Basement Renovation

Today I’m linking up to Today’s Creative Blog – Get Your Craft On. There are so many crafty ideas there. I never have time to make it through all the links, but it's a great place for inspiration!!

I’ll take care of the “crafty” part right away in this post. The rest is a reveal! We’ve been working on our basement all summer. I call it a “faux” finish, because it’s not a total finish…(not doing the ceilings and a few other things, yet). It started with these materials for curtains (LOTS of curtains):

The leftover material became a pillow for the crib (for when grandson visits!). I copied a picture onto transfer paper and ironed it onto the white. I’ve wanted to make something with a picture on it and was pleased with how easy it was to work with the transfer paper! I purchased mine at Wal-Mart. The main area of the basement, BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

*ignore the pink pillow...I'm not sure what it's doing there!The bathroom area had been framed in for about 4 or 5 years… Finally getting it finished!!
This last picture is for a special friend!

Thanks for the box!!! :)

There’s still some work to do…painting the stairway, putting a few things up on the walls, repainting and redoing the bedroom and putting in the kitchenette area. It’s getting there and I’m loving it!!!

Cabinet Re-Do

This morning I spent some time looking through some of the Frugal Friday Posts at The Shabby Nest. Lots of great ideas and fun things to look at…so I decided to link up and share the re-do of one of my favorite frugal finds!!!

About 15 years ago my husband stumbled upon this HUGE cabinet. He was reading electrical meters at the time & spotted this buried under hay in an old barn. The owners parted with it for a mere $20. For years it stored canned goods and just sat as we found it…kind of a dirty white.

I’ve always wanted to do something with it, but was afraid to attempt it. Let me just say…if that’s you, DO IT!!!! APPLY THE PAINT!!!!!!

I LOVE it in black! Also, I removed the hodge-podge of stuff and am now displaying the dishes that my daughter bought at a garage sale for $10!!!

Aren’t they pretty? I’m so glad that we bought them. We stood there for awhile debating. What in the world was the debate about? $10??? Goodness!!

I love my nook!

A few weeks ago I purchased a Nook e-reader from Barnes & Noble.

I have used it non-stop ever since. Well, not quite, but almost!!

I chose the Nook over other brands mainly because it is compatable with what our library uses for checking out e-books (the Kindle is not). Since I work at the library, I wanted to take advantage of ebooks our library offers. I've also been able to get quite a few deals on ebooks, some even free. I purchased a NASV of the Bible for $2.79 and have used it during church and even have done some highlighting and notetaking right on the Nook!!

On our recent trip to CT I listened to an audio book that I had loaded onto my Nook.

I have actually put several audiobooks on a mini-SD card and can then listen to those books on either my Nook or my netbook.

Travelling with the Nook was great & it's nice to have lots of books in one location - just pick up and go...However; I don't imagine that I will ever give up the old standard...there's just something about the experience of reading through the actual "hard copy!"

(This picture is a portion of my library that is located in my basement. We've been working on the basement ALL summer and are still not finished with it, but there are parts of it that I'll be revealing to you SOON!!)

Time Flies...

It's been about 4 months since I last posted on this blog.

A whole summer!!

Time surely has flown by...

But...I'm itching to get back in touch with the blogging world.

I've been preparing and sketching out plans for the past few days.

Please hang in there with me...

I have a lot of catching up to do.

So much to show you,

Ideas to chat about...

Here's a preview - my FAVORITE picture from my summer!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day,

filled with family gatherings & picnic-fun!!!

Stating the Obvious

I think that it goes without saying, that I have been taking a break from blogging for awhile. I will continue with that break for the time being. Not sure when I'll be back, but I'm trying to focus on several other areas of my life right now. Hopefully I'll be back - refreshed & ready to go - at some point!


I enjoyed this rainbow last night!! We got some much needed rain.