Before & Afters and Valentine's Day Ideas
Happy February! We had a delicious snowstorm yesterday, and it is brilliantly blue with more than a foot of snow now. Gorgeous!
A mid-storm shot from yesterday. The raised beds are fully buried in snow. So thankful for the moisture!
And today in the brilliant, cold Colorado sun. These little trees continue to delight!
I left our Christmas decorations up longer than ever this year, but they are all put away at last. And OMG! Remember our Mudroom Makeover last summer? Well, all that work made putting Christmas away SO EASY! It took less than two hours to undo it all, and it all had a dedicated place to go, too. I was a little shocked, actually. I knew it would be better, but I hadn’t realized how much better! Amazing!
If you are new around here (Hey! Welcome!), here’s a little before and after so you can see what I’m talking about:
All of that good storage and organization made putting away the Christmas decorations so much easier! This transformation was part of the Mudroom Makeover. Check out the whole thing here!
If you are organizing at your home right now, or even just thinking about it, I have tons of organizing ideas here.
A Little Before & After
Speaking of Before and Afters! I am in the midst of a little renovation project that is now more than 6 months in the making. But we are close! When we redid the Mudroom, I found two amazing doors at an architectural salvage yard. They are midcentury — taken out of a church. I love them! You can see one of them in the Mudroom Makeover reveal. Well, the other is our new front door. And a new front door meant that everything else around it looked even shabbier than it had before. So… the light fixtures were replaced (after months of waiting for delivery), new house numbers are on order, and here’s the big excitement: the mailbox! Seriously. It doesn’t take much to make me happy!
It’s not new! It’s the same old mailbox which is probably original to our home. There are several other houses in the neighborhood with the same mailbox, so I suspect it was one of the options when these homes were built. It’s lovely — heavy steel with great functionality. But it had been painted several times and was rather sad looking. So I took it to a local shop where they sandblasted the old finishes and rust spots away. Then they powder-coated it in a cherry red. I added a simple chrome handle, and now it’s the as shiny and cool as… well, maybe not a Maserati, but perhaps a vintage Fiat?
Just wait until it is all together! For very little money, we are finally bringing some big changes to the front of our house, and I can’t wait to show you how it has all come together. Just a few finishing touches to go!
Valentine’s Day Ideas
But here we are on the cusp of Galentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day! I have lots of fun DIY ideas and gift ideas, too, for Valentine’s Day including two new budget-friendly gift guides: one for kids and one for anyone. And don’t forget to check out the Galentine’s Day cards, too. I love Galentine’s Day, and these are fun and easy to make, too!
Wherever you are, I hope you are warm and safe and healthy! Happy weekend!
XOXO
Angela