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The Deines Home: Where plants go to die.





Just keepin' it real.

Poll

Our carpentry job, which we were originally told would only take 1 day, has now turned into a 4 day job. So I don't have any pictures of completed work yet. Let's just say that some of the work was not done correctly, and they are coming back to redo it. Thanks, Daddy, for pointing out all of their mistakes!

Now, on to my first poll. We're going to get laminate flooring in our living room, hallways, dining room, and study. We can't decide if we should also get it in our 3 bedrooms. (Or maybe just the master bedroom?) We have a large dog, 2 cats, and a toddler. The carpet in our bedrooms will need to be replaced soon if we don't get laminate flooring in those rooms.

George and I have never had anything other than carpet in our bedrooms, so we don't know if we'd like laminate. What do you think?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Comments are welcome too.

Changes

Something very exciting is happening to the Deines home today! This morning 2 carpenters will come to remove the eyesore that is our living room wetbar. I don't know what people were thinking in the '80s. I can understand the need for a wetbar if your home is 4,000 square feet and you have to walk a mile to the kitchen. But our kitchen sink is literally 10 steps from the wetbar, so there's really no need for a sink in the living room.

Before

The carpenters will also remove all of the outside wood siding that Rudy ate when he was a puppy, and will replace it with durable Hardie board. Hopefully he won't be able to eat it, but we've learned to never say never with that dog.

Getting rid of the ugly wetbar is the first of some other big changes to our house. You know the saying that you can't change anything in your home without it leading to several other changes? It's true. We've wanted to get laminate flooring for a long time, but our living room already has wood paneling. In order to avoid complete wood overload, we need to get the paneling painted before we get the laminate installed. And before we can get the paneling painted, we have to get the wetbar sink removed, so it can be painted to match the paneling.

That's why it's taken us 7 years to get all of this work done. That coupled with my fear of making an irreversible change to the house that I might end up hating. Plus, all of these changes are pretty costly.

The wetbar and outside job will take 2 days, so I'll post after pics when it's all done. Can't wait to see it!

Real Simple Bargain

Deal alert: Amazon is selling 1-year subscriptions for Real Simple magazine for $5.00! That's only $0.42 per issue. What a bargain!

Elephant Nursery Tour

Kelly's Korner is touring nurseries today, and Reese's nursery happens to be my favorite room in our home. Welcome to his elephant nursery!

The day I found out I was having a boy, my mom and I looked at this bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I love elephants and I knew it was exactly what I wanted, but it almost sold out before I got my hands on it. We were able to get everything but the elephant sheets.


Since Reese came 1 month early, his nursery wasn't quite ready yet. My mom and her friend/boss, Diana, put up the quilt for me before Reese came home from the hospital. My dog is a bit territorial and nipped Diana on the neck. Sorry again, Diana!


Here's the changing station, where Reese kicks and screams when I change his diaper. My friend, Michelle, made the cute "R" painting and my mom painted the antique dresser.


The bookshelf holds some of my books from when I taught 4th grade and others we received as gifts. Reese likes to tear and wrinkle the pages, so I had to put some of them away for now. The fabric covered board holds birth announcements and photos of Reese's friends. I got it at the Pottery Barn Outlet for $4. I love the elephant lamp.


Here's my sweet little boy and his elephant. He doesn't like to sleep in his crib. Maybe he doesn't like all the elephants as much as I do!

I've Got Burlap, How About You?

Even if no one else in the whole world reads my blog, I know that at least my mom checks in from time to time. I'm sure she just comes here to see pictures of her one and only grandson, but she saw this post about how I wanted a pretty burlap table runner, and had one made for me!

Rhoda is having a burlap party, so I decided to post a few pictures of my new addition.

This is now the first thing you see when you enter my home.

I love the texture.

This burlap table runner is just the beginning. I'm planning on having burlap pillows made for my sofa.

Thanks, Mom!

By the way, I took these pics near midnight, and my dog was right in front of the cabinet and wouldn't budge. See? Rudy couldn't care less about burlap.


And, did you notice that ugly brown paneling behind my cabinet? It's finally going away very soon. Woohoo!

Burlap is the New Black

I've noticed in blogland and in some of my home decor magazines that burlap is the "in" thing right now. I don't have any in my home yet, but I would love this personalized table runner. It would look perfect on my favorite cabinet in my living room.

Picture from The Lettered Cottage.
Table runner from Coastline.

Do you have any burlap yet?

I <3 Goodwill

I have a new obsession. Just a few months ago I discovered the wonders of thrift stores. I kept seeing lots of pictures in blogland of wonderful things people were finding at thrift stores. Some of the items they repainted or repurposed, and other items were just fine left as is.

I decided to venture out to Goodwill and found myself wondering why I hadn't shopped there before. It was like a gigantic air conditioned garage sale. I was just plain giddy as I shopped up and down the aisles of candlesticks, pretty glass containers, and lamps galore.

Here's what I found on my first trip:

A silver candlestick, Smith & Hawken flowerpot,
a birdcage (to be painted black), and an ironstone pitcher.

Most items I've purchased at Goodwill are no more than $2 or $3, and when an item is not priced, they only charge me $.99!

My local Goodwill gets donations from Target, which means brand new items are sent to be resold there. I've seen new lampshades, clothes, curtains, furniture, bedding, etc. I just scored a brand new bamboo Roman shade for $7.99, which I had just been looking at online the day before for $25.99!

I'll show you what I've done with some of my other thrift store finds soon.

Open House

The Deines Christmas tree! We have a dog angel on top.

No, angels aren't dogs just as much as "angels are NOT pretty women
dressed in robes with glittery wings." to quote my friend Michelle.

If you enjoy home decorating, or at least enjoy looking at pretty homes, don't miss out on the plethora of opportunities to get a peek inside homes beautifully decorated for the holidays. Here are just 2 holiday open house parties that will keep you busy for hours. Grab some hot tea and enjoy!

Saturday at the Onion Shed

George, Reese and I ventured out to Farmersville on Saturday to check out their flea market. It's held at the old Onion Shed (pictured above) the first Saturday of each month. We didn't arrive there until about 2:00 and many of the vendors were already packing up.

We didn't find anything we couldn't live without at the flea market, so we went to a few antique stores. I think this was Reese's first time to go antique shopping outside of the womb. I went quite a bit before he was born.

Farmersville is my favorite place to go antiquing, because the prices are pretty reasonable. Here's what I bought, and I spent just under $10 total:

A vintage Santa candle and a cute
Woodpecker Woodware bowl from the '50s

My first piece of milk glass for my new collection. I think I actually
already own a milk glass hen, but it must be boxed up somewhere.

George even managed to stay entertained by looking for Dr Pepper items for his office at work. He found a vintage bottle that he purchased, as well as some wrestling video from the '80s. I turned my nose up at the video, but he said it would bring back good memories from his childhood. And it was only 50 cents. Plus, it has Kerry Von Erich. I actually saw him wrestle in person when I was little, and (I can't believe I'm admitting this) I had a framed picture of him in my room. I think I still have that picture somewhere.

It will be fun to see what Reese decides to collect when he's a little older.

Way Overdue Update

I've felt like this the past few days...


But I'm better now.

Reese is sleeping MUCH better, now that we're co-sleeping. I never wanted to co-sleep, but it is the only way we are all able to get a decent amount of sleep. He only woke up 1 time last night! This is the best sleep I've gotten in 7 months. Poor George has been sleeping on a mattress topper on the floor though. Anyone have an extra king size bed?

The days surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday were very busy. George's family and my friend Caren came to our house the day before Thanksgiving and we had a huge feast. George had just taken a vegan holiday cooking class at Spiral Diner and we all benefited from his new recipes. He made cranberry salsa and black bean dip for appetizers, and for the main course: tofurky, cranberry pecan dressing and gravy, green beans in sesame sauce, and rosemary mashed potatoes. He made pineapple upside down cake and cheesecake for dessert. Everything he made was vegan! His family brought all sorts of goodies as well, including his dad's candied yams, which I love.

Eating acorn squash and sweet potatoes

1st Thanksgiving

On Thursday, we went to my mom's house and celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. We went to visit my dad that night, as it was also his birthday. Then, we had a birthday party for him at our house Friday night.

During all of this, we also got a new fence. This is a huge, huge improvement to our home, as our old fence was on way past it's last leg. Rudy has escaped from our backyard on several occasions (earning him the name Rudini), so we are happy to know that he is safely secured in our backyard now. Wylie fence company came and took down our old fence on Wednesday, but didn't get our new fence completed until Monday night, due to all of the rain. It was worth the wait!

Old fence...

(I'm trying to give away the swing set on Craigslist.

For some reason, no one wants it. I'm sure someone could fix it up.)

New fence...

Doesn't Rudy look proud of his new fence?

George went to San Antonio yesterday for a conference, so Reese and I will head to the airport to pick him up tonight. He's only been gone for 1 night, but we sure do miss him! I made banana nut muffins for him this morning. Can you believe it was the first time I've ever made muffins from scratch?