DIY Picture Frames

So, I am someone who loves deals. I get it from my mom. I will not buy clothes unless they are on sale or I have a coupon. I find coupons for almost everything in fact. Hence, these picture frames. I actually got this idea from a Relief Society activity I went to in the fall. It was all about re-purposing items and making things yourself.  There was a lady there in charge of one of the stations who was a spray painting queen. She would go and find really cheap things, spray paint them and BAM! They looked terrific. 

I really wanted some unique frames. Problem, unique frames are expensive. Now your idea of expensive and my idea may be different, but that's ok. So I found myself at the lovely DI again. I went to go look for some frames. In my head I kept telling myself too look for shapes or patterns that really interested me. Don't worry about the color. Imagine the finished product. You get the idea. So I was able to find two frames that I liked. They came to a grand total of $1.25! Wow what a deal! 

I then went to Wal-Mart and picked up some spray paint. I got this spray paint that has a pebbily effect. That's the best way I can describe it.  Anyway, these are the frames before....

The frame on the left looks almost the same in the after picture. I think that's due to the lighting. It really is a different color now. 

The frame on the right ended up being sealed on the back. Apparently that piece of artwork was meant to stay in that sucker. Well, nothing a knife can't fix...

Wa-la!

After the surgery, I took out the artwork that was in there and chucked it. I was then ready to paint. I will throw in a picture of the spray paint I used when I get a picture of it. It did take two coats. I would have primed them too, but I can't find my primer anywhere! Gah! 

Anyway, here are the finished results!

This is the one that was originally on the right. (Am I too obsessed with my dog?)

This was the frame on the left. (They one that didn't require surgery)

Anyway, I think they turned out great! They are just the right amount of fancy. I also saved money. Double bonus. 

Thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate it! 

Family Room Remodel

Can I just say, eeeeEEEEeeeeeEEEee!!! That is me squealing like a little school girl because of how excited I am about this! We have finally finished our remodel on our family room. This was quite the project. We did everything ourselves, from the painting, to the baseboard, to the pallet walls, and Jeremy built the mantel (I'll go into more detail on that one.) It has been a fun and stressful process. Stressful mainly because it was driving me crazy to have my house so out of order and messy.

Here is the before picture. The room started out a medium brown color. Notice the fireplace, all plain. The dividing wall just a plain white. Also, I took these photos during Christmas, hence the decor....

Then, after!!!

Oh my goodness you guys, I am in love with it! It feels so much cozier and homey. So so nice! I still need to find decorations for my mantel and the TV stand. I also think we will end up moving that blanket chest (which Jer also made) upstairs and getting something that matches a bit better to replace it. I am also going to recover the throw pillows (which I'll probably blog about.)

I would also like to brag about my husband for a second. I had found a mantel that I loved on Pinterest. Jeremy said to send him the picture and he would make it. Umm yeah, look at the photos below.

This is the Pinterest photo I sent him.

And this is his recreation! 

Can you say perfection? I am so lucky to have a husband that knows how to build things, and build them well! The remodel definitely wouldn't have been possible without him. He spent so much time to make it look just how I wanted it. Love him. 

I am just so happy to have a space that feels like us. Now, onto the next project! 

The Guster.

Gus, Gus-Gus, Gustav, Stav, The Guster Pup, Pup pup, Pupperton, Pupperoo, and Pupperoni are just a FEW of the names I call my furry friend. If you can't tell by my Instagram (@nicholie13) of my Fbook, I'm a little obsessed with this pup.

Gus-Gus came into our lives at the end of June 2015. Weighing a mere 2 lbs. He was the CUTEST most Pinterest worthy pup I have ever seen. Now from childhood I've always wanted a dog. Always. My first dog (well I claim her to be my dog) was actually my neighbors. They would let their sweet mini Schnauzer roam the neighborhood and soon Shatzy and I were the best of friends. She would follow me every where. I would even call Brenda and ask her if Shatz could sleep over. Unfortunately and quite devastatingly, she ended up being hit by a car. This led to me as a little girl being extremely sad. Although this led to me getting my first unshared dog, Maggie. She was also a mini Schnauzer. My grandma and grandpa Lesser helped paid for her. It was the best thing ever! I got her when I was in 5th grade and she ended up passing away when I was 19. I loved that dog.

Fast forward to a now married Nichole. I would beg Jeremy all the time for a dog. Although living in a condo did not constitute idea dog-owning conditions. I made Jeremy promise that when we bought a house, we could get a dog. He said we could and also gave me all these rules about having one (most of which have now been broken, and not by me.) Just to our luck, the house we bought had a dog door. The conditions could not be more perfect!

It was during summer when I had ample time to kill (teacher probs/benefits) that I happened upon some KSL adds for cockapoos. I fell in love with these curly lil pups. We wanted a small dog that didn't shed. I also wanted one that didn't bark all the time (Schnauzer probs.) So these little cockapoos seemed to fit the bill. I came across an ad that had three puppies in the picture. I was sold. But I was also nervous. I knew how big of a responsibility taking on a puppy was. The potty training, the regular training, the chewing, vet bills, and all that comes with the cute puppy. I remember calling Jeremy and testing the waters to see what he thought about getting a dog. Then I told him I might get one THAT day. He seemed a little apprehensive.

I then called my littlest brother Bridger. I told him that I was seriously considering getting a puppy. Of course he was all for it. I told him that I wanted him to come with me (all the way to Ogden) to get the puppy. I barely got the words out, before I heard a resounding "YES!" I told him not to tell anyone what we were doing, and off we went!

The whole drive up, I was still nervous. Mainly because of the responsibility. We met the lady that was selling the puppies at a Maverick. They were in a pink basket. We took our time holding each puppy. One was really wild and energetic, and one looked like he was dazed and confused. We decided to take the third one that seemed to be a nice balance between the two. And BAM, we now have a dog. The name Gus actually does NOT come from the fat mouse of Cinderella. I remember growing up, my dad would always talk about his dog Gus he had as a kid, and what a good dog he was. So wa-la! Gus number 2 was born!

Gus was so tiny when we first got him. I was a little nervous he was part Chihuahua (his breeder was Hispanic... Joke, joke!) But luckily he is now a nice 20 lbs.  I'm not going to lie, he was pretty hard to potty train. I think it took us a solid 5 months to get him completely potty trained. But he also does cool tricks like sit, down, roll-over, beg, and shake. Ok, not that cool of tricks, but I'm pretty proud of him.

Oh and guess who loves him almost as much as I do? Jeremy. Mmmmm-hmmm! I would tell him "I told ya so," but... you know ;)

The Guster really is such a great dog. He loves everyone. I'm not even exaggerating. I take him to the dog park and all his does is lap hop from person to person. He doesn't bark at people (hallelujah!), he snuggles, he is always game to play, and he has the best personality. Don't get me wrong, there are days I want to banish him to the backyard because he has escaped his gated off area and chewed up a billion papers. But, I wouldn't go back to not having a dog. They are just the best. Also, you will probably see more posts of The Guster in the future. You have been warned. Enjoy the photos!

Dogs look like their owners right? #curlyhair

Favorite sleeping position

At my parents home.

The very first few hours of ownership!

FYI this was on National Dog Day

Love this pup. 

Magical Purple Shampoo

So, you know when you find one of those products that you're like, "Does everyone know about this? If not, it is now my life's mission to tell them." Type of moments?  Well that's how I've been feeling with purple shampoo. Ok maybe not that enthusiastic, but you kinda get the point. My dear friend and stylist Taylor recommended this purple concoction to me. She said since my hair pulls a little warmer (and I was going for more of a white blonde) that I should get some. I thought maybe I'd give it a try. Well a few weeks after I got my hair done, I noticed it started to get more and more golden tone. This tends to happen to blonde. I decided it was finally time to try this purple shampoo. I bought is off Amazon mainly because I was too lazy to go to Sally's. For the shampoo and conditioner, it was about 16 bucks. Not too bad.

Pro's and con's of this shampoo: Pro, it creates purple suds. Con, it creates purple suds. While I do love a good magical shower with different colored suds (I'm really not joking)  I did have to do a good rinse down of my shower after using it. It came right off. Also, I did notice that my hair was a bit dryer after using it. Now, I do have naturally curly hair which means my hair is automatically more on the dry side but, I could feel a difference. I decided that I am going to use this shampoo only when I feel like my hair needs a freshening up. On all the other days I'll use my regular shampoo and conditioner.

Well, there ya have it. My little shpeel on purple shampoo! Enjoy some before and after photos.

DIY Succulent Planter

So I have had an obsession with potted plants. Namely cacti and succulents because they are really hard to kill. Or at least I've heard. Time will definitely tell with this one. Anyway this is totally not my own original idea. I watch a lady on youtube named Christine Kobzeff. She is like this total zen, vegan lady. I love her channel, mainly because she lives very differently from how I live and I like learning about it. She also has like 10 million plants. Of these, she has succulents. Therefore, creating my inspiration.


I love the look of white ceramic. Bad news, white ceramic pots tend to become expensive very quickly. So off to the DI I went. I found this nice red pot with the shape I wanted. I think it was only a dollar. I then went to Wal-Mart and bought some primer and spray paint. I used a white gloss spray paint for the top coat.


This pot came with no drainage holes. This is very important for pots to have. So while my husband was at work, I used his drill and what I thought were drill bits made for pots. I was able to make it through the pots. Although it turns out, those drill bits were actually for wood and not ceramic. Woops. Looks like a nice birthday present of bits is coming Jeremy's way. So moral of the story, make sure you are using masonry drill bits when taking on ceramic.


Anyway, once I was done drilling the holes, I spray painted and waited a day for it to dry. I then took a piece of paper towel and put it on the bottom of the pot. This will act as a barrier for any soil that tries to escape. You could also use a piece of screen. The first layer I put down as about and inch of aquarium gravel. This will aid with quick drainage. Then I put down my cactus soil. Don't use regular potting soil because it doesn't dry quickly enough. Desert plants, fast drying soil. 


Then I planted my adorable succulents. I ordered mine off Etsy. The seller is RanchoGraciasNursery or something like that. If you just type in succulents there will be tons to choose from. Many sellers sell in bulk for wedding favors. You can get a group of 15 for a discounted deal. I didn't need that many so I just bought mine separately. I then added a top dressing. It's aquarium gravel from Wal-Mart, but it looks oh so nice. It gives it that final put together touch (personal opinion.)


I plan on creating more gardens in the summer when I can get the succulents locally.

Alonzo Rattagan

So, how does one come to own a rat? Two compound words, Facebook Yardsale. There I was minding my own business on the good ol fbook, when all the sudden BAM a $10 rat came into view. Now, I am quite the animal person. I have been since I was little. When I saw this adorable (yes I did just use that word) guy I couldn't resist. Especially when I have 27 little people who would enjoy this rat just as much I could. I felt like a little girl asking my dad for a dog when I texted my principal to ask him if rats were allowed. He didn't understand the attraction to rats but he said it was ok. The deal was sealed. I messaged the rat distributor and was on my way. I took Jer with me too because I was still a little nervous. Because you know, rats. So we went and picked up the rat. Let me tell you, he is the CUTEST lil thing ever! Forget what you think of when you think of rats (sewers. garbages, cellars) and now think of the cutest lil thing with whiskers and adorable ears. That is what Alonzo looks like. He is black with a white belly. Also, rats are super clean. Rattagan (I call him by both names) cleans himself all the time. He also LOVES to be rubbed behind the ears. I'm still a tiny bit wary of holding him because I'm afraid I'm going to drop him. I also had to hold him with gloves when I first got him because I was scared he was going to bite me. Good news, he has not bitten a person once. He also sleeps in these little rolled up balls. Rats are great pets because they don't require too much attention, you don't have to let them out to the bathroom, and you can just watch their adorableness. Alonzo Rattagan got his name from two villians. Alonzo is from a book called Jacks's Run, and Rattagan is from The Great Mouse Detective. Now enjoy some pictures.

Gus wanted to play with him SO badly. 

I mean really, look at that adorable face!

Until next time!

Sitting Room Remodel

Welcome to the blog! This is my first official post. Woot woot! So let just get right in to it!

Jer and I gave ourselves the project of redoing our downstairs. We really didn't like how stark white the walls were in the sitting room. The paint job was patchy and it just didn't look good.
At one point,I even had my friend Megan come over and help me paint it a tannish weirdish color. After painting it that color Jer and I decided on whole new decor. Welcome to our gray, rustic, white rooms. The rustic is more in the family room. I'll do a post on that when it's completely done.
We are now done with the sitting room. Hallelujah! This process included ripping off base (by yours truly), ripping off case (Jer did that), then we painted it gray (thanks dad for helping!), put on new base and case (which we had to paint), installed wainscoting, filled in countless holes and sanded. Then painted everything. I even got to use the nail gun. Sounds like a short list when you put it that way, but it did take some time. I also feel very handy-manish. I will post some photos below. I wish I had better before pictures! Oh well.

This is the color Meg and I had painted it the first time.

Let the gray walls commence! Tabby Cat gray to be exact. 

Wainscoting up and ready to be painted!

Look how beautiful! All painted and cleaned up (finally!)

Furniture in place. And check out that rug Jer picked out all by himself! 

Oh boy can I just tell you how much homier if feels? It's so nice to add your own personal touch to your home. I still would like to add a coffee table and an end table in between the chairs. Along with some throw pillows and something on the wall. But I LOVE it so far. I can't wait to show you guys the family room. Wahoo! Also,big shout out to handyman Balone (Jer.) We were able so save so much money on this project due to his exceptional carpentry skills. Go husband who know how to do stuff!