Wednesday's Wearings

I have been wanting to start a series for a while now, along with a good friend, and after talking with her, and getting my thoughts together, I think I MIGHT have got it.....just maybe.

Fashion. What makes you be you, and dress the way you do?

(don't laugh....clearly, I am NOT a good writer, and it's late)

I wanted this to be about YOUR & MY personal style. A lot of people feel as if you need to dress a certain way, or they lose their style after having a baby or running kids around every which way. Don't get me wrong, there is an appropriate way to dress, especially when at different events. But that doesn't me you have to totally change your personal style all together. You still need to be YOU (I'm preaching to myself here).

I feel as if I have many looks, it just depends on the day...and what my job is for the day ;).

A lot of my so called outfits, that come into my wardrobe a lot, and don't necessarily define me or my style is:

'Painter'

'Exercise'

'When it's super duper cold'

'When it's insanely hot'

'Cleaning'

'I don't wanna'

and last but not least... 'the mom clothes'

I just pray that I don't have any of the last one mentioned...the mister might disagree though.

I try, I really do, to be, in some way, thrifty with what I buy. But, I do have some things that I think, for me, are worth the splurge.

Worth it:

Jeans

A few nice dresses

Heels

Athletic/Running shoes

A nice handbag

Maybe not so much:

Everyday tops

Accessories

Flip flops

Hair Accessories

A bag to throw everything in to hurry out the door

Here is my problem. I do NOT have one definite style. It ranges from rocker chic, to modern, to boho chic, to classic....sigh.... depends on my mood when I wake up, and the weather.

My plan is, for now anyways, to post once a week, where I challenge you to be you, and I'll (try, anyways;)) be me. I'll post either the brand or where the clothing, shoes and accessories came from. MOST come from my closet that I have had!

This week's pick is a dress. Oh, how I truly do love dresses in the summer. They are so super easy to put on and comfy. Mine are, for the most part, casual enough but I can go anywhere during the day and not worry about being under dressed....pure awesomeness...

(two warnings....I AM extremely white and HATE, absolutely HATE pictures of myself...so bear with me. And number two, the 12 year old took the pictures, she didn't quite understand what I was doing!)

(dress:Libertine for Target, shoes:Dexter, bangles:Vanity, Earrings & Necklace:F21, Sunglasses:Icing)

Be sure to check out my partner in crime on this series, and so many others things, Oak House 5, to see what she is wearing.

To another crazy day,

A

We've been flocked...

Nothing like waking up in the morning, sending your oldest off to tennis camp, go and get dressed to head back out and seeing this...

Yup, we were flocked...at 930 in the a.m....in our freshly laid grass....

Hardee har har...


At least it was a half way productive day and I got the invites out...

To another (hopefully withOUT the flocking) crazy day,
A

DWR: Herman Miller Sale

Absolutely love these chairs....

I want them for myself, but have too many chairs already in my house. I did think they would be awesome out in the back on the porch, especially the rocker.

And what do you know, they are on sale... think I should buy eight, hee hee....yeah right.

I can dream right??

via DWR Blog

Click HERE to view the whole post about the history and sale running through Monday.

To another crazy day,
A

Goldilocks

If you know me.... and a few of my previous posts, you know how much I truly adore Kate Spade.

This was in one of my recent emails.

Usually not much of a gold fan, but late it has really been grabbing my attention.

This is a bit of picture overload...couldn't help myself

via Kate Spade

To another crazy day,
A

35th Kitchen

Ah.... this is def one of my favorite of the whole house.

I have become a sucker for white.

I'm am usually all about color, ALL about color. I am a painter after all, so it makes sense...right?

But there is something about white, especially kitchens, that I am drawn to. (I seriously considered white counter tops, but changed my mind. Worried about stains for the new owners or future renters.)

Also, when we got inside the first time, we were both giddy...there was wood floors underneath through out most of the home.
And not only that...they were in grrreat condition...fo reals? Yup...
But, I had one constant question... 'You think they run through the kitchen?'

Nasty vinyl was down and I had a fear they would have a nice sticky goop on them, and guess what...they did.

Boo hoo... Oh well, tile it is... My budget was 1.99 per sq ft for tile, and guess what? Found it for .99, woo hoo!! Smile back on the face.

Picture from the listing before purchase...

And what is up with the rockin kitchen cabinets you ask? Well don't.

Pieces of wood glued on, seriously...no lie.
Thought it was one solid piece... nope, glue.
Friggin glue... the vein of my existence in this house, glue on the cabinets, glue on the floor, etc.

Day we closed and previous owners are moving out...


After prying off bookoos of wood pieces and sanding, the wood was off.
I was absolutely amazed at everything the previous owners had done to the house, this being the perfect example.
I would have loved to of replace the doors. No, I would of LOVED to gut the whole thing and start new, or at least tear out the cabinets and put new ones in. Even called a friend to get a price on doors and it all sounded so good and got super excited. Then we came back down to earth and looked it all over and realized it would NOT be smart to spend the money on that, somewhere else, like carpet in the bedroom, and give it a super good sanding and paint job.


Ok, have to explain the counter 'situation'. For all of the homes we do this work to, for now, we purchase the pre-made counter tops. So with the purchase on the counter, we later realized they were too big. And I'm not talking about to long, as its obvious in the pics. It hung over about two inches...ouch. Doesn't sound like alot, but when you can stick your whole hand in, it's not ideal ;)
But, from this predicament, I really, really wanted and tried to push to have the counter extend as it does going to the left, to have a bar area. There is no eat in area in the kitchen. I know its not a huge deal, but it did bother me a tad, and just the additional workspace, either to put barstools for a small bar/eat in area, or a place for bills and workspace area really appealed to me... A LOT.



But in the end, as you can plainly see, we did not do it...
1.) More time, big factor
2.) More money, cost in materials to go back and build it, huge factor
3.) If we did that, since we ever so slightly rearranged the kitchen, there was no where for a frig....that's minor right?

Oh well... Not a huge bummer...just would of been nice. I'm always up for more and more storage and counter space.


Also, had tried to go with a different backsplash, but was insanely backordered, grrr.... So backordered we could not wait and were all ready running out of time to get it back up on the market, sooooo went the the fast one.

And After...

TOTALLY digging the shelves, want them in my house!



Totally happy with it.

And I feel the need to explain. I have had many who say 'Why don't you do this or that?'. Sure, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to put in stainless appliances, knock down walls, all new windows & doors, modern vanities...a total gut.

But that doesn't make any sense at all for what we are doing.

What we do is buy and fix it up for the specific area that it is in, so that it is not overvalued for it's area.
We stick to an extremely tight budget to get things fixed & in working order, updated & more appealing than what they were before, and not go overboard. I am always searching for a deal on things. Example, kitchen faucet was a close out kohler faucet, normally over $200 and purchased for $60, I was so excited, had to call the mister. I think even he had a smile on that purchase!

I know most areas we purchase in, the interested party that looks at the house to live in, isn't either interested in renovating or doesn't have the means to... This is when it makes me truly happy and I get goose bumps, knowing that we can come in and totally change it up, and have someone else walk in with no worries, fall in love and call it home. I truly, truly love doing this.

Happiness....total happiness.

There you have it.

To another crazy day,
A

35th Dining Room

The dining room was previously used as an office area for the previous owners, like the family room was used for the dining room...and so on, and so on.

Guess I just like to switch around rooms ;).

Picture from the listing photo...

The day we closed and previous owners were moving out...







To another crazy day,
A

35th street Family Room

When we bought this house, the previous owners were using this room as a dining room. I am almost positive it used to be a bedroom, both door frames have door hinges for old doors, which we found in the garage. And the closet had been turned into a makeshift table/entertainment center.

I decided to make it into a family room, with the option of leaving the doors in case another bedroom was needed. We left the makeshift piece in the closet, fixed it up (took down the divider, fixed up some spots and paint), install can lights and use it as the tele area.

Picture from listing...

Day we closed on the house, and the movers were moving out...

Carpet tear out, paint and refinish floors...



Forgot to turn on the can lights in the tele area in the first pic, now they are on!


To another crazy day,
A