Custom Range Hood for Less Than $50!

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Custom Range Hood for Less Than $50!

Do you ever have a project that just hangs over you like a gray cloud? For me it's been the cabinet space over the range. When we bought the house there was a microwave over the range:

Now I don't know about you, but when I'm cooking, the last thing I want is a microwave buzzing next to my head. So what did I do? I took it down and converted the drawers in the island to shelves (more on that project later) that would store the microwave. What I was left with was this:

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Guest Post: Guesting, Guesting, Read all about me!

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Hey ya'll!!! My name is Tara! I am an Illinois transplant via Indiana! I am married to a wonderful and supportive hubby and we have 3 amazingly wonderful kiddos, and a Rottie! We bought a foreclosure back in 2012 and have been working on it non-stop since. We are extremely thrifty and love to reincarnate old pieces of furniture! With that being said I am going to show ya'll a piece I just did!

We got this piece from our neighbor D. He just bought a house in WI and this piece was sitting in his garage. So he brought it to me! I love free!!! Ok so first I wanted to paint it blue and keep the top wood. Then I decided that wasn't right. I decided on a cream color.

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Just Checking In!

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I just wanted to pop on because I haven't posted in a couple of weeks - crazy busy with school and work. The good news is that I am completely caught up so I have the whole weekend to finish projects. The kids bathroom is almost finished and I've got a few things done in the office. I can't wait to show it all to you on Sunday/Monday. Until then, have a great weekend!  

$15 DIY Rustic Headboard

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$15 DIY Rustic Headboard

Over the weekend we (the Hubs and I) were able to wrap up a few things. One of those thing was our son's headboard. Since we are doing a train theme in his room we thought it would be cool to do a DIY Headboard that looked like old train rails. After a bit of online browsing I found the design I wanted. I sketched out a few plans and headed to the hardware store to grab some materials.

Over a period of a couple of days we were able to create our very own headboard. And the cost? Around $30! Even better, this is an easy weekend project that just about anyone could do. To make it easy, I photographed almost every step along the way (some things were just too hard to photograph). Hopefully you will feel inspired to tackle this project yourself. :-)

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I'm blogging about a printer...

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I'm blogging about a printer...

Yep, it's happened. I am blogging about a printer. But it's really about more than that. I have been working on this house for three years. I spent more money than I care to admit on flooring, backsplashes, paint and other things. Need a new backsplash? Done. Hate the tile downstairs? Gone. Yet for the last three years I have dealt with a printer that is almost as old as my seven-year-old daughter. It was one of the first wireless printers and for the last few years it has barely worked. But I kept it. Why? Because it worked good enough. Because I had ink stocked up. Because I'm too cheap to buy a new one. Yep, there is the real reason. I will spend thousands of dollars on making my house look good but won't part with $100 to get a printer that actually works the way I need it to? That's just plain crazy.

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I snuck in some organization time

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I snuck in some organization time

One of the problems with working in a work-in-progress office is that you spend the entire day staring at a space that desperately needs work. The last few days, while reading, I would look around and think "I really need to get this office organized." I've got a pretty tough semester and having my office in shambles makes it all that much harder. I can't find the books I need. I can't find the right calculator (graphing or financial), there are no telling where my pens are, and the place just looks terrible. I set aside one day a week, Monday through Thursday, for one course. Today's course was Accounting. Since it is the first week, the assignment was a general overview. The whole reading/assignment took me about an hour. I did a little bit of necessary work and then I decided I needed to work on the office. The priority for today was organization. With that in my mind I decided to tackle this mess:

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Painting progress!

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Painting progress!

Now that school has started back for me (last semester! Woo hoo!) I have become a weekend warrior. During the week I will work on projects as time allows, but on the weekend most of them will get knocked out. This weekend I had a baby shower so I really only had one day to get anything done. With that in mind, I made the most of it. The first thing I did was finish up painting the french doors and the walls in my office. I also added the dummy handles so I could actually use the french doors (I'm not going to lie... I've been "locked" in my office a few times the last couple of weeks because I didn't have handles). For the walls, I used Benjamin Moore Stratton Blue. It's a nice bluish green color and is perfect for the office because of all the green and blue from outside (I thought it was a nice way to bring the outside in). As usual, I went with the black doors so it would match the rest of the house.

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Finally... My Own Office Space!

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Finally... My Own Office Space!

Because I have project ADD I have to have a couple of projects going at one time. Currently I am working on little man's bedroom, the kid's bathroom and my office. Those are probably the three most manageable rooms of the house. The office is a new edition to the home. We separated a long, awkward living area into a playroom for the kids and an office for myself. Since I am in my last semester of college at the ripe old age of 36, I decided to give myself an office as a graduation present. Actually, I've been needing an office for awhile. 

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A Room Fit for a Princess

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A Room Fit for a Princess

One of my favorite parts of remodeling is the decorating that comes with it. With my daughter's room, there wasn't much that had to be done for the remodel. The ugly tile floors extended into her room so removing that and replacing it with wood was pretty much the only project in her room. When I asked what she wanted to do in her room she said "mom, I want a hot pink room." Ouch. For the last year, I've been dealing with the loud purple wall (which were preceded by aqua walls). I really want her to express herself but a hot pink room? Hmmmm.... As usual, I took to Pinterest and Google Images and poured through hundreds of photos of hot pink rooms. All of them were pretty scary, to say the least. While on Houzz.com I found a room that I thought may be the solution to my problem. It was a completely white room with a turquoise stripe running through it. I immediately showed the picture to my daughter and she loved it. Phew..

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Little Man's Mood Board

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Little Man's Mood Board

Now that most of the major remodeling is complete, it's time to work on decorating the kid's rooms. I finished the princess' room last week (I'll try to get pics up soon) so now it's time to focus on little man. Like most little boys, he is obsessed with trains. I wanted to give him a train room without spending a ton on actual train decor (since he will outgrow it). So how do you bring train into a room without making it a full-on train room? The plan is to buy railroad tins and use black and white steam train photos. Throw in a transportation rug and some fun sheets and little man will be on his way to a train room. I'm hoping to have it finished in the next couple of weeks. I'm so excited to finally be decorating his room!

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The Closet Reveal!

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The Closet Reveal!

If you've noticed the dates of my last blog entry, you'll see it's been about 5 months. Truth is, I got busy. School. Work. Kids. Life. I've had some free time this summer so I began finishing up various projects. One of my favorites is the my new master closet. This was such a labor of love but was worth the blood, sweat and tears. I absolutely love it. So, without further ado, here is my new closet!!! If you want to remind yourself of the before, check it out here.

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