Weekend Wine Pairings

 Busy weekend ahead! I had my last 2 wisdom teeth pulled this morning and tomorrow we have a professional coming to take pictures of the house, which should be on the market by this coming Tuesday!!! We thought we would share some of our easiest and most impressive pairings, just in case any of you are having company.

THE SHOW STOPPER:

This Kim Crawford is one of the pricier ones on our list at about 14 bucks, but it is certainly delicious. I find it buttery with notes of pear and vanilla. Perfect with shortbread cookies.

  

                                                                                     Source: kimcrawfordwines.co.nz via Heather on Pinterest

The Fun, Hip, and Trendy:

This has to be one of my new favorite wines... Starborough Marlborough. Bright and refreshing, the hubby and I like to enjoy a glaa with garlic stuffed olives. About 9 dollars a bottle and worth every penny- it drinks like a much more expensive wine.

                                                                           Source: google.com via Benjamin on Pinterest

The Spanish Red:

My husband actually introduced me to this wine when we were dating. It's mellow enough to drink alone, byt has the presence to stand up to just about any dish. Odd as it sounds, you canot beat a glass of Las Rocas with a bacon avocado cheeseburger...absolute Heaven! I've seen this wine as cheap as 9 bucks and as pricey as 17, so it just depends upon your retailer.

                                                                                       Source: lasrocaswine.com via Andie on Pinterest

The Quirky:

Not everyone loves wine and sometimes it's just too hot for it any way.  One of our favorite beers is from a Seattle based company; Red Hook ESB, which stands for English Style Bitter. Oddly enough, it is anything but bitter. Smooth and wirh a hint of molasses, this beer is scrmptious with ginger snaps. You must try it, you'll be glad you did!

Happy weekend and Labor day, y'all- I'm off to ice my jaw :)

A Modern Home

We always thought we were old house kind of people. Lately, though, we've been thinking about building (several years down the road when/if we ever figure out where we want to live). And we're craving something a bit more modern this time. We know we want to keep it sustainable, too.  Here's what we're looking at:

While the interior is a little stark for our tastes, I'm loving the use of metal, frosted glass, and concrete in this home:

Source: zeospot.com via Milena on Pinterest

I probably wouldn't incorporate quite this much glass into our home, but I love the way they sited the house to work with existing trees. Such a gorgeous green view:

Source: contemporist.com via Inna on Pinterest

The house and the landscape blend so seamlessly:

Source: contemporist.com via Inna on Pinterest

This is the hubby's favorite- he likes the corrugated and stacked entrance. Maybe part of an old repurposed shipping container?

Source: google.com via Callme on Pinterest

Wooden and white:

Source: contemporist.com via Inna on Pinterest

Quite possibly the most perfect beach house:

Source: designed-for-life.tumblr.com via Inna on Pinterest

What do you think- could you live with and love something this modern long term? Or would you get sick of it after a while?

Simple Table Setting

When we aren't staging our home, we really like our dining table to look something like this:

However, we are in the process of selling, so we knew the table needed to be dressed for dinner. We've all seen those gorgeous place settings in magazines; chargers, multiple plates, and lavish centerpieces. They're undeniably beautiful, but for our table we wanted something a bit simpler that we could actually use. We didn't want to have to go out and buy much, since we'll be moving soon. What we came up with was very inexpensive, but (in my opinion) looks lovely. And it's functional!!!

We starteed by clearing everything off of our table. If you know us, you know that our dining table is unfortunately a catch-all for the stuff that I'm never quite sure what to do with. You can read more about all that here. We got all the crap off of it and gave it a good scrubbing:

I picked four very simple seagrass-colored placemats up at Ikea for about 2 bucks each.

We arranged them in a square, which didn't leave us much room on the table for a centerpiece. The hubby actually came up with the 3 small glass cubes filled with different small potpourri in brown, cream, and green. I love it, especially since it a) fits in the space allotted and b) doesn't hamper conversation, as so many centerpieces do.

We skipped the chargers and just started layering our dishes...dinner plate on bottom, then salad plate, then soup bowl.

 

 

We took our color cues from the centerpiece and found these yellow/green/white napkins with pear motif...I think a large napkin typically photograps better, so we actually bought kitchen towels made from a thinner fabric and put a simple napking ring on top and just sat them in the soup bowl:

The final touches were our wine glasses and silverware and we were done:

Ideally, I would have loved if our plates and bowls would have been different colors.  And someday we'll have a table that is big enough for a runner and placemats. But, for low budget and small space, I'm pleased with the results. If you needa  little more place setting eye candy, I've thrown in a few favorites...enjoy!

 

                                                                                        Source: bhg.com via froggymama on Pinterest

 

                                                                             Source: elizabethannedesigns.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                                                              Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

Curb Appeal

They say you never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. To that end, we've tried to add landscaping, lighting, and decorative features to enhance ourhomes' curb appeal. Most of these additions havebeen relatively inexpensive and given us a lot of bang for the buck. Without further ado, here is our homes' exterior...

 This may seem very basic, but adding nice house numbers is one of the best and cheapest ways to enhance your entry. At about $2 a pop, they're super affordable.

See our awesome garage door? A quick, cheap way to make your garage door look upscale is to retrofit with a kit- simply screw on the metal brackets. Our kit was about $13 at Home Depot.

 Mature plants, pavers, and mulch convey a well-tended image. To keep our lawn nice and healthy, we fertilize twice per year.

 Our retaining wall was but with cheap broken concrete and several perennial plants.

 We keep our hose handy and contained with a copper pot designed specifically for the job. After years of neglect, our Hybrid teais back to health and producing more blooms than ever.

 Our second entry was given the same treatment with house numbers. An old rocker, an Ikea pillow and a cotton doormat create a welcoming entrance and provide a comfy spot for enjoying my morning coffee.

The exterior of our home isn't fancy, but looks well-kept and inviting from the road -exactly our goal as we prepare to list our home for sale.

Next up: staged interior. Happy Friday, y'all!!!

More Free Paint!

Most of our furniture makeover projects are either done for free or on the cheap. I get a lot of free paint...Ace Hardware periodically gives away a quart of flat paint per household on specified Saturdays. In any color you choose.

You'll need this form here if you want one. If you don't Facebook, check your junk mail inserts for the Ace ad. Should be one in there.

I love their Clark and Kensington paint. We recently painted a dresser in it and the coverage was phenomenal. They have a shade called Cannonball, which is the absolute most perfect charcoal-y black. One word of caution, I tend not to use this paint is I'm planning on distressing a piece. For that, I'll use something that has a thinner formulation. If you're just getting started with furniture painting, I'd suggest getting a great soft black, grey, and white first. Then maybe filling in with a teal and a red- those 5 colors are super versatile for mixing at home, too.

I'll have pictures of the aforementioned dresser soon, too. But, posts will be few and far between for a bit because.......we're moving!!!!! In two months!  My wonderful husband is being discharged from the Armed Forces and let's just say they aren't big on giving you a ton of time to prepare ;)

We'll be stopping off in Texas to regroup and reorganize while we scout for houses. And then we'll be packing up again! This is a wonderful time for our family, but we are going to miss terribly the friends who have become family over the past several years.

Happy Monday and enjoy the free paint this Saturday!

Dresser Makeover 2x Ideas

We just scored 2 dressers off of Craigslist; one was 15 bucks and the other was 30. ONe will go in the kids' room and one will wind up in ours. I have a few ideas of what to do with them, but here's what came from perusing Pinterest for inspiration: Love the lacquered kelley green, though I'd have to completely redecorate if I wanted it in my house ;)

                                                                                                    Source: goo.gl via Alfreda on Pinterest

A more subtle green:

                                                                        Source: craftsforfamilys.blogspot.ca via Cherly on Pinterest

Ombre- really "in" right now and just kiddish enough without being too babyish...this might be my front runner:

                                                   Source: dishfunctionaldesigns.blogspot.com via Zorah on Pinterest

Or something like this....when the kids outgrow the cutesy, it can just be painted over:

                                                         Source: 551eastdesign.blogspot.com via Jules on Pinterest

The wallpapered look would be quick and cheap, but I'd feel guilty for papering over solid wood. I'd do it laminate in an instant, though!

                                                                           Source: 123freegiftscardsforu.com via Keith on Pinterest

I love the white with natural wood. Might be going with something like this for our dresser:

                                                                          Source: perfectlyimperfectblog.com via Denise on Pinterest

Or this:

                                                                              Source: etsy.com via Sara on Pinterest

Fun numbering:

                                                                              Source: cozycottagecute.com via Robbie on Pinterest

But, I also love my brownish greys:

                                                                                 Source: alifesdesign.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

                                                          Source: designsponge.com via Robbie on Pinterest

It would probably be helpful if my tastes weren't so eclectic! We'll be prettying up our new dressers this next week and I'll show you how they turn out...

The Easiest Way to Paint Baseboards and Trim

I can't believe that in over 3 years of DIY restoration on this house it took us this long to figure this little trick out...SPRAY PAINT.

I am truly a little dense sometimes. All these years, we've been taping and hand painting. It's messy and nervewracking...white paint and taupe carpet do not mix. But this stuff is awesome. Defintely fork over the extra dough for the cans with the cool trigger. It sprays in kind of a diamond pattern and coats like airbrushed perfection. Even I can use this stuff with good results and I suck at spray painting (which probably kept me out of a lot of trouble as a kid). You really can't tell that it's spray paint:

Sorry for the pink-y tone...didn't have time to white balance the pic. We did 2 coats, allowing about 3o mins between coats and letting the final coat cure in the sun for about 4 hours. Yes, it is a bit more expensive than hand painting, but not much when you factor in the cost of painter's tape and the fact that time = money. Obviously, this only works if you're installing new...but, wow, it looks awesome and is such a time saver. It's definitely worth wearing a respirator, too...the fumes are wicked. Happy painting!