Room tour

Yay!! I have finally decided to redo the carpeting and walls in my bedroom. In this post I will share photos of my room how it used to be; later I will follow up with updated photos.

A little bit of history...
My mom grew up in the house our family is currently living in. My mom's father built the house about 45 years ago. When we bought it ten years ago, very few things were "updated". Everything was very nice, but it surly wasn't up to date. The linoleum in the main entry and the main floor hallways, the carpet in the kitchen, the never ending wall paper, and the wood paneling in the basement all proved that. We have done many things to improve the aesthetic of the house. We removed the wallpaper, linoleum, and carpeting in the kitchen from the pain floor. We've painted the paneling in the basement, and the main floor hall that lead to upstairs.
When you walk up the stairs to the second level, there are four bedrooms and two full bathrooms. all the rooms are actually really nice, with at least 2 closets. My room is the one that has been most recently updated. New carpet, clutter free, and new paint on the walls and desk.
Before I redid everything, it wasn't a horrible room. Actually, since I put so much time into it, It looked pretty great. But now I'm even happier with it.



This is a before picture... looking back on it, I can't believe how small the room feels. In this picture, you can see the desk (which was garbage picked, it only had that spot on the top), the bed (which I received through inheritance), my little feature frame wall, and my "art" above the bed (which was made out of a dress). So, as I mentioned, the desk was a garbage treasure! A house down the street from me had an estate sale, and I walked through the house and didn't find anything that I felt like I needed. But, come the next garbage day, this beautiful desk was on the side of the road. The hardware was actually what grabbed my attention, but the desk ended up being great, since I had just sold my old one.

Gotta love auto focus, which thought I was taking a picture of the tree through the window... But you get the idea. All these frames (plus more) were "rescued" from thrift stores, attics, and estate sales. The top one, I found in the attic of our shed at our vacation home. Just sanded it and stained that one. The green one under that was a thrift treasure, I'm pretty sure I paid 25 cents for that along with the one next to it. The big one at the bottom was 75 cents from a thrift store, and the white-ish one was also from the shed attic. The things inside of the frames are all random things I found around my room. I discovered I had a lot of R's so I hung those up, the stick frame, is getting more sticks eventually, and the bottom right frame will have some kind of "native American" feeling. I'm going to hang feathers and shells and other old things. The top frame just had a dollar store sticker in it that said, "with God all things are possible." That actually isn't hanging there anymore because it refused to stick, so it was replaced by one that says, "in a world where you can be anything, be yourself"

Here's another of my frames. I had actually painted this one an aqua blue color, but I wasn't happy with how it looked so I just repainted right over the blue. Then I made this chalk board! (link to how I made it will eventually be here...)

Thank you for averting your eyes from the super ghetto curtain-hanging skills. The window pane chalk/magnet board was a thrift store treasure. And I am literally so proud to say I got it for less than one dollar! The deals are out there if you're willing to look around and stalk thrift store inventories.

This chair was picked up on the side of the road, it does have a crack in the seat, but I didn't want to touch it, because I really liked the way it looked. Eventually, I will do something to it, but for now I like it how it is. The beautiful globe was handed down form my great grandfather.

And then my never-ending pile of old books, which just add so much charm. Each of them comes with a story, not just the one written on the pages, but also of how I got them.

Thanksgiving

   THANKSGIVING is a highly celebrated holiday in America. It provides a time for reflection on the many blessings we as Americans enjoy. Whether sitting around a large table surrounded by loved ones and homemade food, or simply having a quiet night alone, we should use the time we have to be thankful. This year's Thanksgiving was a quiet one in our household. We traveled to our vacation home a few days before Thanksgiving and enjoyed a quiet week. Usually, the extended family joins us up there, however, this year everyone had different plans, and for that I am somewhat thankful. It was great to prepare food with the family and enjoy each others company. Our favorite part of the Thanksgiving dinner is the marshmallow rolls (recipe at the bottom). This year, even though everyone wasn't coming up, we decided to still make the same amount of the marshmallow rolls, so that we could each have as many as we desired. Once the food was done cooking and the table set, everyone was ready to sit to dive into the wonderful looking food. However, I quickly stopped everyone from sitting down (truth is I actually made them get up) so my picture would be prettier. I didn't remember to pack my camera, so I had to use the camera on my phone...

   After everyone was done complaining about having to get up, we thanked our God for the blessings of the past year and the blessings that we know we will receive in the years to come. Everyone should be able to think of at least one blessing... if you can't, just keep thinking.
   Food tends to be a big priority on this last Thursday of November, let's not forget to be thankful for that food, and the people who slaved away to make it something anticipated throughout the entire year.

Marshmallow Rolls:
(Great for Thanksgiving, Easter, and just about any other day.)
 
I didn't put any amounts here on purpose. You can make as many or as few as you like. It takes approximately 1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar, 1/4 tablespoon of butter, one crescent roll, and one marshmallow per roll.

Ingredients:
   Cinnamon sugar
   Butter
   marshmallows
   Crescent rolls (Aldi has them for a reasonable price)

1. heat oven to 375*F
2. Prepare a station to make the magic happen. You'll need two bowls, a cookie sheet, and parchment paper. I don't buy cinnamon sugar, if you're the same way, you should mix some ground cinnamon with sugar (I have not tried using any sugar substitutes, but if you aren't into sugar, this is probably not the best treat for you.)
2. To Start, melting butter in a bowl and place it at the beginning of the line. Then put the bowl of cinnamon sugar next, followed by the crescent rolls, and lastly the parchment-lined cookie sheet.
3. Take a marshmallow, cover it in butter, then in sugar. Next, completely cover them in the crescent. This step is important, because if there are any small cracks or holes, then the marshmallow will escape in the oven. After the marshmallow is covered, repeat the butter and sugar process again. then space them evenly on the cookie sheet.
4. cook for 12-15 minutes, or until the crescent is golden brown.