Help Me, Please? I'll Be Your Friend.

What better way to celebrate MLK day then to talk home decor? Right? Maybe?
Yeah it's slightly off topic from my usual personal finance and outfit posts but it's been a subject that has been basically consuming SSF and I lately. The trip to Ikea we took yesterday only fed the beast.

Even with everything that's going on around here (i.e. paying off credit cards, saving for a wedding etc) we are still hoping to squeeze in a few, nay fourteen, around the house projects over the next year or two. They run the gamut from replacing the old, painted on hinges (super cheap and easy) to updating the kitchen and bathrooms (aka not so cheap and easy). We're not quite sure what order those things will come in but have pretty much decided that our first project will be to re-do our bedroom. Don't get me wrong, our bedroom is nice, but it's basically been decorated the same way for the last [almost] four years. We need a change.
Changes like...
these walls


these sheets


and this wall art



We are both currently obsessed with gray bedrooms, which made our narrowing down choice of paint relatively easy. The rest is still up in the air. I'd like to change out the linens, put up curtains, and add some wall art all for under $250. But I need some serious help. While I can be a pretty savvy shopper when it comes to clothes I'm not as good when it comes to home decor. What about you? Do you have some great decorating, shopping, savings tips? If so, I'd love to hear them. Share what you've got in the comments below.

the weekend that got away...

This weekend came and went right before my eyes without a single outfit picture to show for it. Sorry ladies.

Friday night I went out to celebrate my last day at Enterprise oddly enough with people that don't work there anymore either. It was great. We started the night with dinner at Ryleigh's Oyster and followed it up with beer and bar shuffleboard at Don't Know? Tavern. Both amazing places in Federal Hill (Baltimore). SSBF and I don't get down to Baltimore often so this was a nice change of pace for us. Bar shuffleboard was aweosme. Seriously. I want one of those things for my basement.

On Saturday I realized why gardening is considered a hobby. SSBF and I spent the better part of 5 hours slash an entire afternoon working on both the front and back of the house. I spent at least an hour on just pulling up crab grass that was overtaking an area of the garden in the back. We desperately wanted to add some color so we bought some annuals to scatter about. Marigolds for the front and Impatiens for the back.

 |Marigolds|

|Hydrangea|

|Various flowers in the back of the house|

We also laid some mulch down to cover up our icky looking clay soil. It's incredible how different it looks. This week we will be heading to Lowe's to purchase this patio set, then the backyard will be complete!

Finally on Sunday I had resigned myself to cleaning in prepartion for my parents visit next weekend. In an attempt to clean the floor under our sofa I started moving furniture around. You see SSBF and I have never been 100% happy with the layout of our living room. Well, that one innocent little act turned into something completely different. I ended up moving the papazan chair that resided collecting dust in the corner of our living room to the guest bedroom. Which then led to a need to reorganize that. I had been using it as my own personal shoe closet. So after a 2 hour trip to target behold I ended up with the most amazing set up for most of my shoes. The more seasonal ones are resting in an organizer under the day bed.

ahhh, like a dream come true and with each unit costing 12.99 each (3 shown here) it was a rather cheap project.

I love productive weekends.

Odds and Ends

Well, we put the finishing touches on our entry door project this weekend. We bought some new address numbers and a new light fixture in nickel to match the hardware on our door. These finishing touches took the better part of an afternoon to complete because a few unforeseen circumstances.

First, the numbers we originally bought from Home Depot involved drilling pretty big holes and some caulking, basically a little more expertise then either of us possess. Then came the light. SSBF took the original light down only to find the person who put the last one up had half-assed the job completely. So in attempting to put the new light up it kept ripping the screw that held the bracket out of the brick! After two trips to Home Depot, an extra screw, adhesive, and some waterproof sealant we finally got the bugger to stay... for now.

On another note I've decided I can finally call it Spring because SSBF and I had our first taste of Rita's water ice this weekend. If you have never had Rita's and live in these states you must go and quickly. It is the best Spring/Summer treat. I personally recommend the Mango Gelati. For all the rest of you, just keep it in mind when visiting those states.

Other then that it was a pretty low key weekend. SSBF and I went for a walk around our neighborhood on Sunday. We have tons of little walking paths in the community and there is this little bridge that we always drive by, so I had him take some pictures down there.

Nothing too special. Sunday was probably one of the nicest days temperature-wise we've had so far. I've seen some people in some seriously Summer outfits, which I have no real problem with.  I just prefer to be conservative, play it slow, savor Spring if you will. That, and I'm kind of obsessed with this scarf right now. You can't really tell because of how bright the sun is but my tee is actually a faded yellow. It is also one of my favorites.

It was just one of those quiet weekends where I got to spend a lot of time with SSBF and we got some things done. It was relaxing, and wonderful... Why did it have to end?

*Scarf, Old Navy

*Boyfriend Cardigan, J.Crew

*Tee, J.Crew

*Tank, Old Navy

*Jeans, Old Navy

*Boots, Forever 21

ahhhh, day off.

With SSBF on spring break I decided to take a couple days off work this week to get some things done around the house and catch up on some of my school work. Today we headed out to River Hill Nursery in Clarksville to finally pick out some foundation plants for our garden. Well, actually we went there knowing next to nothing about what we wanted and had a few of the people there point us in the right direction. We ended up with 4 shrubs, a small tree, and some perennials for both the front and back yards.

That is the back of subbie all loaded up with the our new plants. It was fun going to a privately owned nursery, most of the employees were really helpful and well versed in gardening. Apparently there is a lot more to planting flowers then I originally thought. Like for example it is a good idea to plant flowers that bloom at different times to keep the color going throughout the year. Also, a perennial will come back every season, but annuals you need to replant every year.

By the time we got home from the nursery (after a quick stop) at Home Depot we only had time to put the flowers in out front. The ones we put in will bloom orange and yellow and eventually will spread out to about 18 inches wide (which is why we left so much room in between). We will probably head out again sometime this weekend to get some more to fill in the gaps.

The entire time we were outside today, whether it was out back or front, we had a little audience. They are such snuggy bums. Dolce (in the front) was the most curious, and quite brave. He ventured outside for a few minutes to sniff around.

I had SSBF take a few pictures of the outfit I wore, but the area we took them in was riddled with shadows so they didn't come out very well. Between Home Depot and River Hill we spent about $350 today on plants, a hose, a hose storage box, gardening gloves for me, a small shovel, and weed killer. With the shrubs costing the most at about $35 a pop.

Now about that homework.....

*Twill Blazer, Gap

*Sequin Tank, Old Navy

*Boyfriend Jeans, Gap

* Shoes, Keds

Better Late then Never

I've been meaning to do this post for about a week now except with work and school and exciting car trips it kind of got pushed to the back burner. But after a lead time of about 3 weeks (shorter then we thought) our brand new entry door was installed!

Just as a reminder, this was the old door:

Annnd.. the new door:

And a view from the inside:

I just love it. It is amazing how much that one little upgrade changed our entry way completely. Our next project will be replacing those black address numbers and sprucing up both the front and back with some aforementioned landscaping. While we could have saved money on the install by calling around or even (gasp) installing it ourselves I think what we paid in labor to have Home Depot subcontract the work was worth it. (Mostly because I'm lazy).

What do you guys think of the door?


On another note, I've attempted to look at some landscaping books to try and get an idea of what would work in our region and what looks good together etc, but to be honest I know next to nothing about it and I tend to get bogged down and overwhelmed in the details. SSBF imagines I will look something like this in my attempt to garden:

haha, I wish!

photo credit: j.Crew April Catalogue.

best dressed at home depot

SSBF and I went to Home Depot this morning to finalize our purchase of the aforementioned entry door. Only to find out 3 annoying details.
1. The storm door did not come in both the color we wanted and the size we needed so had to upgrade $25 to the next model.
2. Because of the architecture of our house, $95 was going to be added to the cost of labor to build a "z-bar" for the storm door to be hung up on.
and
3. A 15% special on entry doors that had been running when we got our estimate (a week ago) had ended. So instead of an entry door with a "fanlight" at the top costing $350, we are getting a solid 6 panel door costing $450.
Well, I was a little annoyed with that, and if I am a little annoyed then SSBF is probably close to enraged. Our estimated total of just under $1100 for parts and labor had gone up to a confirmed total of $1254.
When we went to pay customer service I mentioned it to the woman who was ringing us up, and I'm so glad I did. She gave us the 15% off all the parts. Our total ended up being $1148...I'll take it.

On another note, I have been totally obsessed with this chain necklace this week. I think I have worn it like 4 out of 6 days.

*Dress, Old Navy
*Tights, Gap
*Jacket, Express
*Necklace, Juicy Couture
*Boots, Zigi Soho

our first home reno

When SSBF and I first bought our house there were a couple of things we wanted to change-- the kitchen, the upstairs bathroom, and the flooring. We also wanted to replace our blue front door, that is not even close to the HOA code. All of that has been on the back burner though until we got our tax refund for this year.


After a lot of thinking and research by SSBF we have decided to start with replacing our front door. It is clearly the least glamorous of all the things we could do but it is affordable and according to SSBF helps our resale value.

Once all is said and done the doors and labor to install are going cost around $1100. However, the doors themselves will earn us a 30% tax credit on our 2010 return. Double bonus, upgrading the door and replacing the molding around it will increase energy savings.

We had someone from Home Depot come out and measure, and today we are going in to order it.

The picture above is how it looks now. For our new door we haven decided on a all brown entry door and to frame it with an almond color storm door. The worst part is going to be the wait, once it's ordered it is going to take 3-4 weeks for the door to be made and installed.

We are also planning on doing some landscaping and adding some plants when the weather starts to get warmer. So if you know anything about plants or landscape design shoot me an e-mail. I will need all the help I can get.