It's Fall At The Lakehouse

This is one of my favorite times of the year. There is nothing prettier than the changing colors of foliage in our area. (The only place that rivals this one is when I used to live on the East Coast.)

Aww, even Juno, the Big English Mastiff, enjoys the last warm days in the Midwest!

The beauty of this season outweighs the amount of raking that we have to do, and that's okay, soon enough we'll be engulfed in s-n-o-w and chilly weather. Brrr.

Everyday Husband and I are so thankful for the view and the quietness of our cul de sac.

And sometimes, even in that quietness, we get surprise visitors like the bear cub that ran through our backyard last year and this out-of-place beach ball. Happy Fall ya'll!

It's A Cupcake Decorating (Birthday) Party

When you're celebrating a nine-year-old's birthday, there's nothing better than using every girly/pretty color that's out there.

Finding the theme and inspiration was easy with Pinterest and a purchase of cheap party lanterns!

And even though I'm still a believer in going big on the decor and food, I try to keep the cost down by being creative and shopping various dollar stores.

Lanterns: Originally $8, clearance $2: Family Dollar Stores. Streamers: $1 each.

Clearance glass containers for sprinkles: 25 cents each. Sprinkles from a local bulk food store: aprrox. $1.50 per container.

Girly storage/tackle box filled with gummy worms and fish candy: $1.99 on clearance at Shopko stores.

Paper goods: all $1.00; Cupcake wrappers: $1.50 (Wilton); frosting: Homemade Buttercream. Find the recipe here.

Vinyl Tablecloths (3): 25 cents each on clearance: Dollar General stores. I used three and as each one got dirty, I rolled it up and tossed it. (They made it through cupcake decorating, the girls putting on nail polish and breakfast.)

Homemade Tissue Paper Pom Poms or Flowers: tutorial here, price varied for tissue paper. Cupcake Piñata: $11.97 Walmart stores.

This was the 'Breakfast Bar,' with two cereals, cut up strawberries, chopped walnuts and mini dehydrated marshmallows. Marshmallows: $1.87 from bulk food store. Used two plastic ice cream scoops to serve cereal: $1.00 each at Dollar Tree Stores. Did I mention it was a sleepover?

Inspired by Pinterest and these lantern colors, I'd say this was a successful birthday party!

Until the next party...

Fourth of July and Family Traditions

I'm not sure why it didn't matter as much when I was young, but the older I get (and the older our kids get) I find myself clinging to some traditions I've started. These 'traditions' on their own are so simplistic in themselves, but have grown in meaning every year.

Like the making of Fourth of July 'Sparklers,' pretzel rods, chocolate and sprinkles. Easy to make, not very costly, but something I only make once a year. Kind of like green bean casserole at Thanksgiving and putting streamers above the kitchen table for every child's birthday. Simple, but meaningful. Maybe there will be more traditions, those I don't actually have control over, like witnessing the baby ducks that were born in our front yard earlier this spring.

This year, we are also approaching a milestone of sorts, staying in the same place for almost six years. That's a record for us. Okay, we have lived in three different houses in the same zip code, but this house is the house. I like to think that we are the pioneers of "flipping" houses.

With that record, I've noticed the ups and downs of friendships, the excitement of anticipated events (like our little town's annual fireworks) and the desire for Husband and I to make our lakehouse a permanent home.

I hope you are making lasting memories and building traditions with your families as well. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Life Is (And Has Been) Better At The Lake

It's hard to believe that our family has been at the 'lakehouse' for one year. It's as if we've lived here forever. To say we're lucky is an understatement, maybe because I don't believe in luck and maybe because after all those moves (you can read about them here,) we've finally found home.

 As I went through last year's photos, I found this one above; the DIY sign project I made to commemorate our new house. Only now did I notice Husband and our youngest in the background fishing.

This backyard view, the inhabitants of our space (like "Caesar" the eagle and "Wally" the crane,) the quietness of our cul-de-sac. None of this has gotten old. Thank goodness.

Our family recently re-watched "We Bought A Zoo" with Matt Damon. The first time we watched it, we were in the process of daydreaming about living at the lake. The lakehouse was our zoo, our adventure, our vision of home with our kids.

At that time our vision included a trampoline, basketball hoops and fishing boat. (Two out of three ain't bad.)

Now we foresee berry bushes and homegrown herbs, more of a communing with Mother Nature if you will.

On Sunday, we welcomed this new family, awww...

As we celebrate our home-anniversary, we continue to recognize how blessed we've been as a family. :)

DIY After: Spray Painting The Fireplace

As many of you know, our lakehouse living room is in dire need of a makeover. We've been here just under a year and have had so much (life) going on that renovations had to put on hold.

But last week, I couldn't deal with my living room anxiety anymore, I needed to make at least one change, because with as much work as I do from home, that is the room that mocks me daily with it's screaming 70s fireplace, salmon carpeting, asymmetrical built-in bookcase and walls that need painting so badly.

So I took one baby step. I spray painted the brass surround. Is that what it's called? The ugly brass/gold thing in front that has doors? For the life of me, I can't figure out what to call those doors... (I also see fingerprints and dog drool, hi, welcome to my home.)

As usual, the prep work took the longest. All the taping etc. but it's definitely worth it, because if I had gotten spray paint on the brick, I would have died. Well, maybe not, but you know what I'm saying.

See? Do you see the "face?" I am going to take a sledge hammer to those cutouts one day! Okay, so I taped and then scratched up the surface with sandpaper.

Used the special high-heat spray paint...

And ta-dah! It's a million times better!

Up next? Husband and I are painting the walls...

Help! There's Carpet In My Kitchen!

Nothing like moving into a house and debating whether you really want to keep the ninties-inspired patterned carpet in your kitchen. Before we moved in, the homeowner said it was "scotchgarded."

*crickets*

With three kids and a slobbering dog, there isn't enough Scotchgard® in the world to save this carpet.

Cue kitchen of my dreams from bhg:

What to do, what to do, a quick inward scream, and then you get online to see how on earth to remedy this. Hmm...ceramic tile, vinyl tile, hardwood, laminate...oh so much to choose from. Cross off laminate, been there, done that in several homes. Hardwood? Love it, but the dog scratching her nails across it everyday? I don't think so. How about vinyl tile? Easy upkeep, comes in different sizes, looks like ceramic tile (or stone) and can be grouted, but is lighter, warmer and easier on the feet.

Three problems; 1) they glued the carpet directly to the floor boards, so it was a bumpy, nasty mess and 2) if you use vinyl tile, you may feel the bumps underneath unless you are willing to sand, etc. (which Husband and I have yet to do our own floors so we are terrified) and of course 3) cost.

Always about the bottom line.

I wish I could have said that we were brave and we DIYed it, but even after consulting other DIYers and flooring specialists on Hometalk, the job seemed incredibly daunting for us flooring-newbies.

And even though we can paint, reuse, refurbish and craiglist the crap out of most things in our home, we folded and had someone else do it. :(

Now that we decided on vinyl tile, we looked at every possible color/style option and even pinned them:

I don't know why I'm always drawn to 'travertine' which is a form of limestone, but I am. So that is the kind of tile we chose. That process only took about two weeks! (Hey, when you're spending a boat-load of money on a floor, you better love it!)

But alas! Apparently it would have costed us more to have vinyl tile installed than ceramic tile. Who woudda thunk it. So, I dished out the big bucks (because people, it isn't cheap) and hired someone to put in travertine-looking ceramic tile, because Husband wasn't about to mess with tile, being unexperienced and all.

This photo makes it look more gray, but it is more on the brown side. My saving grace about choosing ceramic tile, it will last forever.

What kind of flooring do you have in your kitchen? Are you happy with it?

It's Friday, Where Has Your iPhone Been?

If I hadn't traded in my dumb phone for an iPhone, I'm not sure I'd remember all the things I'd done in the last couple of weeks. And if it wasn't for Facebook and Instagram, I wouldn't know what my friends were doing either. :(

Should I have to describe my life in verbs it would be; "graphic-designing, writing, staging, website-developing, business-researching, kid-hugging, cooking, taste-testing, not-weight-watching, cleaning, driving, shopping, department-meeting, email-checking and social-networking."

Only another mother would get this kind of verbal rant. Anyhoo, here's where I've been and what I've been doing. If I'm lucky, one of my friends will make sushi tonight and invite me over so I can de-stress, hint, hint.

• Easter-themed cake, check out the details on how to make it on  Todays Wisconsin Mama.
• Staging my parents' home so they can sell it, eventually. (Don't go to Arizona Mom, there are scorpions!)
• A Spring Break trip with Husband to Titletown Brewing Company (funny, we did the same thing almost to the day the year before. See this Spring Break post from 2012.
• Reigniting my love for Pinterest.
• Pretty comforter set from Big Lots. (No I did not buy it, yes, I do regret it.)
• A quick stop at Home Depot before a design department meeting. Adore this glass tile.
• Moo. Don't ask. Visiting a former dairy farm with Husband. (Business related, not a date.)
• Visual Merchandising for a client. (Painting windows and showcasing Prom and Spring dresses.)
• Complaining that we still have snow. Our youngest daughter in the backyard while we were picking up sticks (and dog poop.)

What have you been up to?

Our Living Room - Before Photos

So no exciting or catchy post tile here, but I did think an alternate title could have been; "Party like it's 1979!" Well really more like 1970...

So as promised, here is the "before" shot of our living room. As you can see it's a nice eclectic mess. The shape is actually a rectangle, but where I was standing was where Barbie's castle sits, or "the play area" for now.

Let's not allow the games to distract you. As you can see, we have the flat screen along one wall, then the hideous fireplace in the corner and then the awkward-shapped built-in shelving. There's a nice big open area behind the chair and ottoman for what I assume was the spot for an old television to sit in.

My closet interior designer is whispering, "tear the shelving down," and I am considering this, but then that means Husband would have to repair the walls after. Not a bad thing, because we would gain a little over a foot in depth along that wall.

From this angle we have huge windows overlooking the lake. Please ignore the curtains, that's another challenge altogether (those windows are so tall and long,) the salmon/light burgundy carpeting, and our transitional furniture, all things that are screaming to be updated. One thing at a time people.

As for what kind of look we're going for? Well not contemporary, that's for sure, but if your'e familiar with Sarah Richardson's designs, something comfortable and welcoming, incorporating the natural elements from the outside and doing it all for cheap!

So what would you do if you owned this room? I would love to hear your ideas.

For more conversations about renovating the fireplace, catch the awesome suggestions on home talk!

What Barbie Is Teaching My Daughter

As I was rearranging my living room, I decided that the castle, Barbie's castle that is,  needed dusting too. Remember the days of playing Barbie alone or with friends? I do, endless hours of make-believe.

And Barbie could do anything, in fact at age six, Barbie was going to be a stewardess, get married, have babies, join a rock band, become a fashion designer and later hold the prestigious position of  editor-in-chief at Glamour magazine.

Who knew that Barbie (who is now 50 years old) might want to become a Social Media Strategist.

I guess today, Barbie can be anything or anyone she wants to be. Boy have things changed. Then I noticed something else that's changed...

My eight-year-old's Barbies are ethnically diverse (especially the one on the right with the plastic-lilac-legs!?!)  Not that there aren't any blond Barbies in our house, they're just in the Volkswagen Bug driving around with their boyfriend, who happens to be a male 'Little People' toy. That's because Ken has yet to grace our house, maybe when our daughter is 30.

Our daughter said something the other day about not wanting to be blond and how brunettes 'have more fun.' Where did this come from? School probably.

Typically when I talk about career paths with our daughters it's, "You know, you're a great debater, you could be a lawyer," or "If you go into the medical field, you will always have a job." Ad nauseum.

I think I bought this doll because she resembles me. In fantasy land, that is.

I just want them to not have to worry about bills. Not having enough money can be brutal.

Anyway, both our girls will decide on what they will pursue soon enough. As for our son, I'm constantly steering him towards "Biomedical Engineering," the job of the future!

For now, I will continue to enjoy the Barbies (and toys, games, clothing, clutter) that 'decorate' our home for as long as I can. Because Barbie is still teaching our daughter about sharing, social interaction, manners and desire for a closet full of shoes. Just sayin'.

Valentine's Day Around My House

I've already started decorating for Valentine's Day. It's my way of cutting through the dreariness of the Midwest winter blues. Anyhoo. In my ongoing quest to stay as frugal as possible, I'm also decorating on a budget. Let me tell you, you have to be creative when you're cheap frugal. Here's my creation which was inspired by Pinterest, of course.

Last year I bought the "LOVE" foam shape for only 97 cents. What a deal.

I created the background using the Janda Stylish Script font (which you can download for free here) and printed it on photo paper.

After, I stuck the foam on the outside of the frame (which I already owned.)

It took me all of 15, 20 minutes to make this? I love cheap and fast seasonal decorating!

Of course you do realize that you won't be able to get this song out of your head, whether you like the song or not...

Here are some other Valentine's Day inspired decorating around our house:

Hope you're putting a little love into your decorating this time of year!

Lakehouse Happenings

Summer for our family is always hectic! Fortunately I was able to find a little time for some small craft projects. Here are some pics and projects I wanted to share.

A Starbucks bottle ~ repurposed. My mom and I found something like this at a consignment store, I told her I could make her one (or three.)

Sometimes when we're all holed up together over the summer, we forget some fundamental rules. Husband and I decided subway art in the kitchen might be a good reminder.

Dragonflies. They were frequent guests at the lakehouse this summer.

My adirondack chairs. A surprise anniversary present from Husband. Awww...

A typical gorgeous sunset. A wonderful way to end the day. Hope your summer is going well!