Graduation Gift Basket

My little sister graduated from high school last week, so I put together a little “dorm room essentials” gift basket for her.  I love putting together gift baskets because you can put so many personal touches in them without spending a lot of money.

I found this basket/box on clearance at Hobby Lobby and knew it was perfect because those are her favorite colors! It set the tone for the rest of the gift and will be useful for storage.  It was surprisingly easy to find little goodies to put inside.

I included a set of personalized towels, a laundry bag, a dry erase memo board, a note pad and fun pen, some hand sanitizer, a picture frame, and some room deodorizers from Bath & Body Works.

She loved it! Our real celebration will take place in New York City in a few weeks, I can’t wait!

Amazing Bathroom Redo

A long time ago, I had a little “Decorating Mistakes” linky party and shared the bathroom in a friend’s home.  I’m proud to finally be able to show some after photos of an amazing transformation. It was a total gut-job and she switched the floor plan around a bit.

Here are a couple before photos to refresh your memory:

Awful sponge-painted walls and weird tub!

Broken drawer pulls and super-ugly marble tile floors.

And the fabulous after photos:

Ahhhh…..so clean and serene now!

Beautiful tumbled stone shower…if I recall correctly she scored these tiles at a garage sale for a steal.

My friend has her own decorative concrete business so of course she did the floors and countertops herself.  They are both concrete but look like marble.

It took a lot of time, hard work, and money but I think the end result is totally worth it!  I love the clean, modern lines and neutral palette. It’s not everyone’s style, but it works for her home.

Have a great weekend!

Pool Progress: Day Nine

We had some lag time over the weekend and just some little technical things got taken care of over the past few days.  Yesterday the tile and flagstone coping was installed and the electrical was run. 

The flagstone coping looks fantastic! I’m really happy with the stone I picked out.

This blue tile won’t stand out as much once the Mediterranean Blue quartz plaster is on, hopefully it will blend the pool with the flagstone.  Our original tile selection was out of stock for the next two months, so I hope I picked a good substitute!

It’s still a mess out there, but I guess that means progress is being made!  There probably won’t be any big changes the rest of the week, and then there is the holiday weekend.  I think the next big thing is the concrete patio, which should get poured the middle of next week.

Pool Progress: Day Three

Yesterday was a dead day because the rebar had to be inspected by the city.  Today they sprayed in the gunite and it is starting to look like a real pool! It’s hard to believe how much has happened in three days.  There is no turning back now!

This is the tanning ledge and steps.  That little hole will be an anchor for an umbrella.

Looking down towards the deep end.

The swim-out bench in the deep end.  This is in place of a ladder.

There probably won’t be too much change over the next few days.  The next step is the tile and flagstone border, which should get done next week. 

Pool Progress: Day Two

Lots of progress made in one day! The hole was dug and the re-bar and plumbing was placed.  And of course the yard was pretty well torn up.

Tomorrow may be a dead day….the re-bar has to be inspected so it will be Thursday or Friday before the gunite is sprayed in.

Day One

Well, we have an exciting “home improvement” project starting this week…..we are getting a POOL!

The planning and designing has kept me busy the past few weeks, hence the sporadic blog posts.  So now I’ll be taking you along on our journey to summer fun, if for nothing else than to document it for ourselves. 

Today the designer drew out the shape with spray paint on the grass and a crew came and dug out the perimeter and formed it up with boards.  Of course I don’t have a true before photo, but you can use your imagination.  Here’s how we stand at the end of the day:

side view

view from back of yard

We are also doing some work on our patio area.  We took up the flagstone extension that the previous owner put in and are planning on laying sod and using the flagstone to make a pathway to the pool.  Here’s the work in progress:

The pathway will go where the red arrows are.  I’m going to re-do/add flower beds along there as well.

I will try to post daily or when there are major changes.  The ground will be dug up tomorrow so I’m sure it will be a messy day.  I just have to take deep breaths and tell myself all the mess will be worth it in the end!

What I’m Working on Wednesday

I haven’t been doing much crafting or decorating lately, but I have been working on some new embroidery projects.  First up, a Teddy Bear version of my popular personalized Bunny Peeps:

These will be great year-round and make a great baby gift.  Find them HERE in my Etsy shop.

I just love this Louisiana Crown applique from Applique Frenzy so I stitched it out in a couple different color-ways. 

I couldn’t resist making another ruffle-butt onesie!

It’s crawfish season here in Louisiana, so every little girl & guy needs a t-shirt for the crawfish boil!

Thinking ahead to football season with this cute little outfit….also available for boys in a ringer t-shirt & shorts.

So that’s what has been keeping me busy lately!  We have a really big “house project” coming up soon, I’m so excited and you’ll hear all about it soon!