Another Bed Creation...

I don't need a new bed. Our bed is functioning quite well but I just want something different. I am torn between building the three types of bed. Currently, we have a Hopen bed frame from IKEA.

Ikea

But now I want something different. I originally got this bed because my brother got his and I loved his bed but now I want to build my own bed. I have narrowed down my current vision to three types.

Option #1 is a farmhouse bed from Ana-white.com

ana-white.com

Option #2 is the smaller version

ana-white.com

Or an upholstered bed...the ones that I have loved are

#1 from Centsationgirl.com

Censtational Girl

I love the first one from Centsational Girl because of the nail-head trim and simplicity. It's beautifully done and not over the top.

#2 from Ana-white.com

Ana-white.com

I love the second one from Ana White because it's fuller and will look luxurious with some nice tufted buttons.

I am leaning towards the upholstered ones since I already have a lot of wood furniture and I plan on incorporation more wood items too my room. So excited about making a new bed!

Two year ago...

I was crying uncontrollably. I was suppose to be happy since it was Carlito's and my 6th month anniversary. Instead, my dad died. He was in a car accident and the 80 year old woman went into a diabetic shock losing control and hitting him. He was to turn 50 in July. I miss everything about my dad. He was the kindest loving most caring father that a girl or guy could ever ask for and the best husband to my mother. He was there for me unconditionally. He as a husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin and friend to all the ones he loved. I know people say this all the time but please do not hold grudges or stay mad. Life is not guaranteed for the next day let alone the next hour. I know it all too well and I play the should've, could've, would've game all the time but I do know my father knows everyone loved him.

I am sad that my daughter will be the only grandchild he knew. My nephew Robbie was born a year later on the day we buried him. I wish Robbie knew the greatest of my dad. He will through my brother who is an amazing father. I am glad my dad was able to teach my brother how to be  great father to his son and future children.

I always thought my dad would die because of cancer but he didn't. It just amazes each day how people are there one minute and gone the next. 

My favorite picture of my dad with my daughter (his first grandchild)

Not a day passes I don't think you. I love you and miss you always.

Love your daughter,

Jon'el

Window...I mean Cyber Shopping!

So I do a lot of window shopping and more so lately since I am trying to get my house in tip top shape. I am going for a beachy cottage style house although I live in the heart of the city of Brotherly Love. I have lived here all my life and until someday I move to greener and better pastures, I will have to do with what I have on hand. I have never been a beach person but I love the light and airy feeling of it all. Seems like an odd palette with a 6 year old who is prone to spills on our beige couch but *sigh* I love what I love, sorry.

So here are some items I have been eyeing for the past couple of weeks/months for my sunroom.

The first store I will be browsing is ZGallerie

I love this gorgeous clam shell for a centerpiece in either my sunroom, living room, or virtually any room in the house. I first saw it at Young House Love and now I want one for my house. Fill it just like picture or use it for as a jewelry or key tray.

ZGallerie

Next item is this beautiful Union Jack rug that I would love for my sunroom but sadly the price scares me away. Although not a beachy piece itself, I think the subtle neutral tone would set the mood for a calm serene area. It's not bold and bright like the actual flag and it's a ode to my mom who was actually born in England although the rest of my family is of Jamaican descent.

ZGallerie

I am also loving this mirror to be placed in my sunroom to reflect more light into the area and make it appear visually larger than it really is. Maybe keeping it the crisp white or possible painting it a pretty  pale blue or green color.

ZGallerie

Next we will visit etsy.com for some items I am drooling over...

These pillows make me swoon with the pretty yet soft muted union jack flag much like the rug above. Much more affordable and something I can always change out from time to time or even room to room.

helkatdesign

How about these adorable burlap pillows? They have customizable ones with you and your sweethearts initals or even a special date. I think I could try doing it myself and adding ruffles. Something about ruffles makes me excited and although the boyfriend may not really care for them I just love the contrast of the ruff burlap fabric with something soft and feminine. I am thinking ruffles and pearls!

nextdoortoheaven

nextdoortoheaven

I adore these vintage rotary phones. We inherited our house with a black rotary phone in the dining room and I love the look. I assume it still works but since we have no official house phone. I am unable to test it out but I would love these functional rotary phones to add a pop of color. It's so hard to choose. I love the turquoise or yellow one.

Plantdreaming

Plantdreaming

Moving onto our third and final shop, we are headed to o.co (also known as overstock.com)

Now this last shop has lots of great things on the cheap. I am thinking window treatments for the majority of the house as well as the sunroom will be bamboo roman shades and white curtains. I want a light and airy feel to the house. Right now majority of the windows have the white industrial looking roller shades so a lot of rooms feel dark and shouldn't considering how many windows are in the house. I think these blinds paired with some cheap IKEA curtains will help filter a lot more light into the house.

Overstock.com

I really like these coffee tables. I am planning on building a lot of my furniture and since a lot of it consists of wood, I want to break up the texture a bit in the area. I don't want it to fill all stiff and boring but I think these tables or something similar will help add another dimension to the space. Plus they are on the smaller side of a traditional coffee table which won't take up much space in the narrow room.

o.co

And that completes the window shopping. I will probably incorporate a lot of the items into the final room but a lot of other things need to be done such as picking a floor and painting before I can accessorize.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

Yay! I love a good bargain so imagine me today when I spent no money and was given back a buck and some change.

Ren and Stimpy

Technically it wasn't "free" money but the Macy rewards that my mom probably racked up since she uses my card. I usually hand them over to here since she does most of the charges and I reap the benefits of a higher tier card but this time I had 2, $25 gift certificates with one expiring today (eep!). Cutting it very close, I know but I went into the store with an idea in mind.


I didn't buy clothes since me and them are on a strike right now until I can lose more weight but that's a whole other issue for a different day. I walked in expecting to spend a little or lose little of the gift certificates I had for as little out of pocket possible.


I started in the bedding department. Saw a couple of things that caught my eye but the beauty that I caught my eye was this 5 piece comforter set. Originally, I preferred a duvet set but for 44.97 with an additional 30% off in store compared to the 160.00 (which is probably a bit inflated) it was a steal! Add to that I would get another 10% off with my Macy's card but since I used my gift certificate I got it at 34.99 which is still a great bargain in my opinion.

macys.com

So if you are doing your math like I am, I still have 15 dollars to spend. I end up going into the kitchen department and I found this cute kettle for $9.99. Which doesn't get the greatest reviews on the Macy's website but I probably won't use it all that much and will take extra precautions to ensure it isn't a total lost.

macys.com

They also were running a buy one get one free promotion with the tea kettle and some other little small kitchen items so I got this mixing bowl and measuring cups and spoons for free instead of another $9.99.

macys.com

So with those three items snagged up, I need another 5.00 to meet my 50.00 quota. And I searched and stumble upon this cute blue colander from Martha Stewart for 4.99 in store. I know it's not a major steal, I actually think it is high, hahaha but I needed a filler and it was cute and probably won't even use it for its intended purpose.

macys.com

So with my four products in tow, I handed the cashier my two gift certificates and ended up with one dollar and some change with new swag. I love bargain hunting. So now I need to find some nice coordinating sheets for my bed. Hopefully,  I will have some before, during, and after pictures of most of my house by this weekend. I am going to try to post daily if possible.

The much dreaded first post.

So I have tried to start a blog before and failed. Well, I guess you technically can't fail at blog making but I didn't put much effort, thought or love into it. I mainly am focused on home improvement but that could change in a second. See last year I was set to marry my boyfriend in April of 2011 and well stuff happened so I had to change my focus.

It was to be a wedding blog about my wedding. But the wedding has currently been postponed and it will happen eventually but who knows how soon that will happen. My dream wedding would be in Jamaica on a beach but funds are scarce so until we magically get them, the focus will be on improving my house of year and some change.

We bought our house in October 2009. It's a 3 bedroom, 1.25 bath airlight twin house. Yes, I said .25 since we have a random toilet in the middle of our basement, haha. Talk about disgusting it almost overflowed during inspection it was tested. Our block is mainly composed of twins and the neighborhood is fairly quite considering we live in the city of Botherly Love. The house also has a one car garage and a small backyard. Originally, we were looking for a duplex to help with the mortgage. Our small budget along with certain criteria (one unit must have 2 bedrooms since I have a daughter), made the search much harder. We saw the bad, ugly, and downright disgusting in some duplexes. Some other ones were unfavorable in location or just outright lied in the listings. We actually did put in two bids but both were miserably rejected. The first was fully finished above our price range in a decent neighborhood. The second was in need of a lot of TLC but it was very spacious and came with a lot next to it for a very large yard in a not so great neighborhood. But the owner was very stubborn and wouldn't budge so we backed out.

After a lot of frustration and stress, we changed our focus on possibly making a one home dwelling into to two. In came our dream home. It was listed less than a week on the market. We actually wanted to see another house but as soon as we went to see it, it went under contract. We than saw our dream home and a row home in the same day. The row home was nice but needed some renovation and could be converted. Nothing drastic but it was a block away from the first house we put a bid on and had the same layout except this house was bit smaller than the first since it was in the middle of the block.

I was sold we weren't going to find a nice duplex in a good area with our 2+1 or 2+2 situation and gave up hope. I found a house online and liked the square footage and the inside look nice. There was a fireplace, newer kitchen, and the master bedroom is huge. That is what sold us on the house. It was not in the greatest condition but we saw a lot of potential. So we put in an offer the same day only to find out that another offer was submitted before ours. They accepted our first offer and well the rest is history. It still is a work in progress but I am happy so far of all that is accomplished. Now if I could be more organized, the house would look a lot better.

So that is brief history of our house. I will elaborate more about my house later on but I wouldn't want to scare bore you on my first post.