Royal Design Stencil Giveaway {CLOSED}

Last week I promised you guys an amazing giveaway and today I'm here to deliver. I'm teaming up with Royal Design Studio Stencils to help one of you take any room design to the next level. It's all thanks to Royal Design for helping me start my Full Kitchen Transformation under $50 and I want to help you create a space you'll love for life without breaking the bank!

The Lazy Man's Way of Painting Cabinets

So, today has been a little hectic which means this post is going up much later than I had planned. But thank you so much for being patient with me. I want to give a shout out about the Bloggers Against Drunk Driving Campaign and ask/beg/plead for your help in spreading the word! We have such an amazing community and we can make this reach so many people.  If you've missed the other parts of the Kitchen Transformation be sure to check out the Full Reveal, Updating your Backsplash, and How I did the whole thing for under $50. 

Bloggers Against Drunk Driving Campaign

It's unusual for me to post twice in one day, but this post is so important to me that I couldn't wait until next week to share it with you guys. If you haven't yet be sure to check out the break down of how I did my kitchen transformation under $50.  After my accident I had so many comments and emails from so many wonderful people sharing their own stories with drunk drivers and offering to help in any way. Well now is when I ask for your help in something really important to me.  Over the last few days I've been re-reading my accident posts and most especially reading the comments and emails from you guys. They've made me cry, laugh, and count my many blessings. They also made me realize how prevalent drunk driving is, and how many people it has effected. It is something 100% preventable and yet it takes the lives of 27 people on a daily basis in America. 27 people! Something that shouldn't be taking lives is, because people aren't thinking.  I'm calling all bloggers, and really anyone who uses any type of social media to take a stand against drunk driving! As bloggers we have a huge influence online, and it's time to use that influence to bring this issue into the homes of people all over the world. 

A Place I want to spend time in Part 2

Did you guy's check out yesterday's post? It was the reveal of my new kitchen-and today I'm going to share how I managed to do it under $50. 

First off, about 4 months before we bought the house the previous owners decided to paint their cabinets black, which fit their style perfectly but wasn't really what I had in mind. So I knew right off the bat that I wanted to paint the tan walls and the black cabinets, trying to get Mojo on board was an entirely different story. 

A Place I Want to Spend Time In

Bringing Character to your Kitchen

 In my parents home the kitchen was always the gathering place where we would spend the most time together. I knew that that's what I wanted our kitchen to be as well. Somewhere warm and inviting that would feel like a comfortable place where friends and family could spend time together. So as soon as we bought our home I knew that everything in the kitchen had to go. The tan walls and black cabinets where just so blah, and to be honest rather depressing. When I thought of my dream kitchen I imagined a bright sunny place that invited you in from the moment you saw it.

Over the next week or so I'll be sharing bits and pieces of my kitchen transformation. Usually bloggers show the grand reveal at the beginning and then go through each of the tutorials. Y'all know how I like to switch things up so this time around we're doing tutorials first.

First up is by far the easiest way to update any kitchen, or really any room in your house-stenciling! It's much easier than painting an entire room, or cabinets, or anything else you can think of. I was a little hesitant at first, just because I didn't think it could really be as easy as everyone says, most things aren't, this however is.

The amazing group behind Royal Design Studio was sweet enough to send me a stencil to review and I was so excited to get this puppy up on my back splash. When you think about it, stencil's are the best way to have an amazing back splash without paying the money for tile and then tearing it out in 2-3 years when you change your style or you're trying to sell your home.

It's Valentimes!

I really hope someone (other than my sister-in-law and my husband) gets the above reference. If you do, I'll love you forever.

With Valentine's coming around the corner I thought I'd share some of my favorite past Newlyweds on a Budget Valentine's projects. All of these are easy crafts that will help bring the holiday into your home without to much effort on your part.

This is one of my most pinned projects, my LOVE Mason Jars-

Unexpected Side Effects

So y'all remember I got his by a car almost 7 months ago right? Of course you do, who would forget that? Oh that's right, I do. Seriously, I forget all the time. I will be walking down the stairs and think to myself, why does my left leg hurt so much? It'll take a second for me to come to my senses and think, maybe it's because you got hit by a freaking car!

Ever since I was hit I've been striving to be "normal". I was SO excited when I finally reached the point where I wasn't limping any longer so that no one would ask me what was wrong, or what happened to my leg, etc.

That being said, all throughout my recovery I've been focusing so much on the physical aspects of my recovery-in my mind running again was all that mattered. It's all that has mattered. But other aspects have started creeping up on me, things I never thought I would have to prepare myself for.

I still don't remember much about the details of the accident. But apparently some part of me does (or at least that's what my therapist says) because I've been experiencing some unexpected side effects.

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Martha Stewart Banana Bread

Martha Stewart has done it again, but this time she's rocking the kitchen! We've had this recipe in my family for years and every time I take it to any kind of a get together it's one of the first things to go. My ecclesiastical leader has started asking for it on a weekly basis. I will give a warning to those of you trying to eat healthy, this is NOT healthy in any way, shape, or form. But it is delicious-and I dare you to try and eat just one piece.

Plans for 2013-The Living Room and Kitchen

So, for the most part we were able to finish our to-do list for both the living room and the kitchen in the three weeks before my accident. Now, all the really needs to be done is to add a few finishing touches, hang up pictures, curtains, find a rug for the living room etc. That being said here are a few ways to help give your favorite family spaces a face lift in 2013.

While I would love to be able to convince Mojo to build this for me, chances are slim in that happening. And I am far away from being a power tool goddess, so I'll most likely try and find something similar to it in my local thrift/consignment shops. But I have a half wall leading down to my basement in my living room that is screaming for something like this.

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Plans for 2013-Updating Curb Appeal

I'm really excited about all the fun changes we'll be bringing to our home in 2013, but I think working on the outside is what I'm looking forward to most. If your planning to sell soon or not, adding curb appeal to your home makes everything more cohesive. The outside of your home is the first thing guests see, why wouldn't you want to show your best face and give them a taste of the amazing things they'll see inside the home.

I love the outside of our home, we have a covered porch (something I've always wanted), shutters, and the perfect sized flower beds. But it's lacking that ability to draw someone in that I want my whole house to have. As usual, Mojo and I have set a tight budget for any outdoor updates so I'm sharing some easy and budget friendly ways we're planning to update our home that you can incorporate too.

Plans for 2013-The Back Yard

When Mojo and I first bought our house back in May (can you believe it's been that long?) I had some really great ideas to change a few things and make it into our dream home. I don't believe that just because you may not be able to afford your dream home, doesn't mean you can't make the one you have into everything you've ever wanted.

That being said, Mojo and I have a lot of work ahead of us this year. After my accident, for obvious reasons, most of our "house to-do" list didn't get done. So this year, we've set aside funds and time to finish everything we were hoping to do last year (and then some). For the next week I'm going to go through each of the rooms in our house and set a few goals for 2013. I'm hoping that this time next year I'll be able to see that we checked everything off.

We're starting outside and working our way in, up today is the back yard. We don't have a huge backyard and to be honest, it's really kind of plain. We can't afford something elaborate, but I do want to do a couple of things to dress it up and a bit, and make it a place we would want to entertain in.