Growing On Up

Well, it's been a few weeks and these little heat-lamp dependent fluff balls.....

have since out grown the box and are now living outside, heat-lamp free! 

I haven't gotten on those plans for the coop for you yet because, as you can see above, we STILL haven't finished the door! It's on the list! 

Is anyone here a pro chicken raiser that can tell me what kind of chickens I have? 

FINALLY Some Blooms!

I have been patiently waiting for my poppies to bloom and they FINALLY did!! 

The bees are just crazy about them! 

I can't get that pesky bunch out of the rocks without killing it :( 

Right above them are the snap dragons my husband got me for Mother's Day. 

And ALMOST blooming...

The bleeding heart. 

Soon I will get you all an up date on all the flowers and what not that's growing around here but there's still so much more to plant! 

$22 @ Habitat for Humanity (Guest Bathroom Progress)

Remember this pile of beadboard that my parents so generously gave to me? 

Well here's where some of it went. 

I know that white beadboard is the big in thing right now but in spirit with Plan A the dark wood was the way to go for this bathroom. I must say that I love it more than I thought I would, even with the montage of blue/green towels we have going on in there. 

If you missed it, this is what it looked like before:

A zillion times better, right?

Other than the trim we had everything on hand. 

So, as always the case when you have to thrift for your remodels, this is taking a painfully slow turn for the better.

Recently I bought 3 things from my local Habitat for Humanity resale store. 

A wood cabinet. I snatched it up as soon as I saw it. It will go over the toilet and replace this: 

It will need a which touch up with some stain to match the other wood and maybe I'll eventually get new hardware for it too.

Next up: 

Yes, I bought 1 dirty, almond colored sink. 

Why? 

Well, first of all, anything is better than this:

Second, though it's dirty it will wash up. the handles and everything are in excellent condition and the almond color will match the existing toilet and tub. 

And third...

 

This is my FAVORITE!!! Isn't this teeny tiny chandelier just adorable?!

I am going to replace the candle parts with pipe and spray paint it all to match.

Our poor light fixture in there now is down to 2 working lights and even the bulbs don't match.

I'm hoping my dad will give me a hand with the electrical when the times comes because I have no idea how to go from this wall mounted unit to a ceiling unit.  

The total cost for all 3 pieces: $22.  Awesome. 

Next up in my search?

A new vanity. 

As if this poor thing could get any sadder I cam home one day to a puppy we were watching sitting at the top of the stairs with the other half of the frame laying at his feet. 

Any ideas? I have a few DIY ideas floating around in my head. They include lots of varnish. 

For previous posts:

Guest bathroom- Before

In the Land of Demo

Plan A

Entry Sneak Peek

And it really is JUST that, a peek...

But look at that bead-board and stained wood goodness. Beautiful! 

Spice Rack Makeover

Does anyone else have one of these things?

I bought it when we first got married and you can see how much of these things I have actually used in the last 5 years. 

While I don't know much about cooking or spices I know that chili powder should not look like this:

I also know that color = quality/flavor. The brighter your spices are the better they should be. 

Want to know something sad? I took the first few pictures on a black and white setting and din't even notice because my spices were so dull.

So, I threw it away! 

Well, my garbage can was too full so I set it next to the can. My husband came home, found me mid kitchen purge and says, "You're throwing this away!?" 

You see why I have a hard time getting rid of things? 

But he was right, it was actually a pretty useful, space saving set up. 

Out came the label maker and the scissors! 

I dumped everything in the bottles and soaked them in the sink. 

While I was waiting I gathered all the stuff I had in my cabinet that I actually use. 

I used a magic eraser to rub the lettering off which was surprisingly easy.

Then, I made new labels with my label maker. I had to cut them down a bit to make them the right width but it was worth every second. 

 Now my previously useless spice rack if fully customized with stuff I actually use and know how to use! 

My favorite: Ling Hi Powder

You don't find that on your off-the-shelf spice rack! 

Look at all that color! Now THAT is what your spices are supposed to look like! 

Bonus: Now I have a bunch of space in my spice cabinet from all the other containers I emptied! 

Our New Addition!

We got chicks!!!!

They are just a few days old right now but they grow SO fast!!! 

We are going to raise them to lay eggs. 

These two LOVE eggs! I can't wait until we can have fresh ones every day. 

We have had a great time learning about chickens and holding them. 

Anberlynn especially has a soft spot for their fluffy little bodies. 

Right now they live in a cardboard box in the garage but stay tuned to find out how we took theses boat crate pieces and turned them into a coop! *UPDATE: See the coop here* 

P.S. If you haven't updated your Picassa (Google's free photo editing software) lately you need to check it out!  I LOVE this cross processing filter! It's especially handy if you are into Google + because now it has a button you can click to add photos straight from the program!