Wall Collage

Out friend gave this awesome wall collage set for Christmas & I finally got around to hanging it yesterday. The only reason it took me so long is because I didn't have any pictures for it. I still don't have pictures for it, but until I do, the random white & hispanic family in the photos will have to do! ha!

I don't know where he bought it from, but I have to say whoever decided to put in the "map" with the grid marks on exactly where to put the nails, was a GENIUS! This was SO helpful!

Fool Proof!

 And voila! 

Random white & hispanic family hanging in our hallway!

 We plan to fill it with pictures from our Hawaiian Vacay! 

So until October, these people will be on our wall.

 Loves it!

Home Office Makeover!

This weekend we worked on my home office! 

I should be set up to work from home some time this week (or next).

Friday I picked up the paint- which is Bleached Denim by Behr.

We moved all of the stuff out the room, patched a hole that was caused by the door knob, 

& installed a door stopper.

Here are the before pics.

My previous home office was a horrible mix of everything. 

Dark wood, light wood, medium wood, white, etc.

 My desk area was super messy!

 I loved the wall color & photos I had hanging up- but that's about it.

 Black sheer panel had to go!

 more of my mess!

My hoarder-ness!lol

The patched hole- forgot to take a before pic.

Patched hole & door stopper

Repainted this too!

Saturday my mom & I ventured to Ikea in Atlanta.

I got up at 7am & we were on the road by 8:30.

It was our first time there- &we were there almost 4 hours!

I bought the Expedit Shelving Unit & Expedit desk.

When I got home, hubby got to work with a friend putting it together & I took the above chest of drawers outside & started painting it. 

And here is the After:

New paint on the walls & desk in place!

I love this desk!

 Repainted Chest of Drawers!

3 cans of spray paint-

I didn't sand. 

I didn't even take the drawers out or the stuff in the drawers out. 

LOL! I was tired so this is how it turned out.

I plan to get new knobs of course.

And new face plates for all the outlets.

Moved my memo board to the back corner &

 I want to get a vinyl wall decal for the other empty wall.

Moved arrangement to the opposite wall.

I plan to put in new pics in those empty frames.

Total cost so far- $385.

$85 for paint & materials (I had a $50 gift card so actually $35)

$290 @ Ikea for desk, shelving unit, misc office items.

$60 gas to & from Atlanta.

I still want to get:

new curtains

faceplates

knobs

light fixture

rug

wall decal

side table for printer 

But other than that, what do yall think?

How'd we do?

Home Office Makeover

First I want to say thank you for all the congrats on my promo! I am SO excited to be working from home! They haven't set us up just yet so I have about a week to do a home office makeover.

If I am going to be in here 8 hours a day for work & then ??? hours a day for blogging, tweeting, facebooking, etc then I have got to get this room together asap!

I don't have a large budget since I only have a week so I might be going to Ikea this weekend to see what I can find. I need a desk for my work computer & one for my home computer.

I want a cohesive look in here which is why I plan to get a new one for my home computer.

First lets talk color.

My walls are currently a dark gray, which I LOVE.

But I want something calming, so I am thinking blue.

(Not necessarily the one below)

Source: simplykellyblog.com via Heather on Pinterest

I like that desk too & I think Ikea has a similar one!

Something like this would be nice but that desk is so long.

However, I will have dual monitors for work along with my desktop so I may have to go this route.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via April on Pinterest

I definitely need lots of storage.

So I am planning to add shelves like this.

Source: google.ca via Betty on Pinterest

And I like these box units since I'd be able to close them.

Source: marthastewart.com via mia on Pinterest

My vision is for it to be comfy, organized,  & stylish like this.

Source: michaelanoelledesigns.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest

I doubt I will have all this together in a week.

But I am going to try my hardest!

Top 3 items on the list is painting, pricing new carpet for the space, & finding a desk.

I'll post before, during, & after pics once I get started!

Conspiracy?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mine was spent relaxing (sort of). 

The best way to spend it of course.

Friday the hubby and I stayed in.
He had a "friend" come over who got me all riled up talking politics.

I wouldn't even really call what he said a political discussion.

Somehow I brought up Obama's name & he went OFF.

He started saying Obama's the anti-Christ & Martin Luther King ain't sh!t!

He said they were in the Illuminati.

CRAZY!

This guy thinks every famous person is in the "Illuminati."

He started going on & on about the "books" & the Bible says Obama is the anti-Christ.

I asked him to please show me where in the Bible those words were &

who wrote these "books" that he's getting his info from.

Look, I don't care who you like or don't like as president, but that type of behavior is just extreme.

I was mad! We were both literally yelling at the tops of our lungs!

We weren't even arguing politics, we were arguing the conspiracy crap that he believes in.

Then he went on & on about Whitney Houston, Jay Z, P Diddy, & almost every other famous person being in it.

He started talking about Pepsi being the anti-Christ too.

He got mad because I just refused to believe what he was saying, without proof.

He stormed out & the hubby's other friends who were there just busted out laughing

& said I was too rough on him.

How was I being rough?

I just said show me the proof.

I'm sure the government knows thing that they don't tell us,  that religious groups have secrets, &

that there are secret societies out there- but I am not going to start lining my roof with tin foil, storing water, & buying weapons.

This "friend" actually stockpiles food, is building a bunker on his property, & has gas masks, etc.

That's just crazy in my opinion.

I feel like if God wants to the end the world, then it's my time to go.

I wouldn't want to be the last man standing anyways.

I'm not Will Smith, and this aint "I am Legend."

Moving along...

Saturday I intended to get a mani/pedi, get my taxes together, and do some shopping...

and then I got stuck watch Whitney Houston's 4 hour funeral.

How I allowed myself to sit there for 4 hours is beyond me!

It was a very nice service, but I know those people were hungry as hell after 4 hours.

It rained here Saturday so hubby & I went out to eat at Red Robin...Yummm.
Afterwards we popped into TJ Maxx.
As we were leaving I saw my ex-bff. I hadn't seen her in 11 years.
We locked eyes and it didn't hit me til after she passed me who she was.
AWKWARD.

She is now happily married to the douchebad that I dated in college.
They were screwing behind my back.

In hindsight, I am very thankful they did that because
 I wouldn't have met the wonderful man I am married to now!
Funny how things work out.

Yesterday we went to Lowe's to buy the last faceplate to complete the living room.
Those suckers add up once you start replacing them.
I am SO glad we finally finished that.

Being in Lowe's is bad...it makes you start thinking about all the things you want to fix or replace.
Home renovations aren't in the budget this year, unless it's minor, like painting.
Yall I am sad to admit that we still haven't finished are floors and we installed them in 2010.
We have red tape all over the place & it drives me crazy.

Hubby forgot to budget the cost of trim originally, so we left the red tape down to secure the floors
until the trim was installed.
I've been secretly peeling off the tape...
although I know it needs to be there.
Everytime we have an extra $500 to spare something comes up.
Now we've got to pay off this Hawaii cruise by July 30 so we might be seeing another year of red tape.
(I'll update this post later with a pic of the "red tape.")

And I still have no curtains or pics on the wall!
I haven't found the perfect piece and now I am thinking about repainting the living room-
hubby will die if I tell him I want to repaint! Ha!

Click HERE & HERE to see my living & dining room area.
I need to do an updated post because I've moved the living room furniture around.
And I have some pillows & a mirror.
I need to bring in some color other than brown!

I hope you enjoyed this random post.
I just realzied it's a bit all over the place.

Home Decor

So as promised here are the few items I purchased lately to decorate our home.First up is my favorite. It's a mirror I found at TJ Maxx for $40.  I love that is has a silver tone to it, but it's not a bright shiny metal. The size is perfect for the space. Now I'm working on having some curtains made for the windows.

I love the texture in the frame!

For the living room I bought 4 pillows.

It is amazing what a difference that pillows can make!

These I found at another local TJ Maxx. 

The brown ones were $12 each and the white ones were $16.99 each.

What do yall think?

Now if I could just find something to go on these large empty walls!

New Phone

I got a new phone yesterday. My poor blackberry had been dropped 1 too many times and wasn't funtioning properly. It kept dying each time I accessed the internet. Luckily my friend was ready to upgrade & sold me his Samsung Galaxy S for $50.  Can't beat that price with a stick! And I didn't have to renew my contract, woot woot!

So here she is:

I hate her.  I love the apps, the vibrancy, etc etc. But I can't stand the touchscreen. Maybe I am the only one who feels this way. But I loved my BB keyboard. It's gonna take some getting used to, but so far that is my one & only major complaint.

I FINALLY did a little decorating. We repainted the living/dining room last year and since then our walls have been bare. When it comes to interior design, my mind just doesn't function. I didn't want to just buy anything so I'm taking babay steps. I bought 1 mirror for the dining room and 2 pillows for the couch. That's it! I still have 2 huge blank walls in our living room. I have no idea what to do! And I still don't have curtains for all the windows which is driving me crazy. I do know I want navy blue and white chevron print curtains for the dining room to offset the stripes.

I'll post pics in my weekend recap of the few items I have bought. I'm going to go out and look some more today. AGHH!

Have a great weekend!