Sock Monkey Room, Dresser Re Do (in progress):

If you've followed my blog, you probably know I have been trying to put together Ethan's room since December. Since we are one of the rare groups of parents who never have a sitter or free time for ourselves, our projects heavily rely on doing them on the weekends, or when the kids are asleep.

Initially I purchased a dresser off craigslist to redo. Only, I liked it too much and used it in our bedroom instead (I felt it didn't fit well for a boys bedroom). That and our hand me down dresser was smaller but PERFECT for Ethan, it's vintage retro and I LOVE IT! It was Doug's parents, and I believe his mother's parents before. IT'S very Mad Men-ish! Anyway, I didn't get the chance to take a photo with the drawers in, but they don't have knobs, it's every bit of the decade it belonged too:) When it's done you will se how great it looks. I would of kept it as is, but it needed to be refinished from the wear and tear we put on it :/ Here are some before photos, (sorry the drawers are missing). And, dear readers, I hope you can look past my spray painted on carpet in my den. hehe, just remember it is my next make over room :)
(NOTE: click on image to open in seperate window to see more detail)

That, and we are staining the toddler farmhouse bed to match. The color we chose? Mini Wax, Bombay Mahogany. Which per the Lowes shade chart looks almost black, except upon googling images, we see it is more red. BUT, whatever it turns out, blackish, or reddish; WE will love it! Either color will compliment the sock monkey theme. The more I think about it, I would be excited if it did turn out a nice red shade :)

I had every intent to sand this myself like I did our bedroom dresser, except for whatever reason the dust really bothered me this time. Doug took up on doing it and I will stain it. I have NEVER used wood stain in my life, so this could be a hit or miss. (Fingers crossed). I'll post with updated photos sometime later (if I make it that far tonight).

Please excuse my aweful typing and errors, I should probably go back to elementary school, I seem to have forgotten so much since having kids. I promise at one point I took honors English in high school. You couldn't tell from my typos and horrible punctuation. But I am far from perfect, and hopefully you understand :) Have a blessed week, readers!

**May 8th Edit**
First round of sanding done, a couple more & then I'll stain:

Last CVS Trip Of The Week:

Okay, so I must say, I need to get more on my game in terms of the sales and coupons, because the coupon bug has HIT MY CITY :) As much as I love the shared knowledge, it is sad to me when I can't use my one coupon because the shelves are cleared. Oh well, I am being greedy. (In my defense I give a ton of it away free and only buy items I will use).

I did pretty decent, here is what I got for $10.48 out of pocket (taxes included @ the .08% rate in my city):

So here is a break down, my total after taxes was $31.24.
The bounty was $7.99 for the 8 pack (earns 2 extrabucks)
Tide was 5.99 (earned one extrabuck)
Pantene Pro V was 2 for 6.97 (earned 1 extrabuck)
Old spice was 3.99 each (so 7.98 for both)

Total of everything pre coupons = $28.93 x .08% = $31.24
Let's subtract those coupons! :D
$31.24
-$5 off the purchase of $30 (cvs emailed printable coupon)
new total = 26.24
-$1 off tide (p&g booklet)
=25.24
-$1 off bounty (p&g home mailer)
=$24.24
- buy one get one old spice coupon from p&g insert this past Sunday's paper (value of $3.99)
=20.25
-$3 off the purchase of 2 pantene products (in p&g insert from this past Sunday's paper)
=17.25
-2 (extra buck from purchase on Saturday)
$15.25
-$2.77 (from toothpaste purchase Saturday)
=$12.48
-$2 off old spice body wash coupon
=$10.48 TAXES INCLUDED :)

I made $4 in extra bucks back! ( $2 on bounty, $1 on tide, $1 on pantene).
Better than Wal Mart :) This week doesn't look so hot in CVS earning deals, but who knows, if I have coupons for something I'll surely pick something up if it's going to be a good deal. I was sad the right gaurd and soft scrub were completely gone. I LOVE LOVE LOVE soft scrub. Any local couponers have some and want to trade from each other's stashes? hehe. Seriously I have TONS of soaps and body wash, would love to trade for some soft scrub :) It's my bathtubs best friend! Tell me, dear readers, did you coupon this week? If so, what deals did you pick up on?

Catching up.

I don't think I even blogged on Easter. *yikes*!! At anyrate, I hope you all had a fabulous Easter! I helped the kids dye easter eggs. We did glitter this year. It was, erm, a mess of sorts. But, the eggs came out goreous and sparkley, SEE:



The kids were up bright and early. Ethan still fit into his last years outfit so he wore it again (what can I say? I am cheap, and don't like to waste?) lol

Ethan, as usual, is more interested in his sister's things. The Easter Bunny decided a toy for each was better than a bunch of candy. So Ethan got his beloved Thomas trains, and MiMi some play makeup.

Yep, my hardwords are torn up, I need to sand and refinish them at some point. I have too many other projects in the meantime though.

It's been a very long week. I mean VERY. The bamboo in our yard is getting out of hand. (thanks previous owners for hiding the fact you had a bamboo problem). We bought the house in the fall when the bamboo ceases to grow. That spring we were in for some kind of aweful surprise when we had 100 baby canes over night. We've been battling the 'boo' for near 7 years now.

Saturday, Doug ran over 65ish canes. (and you will want to run them over with the mower before they get too big, it's easier to lawn mow them than cut them with a machete once they harden). Three days later I ran over 100 :( No lie, I counted each one. :( It's a mess.

The stuff grows all kinds of crazy like. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but if you have the wrong kind it gets out of control, it is impossible to kill. IMPOSSIBLE. Now that it has spread to the properties behind us, we will never eradicate it. It's a nightmare.

Here is a beautiful cane from my yard I photographed:

and here is a video I took to show you how many baby canes sprout in just a few days.

To give you an idea, those tiny baby bamboo culms you are seeing in my video grew overnight, it takes 4 days for them to become a full shoot taller than 6 foot and two weeks to become taller than a 1.5 story home. It's nuts! It grows every two days, you have to mow it constantly or it will get out of hand.

So, that is my nightmare as a home owner. If anyone has experience with running bamboo or how to TRULY eradicate it (I don't want advice unless you've battled it yourself) because we have tried everything, and so far nothing works. But if you know, please feel free to comment, I would super appreciate any helpful advice :)

Sunday ads SOMETIMES work on Saturday Evenings at CVS! Check out these deals!

My friend, Kristina, came down from Winston Salem. She is one of the best couponers I know. You can visit her coupon blog @ coocoo4coupons-couponmom.blogspot.com. I met her in my junior year of highschool and adore the girl to pieces! Be sure to follow her on blogspot because she posts great coupon matchups, ways to get freebies, and great coupons!

Anyway, she told me that sometimes CVS will run their Sunday ad specials on Saturday evenings. She confirmed the local cvs did so and so we met up to get our coupon on :) I spent $2.37 out of pocket (taxes included) on $20.46 in merchandise AND made back $4 extrabucks! (one $1, and one $3). So it's like I made money off of everything technically:) It would have been even cheaper but the tooth paste was supposed to be $2.77 & earn $2.77 in extrabucks, but it was running on the Saturday sales price of $1.97 and they didn't know how to adjust it (no problem) it would of been totally fee only sales tax out of pocket for everything but I am thrilled.

Here is what I got (two sep. transactions)
NOTE: click on image to enlarge in seperate window

Tide store sale : $5.99
Colgate 6 oz. tooth paste: $1.97
Ivory Soap 3 pack : .99

Coupons used:
$1 off Tide, P&G 110 book (courtesy of Kristina)
$1 off Ivory (making it free) from the p&g mailer booklet
$1 off colgate - coupon recieved in mail
$4 extrabuck from last week's Dove promo
$1.99 extrabuck from last weeks bubbles promo (the rounded it down to 1.95)

Subtotal : FREEEE
paid .08% sales tax on original pre coupon total
= I paid .72 cent out of pocket AND made back $1 extrabuck on the Tide :)

NEXT TRANSACTION
STORE PROMO (SPEND $10 on selected cascade/mr. clean product earn $3 extrabucks)

Cascade 75 oz. dishwasher detergent: $4
Mr. Clean 4 oz. multi purpose cleaner: $3
Mr. Clean 4 oz. multi purpose cleaner: $3

Coupons used:
.75 cent off mr. clean (your home mailer)
$1 off mr. clean - p&g booklet
$1 off any cascade - p&g 110 book
$5 extrabuck from beauty club promo print out (these are easy to make)
$1 extrabuck from another purchase

Total out of pocket= $1.65 taxes included
Made $3 extrabucks off this transaction

Again, the colgate tooth paste would of been 2.77 earning a 2.77 extrabuck (which I had planned to use to make my next transaction totally free), but it did ring up as Saturday's price (prob bc the computer recognized 1.97 (saturdays sale) as lower and auto accepted that. But since I paid for with my extrabucks it was free anyway. I'll be sure to go back tomorrow and score that free tooth paste though :)

So for $2.37 out of pocket, I made $4 store credit back! What a great shopping trip. Can't wait to see what coupons are in tomorrow's paper so I can roll these over for more freebies :) Gotta love CVS!

Possible Pottery Barn Carport Addition Make Over?

When I recieved the Pottery Barn catalog that came along with my bedding order weeks ago, I was eager to thumb through it. Truth is I could stare at it seven ways to Sunday and still only be able to afford something in there once in a blue moon.

But as I was looking, I noticed something, many of the photos featured wood beams and wood work through out.

(Image copy right Pottery Barn, this is not my image).
The above photo is the one I want to copy, but instead of the dining theme I want to do a living/gathering room theme in the same colors.(By the way, if anyone knows this color PLEASE message me). I know PB uses Benjamin Moore colors and they generally tell you which color they use in which photo but this one didn't have the color. I am thinking it is Hazy Skies? I could be wrong..

Here is another imagine in the catalog I loved, and this one has beams colored like ours, ooooh decisions, decisions. Which would you do?

I am torn because I like the cool calm colors of the first image. However my dad, a real estate broker advises against painting brick because people like it exposed. I kind of have to wonder if he is thinking of former clients in the 90's as opposed to clients that are now my age and like the painted look? hmmm...

Then I got to thinking..MY DEN has similar woodwork! My den is actually a carport addition to the 65 rancher. The previous owners had it set up as a bar, but they took the bar with them and left us with a very long room that had no real practical use..UNTIL NOW :)
This is the den as it was when we purchased it pretty much:

Four years ago (or more) I painted it red:


It's pretty much been the mix match of all rooms, computer room, the clutter room, whatever you want to call it, it just hasn't been useful and barely gets entered other than when we sit on the desktop computer.

It has an exposed brick wall with more wood work:

(note the wood is lighter than the last photo)

Then there is the issue with the ugly builders grade carpet. I had the man of the house cut a small section up to see what we were working with below (I was praying it was anything but concrete or press board subfloor - it is a car port addition after all). I was PLEASED to see HARDWOOD!!!

Okay, don't get all excited for me just yet, because while I did find the slats between the boards, we didn't pull it up enough to see if it was hardwood like the rest of the home, or if it was just plywood. EITHER WAY, I am going to lightly sand and stain it VERY dark.

Yeah, I know staining plywood? TRUST ME, it's solid it will be nice:) even if I have to go in with a router and carve the lines out myself to make it look like the hardwood planks, I TOTALLY WILL lol. When you are on a budget and have little money to do a makeover, you just have to improvise.

The room is large and a low grade carpet would be a minimum of 500 bucks PLUS additional for labor, same with hardwood. I figure, what have I got to loose to sand and stain this bad boy. Atleast if nothing else, the ugly carpet is gone and the wood floor will be sanded, stained, and sealed and last a couple year until we can afford something else. :)

Super Doubles @ Harris Teeter - all this for $3.87 tax included :)

I haven't been couponing in a week. One, I have more than enough body wash and thing at the moment. Two, because my only storage for these items would consist of the hall closet.

AND, well, if you've ever had the pleasure of living in a 60's ranch style home, then you know as good as I do, the space is just not happening. hehe.

But, that being said, I don't take my little home with one bathroom for granted EVER. It's a roof over our head and it is ours. Well, it's the mortgage companies but in 23 years it will be ours ;)

Anyway, my initial plan was to get up at 5 am and get the kids ready to be at Harris Teeter by 6 am. Super Doubles (coupon doubling up to 1.98 coupon face value) starts at 7 am. I wanted to go early enough to beat the super couponers before they cleared the shelves. However, after cleaning until 2 am, then being suckered into watching my dvr'ed tv shows, the Sand Man didn't visit me until 3 am.

My alarm must have gone off, and either I or Doug turned it off. OOPS :( I got up at 7 when my son did.

I eventually did get out, but until 11. By then, most of the things that were on sale and would of been dirt cheap were already gone.

I did manage to get some cleaning supplies MUCH NEEDED and milk for dirt cheap:

The coupons I used were (3) 1.50 off lysol wipes (facebook printables), they allowed me to print 2 and one was mailed to me via snail mail.
(1) $1 off any two lysol toilet bowl cleaners (from the sunday paper a few weeks back)
(2) $2 off smart balance milk (also from the Sunday paper that week i purchased two papers

The lysol toilet bowl cleaner was on store sale BUY ONE GET ONE FREE for $2.99 for two. Using a $1 off 2 coupon that doubled this made it 99 cent for both or roughly 50 cent each :)

The lysol wipes (35 ct) were on sale for buy one get one free for $3.39 for 2.
I bought 6 @ retail of $10.17 used (3) 1.50 off coupons that doubled to 3 off a piece (so $9 off) made these 1.17 for all 6 (or 20 cent a piece).

My smart balance coupons didn't double b/c they were over 1.98, but the milk was 2 for $5 and having (2) $2 off coupons gave me $4 in savings making them 50 cent each :)

Any day I can get that much stuff for only $3.87 tax included, makes me a happy camper. Now if only I could figure out how to get groceries super cheap :) Good thing we budget and do it ourselves around the house, or we'd be even broker than we already are :/

A semi master bedroom reveal :)

You may remember the bedroom in the before stages via these links:
Farm house bed
&
Master Bedroom Makeover
Check out the links to see all before & after photos. I started with a solid wood dresser purchased off craigslist. I paid 60 bucks for it, and sanded it down. I painted it with semi gloss Olympic brand paint found at lowes. I used old kitchen floral cabinet pulls from the previous owners and spray painted them oil rubbed bronze. I now have a dresser that would cost me an easy 350+ bucks anywhere else for roughly 80 bucks dresser and supplies included. :)

We visited ana-white.com and used her farmhouse queen bed build plans and spend 250 in lumber and screws to built a solid HUGE piece of furniture. I used the same white Olympic semi gloss paint to paint the bed. (I used an old credit card to slip btwn. the head and food board panels to make sure the paint didn't cake between the crevices). So we have a one thousand dollar Pottery Barn type bed for only under $300!

I painted the walls with wal mart's colorplace brand paint and it only cost 12 bucks for the can.

I did splurge however, and bought the Seinna Paisley duvet, two euro shams and one standard sham from Pottery Barn online. I decided the down insert was out of my budget and bought a 60 dollar one from walmart.com.

We plan to build a side storage bench in place of the nightstand and I hope to find some oversized Pottery Barn inspired lanterns for the dresser. I have no idea what I'll put over my bed but I have a few hints of what I could try.

I am in love with my new bedroom. Bare in mind we have a 65 rancher so space is small, but i am absolutely in LOVE! :)