Wedding Day Bliss ~ September 22nd

Today marks exactly one year from our wedding day! As exciting as it is, I started feeling the stress 2 days ago and it hit me like a wall. I kept thinking of allllllllllll the little things that need to get done and how I should be doing AS MUCH as I can now, so that closer to the wedding I will be less stressed.

I received a message from Matt's aunt Amy at 10am asking, "wonder what you will be doing one year from this exact moment?" And I thought.. hmmm... 10 am... probably getting my hair done . And then it hit me - I already have an idea of how the wedding day schedule is going to go and it's a year away - in fact, I have a timeline, a schedule and a detailed budget. I AM more organized than I feel! I just have to learn to relax and know that all our planning will turn out to be fine. And we have a whole year to do it!

I've since started making a "To Do NOW" list of the little things I can do while waiting for the bigger items to fall into place. I thought I would put my list on my blog to help keep me on track and organized.

Since I am a big DIY person, almost anything we can do ourselves, we are. Such things include save-the-dates, invitations, thank-yous, programs, menu cards, bouquets/boutonnieres/corsages, favours, centerpieces, cake topper, card box, favours,   .........we are even doing our own engagement photos! I feel like so many of these things we can do now...even though I don't have exact numbers, I can start making the small things and getting them out of the way.

To Do NOW list:

Stationary 
  •  Card Box
  •  Ceremony programs
  •  Guest Book
  •  Invitations
  •  Save the Dates
  •  Seating Chart

Bouquets
  •  Boutonnieres
  •  Bride's bouquet
  •  Bridesmaid bouquets
  •  Corsages (Moms)

Attire
  •  Headpiece (bridal)
  •  Flower girl/Ring Bearer flowers/accessories
  •  Flower girl hair piece/barrette

Other Decor
  •  Cake topper
  •  Centerpieces/table numbers
  •  Ceremony Decorations
  •  Favours
  •  Head table vases

Any wedding day advice you can have to accomplish things more efficiently?

You Really Do Learn Something New Everyday...

So when I was back home visiting my parents last weekend, I decided to pop into the local restore store to see what they had for used furniture. Of course, my extreme pickiness took over and I didn't find what I set out for. I DID, however, stumble across a section of the store where they sold used paint - PAINT! Now this was complete news to me but apparently my family knew that they sold used cans of paint at the restore store. I, on the other hand, had been left in the dark!

 

I was so excited and searched the piles of cans for a small can of white paint {to be used when re-painting some trim on our front door!) and found pretty much a full quarter gallon can of white latex paint for only $2!! I was so pleased!

 

This made me think....from now on, why don't I come HERE for paint when doing a small project? You're helping your local business, saving money, and limiting the amount of paint people dispose of! Triple bonus!

 

So I'm going to ask two things of you the next time you do a DIY project:

 

1. Before you start your next project, check your local restore (or Habitat for Humanity) store and see if they have something there you can use instead of getting a new can of paint! You will save money and help the community!

 

2. After your project is complete and before disposing of your paint, would it be more beneficial to donate it to your local restore store for someone else to use? (like me!)

 

~ A penny for your thoughts ~

Moved in!

We are finally officially moved into our house! Granted, very little is organized. We have boxes in every room of the house slowing being put away and organized. It's quite the task to find a place for everything! I wanted to organize things as I put them away instead of "temporarily" putting them away and organizing them "later".... this never happens which is why we are trying to organize things as we empty the boxes.

I have uploaded photos of our house under the new "House Tour" tab here! Check them out!!! 

{Please note:  the photos were taken the day we got possession and before we painted! I will post the 'after' photos once our house is a little more organized!}


P.S....You can get a little 'sneak peak' of the main floor colour from this photo!

My first project: Jewellery Display Frame

 

I was looking for a unique and creative way to display my jewellery and had seem similar products in stores that you could purchase. I knew I could come up with something similar to make myself that would hold both my necklaces and earrings.

 

I had made this basic "before" jewellery holder about a year ago because I simply wanted a place to hang my jewellery at the time (knowing that in the future I would eventually paint it!) I purchased the frame at a yard sale for 25 cents. Just the frame - no glass or backing.

I added some thin wooden dowelling to the back of the frame where the glass would normally sit, then stapled some twine to the back for hanging.

 

I recently decided to paint the frame white - I like the simplicity that white paint gives furniture & decor. Through trial and error I realized I should have sanded the frame before painting (especially white) as the frame had a really heavy finish. After 3 coats of using white acrylic and a good sponge brush (after which I could still see the brush strokes!), I decided to use my trusty spray paint (Rustoleum's Stops Rust White Satin spray paint) and it covered beautifully with only one coat (over my previous 3 acrylic coats!) It probably would have only taken 2 coats of spray paint in the beginning. Oh well. You learn from your mistakes, right?

 

I cut to size a cute piece of scrapbook paper and glued it to the back of the frame to finish it off (carefully cutting out notches where the staple met the frame).

 

The paper can easily be changed since it's just glued down. So if we decide to change the colour and style of our bedroom, I can just rip the paper off the back and add a new one!

 

I am so pleased with the way it turned out! I use it everyday!

Frugal Finds - Wine Cabinet

We found and purchased this off kijiji for only $20! It holds 12 bottles of wine and 12 wine glasses. It also has a drawer for a wine opener, napkins, cork screws, etc. It was just PERFECT and couldn't wait to get it in our house!

It was already painted with distress to get that country feel. We did not have to do a thing to this item (which is sometimes nice when you find such a good bargain!). 

It sits nicely in our dining room by the island beautifully showcasing our house warming gift from my mother-in-law....Perfect! 

Possession Day

Today is the day we get the keys to the house! I cannot even begin to tell you how it feels. I'm not sure what I am more excited about - the fact that we finally have our OWN home, or the fact we can decorate it as we like!

Two nights ago we had our final walk through and it was weird walking through the house thinking "in 2 days, this will be ours!" It's still very surreal and probably will be until we start unloading all of our stuff - but we cannot be more excited about it.

These past few weeks just waiting for tomorrow has got us thinking how proud we are to have a home at such a young age - I am 25 and my fiancé is 23.

Getting to this point in our lives was by no means was this easy, and before we took this plunge there was much to discuss {financially} between the two of us.

We both decided that it would be the smartest decision to pay off any and all of our debt before purchasing our first home (which we did and are now both debt free). I know, I know. a mortgage is still debt, but it's a different kind of debt - it's good debt! But we both agreed that any and all excess debt was unnecessary. And unless we win the lottery or figure out how to grow money from trees, a mortgage will always be the way to purchase a home for us. So we look at the mortgage as a good thing!

Let me define debt in our eyes - we have no student loans, no credit card debt and no outstanding balances on purchase from stores or any other creditors. We now only owe money to our mortgage. If we want something, we save up for it. It's that simple.

I'm looking forward to taking the next step in the DIY decorating world while keeping our budget in mind. We will be buying things we can afford and not stick a bunch of new furniture or electronics on a piece of plastic and end up paying a ton of interest fees. That is not for us. Garage sales and thrift stores have our names written all over them!

If you are interested in DIY decorating, keep watching my blog as I post projects and crafts on here that you can do to save yourself some money as well!

Happy House Day!

Finding Our Home

When we were looking for a home, we originally wanted it in a mature neighbourhood, an older home (40-60+ years old) with a nice backyard that didn't look onto backyard neighbours. After viewing a tonne of homes, we realized that purchasing an older home in our price range would require too much TLC - something neither of us have the time or money for. As it turns out, our perfect first home was only 13 years old, in a newer subdivision AND we still got the amazing backyard! We are still surprised we ended up loving exactly what we didn't set out for! :)

Our House Specs! 



13-year old 2-storey home located in a newer subdivision within the city

 It has......

• 3 bedrooms
• 2.5 bathrooms
• Finished basement
• Open concept kitchen/living/dining
• Central air conditioning
• 1-car garage
• Large backyard that backs onto green space (bonus!!)
• And all located in a growing subdivision in the city

What We Love:

• Large backyard backing onto green space
• Open concept kitchen/living/dining
• Finished basement
• Master bedroom
• Garden "rough-ins"
• Large back deck
• Walking distance to schools and shopping centres
• The garage
• 4-car laneway!
• Central air
• The fact that it has "room to grow"!

What We'd Like to Change Over Time:
 
INTERIOR


Living/Dining/Kitchen/Powder room
  √ Wall colour of entire main floor (done!)
  •  Update kitchen counter tops
  •  Adding self-closing devices to kitchen cabinets
  •  Replace main floor flooring to be laminate or hardwood throughout
  •  Adding a mail station in the kitchen
  •  Update main floor powder room (to our own style!) c/w self closing devices


Basement
  •  Creating a home photography studio!
  •  Update wall colour/decor/furniture
  •  Replacing carpet
  •  Updating the bathroom with new fixtures
  •  Finish laundry room (drywall, storage, etc.)
  •  Change lighting

2nd Floor Bedrooms
  •  Painting of guest bedrooms on 2nd level


2nd Floor Bathroom
  •  Putting in longer vanity in 2nd storey bathroom
  •  Adding a 2nd sink to 2nd storey bathroom


Master Bedroom
  •  Vaulting the master bedroom ceiling


Garage
  •  Adding storage solutions
  •  Drywalling garage
  •  Re-finishing the concrete




EXTERIOR
  •  Landscaping the backyard
  •  Re-finishing the back deck (power wash and re-stain)
  •  Building a sun structure over back deck
  •  Buying/building a shed
  √ Patching part of the roof (peeling shingles) (done!)
  •  Installing a rain barrel
  •  Building a vegetable garden in the backyard


I will post photos of the house soon!!


On a side note..................T-Minus 23 days until we get our home!!