Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It's been too long....

Hello, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! It has been some time since I last posted, and to be honest I haven't been doing much house stuff/DIY.  I do plan on getting to work on the kitchen cabinets this winter, so more on that another time!!

What I have been doing A LOT as of lately is photo shoots for people.  I started a facebook page for my photography, and it has been getting a lot of attention.  I have pretty much had a shoot or two every week since I started the page.  If you are interested in checking it out just search Kristina Perry Photography on facebook. 

I personally feel that I have improved a bunch since I began shooting over the summer.  I am completely self taught at this point, and I know I have a whole lot more to learn, and I am looking forward to it.

Here are some of the most recent shoots I have done. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  I don't mind constructive criticism, as it will only help me improve some more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you and I hope you all have a awesome Thanksgiving!!

 

 

{DIY} Cork Message Board

Hello everyone, I'm back with another little update on the office! I made my own cute little message center/cork board!  I found some inspiration from another blog I follow and LOVE.   Its a Pretty Prins Life. She always has the cutest little DIY projects and I love her decor taste.

Anyways I did mine a little different.  I bought a 4 pack of the dark colored cork squares from Michael's. They were under $10 with a coupon.  

Once I got home I began taping the cork board up with some frog tape in the pattern I wanted.

After I was done taping I took some metallic gold acrylic paint I had around the house and painted the exposed cork with a sponge brush.  

Finally once I was done painting I peeled the tape off.  

Here's what I was left with

 Of course I couldn't wait to go hang it up in the office!!

I love it!!  

Oh yea....we went to IKEA a couple weekends ago and here's what I bought:

Desk

Shelf (holds all our DVDs and husbands video games)

Bunch of white frames!!

Overall i would say it was a successful trip, I could have definitely bought more but my wallet and car space would not allow it.  

Has anyone else made their own message boards/cork boards?  Anyone else have a love for IKEA!?!

DIY Lengthened Curtains

A few weeks ago I added a link to the wonderful Wife in progress blog  for her "Show off Thursday's" link party.  I linked my 1 year later transformation of our living room, and come to find out it was actually the most viewed link-up on her site that month.  Yay me!! 

If you haven't checked out Jenna's blog yet you really should.  Her kitchen update is AMAZING.  It is truly an inspiration for my kitchen.  Ohhh someday, hopefully this winter I can finallllly tackle that project!


I did get around to lengthening my curtains for the office.  I learned that I have a love hate relationship for my sewing machine though, those things are so tricky. 

 

...and of course here is a before and after of them short to long....

 

(the colors are off as I took the pictures at different times of the day)

 It was really a simple process.  All I did was purchase an extra curtain panel.  Then cut about 4 inches worth off the bottom and top of the new panel and sewed them right to the bottoms of the 2 panels I already had. 

 

I think they look much better and I cant wait to finally get a desk and some art up on the walls. 

 

 

Next weekend is our 1 year wedding anniversary and all I asked the hubby for was a trip to IKEA!!!  So with that said we are hitting up ikea in Canada (closest one to us) on Saturday and I CAN NOT WAIT.  I have a list ready to go with all the goodies I want to buy!

 

 

 

Any one else out there ever have to lengthen your curtains?  How about sewing, any one else have an argument with their sewing machines?

 

 

Office Progress

Over the weekend the husband and I decided to tackle the office.  We began by painting the room.  We went with Gentle Rain by Behr.  Its a soft gray, almost looks blue in some lights.  We didn't care too much about the carpet as we were going to rip it out afterwards, so we didn't put any drop cloths down to protect it. 

(Sorry about the cell phone pictures, my 50 mm lens is stuck on my camera so I cant switch out lenses at the moment. So if anyone knows how to remove a stuck lens, please let me know!)

After the paint started to dry we started to rip out the gross carpet.... 

 

....and look what we found!!!!

 

These babies are in AMAZING shape.

 

 

 

 

I went out and bought some curtains for the room, and I am having a hard time deciding if I really like them.  I already know they are too short, so I have been thinking about buying one more panel and lengthening them by sewing in a piece to each side.  Then I could used the extra fabric for pillows or some other DIY project.  I also have to put them higher and wider then they are now.  Then I think I might like the look a little better!!

 

 

 

Next up for this room....

• New Desk
• Art/decor
• Area rug
• New door
• Paint Closet doors
• New Shelf/storage

 

 

 

What do you think?  Have any of you done any work to your home office's lately, or any room in the house for that matter?

Home Office Plans

It's funny to think a year ago I was pinning away on Pinterest last minute ideas for my wedding, and today I am pinning inspiration for my home office!  Time sure does fly when your having fun or well.....when you get old.

If any of you follow me on Pinterest you may have noticed the excessive pinning of home office decor/design.  My husband and I have finally shoved things in the closet cleaned the room we will call our office.  It will remain the office until we someday decide to have a little one, and turn it into a nursery.

We havent really done anything to the room yet besides clear most of it out because we just bought a new desktop computer and needed to make room for it. 

This is what we are working with, as you can see it is fairly small.

 

 

Anyway here are some of the plans I have for the room.



I love the idea of having a "inspiration board" maybe above the desk or next to it!

I really like the shelving above the desk/computer with the extra empty desk area on the other side!

Great for storing documents and other little things!  I just wish we had an IKEA closer to us!!

I am really liking the gold and white and another color for accent, but I am not sure if my husband will let me get away with pink, maybe we can do something a little more manly like blue or green for him!!

We need to get some paint up on the walls and take down the current sports border that we inherited from the previous owners!  Then we can rip out the carpet and see the state of the hardwoods underneath, here's to hoping they are in good condition!!!

This is going to be our next little project once the weather gets a bit cooler, so come on fall I am ready for you!

My weekend in NYC

 

I spent this past weekend in NYC with my husband and family!!  We usually go on a little weekend getaway each summer with them and this year it was NYC!  I have been there several times before for school.  This weekend was different though as I actually got to do some sight seeing around Manhattan.

Our first day in the city we bought passes for a 2-day bus tour where you can hop on and off at different locations like downtown, upper east side, & south st. seaport area.  It was pretty awesome.  We also did some shopping around China Town and Times Square.  We were all exhausted by the end of the day so we headed back into NJ where we were staying. 



Me and my sister-in-law

 

 

Hubby and I in Times Square

The next day our group split up for a little bit because my sister and brother-in-law were going to take a helicopter ride above the city from NJ.  So me, my husband, "step-mother-in-law" and her mom all did some more sightseeing. We went up and down 5th ave and into places like Tiffany's, the Trump Hotel and the beautiful Waldorf Astoria.  We also did a carriage ride in Central Park!  We stopped for a delicious lunch at Burger Heaven and walked around Rockefeller Center.  We all eventually met back up for dinner in Little Italy.  It was YUMMY!  We were all very tired from walking around all day but thought it was too soon to go back to the hotel just yet so we took advantage of our 2-day bus tour tickets and went on the night tour.  During this tour you get to see all the city lights in Times Square, as well as the entire view of Manhattan from the Manhattan bridge and Brooklyn.  It was very cool! 

World Trade Center

Free ice cream if you #hastag "#iscream for #insidious"

Little Italy

Courtney & her momma Kim

Central Park

 

 



Times Square



Empire State Building

 

It was a great trip and I love spending time with family. 

I love city life and being in NYC, but there's just something about being home, & I couldn't wait to get there and see my babies. (dogs) 

Bungee Cord Curtain Rod

Hola!  It has been a while since I have posted and I am sorry for that.  I still don't have much to post about yet as life has been very busy!  I do however have a quick/cheap little "fix" to a annoying problem that my husband and I have encountered.

THIS.  

We have been living with our curtains and sheers on the same rod for quite some time now.  It not only looks bad but it is a pain in the butt to have to open the curtains on a daily basis with the two of them on the same rod.  

I discovered on Pinterest that you can use a bungee cord to hang the sheers behind the curtains, so I went out and bought some bungee cords 

Took the sheers and strung them onto the bungee, then hooked them behind the curtains on the brackets that hold the rod onto the wall.

It may not be perfect but it was cheap and easy.  It makes opening the curtains much easier too.

Anyone else have this issue?