new YEAR...new HOUSE!

Hello all!  Or rather, hello Mom! (since she may be the only one reading this).  We're already 2+ months into 2014 and I have yet to blog.  We have had a lot of life type stuff going on behind the scenes and blogging has not been super important.  But, spring is coming and I am excited to get back to blogging, being outside, designing/decorating, photography etc.  As previously blogged about, we sold our house last fall and moved out in November to an apartment.  We wanted to take a breath, decide our next move and allow Cory time to heal from his third major back surgery.   We had bought a lot in a newer neighborhood in Bennington and were pretty sure that we wanted to start building there as soon as the weather got nice and Cory healed up.  But after we got our plans back from the architect, did all of the hard costs and thought it through, we realized that wasn't the best move for us right now for a few reasons: 1) Cory needs a chance to really heal and working full time and building a house on the side is not going to allow that to happen.  When he builds a house for our family (this would have been his 4th time doing so), he does almost EVERYTHING.  Basically, besides plumbing, electrical and HVAC Cory is the one doing the work.  That is a huge time and energy commitment and not one that either of us thinks is wise for Cory to undertake right now 2) The main reason we sold our previous house is because after doing Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover through our old church, we were really convicted about being debt free and for us that includes NO MORTGAGE.  So, we wanted to downsize and build/buy something that would allow us to have no mortgage.  After doing our hard cost sheet for the new house we were considering building, it was clear that we would have to do a little financing.  Even though it would be a small amout, we really didn't want to go down that slippery slope 3) We were ready for something different! Cory has built us three houses in a row and they have been great, but he was ready for a different challenge...SO, those three main reasons led us to decide that we should (drumroll please) FLIP A HOUSE!  As soon as we committed to that path, we were on the hunt for a great deal.  We wanted something that wasn't completed destroyed, but was in rough enough shape that we could give it some TLC and then turn around and sell it for a good profit in a few years.  We found a few options, but settled on a split-level HUD foreclosure with huge mature shade trees (a must-have for Cory).  We put in a bid and were happily surprised when we found out we got it!  We closed on it at the beginning of February and since then Cory has been spending some time on the weekends fixing plumbing and doing demolition and now we're starting to get to the fun parts: picking out tile, counter tops, paint, draperies, etc.  I look forward to blogging about the fun remodel and we hope to be moving in some time in April :) 
   
Here's to our next adventure...THE JENSEN FLIP HOUSE!

{ Mantel Styling } Coral and Turquoise

I am slooooooooooooowly making my way through my living and dining room remodel this winter.  I was telling my mom yesterday that I was feeling overwhelmed with everything I have left to get done {ideally before Hal's 1st bday}.  Her advice to me was to start with the smallest project first and move on from there.  Good advice Mommulls :)  So, today I tackled a small project...finishing my mantel styling.  My colors for the remodel are coral, turquoise and grays and I have been collecting items here and there for a while and they are crammed in the empty rooms just waiting to shine.  I gathered up the items I had in mind for the mantel and arranged, rearranged and arranged them again this morning.  And here is the result...

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I like clean, bright and simple and I think this fits the bill.

The Keep Calm print I ordered from Etsy.

The white frame/matting is from Target.

I have had the silver "J" forever.  I think I got it at a store called Sugar Bakers in Omaha.

The coral leaf frame is a 5" x 7" from Target.

The gray chevron print I made myself.  Another Pinterest project that was way more work than I thought it would be.

The large letter "J" I ordered from Joann Fabric.  I then painted it turquoise {or more precisely "Jamaican Sea" in FolkArt brand acrylic paint}.

The small silver bird was a gift from my Mommulls.  She bought it on a girls trip we took to Weston, MO a few years ago.

I have no idea where I got the ampersand!

If you like my mantel styling, feel free to pin it!

Ciao for now!

DIY Pantry Organization

My favorite room in my house is my pantry.  Yes, my pantry.  When Cory built our house five years ago, I made a lot of changes to the plans...especially the pantry.  And of course, Cory made it turn out even better than I could picture in my head or draw on paper.  However, I have been neglecting my beautiful pantry as of late.  

Life is busy, and it doesn't allow me to be as OCD about things as I would like to be.  I was looking for crushed red pepper in my pantry a few weeks ago while preparing dinner, and I COULDN'T FIND IT!  In fact, I couldn't find anything.  Well, that's not true.  I did find an open bag of popped popcorn...WHAT?  That was enough to finally inspire me to ORGANIZE it. 

And one more before shot...

So, I hopped on Etsy and Pinterest to get some ideas.  I already had the clear plastic OXO Good Grips storage containers for my baking supplies and the open plastic bins from Target for everything else.  But I needed a labeling system.  I found these cute vinyl chalkboard decals on Etsy.  And the liquid chalk pen on Amazon.

The vinyl decals actually came all the way from Isreal (huh?) so they didn't get here until today.  So, as soon as I got my hands on them the organizing began!  I took EVERYTHING out of the pantry and washed all the shelves.  Then I took everything out of the Target bins and washed those too.  Then I organized the bins in a way that made sense to me, labeled them and put everything back.  Oh, and I did find the crushed red pepper.  Hooray!  

DIY Gallery Wall

I know I haven't posted in a while.  We have been straight up SICK over here at Casa Jensen.  Luckily not the flu, but a nasty nasty cold that got all three of us in a nicely staggered manner so that at least one of us has been sick since New Year's.  So sick that I actually had to skip Winesday Wednesday last week.  The horror!  Well, the worst has passed and, WE ARE FEELING AMBITIOUS AROUND HERE AGAIN!  

To celebrate, Cory helped me hang up the gallery wall I have been working on since the end of 2012.  I laid it on the floor to start with and arranged and re-arranged it about a million times, but it was never "just right."  So, when Cory woke me up at 5:45 am yesterday morning (yes, you read that right) and said, "hey, let's hang up those pictures," I sort of panicked.  Not just because it was still sleepy time, but because I didn't have it laid out exactly to my satisfaction.  Well, apparently my creative brain works best in the early, early morning because I made a few tweaks and...voila!  Perfect!  

Over the next three hours, between Hallie waking up, breakfast, business calls for Cory, etc. we finally finished!  I am really, really happy with the final result and I think it is the perfect addition to our entry way and the blank space that was once over our stairs.  Below is the result.  Enjoy the pictures and Pin It if you like it!  I also included a source list at the bottom of the post.

Ciao for now 

Ampersand, H, J, C and N - Hobby Lobby (originally metallic gold, painted glossy black/turquoise with craft paint)

Love mirrors - Hobby Lobby

Black frame around wedding picture - Hobby Lobby

Black frame around "H" - Hobby lobby (originally white, painted glossy black with craft paint)

I prayed for this child sign - this was a gift, but I think my friend got it at Parables

Quatrefoil mirror - Target

7 sign - Target

Canvas - www.mypix2canvas.com Groupon

Black frame around "cJn" - mine from a long time ago :)

Large black frame - Hobby Lobby

Black frames w/ white matting - Michaels

Black & white photography - Lia Larson Photography

Canvas photography - MegMc Studios

DIY Garland Christmas Card Holder

This DIY project was pretty self-explanatory and easy.  I've been looking for a simple and chic way to display my Christmas cards that is simple (did I mention it needs to be simple?) and inexpensive.  I trolled around Pinterest and found a nice one on The Good Stuff blog and it looked easy enough.  I already had a gaggle of pre-lit garlands from Target in my basement, so I used two 8' strands.  I think they cost around $10 when I bought them a few years ago.  I used 3m command strips (I looooooove these things) to hang the garland around the outside of the door trim and then just used plain wooden clothespins to hang the cards.  The one I saw on Pinterest used diy glitter clothespins.  No thank you.  I don't do glitter.   It. Is. A. Mess.  I added a DIY Faux Iron Letter "J" to the upper left hand corner (more on those in a later blog) for a little pizazz and that was it.  Easy peasy.  Feel free to copy and add your own pizazz :)

Ciao for now