Cool Man Cave Decor

Want to hear something sweet?

I know you're thinking, "what sweet thing could possibly have anything to do with Bacardi?"
No, it's not a Long Island Iced Tea.

I have a friend who wanted to surprise her husband for his birthday.  They had decided to transform their bonus room into his space, and she wanted to do something special for him.  He already knew about the new pool table, but he got a HUGE surprise when he saw that she'd hung all his autographed NASCAR photos, his favorite album covers, and his HUGE collection of bar mirrors on the walls of his new Cave.

The things she'd never allow anywhere else in their home finally got dusted off and placed with care upon his walls.  How sweet, right?

So I came over to help her decide how to arrange things, and when I saw his collection of bar mirrors I knew I would be sharing with you.  Check out this room before:

The layout is typical of a bonus room, with little nooks and low, angled walls.  Eventually they'll get a flat-screen TV, but in the meantime they pulled out the couches and put in the pool table.  And we turned one of those low walls into a showcase for his collection:

I wasn't taking great bloggy pictures, so it's hard to tell there's a table and lamp on the right-hand side.
That's where Michael Jordan's face is resting.  Well, his book, actually, but also his face.

I absolutely love what this did for the room.  It gave it a focal point, made use of awkward wall space, and celebrated something he's had fun collecting over the years.  Plus, it is cool.

So, if you have "like" objects scattered around or stuffed into closets, think about how they might be arranged to showcase their similarities and make a statement.  I am getting ready to find every black frame in my house and do it too!  Unfortunately I was so in love with the mirrors I forgot to take pictures of the other things we hung up...but don't those mirrors totally rock?!?

Oh--and while I was over there I also put some vinyl on the wall (because, as you know, I am obsessed).  Here's what you see in the stairwell leading up to his Man Cave:

Fun stuff!

Missed You!

Did ya miss me too;)???

I had every intention of leaving an "away" notice on the blog, but we lost power on our last afternoon here and I was without my computer.  Then I sorta forgot to keep up with the blog...and can you blame me?

I was waaaaay busy with urgent matters like walks on the beach.

Had things to do and people to see all over town.

Had to be on time for my playdates in the park.

Couldn't miss my meetings with the "natives," either.

Worked hard designing my Spring Collection.

And even carved out some QT with my cu-tie.

So, that's where I've been...and it was awesome.  In the words of Biggest Boy, "Spring Break sure is fun!"  Then we got to come home and celebrate His resurrection at Meck...which was also (do I use this word too much?) totally awesome.

Hope you've had an awesome week too!

Sugar and Spice

Is that what little girls are made of?  I wouldn't know, since I spend all my time around Snakes and Snails and Puppy-Dog Tails.  That's just one reason why I relish the chance to visit my BFF and her sweet girls!  Especially when one of those girls is just ten days old, and ohhhh so sweet!!!

She's done such cute things with her girl's rooms:

Would gladly use this to hop into bed every night!
Especially if I also had a tulle bedskirt!

Love!

Letters customized with scrapbook paper, and aren't they cute!?!  
I've got 'em for my boys, too...I'll do a tutorial for y'all sometime if you like.

And while I was there, I gave her this vinyl wall-art for the new baby's nursery:

I love this verse and love how it turned out.

You may remember that I've had some trouble with my fickle friend (the Silhouette), but Silhouette America's customer service is *awesome,* and my problems seem to be all better.  Chalk it up to a defective roll of vinyl, which Silhouette replaced for free.

I was so happy at how this project turned out that I came right home and added some oomph to one of my own walls:

Like it?  Or is it way cheesy?  I think it's cheesy and I like it!

Come On Over...

Hip Hip Hooray!  Bree from Coupons on Caffeine is featuring me today in her "Made It Wednesday" feature!

Won't you stop by and check it out?

In the meantime, a big "thank you" to Samantha at My Endless To Do's, who recently awarded me the Lovely Blog Award!

Thank you Samantha!  I am not gonna bore y'all with more random facts about me, I think you may get enough randomness just by reading here!  But I will say...come on over and visit these sweet gals!

Goodies from Cottage & Vine

Remember how just last Tuesday I shared that I had won a store credit at Cottage & Vine from Emily A. Clark??? Well, by Friday my goodies were here and BOY was I excited!  Talk about fast!  Everything was wrapped beautifully and exceeded my expectations.  Winning this contest literally made my month!

So, What did I choose?  There's the charming vintage pitcher:

And the set of seven mini tin molds:

And (probably my favorite) these three silver-plate boxes, which are little but surprisingly heavy.

You just never know what you might find inside!

P.S. If you haven't won a bloggy contest yet, take heart!  I 've entered hundreds of contests before winning this one...keep on entering and I know you'll win someday too!

Sunday Funnies

Last week I was singing a song to Biggest, which has the words, "His love endures forever."

So he starts singing, "His love endures forever...His love endures forever...forever!"

So sweet.

Then he continues, ever so sweetly,

"His love is indoors forever!  And outdoors...forever..."

Is Simpler Really Better?

This picture of limes is 100% unrelated to this post.

This week was the last week in Simple Mom's Project Simplify series, which I have loved.  Each Monday morning I've checked her blog in anticipation of that week's "Hot Spot."  I was really excited when she announced that this week's Hot Spot was "Choose Your Own!"

So...which spot did I choose?  Was it my crazed laundry room?  My over-stuffed coat closet?  My insane tupperware cabinet?  What...Did...That...Mommy...Do???

I flailed, that's what I did.  I did NOTHING!  And I have no explanation really except that it just wasn't that simple.

Since I chose my motto for this year, "Simpler is Better," I've been trying to make decisions that encourage simplicity for me and my family.  However, you know I have two main goals--simple and frugal, and lately they aren't playing nice.

These bins were both simple and frugal:

But these curtains...

...well, they were frugal but they were anything but simple.  Simple would have been going online and ordering from Ballard.  Frugal demanded that I couldn't do that.

In fact, I have found that it takes a lot of effort and some amount of money to simplify, at least when you are starting out.  It takes so much time to clean out a closet, a pantry, or kids' toys.  It take way more time to sell things you don't need than to stuff them into an already jam-packed closet, attic, basement, garage, etc.

I'm not complaining about trying to simplify, because I do think it is well worth the effort.  What I am saying is sometimes I hit my limit.  This week I just couldn't scrape together the energy to simplify anything!  Just keepin' it real.  How about you...do you find it is hard to balance simple with frugal?  How do you make it work?

Imagine My Delight

I am so excited!  I just won my third ever giveaway!  I just love reading blogs and winning things is one of the perks.  Actually, reading this girl's blog is a perk in and of itself--go on over and check her out!



And, my prize is the chance to shop at this lovely lady's Etsy site:



I will be sure to share my goodies with you when I receive them!

Pretty Pillows

I took a break from my pantry organization last week to sew some pillows for my spruced-up Family Room.  You might remember these burlap sacks from this post.  Well, here they are, enjoying pride of place in our main living area:

I especially like this one because it is reversible!  Here's the other side:

I also made a couple pillows from this medallion-embroidered microfiber which is almost the same blue of my new curtains:

I love mixing that formal fabric with the burlap sack...it just makes me smile!  Have a great Monday!



P.S. Lovin' the Linky's at:

Beyond the Picket Fence

Sunday Funnies (Barely Keeping Sane Edition)

Friday was an interesting day.  After a week or so of our baby "sleeping in" until 6:30, he reverted last week to his normal 5:15-5:30ish wake-up time.  On Thursday night he also added in multiple wakings.  What is that?  So Friday morning, in a fit of misguided decision-making, I decided it would be smart to go to both BJ's and the grocery store.  Admittedly, I was using the grocery-store drive-thru, but still.

Turns out it was one of those days when everything seems to take for-evah.  The kids were screaming like maniacs, I was causing extreme inconvenience to everyone I encountered, and I even needed a random man's help to lift a box into my car at BJ's.  Then we pull up to the grocery drive-thru (we are literally 10 minutes from home by this point) and Biggest announces he needs to potty and no, he cannot hold it.  Sigh.  In this manner we finally finish our big trip, whereupon it takes me several hours to unload and organize everything.  I managed to feed the boys and get them into Nap Time and Quiet Time, respectively.

So, when I heard Biggest whisper-shouting to me from the top of the stairs I had one of those moments I sometimes have.  The ones I am not proud of.  The ones where I feel rage, actual rage, that someone is disobeying a rule.  I sighed loudly and went to the bottom of the stairs, and go, "What is it?"

He is standing there with his pants around his ankles, and starts enthusiastically telling me he saw a garbage truck from the bathroom window, as if this is the biggest news in the history of everything.  "And do you know, Mommy, Mommy, do you know HOW it picks up the trashcan???"  My fury is slowly abating, and I manage to hold my tongue.  We have watched the garbage truck 15 bazillion times in his life, so I have a clue.  Then he says, "It has this HUGE claw!  And it goes like this!"  Whereupon he starts imitating a garbage truck dumping a trashcan.  He is still nude from the waist down.  And I am standing on the bottom step watching him, and it is funnier than I could ever describe in words.

And that's how my fury turned into my Funnies.  Thank God.

Pantries and Fridges and Freezers, Oh My

This week's Project Simplify challenge was the pantry and the fridge.  Now, I am not gonna purport to be moving any mountains here, but I did organize quite a bit and I am committed to doing these challenges, so here we go!  I promise that by the end of this post you'll get some eye candy...so bear with me!

First, the fridge.  It was easy.  I do it every few months and each time I really enjoy a fresh, clean fridge for two days before it becomes a funk factory again.  Here's what I did in there:

Better, right?

Now, the pantry was a little harder.  I have tried to organize it many times before but this time I took more extreme measures.  As you know, I have exactly $0 for stuff like this.  I did scrape together a few bucks and get a couple of trays and bins, and they make a big difference.  Just don't go thinkin' that this is the pantry of my dreams, okay?  Okay.  Here we go...

 

Turned into...

 

I used these white bins to collect mostly little stuff (e.g. candy) and ugly stuff (e.g. half-empty bags of chips).

I labeled them with vinyl words ("starch," "salt," and "sweet").  Then I faked it with my box of paper plates, cups and straws:

Looks okay from the front...

And just a tad less than okay from the side!!!
But it works for now, ya know?

If you're looking very carefully you'll notice that I removed my bottom shelf on that right-hand wall.  For over three years I have been frustrated because our cat-food bin and step-stool don't slide under the shelf and are therefore 100% in my way, all the time.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?  And that's why I love these challenges--they inspire me to look at my problems with a fresh eye and really find a workable solution.

I also took away the over-the-door rack.  I loved this rack in our old house, but with a 24" pantry door it was more of a hazard.  Nary a week went by without me or my husband really banging into it.  This means I lost a *lot* of storage, between removing the rack and taking away that one bottom shelf.  Yet, the pantry is a thousand times better because stuff is consolidated and the space works for what I have.  Spices went into two white trays, and medicines to a kitchen cabinet.  I have even made a big grocery run since I snapped these pictures, and the pantry accommodated a bunch more stuff just fine.

This process reminded me how much I hate throwing things away.  I never do, to my own detriment.  For example, when I made my kids rolls with whole-wheat flour, I used a quarter cup of it and kept the rest on the shelf of despair of baking stuff.  It was So. Much. Stuff.

Ridonculous.

Now it fits here:

I threw away everything I don't need in the foreseeable future.  The boys didn't like their whole-wheat rolls anyway.

So, that's been my Simple Mom challenge this week!  And, as promised, here's a reward for sticking with me...what I *wish* my pantry looked like!

Photo: Country Living

Photo: BHG

Photo: Traditional Home

Be still, my beating heart.  A girl can dream!

Finally, because last week's closet challenge ended with a picture of Biggest hamming it up, now it's Little Boo's turn:

P.S.  You know I am lovin' the Linky's at Simple Mom!