Garden Update

Since I last blogged about the garden, it has grown a ton thanks to all the rain we've had in the last month.

Hopes for Summer

Last summer we were up to our elbows in bathroom renovations, not completely by choice.  This year (knock on wood) we'd like to plan a few projects.  Here's a rundown of our summer goals.

Garden 4.0

How about a tour around our 2013 garden?

Spring 2013 Pinterest Challenge: DIY Roman Shade

Since we finished the master bathroom about six months ago, I've been wanting to replace our crap-ola miniblinds with a Roman shade.  The trouble is that I could never make up my mind on a fabric.  Mr. GI finally guilted me into finishing it, so I looked in earnest last weekend for the perfect fabric -- and I found it on sale at JoAnn's:  Robert Allen's Baja Damask Greystone.  It was marked down to $10/yard (originally $20/yard), and I'm glad I swiped it up because it's no longer available online.  (They also have a beautiful blue version of the same pattern).  To spoil the ending, here is the finished product in our bathroom.

Spring Decor

It's good to be back!  I'm thankfully on the other side of the spring semester, with a few weeks off before I start classes over the summer.  While I have a little time sans school, it'll be a great time to catch up on the ol' blog.  Although we're not too far from summer, I thought I'd share our spring decor.  Mr. Great Indoors and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary this April, so I try to bring our wedding colors into our decor in the spring:  lavender, blue, and green.  What a beautiful cake we had.  (Photography by Tommy Blaylock of Accomplished Productions, cake by our wedding venue.)

A Bifold Door Headboard

If you're like me, you've ripped every set of bifold doors out of your house.  And you've probably stuffed them in your attic until you get around to donating them.  Well, Young House Love showed me a better way.  Without further ado...

YHL in the ATL {Young House Love Book Signing}

Last week I had the chance to meet the folks behind the first blog I ever fell in love with-- Sherry and John from Young House Love.  They wrote a book that was published last November, and it included tons of projects that were kept "secret" from the blog so the projects would be new and fresh.  Since their book tour didn't originally include Georgia, I figured I probably wouldn't have a chance for them to sign it.  Lucky for us Georgians, they tacked on a few extra stops and made Atlanta their book tour finale!

My friend M (also a YHL reader and proud book owner) signed us up for the Atlanta book signing as soon as it was announced.  I was so glad to have a buddy to dork out wait with!

Bathroom Humor {DIY Wooden Sign}

I'd been brainstorming on something to make for the space on our master bathroom wall just above the toilet.  I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do until I saw this photo on Young House Love with a long, skinny canvas.  Then I got to thinking that something long and skinny would suit that space just fine.  Read on for how I made it.

2012 Roundup + 2013

I love reading blog round-ups each January, so here's mine for 2012!

Probably the coolest thing that happened in 2012 is that I got a little bit Internet famous.  Mr. Great Indoors and I whipped up a redneck chandelier for the winter Pinterest challenge, and you guys submitted some awesome projects!  I wrote a little update on our chandelier to let you know how it was treating us.

Master Bathroom: Complete!

Six months after we started it (well, really nine) and two months after we finished it, I'm happy to reveal our master bathroom!

Merry and Bright {Christmas 2012}

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas this week!  Christmas is my favorite time of year, so even though it's technically over, I'm posting pictures of our holiday decorating to hold on just a liiiiitle bit longer.  :-)

I waited until the last minute (i.e.,  right before we left for the holidays) to take these pictures-- we had days of clouds and/or rain, so I was waiting on the sun to finally come out.  But by the time it did, I didn't have time to take a picture of our tree at night.  It's painfully obvious in the daylight that we need a new Christmas tree.  The tree has been around as long as Mr. GI has; we inherited it from his mom during our first Christmas together.  It's a fake tree, but it has real bark on the trunk which makes it difficult to tell that it's fake.  But it's been losing more of its needles than a real tree, so it's gotten pretty bare.

Christmas Crafts

Merry Christmas!  It's tough blogging about Christmas gifts because I don't want to give anything away to my family... so instead, here are the gifts I made last year!

Felt snowflake ornaments
I pinned a tutorial for felt ornaments courtesy of Purl Bee and thought I'd try it for my family gifts.  Besides a few mechanical problems (don't we all have love-hate relationships with our sewing machine?) it all turned out well.  The instructions were easy to follow and I got the fabric on a super sale on Black Friday from JoAnn's Fabrics.  Win!

Why, Hello There!

It's been a while, eh?  A break between semesters gives me a little time to blog again, and thank goodness.  We've been busy studying, but we've had some fun in there, too.  Like enjoying the fall...

Juggling

Blog and bloggy friends, how I've missed you!  We all juggle in life at one point or another, and recently my juggling has included a promotion, training my replacement, and graduate school, which I started over the summer.  On top of that, Mr. Great Indoors has been in school, too.  

Needless to say, our little family has been a tad busy recently.  Our house is a a wreck most of the time, or at least approaching a wreck.  It's not blogworthy in the least, which is, of course, how we in the blogging community compare ourselves, isn't it?  There are half-finished projects throughout the house, including (if you've been paying attention) the master bathroom.  We're enjoying the finished guest bathroom, at least.

But we're surviving our classes, learning a lot, and somehow managing to sneak in some couple time, too.  This newest adventure is forcing us to challenge ourselves on a daily basis, which leaves us happily exhausted.  It's all leading us to a better life together, and I'd say that's the point.

One of these days it will all calm down, but until then, I'm trying not to be too critical of myself.  In the last year, I've gained perspective and patience, which I know is more important than blogging crafty projects on the interwebs.  That said, I am missing doing something fun that is completely for myself, and someday I'll get back to it.  Until then, keep up the good work.  And keep an eye out for our half-finished projects to be fully-finished one of these days.

Another Guest Bathroom: Guest Amenities

I hope you all enjoyed the reveal of E's guest bathroom earlier in the week!  It's just in the nick of time, too, because UGA football season (starting today!!) brings all sorts of guests to E's house.  She pretty much has a revolving door every fall (we also run our own bed and breakfast during football season).  :-)  With that in mind, we worked some guest amenities into E's guest bathroom.

Psst... in case you're curious, the font I used is "Channel" on PicMonkey.

Another Guest Bathroom: Complete!

A few months ago, I introduced you to my friend E's guest bathroom.  She had been renting a home for the past two years with a roommate and now has the place to herself.  We worked together to make a plan for her guest bathroom.  Here's how it turned out!

The Great Outdoors {Hiking the Appalachian Trail}

Since we still have a bit to do with the bathroom before it's finished (life gets in the way), I thought I'd share a trip Mr. Great Indoors and I took over the weekend with our friend B.  We took off from Clingmans Dome in North Carolina and hiked through the Smokies to Silers Bald.

Master Bathroom: Board and Batten

So far in the master bathroom, we've bought $5 paint, repaired and installed drywall, and painted the top half of the walls.  What's next, you ask?  This:

Clockwise from top left, images pinned here, here, here, and here

Master Bathroom: Paint! {Kind of}

This is more a tease than anything else.  I can't show you the entire paint job because that would reveal the next step!  So here's a peek at the new color we're loving.  This paint, as I mentioned in my first post about the master bathroom, was a $5 find in the Lowe's oops bin. It's a multidimensional color-- when I first saw it in the store, I thought it was green.  Then I put some on the walls and it looked gray.  Light shines in the window, and it shows a little blue.  So obviously the colors in these pictures vary, too.

Master Bathroom: Mr. Great Indoor's Favorite Things {Dry Wall!}

You might remember that I came home to this on the first day of Mr. GI working in the master bathroom.  Seems like progress...