Home Reno Round-Up

I would like to start this post with a little bragging. I love where I live. I am fortunate enough to live in roughly 800 square feet with a swoon-worthy view, a lovely little garden on the patio and the man of my dreams.

Now, that being said, this place could benefit from some upgrades. Whoever built it didn't seem to take much stock in their work and couldn't have been bothered with concepts like "longevity" and "quality workmanship" and "up to code".  G and I will be living in this place for at least another few years, so we will be reaping the benefits of any home renovation we do. (Eventually we would like to rent the place out and take on the role of landlord- but that's another blog post entirely!)

Our goal is to create a little oasis that balances the money spent and the return on investment. The last thing we want to do is spend gobs of money on a high end product just to find out that it doesn't actually increase the value of the home. I am not sure if I will be documenting the financials of each project but if you would like to know where we are finding everything and how much we are spending then do let me know in the comments!

Below is a list of the home renovations Golan and I plan to execute over the next year or so. We hope to be able to do most of it ourselves to save on labor and, quite frankly, we really enjoy the whole process! First thing's first, it would probably be beneficial if you had a bit of an idea of the layout of our place. A few things to note: The orange structure jutting out from the lower wall of the main living room is a large column that houses the fireplace, the orange line cutting off the kitchen is a bar that has to go, and the ship-wheel image is actually a spiral staircase that leads up to a small loft above the kitchen. Without further ado, the list!

1. New Floors Throughout

 Includes ripping up carpet + linoleum and replacing it with hardwood throughout the main living spaces. We will also be ripping out the linoleum in the bathroom.

2. Replace Dated Lighting Fixtures

We have a true beast beauty hanging from our vaulted ceilings that was transported from the Golden Girls set.

3. New Kitchen

The most important room in the house deserves a little TLC. We will be ripping out the bar to open up the space and will be installing the new kitchen ourselves. IKEA might win out in the kitchen race.

4. Remove Popcorn Ceiling

Our entire apartment is covered in popcorn ceiling. It looks like we have cob webs everywhere because there is no easy way to clean popcorn. The only room I have made progress in so far is the kitchen and that is only because I had to for a drywall patch. While this project isn't difficult, it can be time consuming and it is incredibly messy. I used a tarp and I am still cleaning remnants of dried plaster.

And there we have it. This list might seem short and sweet but I have a feeling it will be the haunt me until every last project is complete. Again, do comment down below with your experiences! I'd love to hear from you and gather and tips I can get my hands on. 

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Valentine's Day Treat :: Yogurt Covered Strawberries

In the spirit of being prepared and planning ahead, I have already begun looking over holidays and special days in the year. First up is Valentine's Day. This is the time of year when we all see our single friends post about their anti-Valentine's parties a la "Valentine's Day" and those in relationships begin to upload sappy photos to Instagram and gush about their love life. I am proud to say that I have found a happy medium. I am in my third year of a wonderful loving relationship but I spare everyone on social media from having to read about it all of the time.

Last Valentine's Day, Golan and I thought we would go out and have an absurd amount of food at one of our favorite pizza places nearby (Hellooooo, garlic knots!). Turns out that this particular establishment had decided to create an entirely new menu for Valentine's Day. Not only did they not disclose this vital piece of information when we made the reservation, but they didn't even have pizza available! Not that that mattered much because, after being seated, we waited almost half an hour and were never greeted or even given a glass of water. Needless to say, we decided to leave and try to find another place to eat. We were dressed for the occasion after all and determined to have a romantic evening. Fast forward another hour and we had driven across town and had called all of our favorites with no luck. We ended up eating at Red Robin. We had to eat somewhere or things would have gotten ugly. The food was less than spectacular and our evening ended in the mall food court downing Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

After last year's fiasco, Golan and I have decided to stay in this Valentine's Day. What's better than a Netflix marathon, comfy pajamas and yummy treats? Yeah, I couldn't think of anything either. We have been taking the whole "New Year New You" thing pretty seriously and that means sticking to our clean eating. I would love nothing more than to sit down with a spoon in a big tub of icing but that doesn't exactly look good in my food log. So I decided to try something new! Say hello to one of my new favorite desserts: Yogurt Covered Strawberries. 

This was very much a trial and error process. I tried to make some of the strawberries look like hearts (only some of them were successful) and I thought I would stack one on top of the other (those ended up looking very phallic which might be great for a bachelorette party but not for a cozy night in with my boyfriend). Eventually I just settled for cutting the tops off and popping them on a stick. I loved the way these simple ones turned out and had fun experimenting with different ideas. Get creative and see what you can come up with! I would love to see what your creative minds can think of so please share what you make on Instagram and Twitter. Now, on to the actual recipe.

Voila! Now you can enjoy these super simple treats any time. I recommend taking them out of the freezer to thaw a little before eating them. Golan didn't wait to eat one and he chomped down on a little brick of ice. Let me know if you have any healthy recipes for Valentine's Day. Also, be sure to post your photos of this recipe on Instagram and Twitter and tag me! I would love to see what you all do. 

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All of the little bits and bobs used in this post were found at Target. I went a little mad in their dollar section located at the front. I found the white paper straws with pink hearts, the bronze metal pail, the "Happy Valentine's Day" stamp, the lace heart stamp all for under five dollars! This is not sponsored - I couldn't find links online to any of these items anyways. I just thought I would throw that in here just in case any of you wanted to take a look! <3 

DIY :: Welcome Sign

I have always loved a bold front porch display. A home's curb appeal is your first impression to visitors and passerby alike. Because we live in a third floor walk up and our "porch" allows for just about enough room for a doormat, we had to get creative. I was initially inspired by this moss covered door monogram by The Chic Site.  While I still adore the H monogram, I wanted to make it my own a bit. I loved the idea of incorporating moss and decided to use my wood burning tool to create a rustic chic welcome sign of my own. 

You'll need the following items to complete the project: a wood burning tool with an angled tip, hot glue gun with glue sticks, wooden plaque (I chose a rectangular one with a beveled edge to allow the moss to taper off), ruler, tracing paper and one bag of moss. I used sheet moss that varied in color. This makes it look a little more natural... as natural as moss growing on a welcome sign for an apartment can be.

You can approach the first step in two different ways. If you have access to a printer, all you have to do is simply pick your favorite font and print it in the appropriate size. Then tape your printed font to your plaque and voila - you have a stencil to work over. As I do not have a working printer any longer, I chose to free hand my sign. First, take a piece of tracing paper and secure it over your plaque. Then free hand the desired sentiment onto the paper to serve as a stencil. 

I used an Old English font called Canterbury that I found on a free font site. No need to download anything if you are free handing it. You can preview each font right on the site. This is also where the ruler comes in handy. I made a grid on my stencil to ensure that the letters were uniform in height and width. You are now ready to being your wood burning!

I would definitely consider myself a novice when it comes to wood burning. I haven't really done research  on the proper form or procedure, I just sort of wing it. That being said, if I can do it you can do it! My tip would be to make long and smooth burn lines to avoid blotching and uneven depths. I did end up going over a few places to blend the burns and darken them. My finished product is below. Feel free to fill in the letters with a shading tip or add more designs along the plaque. 

Now comes the fun part- covering your plaque in moss. There is no exact science to this. Avoid burnt fingers by putting the glue directly onto the plaque and attach the moss using the end of a pencil to push it into place. Work your way around the plaque, securing pieces of moss in varying sizes. Use as little or as much as you'd like. This part does end up making quite the mess so be sure you are in an area that can easily be cleaned! I had to vacuum my carpet twice to get up all the tiny pieces of moss.

The final step is to hang the sign for all the neighbors to see. You can use a command hook, a wreath hook, etc. I already had a hole in my door from the previous owners just above the peep hole so I chose to use that instead. Drape the chain oover the nail to measure the approximate length (I ended up with about 24 inches) that would be best suited for your door. Once you have decided on the length, cut the chain with wire cutters. You can also use string, small rope, or twine. To secure the chain to the plaque, nail the ends of the chain into the back of the plaque, roughly an inch down from the top edge. If you choose to use another material, simply tie it around the nails instead.

After having the sign up for a few days, I have noticed that it bangs around against the door each time I enter or exit the apartment. I will be using a durable double sided tape to secure the back of the plaque to the door itself. Problem solved! 

Do you have any fun DIY projects for the front porch? If so, please leave them in the comments. If you try this DIY Welcome Sign project, post a photo of your finished product on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and tag me! Be sure to follow the Fashionably M. French Facebook page for updates and follow the blog via Bloglovin'.

Thanks for reading! x

DIY | Lavender Ginger Body Scrub

Hello There! Not long ago I came across a DIY tutorial by LEAF on YouTube and was inspired to make my own body scrub. I tinkered with the recipe a bit, more out of necessity than anything, and I absolutely love the finished product!

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp ginger, chopped
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- lavender essential oil (I used pure lavender salve, which is made from lavender essential oil, as a substitute and it worked nicely)

The Process:

1. Combine coconut oil, ginger, and (in my case) lavender salve in a small saucepan and heat on low for about ten minutes.
2. Strain the mixture into a medium size bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Be sure not to let it cool for too long or the coconut oil will settle and begin to harden.
3. Once cooled down, add the sugar and salt to the mixture.
4. At this point, if you are using lavender essential oil add a few drops of the essential oil into the mixture.
5. Jar the mixture and Voila! I recommend using a mason jar with a screw-top lid to ensure that the scrub does not get watered down in the shower. 

I am thoroughly enjoying my scrub and am excited to tweak the recipe to get different scents and benefits! I find after using this scrub my skin feels both quenched and silky. The salt and sugar work to exfoliate and help gently remove any dead skin and the oils keep my skin healthy and soft. If you'd like to take a look at the original recipe check out LEAF's body scrub here! This is not a sponsored post I just enjoy sharing things I love! 

Have you tried any DIY scrubs? I'd love to hear from you and maybe even swap recipes! Stay tuned for more DIYs to come! If you like these posts, please subscribe in the side bar! x