extreme home makeover at the miller house

I forgot to update my tax forms at work to let the government know I had a dependant. . .so let's just say we got a really sweet and unexpected tax return this year! My house was in desperate need of some new decorations so we decided to put a little bit of the money towards updating a bit. I am turning into quite a do-it-yourself-er so I stretched my little budget by making a whole bunch of stuff myself (with the help of my awesome hubby of course). I wish I would have gotten a few more before pictures but just use your imagination, it was pretty bad. :)

Before...some really ugly and dirty shutters I bought on Criag's list for cheap


After...a lovely partition (by the way...have you priced out partitions? One like this would cost a couple hundred bucks easy)My friend Ashley taught me this awesome technique to give the faux aged look, and it cost hardly anything.



Before (I forgot to get a picture of the real deal so I swiped this similar one off the internet, 1 only used 2 to make 4 candles) newel posts aka banister spindles. I got them super cheap at the re-store.





After: candle posts



Before: Plain ol' books



After: Cute but oh so affordable decorative books



My entry way before. . .completely bare. And now:



Before: I really wanted a mantel shelf, but man are they spendy. So, my awesome step dad and brother Mike made me one out of styrofoam. . .




After: It took a ton of work but this shelf cost me about $20 when it was all said and done.



Before: ugly thrift store pillows



After: cute fabirc = cute pillows.



I also used the fabric to re-cover my lamp shades, spice up my curtains, and framed some for the wall above my bed.




Before: I forgot to get a before picture again. But I got a plain white lamp on clearance for $5 (looked something like this)



After: I used some cool black and white pictures and mod podge and made this:




Before: A dvd tower we were about to get rid of. . .




After: A headboard for the guest room



Here's my guest room now



My table and chairs before:





And After:





My dining room wall before, yuck (this picture is from Brenna's b-day party, hence the streamers)




And after:



Here's the final product of my dining room

brenna's first steps

Brenna was being so cute tonight so I said "hey zach grab the camera and let's record her cuteness". And guess what. . .we caught her very first steps on film! Of course it wouldn't be a little earlier when she was wearing her cute dress and flower in her hair but rather after dinner when she's just in her leggings and shirt bib. . .but hey it's on camera!

1 year and family pictures

We got Brenna's one year pictures back this weekend! We have the very best photographer in the world, thanks Scott! I got the idea for these little skirts on SYTYC and I just couldn't stop making them cuz they were so stinkin cute. Man I love this little family. I am a lucky gal.

meet antonio. . .the newest member of the miller family

Don't worry, this is NOT a clever little way to announce that I am pregnant. I am not. I do however, have a new addition to my family that I love, well not as much as Brenna, but a WHOLE lot! It is my Irobot Roomba vacuum cleaner. That's right, a hands free automatic vacuum cleaner.

He is brilliant! At night when we go to bed all we have to do is push the "clean" button. He then proceeds to vacuum my entire downstairs all by himself, yes he goes in and out of every room, under my furniture, transitions from hard floor to carpet and back. He then puts himself back on his base to recharge. Did you gather that I am SLEEPING while all of this is happening? In the morning he is fully charged and ready to vacuum my upstairs while I eat breakfast. (By the way this little smartie senses drop offs so he doesn't fall down the stairs). I think I might have died and this is heaven? Why the name Antonio you ask? Well, Zach calls her Shanae. But I call him Antonio. It makes me feel like I am rich and he is my hottie pool boy. :)

Happy birthday Brenna!

Brenna turned 1 year old yesterday! How, bitter sweet! We had a fun little birthday party for her at our house on Saturday with our awesome friends and family. It was a blast! We let Brenna attack her birthday cake, which was actually her first real taste of dessert. Needless to say she loved it!








Brenna is such a fun a fun and happy little girl. I sure love being her mom! Her skills include climbing the stairs, speed crawling and walking with her push walker, playing peek-a-boo, clapping for herself and saying "yeah", saying "wow" "uh-oh" "what's that?" "mama" and "dada".

a "do it yourself christmas" this year

I got this brilliant idea this year to make handcrafted gifts for everyone. It seemed like such a great idea, until I got started and realized how hard it is to get much of anything done with an 11 month old wanted to do whatever mommy is doing. In the end I think things turned out alright.

I made 4 of these fabric Christmas wreaths:





I bought some old shutters on Craig's list and converted them into neato home decor:
such as this headboard for my in-laws




this fireplace guard for my dad (it will sure be nice to not have to worry about Brenna's curiosity about the fireplace when we go over there anymore ;)



this mail sorter for my little brother and his wife (I also made one for us, I just cannot seem to stay on top of organizing my mail!)


And finally a scrapbook calendar for my mom. If any of you are into digital scrapbooking you should really check out my friend Christine's print design company , they print digital scrapbooking and it is the best quality and a really great price.

lemon face

Please do not think that I am a horrible mom but I just had to share this because it was SO funny! We were out to dinner with some friends last week and we let Brenna taste some lemon. The funny thing is how long it takes her from tasting it till she makes the pucker face. You might now be able to tell in the video but the second time she went to taste it she gleeked so bad! Oh being a mom is so fun.