Puppy Love & Excellent Customer Service

The other night, I took out our DSLR.  I am so tired of looking at phone pictures. I KNOW that they are a lot better than they use to be but I love pictures from an actual camera.  The Husband wanted nothing to do with having his picture taken, so I played with the pup. 

    

At first he was being all GQ and pensive.... but I got him excited about pictures by playing with his squeaky crown.

 

Almost a year ago (to the day!) I told you about my new favorite kitchen thing.
We used that thing several times a week.  I went to use it one day and it slipped out of the cupboard where it was balancing precariously - I blame The Husband but he said he would have never put it away like that.  Anyhow - this was the result. 

It happened AT LEAST a month ago - probably longer. I was really sad.  I just kept it on the counter pushed together as if the magic dish fairies would come and make it all better.  Finally I decided to contact our rep from whom I bought it.  She said that this stoneware has a THREE YEAR WARRANTY!! All I had to do was send a PIECE back and they would send me a brand new one.

About ten days ago, I sent the piece to the address my rep gave me and waved good-bye, thinking there was no possible way they would send me another, at zero cost, in any decent amount of time.  That was a Friday.  On THURSDAY of the next week I came home to this:

 

This is brand spankin' new people!!! I was really really stunned.  The turnaround was SO fast and I didn't pay anything except shipping for a tiny piece of ceramic.   If nothing else, I fully expected some sort of inquiry because let's be honest, the thing didn't break because of a defect, I literally dropped it (albeit not far) on our kitchen floors which are tile.  OF COURSE it was going to probably chip, if not break. 

I just love when a company backs it's product.  I'm sure if it happens again, there will probably be more of an inquiry.  BUT my fingers are crossed that it doesn't, I was very sad the day it broke!  I will say that I am thrilled that there are still companies who care about their customer satisfaction for real and not just on paper!

Have you had an excellent customer service experience?

Do you share it as often as possible?

Curtain Update and My Next Project

Y'all are going to be SO PROUD!! I cut out ALL the gray material for the curtains for our bedroom windows and slider.  Now all I have to do is cut out the gold.  I should be able to get that finished by tomorrow and maybe even start sewing!! WHAAAAA?! i know I'm pretty excited and impressed too =)

I posted this picture last night to FB and Instagram:

 

I wanted to know which gold fabric to go with - I had asked The Husband and he preferred A over B.  The majority of people also preferred A over B.  I didn't realize until someone else mentioned something about the pattern that it kind of looks like two DIFFERENT fabrics.  They aren't.  It is two different sides of the SAME fabric...a heads and tails.  Same exact pattern.  

As for my upcoming weekend - the plan is to get these curtains finished and hung.  And finish the craft room....is there an echo in here?! I know, I know - same sad song.  Seriously though we have been talking about it for the past week that I would like to get it done.  He is frustrated because all my craft room stuff is in totes in the office and blocking the closet in there. The Husband is not thrilled with that - nor was I this morning when I had to move a bunch of totes of the way to get a jacket since it was actually storming out! Legit - thunder and lightning style...before work...before 8!! ridiculous!

If we get that finished on Saturday, I am leaving towards gel staining our bathroom vanity.  I'm so scared to do it but I want to so badly!!! I don't love the color of the vanity in relation to the color of the walls. It just doesn't work for me.  I found a tutorial on Pinterest (anyone surprised? no? ok, moving on).  I want to go from this to this - pretty much just like One Good Thing by Jillee did:

 

 Seriously - I can't wait to have this completed.  It will look so much better with the deep gray I painted the walls in the master bath. Unfortunately, I have to order the gel stain because apparently it isn't sold in stores.  booo!!! I am going to trek to some of the local hardware stores and see if I can't find some of the stain recommended in her post.  It is sold through Sears online but not available in stores.  Why must they do this to me?!  Well since that won't get done this weekend, maybe we will finish my plans for the spare bathroom or the laundry room...yeeessssss!!! =)

As always, I am definitely being ambitious in what we will accomplish this weekend.  I know I can do the gel stain on my own while The Husband does something else. The craft room would be a much bigger challenge so I'm going to go ahead and let him take care of it =) 

If absolutely nothing else I am finishing those silly curtains....hopefully.... ;)

Woo - it is almost Friday!!!

My Life As a Procrastinating Crafter

That should PROBABLY be the title of this blog.  Let's face it, I am the world's best procrastinator.  If there was an Olympic sport devoted to it, I would win the gold.  Not only do I procrastinate beautifully, but I STILL manage to meet every deadline.  My procrastination of projects, crafts, and DIYs definitely deserves its own post. 

I did finally start cutting the material for the curtains I want to make in our master bedroom.  There has been something NOT quite right about our master.  I couldn't figure out what it was...so I thought I was going to paint.  The Husband said there HAS to be something I can do differently.  So I thought and thought and thought some more and determined i REALLY hate the curtains.  They are very cheap - and I bought them because we needed something to shut out the world.  Well the time has come to make it better! 

So I started searching for what I could possibly want.  I couldn't think of anything at first because our comforter is very ... ornate?  it is beautiful and I LOVE it. the problem is finding something that is complimentary but not boring.  Here is our set:

 

Its from Kohl's - my parents bought it for us for our second anniversary.  It is a lot more gray than blue like it sort of looks.  so I needed something that would compliment it without fighting against it.  Our bedroom furniture is black and the walls are gray...here's a refresher:

 

This picture was taken like a month after moving in.  A lot has changed.  anyhow - I decided I really hate the curtains; and with how much the temperature differs in our bedroom versus the rest of the house, we knew we needed blackout curtains.  

Off to JoAnns I went with my mom and sister.  This is what I found on clearance:

GORGEOUS! I hesitated .... and carried the material around with me for a good half hour.  I finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and buy it.  I needed 12 yards....I walked up to the counter and sadly, it was all they had left and there MAY have been 8 yards.  Well that wasn't going to be enough for the two windows and the slider.  So I pouted, and then I carried the material around with me.  There HAD to be another option.  I found the PERFECT contrasting gray material (also on clearance).  It isn't dark gray and actually has a blue/purple undertone to it.  

At that moment I remembered that I saw paneled curtains on Pinterest....but could never find the ones I loved again.  After DAYS and countless hours of searching online, I finally found what I had been looking for - and I will never forget the title - Pimp My Curtains.  This would be my inspiration from The Design Pages:

 

So I bought all the material I could possibly need - plus a little more.  And hey, it was on sale for something like $4 a yard AND my sister used her teacher discount.  WHOOOO!!! 

I was so excited, I took the material in and laid it across the comforter to make sure it would look perfect.  It does. It is going to be magnificent....my problem is that I have been too scared to cut the fabric.  Then I had a mini panic attack because I was worried that maybe I didn't buy enough material.  So after a month - seriously, I bought it Father's Day weekend - and three different counts of the yardage and three different diagrams, with associating math. I finally cut out material for the FIRST slider panel.  That's as far as I got last night but now I am ready to go.  

As you can guess, I don't have pictures of the finished product. Not even close. I didn't even take pictures of me cutting up the fabric - which I totally should have done; a little celebratory or mischievous picture because let's face it, I'm proud of myself.

With The Husband's birthday quickly approaching, I am looking over my to-do/project list and marking the ones that NEED to be done.  It is quite the impressive list. I may be a little over ambitious...don't touch that dial, let's see if I can get it all done! =)

 

Water Heater...

Or do you call it your hot water heater? 

Is this a trick?!

Or do you feel hot water heater is like saying PIN/VIN number?

Regardless OURS decided to stop working on Saturday.  BUMMERS!!!

Yes it is horrible to not have hot water BUT it was even worse because my hair kinda smelled like an ashtray.... I blame Anngela! HAH! no just kidding - I can't blame her she doesn't smoke!  Her birthday was last Friday and we went out and had a party! YAY! 

at Cowboys (woot!) and danced the night away (holla!) and while restaurants here in the sunshine state are smoke free, the bars are NOT. So when it came time to shower and the water never got cold....I hesitated.  I know - for shame! 

Nothing a little dry shampoo and hair 'fabreeze' can't help =) SOOO that is what I did for parts of my Saturday. .. thankfully I didn't leave the house at all on Saturday.   

When I did finally bite the proverbial bullet, it was THE most ridiculous thing. I stood as FAR away from the shower head as possible and only stuck my HAIR under the water.  I stepped away from the water, hastily washed my hair and did the same lean way back move to get the soapies out of my hair.

To wash the rest of me was even more pitiful and FREEZING! I practically just splashed water on myself from afar.

Needless to say, after getting out of the shower, I put on my slippers and a sweatshirt. I'm not joking - i was FREEZING! I even cuddled up under a blanket.   And let's be real, it was 85+ outside, so it isn't like we are dealing with cool Autumn temperatures or anything!

Thankfully, I have learned how to deal with one day worn hair and didn't have to suffer through another freezing cold shower this morning! Cold showers AND Monday morning work would DEFINITELY equal one unhappy Ashley and that is NEVER good for anyone.

The Husband did go out and find another tank-less water heater for a decent price and scooped that baby up.  Ideally, by the time I get home from my run tonight it will be all hooked up! Fingers Crossed!!  One thing is for sure though, had we forgone a water heater we would DEFINITELY save on our water bill and of course our electric bill.  This girl is NOT prepared to make that kind of sacrifice lol - it makes me grumpy to stand in cold water!!! Can anyone say first world problems???!!?

Could you go without hot water for any length of time?
Do cold showers make you cranky?

An Anniversary and a Craft

.......

or should BLOG-iversary!!

That's right! Today this lil' blog of mine (I'm gonna let it shine!) is TWO!!!!

I can't believe it has been two years - that means I have been married that long...

which we all knew from a couple months ago - but still!!

So Happy Blog-iversary to me!!

As I started this baby out with a craft/re-do, so shall I celebrate today with one!

I have been bit by the 'decorating bug'

No I don't know if it is a real thing to anyone else - it is to me.

The problem - absolute NUMBER ONE thing - is that redecorating or decorating at all for that matter GENERALLY costs some dolla' bills.  I am so thankful that I was blessed with a craft/creative gene. I look all over the internet and in magazines for ideas and then I think of a way I can make something similar. Now, I would LOVE to show you my craft room like I did two years ago, but it isn't quite ready for the big reveal. Heck, even when I finally show ya the room - I'm sure it will still not be completed. Anyone who has a house, KNOWS that there is ALWAYS a work in progress =) 

My recent overhaul is our spare bathroom.

This is what it looked like the day we bought the house - Halloween 2011

This is what it looked like 2 weeks later =)

 

Seriously - we did pretty awesome! I absolutely love the spare bath.

But now it is looking a little plain-jane. It just needs a little SOMETHING.

Enter Dollar Tree! No seriously - the ONLY way I'm decorating is if it is NOT costing me an arm and a leg -and  ESPECIALLY because of my aforementioned gene!

First - I hung the shower curtain...well not first - I did that MONTHS ago.

I used the shower curtain from the old house...yes we only had ONE shower.

I seriously wish I would have posted pictures of that house, if for no other reason to share the layout!

Anyhow - I did these little projects for some added decor for about $4

Seriously - $4! you really can't beat that!

Here they are - all done my moi last night:

 

Wine bottle 

White flowers - left over from this project

small glass vase - used in our sand ceremony at our wedding

Valspar gold spray paint - already had for a different project that is still in the works...

greenery - Dollar Tree

Framed 8X10 mirror - Dollar Tree

glass 'beads' - left over from wedding centerpieces

jute/twine - hardware store: $2

I have some wall decor I made with the help of my Cricut E BUT I didn't get to hang them. 

I'll show you the full tour of the bathroom tomorrow...hopefully =) 

Thank you for all your support - whether you have recently discovered Life After the Aisle or you have been here since day 1! your love and support has been amazing and I look forward to continuing to share our life and projects =)  Love love LOVE U!!!

DIY Master Closet Makeover

One of the projects we got into this weekend was a master closet makeover!

I LOVE that we ACTUALLY have a master closet – like a REAL one. Seriously – I wish I had a picture of the two tiniest master bedroom closets EVER. I honestly don’t know how we stored all our clothes…oh wait, yes I do. They. Were. SMOOOSHED!!!

So we were ECSTATIC beyond belief when we found that most every house we checked out had a WALK-IN CLOSET!!! Wha – Whaaatt?! Seriously – you will never know the true extent of my excitement!

SO anywho – we ended up at our awesome house and knew we would probably want to put in more shelving in the closet. The Husband and I have a lot of clothes…I think he has more than me! shsshhhhh!!

We spent a TON of mullah getting the rest of the house together so we knew this project, although fairly inexpensive, would have to wait. Well kids – the wait was FINALLY over this past weekend! We went out and bought some more wiring racks…actually we only needed one because of the way the closet was ORIGINALLY set up by the builder.

 

Reason I needed a shoe rack: the shelf in the above picture was stacked with shoe boxes at LEAST four boxes high. It looked cluttered and honestly I forgot which shoes I had so I just went to the easy ones I was use to wearing. What a WASTE! Especially when I have so many!! 

 

Don't worry - after the Spackle dried, we painted over the spots to match. =) 

  

In addition to making the closet more user friendly, The Husband wanted to make a shoe rack/shelf thing. Since we were at Lowe’s we decided to go ahead and buy the materials for it; we were ‘overhauling’ the closet anyway! 

We bought some pressed wood/MDF to build the shoe rack. It is inexpensive and easy to mess with AND since I was going to be painting it - we didn't need any sort of fancy wood grain for staining. I painted the shelves green because I have a great green light idea for the closet...but I haven't gotten to it yet

 

If you decide to attempt this project - I HIGHLY recommend getting some inexpensive trim to add to the back of each shelf so you can catch the heel on it and the shoes won't slide off! 

Tonight - I am hoping to find a before picture of the closet so you can see how unorganized it seemed. I am so happy with our new closet organization and now our clothes aren't smooshed and won't wrinkle against one another =) I also LOVE that I can see all my shoes!! Seriously, I found a pair in its box that I thought I had gotten ridden - NOPE! They are still in my possession! SO excited - I am pretty sure I squealed when I found them again! And can you believe The Husband rolled his eyes at me when I told him I need a pair of closed toe gray shoes?! The nerve ;)

Since taking this picture, we have added a bar across the top, over the shoe shelf to hang my boots. I don't have all the details on how I will hang my boots - or what type of mechanism we'll use but I'm still excited =) 

Some Backsplash Action

Hi y'all!!! How are ya?! I'm doing alright - it is awfully dreary out today =( We need the rain 'round these here parts though so it isn't SO bad.

This past weekend, The Husband and I installed a tile backsplash in our kitchen.  It is something we wanted to do before we officially moved in but the funds weren't there. Like other home non-necessities, it was placed on hold. That was until last weekend! I am so happy we were able to get it done.

First things first - we had to pick out what we wanted. This was going to be difficult. I have been wanting to at least pick a design but couldn't settle on anything. My sister did hers a couple months ago and it kicked my desire for a backsplash into high gear.

I met The Husband at Home Depot after work on Friday and wandered around trying to figure out what we wanted. We were trying to stay away from doing anything on a 45 because our floor tiles are set at 45 degrees. He wanted rectangular tiles and I just wasn't seeing anything I loved. I found a display that was set on 45 degrees but I LOVED the layout and tiles together. So we strolled over to the tile section to look at all our options. We sat on the floor in Home Depot together for about an hour before making a decision.

We purchased 100 four inch square tiles, 6 bronze accent tiles, and 5 sheets of small glass tiles. We picked out the grout we thought would like nice and went to rent a tile saw from the rental department. By now, it is 7 PM and the store closes at 9PM. The nice lady at the rental center told us that if we have the saw back before 9AM the next morning, we would only be charged the 4 hour rate install of the full day rate! Unfortunately, that meant we would have to work as long as it took to get the tiles all cut and on the wall. We agreed we would do that and use Sunday as our relax day.

We got home and started around 9:30 after prepping everything. We worked hard and really well together - I started making cuts for the additional half row we would have right underneath the cabinets. That's right - I used the wet saw all by myself! That is the ONLY way would were going to get finished at a decent hour. The Husband did the rest of the tiling and I followed behind with the half tiles. We put in the next to last tile at 12:30!! Three hours to do a little more than 15 square feet...Now here is the really important lesson you can learn from us -- MAKE SURE YOU MEASURE THE DAY OR SO BEFORE BUYING MATERIAL! Seriously -- we were one HALF of ONE tile short....

So at 12:30, we went to bed. When we got to Home Depot Saturday morning to return the saw, we bought 1 tile and used a scratch cutter in the rental center to make our cut.

Sunday we grouted the tiles. On Tuesday night - we changed out all the outlets to brown because it looks SO much better than the white, and we siliconed the bottom of the tiles; between the last tile and the counter top. 

I am so happy with it! Here is the thing about me - I always feel whatever we decide to be a great idea. Then we start the project and I become very unsure of our decision. Looking at the before pictures - I absolutely adore the outcome!

 

Can you and your significant other work together on big projects?

Bright Sun-Shiney Day

After we had the curbing installed, J and I started talking about what kinds of plants we would add to make the outside look well kept and happy =) Yesterday I needed a little sunshine, so at lunch, I went to the Lowe's down the street from my office.  It was exactly what I needed! All the flowers in the garden center are in bloom. It is bright and colorful and just happy. =) SO I had to take pictures to get me through the rest of the week AND to share ideas with J since he was at work on the other side of town!

We have decided that we need low maintenance plant life. J does some landscaping on the weekends, so he is feeling like the last thing he wants to do is have to spend LOTS of time on our yard. I agree -- I'm not really the gardening type...well not yet anyhow =)

I LOVE these plants - They are called Bromeliads. I love how vibrant they are and it is kind of a bush plant without being bushy! I'm hoping we get one or two of these to add a little flair to the front yard.  

I'm not really the flower type but I LOVED all the blooms!! These were eye catching because they are a little more unique than your typical geraniums. AND they are really colorful! But really - everything there was intensely vibrant and colorful =) Even the greens were VERY green! =)

We found out the other night that Peonies survive well in Florida. I'm so thrilled about that because I think they are beautiful flowers! The Chinese Peony is a survivor in FL =) LOVE them!  (pictures of peonies found via google)

 

This weekend J and I are going to a couple plant nurseries to get a better idea of what exactly we want. I'm really excited to spend a lot of time with him this weekend. We have had a TON going on and this past weekend I barely spent time with him. He helped with the curbing on Saturday morning and then when we fish - well he gets into his Fish Whisperer mode. THEN on Sunday he had his yards to do and then the Super Bowl. SO I'm looking forward to hanging out and reconnecting =) YAY!

What are your plans?
Do you enjoy gardening?

Innovative Curbing

FANCY right?! I am so happy we decided to do this! We had a curb at the old house...it wasn't anything spectacular but it was nice to have to keep the rocks on one side of the drive and the grass on the other =) The only thing was that J drove over it a lot when parking equipment in the yard. This made it crack and break and it wasn't the color we wanted. We knew we needed something at the flowerbeds to get a more finished look.

BEFORE

 

AFTER!!! HOORAY!!

 

The sealer was still wet when these pictures were taken. It is drying a bit lightser but I am so so happy with it! The guys rolled a texture on it so it isn't completely flat/smooth. I really was against it but The Husband REALLY wanted it so we agreed. I LOVE the texture. It gives it a little extra something =)

We really like a shrub that we have no idea what it is called. It is a little shrub that is easy to maintain and blooms yellow - there is another in the 'family' that blooms purple. We can't figure out what they are called! Once we do, the plan is to remove the ugly little shrubs that are there now and plant pretty ones!  I never EVER thought I would be excited about gardening and plants! =)

Do you like to garden?
What kind of flowers or bushes do you have or want?

Our Home: Master

Alright - I FINALLY got around to taking pictures of the master. Well I should say I finally got around to digging through some of the boxes in the craft room to find the comforter. I FOUND IT! hooray!! it is a bit wrinkled but whatever -- I'm sure it will work itself out! So without further Adieu...

Master Bathroom

 

 

  

Master Bedroom 

 

 

  

Now, I know that the pillow shams don't match - those are the extra pillows from the spare room. I use them to cuddle up - I like to feel surrounded by blankets and pillows or cuddled up to The Husband when I sleep =)
The last room is the craft room. Unfortunately that room is going to take a bit of work before I share it. I'm REALLY hoping that mid-February that project will be finished.  =)