High 5 For Friday!

Welcome to Friday!Here are my High 5 For Friday!

1. Almond Joy Coffee Creamer. This is SOOOO good!  Especially with the Costa Rica coffee I have been enjoying lately. Yum!

2. Remington Ceramic Pearl. My hair dryer of 4 years quit on me so I had to get a new one.  I never thought hair dryers made a difference to your hair, but they do and I love this one!  It really does lock in moisture and eliminate frizz.

3. I found this sweet little Jewelry Holder on clearance at Target (only $4). It's perfect on my bathroom counter.  I love great finds like this!

4. Stila Eye Color Pallet.  I found this great little eye color pallet via The Small Things Blog and ordered my own from Sephora.  It came in the mail this week.  I love it and was complimented on my eye make up last night at our ladies night out.

5. Ladies Night Out.  I helped a couple of great gals organize a Ladies Night Out which was held last night at a local establishment in town.  It was so much fun!  And - I had a lot of interest in my start-up interior design business.  If everyone gives me a call or gets in touch with me, I could get busy.... and that would be great! 

Have a great weekend!  And don't forget that I am linking up at From My Grey Desk Blog!

Favorite Workouts

Good Morning and welcome to another Monday!  This is the first time ever that I have done a fitness-related post but health and fitness is all part of leading a beautiful life, right?! I don't claim to be in the best shape ever and have no plans of being a fitness model or getting down to a size 2 but what I really want is a healthy, strong body!

Besides meeting with a personal trainer once a week, here are my favorite go-to workouts. They can be easily adjusted to your fitness level by using (or not using) weights.  If you aren't sure how to do one of the lifts, look it up on YouTube!

Legs

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To switch things up for my leg workout, I do plyometrics (box jumps, split jumps, pop squats, jump squats) between each lift.  I generally lift with 12-15 lb weights.  If you are just starting out, trying the workout without weights and once you get comfortable, add weight in.  Also, instead of leg lifts, I do dead lifts with weights to target my hamstrings.

Arms

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Core

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Finally... this is the most important thing to keep in mind when starting a workout plan.

It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing.

It takes 8 weeks for your friends to notice.

It takes 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice.

Don't Quit! 

I'll email the winners of the E-Design giveaway today! :)

High Five For Friday

Happy Friday!  What a great week... here are my high 5! :)

1. Starbucks!  It's been forever since I've had a cup of Starbucks coffee. I really enjoyed the Salted Caramel Mocha I had. Yum. 

2. Training Session! This week I headed to Lincoln to co-facilitate a sales training session with my friend, Courtney.  It was so fun to spend time with our sales team and be back in a training classroom.

3. Sherwin Williams Paint Samples! I finally got myself a deck of paint samples from Sherwin Williams. I love it and have already used it... a lot!

4. A Good Day's Work!  Last night I helped Adam fence in corn stalks so we can turn our cattle out on them.  Fencing is a lot of work, but I love hard work and the sense of accomplishment you feel when the work is done. This sign made me laugh, Churdan is a very small town in Iowa.

5. Stripes!  I am loving stripes for fall and found this great striped dress from Old Navy.     

Don't forget to stop over at From My Grey Desk Blog to see other High 5 For Friday posts!  I am linking up there!

By the way... don't forget to sign up for chance to win a FREE E-Design board + shopping list!  I am giving away 2!  One on the Design Your Dwelling Facebook page and one via this post!

Entryway Design Plan

We are getting soooo close to having our garage and entryway done.  I am getting excited to have my house back so I can clean up the construction dust.  With the end in sight, I've come up with an entryway design plan so it will be done once and for all!

Before I show you the design board, here is a look at the new entryway (before it was sheet rocked.)

We decided it would be smart to connect the garage to the house via a breezeway.  We were going to leave our original entryway door in place and just use the breezeway as a walk thru to the house.

Then we decided to open up the house to extend our entryway and add a closet.  (Old houses have no storage.)  You can see that the original entryway ended where the tile is.

We added a little stampcrete patio between the house and the garage and put in a sliding door to let in a lot of natural light.  I love it.  We are still trying to decide if we want to do a laminate flooring or tile.  Any suggestions?

Now that you've seen the structure, here is the design board to show you how the entryway will look when it is all said and done!

What do you think?!

PS... Don't forget about the 2 FREE E-design boards I am giving away on the Design Your Dwelling Facebook page and via this post!

Announcing My New E-Design Business + Giveaway

I am so excited to share with you that I am offering E-Design boards!

My interest in interior design has been growing over the past few years and after some encouragement from friends and family I've decided to start a small E-Design business! :)  My mind is continually thinking about new ideas for spaces and creating that inspired look without breaking the bank.  I believe that everyone should live in a space they love!

Here is a look at some of the design boards I have built!

Organized Office

Teen Boys Room

Entryway Inspiration

 Farm Boy Nursery

Say you moved into a new home, are looking to update your current space, or just want to pull together what you already have... This is where I come in! :)  After taking a look at your space and understanding how you want it to look and feel, I will put together a design board and shopping list for you with suggestions!  We'll work together to make it fit your style!

GIVEAWAY!
Since I am pretty excited about starting up my E-design business I wanted to kick it off the right way with a giveaway for one of my followers!

What You Win: A free design board- you'll send me pics of your space if you aren't local, if you are local (Carroll, IA, Des Moines, IA, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) we'll meet in person. I'll follow up by sending a custom design board & shopping list with recommendations for a room in your house!

How To Enter:
Be a follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect (or become one) and let me know in the comments section which room you would like to have an E-design built for!  The winner will be announced on Monday, September 24!

Want another chance to win?  Stop over at the Design Your Dwelling Facebook page.  There is a second E-design board giveaway there! (Facebook.com/DesignYourDwelling)

If you know of someone who might be interested or has been talking about re-decorating,  feel free to share this giveaway!

Thanks and Good Luck!

Door Decisions

Our garage and entry way is coming along nicely!  Hopefully the painter will be here sometime yet this week to paint the interior walls of the garage (aka "man cave") and ceilings!  Hooray for this garage project to be done! (We've been at this project since March...)

Anyhow, one of the decisions I need to make it what color should I paint this exterior door?!

(I know what you are thinking... "That garage is huge" and "That's a lot of concrete!" and your right, it is.)

The house is just a little bland right now so I think a pop of color could really make a statement!  Here are some of the door colors I found, and sort-of liked, via Pinterest.

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I love all of these colors but I still need to think about where we live and what will look good with light gray (anything, right?)  My favorite color is Navy Blue... I can picture this color of front door with some bright colored potted flowers and a either a chair or bench in a complimentary color.  

Also - while I was doing my research I found this blog post by Willard & May titled "Our Front Door." It's a great post and I especially like chart that defines what colors say about you.  Good point since your door is often times a first impression.

Seriously - what do you think? (besides "that's a huge garage!" ha!)  Any suggestions?! 

House Updates

This weekend I made a few updates around the house! (It would be a miracle if I would leave things the way they are for more than a few months at a time...)  Here is a look at what I did!

Red Pillow: Target | Wicker Baket: Gordman's | Wicker Art: Pier 1

I have been wanting a round wicker basket to hold blankets and pillows in the living room and I found this one at Gordman's for $25!  I was sold!  

Silver Bowl: Target | Decorative Balls: TJ Maxx

Call me crazy but I have wanted these "decorative balls" (correct term?) for awhile and I finally found some so I switched up my table centerpiece from a large vase of flowers to these! 

Pocket Board: Kirklands | Metal Vase: Kirklands | Vintage Memo Holder: Decor Steals | Table: Target

In our kitchen we have this "collect-all" nook that use to have word art hanging above it.  I've wanted a bulletin board so we could quickly locate our "must not lose" items and found this board instead! I feel a little more "picked-up" now.

Mirror: IKEA | Frames: Michael's

In the living room I changed up our wall art.  I framed a few things I had on hand.  A coaster from our vacation and a page out of a inspirational quote book to add more color.

This is my favorite update!  I framed this coaster from the restaurant we went to the night Adam and I got engaged.  It's such an appropriate piece because it has meaning and we have cattle.It is my only piece of meaningful art! Plus it just looks cool!  I don't collect much but I do collect coasters from restaurants and hotels I've been to.  For me they tell a story, they are free, and they are usable!

Have a great Tuesday everyone! :)

High Five For Friday!

It's Friday! :)  This week 5 on Friday gets a new name and becomes High Five For Friday.  I made this change because I am regularly linking up to a High Five For Friday series hosted by Lauren over at From My Grey Desk... I am excited for the change and  love the inspiration from everyone who links up!  I hope you like the change too!

1| I browsed 700+ pages of wedding magazines and flagged my favorite finds - it was a great Labor Day!

2| Corn and soybean harvest is in full swing here in Iowa.  Usually you shouldn't see this sight until the end of September or October but it was very dry here which made harvest come a lot quicker because the corn plants have dried up and quit putting energy into building grain.  (Yep - I'm an agriculture geek!)  That's my guy driving the combine.  Lately we hang out and re-cap the day from the cab of the combine when I bring him supper - kinda fun!

3| I found this Vintage Word Card for $1.50.  I couldn't resist.

4| I had a gym-date with my friend, Sue, this week.  It's always fun to work out with someone.  And I - believe it or not -  did 90 (as in 9-0) box jumps! Whew... my legs are tired!

5| I opened a bottle of wine that has been sitting around here for awhile. Not much beats a good glass of wine from a pretty glass.

Have a great weekend my friends...

If you are looking for more inspiration to kick off your weekend definitely check out the other High Five For Friday posts by clicking here:

DIY Business Cards With Scratch Off Discount

Good Morning!

You may have gathered from previous posts that I am working on starting up my own small interior E-Design business which has been a dream of mine for the past couple of years.  I've been brainstorming ideas to promote new endeavor lately and came up with these sweet business cards that include a scratch off discount on the back!  They are totally me!

I brought these sweethearts to a women's networking meeting this week, set them in a dish with pennies and they definitely sparked some interest! :)  I am all about creating a customer experience and doing things a little bit different with a simple flare of style.

Here is the how-to if you want to make your own.

1. Print the front of your business cards.  I used the Avery 8871, Clean Edge business cards. Do add a little bit of flare to these, I put a strip of washi tape through the middle.

2. Print the back of your business cards.  I decided on my own discounts and used a variety of them, but made sure they were all worth-while prizes.

3. Paint on your scratch off "stuff."  Click here to get the recipe I used for the scratch off stuff.

4. Let them dry.

Now go and hand them out to all of your friends! :)  (or if you want one of my business cards for yourself to use as a discount on a design board, send me an email with your mailing address to designyourdwellingblog (at) gmail.com and I'll mail one to you!)

To check learn more about my e-design services click here.

P.S.  Today I am linking up here...

{E-Design Project} Farm Boy Nursery

Hello September! I swear August flew right by...

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We had guests come to spend the weekend with us so that included a little shopping and some local rodeo action. I also met up with a friend of mine to talk about her baby boy's nursery.  He isn't due to arrive for a couple of months yet but we put some plans into play for the farm boy themed nursery.  Here is the design board I pulled together!

We are for sure going to incorporate the following:

1- Farmer in the Dell prints
2 - "You Are My Sunshine" wall hanging - this will be a DIY project using the same colors on canvas
3 - Alphabet Soup with Navy Blue letters instead of white
4 - Monogram of baby's first name (this is yet to be determined!)
7 - These DIY bookends which will be cows instead of dogs

What do you think?! :)

If you are interested in an E-Design board to spruce up a room in your home or to pull your ideas together - let me know, I would be happy to help!  For more information check out my E-Design page by clicking here.