I Tried To Add Some Spa Like Beachy Elegance To My Bathroom

I have pretty much themed my bathroom out using a cute Circo Owl theme. However the small shelf that divides my tub from my sink area has been untouched. 

When I found a bottle of Beach Bubble Foam Syrup... I decided it looked best there. 

However, while cleaning and organizing, I found a few really cute perfume bottles that I had, that sort of matched really well with the classy glass bottle of bubble bath liquid. 

I decided to go ahead and place these small items on this shelf to add a very tiny little beach theme to the room. 

The mermaid Siren bottle of body lotion just added that little bit of beachy flair that I loved. The heart shaped perfume bottle also has little tiny plastic starfish hanging off of it. You cannot see it clearly in the photo. 

At any rate, I think I placed these blue/teal items together neatly and in a way that it captured the essence of water.

Review of the New Glade Wax Melts Warmer

I am a huge fan of my Scentsy Wax Warmer, however that wax melt warmer was given to me as a gift, and when I wanted to pick up another warmer I realized that the Scentsy brand was asking $40 for their warmers! I was no way paying that much money for a wax warmer.
However this past weekend I came across a deal I could not refuse. I spotted a Glade Wax Melts Warmer for literally $9.99! To top that off, Glade also had their own line of scented waxes for a very decent price.
Anyway, I worried about the quality of the warmer because it was nowhere near as large as the Scentsy brand warmer I have, and it also did not feature a light bulb inside of it's belly to heat the wax.
This one reminded me a lot of a candle warmer. One of those hot plates you would set a candle down on, where it releases scent without having to actually light the candle. The concept is literally the same, only with the Glade Wax Warmer, you simply plop a few cubes of wax melts into the pot on top and wait for it to melt and release scent.
When it came to the Glade Wax Warmer, I was pretty impressed with how quickly the wax melted, and how delicious the fragrances smelled.
I also liked its smaller size. It takes up far less real estate on my counter than my Scentsy brand warmer. It's a tiny little fella but it packs a powerful punch. It also works better, as with my larger wax warmers, not all of the wax is melted, some sticks to the sides and only the center turns to liquid. The Glade warmer melts every bit of the wax, and there is no residue stuck to the sides, or pieces of wax that cannot be melted due to even heat distribution.
What I liked about this low priced warmer above my Scentsy warmer is that it does not have holes in it, so no annoying light shines through. I like the fact that I can leave this one turned on at night, and there is no light coming through. I like sleeping in complete darkness, and the fact that I could leave this one on, and do so was nice.
There is one very tiny electric light that glows orange, but if you simply turn the pot to face a wall you do not even see it. It is nothing like the light that emulates out of other ceramic wax warmers.
Overall:
I had questioned how well this warmer would work, and it ended up working better than my $40.00 wax warmer! For the price, and the quality, it cannot be matched!
My one issue however was a lacking selection of warmers. I was only able to locate the blue one, which I am not too fond of. A larger color/shape selection would be nice to see in the future.
-My review also on Yahoo Contributor Network

The Owl Theme In My Bathroom

The Owl Theme going on in my bathroom sort of happened randomly. It began with just one small owl decal above the toilet bowl, and in turn it transpired into me getting a few more owl themed items for the bathroom. 

I love owls, and I think I put just enough in the bathroom as to where it works, without it being a complete overkill, like some tend to do when it comes to themes.

Here you can see my little green owl towel that I placed next to my plain Jane brown bath towel. The only difference here is that I will actually use the brown towel. The green owl towel will simply be for show.

 

The next image you see are some extra owl decals. I put them above the bathroom door, and ironically found a cute little decal with a quote I liked. I placed it above the door and in between the other 2 owls. 

Here is my super cute hand soap dispenser that I found at Walmart. It seemed to go with the green owl towel, so I had to have it.

Next up is the owls from Targets Circo Collection. I had no idea these were highly collectible. Ebay sellers are trying to pawn the garbage pail off for $40.00, when in fact Target has them in stock for $20.00. I however refused to spend $20 on a waste basket. So instead I got this here toothbrush holder, which was not too bad as far as price is concerned.
I also picked up the Circo Owl hand towel, for just around $8.00. They had larger towels that went with this towel, but oddly enough the larger- more expensive towels did not feature an owl on it! So I skipped it and got this one. It looks so cute in my ring towel holder.


I am still on the hunt for an owl themed wastebasket, but for now- here is it. My tiny little bathroom owl collection.

Some Granny Memories! Antique Bathroom Sign

When my Granny passed away, my uncle pretty much emptied out the contents faster than I had the chance to really have the heart to go and visit the home. It was like my second home, and upon my return there was literally nothing left. 

He however missed one thing, the sign that hung on her back porch bathroom door was still there, and I always loved the sign. In fact it belonged to my parents at one point, and somehow ended up on her back porch bathroom door. 

I felt so excited to actually get it in my possession, and the fact that no one else took it, or that it did not end up being thrown out literally almost made me cry with happiness. You see, I spent 3 days in the hospital with her, my mom, and my cousin while she departed this realm. 

No one else stood. 

So when she did pass, I could not bring myself to go to her home knowing she was not in it. It was too soon, too.... wrong?

At any rate, that sadness aside, I did end up with this here treasure, and was so happy to get my walls painted, and hang it up.

I am not necessarily sure if it is an antique or not, but I do know it hung in her home for 30 years or so. So it surely has some age to it.

I Need More Christmas Lights! Lots and Lots of Them!!!

I have big plans today when I get home. As you may or may not know, I started hanging Xmas lights up in the beginning of November. I shut them off because I realized that even though my early Christmas jolly spirit was an an early all time high, other folks in the neighborhood have not even began decorating. In fact a few of the lazy ones still have their Halloween stuff up.

Well... not me.

I started 2 weeks ago around November 1st. Yep. I said it. November 1st.

I got up just some basic lights outside, and strung a few light sets up into one of our larger spiral trees. I did up the front stoop, and lined the pathway with some pretty purple LED lights.

A week after that I bought 2 80 foot spools of large LED strands to run up on the roof.

Today I am stopping back off to my moms house to pick up my collection of lights I left in the garage attic.

I have a HUGE snowman blow up- Ray wants to put it on the roof to really make a statement, but the idiot has no idea how easy it blows over, and the fact that even though it is a blow up ornament, it does need a little boost in order to stand up straight.

I am just putting it in the yard.

At any rate, here is the snowman last year at my parents house.



As you can see- I take the whole light thing pretty seriously. If it were not for me, my parents would not even hang lights up during the holiday! :(

I have to get to their house this year to put theirs up as well as my own now!












Here is last years Holiday Parade... me and my gal pal all decked out and handing out treats on Main Street during the big festival!

Any excuse to dress up cute! Hahaha...


Anyhow, here is last years decorations that I worked hard at putting up and displaying in Mom n Pops house.

 I loved the pastel like colors in the lights last year. I only can hope to find this set... and that it still actually works.

 Pretty little extra something with the candy canes! A little imagination and anyone can have a gorgeous tree... with lots and lots of lights!!!!

 Below are some of my favorite ornaments. Marshall's and Home Goods used to sell these for like $5.00 each. Now they are around $10.00 and made with lesser quality materials.

Turning An Old Jewlery Cabinet Into Something New and Wild!

I had this jewelry cabinet since I was about 14.

It looked like crap when I resurrected it from the basement, but I figured instead of throwing it out, perhaps I could bring it back to life with some new color, and some flair.


Seeing that my changing room has a pink and black theme going on, I figured that the jewlery box would look really nice in the same type of scheme.


Only instead of the ordinary, I decided to flair it up by adding prismatic glitter to the black paint to really give it some glam!



It was actually pretty easy to add the glitter to the cabinet, and here is how I did it!

I simply painted the cabinet draws a high gloss black, and before I allowed the paint to dry, I added some prismatic rainbow glitter to it by pouring some in my hand and then blowing it lightly onto the wet paint.

It sticks really well. To keep it from flaking off, I added a quick spritz of clear glaze to it, which actually allowed it to shine even more heavily.

Unfortunately the after pictures are a little hazy. But you can sort of get a feel for exactly what the cabinet now looks like.

I have to say, I am quite impressed with this DIY project, and after I posted these photos of Facebook, friends of mine were already asking if I would sell it to them.

Changing Room New Colors! Pink and Black

 The Before

I spent the last few days painting my changing room. I finally got my other half out of the room, and he now changes in the other spare bedroom. Getting him to do so literally took a good month, but I have been seeking claim on this room since the very beginning. Lucky  me, he finally caved the other day, when I ordered him another hanging rack for the other bedroom... and I am sure the new monster BBQ grill I got him for our anniversary helped sway his decision in my favor! Haha!  

At any rate, the colors I used here were Gliddens High Gloss Black Paint, and the pink, my absolute favorite goes to Behr, in Sugar Sweet- 680A-2. 

The Behr paint is a bit pricey, and cost me $32.00 for a gallon. I definitely did not need a gallon for the room, a half gallon would have done, because I only needed one coat of this paint. At any rate, I need to finish the french doors, and make some touch ups, but all in all I love the color combination. It may not be for everyone, but it is for ME. 

I am not quite finished painting the room, but have been working on it everyday after work, and will not stop until it is finished! It is coming along beautifully, and I will come back to update this post with the finial finished results.

Antique Gothic Royal Cabinet From Croatia?

I am a roadside treasure animal... and I tend to find pretty awesome things just sitting on the curbside. This is one of those special and most loved finds. I can still recall the day I spotted it. I was driving along the road with my cousin and we both saw this massive ornamental piece just tipped over at the curb. 

We did not hesitate for a moment. I hopped out of the car, and literally sat on my treasure while she went home to get my dads truck so we could tote it away. 

It sat in my parents garage for years, while the bottom half of it sat in my cousins boyfriends garage. I never thought the 2 would meet again, but when they broke up, he was throwing out the bottom half! I would have killed him! I drove out with a helping hand and picked up the bottom half! The bottom half will be added later in the photos, as I have only refinished the top half. 

So what the heck is this thing?

At first we thought a wine rack, due to the odd shaped racks inside of it, however it just seems that it is missing the shelves, which I will also add later. 

At any rate, after finding it, we were both intrigued by the family crest carved into the cabinet, and also in the bottom cabinets the same crest was carved. 

From what we gathered, which was not much... the piece seems to have belonged to a royal family in Croatia. But we are no researchers, this was all we could gather though thanks to Google. If anyone knows anything about the crest, please enlighten us!

I'd love to get it to an antique roadshow just to find out more information on the piece, but it is far to massive to just tote around.

I personally adore it because it looked like it came right of of Dracula's castle, with it's crude carvings, and strange family crest. Alas... I love it, and am so happy that I can finally erect it in my home!

I have been painting it black to match the rest of my parlor, and I am loving how things have been coming together in my home! Especially this room!

At any rate here is the cabinet finally together at last-after being apart for years. If ANYONE knows anything about it please let me know. The 1X throws me off, and the symbols... well I have no idea. My guess is 15th century furniture, maybe even older?

Treat Yourself To A Free Maid- The iRobot Braava 380t

It's not that I am lazy - in fact I work so much that doing light household chores like dishes and cleaning sometimes get pushed to the bottom of the priority list. I know I am not alone, but I definitely take pride in having a clean house, and whenever I hand wash a sink full of dishes, I feel like I deserve a trophy for managing a job, a household, and the chores.

But alas, I fall behind.

Ray and I just celebrated our 11th year anniversary, and we are not strangers for when it comes for asking for high end gadgets.

Although my heart was set on a PlayStation 4, I knew what I really needed, vs wanted.

I wanted a way to clean the hardwood, the tile, and the linoleum floors in the house. I had been researching cleaners, and new vacuums, but with each search I came to find that I was growing more and more attracted to the iRobot Braava 380t.

It took me about a month after our anniversary, and a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond to finally go ahead and give the green light on what I wanted.

I figure I am pretty dang nice considering that this one is for both of us. Plus it was $100 cheaper than the high end BBQ Grill he wanted so badly- and got! You're welcome smoosh!!!!

At any rate, back when I lived at home with my parents, my mom had a scooba 1st edition, and one of those nifty roomba vaccum cleaners. We loved them, but the loud noise made the dogs hate them, and they were commonly known to be involved in dog attacks. Yep, the dogs hated these little robots.

I hoped that my dogs would not attack my newest family member, who we named Scotty.

So how does it work?

The iRobot Braava 380t mops and sweeps, which is pretty neat. I did not have high hopes for it though, because it was far smaller than the older models my mother owned. However, it worked far better, and is far superior to those older Roomba models.

There are 2 modes, a dry sweep, and a wet mop mode. You get 2 attachment heads, one for the dry mode which is used by attaching the included white colored swiffer cloth to it, and the damp attachment head which fills with water, and uses the blue mopping cloth to mop the floor.

But all the technical garb behind, let me just get to how well this robot actually works.

Say you have a lot of hardwood flooring, a mix with tile floors in the bathroom, and you got linoleum in the kitchen- this system is for you, and literally eliminates manual labor when it comes to cleaning your floors.

You can use the sweep mode, which will collect any dirt and dust in its swiffer cloth. You can also use swiffer brand cloths on this system.

In dry sweep mode, the machine makes its way around the house sweeping up the floors. In damp/mop mode you simply add water to the reservoir, and dampen the blue cloth. You then let it go around mopping and scrubbing floors.

The mop/damp mode is my favorite and works like a charm. I was surprised that the system is smart enough to know not to fall down the stairs, and it's small and compact size allows it to get right up to the edge of walls, and under furniture without getting stuck.

It does a very good job at cleaning, and eliminates the need for heavy dirty mops, it does not re-use dirty water, and it works!

The system is also very quite. I forgot it was even on and doing its job till it bumped into a chair leg. The dog is not bothered by it because it is so quite as well.

All in all, for those of you whom live busy lives, and cleaning is something you must force yourself to do when you have time, this machine is for you! It makes life convenient, and works like a charm. 

Christmas Tree Is Up

We finally got the Christmas tree up this past week.

The funny thing about buying your first home, and coming straight from mom and dads house is that you realize how much you actually lack when it comes to the simple little things you once took for granted. 

Christmas bulbs.... sigh.

I love Christmas lights, but never really paid to much mind to ornaments. I regret that now I suppose, but really, who buys ornaments when they were always ready on hand when you lived back home with mom and dad?!

So my tree is lacking ornaments, nice ones at least. 

We picked up a barrel of really crappy plastic ornaments at the Home Depot for like $4.88. It was enough to make the tree look a little better during the day. However we had to buy separate hooks to add to them, which was a tedious job. 

We went with red lights, which make the tree look really nice at night when it is lit up. During the day though, it looks a little sad, but eh... it is our first tree as homeowners, and will probably be the tree I remember most.