to be known. We were created for deep intimacy - not just with our spouse, but also with our creator. 

This year as I have gone deep with Wes, it has allowed me to go deep with God. I am so thankful for the hunk of man that I married. For him creating a safe place for me, and pulling me into new depths and new heights. He is a man to follow - that is for sure. I have never seen such character, respect, and honor. So here's to one glorious year, and for forever to come. I love you!

The Details.

So for Christmas Wes got me Finney! An adorable cockatiel. It is so sweet to come home every day and hear a sweet little tweet that sounds a lot like my "hi". Finney's head looks like a sunset and the rest of his body is the perfect balance of grey and white. He is like a tiny package of incredible detail - it amazes me the detail that God put into everything.  Growing up my mom always told me to look at my tear duct in my eye to see the details of the human body. It really is amazing. Looking at my tiny little bird alone is so inspiring to me. The details really count.

It seems like when I miss the details I miss out on something big. Whenever life seems fast paced and blurry there is a spark that gets dull, fast. My prayer, and my encouragement is that we would all notice the details, because it does go by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was walking around our house in Alabama with Buddy on my head (my bird from middle school), or I was changing Will's diaper (my brother that is now 17 yrs. old and a senior in highschool). So the goal is to cherish the details - look for the creator's touches. I think He did it so we would delight in it - so lets delight in his design.

Find details about you that you love - after all you were designed by the creator of the universe! If you critic the design you are critiquing the designer...consider this before you complain about your body, or hair, or eye color...etc. Not to be cliche or cheesy, but you are a detailed, unique design and He put a lot of thought into you.


"Psalm 139:13 - For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb."

Here are a few pictures of "the details" that I have collected from traveling/ just everyday life:

This is a flower from Uganda, Africa - its amazing... its glowing. I love the dark center that holds it together.

Finney bird, Wes's eye, weird leaf moth, and a flower from the middle east.

Abiding... a paper for elevate

John 15:1-11

1 “I am the (A)true vine, and my Father is (B)the vinedresser. 2 (C)Every branch in me that does not bear fruit (D)he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, (E)that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already (F)you are clean (G)because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 (H)Abide (I)in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; (J)you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that (K)bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me (L)he is thrown away like a branch and withers; (M)and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If (N)you abide in me, and my words abide in you, (O)ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 (P)By this my Father is glorified, that you (Q)bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 (R)As the Father has loved me, (S)so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 (T)If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as (U)I have kept (V)my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, (W)that my joy may be in you, and that (X)your joy may be full (Biblegateway.com).

           

            This passage is basically saying to remain or abide in Jesus. Outside of Jesus there is no life, no ability to glorify God, and only death by fire. Jesus is says first that he abides in the father, and the father loves him as he loves us. Therefore we should abide in Jesus as he abides in the father. Then he goes on to say that out side of the branch there is no fruit produced. The branch is the life source to the vine and the vine the life source to the fruit. Without the life source there cannot be life. Jesus also states that if the vine does not produce fruit the vinedresser or God will cut it off or prune it. So basically the only way to live is to live by abiding in Jesus because he abides in God, and the only way to produce fruit is through the branch (Jesus). Without the branch there is no life, no fruit, and only a withered death.

            The first part of this text it makes me feel like I need to go “do” something for God. After further analysis of the text it is quite the opposite. It means to abide – it asks us to abide. So that begs the question what does abide mean? According to Steve Hawthorne the Greek root word for abide literally means to rest. In order to produce something you must “rest” in Jesus, who in turn rests in the father. By abiding in Jesus we are bringing glory to the father and we will produce much fruit. Outside of Jesus it is all a waste – nothing can happen out side or apart from the branch. The vine cannot live with out its life source. In fact if we live apart from Jesus the Bible says we will burn! We will either be cut off and burn a fiery death.

            How do I abide? What does it look like to rest in Jesus. This is a complex answer for me, and I often find my self in a whirlwind striving to make this happen, which is actually the exact opposite. To rest in Jesus means to trust him. To let him be God and me be child. It reminds me that am loved and his beloved, and I am not running for acceptance, but running from acceptance. So when I make decisions I am not making them based on my own understanding or abilities – just hoping God approves – but I am making them with him. The word “abide” reminds me to remember. He is with me, the Bible God says “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. I so often forget that he will never leave me, not for a second. What happens is I turn and face another direction and attempt to do it myself, and realize I cannot do it on my own. I simply do not have enough, nor do I have anything to pour out without God. Everything I have comes from him – the branch – so how could I possibly live apart from him? Or even better why would I want to? It seems so often that I hit a wall, get tired and fed up, and then I remember … “Oh yeah...I’m not here to do it on my own…”. I was never made to make it on my own. That’s why Jesus gave this example. It makes so much sense when you look at it like this. If I were a vine I would die within hours if I were cut off from the branch. I would not be able to get food, water, or any of the nutrients I would need to live.

            The next part of the verse that also so often causes me to “strive” is producing fruit. It is so tempting for me to switch gears into performance mode, and just think about goals and objectives. Can I just say, what a miserable life, always trying to please people who sometimes will never be satisfied and will constantly find fault. Can I also say, what a miserable life always trying to please God. Before you read that wrong let me explain. The truth (according to the Bible) is that he DELIGHTS in us. We are the apple of his eye. We are so loved by God. Why would God say over and over that he is delighted in us if he was dissatisfied? Or wanted a better effort? You see we are already loved and accepted by God – so life is not about trying to please a distant ethereal god in heaven. It’s about first being loved and then over flowing and longing to love Him back. For example, sharing the gospel. So many people think this is a terrible idea…but if you are first loved by God and you truly believe it why on earth would you not want to glorify your father? Why on earth would you not want someone else to know how great he is? I don’t know about you but I love God more than I am worried about inconveniencing someone at the grocery store. It’s all about a heart of worship. I am so loved by God that I LONG and DESIRE to love him. And by loving him I am obeying him, and his word. I’m pretty sure I could go on and on about this topic because it is one that I just didn’t understand for so long. Now that I have this understanding my whole lens has shifted, how I feel loved by God, how I serve him, how I receive love from others. Last example, think of your children – would you be heart broken if they spent their whole lives trying desperately to please you and even though you told them everyday you delighted in them – they worked themselves sick. That happens more times than not with people who are trying to serve God. I would say worship Him, because you were first loved.

             I am the first to say I am NOT the best at this. I know it in my head, but I am still understanding it in my heart. Applying this to my life has been an absolute joy. When I do at times live life at 100% peace, just “resting” in Jesus – I feel so secure. My feet are soundly on the rock. I don’t feel anxious, or stressed, because I know I am taken care of. I also don’t feel the need to strive or perform for anyone! Because I am already delighted in. I choose to obey God because I love him – so I still do what his word says, but it’s not from a place of pleasing, but a place of worship. When I do share the gospel with someone or try to encourage someone at work its so easy because I want them so badly to know the love of God. I am the representative here, I am the vine that reaches my sphere of influence, and it is my delight! I have to remain in the branch to live, to understand, and to be able to overflow with the love of God.

           

A Better Baking Experience

This is not an original idea, I saw it on cup cake wars, but I didn't follow a recipe. It is hard for me to have fun and be creative when I have to follow a recipe. Today I made clementine chocolate fudge cupcakes. YUM!! First things first - preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First I cut the clementines in half and juiced them- Yummmm. I am going to use the juice to make a peach/clementine tea tomorrow for the Superbowl. We have some friends coming over so I thought I would try it. I'm not sure I've ever had it before, but I'll let you know how it goes. I sampled some today and thought it was really good! 

Then I made the cake mix. Again I usually use Duncan Hines out of the box. Its so much faster, and I feel like I have the ability to be creative and create something new. Of course there is no replacing homemade - my mom makes incredible homemade EVERYTHING and I love love love it. But for me I just feel cramped by long, time consuming directions (haha). Saturdays are my cleaning and creative days (when I make stuff for my Etsy store) so to take more than an hour to bake something is not refreshing. Anyways I used a chocolate fudge mix. It was sooo tempting to lick the bowl, but I refrained :).

Next cover a cupcake tin with foil and place your clementine halves in the holes. Spoon in the batter until the clementine shell is a little over half full. Then pop it into the oven for about 20 mins. I checked them every 7 mins. to make sure they weren't burning. 

Clementine infused chocolate fudge cupcakes...yum. The guy that did this on cupcake wars used an orange. The first time I made these I used an orange, but the orange flavor was a little strong and I wanted to make mini cupcakes for the Superbowl - so this time I used clementines. You could use lemon too to make a lemon french vanilla cupcake.

There they are .. so cute! Clementine cupcakes!! I like how they lean to the side because it adds a little character :). These would be super cute for a baby shower or child's birthday party. 

My Favorite Reading Nook

My favorite place in our cozy little apartment is the reading nook. For some reason they created a little cut out next to the kitchen, I'm thinking a washer and dryer used to be there - I kind of wish they still were there. But they aren't, so we created a reading nook. It was really Wes' idea, he wanted to watch me cook and be able to talk to me (so sweet). Anyways we built our corner around the idea of the perfect chair. We found our perfect chair for the perfect price at IKEA. It was about $200.00, but we love it and literally use it everyday. 

Can I just say I LOVE volcano candles. They smell awesome and literally fill our entire apartment with a homey clean  scent- not too heavy and not too light.

This our beloved foot rest. We literally hiked a mile in snow, up hill, with winds of at least 30mph, and were wearing heavy duty onesies (Wes gets mad when I call them that, they were made for hunting). When we found the perfect tree Wes hand sawed the tree down.... I know what a man. Then we proceeded to carry all of it back to the car. It was exhausting! It counted as work out the entire Christmas break.  I designed this months ago and was just waiting for the opportunity to chop down a tree. I didn't think that would ever happen so I just tucked it away, but Wes made it happen :). So when we got home I pulled out my sketches and bought the rope from Lowes. I made it in a way that it would have a little built in give for comfort. I love the raw- natural look and we have a great memory behind it. 

                                                                  

I love these chalk boards because they didn't cost a dime! These are actually the boxes some of my wedding gifts came in (made of cardboard). I just painted them with black chalk board paint, cut off strips of burlap and hot glued them to the back, and then wrote on the boxes with chalk. EASY! They look like wood, and bring personality to the space.

Taadaa.. the whole space all together. The weird cream rectangular thing on the wall is the leaf to our kitchen table... yep. As I mentioned in an earlier post we literally have not storage space at all. Sooo I hung it on the wall tied a piece of burlap around it and tucked some lavender in it. It looks a little odd but it works. I hung it over the electrical panel so it covered that ugly eye-sore. Something else that I like is the blanket over the chair. I like that it makes the space look lived in and even more comfortable by creating more texture, and the best part is that it covers the white chair (just incase). The floor lamp is from Pottery Barn - we had gift cards from our wedding, but another great place to find lamps like this is Tuesday Morning or another re-sale store. I actually found a bedside lamp for Wes' night stand that is the mini version from Tuesday Morning.




The last thing to note about this corner is how much we put into one corner and by creating height on both sides it feels balanced. We really maximized the limited amount of space of our kitchen by utilizing this corner. The corner now has a purpose instead of just a piece of furniture, or just being a corner. It's almost like we added a room to our house. When looking at the corner the table leaf on the wall would really stick out like a sore thumb if I didn't balance it with the cake stand and giant mason jar on top of the book shelves. Lastly, the white makes it the perfect reading corner and gives off a peaceful vibe. 

So I tried to make a cake...

Well.. happy birthday Jon, I made you a red, hot pink, and blue cake. It started well, baking the actual cake went really well! I made him a red velvet cake. I just used the box because my schedule is pretty full and I only had 1 hour to make the cake. I always use Duncan Hines cake mix because they seem to come out more moist (just my personal experience). I baked it in two 9" pans for 30 mins. and it came out perfect! Hurray - this is a victory for me :). Then after it cooled I began icing it (mistake #1 - you should rub off crumbs lightly before you begin icing - advice from my mom an expert) my white cream cheese base color quickly became red mixed with cake crumbs. At this point I got pretty frustrated because it ruined my endeavors to make a perfect birthday cake. But then it got even worse when I put the food coloring into the icing and realized i didn't buy red... I bought pink! Yikes..no guy wants a pink cake! So I kept adding more hoping it would get darker, but instead it just turned hot pink. Bummer. Oh well other than the funky colors and the crumby icing I'm sure it will taste good, and my writing on the cake came out pretty decent!


 - Things I wish I did: 1) rub the crumbs off the cake. 2) Checked the food dye before I put it in the icing.
 - Things I wish I DIDN'T do: 1) Buy hot pick food dye. 2) Sprinkle the top of the cake with red sprinkles - it came out uneven and it makes the cake look messy and a little too busy.


Anyways here are the pictures! Enjoy laughing at my hot pink icing. My mom and I took a cake decorating class at Central Market last summer so my lettering and edge designs are a little rusty, but it was sooo fun! I highly recommend it.

Estate sales, antique stores, & re-sale stores

My husband and I live in a charming, TINY apartment. I love the character of the older apartment complex but have serious issues with the electrical bill and the limited space. I don't have any ideas on helping out with the electric bill, but being a maximizer and an adapter I do have some ideas on how to cope with the limited space. Being a designer I have a high standard for the way it looks and being a newly wed I am picky about how much it costs. So for starters I get everything from estate sales, antique stores, flee markets, and re-sale stores. The goal is to buy the "skeleton" not the prettiest piece of furniture in the store. Then once you get it home just clean it off if it's dusty and buy a $3.00 can of spray paint and you are good to go! You can also sand down the furniture depending on the finish and re- stain it. It's so affordable and then you have an awesome piece of furniture made of solid wood and great quality for a great price. I have found that at the same price if you go to places like IKEA and target for furniture you will end up with laminate finishes (or fake wood) and poor structure.  Don't get me wrong there are some things I love at IKEA that you would have a hard time finding at estate sales - for example a clean, unused, white over sized chair.  We bought one not too long ago which we really enjoy, and we got it for a great price. After studying textiles I have a hard time buying used furniture unless I know I am going to re-cover it, and then at that point its getting expensive again. So long story short you can have a pottery barn looking piece of furniture for an incredible price. Our entertainment center was $30.00 from an estate sale we spray painted it black (2 cans @ $3.00) and distressed it (free). For $36.00 we have a functional entertainment center that has all the space we need and looks great.