~74~ Remember when….?

Remember when Jake and I decided to do the Advocare 24 day challenge a year ago?

Well, after a year of continuing success, I've decided to take it to the next level. 

Want to know how?  Check out my sister blog!

~73~ Guest Room Redo

Now that the guest bathroom was complete, the next step was converting our guest bedroom into a "Man Cave".  

Jake has been wanting to do it for a while, and after making a plan for everything he wanted, we finally put plans into actions.  While I was hesitant at first to give up our guest room, Jake made a very valid point that it was a room that was a waste of space for all but 5 or 6 days a year.  

The plan included turning the guest bed into a a make-shift murphy bed that would be easy to set up when we did need a guest bed, and just as easily put back into place when we were done using it.  On the back of the box spring we screwed in MDF board with built in nuts to screw leg posts into.  When we have a guest, the legs are added and the bed flips down into place.  When it's in man cave mode, the bed acts as a faux wall, instantly opening up the space.

The room is complete with an homage to all of Jake's favorite teams: Vikings, ISU Cyclones, and Cubs), as well as his favorite tv show, Game of Thrones.  

The centerpiece to the room is our new poker table that we found on Craigslist.  It's a vintage bumper pool table with an added poker top that also flips over to create fully functioning table.  It fits perfectly and was a necessary piece to go with Jake's new poker set that he got for Christmas.  

I really love how the room came together, really represents Jake in a really cohesive way.  One of my favorite pieces in the room is his poster from "AfroMan" signed by Samuel L. Jackson that he got from work, along with the animated dvd that goes with it. 

The final touch was a bar made to fit around his mini-fridge. 

Project Details: 
PokerTable (craigslist): $100
Purple paint: $50
Sports decorations: $75
Wood Shelves: $40
"Murphy bed" supplies: $50
Wood for Fridge Shelf: $25
Light Fixture: $30
Light Switch: $20
Total Cost: $390

What do you think?  What would you want in your man cave?

Until next time,

~72~ Guest Bathroom Redo

It's probably not a huge surprise, but our guest bathroom isn't exactly the nicest room in our house.  Ever since we moved in, changing pretty much everything about it was on the list.  

The first changes were made a few months back when I added a stained crate shelf that doubles as a hand towel bar, as well as some cute framed art I found at JoAnns. 

Just before Christmas, Jake and I agreed that we'd use any Christmas money that we received to buy a new vanity/sink for the guest bathroom.  We ended up finding a great deal at Home Depot where we also bought the chrome faucet.  With the help of Jake's uncle, Johnny, we were able to get it installed without too much hassle.  Immediate upgrade!

While we were at it, we decided we might as well get rid of the bulky and not so pretty mirror and light combo.  After doing some searching online, I found a 3 bulb wall light from Lowe's that I really liked.  It's different from any other light fixture I've seen before in that type of style, and wasn't too expensive.  

Once we got that installed, we needed to touch up the paint underneath the old mirror.  Unfortunately the previous owners didn't leave any of the paint or the name of the color.  However, Jake cut out a piece that is hidden under the vanity and I was able to get it color matched at Lowes, which is also where we ended up getting our mirror from.  

At first, we debated on what shape mirror to get.  I had contemplated going with an oval just to mix things up, but after talking over with Jake and some friends, we decided to go with a rectangular mirror because we thought it would mix better with the linear look of the vanity and light fixture.  By the way, holy cow mirrors can be REALLY expensive.  The one we ultimately chose was very reasonably priced at only $30.  We chose white to compliment the vanity top and to provide some contrast between the dark vanity and dark light fixture.  

The final product: 

It's amazing to me how just a few little changes can make a big difference in the overall look of a room, and it was done very inexpensively.  When all was said and done, it cost just over $200. 

Project Details: 

Vanity: $69

Faucet: $30

Light Fixture: $60

Mirror: $30

Paint: $15

Plumbing Supplies: $20

Total Cost: $224

 I absolutely love our guest bathroom now and I can't wait to show it off to family and friends.  A HUGE thank you to Jake and Uncle Johnny for all of their hard work getting it done, and so quickly!  We started the project on Wednesday and it was completely finished by the end of Saturday night.  

In addition to transforming the bathroom, Jake is also working on converting our guest bedroom into a Man Cave that will double as a poker room and workout room.  There will be more on that in the coming weeks as we finish out the project. 

Until then, 

~71~Cutting the cake

Sorry for the delayed post! Things have been crazy busy between a math/literacy night at school, homework, getting ready for conferences, watching eating food at the Superbowl, and remodeling our guest bathroom and basement (I'll save that for another post).

Last Wednesday was my last cake decorating class.  We needed to bring a cake that was already baked, filled, and frosted, so I spent Monday night baking and Tuesday night doing the frosting.  I chose a marble cake and filled it with chocolate mousse.  I like to use the Dream Whip mix with instantly chocolate pudding.  It's super easy and tastes really good.

At class, we spent most of the time learning how to make ribbon roses.  Let me tell you, they are not easy!  It took a lot of work to consistently get them to come out nicely.  For myself, it was really squeezing the frosting with lots of pressure while turning the rose nail.  I probably did 479,084 of them before I got one that even resembled a rose.  But, by the time class ended, I had some presentable roses and a pretty nice looking cake.  After placing the roses, there were a lot of gaps, so I filled them with some pretty green leaves.

 I supposed I should give credit where credit is due.  The center rose was made by the course instructor.  She is not only a great cake decorator, but a fantastic teacher as well.

In addition to making my rose cake, I decided to show off practice some of my new skills on a Superbowl cake.  Using the gel transfer trick that I learned in week 2 of class, I put both team's logo in the center and used the team colors to create a pretty border.  The middle of each border was done using a #14 star tip. 

I enjoyed my time in class so much that I've already registered for the next level and will start again in March.

I also have some exciting things to share in the next couple weeks showcasing the changes we've made to our house.  

Until then,