How to Change Your Doorbell Button

Please tell me I’m not the only one with such a pitiful looking little doorbell button as this.  It was hanging on by one little screw.  It’s been like that since we bought the house SIX years ago!! (yes, I know…sad.)  On a whim we decided to replace it Saturday…..Yay…a very GOOD whim indeed! :0)

We took a little trip to Lowes and found a pretty Oil Rubbed Bronze doorbell button.  It was a little more than the rest, but after six years of living with the ugly one, $16.00 didn’t sound too bad.  It also lights up!

We also picked up a 1/8” masonry bit.  You have to buy a bit a little smaller around than your screws.

In the first picture, you can see my hubby is unscrewing that one little lone screw that’s held our doorbell button on for all this time. BEFORE you unscrew anything make SURE YOUR POWER IS TURNED OFF!  I had my hubby stand outside and continuously ring the bell until I found the right breaker than turned it off. I was lucky and got it on the first try!  When you take the screws out of your doorbell and take it off, you will have little wires attached to two screws on the back.

Unscrew each of the screws on the back, and remove the wires from around the screws.

You’ll be left with two wires sticking out of your wall.  We had two extra wires, I’m really not sure what they’re for, but they weren’t connected to our old button, so we didn’t worry with them. :0)

We didn’t realize until after we opened the doorbell we bought, that it had to be recessed in the wall, so my hubby chipped away the mortar with an old masonry bit and hammer until it was deep enough for the new doorbell to sit back into.

We then held the new doorbell button up and marked where the screws had to go, then drilled holes the depth of the screws that came with the button.

Loosen the screws on the back of your doorbell, and then wrap the bare part of each wire, around each of the screws and tighten them up. 

Here we are tightening the screws.  There weren’t any real clear instructions on which of the two wires went to which screw, but it said you’ll know if its right if the doorbell rings. If not, switch the wires around.  Wow…crazy instructions!

Here’s what ours looked like after we had the wires hooked up. (by the way, we got the wires right on the first try…no re-wiring!) :0)

Here is our doorbell being recessed back into the wall….

Then just screw the screws into the pre-drilled holes.

Isn’t is lovely?!  So much better!!

Here’s my honey trying out the new button!

And I bet you’ll never guess where this button is now…..yep, I trashed it! :0)

This was probably one of the easiest projects we’ve ever done….guess we should have done is SIX YEARS AGO!! ;0)

Blessings,
Missy

Disclaimer: I am in no way an electrician, this is just how we installed our doorbell, so I can’t be responsible for any differences in how yours might be hooked up. :0) Good Luck!

Technorati Tags: how to replace your doorbell,replacing your doorbell button,how do I replace my doorbell

Who Doesn’t LOVE New Pillows!!

Hey you guys!! It has been crazy around here, that’s why I haven’t posted in a bit. My hubby had his gall bladder removed and I’ve been playing nurse maid.  He’s still feeling a little rough, but I’m sure he’ll be feeling better real soon! :0)

Ok, so you all know I love the pillows I made when I built my window seat, but after the photo shoot, I decided I wanted to change it up a little bit, so I went pillow shopping! (gosh, what a chore!)

Here are my new pillows! I LOVE the pillows I made, but I wanted some colors for fall, and all these pillows are so cute!! :0)

I found all of these pillows at TJ Maxx….my FAVORITE store in the world! (well them and Lowes….it might be a tie!)

The big square striped pillows are actually pillow shams, but I liked the colors and stripes, so I got them. I put a pillow down inside and used the ties on the back as a design element, then I just flipped the excess towards the back.

I love all the warm colors and fun patterns of all the pillows! Do you know you can mix all kinds of patterns of fabrics as long as the scales are different. For instance, you can have a large scale plaid, a small floral, an embroidered piece, and stripes, all together. I love to mix patterns, textures and colors!

I ADORE the HOME pillow!! I was in the store, and I grabbed it like someone was standing there behind me ready to pounce on my treasure. :0)

Then there’s this pillow.  To look at it, it’s not really me, but something about it drew me in…I think it’s my love of silhouettes, so here it is. The more it’s in my dining room, the more I like it.
:0)

I really like how full and fluffy all these pillows are…and OH so comfy! Oh, and I got them just in time for snuggling up with a certain magazine and cup of hot chocolate! Gee, I wonder what magazine that would be! ;0)

Have a great day!

Missy

Technorati Tags: how to build a window seat,window seat pillows,this old house magazine photo shoot,How to decorate a window seat,how to mix fabric patterns

Garden Shed Twist

I’m trying to get back to reality after my This Old House Magazine cover fun, so I thought I’d show you the “twist” to my garden shed we had built this summer!
Are you ready?
Here’s our garden shed the way it was the last time I showed it to you….

Well, I made a bit of an addition to my shed, and it all started because of these………….

Nope, not the topiaries, but the side light windows on each side of my door.  When we had someone come to our door and knock, they could very easily see into our house….I  just wasn’t comfortable with that! So we happened to be walking through Lowes one day and saw these…..REPLACEMENT SIDE LIGHTS!

They are the perfect way to add instant charm to your home and also keep people from seeing in.  They are glass, but the only part that is completely clear is the little beveled pieces that make up the pretty part of the stained glass.   They were really easy to install too…there’s complete instructions inside the box, but honestly, all you do is unscrew the old ones, pop them out, clean up the area a little, and pop these in and screw them back together.  It was probably the easiest project we’ve ever done in our house!  Now it looks like this….

Cute huh?! I love them, and I really love the fact that people can’t see into our house anymore!

OK…now back to the shed! Ya’ll know how I LOVE to repurpose things right?  Well I had these two perfectly adorable clear sidelights that we had removed, so there was no way I was gonna throw them away.  You already know what I’m going to say don’t you?!  Yep, I installed them in the shed! (a friend of mine came over to help me…it was a two person job for sure)

You wanna see?! Ok, here she is all painted with a pretty color called Cappacino, with her new sidelight windows!….

Don’t those little side windows just make it the most charming little garden shed ever?! I thought I loved my little shed before, but I LOVE it even more since we installed the sidelights! OH…and check out the adorable handles I put on!  I found them at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 each!  I have some more plans for my cute little shed, like maybe a little porch out front, and some landscaping,  but they’ll have to wait a while…lots of other projects I’m working on for now.

What do you think? :0)

Blessings
Missy

Technorati Tags: garden shed,cute garden sheds,side lights,garden shed ideas

Behind the Scenes of My This Old House Magazine Cover Photo Shoot…Everything You’d Want to Know!

Hey you guys! I’m still reeling from all the excitement of being on the cover of This Old House Magazine…it’s been such a fun experience!
I thought I would spill my guts and tell you everything I could think of that you might like to know about the shoot. :0)

The first question I had when my friends found out about the photo shoot was “how did it happen?”  They figured I submitted pictures or something to the magazine, but I didn’t, they found me. I had pinned pics of my window seat build to Pinterest, and Megan (sweetest girl!) found it on there and followed it back to my blog, and emailed me.  First they asked me if I would be willing to do a photo shoot and allow them to use my window seat in their magazine. ……WELL DUH! lol  :0)  Megan (writer for the piece in the magazine) said she wanted to use it in a small article, and I was fine with that.  THEN she called and said it would be a main featured article…and I was fine with that too! Then about a week and half before the magazine hit the stand I found out it was going to be on the cover, and that my friends, was a fun day! I don’t think my feet touched the floor the rest of the day! :0)

Lets go back for a minute to the photo shoot, I want to tell you about the day. It happened on July 30th…yes, a long time for this girl to keep her mouth shut! I had to sign a contract that I wouldn’t spill the beans until the magazine came out…and I have a big mouth!  SO HARD!  I found out right before the photo shoot that Brian Carter, a stylist from Atlanta, would be coming up to style everything…super nice guy! The photographer was coming down from Chicago, his name is Nathan Kirkman, and his assistant was Brett.  They were THE nicest guys!  Brian came by the night before and dropped off many bags of goodies by our house, so you KNOW I had to be nosey and look at the pillows.  I took a lot of photos, but I’m making sure to only post pictures here of things he definitely used in the photo shoot, just in case they want to use the other stuff later.

Yes, our house was FULL of goodies!  Since the cover was to be for the October issue, they wanted fall colors…so they brought pillows with all the autumnal colors in them.   After they left, I went pillow shopping too…but that’s another post! :0)

Here’s the lovely flowers from the shoot, Brian left them with me after he left, I enjoyed them for at least a week or two!



I cannot tell you how much fun the photo shoot day was….but it was LONG!  Here’s the set up!  They arrived at 8:30 in the morning, and Brian the stylist (the guy in the glasses) set everything up for the magazine shot, then Nathan (guy on the computer)  set up all his equipment.

I learned so much about my own camera that day! Nathan was working with a Canon camera and he had it tethered to his computer….I did NOT know my canon camera could do that! See the pic above…he’s taking pics from his computer, his camera is closer to me and to the left.



I have been playing with taking tethered pictures since they left! I love learning new things!

Anyway, Nathan would take a picture, they would decide if they liked it, then they would email it to New York where five people were waiting to give their opinions.  They would say things like, “move the table closer to the camera”, or we don’t like that piece of pottery there, could you move it over 6 inches to the left”.  They did this over and over! It was SO fun to watch and see how it was all done!  I asked Nathan if it stressed him out changing things and then waiting….he struck this pose. His fake stressed look…how funny! :)

OH..there is one story I have to tell you!  On the front cover photo there is a tray with a red cup on it….well it started out as a white ironstone mug, but they decided they wanted some color so they asked for a red mug. I don’t own a red mug, so Brian had to run out and buy one. Well he went to several places and ended up buying an entire set of red dishes from Kmart.  Long story short…they ended up taking two of every picture we did…….one with the white mug, and one with the red mug.  After we were all finished, he took the set of dishes back to Kmart, THEN New York called and wanted to re-do a shot, so he had to go back to Kmart and buy the set of dishes again! He told me when everything was over he wasn’t returning those dishes again, he would just take them back to Atlanta and return them there! :0) As you can see, they ended up with the red cup on the cover, but what I didn’t notice until a few days after reading my magazine, was that they used the white mug on the 2 page spread! How funny!

In between all the waiting for New York to call back and see how they liked everything, we did this…………..

Yep, we did some serious munching! I bought a meat and cheese  tray, croissants, had fruit and dip and frosted brownies! I also brought out my homemade pickles….they liked those a lot! They said hardly anyone ever feeds them on photo shoots…I thought that was kinda sad!  Hopefully they enjoyed the little spread…I know I did, I was starving! :)

So after OVER EIGHT HOURS of shooting pictures (and watching my neighbors drive by our house REALLY slowly trying to figure out what all the lights and camera equipment was for)…………

We ended up with this……. A magazine cover, a wonderfully fun day, and a shot of me in Joseph Beth bookstore by my first ever published piece in a magazine. 

(this pic taken by my very sweet hubby….wish he had told me to move my hair back, what a mess! lol)

I’d say it was a really good day. :0)
Blessings,
Missy

PS…I PROMISE I’ll show you the twist to my garden shed in my next post….I just couldn’t hold this in any longer, I mean it’s only been a secret since JULY!!

Technorati Tags: how to build a window seat,pillows,This Old house Magazine,This old house magazine photo shoot

This Old House Magazine Cover…Yes ME!

Could someone pinch me please?! :0)

You guys remember a while back when I said I had a HUGE announcement? Well this was it, and I’ve had to keep it a secret since JULY!!   (I thought I would explode!!)  The window seat that I built, is on the COVER of the October issue of This Old House Magazine, and there’s a featured article on page 92 AND 93!!  Gah! 

I have known since July that my window seat was going to be in the magazine, but I didn’t know until a while later it was up for the cover!  It was between me and three other people, and I’m very humbled to say mine made it….blessed I tell ya!   I only found out last week that it made the cover, so this is all crazy new and exciting! (and I think I squealed out loud when the note came in the mail that mine was going to be on the cover!)

I didn’t know until the end of the day of shooting that they were going to put a picture of me in the magazine too….I barely have on any make-up!! I was very happy when they said the picture was going to itty bitty! :0)

I have been curled up on my window seat much of the afternoon reading and re-reading the article!  I’m so honored and excited all rolled up into one.

I’ll do a post soon on the behind the scenes pics I took and introduce you to some really nice people that helped make that cover happen…great folks!

OH..if you want a copy of the magazine, you can get them at Lowes! Our Lowes hadn’t gotten them on the stands yet, but it’s the October issue to it should be out there anytime now. 

Blessings

Missy

Technorati Tags: This Old House,This Old House Magazine,Window Seat,How to build a window seat,window seat pillows

New Garden Shed, With a Twist!

Hi you guys!  I wanted to show you what I’ve been doing over the summer.  How many of you have always wanted a little garden shed of your very own, just for your gardening stuff? (and not for your hubbies golf clubs, car parts, or whatever it is your hubby is into!) I have ALWAYS wanted one, and this summer was my summer to get it! Yay!!  (we’re trying to make room in our two car garage for at least one car, so getting all my gardening stuff out was a good incentive for talking my hubby into getting the shed!) HA!
We went to Lowes and looked at all the buildings they had on their lot…we looked at the metal ones, the plastic ones, and the wooden ones that someone comes to your house to build.  I decided, since it was JUST for my gardening stuff, that I wanted a wooden one, but just the 8 x 8 size.  We bought it, and had it scheduled to be built…..a THREE week wait!~ I counted down the days! Finally, the day came, and here’s a picture progression of how it went…..

The poor guy that came to build our shed probably wasn’t happy with me as we only have a 36” gate and he had to carry everything to the back yard by hand!

Here he is starting….

Did I mention our yard is NOT level? He had to use blocks to level it up.  I kept staring at this because it looks SO crooked because of the fence going downhill…but it was level.

Poor guy probably thought I was a nutcase because I stayed outside all day long and watched him and took pictures. LOL
Here’s my new floor!  (I may or may not have gotten up there and done a little jig while he was around front getting more supplies!) :0)

This was a kit and everything came pre-cut so the process went pretty quickly! Yay for walls!

It went quickly until this stage right here….see that dark cloud right at the top of the picture?  Yeah, we had a 15-20 minute downpour, complete with thunder and lightening. I tried to get the guy to come in the house, but he insisted on sitting in his truck. Under a tree.  Not smart. :-0

I quit taking pictures of the build after the storm….it was wet and wasn’t as fun taking pictures in my flip flops.  hee hee hee

Here’s the building all finished up! You can see the weather turned, and the day ended up being beautiful!

Next post I’ll show you the twist in my shed….not something you’d expect to see, but really cute!

Stay tuned!!

Blessings,
Missy

Technorati Tags: lowes,garden shed,cute garden sheds

Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

Hey guys!  If you all are like me, you have loads of extra ripe tomatoes coming from your end of summer gardens.  I wanted to show you a recipe I made with all my tomatoes! 

Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

About 3 lbs of peeled garden tomatoes (cut into chunks)
2 onions cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt & pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary or 1 1/4 teaspoons dried
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme or 1 1/4 teaspoons dried
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
6 cups chicken broth
6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Put the tomatoes, onions and garlic  on cookie sheets, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drizzle both sheets of tomatoes etc. with Olive Oil

Roast for 40 minutes, or until the onions and tomatoes are nice and tender. (mine actually took closer to an hour, but I think it depends on your oven, so just keep an eye on it)

After the tomatoes are done, transfer tomatoes and any accumulated juices to processor, pulse until the tomatoes are still a wee bit chunky. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in large pot over medium-high heat,  stir in tomatoes, rosemary, thyme and dried crushed red pepper. Add chicken stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until soup thickens slightly, about 25 minutes. Stir in fresh basil, remove from heat, and eat!

Here’s the end results! Oh yummy!  I topped our tomato soup with some Italian croutons and a little grated parmesan cheese!

Enjoy!

Missy

Technorati Tags: tomato soup,garden roasted tomato soup,how to make tomato soup