concrete or white ceramic

We are progressing with the basement! The drywall is up and we are now awaiting the messy mudding and taping part. As all that is being done I need to make a decision on which bathroom sink I want to get! Oh the pressure. I have it narrowed down to 2 choices. I have a rustic industrial look going on downstairs so I am having my carpenter build me a wooden base for the sink. This sink will be used by the kiddos and the rest of us. The basement houses the family room, a kitchen, and also the kiddos! So, I don't want it to be all childish, because these kiddos are growing up fast, but I don't want it to be too fussy that they are going to be out of place in it.
So, here's what I have come up with:

I love this! A very rustic and industrial feel to me. The one I can get my hands on will not look like this soapstone sink in this pic, but it will be concrete with more of a light gray color. Still can get the look just with a little bit different material. I love the wood base under this sink. I am also thinking the base will be larger than the sink so I would have room on either side of the raised sink to allow for placing items on the wood. I will put baskets underneath for stuff and will have a linen closet close by so won't miss out on any storage. I am just a little scared about the concrete. Will it stand the test of time, 3 kiddos, or will it look like crap and I will hate it after awhile!

I love this too! With this scenario I won't be able to have the dual faucets, but I really like the clean lines of the white sink with the rustic wood and the industrial light on this one. I will do the wood base like in the pic above because it is not in an alcove like this one. I am doing brushed nickel faucets so it will have a little different look, but I think it would tie in with the metal light. I will not have white walls either. I will probably do a more neutral beige or greige color and am trying to find the tiles that look like hardwood.

So, this is my dilemma. Which would you choose? Stay tuned for an update on which one I decide to go with and how it turns out! Wish me luck!

1st image: Urban Farmhouse

2nd image: Two Ellie

New E-Course, New Adventures

I continually wonder how I am to fit in to my regular day my decorating ideas and my passion for this world. I like my job, don't get me wrong, I think it is just one of my stepping stones on the path to my eventual destination. I love that I can take a trip into blogland and get inspired to keep pursuing my dreams. I am so blessed to have met the people I have from the amazing blog world. Some I have had the privilege of meeting in person and others I would love to meet someday!! They have had such a positive impact on my life; I can only hope I can be that for someone else.


So, the other day I came across one of my faves, Jeanne Oliver Designs, where she is offering an awesome E-Course that I am signed up for! I am thinking this is exactly what I need right now and I encourage you, if you are trying to learn more about how to market your ideas and/or products, this is the course for you! Go on over and check it out!

Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made Business

I am so excited to see what I can learn from this course and how I can apply it to where I am at right now in my life! Thanks Jeanne for this course. You are in inspiration and can't wait to learn more from you! So, here's to new adventures to come. Can't wait to see what's in store for me next!

It's been way too long!

Wow time flies by! I am way behind on my updates on the new house! We are still working away on trying to get it the way we want. The kitchen really is the only thing that is pretty much set. I want to get some curtains to hang over the patio door and some artwork on the wall by the dining table but everything else is good.
The living room will change when we get the basement done so I am still working on that. The kiddos are moving to the basement so their rooms have to wait for that to be done also. We should be starting in the next week on getting that in progress. Yay! So things are still changing around here. Here are some pics of inspiration for the boys' new room:

http://southernliving.com/

I can't remember the source of this one. Thinking maybe an HGTV.com dreamhome

Highcamphome.com

Got this off of Pinterest. Sorry don't know the source

I would love to have a sliding barn door for the door into the boys' room. Not in yellow, but in a faded red color. We are wanting to do loft beds, but with this rustic look of the bunk beds shown. We are doing a desk under the beds to help with space saving. They are sharing a room and we need to utilize every square inch! I have been searching high and low for an old Chevy tailgate that I want to use as artwork on a barn sided wall. We'll see if I can come up with some of these cool items and will let ya know. So, for now that's what I got. Hope to see some progress soon and I will give you a sneak peek as we go. Here's to hoping the builder shows up soon so I can start on the fun stuff!!

My new kitchen!

So, I know I have been gone for awhile. A lot has happened this summer. We have officially moved in and are settling in the new house! Yay! I love my kitchen. I love how it turned out. White cabinets with black countertops, black island with white solid surface countertop. We went with stainless steel appliances. I got a chandy from Ballard Design that is in zinc to tie in with the appliances and my awesome new chairs!!! Love our wood laminate flooring. Rustic table with a chisled top fits in just perfectly. I love the calming feel the space has. I still have loads more I want to do so hang in there and wait and see what's next.

Ballard Design chandy over table

Barn Light Electric light over island








World Market chairs and table

Spring

Hello all! I am still here. We have been so busy with the house it's crazy. Can't wait until we are finally in. I don't think I can paint another room for awhile. What we get ourselves into to save a few bucks, but ya know it's supposed to be fun cause I love decorating and all. I try and look at it that way, but it tends to get to be too much sometimes. We are getting there though. Soon. So, I am so glad it's Spring! Bring on the warm weather and the sunshine!! The sun always makes me feel better. I have been dreaming of this time of year. I can't wait to get outside and plant some flowers. Winter was too long for this warm weathered girl.

I will post pics of the house soon. We are supposed to get our kitchen cabinets in this week, so that will be really exciting. The laminate, trim and carpet go in the next week. Hubby has been hard at work on the tile. All the floors are done and now we are on to the Master Shower and Tub. Lord help us! :)

Hope you are all enjoying Spring. Hopefully it feels like Spring wherever you are!

Photos: (mine, Pottery Barn, mine)

James Hardie Siding is now on!!

Ok, so now our new James Hardie fiber cement siding is on!! Woot Woot! Now this is just primed. It still needs a fab paint job, but the hubby and I are thinking we like the color that it is already! It reminds me of a cedar shake color or a Belgian light wood effect especially with the white trim. Anyway, we like a light tan color! I love too that it is a wider plank than the old vinyl siding you see. So, I was just pleasantly surprised when I saw it all up. It gave it that western ranch house feel that I wanted. It looks like wood planks to me anyway! Love it!

Now, our next issue is the columns for the porch. I am wanting a rustic wood post with a stone base. We really want to put emphasis on the gable over the front door. The gable over the garage came out larger than we wanted, so we are thinking of beefing up the posts on the front entrance and scaling back on the ones for the garage gable. (The posts that are up there now are just temporary ones!) We had a problem in our other house with people walking into the house from the garage! I hated that. They walked right into my laundry room where I always seemed to have piles of laundry lying around. (Isn't that what a laundry room is for? Just not one that comes right off a garage and into your kitchen I guess!)

So, we really want to make the front door a feature area so people will be led right up to it. Here are some posts I am inspired by. Sorry I don't remember where I got the pics from as I have looked through thousands! We'll see what our builder thinks and our budget! ;)

Lighting Inspiration

Lighting is something we have had to start thinking about for the new house. We already have recessed lighting put in on the porch. I think we will really like having the porch lit up since it is a big ole front porch. I like some of the pendants I found in the Sundance catalog. Sure wish I had the budget for it though:( But you know me. I can take a pic and find it for less. I love me a bargain. So, that is kind of what I do and would say a lot of us do! I have a ton of inspiration pics that I take and make into my own.

We are using Menards, which is a big box do it yourself store if you're not from the Midwest, to get a lot of our supplies. They have good prices and some of the stuff isn't half bad. Now, there are some things that we are going to get custom made. I can't wait to put those special little one of a kind touches on the house.

Along with the recessed lighting for the outdoors I am trying to go with a lantern look for the lights by the doors. I liked some of these from Menards. They will also go by the garage doors.

I am thinking of the pendants for above my kitchen island, but we have an angled island that seems a little awkward right now to decide until it is actually installed.

I also love chandeliers. I am trying to find the perfect one to go over my tub in the master bathroom. Can't wait to soak in the tub with the chandy on dim and candle lights aglow.... Ooooh sorry I was daydreaming there for a second;) I am also searching for a unique not so spendy antler chandy for our living room. That one may take some hunting. No pun intended! lol I don't want a ton of hunting paraphernalia going on but I do have an amazing cow hide rug that would love to have an antler chandy hanging above it.

So, we'll see what we come up with. I can't wait to share with you our staircase project. Crossing my fingers that we can get it done. Will let ya know as soon as I find out. Stay tuned....

Images: 1. Sundance 2. Mothology 3. LampsUSA 4. Progress Lighting 5,6 & 7. Menards