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Cases full of Beauty

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
environmental on bed

The East Camp Home company has two unique designer lines of throw pillows that will make a statement while adding beauty to any room.  Their Fable collection showcases the beauty of animals that look as if they came straight out of a book.  The dove, owl, fancy chicken and hawk are quite popular choices.  If you want to take a step into the beauty of exotic nature, then the Exotic collection is best suited for you.  The brightly colored peacock, fierce tiger, or the zebra are our favorites.

They are digitally printed pillow cases using original photographs by Valerie Shaff.  Cases are available in 20″ or 26″ square only, and inserts are sold separately.  Prices for cases start at $138 each, pillow inserts $41.  To see more home beauty treats, visit East Camp Home.
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Organizing Challenge: Linen Closet

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
OCLinenCloset

I wanted to start out some place small but not too small so I tackled my linen closet and under the kids bathroom sink, and my bathroom sink.  Being fearful of what it could ultimately turn into didn’t stop me.  It didn’t take too long surprisingly, but I didn’t really know what I was up against until I took it all out of the closet and under the sinks.   Unfortunately I didn’t take any before pictures of under the sinks,  I was in my zone and couldn’t stop!  Our linen closet was starting to look like an extremely mild scene from those hoarding shows and I know if I let it go any further, there is no way I would have found any medication when the kids needed it…and when I did find it, it probably would have been expired…bad!

I started taking everything out of the closet completely.  Piled it all up and started putting things back one shelf at a time.  I tossed out expired medications, things I knew we would never use again, and all those sample bottles of things we have collected from just about every hotel stay!  It was so gross, and so rewarding!  It took just about an hour and a half to go through it all and I ended up with one nice big garbage bag of stuff!

Linen Closet .... BEFORE

 

So after I took it all out, sorted and started putting it all back together like a giant puzzle piece, I am pleasantly surprised as to how nice it actually came out.  I was able to put in another shelf on the top to help relieve some of the clutter on the floor and put the humidifiers that we do not use on a regular basis up on top out of the way.  I have had that shelf for about a year before it actually made it into the closet!  Thank goodness my husband was around… I put him to work and had him cutting the wire shelve to make it fit right.  He did a beautiful job, don’t you think?  I even relabeled things with my handy dandy label maker! :)

Linen Closet... AFTER

I was even able to find a nice spot on the shelf for my big black makeup box and flat irons!  I was able to move all the toilet paper and some other “toilet” essentials under the sink and brought some of the kid friendly towels back into the kids bathroom.  Gave each kid their own dental supplies, put their bath gels and shampoos into their bathroom and simply cleared out the clutter so that when I go into my luxurious (well, to me anyway) bathroom, it doesn’t feel as heavy as it used to be and I am happy in my ‘private’ space once again!

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Bathroom makeover – quick fix.

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Bathroom Before

After seeing the fabulous DIY Bathroom makeover from The House of Smiths, my husband and I just had to try this in our boys bathroom. We studied and read the post over and over again just to make sure we knew what we were doing. The whole project cost us $27.00. Here is our journey.

Bathroom Before

Here is our bathroom before we started.

During

Almost finished.

All Finished

All Finished!!!

Now on to the how to do it yourself!

Materials needed:

Paint – we chose white since we already had it.

Long, flat piece of floor molding. Cost $6.00

2 or 3 large drawer pulls. $5.00each

2 pieces of unpainted flat molding strips. $3each

Hammer, nails, liquid nails, electric screwdriver, level, painters tape, measuring tape, saw, (miter saw works best) and chaulking. Had all on hand. Liquid nails cost $5.00

 

1. Paint all molding pieces.  Let dry.

2. Measure wall and molding to be cut. Remember to measure twice and cut once. :)

3. Cut the pieces and double check your work.

4. Place the drawer pulls in place and secure them with the screws.

5. Using nails, secure large molding piece with knobs into place on the wall.

6. Using a level, make sure your molding is level and continue securing into wall.

7. Chaulk around the sides and edges and nail hols on molding.

8. Paint entire area under neath the molding strip and once chaulking dries, paint over the nail holes on strip.

9. Let paint dry. If you do not want to place the box in the center. You are now finished!!! However, if you want to continue on with the box, follow below.

10. Measure and cut the size of the box you want to use. Be sure to use a saw that can cut in a 45degree angle for best results. There should be 4 pieces.

11. Measure and draw on the wall the placement for the box to be placed.

12. Line the back of each piece with liquid nails and secure on the wall. Hold in place for a few seconds. Use painters tape to hold in place.

13. Once liquid nails have dried, chaulk any exposed areas and paint and touch up any spots.

All finished! Now, my goal was to add a design of some sorts inside the box. But, have not found time to do so yet. But, I think the turn out was fantastic and just what I wanted!!! I could not be happier and I hope that you find this a wonderful and easy DIY project too! I would love to see what you have done!

All Finished

You can check out House of Smiths at www.houseofsmiths.com and you can check out my site at www.creativedesignsbytoni.com.

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Our Makeover Journey Part 4

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the end now that everything has been said and done, I can not believe that we were able to participate in and experience this wonderful thing! It just goes to show you that people do in fact win these contests and that sometimes good things do happen!!! I have been able to meet some wonderful people during the process and got to experience some things I would not have normally been able to. We won the viewers choice for best room from online votes with more then 10,000 votes. We did not win judges choice, but was a close race. Overall, I am happy with the outcome.

Our home was featured in D – Magazine – http://dhome.dmagazine.com/2011/09/my-favorite-rooms/

CBS 11 News – http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video/6290411-habitat-for-humanity-retail-store-design-contest/

Dallas Morning News in Print

Mesquite News – Twice

Garland News

Fox 4

and will be featured in the January issue of Home Improvement Magazine!

 

I just can not believe it! Our house looks brand new and we are so thrilled to have been a part of this. Here are the after shots of our “new” home.

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Our Makeover Journey Part 3

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Days Five and Six

What a crazy few days. The designers are still purchasing items and have added a new front door and new coffee tables and end tables to the rest of the list. The list currently includes:

Living room:
Hard wood floors, new paint on all walls, new front door, new coffee table and end tables.
Dining room/Kitchen:
Hard wood floors, new paint on all walls, chandelier.

So far that is all they have disclosed. All the materials will be delivered Saturday around 2pm.
Then starting next week, everything will start being installed. All rooms must be done by September 19. Judging will begin on September 26 along with media interviews and news segments. YIKES! Going to be on TV! So exciting yet so scary. This is one crazy experience that I am so glad to be a part of!

 

Final Countdown!

Sorry, I have been MIA. We have been working so hard on this makeover. We had no idea that we would be responsible for 100% of the work.  However, we made the best of the situation and got right to work. We have been painting walls, painting ceilings, laying floors, hanging lights, moving furniture, and more. Our living room and dining room are almost complete.

The design team will be out tomorrow afternoon to place all the details in the rooms. We have the weekend to keep it in tact as Monday will be a huge day! CBS 11 News camera will be out, as well as Fox 4 Good Day, Dallas Morning news, and a professional Real Estate Photographer will be at the house to interview us and take photos.

 

The Final Day

Can you believe it?!?!? It’s been 3 weeks and it’s the final day of the Design Duel. We have learned so much from this and still can not believe we got this opportunity. Even though things didn’t seem as they should be or what people said they would be, it was still a great experience and I am very happy we were able to participate. I met 3 wonderful designers who are so nice and were able to capture our personalities perfectly after only meeting us for a few short hours. I really want to thank everyone so much who voted for us to get this makeover.

At 9am this morning, only in 1 and a half hours, the design team will be here setting up all the final details. At 10:30am CBS 11 will be here to interview us, the design team, and the house. I am so nervous. I don’t like being on TV. Then around 11:00 – 11:30am, a professional photographer will be here taking photos of the house and our the design team and my self. Good thing I just had my hair cut!!!

Even though today is the final day and all these crazy things are going on today, the judges will not be out until next Monday to actually judge the rooms for the contest. But, there will be an online vote this week for everyone to vote on their favorite room!!! Lets hope we can win that too!!!

Well, I will report back later as to how everything went.

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Our Makeover Journey part 2

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The night before -

It’s the day before our first meeting with the design team. How exciting is this! I know I am probably just cleaning for no reason. They will come in and make a huge mess and then have to start all over again! Oh well. I am just so excited and can not wait to share all of the great stuff with everyone. All the details and all the designs and all the photos!!! I am just so beyond thrilled! It doesn’t really seem like it’s happening. I can not wait to share with everyone!!! I wanted to post some before photos.

Day One

Monday August 29, 2011.

Our first meeting with the designers is today at 2:00pm at our house. They are coming to look at the room/rooms they will be making over. They want to get a design style and layout of the area. I am so nervous. I spent all weekend cleaning. I am just ready for them to make over this house. We have had the same style and paint colors for around 7 years. I have had the same curtains up for about the same time as well. It’s time for a change.

I got up at 6:30am, not by choice either. My wonderful little boys decided that it was time to get up. Got the boys dressed and made breakfast. But, I had to run into work for a few hours. Rushed through nervously and anxiously. I didn’t want to run late or miss the design team. I still had to get home and get the boys to bed for nap. I was thankfully able to get out on time and head home to get our sitter home, brother in law, and get a little lunch, and put the boys down. Rushed to finished straightening the house and now I am relaxing and waiting!!!

It still does not feel real to me. But, I am sure it will kick in when the house is full of people and there is tons of stuff everywhere!!!

TO BE CONTINUED:

Oh my goodness! The meeting went wonderful! I was so nervous when they showed up. There were 3 designers from Wilson Associates and 2 reps from MarketWave Marketing Group. They are the ones sponsoring the contest.  They came in and introduced themselves and what will be going on. We discussed design styles, colors, needs, and wants. Then they measured everything!!!! From walls, to floors, to furniture to even lamps. They then went back to the office to discuss layout and design for the room.

It was very exciting to hear some of the ideas they had and to see what they can come up with.

 

Days Two through Four

WOW! What a week! I have meet with the design team and sponsors for the makeover and we went through the design plan and style. I have been in contact with the designer the past few days and they went shopping for stuff for the house!!! They have kept me updated on all the purchases. Looks like we are getting new flooring in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. New paint, a new front door, and a new light fixture for the dining room. Can not wait to get everything started.

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Our Makeover Journey

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A few months back while shopping for craft supplies at the local Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity Resale Shop in Garland, I shop there frequently finding awesome deals on wood, tiles, and even bubble wrap! While shopping one afternoon I saw a sign posted for a Design Duel Interior Design Competition where you could win a $3000 home makeover! WOW! How awesome it would be to win that! I knew this would be a long shot but worth entering. I mean, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to win a home makeover. I went home and filled out the short application and sent in a few photos and bio and that was it. Just had to sit and wait to see if we won. I even tried to encourage my mother in law to enter as well. This was a fantastic prize and whoever won would be very lucky.

Then while sitting in my home office a slew of emails came in. I glanced over them and started to delete the spam emails. I came across one email that said “Congratulations, you are a semi-finalist” I thought for sure this was telling me I won the European Lottery or some car or other spam email. I checked the box to delete it. But instead of clicking the box I accidentally clicked the link to open it. Thank goodness I did! It was from the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity Design Duel and I was a Semi-Finalist! I could not believe it! I was chosen along with 4 other families to compete for 2 spots in the design duel. Our family and friends and the public had one week to then vote for one of the semi-finalists. The top 2 families won.

I was so excited. I never win anything and with the year we had been having, this was a blessing. I ran to tell my husband who was still very skeptical that we would even win or come close to winning. He was a little excited but didn’t want to get too excited since there were 4 other families fighting for the same prize. I just knew we had to win this prize. I took to the social media and relied on Facebook to help connect me with all my friends and family. Once it was official and voting began, I asked all my friends to please vote and vote often! The outcome was amazing. I could not believe the amount of people that went above and beyond to help us win this makeover. I had never felt more support and more unity to everyone then I did for that one week during voting. People I didn’t know were supporting us and helping us win. I know everyone did all the could to help us in the public vote portion of the contest. I am so grateful for everyone who voted for us.

The few days after voting closed. I was so anxious and patiently awaited the outcome. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I was going over design ideas in my head and wondering what the designer would do to our house! My husband on the other hand was, “Lets just wait and see.”

It was around 1:00pm 3 days after voting closed. I received an email and frantically opened it. Did we win??? “Congratulations! You are a finalist!” HOLY COW! We did it! We actually won. We did it and with the help of so many wonderful people. I wanted to cry. This was a once in a lifetime experience and we actually won!!!! Now my husband was really excited!!! All these thoughts began racing through my head. Paint colors, designs, decor! It was so exciting. As I sent in the papers they requested, they sent back times and dates for our first meeting. It was on Monday August 29 at 2:00pm. They also asked us to make time for a news segment on Fox’s Good Day on September 21. Really? TV appearances too? The one and only time we have been on TV was during a vaccine segment and they wanted to film Braden getting his shots. That was a few years ago. I am just thrilled beyond belief.

I writing this to share this journey with you. After all, if it wasn’t for everyone voting, we would not have won this prize. I am so thankful for everyone and hope you enjoy our journey.

 

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Space Saver = Time Saver

February 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In our family we have three children.   It’s often difficult to find things when you need it.  This holds especially true with winter accessories like hats, mittens, scarves, ear muff / head band things, etc…  After years of shoving all the cold weather items into a container on the floor in our hallway closet, it finally hit me!  The best way to organize this mess was to get it off the floor!  This is what I did:

Now it is at an easy arms reach for all my kids.  The little one, Gianna (5) uses the bottom two rows, my son (8) uses the row above that, and my oldest (11) uses the row above his.  I used the remaining rows for things like their umbrella’s or my mittens.  It works!  It really, really works!  They think it is fun to put them in the little pockets and they can see exactly which hat, or gloves to pick out for the day!  It is the best thing I have ever done…so far!  It only cost about $5 for the over the door hanging shoe organizer but it’s worth its weight in gold!!

Now, if I can just figure out how to get them to to hang up their coats, we’d be in great shape!

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