My house (and now apartment) is almost always a mess. Even when it’s clean it’s messy. Can anyone else relate to that feeling? This was our kitchen after New Year’s Day. Laundry on the counter, piled up dirty dishes, toys, you name it.

My junk drawers lived up to their name.

But then I found the 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 Organization Challenge from blogger A Bowl Full of Lemons. Throw in a few episodes of “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo, and I’ve felt motivated to get organized. (Well, on the weekends at least.)

Week One: Kitchen

Goodbye, counter clutter! You can’t imagine how much better it feels to walk in after work. Sure, the dishes still pile up sometimes, but aside from that, the kitchen feels so much bigger now.

I got drawer organizers as recommended by ABFOL (A Bowl Full of Lemons) and they really have been the game changer I think. When everything has a place, it’s much easier to keep up with.

Another change that I never would’ve made without this challenge is getting a lid rack. This one came from Target and it was cheap. My husband loves it! (He does all the cooking. I don’t think I’ve ever put a lid on a pot in my life )

Week Two: Pantry

This one was pretty easy. The biggest thing here was getting baskets that are easy to slide out. I put all my bread and open bags of chips in one basket. Baking and cooking items- like bouillon cubes, baking powder etc in another. Finally got my sugar,m and flour into containers for the first time since the move.

Before:

After:

Week 3: Dining Area

Well we don’t really have a dining room so I decided to tackle the cubbies in the kitchen area that tend to be the catch all. I promise it wasn’t THIS messy before. This was as we started going through everything… but it was still pretty bad.

Before:

We also used the time to get all of our Christmas stuff down to the storage unit.

After:

This helped get some of our glassware out of the cabinets. We also made a cubby for Annabelle’s crayons and papers, one for the dogs’ toys, treats and accessories, and one for our special documents, etc. Going to put a coffee bar in next to this area. Standby for that!

Week Four: Launch Pad

We have a very spacious hallway walking in and a cool nook, but we don’t take advantage of the space at all.

Now, we’ve hung a set of hooks that we can place our keys and the dogs’ leashes on, instead of throwing those haphazardly into the nook.

When I first saw the nook, the first thing I thought was, “a place to display my Emmy Award!” But in reality, the nook is awkwardly tall. I bought this very neutral picture at Hobby Lobby to fill some of the space, but I still think I need something more. Maybe a sign to go over it with something inspirational on it? Leave ideas in the comment section.

Coffee Bar Reveal:

I consider this area part launching pad/ part kitchen and dining. So used this week to also put my coffee bar together!

The cube organizer is of course from Ikea. The cubes are from Walmart. The shelf and coffee sign are from Hobby Lobby. I will tell you, living in an apartment, cube storage is LIFE!

You know, it’s not too late to jump aboard the 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 Organization Challenge! Or if you’re already doing it, too, let me know in the comments below with your blog or 老公和他朋友一块上我可以吗 name. I’d love to draw from your motivation!

It’s been about 9 years since I quit my job in news to open a coffee shop. A lot of people don’t know the backstory, and knowing where I am today it’s funny how fate works out.

I had been living in Grand Rapids from the time I started college in 2004. I had been in a relationship that was messy (and was only going to get messier) and I set out one weekend by myself to Pittsburgh. I had never been, but when I arrived I knew that was where I wanted to move. When I got back to GR, I told a former boss who was a small biz owner and he begged me not to leave. He said he would fund any venture I wanted- so I said, “Let’s open a 24-hour coffee shop.”

But before we could open the doors of course, we had to find a store front.

We rented out two store fronts, tore out the walls in between and opened it up so that there was room for a kitchen, counters & pay area, and a full dining room.

We even had to put a new subfloor throughout because when we pulled up the flooring there was some rotting and the floors were very uneven.

We had to submit plans to the city for a beam to be installed after tearing out so many walls. That was costly!

That’s looking into the kitchen and where the counters would go. That’s also the very costly beam.

Hands down the coolest feature on this old building was the ceiling.

We took the old metal ceilings from a dirty white to silver.

While I wish I had more photos– this was nearly a decade ago. I had no idea I’d be selling the shop (just for one of the new owners to end up in jail- that’ll have to be a future post ), getting back in news, leading me to meet my husband, just to end up in Pittsburgh- the city that sparked it all!

But– that’s a look at how it turned out! We did baby blue walls in the dining area, with cool track lighting and tiger wood flooring from Menards– the same laminate I ended up using in my Michigan basement 星空传媒视频在线观看.While poor Wired no longer exists, I learned a lot in the process about laws, taxes, but also about myself. I made friendships that still exist today, and it put me on the path that led me to the wonderful, albeit chaotic, life I have today.

And did I mention we also won “Best New Business” in Grand Rapids that year?

My gameface after winning!

Some risks don’t pay off right away, and I’m glad this one didn’t.

Like this?

Check out 5 Things Coffee Shop Owners and Baristas Wish You Knew!

I recall sitting and playing at it for hours- I had tiny thanksgiving dinners, small-scale Victorian furniture, a light up fireplace.

When I had Annabelle, I dreamed she would love it just as much. But move after move took its toll on the decades-old house so I asked my dad to spruce it up… I had no idea he would spend months on its 星空传媒视频在线观看.

Check it out now! He used reclaimed cedar to create tiny shingles and siding.

He cut every one of those shingles by hand! He built and mortared the chimney using tiny stones.

He created a walkout porch and my stepmom wrote Annabelle’s name on it.

Notice he also gave a higher pitch to the roof and added dormers.

Inside he laid down laminate flooring and even added trim baseboards.

He also painted each room.

She loves playing with it and it’s so beautiful now that I use it sometimes as just part of my decor.

It was already a pass-me-down, but now it’s an extra special heirloom.

Check out our Sunroom Re-Do!

What is your special toy or gift that has been handed down to your children or someone in your family? Comment below!

When we bought our first house in Allen Park, Michigan (妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 of the Detroit Lions!) this is what our basement looked like. A classic mid-modern with cinder block walls painted vintage teal and a very ugly vinyl tile floor.

The house itself was a 1,250 square foot brick bungalow so we knew finishing the basement would give us a lot more space and increase the value.

The main problem? We were a newly married couple with a toddler- aka we had no money. I had actually been offered a job in Pittsburgh at that time, but turned it down when my employer matched that  offer and threw in a $5,000 bonus. Guess what we did with that?

Yep. It became our budget for the basement. We had big plans for that $5K. We wanted a bar and a fireplace in addition to new flooring and drywall.

My dad and Josh got to work! They framed out the walls, framed out the bar and then started to spray the ceiling. (Don’t they look like Walt & Jesse in Breaking Bad? )

Originally I had planned to paint the ceiling white thinking it would make the room feel bigger, but my dad had just done a dark ceiling and convinced me it would look cleaner and hide all the wiring since we were leaving the ceiling open.

He was right. It gave it a clean, industrial feeling.

The ceiling was painted, the can lighting installed and they got to work creating the bar. It was huge! I thought it would be the focal point until…

…They started creating the fireplace. The fireplace was by far the most expensive part of the project. About $2k of our $5,000 budget went to it. With every dime counting, I searched around for the fireplace insert and the best deal I found for the box and ventless gas logs was at 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 Depot.

The stone was my splurge. I got it from Menards along with the laminate flooring. (This flooring is called “Tiger Wood” and it’s the same flooring I had in my coffee shop so I knew it would hold up to traffic.)

We ended up installing the stone on the bar for a high-end finish and for continuity.

Having some extra space under our stairs, I came up with a last minute design idea to add some storage, seating, and just a fun spot in the room:

And now for the fireplace reveal:

I wish I could tell you we shared so many memories in this space, but we ended up only being here about 10 months after it was finished.

I did celebrate my birthday, Annabelle’s 2nd birthday and we had our first “Friendsgiving” here… but if anything it helped us get more money out of our 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 in such a short time of being there.

We owned the house for about a year and a half and made a profit of $20,000 in a not-so-hot market so I definitely call that a win.

Any questions on this renovation, comment below!

The second I saw this ceramic tile online– it took me back to the shores of Reynisfjara Beach in Iceland.

Just the most magnificent place on earth!

I’ve known for sometime I wanted to use our photos from Iceland when we makeover the bedroom but I had never planned to put any effort into the half bath. It’s so tiny, my guess is that it was one time a closet.

My hope is a beautiful, patterned ceramic tile like this will give this tiny space a high-end feel without spending a huge amount of money. I found it on Wayfair.

In addition to the tile, I’m planning to paint the walls a stark white and use some good old fashioned black matte spray paint to do a few diy projects on the fixtures and cabinet that are already in there like these sconce lights.

While I’m cutting costs by revamping some of the existing fixtures, I am planning to spend a little cash on a pretty mirror for the space:

You can find the “Alissa accent baroque oval mirror” on Wayfair as well.

A drastic change like this will also require a facelift once you walk out of our bathroom into our bedroom.

I’ve purchased this chandelier from Target.com and bonus- it’s on sale right now.

I’m also considering buying a small vanity sink so that we have extra storage. This will probably be a function over fancy decision because a basic white vanity runs about $80 while you can spend hundreds on a fancy one. I think I’ll go low-cost there .

久久播放器 to my blog now and get an update once we finish the bedroom part of this makeover. The half-bath is now finished. See it here!

It was my worst nightmare, yet I still wanted the house. They told us there were hardwoods under the carpet, so we were hopeful we could afford the refinish. We even had a guy come by and give us a quote. He had said probably $3-4,000 for the downstairs, but there was no way to know for sure until they saw what was really underneath.

Josh finally got motivated to start what would take us months to finish… well technically we’re still not finished.

What we found in the sunroom was promising. It was unfinished and there was some water damage, but it looked like it could be saved.

Check out our “Sunroom

Re-do” here.

But as we moved into the living room and dining room- we found what would make some 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧owners ecstatic…

Oak hardwood, with a pine inlay. In the dining room, the pine was marred by years of what we believe was likely linoleum glued to it.

There was a lot of detail…

No doubt it was beautiful, but it also was going to make this a much more expensive job. Something that just wasn’t in our budget.

Remember, Josh was still in school full-time at this point and I was the sole breadwinner supporting our family with a second child on the way.

So after much debate, we decided to install Pergo floors for two reasons.

One, it’s much cheaper. But two, it would protect the hardwood underneath until we, or future 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧owners had the money to restore.

We went with Pergo’s Bainbridge Oak from Lowe’s. Josh had installed laminate flooring in the basement of our first 妈妈与儿子高清免费版电视剧 so I knew he could handle the job.

[See our Michigan basement 星空传媒视频在线观看 here.]

I love the realistic look and texture it has! Pictures do not do it justice. The one draw back to the Bainbridge Oak is that it doesn’t have the underlayment attached (that’s what that silver stuff is underneath) so it’s an extra cost and extra step in the process. However, my husband said it didn’t really make installation any more difficult.

Check out our $50 fireplace facelift!

We are very pleased with the finished product. We’ve had people ask if the floor is wood. It’s holding up well to our pets- a cat, a yorkie, and a golden doodle who was being potty trained during all this!

Feel free to comment with questions!

Second Floor: