Small decorating updates

We've done some miscellaneous decorating over the past few months. One of the absolute last things I do in any room is put art, etc on the walls. I hate making the commitment because I'm almost always doubtful of how it will turn out.

Recently though, I was moved to finally add art to our long back hallway. A few months ago, I convinced the husband to stop by an estate sale while we were on our way home from running errands. We picked up a world atlas book and a whole set of state maps for about $10. I knew I could use these as art so it seemed like a great deal.

Sometime in November, the husband took on the job of cutting out the maps and putting them in some frames I picked up from Ikea (of course). We decided to go with places we've lived and visited. I love the personal touch and how inexpensive the whole thing turned out.

Day trips

The wonderful weather we've had here in Houston this month has encouraged us to get out and about more. On a recent Saturday afternoon we took the opportunity to drive up to the Messina Hof winery outside of College Station, Texas (which is the home of Texas A&M). We had a great time and the wine was actually quite good.

  

Guest bedroom changes

After some thought (and feedback from guests), we decided that the guest bedroom needed a few updates to make it a more comfortable place for visitors. Part of the changes included new bedside tables.

Taking inspiration from Aubrey + Lindsay's little House Blog and several other Ikea Rast hack, we picked up two Ikea rast side tables and went to work.

The Rast starts out like this (except, in true Ikea fashion, it comes in a thousand pieces that need assembly).

We decided to go with a stain and paint look. We used Minwax Dark Walnut to stain the outsides and top and an antique white we already had on hand. I picked up a few knobs at Home Depot and we were done. I think they turned out well. And if you look closely you can see part of some of the other changes in this room!

They know us so well

Our Christmas was full of wonderful and thoughtful gifts from our families. I'm so excited about incorporating many of these into our lives and will probably tell you about various ones over the course of the next few weeks. (I'm a little late b/c of some poorly planned school-related yuck).

One of the first gifts we tried out was our new pasta machine.

Image from here

 Round 1 was an-almost-epic fail.

Mistake #1: We started on the pasta making (which we were going to eat for dinner) at 7pm. This is usually not a good thing for me.

Image from here

Mistake #2: We did NO reading/researching or otherwise to help us prepare for this. Nope, instead we just dove right in.

And the result of this was a lot of frustration, a lot of pasta on the floor (Gracie was most excited about that), and dinner at 9:30 (which is a bit late for us these days).

The aftermath of Round 1

But I do have to say the pasta was still mighty tasty.

Mixing the pasta with the pancetta. Although a painful process, the final product was yummy!!

 
Round 2 of pasta making was much more successful. The husband was determined to make the second round much more pleasant. He gathered a few tips online and away he went. In no time, he had rolled the sheets out and cut the pasta. A quicker and more positive experience this time around!

The tips that were most helpful to us were to let the pasta rest before cutting it with the machine, use flour at every step, and fold the pasta into squares to get even sheets. You can find more helpful tips at these sites, including how-to's without a pasta machine (just as easy).

  

Michael Ruhlman 

David Lebovitz

The Italian Dish

A Couple of Cooks

With or without a pasta machine, I would highly recommend you try it!

Its been awhile

The husband and I have slowly been updating various things around the house, but you wouldn't know that because I haven't gotten around to posting about the projects!

To tell you the truth, its almost absurd how much time we devoted to housing related projects over the last few months of last year. So, we're on a hiatus from home improving for awhile (maybe). But I suppose you might want to see what's changed or been updated.

Remember this list we came up with? Well we managed to get a number of things accomplished. I'm planning to update the blog every few days with pictures of our home adventures!

One of our first major projects was the office.

Before

Previous owner's take on the room.

In progress

Prior to doors

After doors

Now

What we have remaining:

1. A few things for the walls (DIY potential here)
2. A larger DIY project to add a furniture element
3. A rug! (which will also likely be another DIY adventure)

I'll keep you updated on the progress. Oh and just for funsies, a picture of Gracie around Christmas time.

Holiday fun Part 2

The last day of our visit to NC happened to be the Belk Bowl where NC State played Louisville, so we headed down to Charlotte to spend our last day with friends. We had a really great time despite the cold weather!!  We brought our new camera lens (which clearly is taking some adjustment on our part so unfortunately some of the pictures are a little blurry).

 

Holiday fun

We traveled to NC for Christmas this year. Unlike most of our trips to NC it was very low key because of a nasty stomach bug that hit me the night before we flew. Oh the joy of traveling and flying with a stomach bug. At least Atlanta has seats without arm rests.

Sleeping in Atlanta

Unfortunately the stomach bug kept us from running around NC to see our friends, but there will hopefully be a visit in February. Despite not visiting with friends, we had a nice quiet Christmas, full of time with my family and a lot of resting.

After several days of feeling a bit queasy, we managed to visit with my bff and her kids on Christmas day. I love those kids!! (All 4 of them)