DIY Double Door Welcome Mat

Happy Thursday! 

This week has been pretty crazy for me as my department is moving to a new building this week.  The upside is that we're getting all new stuff - cubicles, carpet, etc.  I am currently in a cubicle from the '80's, which as my mom pointed out means that it's 30 years old and not 20 :)  (Which means I'm almost 30!)

My current cubicle

Our new building has been completely gutted and redone and it looks awesome!  Even the bathrooms are super duper nice!  I want to steal the slate tile and glass mosaic tiles!

My new home as of next week!

The new ladies room!

The downside to this week is that there's a possible hurricane coming.  If you have lived in Florida all of your life like I have, a hurricane coming is not an immediate reason to panic.  Hurricanes change their course daily and you never know for sure where it's going.  Yes, it's always good to have a hurricane kit just in case, but, thankfully, I've never had to use one!  Our local station, WFTV, has some great advice for planning before, during, and after hurricanes.

Current Hurricane Isaac Forecast via www.wftv.com

This week I got to work on a new front door mat.  I absolutely love the monogrammed doormats!  They are so super chic and make a home feel like it's yours.

Pottery Barn - $109

We have a double front door and I wanted something that was cute but not expensive.  Our current doormat was left by the previous owners and the bottom has been rotting for some time.  Plus, it's not all that great to look at.

Original doormat

I stumbled across a tutorial on Pinterest by My Suburban Cottage and got to work!

First, I took a trip to Home Depot and bought two TrafficMaster Beige 18"X30" Coir and Vinyl Door Mats for $9.97 each.

Because I have a double front door, I wanted a cohesive look, so I found John's stash of fishing line in the garage (thanks honey!) and used a large needle (example) to sew the two mats together.  Before you start, make sure you line up the two mats evenly.  When sewing, poke your holes at least one inch inside/from the side of each mat.  If the hole is too close to the side of the mat, your fishing line will tear a hole when you pull it tight and you'll have to start over again (learned this the hard way).

Like the My Suburban Cottage tutorial, I printed a large "F" and two stars on the computer and cut them out.  I would advise spraying the back of the paper with adhesive and then placing the paper onto the rug.  This way the spray paint will not bleed outside of your design.

I had some black spray paint on hand, laid out my design and went to work!  For under $20 I now have a personalized doormat! 

My new mat!

(Please excuse the dying flowers!  Those are my next project!)

Pinterest Project - Glass Shower Doors

Since moving into our house, I have relied on Pinterest more and more for decorating ideas, cleaning tips, recipes, and pictures that make me laugh so hard that I feel like I'm annoying those working around me.  After a year in our new house, I realized that the glass shower in our master bathroom needed some serious scrubbing.  My grandmother gave us a bottle of Clean Shower when we moved in.  Needless to say, we still have that bottle.  So, off to Pinterest!

I found this awesome tip using a used dryer sheet and a few drops of water.  I will admit that I pinned this tip about six months ago and never thought it would actually work.  Man, was I wrong!  After a day of doing laundry, I hopped in the shower that night and went to work.  I cleaned one side first just to see if I could tell a difference.

The left side has been cleaned with the dryer sheet, the right side has not.  How clean is that?!

My additional tip:  After scrubbing the glass with the dryer sheet, my OCD-self and I could still see faint lines of soap scum.  So I sprayed Clean Shower on it and let it sit overnight.  The next day, I scrubbed with the dryer sheet again and not a single bit of soap scum remained!  Squeegee the entire glass, add some Rain-X, and you are good to go!

Happy Cleaning!

-Justin

Let's get this thing started again!

So it’s been QUITE a while since I’ve posted here and after one year of marriage (yay!) I’m going to try my hardest to keep this thing up to date.

In our first year of marriage we have-

• Traveled to Canada and Alaska;
• Added a calico cat and chocolate lab to our family and, of course, named them after Disney characters (Raja the cat named for Jasmine’s tiger in Aladdin and Daisy the dog after Daisy Duck);

Daisy

Daisy begging Raja to play with her

• Welcomed our beautiful niece, Isabella Maryrose, to the family;

Baby Isabella

• Celebrated many Amick family happenings - my sister leaving to spend a year in Ireland, my brother becoming a Deputy, my cousin, Garrett, becoming an Eagle Scout, just to name a few;

The Amick cousins with Garrett

• Spent three Saturday’s completely re-landscaping our huge flower beds;

Our new flower bed

• Finished painting, decorating, and furnishing our entryway, dining room, bedroom, kitchen nook, and kitchen;

Completely finished dining room

• Traveled to Connecticut seven times;

The Fourniers at Mike and Angela's wedding

• Successfully trained and competed in a full marathon – John that is;

John, Kevin, and Ted at the Marathon

• Learned the meaning of being a slave to our house;
• And so much more!

Needless to say, we have been busier in our first year of marriage than any other time in our life!

John and I spent the weekend of our first anniversary completely amazed that a whole year has gone by.  We stayed at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort by Downtown Disney for the weekend, which was beautiful, relaxing, and special!  If you live in the Orlando area, this place is AMAZING!  It has three pools that connect by a huge rock formation with waterfalls, a small golf course, canoeing, a walking/running path, bonfires at night, and more.  Plus, it’s walking distance to Downtown Disney.  The resort is so large that you feel completely isolated.  So.much.fun!

I have been busy Pinterest-ing and working on projects for the house.  More of those to come!

- Justin