Show Me the Progress! (Party)

Welcome to the Show Me the Progress party! This post is open for new links until 10 pm (ET) on Friday.

<a href="http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/ " target="_blank"><imgsrc="http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae332/Amanda_SerenityNow/Blog%20Party%20Buttons/ProgressPartyJuly2010-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Show Me the Progress"></a>

I thought it might be fun to invite anyone in Blogland to link up and proudly display the Progress they've made in any area of their home or life. This party is all about encouraging other bloggers to reach their goals!

Progress can be a "Before" and "After" photo, a list of ideas you'd like to implement, or a post detailing the strides you've taken to reach a goal, whether it be for work, home, or personal reasons. (Did you start a couch to 5k program? Did you choose bedding for that guest room makeover? Are you working on a summer reading list? Have you been working on an activity list with your kids this summer?)

Before you link up with me, please take a minute to review my party rules:

1. Please be sure to enter the link to your specific party post, NOT your blog's homepage.

2. Please include a link to this post somewhere within your entry. If you'd like to include my button, you can swipe the code at the beginning of this post.

3. Please leave me a comment with your party link as well. Check to be sure that it posts correctly on the list! IF you can't get your link added, let me know and I will add it for you. Also, I like comments too. (wink)

4. MINGLE. A party is not a party unless you visit! Please take a few minutes to visit at least one or two other links on the list and leave a thoughtful, genuine comment.

Really, I can't say enough about going out and visiting some of the other links. It will hopefully bring some traffic to your blog. It is totally okay if you need a day or two, but I'd like for each participant to visit at least one or two of the other blogs by the end of the week. I think that's a doable request.

Okay, that's enough...link up and have fun encouraging one another. I am excited to share my own Progress below!

My progress this month sort of involves another Dilemma, which is my very outdated Kitchen and my plans for said Kitchen.

I looove my white cabinets (grubby toddler fingerprints and all), but I do not like the brass hardware. One bit.

I plan on learning to use a drill and testing one cabinet's hardware with spray paint while T is at work. (Sssh. Don't tell.) I know I could just measure and buy new hardware, but I need to this on a shoestring, people.

I'm thinking nickel or chrome (brushed) for a classic look?

This wall used to contain one large framed painting, Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night, which I adore...but it wasn't working there. I've been collecting white platters and plates to decorate this wall with.

I don't hate yellow walls, and the yellow in my kitchen isn't as dark as my computer screen is showing, but I'm ready for change.

Some friends suggested going for chocolate brown walls above the chair rail to make the white cabinets pop, but I think I'm going to go in a lighter direction. That room gets pretty dark in the afternoon, and the hallway the leads into the dining room from the Kitchen is already as dark as a grotto. I have khaki walls in most of the other rooms downstairs, and I am considering going a shade or two darker in the kitchen.

Aaannd....new light fixtures. Please.

The brass trimmed ceiling fan, which hangs over our table, was actually a hand-me-down from a friend to replace the turquoise one that came with our house! Wasn't that thoughtful of the previous owners?

Nothing says "my kitchen is visiting from Back to the Future" like a turquoise ceiling fan.

I'd like to replace it, but want to make sure it jives with whatever I choose for the light above the window (see it in the background?). Maybe something like one of these IKEA pendant lamps for above the window?

Not sure about the second ceiling fan (near the window), because it actually does help when the oven range hood thingie doesn't do its job during dinnertime.

Stuff like new window treatments and accessories will come as the project (hopefully) moves along.

So, there you have it. I do have a plan of action, which is more than I could have said a few weeks ago. I'd say that's Progress!

{What about you? Can you Show Me the Progress?}

Red, White, and Blue Outdoor Makeover

It's Red, White, and Blue Day over at The CSI Project! (I am so sorry about the font sizes today, guys, I can't figure it out!)

I don't have anything earth shattering to share, but I did want to give you all an update on the T house.

A few weeks ago, I shared a few pictures of my kind of bland front door area. I haven't had a chance to implement some of the bigger transformations (vinyl lettering on the front door, painted light fixtures, etc), but I wanted to share the little tweaks I made just in time to celebrate the 4th of July.

Here's the Before again:

Here are a few Afters:

Front door--I usually put up a really cute wreath with red, white, and blue berries but couldn't find it up in the attic. It was also about eleventy billion degrees up there and I didn't feel like suffocating. (The white box is covering my house numbers, stalkers!)


My old flag "Welcome" sign usually hangs to the right of the door, but it's got center stage right now.

Found this fabulously glittery "America" sign at The Dollar Tree and hung it to greet the mail lady.

My window boxes need some filling out, but I found some marigolds and wave petunias on sale at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago and brought them home. I stuck a tiny flag in each box.

More stars and stripes in the flower beds!

It's coming together, bit by bit. Somewhere, I have a patriotic bunting to hang on the center flower box, but for now passersby can smile and sing "The Star Spangled Banner" when they drive by the T house.

Not bad for shopping the house and spending around $2 on Red, White, and Blue decorations.

{Do you have an area in your home that you've been making Progress on?}

Consider linking up to the next Progress party on July 28th! Remember...you don't have to have a complete, finished Delightful "After" photo to link up. Progress can be anything as small as listing the ideas from Decorating Dilemmas comments you received that you really liked and want to implement. If you haven't linked up a Decorating Dilemma here before, then think outside the box and share something you've made strides with: weight loss, organization, finishing a craft project, etc.) This party is all about encouraging others in their efforts! (You can view the last party here)

Dressing Up My Window

If you stopped by last Tuesday for the Show Me the Progress party, you've already seen how I took my front Family room window from drab to fab with a $20 drop cloth from Wal-Mart. Today, I'll show you how I did it.

Before (This poor window wore these Waverly curtains for too long--close to 7 years! Time for a makeover):

After:

A new outfit made of one large drop cloth, and a custom bamboo roman shade "accessory." I likes it!

I was inspired by several different blogs to create this new look for my poor window. It was like a perfect storm of cuteness. I've seen gorgeous drop cloth curtains all over Blogland and knew that was an inexpensive way I could update my room.

The goal with this project was to be as thrifty as possible, so I started with a new black curtain rod from Wal-Mart. I would have loved to purchase something more with a more substantial feel to it, but again with the money and the budgets and the thriftiness. Wal-Mart also carries ring clips, and I purchased two packages, each containing 7 clips.

I ended up having to purchase a custom-cut bamboo shade from Lowe's for around $75, but now that I know they just cut it with some sort of saw tool that T owns, I'll have him give it a shot next time with the cheapie bamboo shades.

At home, I opened up the package with my new "curtains," which was really just a package with a 9x12 painter's drop cloth inside...be sure to buy WASHABLE. Yes, it's a lotta drop cloth!

I washed and dried my *fabric* first (I told T it was fabric because I thought he'd freak if he knew I was using a drop cloth from WM), then I cut right up the center of the drop cloth, using the center seam (it's two large drop cloths sewn together) as a guide.

After I had two panels, I folded along the entire cut I made, measuring about a 1/2 inch seam, pressing and pinning.

You could completely skip this step if you don't like to sew, don't own a sewing machine, or think you can hide the raw edges. Just use some fusible fabric tape. If you can sew a straight line, you can do what I did and run it straight through your machine using thread that matches the fabric.

At this point, I was left with two giant panels and no clue as to how to make it look like I did not hang drop cloths at my window. Fortunately, one of my most favorite bloggers in the world, Big Mama, posted a hilarious yet helpful video on her version of a Nesting Place mistreatment, The Pouf. I learn better when someone can show me how to complete a project, so having a video was the next best thing to having a real live person in my family room doing the work for me. The lively commentary offered by her daughter makes it even more enjoyable.

If you don't like videos (what's wrong with you?), and can't find the project in The Nester's files, here are a couple of pictures I took using a green shamrock towel as an example.

Start with your "panel" laid out straight, then fold the top under once:

Take that fold, and fold it back the other way so that it's doubled up:

Your panel will look like this:

Then use your ring clips to secure at either end (I've used clothes pins here to demonstrate):

Fill in the rest of the fold with your clips, hang your panel, and then "pouf" them to achieve the look I have in my "After" shot:

I really love the way my new shade and curtains warm the room up. I love toile and Waverly fabric, but it was time for a change.

There are still a couple of minor adjustments to make, like painting over the spot where the old rod was, but my window is so happy to be sporting the latest in blog mistreatment fashions that she doesn't mind.

Still Going, Still Going

The very first Show Me the Progress party is still going on! The linky thingamajig will be open until this evening at 5 pm (ET) and I'd love for you to join us if you haven't already. Click the aforementioned link, or scroll down to yesterday's post to check out everyone's amazing Progress!

After 5 pm, I'll be drawing a name from the link list. The winner will receive this:

There are around 40 links right now....for a random little blog like mine, I'd call that a success!

If you joined the party, please be sure you have visited a few of the other links. That's the only way a blog party can be successful. Be sure to let the person you're leaving a comment for know that you're stopping by from the "Show Me the Progress" party. Hopefully, they'll pay you a return visit!

Thanks to everyone who has linked up and left such lovely comments on all the blogs---I do notice that stuff!

Check back in tomorrow for some Weekend Bloggy Reading, the winner announcements, some highlights from the party, and a few announcements about fun stuff coming up here at Serenity Now!

Hugs!

Show Me the Progress! (Party)

Welcome to the very first Show Me the Progress party! I'm going to experiment and leave this party open until 5 pm (ET) on Thursday.

I originally intended this to be a spot for Decorating Dilemmas participants to share updates they've made to their Dilemmas.

Then I changed my mind, which I can do because it's my blog, and thought that it might be fun to invite anyone in Blogland to link up and proudly display the Progress they've made in any area of their home or life. This party is all about encouraging other bloggers to reach their goals!

Progress can be a "Before" and "After" photo, a list of ideas you'd like to implement, or a post detailing the strides you've taken to reach a goal, whether it be for work, home, or personal reasons.

Anyone who links up with a (valid) post will be entered to win this:

*I do have a few requests before you link up.*

PLEASE take the time to read this because I will delete links that don't adhere to the rules. Don't make me be a meanie.

1. Please be sure to enter the link to your specific party post, NOT your blog's homepage.
2. Please include a link to THIS post somewhere within your own post. It's just good manners. I will have to delete your entry if I don't see a link to this post.
3. Please leave me a comment with your party link as well. This helps tremendously in case there are problems with the MckLinky system. Also, it's just plain nice to leave me a comment. (wink)
4. MINGLE. After going on and on about Blog Party Etiquette this morning, it seems that many of you agree that a party is not a party unless you visit! Please take a few minutes to visit at least one or two other links on the list and leave a thoughtful, genuine comment.

Really, I can't say enough about going out and visiting some of the other links. It will hopefully bring some traffic to your blog. It is totally okay if you need a day or two, but I'd like for each participant to visit at least one or two of the other blogs by the end of the week. I think that's a doable request.

Okay, that's enough...link up and have fun encouraging one another. I am excited to share my own Progress below!


Here's my Progress Report:
Some of you may remember me posting about my Family room Dilemma back in Round 5 of the Decorating Dilemmas series.

I received some excellent suggestions, and I chose to start by changing the window.

I don't have anything against toile or Waverly. I love them both. But I've been staring at the same window treatments since 2003. Um..yeah...

So here's the Before:

Here's the Progress I've made so far:

Come back on Monday, and I'll share with you how I did it with drop cloths!

I don't usually do this, but I also wanted to share some Progress made by my dear friend, L. She doesn't have a blog or a Flickr or anything and she soooo doesn't know I am doing this, but she recently lost 40 pounds and I am so proud of her. She worked her butt off and made the gym a real priority, and I so need to take a cue from her. (I repeat, these photos are NOT of ME! I look like someone who ate L's Before shot)

L, Before:

L, After (isn't she a hot mama?):

That's all, folks! Have a great time at the party!

My Manifesto on Blog Parties

So here's the deal.

source 

I like linking to blog parties. I like hosting the occasional blog party. They're a great way to interact with other members of the blogging community, but let's be honest...the main purpose of participating is to increase traffic to your blog.


I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I do think that there's a way to participate in a classy way.


I've heard some murmurings of discontent regarding blog parties from several bloggers, and I thought I'd share my personal philosophy on blog parties. My ideas may be different than many of yours, and that's okay. We can agree to disagree, right? Please don't send me hatemail. Seriously.


One of my biggest pet peeves about some of the parties in Blogland lately is that many aren't parties, but merely long lists of links. To me, the word "party" implies some degree of socialization. 


Example: If you showed up to a a real party at my house, dressed in your finest, consumed all the refreshments, and allowed people to compliment you repeatedly while you sat in the corner basking in the glory and not speaking to anyone...people would start to get annoyed. I wouldn't invite you back.


Why should a blog party be any different? I personally try not to link up to a party unless I know that I can take the time to visit at least two or three blogs on the list. Truly, if I can spend the time writing a post, adding a link to the host site, and linking up; then taking 5 minutes to do a bit of socializing won't kill me. It might in fact bring me a new friend or two!


That said, I think there's a big difference between linking up and doing a bit of visiting later on in the week and just linking and leaving. The same would go for returning comments left on your posts. It's taking me longer to return visits now than it did when I had fewer Followers, but it is something I make an effort to do. I don't expect someone with 700 Followers to get around to all 68 comments on their post, but it's nice for those of us with smaller blogs to take the time to return comments.


When leaving a party, would you just walk out the door, hop in your car, and drive away? I've also noticed that the number of comments for blog party hostesses are drastically smaller than the amount of links. Take a moment to thank your hostess for going through the trouble of creating a MckLinky list, writing a post, whatever. It's just the polite thing to do.


I hope I haven't offended anyone! I just wanted to share my thoughts on what may be a touchy subject.


{I'd love to read your thoughts on ways to make a blog party successful!}

What Have YOU Been Up to Lately?

The Show Me the Progress party will be here before you know it! 


Are your calendars marked for Wednesday, March 10th? The party will go live on Tuesday night around 10 pm (ET) and I'll keep it open until Thursday evening.


I have a wee little Giveaway contest/drawing for the participants this time around.

You do NOT have to have linked to a Decorating Dilemmas party to participate in Show Me the Progress. 


I originally planned this as a way for those who have linked to DD to share their updates, but I think it would be fun to read about the progress you're making in any area of your life (weight loss, cleaning up clutter, a book list, meeting a work goal, finishing a craft project, you name it!). 


Here's a little repost with the details in case you're new to the blog and would like to participate:

Progress:
{Pro-gress, noun.} 
1. Movement, as toward a goal; advance.
2. Development or growth.
3. Steady improvement, as of a society or civilization.


I love a good "Before" and "After" post with lots of photos.


But some of us take longer to accomplish those "Afters." 


Sometimes it's laziness, lack of funds, or days filled with work and activities. Sometimes it's just not knowing exactly which direction to take so you can get to the "After" shot. 


That's why I'm hosting the "Show Me the Progress" Party on March 10th.

It's going to be a time to celebrate the little steps you're taking to improve those Dilemmas you've been linking up with here at Serenity Now. 


Remember...you don't have to have a complete, finished Delightful "After" photo to link up. 


Progress can be anything as small as listing the ideas from Decorating Dilemmas comments you received that you really liked and want to implement. 


Or, tell us your plan for your Dilemma and show us a photo of the supplies you're planning on using. 


Halfway done with the transformation? That's okay...we want to see and be encouraged!


If you're new to the blog or haven't linked up a Decorating Dilemma before, then you can take some time to share progress you're making in any area of your life at home. Have you been more consistent with your Meal Planning? Have you started a work out routine? Have you read any books on your 2010 "must-read" list?


We all know that it's one thing to link up a Decorating Dilemma and let the advice start rolling in. It's another thing entirely to work with the feedback you've been given and push yourself towards a goal. 


I was really inspired by the comments I received on my January post, and I've been making some plans for my Family room. I actually have some Progress to share with you all, based on the comments. I am so excited to show you what I've been working on and where I'm going with the room!


I hope you'll go back through your posts or look through your home and find a small area you've made some Progress in this winter! 


{Hope to see you on March 10th! It's coming soon!}


**Please check back in later today for a surprise Giveaway!!**

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Bad:

The Ugly (not so much ugly as the rug just doesn't work here, and yes, I know my drapes are too short):

The Good (or at least slightly better):

I've been looking for a decent rug for the Addition for ages now. The old rooster rug just wasn't cutting it anymore. The bare floor is cold during the winter months, and I wanted something a little larger to keep the girls warm.


I was in Wal-Mart last week, and the heavens parted. Lo and behold, this lone rug sat on a rack by itself, marked down to $44.50. I made Natalie get out of the cart and walk so I could get it to the register before someone else snatched up what was clearly meant for me.


There's a lot of work left to be done on this room, which is currently used as a miniature Toys 'R Us by Natalie and Michaela Byrd, but we're getting there.

I knew the rug couldn't stay toy and dog-free forever....


Linking up to Kimba's DIY party over at A Soft Place to Land. It just goes to show how much something simple like a cheap Wal-Mart rug can warm up a room!


ANNOUNCEMENT:

Make plans now to link up your current Decorating Dilemmas (anything around the house or yard that you'd like some feedback on) or best Solutions! 


I had a slew of emails from readers who forgot or didn't have a chance to link up last time. Please mark your bloggy calendars now or sign up to Follow here to receive reminders (not a plug for Following, just asking you to be aware that I can't email every single person on the internet with a reminder...wink) 


Also....

You asked, and I conceded. In March, I'll give you a chance to showcase the progress you've made with any of the Dilemmas you've linked up in the past few months. I count pretty much anything as progress...even if it's just picking and choosing which of the suggestions you liked most and which you plan on implementing with your Dilemma. It will be fun to see the changes you've made...I know I have my work cut out for me before March gets here!


Hope to see you here!