Movie Makeover

by Ang

Because we love movies so much, they were starting to take over the living room.  We tried to find a nice cabinet that would hold all of our DVDs, but we couldn't find one big enough.  So we got a plain bookshelf.  But, eventually it was full.  And looking ugly:

I didn't want to get those DVD binders, because they only hold the DVD and not the artwork.  And then, when you get new ones, you have to readjust all of the pages, etc...and it's a big pain.  So I did some brainstorming and then started Googling.  And I found something and placed an order online.

I ordered a bunch of these movie sleeves made by Atlantic.  Each one comes with a sleeve for the artwork, and then an inner sleeve that can hold up to two DVDs (because there are a LOT of movies that come with two discs. 

So I got to work!

So after I made the transfer (which took f-o-r-e-v-e-r), I had no place to put the new thinner DVDs.  So I went to Ross (of course) and picked up this:

It's just a basic dark brown storage bench. 

Here's what it looks like inside:

The two rows on the left are movies.  There are over 300 of them.  The stuff on the right is more DVDs, but ones where we wanted to keep the cases.  Like our Toy Story trilogy toy box.  And Star Wars. Ones like that.

They are in alphabetical order, because when you have 300 movies, that's the only way to do it.  So I labeled some envelopes as used them as dividers:

So far, I am loving this system!  I can't believe they all fit into this little bench.

Before:

After:

Much better!  Macy likes it too.  :)

Random

By Amy

I've been busy with moving the last month or so and didn't get a chance to post these pictures.  I love this one.  It's of the boys and their Grandpa.

 My little boy has graduated to a big boy bike.  It scares me to death!  But he loves it.  He will just sit on it in the garage and plead to have dad take him somewhere to ride. 

While the boys are doing "boy" things....I had a girls night out.  We went to a sushi bar and saw "The Help".  I cried through the whole thing.  It was great! (:

 A few weeks later, Keith and I  were invited to a event my boss sponsered.  Sinbad was there.  My gut hurt from laughing so hard. 

I'm leaving for Arizona this week with the boss.  Ready to soak up that glorious sun.  See you when I get back!

Soap

by Ang

So....soap!  I was organizing our master bathroom tonight and noticed I have quite the little soap collection going on.

It started in Paris, with one simple bar of soap.

On one of our last days there, we stumbled upon Le Bon Marche, which just happens to be the best known (and biggest) department stores in Paris.  The outside looks like a typical Parisian building, you know, rounded corners, tons of windows, very old.  But here's the inside:

Nice, huh?  So we perused around and looked at hats, fancy dresses, teapots, etc., and everything was way too expensive for us.  Until we came to the soap.  Lots and lots of soap.  I picked out one bar to buy and brought it home (because I couldn't go to Le Bon Marche and not buy anything, right?).  I paid 6 euros for it, which is a little over $8.  It made my suitcase smell like peppermint (menthe poivree)!

This whole time I haven't used it.  Every now and then I'd open the box, take a whiff, and then set it back on the shelf in the bathroom.  It reminded me of shopping in Paris with my sister and my friend.  I didn't want to use it because then it would be gone!  And it was my only bar of soap from Paris!  But I finally decided that good soap should be used and enjoyed, right?  So I'm going to use it.  Tonight!  I will save the box though.  What is it about fancy soap that comes in a box?  It's like opening up a present.

The box has a website listed on it, so if I fall in love with the soap, I'm sure I can get more.

I also am loving the more simple soaps out there.  I have a few from Trader Joe's that I am working on...

They are inexpensive, simple, and smell lovely! 

So if you know of a place that sells great fancy soaps in boxes, please keep it to yourself (I already have to stay away from World Market).  I don't need to spend any more on soap!

(picture of Le Bon Marche courtesy of Wikipedia)

House Update

Here is the living room.  The curtains are actually more blue-gray.  Not sure why they look purple.  I like our living room.  I love the rug and I love the floor. 

 Things I want to change:  the lamps.  They don't match.  Not that I want matching lamps.  But these REALLY don't match.  One is really....heavy looking and the other one looks like you could blow it over.  We also don't have any pictures up. 

I love our bedroom color and our furniture.  It's so light and airy in there even though the furniture is dark and heavy.  I love my puke green bedspread and my pillows. 

Things I want to change:  Again...the lamps.  Also we need to put pictures up. 

 We bought a oval rug for the dining room.  I really like it.  But our table is round.  So it looks a little funny.  And since we had to center the table on the rug...the light fixture is off.  I do love my fork and spoon.  They are chalk boards.
Things I want to change: Eventually we want to get a bigger table.  A oval one.  But in the meantime, hubby is going to move the light fixture.  He says it's "no big deal."

 The kitchen is a work in progress.  Keith popped the tile off and is smoothing the walls as I type this.  Hope to report more on this soon!

The boys room are finished.  But they are messy and they probably wouldn't appreciate it if I blogged about it.  The bathrooms are the same.  Have I shown you my tiny pink bathroom.  I'm learning to love it.  Although Keith has huge plans to make it bigger and better.  But we have to wait for the money tree to grow first.  Ha ha. The basement looks the same, except that it is full of furniture now.  Our desks, exercise equipment, a couch and a tv.  We spend alot of time down there and it's cozy.  I'll take some pictures of that once I get it cleaned up.  It's a mess right now.  I have a couple extra kids over and they are living down there.  All in all, I like my house.  It's getting more and more comfortable and I look forward to coming home. 

My Built-In Best Friend

This is not a flattering picture of me.  Obviously.  But I thought it really captured how I feel when I'm with my sister.  Pure joy.  I have know idea what we were laughing about.   I'm grateful that my brother-in-law stole my camera and took a few candid shots of us.  I love these moments. 

Remodel

by Ang

First off, we're back in New Mexico and had a fantastic time with my family in Nebraska.  I'll post some pictures of my cute niece and nephews, but first I wanted to share a major project for us that is now DONE! 

After one week of sleeping on our bed in the living room with our old furniture scattered throughout the rest of the house, our bedroom is now done.  We (and when I say 'we', I mean someone else) replaced the floors, the closet doors and all of the trim.  And did some painting.

Here is some of the 'befores':

The carpet was in really bad shape.  And the mirrored closet doors had to go:

Here's the new floors:

Pretty, huh!!

And the new closet doors (before we painted them):

Inside the closet:

Now was the fun part!  After our furniture was delivered, I got to decorate and put it all back together.  Our colors for the bedroom were blue and dark brown.  They're still those colors, but I wanted to bring in an accent color of some sort.  My husband kept suggesting red, but I was convinced that wouldn't go with everything else.  Until I seen this rug:

It's hard to tell, but there is blue all throughout the rug mixed in with the red.  It's really pretty! 

Then I put together some artwork with some red in it:

The pieces in the top, middle, and bottom frames are all cards I got in Paris.  And I put patterned scrapbooking paper in the second and fourth spots to fill it in.

And I got this pillow to add a little more red:

Here's the bigger picture:

(the blanket and pillow on the right is the dog bed)

We each got charging stations for our night tables to control the cords:

I am VERY pleased with how it all turned out.  There's still a few minor things to do, such as putting the pulls on the closet doors, and maybe some more artwork.  But I am so happy that it's done!  Thank you to my husband for making it happen.  He knows how to get things done!

And on an unrelated note, I am once again going to profess my love for Ross (the store).  I got the rug, the mirror above the dresser, the pillow, the frame for my Paris cards, and the dresser runner all for a grand total of.........$75!!!!  Not bad, huh??