$500 CASH Black Friday Giveaway

Hey! So I've been painting, and fixing, and stenciling, and installing all day for the Central Florida Children's Home with other lovely bloggers (you can read about that here), but I had to take a break. Why you ask?! Because it's Black Friday Giveaway time! So Christine over at First Home Love Life and Wendi over at H2O Bungalow organized 20 bloggers (me included) to get together and offer up 500 big ones to one lucky winner. You can either choose to receive a $500 Visa Gift Card mailed to you, or if you have a Paypal account, we'll send it there. It’s up to you! 

We're excited to be able to provide this to one of our awesome readers. Pay some bills, shop til you drop, take a mini vaca. It's up to you. Use the Rafflecoptor below to enter…

Giveaway will run from 11/18/13 at 12am EST to 11/24/13 at 11:59am EST

*Winner will be notified by email, and has 24 hours to accept, before a runner up is picked*

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Share The Joy Plans

I've wanted to write this post for weeks now (it's gonna be a long one)! I've been working and planning my tush off (and not sleeping much) and am so excited to be sharing my most important blogging project to date. Thanks to World Market's Share the Joy campaign, I have organized a small group of Central Florida bloggers to makeover a space at a local children's foster home, sponsored by World Market. I'm just thrilled blogging has provided me with an opportunity to do such a great thing in my community. Squeal!

So what is Share the Joy? From November 8th - December 6th, Cost Plus World Market is giving away a $5,000 American Express Gift Card + $5,000 for a charity of your choice each week for 4 weeks. Can you imagine?! You win $5,000 and get to give $5,000 to charity. So cool and they are doing it 4 times! For a chance to win, become a fan of World Market on Facebook and click here. Who would you help?

When I got the email from World Market challenging me to come up with a way to help my community, I immediately thought of local foster homes. I tutored at a foster home in high school and I still clearly remember it. While that home is no longer open, a google search and a few phone calls lead me to a similar home close by... Central Florida Children's Home. They've been around for 40 years, are currently home to 15 children, and run 100% on volunteers and donations.

Because this is such a big project in a short amount of time, I knew just me and a glue gun weren't going to cut it. I went to my fantastically-willing-to-help-at-a-moment's-notice Central Florida blogging buddies for help. And because they are amazingly awesome, Katie and Jon from Sew Woodsy, Christine from First Home Love Life, and Lauren from The Thinking Closet all enthusiastically agreed to join in and get sweaty.

Now, side note, while everyone was really willing to help this was tough to pull off! Trying the get each blogger's, the children's home's, and World Market's schedules to jive was really hard. There were a couple mornings I just thought there was no way we'd be able to make this happen. But, (you're going to laugh) there is this billboard I pass everyday on my way to work. It says "If not now, when?". Honestly, I think it has something to do with getting your GED but whatevs. That billboard kept giving me a kick in the pants. It's time NOW for me to give back! (Are you imagining me flying down the highway singing Katy Perry's Roar right now?) Totally.

So after tons of phone calls and emails, it was decided that the offices at the children's home needed the most TLC. This is the place potential foster parents come to meet the staff and  be interviewed, where the have meetings with local businesses for fundraisers and to ask for donations, and where the day-to-day office tasks get done. Their major needs were a conference table and two separate desk areas since both staffers are sharing the same desk right now. There's also very little lighting (it's so dark!) and a lack of storage.

After my visit, Christine and I hit up our local World Market and shopped like mad. We purchased mostly furniture to fit the children's home's needs. We loved everything, choosing was hard! The employees were super helpful and made our crazy checkout process easy. Good thing we have large vehicles! #Juststrapittotheroof

So,want a sneak peek of what we got? Here are some of the goods we snagged at our local World Market. Swoon!

1- SOURAV DINING TABLE / 2- COCOA PAIGE ROUND BACK DINING CHAIRS / 3- PAKSHI BIRD OF PARADISE CURTAIN / 4- VERONA BUFFET / 5- MAHOGANY KONRAD DESK / 6- VERONA TWO-SHELF BOOKSHELF / 7- ZANE PEDESTAL TABLES

Are you excited!? I am! Our 2 days of work begins early next week. When I realized how amazing this project was going to be, and how many kids it was going to potentially help, I decided to see if other DIY brands I work with and love wanted to support our project too. And you know what, they all said YES (because they are amazing)! A huge thanks to RYOBI for supplying us with tools to assemble our bounty of furniture and get our DIY on. Another huge thanks to 3M for donating ScotchBlue Painter's Tape, Command Hooks and strips, and a bounty of office supplies. And, thanks to Homes.com and ForRent.com for donating moola to purchase the new lighting, fans, and decor! You guys rock!

So I'm challenging you now. What can you do to "Share the Joy"? Provide stocking stuffers to a local children's home in your area? Make up a gift basket for the local fire station? You never know what tiny act could turn into something more. Follow me on twitter, facebook, and instagram this week to see all the progress in real time #ShareTheJoy. Then come back next week for the big reveal! Tag your photos too so we can see what projects you came up with. Now I need to go shop again!

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Easy Curtain Shelf

Have you even bought or made curtains only to find out the curtain rod you want is just as expensive as the curtains themselves? I hate that. The nice thick substantial ones are so pricey (or maybe I'm cheap). So I came up with a solution that is not only less than a curtain rod but also provides storage! 2 birds, one stone, right? 

A week or so back I posted the curtains I made for Operation Big Girl Room.  Today I'm showing you how I put together the shelf I hung the curtains from.

Supplies:

• 2 brackets or corbels. I bought mine at Home Depot in the moulding section (ranging from about $5 - $10 each) but they also have them in the curtains section (with holes already) and I've seen salvaged corbels at several thrift stores before. Shop around. They just need to be thick enough to drill a large hole through for your rod.
• Wood dowel slightly wider than your window. Mine is 1 1/2" I think and cost about $1.50
• Shelf same width as your dowel. We had ours in the garage from a closet project that never happened!

Step 1

Drill a hole in the center of the corbels. Notice I painted first then drilled. Learn from my mistake. You will have to touch up if you paint first. So do yourself a favor and drill now. I used this bit on my drill. It's slightly wider than my dowel.

Just measure the same distance from each side in, and draw a little "x". Place the center of the drill bit on the "x".

Step 2

Prime and paint your shelf and brackets. (If you need help with the painting, I painted this project the same way I painted the Tween Table for this room. Click here for that tutorial.) If you were using a wood shelf, you could also stain instead of paint. I also painted my rod white to go better with the room. I think painting the rod is probably optional but it makes it look more finished. And, cheater tip... I only painted the bottom and sides of the shelf. No one is ever going to see the top!

Step 3

Hang the corbels on the wall just like you would curtain rod brackets.  Make sure to leave enough room from the ceiling so you'll be able to display things on the shelf. Put the dowel with curtains in the holes, and place the shelf on top. You can secure the shelf to the brackets with small crews from the top if you wish.

Since I hung the brackets far enough apart, the ends of the rod are kind of hidden inside the corbels. If yours stick out you could paint the ends a cool pop of color, screw on a cabinet knob maybe, or add a decorative cap.

That's it. Easy peasy and a place to stash all those dress-up purses I know you have in a pile in the bottom of your closet. :)

If you'd like to see more projects from Operation Big Girl Room, click around below.

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Installing a Bathroom Faucet Yourself

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Moen, Incorporated for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you know removing an old bathroom faucet and installing a new one is totally a DIY project you can have done in a couple hours? No plumber or scary expensive tools required... just you and a Starbucks. (Okay, the Starbucks might be optional... might)  If you can assemble furniture, you can install a bathroom faucet.

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to sample the Moen Boardwalk 1-Handle bathroom faucet in Spot Resist Brushed Nickel and show you guys how to install it. Since I'm currently renting and the new house isn't exactly ready for faucets, I decided to surprise my parents and upgrade their powder room. #daughteroftheyear Here's what I started with. Their house was built in the mid 90's and while all the other faucets in the house have been switched out over the years, the powder room was still hanging on to the basic builder model.

Supplies:

• 5/8" Wrench
• Crescent Wrench
• Channel Locks
• Plumber's Putty
• Teflon Tape

Step 1:
Turn the water off. Don't be scared! It's really simple and you can easily test if you did it right. Just turn the two knobs under the sink to the right. You'll know it's off when you try to turn the faucet on and nothing comes out. This will also drain any water left in the faucet. Ta-da! Easy. The one on the left should be hot and the one on the right should be cold. Now lay a towel down in the cabinet because a few drips will come out when you start unscrewing stuff.

Step 2:
Disconnect everything that is holding the old faucet on. It's really that easy. If it's holding the old faucet to the sink, you need to unscrew it. I first unscrewed the water lines with the wrench, then disconnected the stick that makes the drain plug work. This thing...

After you disconnect it underneath, just pull the stick out through the top.

After that, there were two screws holding the faucet to the sink. Unscrew those and the faucet should lift up.

Eww. Yeah, that mess is plumber's putty. It scrapes off easily.

Step 3:
Remove the drain. Since you took the stick part out in step 2, the round metal plug will lift right out. Stick a screwdriver or something under there and pop it up. 

After that, there will be two large nuts under the sink on the drain. You might need the channel locks to unscrew them or they might be a plastic and you can unscrew by hand. There will also be a rubber gasket and maybe another washer or something. You most likely won't need any of it since the new faucet will come with all new parts. However, I keep everything until I'm totally done just incase.

If the drain just spins from the top when you try to unscrew the bottom, get a partner to hold it from the top. I stuck a screwdriver down into the drain to hold it still while my husband unscrewed from under the sink. When it comes out it will probably look something like this beauty here. That's 20 years of hand washing there. Nice.

Most of that is plumber's putty and you need to clean it all off the sink. You can toss the disgusting drain!

Step 4:
Attach the faucet to the sink. Open the box, find your instructions, and keep all the parts in their separate bags until you need them. Makes everything go a lot faster.

Stick the faucet into your sink. Since our sink had three holes we had to use the optional plate. If your sink has one hole, you can just put the faucet directly on the sink. You will use one small rubber gasket also. The directions clearly showed what order to put everything.

Attach the faucet to the sink using the "U" bracket that comes in the box and the handy wrench tool so you can get your hand up where it needs to be. This was just one nut to tighten under the sink. We were carful not to tighten Incredible Hulk style so as not to crack the sink. Just tight enough to secure the faucet.

Step 5:
Reattach the drain. Since Moen is wonderful, they kept all of the drain parts in one bag together. Grab the bag with the drain parts and screw them on according to the picture. This is where you will have to use plumber's putty. It's just like your kindergarten days of Play-Doh. :) You need to make a snake.

The putty goes between the sink and new drain. Remember where you scraped it off before?

Yep, that lovely hole. We have to put new putty around it. From my experience, the rule is, use enough so it squirts out when you tighten down the drain. You just smoosh it under the lip of the drain so that no water can leak between the drain and sink. Clean off the excess that squirts out. Then plop the drain stopper in. Make sure the loop at the end of the stopper is open to the back. (you can see the loop at the end of the stopper in the pic below)

Step 6:
Attach the drain stopper stick (I made that name up). You have to reattach this thing so your drain functions.

So stick it down in the little hole in the back, and wiggle it a little to get past the bracket underneath. Once it's under there, you'll attach it to another rod with holes in it. It comes with a little clip to do this. Those holes are so you can adjust how far down you have to push the stem to get the drain to open, and how far up you have to pull it to get the drain to close. Then stick the rod with the ball attached (this is rod #3 if you're counting) into the hole in the back of the drain. Then the other end of rod #3 goes into one of those holes from rod #2. Are you confused? Don't be! The instructions give you 3 really clear pictures and this step requires no tools. :)

Step 7:
Reattach the water! This is where the Teflon tape comes into play. You just wrap it once around the threads of the water pipes before you screw them into the new faucet. This way, the connections are water tight. Attach hot to left and cold to the right. Guess what? You're done!

And because the Moen Boardwalk has the Spot Resist Finish, it resists fingerprints and water spots (seriously needed in this house with 7 grandkids passing through) and is WaterSense compliant, saving mom money on utilities. I can hardly wait for the fam to see her revamped powder room this Thanksgiving! Just one small change and it looks so much more "custom". You can pick up your own Moen Boardwalk at Lowes and Like Moen on Facebook for more tips and inspiration. 

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RYOBI Nation + Awesome Tool Giveaway

This post brought to you by RYOBI.

Hey ya'll.  Today I wanted to let you in on a pretty neat program and website from RYOBI. It's called RYOBI Nation and I'm a member as well as many of my DIY blogger friends. RYOBI Nation is the official project sharing community of RYOBI tools. What does that mean? It means lots of ideas and tutorials from talented DIY bloggers all in one place. Plus, members save money with exclusive offers and they have monthly challenges where 3 members win over $500 in RYOBI tools. Best part? It's free. I love it and get tons of ideas. If you're interested, sign up here.

And because RYOBI is excited to get you moving on the DIY bandwagon, they are giving away a RYOBI ONE+ 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit to one lucky reader. Sweet deal. I own a few RYOBI tools but a drill is an absolute must in any homeowner's stash. And, even if you're not the DIY type... holy great gift! :)

Giveaway ends November 6th at midnight. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Good luck!

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