Yami

January 8, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

How to Get the Look For Less for Your Home

Happy Hump Day everyone!

I hope your week has gone off to a great start. We have a new routine in the household since I am on a new health plan and so far so good – it’s actually working better than what I was doing before (imagine that).

And today is a great day because today the Look for Less Challenge starts back up! It’s been forever since I hosted one of these and I cannot be happier that I am able to make the time again.

If you are not familiar with the Look for Less Challenge, it’s a challenge I host every month with a difference co-host (I host it on my YouTube channel, but I will share the projects I create here as well).

In the challenge we ask you to recreate a home decor piece from a higher end store for a whole lot less.

Cause who doesn’t love to drool over Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs and even Frontgate magazines, but never actually buy anything.

No, just me? C’mon!

You know I am a fan of having a home that looks and feels like a million bucks, but I don’t have that kind of money, so I recreate instead.

And out of that I get a great sense of accomplishment, I end up with beautiful pieces for my home, and I get to save some money along the way.

So for the challenge we ask anyone interested to join in on the fun!

If you are a YouTuber you can add your video to a playlist link that I will provide on the day the projects are due. If you are not a YouTuber, you can tag me on Instagram @thelatinanextdoor to share your project as well.

This month the co-host is my friend NataLee from Designed to the Nines. She loves recreating Pottery Barn pieces so if you love the store, but not the prices definitely check her out!

There are 2 weeks to complete the challenge – projects are due Wednesday January 22,nd at 6am EST (the day after my birthday, just sayin!)

It needs to be a home decor piece, as small or as large as you want.

And we want to see the inspiration piece as well as how much it costs, along with the recreated piece this way we can see how well you did and how much you saved.

You can view the video with the invitation to join here.

This challenge is perfect to get inspired by others who wish to decorate their home on a budget. We get many entries every month and some of the projects are simply amazing! So if you are looking to redecorate for the new year while saving some money, head on over to check out the fun!

And of course if you want some inspiration right here and right now, check these Look for Less Projects below!

There’s plenty to choose from:

This one seems complicated but it’s so easy!

This was the most tedious, but the most rewarding and my favorite of all my dupes.

My best work with contact paper to date!

I got super lucky with this one!

There were soooooo cheap to make!

This one was surprisingly popular…

Can you tell the difference between these!?

My attempt at Serena & Lily… not my greatest but I tried…

I love how these Pottery Barn Dupes turned out!

My very first one!

Which one above is your favorite? Let me know below!

I will see you soon! Until next time, adios!

January 6, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was super busy trying to get everything I needed to get done before the kids went back to school from winter vacation today. I love my kiddos, but boy it’s nice to be back to our regular routine again.

It has been rainy and cold here and since all of the Christmas decor is put away and things are looking a little bare, I thought I would create some winter decor in order to liven things up at home…. and I decided to use leftover wrapping paper.

Is it me or do you always have a ton left over?

Well, I figuredI should put it to good use, especially since some of it is actually really pretty.

I don’t have all of my crafting supplies unpacked yet so I really tried to get as creative as I could with the random items I could find throughout the home and here is what I came up with…

First, I took this glass vase from Dollar Tree, it’s same kind I used for this winter DIY a few years back.

I wiped it down with alcohol to make sure it was super clean and then I measured the outside.

I cut some wrapping to fit around it – you can make this as wide or narrow as you like.

I used a paper cutter to create clean lines (they are so inexpensive and totally worth it if you need straight cuts). Here is a similar one.

And then I added Mod Podge all over the vase. I normally use matte mod podge, but since he paper was glossy I wanted to keep the sheen consistent.

I wrapped the paper around the vase and then applied more Mod Podge on top of the paper to seal it. Once dry I added some navy ribbon to finish off the design. I used a thin line of E6000 to properly secure it on top and on bottom.

And here is how it turned out!

I am currently using it as a candleholder – I used one of those battery operated Dollar Tree ones, but it would also look stunning as a vase with pretty winter greenery inside.

Of course I didn’t stop there…. there’s more DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

Next, I took this really sad frame that I bought at Hobby Lobby for 80% off. I started to do something to it but never finished.

I took some Java Home Decor chalk paint and I painted the frame.

Then I painted over the inside with White Adirondack.

Then I printed this free winter printable I found here and I cut it down to size (the print is much larger but I wanted it to be smaller inside the frame for this project.

I glued it to poster board to give it more stability and weight.

Next I cut out some more wrapping paper to fit inside the frame. I added poster board to the back of it as well.

I glued it to the frame with regular school glue.

Once dry I took these dots from Dollar Tree’s new craft section and add them back to the floral print in order to attached it to the wrapping paper frame.

And that’s it for this one!

I love the contrast between the “flannel” paper and the pretty printable.

I did also make 2 other winter DIY’s as well.

This snowflake wood sign is one of them…

As well as this cute tag to hang on a wreath…

I love how they are all different yet coordinate so well together.

You can check out how to make the 2 snowflake DIY’s on my video since I didn’t want this post to be too long with so many images. The wood sign was made from scratch with a snowflake from Dollar Tree.

And the cute tag is also a Dollar Tree piece as well.

Check the other 2 DIY’s below!

Snowflake Timestamp: 3:10

Snowflake Tag Timestamp: 9:22

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

And finally here is how I styled them on my “new to me” bookcase (that I just bought on FB Marketplace for $30 btw… Woot woot!).

I hope you enjoyed these DIY’s and I will see you soon!

Don’t forget to PIN and share with your friends!

January 3, 2020 By Yami Leave a Comment

What to Expect in 2020

What to Expect in 2020… For video scroll to end of post

Happy New Year friends! I am so ready to start this New Year and I have a lot of things planned for my site and channel. Last year was kinda crazy, my growth on YouTube was steady and I made some great videos that did really well. Because of this my website hurt a bit, honestly. I wasn’t posting as often and wasn’t really enjoying it much since I wasn’t experiencing the same growth on it as my channel.

RELATED: My Top 10 Videos of 2019

However, toward the end of the year one of my previous Christmas posts went viral and the surge of new traffic nearly broke my internet space – I jumped on it quick and was able to do something about it before my site shut down due to the incoming traffic. And as a result it gave me a sense of hope that this was still worth pursuing.

I have been doing this for many years now and it can get frustrating when you put a ton of work in with little results. But alas. I was able to end 2019 with a little bit of hope.

So for today I will be sharing my plans for this year and what you can expect. Everything mentioned here will be done both on my channel and blog.

First, off I am happy to announce that my Look for Less monthly challenge will come back.

Because of my move, I had to stop this for a while, but it is coming back this month and I am excited about my co-hosts and all of the things I plan on sharing with you all.

If you aren’t familiar with the Look for Less Challenge, it is where I invite YouTubers as well as those at home to recreate a home decor piece from a higher end store and recreate it for less. My co-hosts are all YouTubers, but I will share my projects here on my blog.

Next, I plan on posting 3 times a week.

Yes 3 times! I know, it’s totally ambitious, but I am hoping that having a set schedule will be better for me and you. It will allow consistency and time management on my part, and it will bring more content to you.

Posts will include home decor and DIY tutorials like I have been, but I also hope to share a weekly recap video/post with you all. As you know, we just moved and there is A LOT to do with our Fixer Upper.

These posts will keep things up to date as to the happenings (and not happenings) each week.

You should expect posts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays each week.

Fingers crossed! 🤞🏼

Another item that has been on my mind is to have my own online shop!

Yep!

Every time I say I have an announcement on my Youtube channel a lot of people think it’s my own line of products and boy do I wish it were true!

Of course, I have always thought I am “too small” for anyone to buy anything from, and often doubt any success in anything I might sell. But this is the year that I crush those doubts and just DO IT!

…with Rob as my cheerleader, of course.

So stay tuned for more information on that very soon!

The next item is more recipes!

I practically never post them on here, but the ones I have posted do pretty good (and the flan has gotten great reviews), so I will be adding more of those this year.

And, no, I am NOT the best cook, but I do try and I have a few things up my sleep.

Have you tried my sugar cookies? They are amazeballs!

Next on the agenda are more sewing tutorials!

This is probably the one I am most excited about. I truly love sewing! It’s so calming to me. And while everything I know has been 90% self-taught, I just love the idea of adding unique touches throughout your home, just by simply sewing your own items.

Even if it’s just a simple basket liner….

Or a cute farmhouse tablecloth….

Finally I just want to mention that since my last health scare I haven’t really been the same and I need to take drastic measures into getting healthy again. I won’t be posting a ton about this, but I will be including updates as to how I am doing throughout the next few months.

There is just so much to do here on our Fixer Upper and frankly I need to get healthy in order to do everything I need and want to accomplish.

What to Expect in 2020 (video)

Well, I think that is everything!

I hope you all had a wonderful start to the New Year and I will see you back here on Monday!

December 16, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder

Some of the links below are affiliate links, please see full disclosure here

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and have gotten quite a bit of Christmas shopping done already. The hubby and I went out today to shop for a few things and it was really nice – we don’t get to go out without the kids often. Just got a couple more gifts to get and we will be done!

You probably know already, but if you don’t I am doing a giveaway on my Youtube channel and today is the last day to enter. So if you want to know what it’s about and how to enter, definitely check it out.

Frankly, I have been feeling the Christmas blues. Since the carpet dilemma and me going to the hospital and finding thing after thing underneath the old carpets (and my house being a complete disaster with boxes and furniture piled high…) I am just not feeling the Christmas spirit.

I have an 1/8 of the amount of Christmas decor up and I am just feeling down about not having a perfectly Christmas-ready home… especially since this is my favorite time of year. I have been beyond frustrated.

I just want floors for Christmas!

Yes, my husband ripped out the floors and documented the whole thing and now we are walking on subfloors. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Send help!

It’s been a rough few weeks.

However, in the attempt to get myself in the spirit of things, I decided to do a little DIY, which is why you are here of course.

I saw these cute ornaments in the Christmas ornament craft section as Hobby Lobby and I just had to get them. I got 2 packs at 50% off of course.

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder Supplies:

Hot Glue
Wood Tint – Walnut
Galvanized Christmas Tree Ornaments
Tumbling Blocks from Dollar Tree
Ribbon
Cardstock or Posterboard
Stamps/Ink (optional)
Snowflake clip (optional)
Hole punch (optional)

VIDEO TUTORIAL OF FARMHOUSE PLACEHOLDER

I took them out of the packaging and removed their jute strings.

Then I got some tumbling blocks from the Dollar Tree and proceeded to stain them using my favorite wood tint in Walnut (I love it cause it’s water-based and I can use it indoors in the winter because it doesn’t have a strong odor like regular stain).

I had 8 trees so I needed 16 blocks.

Once dry, I hot-glued them together.

They look like little benches.

I added hot glue to the back of the “benches” and glued the trees on.

You could do the next step differently and even print these out, but I decided to use these cute stamps from Michael’s that I got for 99 cents in order to label some placeholders.

And I stamped away! This was actually fun! I can’t remember the last time I stamped anything like this (of course, you would add your guest’s names on the tag, but for the purpose of the post, I just used the word “guest”).

I then needed to punch a hole in the cardstock… you can use a regular hole punch or something a litte fancier.

I attached the tag to the Christmas tree with a ribbon and tied a bow.

And voila! Instant place holder.

Your guests will love them so much they’ll probably want to take them home (which is not a bad idea).

Now, if ribbons aren’t your thing, you can use a snowflake (like this below).

I had a garland from Dollar Tree with these snowflakes on mini clothespins and I just took them off the garland.

And put them on the trees! Can’t get any easier than that, amiriiiiight?

Of course the best part about the snowflake is that you can use it all winter long!

Simple yet farmhouse chic! Love these little guys.

At least crafting got me in a little bit of the Christmas spirit. I wish I had as much to share as last year, but time is running out and most of my stuff is still packed.

I’d love to know what you all think of these little placeholders! I made a set of 8 for well under $10 which I think is great.

Don’t forget to PIN this for later and share with your friends !

December 10, 2019 By Yami 4 Comments

How to Make Flan

Hello again! There are only 15 days left until Christmas… I have no idea where the time goes.

Can we please slow it down??? 👵🏻

The kids and I have been soaking up some Christmas cheer by watching Christmas movies. By the way, have you seen my Ultimate Christmas Movie List? I think it’s time I update it, but there are some goodies in there, like my all time favorite Christmas movie – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

It never gets old. Throw in a crazy cousin, stuck-up miserable neighbors and an evil squirrel and that is my kind of Christmas right there. LOL!

And what better way to watch a great Christmas movie than by sitting on the couch enjoying one of your favorite desserts. Mine is flan. Flan is a popular creamy custard dessert made throughout all of Latin America and there are many versions of it. My mother has her version and I have my own.

And I truly believe I have the smoothest version of it… just sayin’!

How to Make Flan, Perfect Recipe for the Holidays! – Click to Tweet

So if you want to learn how to make flan, get your tastebuds ready because this dessert is super sweet!

Ingredients:

Flan:

5 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1 tbsp of vanilla

Caramel:

1 cup of sugar

You want to start by making your caramel. Melt sugar in a small sauce pan until it turns golden brown. Then coat the entire bottom of your pan. I used a round 9×9 pan. Be careful, it is hot!

Watch the detailed video instructions on my YouTube channel or at the end of this post. ⬇️

Next you want to combine all of your flan ingredients in a blender and blend about 30 seconds to 1 minutes, just until everything is well mixed. Do NOT over mix. This will make the flan too dense.

Poor mix into your pan. You will need to bake this in a water bath.

RELATED: The BEST Potato Casserole

Pour hot water into the bath after you pour the mixture.

Stick in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Once you remove it from the oven. Give it a bit to sit on the counter and cool down before removing it. You still want it rather warm though when you do. Be sure to use a knife to “unstick” it from the sides. The caramel underneath acts as a barrier between the flan and the pan so it will come right out.

Let it cool some more before placing it into the fridge. You want to leave it at least 4 hours in the fridge or overnight so that it gets completely cold and then serve!

It’s so smooth and creamy!

I hope you give this a try and learn how to make flan with this super easy recipe. You will definitely enjoy this dessert!

Now off to watch me some Clark Griswold….

December 3, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

How We Filter Our Water – The Berkey Filter

This is a sponsored post. The Berkey Water Filter was gifted to us. Please see full disclosure here.

Hey there again!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s easy DIY Christmas Tree T-shirt. I have been getting lots of great feedback on my video which makes me so happy….☺️

However, today we are talking about something a little more serious.

Our water…

As you all know we moved into this house a couple of months ago and it has a well water system – something that was very new to us. We had never dealt with well water before so we were clueless as to what it might mean for us.

Besides the obvious…

No water bill! Woot woot!

And while it is a rather cute feature to look at, we definitely wanted to make sure we were getting the cleanest possible water for us to consume.

Yes, the well is completely safe for our kids. There is no long vertical hole in the ground where a scary lady with long dark hair might crawl out. We checked. 😉

Our house does have a filtering system for the well water that feeds all our faucets, showers and toilets, but we began doing some research on what might be found in our water naturally and we definitely wanted to do something more for the safety of our family.

Because my water is not cleaned by the city, there are many mineral deposits that can be found in my well water, aside from natural pathogens.

Other things that could be found in our water include:

Viruses
Bacteria
Heavy Metals
Micro-Organisms

And many more… as a matter of fact, you can find everything a Berkey filters out here. And it’s kinda scary the stuff that can be found in your water. 😱

Oh and the stuff you can find also applies to city water, not just well water.

We definitely knew we wanted to select the best possible option for filtering our water and the Berkey was it. Whether it was price per gallon, ease of use, filtration capabilities, filter life, aesthetics (since it is a large filter system), daily output, to being the least wasteful… you name it, Berkey was on top every time.

So you can imagine how excited we were to partner with Berkey and try it out for ourselves and it did not disappoint!!!

Isn’t she a beaut? 😍 She fits perfectly on my IKEA hack table that I transformed at the last house.

We have the Royal Berkey system that holds up to 3.25 gallons at a time a fits a 4-6 person household and as you can see it’s not terribly large (as you compare it to my hubby’s coffee maker… I have a cappuccino machine, cause 🎶I’m so fancy 🎶)

Oh and don’t worry, Berkey has filtration systems for all size households, so you can find the right one for your needs.

The Royal Berkey system comes with everything you need to set it up. And we (the hubby does most of the work, I mostly talk 😜) share just how easy it is to do in our video below.

How We Filter Our Water – The Berkey Filter

I hope this helps you get a little more information on what is available out there as a water filtration system, in case you have been considering a switch to something more robust.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask below!

And as always, please feel free to PIN and share with your friends!

And I will see you back here soon!

December 2, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

DIY Buffalo Check Christmas Tree Shirt

Hey friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! It was so nice to spend time with my family and my parents and give thanks to all the blessings we have had this year.

On Thanksgiving, I actually wore the shirt you see above and I kept getting a ton of compliments on it – lucky for you I documented the whole thing!

Plus, it’s nice to get away from all of the home renovations we have been doing lately and do something crafty!

It’s no-sew and super easy to make, plus it was less than $10!

Here is what you need:

Some of the links below are affiliate links, see full disclosure here.

Iron-on fabric sheets (I got mine at Wal-Mart in the fabric section where they carry the seasonal items) If you can’t find them there, the closest ones online are these.
Raglan Shirt (I got this one) from Michael’s and used my 40% coupon.
Iron
Thin Fabric
Scissors
Christmas Tree Template
Cardboard or a Piece of Scrap Wood

I decided to go with the black and gray raglan.

As always you can see the video tutorial on my Youtube channel… or at the end of this post.

I pulled the sheets out of the pack and I went online and searched “Christmas Tree Silhouette”. I selected a pattern that I liked printed them in 3 sizes ranging from 5.25 inches in height and 4.25 inches.

I then took my pattern and began tracing them on the back of the fabric sheets.

RELATED: DIY Dollar Tree Christmas Trees

Then I cut them out..

Easy peasy!

When I was done cutting I took my T-shirt, placed it on the table and put a scrap wood board that I had inside of it. This is just to protect the back of the shirt.

I placed the trees the way I wanted them on the shirt. I ended up choosing the pattern below.

By the way, I didn’t even use half of those iron-on sheets.

I see more projects in the future!

Next, I took a thin piece of fabric and began to iron them on. I started with the first 3 in the center and then did the outer ones.

You will need to set your iron to “cotton” for this.

Once I was done with the front, I flipped it inside out and did the inside. And then one more time on the front…

And that’s it!

Instant Instagram Model….

LOL! I’m kidding! I felt totally awkward doing this.

So when your family asks you where you got your shirt from at your next holiday event you can say… “It’s an original” 😜

BOOM.

I hope you enjoyed this super easy DIY! Don’t forget to PIN it and share it with your friends….

Yami Signature DIY Buffalo Check Christmas Tree Shirt

November 20, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

Furnishing our Sunroom – Our New TV Console

This is a sponsored post and some links below are affiliate links, for full disclosure, please go here.

So now that the floors are painted and cured, we are off to furnishing.

I had shared the furnishings I was adding to the sunroom in my vision board below, but I had totally forgotten about the TV console.

Yes, I know you’re confused. Why would anyone want a TV in a sunroom?!

Well, since we will be ripping out floors and doing a TON of work to the rest of our fixer upper, we need a place to actually “live” while all the construction is going on and since this is the only room that closes off completely to the rest of the house, this will be our living room for now.

Which got me thinking about another issue.

Our previous TV console was large and heavy. This posed a concern for me, because our sunroom is kinda built like a deck (there is no house structure underneath… it’s open). I was worried that bringing our console over would create too much weight on the floors.

So it was time to find a solution.

And luckily I was able to partner with Casagear who had the perfect solution for our space! Which by the way ships FREE to the mainland U.S.

Heck yeah!

We came across the Industrial Style Mango Wood and Metal Tv Stand By The Urban Port and I fell in love.

🛍Stick to the end for sale information and a discount code! 🛍

It came promptly and well packaged.

And when we took it out we were even more relieved that it was 90% assembled!

Unlike other stores where you have to assemble every.single.thing… ahem, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout. 😉

This piece is solid mango wood and the finish is stunning (it’s almost as tall as me too, LOL!)

The feet are a mini hairpin style in a metal finish.

Seriously the perfect blend between rustic and industrial.

Each leg comes labelled to match it’s side which was rather nice actually.

And super easy to attach.

I would have done it, but someone had to hold the camera. 😜

Oh and speaking of, you can always check out the video to see how everything came along on my Youtube channel (or at the end of this post).

And that was literally all there was to it!

I love how the wood pops against the white walls, grey floors and it even complements the dark black TV.

The doors open from the bottom and are super sturdy. And the magnets are really strong so my kiddos don’t even bother opening and slamming them shut… #momwin

Cause you know… kids…

There is ample storage space too.

We haven’t gotten all our movies unpacked yet, but we definitely got the Christmas ones out! 😉

The finish is super sleek and I am extremely happy that it’s not overly bulky or heavy which was my biggest concern.

Of course, the only thing we needed to do to it was add little felt pads underneath each leg to protect the newly painted floors.

Other than that it was perfect!

Plus it went perfectly on the wall I wanted it to go, it was meant to be…

Of course, now I need to decorate the space but I am taking it one step at a time…

So if you are looking for some new furniture for your space definitely check out Casagear and The Urban Port line.

Right now Casagear is having their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and you can get an additional 5% off their holiday sale prices by using Coupon Code YAMI05 (this deal lasts from today until January 31, 2020!)

They have great prices and lots of rustic pieces for those who love that farmhouse style as well so definitely check them out this holiday season.

I hope you all are great and I will see you soon…

You will find me on my couch watching Christmas movies in the meantime…

November 19, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

Painted Sunroom Floor Tiles

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for more information go to full disclosure

Hello friends! I hope you all are doing well. Time is flying and with that more projects are getting done. The next step in our sunroom transformation was going to be the old tile floors.

I shared an image of grey cement tiles on my vision board but let’s face it, we have no time for that right now and we are trying to keep things as inexpensive as possible.

And even though the tiles were old, they were in good shape.

And if you have been with me for a while now, you know that I have painted floors before… to be exact my laundry room floor in my previous home. I posted a complete how to on that post.

So we actually partnered with Rust-Oleum for the transformation of our floors on my Youtube channel since we felt that an actual demonstration of us using the product would be best, but I wanted to share some information here as well. I will include the video in the end of this post for your reference since everything is in full detail there.

Rust-Oleum has a great new product called RockSolid Home and it is meant to be used in the painting of indoor flooring. This item is found is most Home Depot’s nationwide and will be available in all of them soon.

It’s a 2 step process with a base coat and a sealer….

That’s it…

No primer..

Say what?!

True.

The most important step is prepping the floors (like literally scrubbing and wiping the heck out of them to make sure they are clean). Rust-Oleum recommends Krud Kutter for this.

Then it was off to painting…

I started with the edges and woah! This paint actually said it takes one coat and I didn’t want to believe it, but that’s ALL you need!

I mean look at that coverage!

Be sure to use a facemask, this stuff is pretty strong

After I did the boarders, the hubby did the rolling…

Be sure to work your way out of a room if you do this… 😉

It only needs 6 hours to dry, but we left it alone all night.

Okay this is ONE coat people! 😱

This is the color French Gray by the way…

Quick note, if you use the white as the base color, you will need 2 coats

Of course, you can leave the floors like this and add the top coat on. The best part about it is that you only need one coat of that too and you apply it the same way as the base coat.

But of course, I had to go “all out” and stencil some tiles too…

I used the Santa Rose Tile Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. For this I used another base coat in their white color. Once that dried overnight, we sealed the floors and gave it 72 hours to cure before adding any furniture.

We couldn’t be happier!

I am so glad this is done… what do you think of the floors?

Eeeeek! We love this stuff and I still have quite a bit left over… wondering what I will use it for next!

If you need more details about how to apply this don’t forget to check the video above.

Now it’s off to furnishing….

November 11, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

We Painted The Sunroom

This is a sponsored post. I partnered with Wagner for the transformation of these walls. For more info, see my full disclosure

Hey dear friends! So, as you would have guessed I am a little behind on posting my update on my sunroom (but apparently, I don’t miss a step on my YouTube channel😂🤦🏻‍♀️).

The struggle is real ya’ll!

By now you know we bought our forever fixer upper a month ago. And I just shared the plans I have as well as the “before” images of our sunroom.

It was pretty dingy and dark.

But not anymore!

I had the opportunity to partner with Wagner and we tested out the Wagner Control Pro 130 to paint our sunroom walls.

We knew we had a lot of painting to do in this house and we wanted a machine that would work for a large amount of painting. Also one that wouldn’t tire our hands out. We thought this was the best solution and boy, were we right!

I keep saying “we” cause my hubby did all the painting 😂

See, we had these exterior vertical panels in our sunroom with a TON of texture.

We knew that getting into all of those grooves was going to be a pain in the you know what, so naturally we were excited to have the opportunity to test this baby out. After all, it also said it would cut our painting time by 14!

We are naturally fast painters (because of all the walls we have painted in our past). But this made our jaws drop.

All of the walls, doors and trim were painted in 15 minutes…. 😱

Of course, my Latino Engineer (aka the hubby) did the painting and he did 2 coats, each on different days…. so 30 minutes in all. It took him a couple of minutes to get going, but once he did, he looked like a pro.

Check out for yourself below!

We Painted The Sunroom

And here are the results!

Looks so much better, doesn’t it?

Now I will say, prep took a bit of work and time, but this room has 3 doors and 10 windows! Most rooms don’t have that many.

However, I will say, clean up was a breeze!

Plus, if you are wondering how we painted the panes on the windows so perfectly, it’s a Dollar Tree hack, so make sure you watch the video!

Now, it’s on to the next step in the vision board.

The floors!

See you back here soon!

November 4, 2019 By Yami 2 Comments

Coastal Farmhouse Sunroom Plans

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Hello friends!

So I am excited to finally share my first plans for the first room that is getting a facelift in our farmhouse “fixer upper”.

Say that three times fast! 😂

If you checked out my last post, you already have gotten to see all the “pretty” pictures of the house when it was listed. However, I think it is only fair to show you what the house really looks like without all the “stagey” photos (I mean, it’s only fair right? Plus, it makes for a better “after”).

So here is what the sunroom really looks like.

That door is the one that leads to the kitchen and dining.

Here is another view.

That is the same door on the left and the one on the right is the one to the garage.

Here are the windows furthest away with the door to the garage on the left.

And here you see all the windows with the door that leads to the stairs that go down to the concrete patio in the back.

I was trying to go clockwise to give you a better sense of the room.

The room was really drab and dirty. Lots of spider webs, dust, dirt and animal hair. 🤢

Naturally I began spraying, wiping, vacuuming, dusting… you name it!

Cause I could not wait until I got my hands on this room.

I am not sure if I already explained this, but the reason this is going to be the first room done is because it can be closed off from the rest of the house. By having a room that closes off, we can rip out carpets, floors, remove popcorn ceilings etc. without having to be all up in that stuff 24/7.

This will give us an oasis where we can enjoy family time and forget about the hot mess that is the rest of the house in the mean time.

Make sense?

So, here are the plans for this… at least the initial ones.

And as always you can check out the video version of this post on my Youtube channel or by scrolling to the end of this video.

Of course, I want to paint the vertical panels white so that they look like vertical shiplap. It will help brighten the space.

And as you know I love incorporating a coastal theme to my farmhouse style.

I love navy blue and thought about navy blue cement looking tiles, however, I decided I wasn’t ready to make such a bold permanent commitment to one color so I changed the tiles to gray as you see below.

Then I decided to use the carpet from my old keeping room in order to keep costs low and save myself from sweeping a ton of hairs from the jute rug. I had that experience with the one in my son’s room and just the thought of dealing with the reno plus jute strays was enough to change my mind.

Nope!

So below is my final vision board. Neutral and simple. I’m happy! Especially since this year I am going with a more traditional farmhouse Christmas theme with pops of red and this will allow me to change the colors as often as I like without having them clash.

Speaking of!

Here is a sneak peak of what I plan on doing for Christmas. Since this is the only place inside I can really decorate this year I have to do something special.

Whatcha think?

Red is not my favorite color decorate with, but I thought the traditional pops of red would be nice for the kiddos this year.

Some of these items I have had for a while but I plan on sharing some links in the next post.

Now it’s all about prep work!

It’s time to paint and this time we are using a spray gun…. windows are getting taped up! Wish us luck!

October 30, 2019 By Yami 5 Comments

Our Farmhouse Fixer Upper

Hello sweet friends! It is October 31st, and I just finished making my littlest’s costume last night #momoftheyear #winning. She wanted to be Mickey Mouse so I pieced it together for her and she is so excited to wear it to school today.

I am hoping the weather gets better as it’s supposed to thunderstorm all day LONG. I would hate for them not to go out tonight because of the rain.

Pray for good weather!!!! 😭🙏🏼

My oldest is going as Super Girl and my son is obsessed with Godzilla so naturally we got him one of those blow-up costumes with the little fan attachments and he has a hoot every time he puts that thing on. It’s quite hilarious.

But at least I have somewhat of an excuse that I have taken so long to finalize my littlest’s costume (as well as share another post on here) since over the weekend I was in the ER.

Oh yeah, you heard right.

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen my stories. Last week we had to get the upstairs carpets removed and new ones installed (Cause they were naaaaaaasty! More on that in another post) and somehow I became allergic to something during the process…. but it only took like 4 days to fully take over my entire body!

It started with severe itching behind my left ear on Friday, then it gradually took over my scalp, then forehead, until it began crawling down my neck and onto the rest of my body.

Hives.

Of course, my tongue also felt slightly bigger. That is when I knew I had to go to the ER.

An Epinephrine shot, IV, steroids and a serious cocktail of antihistamines later…. I got better.

Of course, I looked like a train wreck which is why I didn’t dare show my face when I took the shot below.

Good times!

Now I have to have an Epi-Pen with me. And I need to go make an appointment with an allergist to see what the heck I am allergic to.

Hold on, let me see when I can fit them in.

Not to mention I am now sick with a cold! The hits keep coming people.

I feel terrible. And not because I am actually sick, but because I feel like I should be more productive and have tons of pictures and posts ready for you with what has been happening the past week, but instead I got ONE video.

Yes, one that I managed to do a voice over on despite me sounding slightly stuffy.

I really wanted to give you all a complete BEFORE of the new house (aka Fixer Upper). But since we had to hit the ground running the minute we moved in, plus all the hits I have been getting (that was a joke), everything just got away from me.

However there is hope.

I was able to screenshot the images of our house from when it was listed on the market (before they were taken down) and I compiled a video for you all so you can see the house in its bare state before we moved in and made a hot mess out of it! YAY!

And instead of you trying to figure out the layout and where everything is, I walk you through every image and take you through all 3 floors so you can see exactly why we fell in love with this home and the gorgeous property it sits on.

I think you will enjoy it!

Just sit back and relax with a cup of coffee and tell me which part of the new house is your favorite.

I’ll just be in bed nursing my cold and praying for good weather.

Yami Signature Our Farmhouse Fixer Upper

October 21, 2019 By Yami 5 Comments

We moved… yes you heard right.

Hello friends!

I am sure this title may have come as a shock to you since I just shared my entire house tour with you.

You can watch those tours, here, here and here.

Well, the truth is that this has been on our minds since almost a year ago… yes, that LONG.

I just never mentioned anything because we didn’t know if and when it would even be a possibility. We actually loved the area we lived in and we didn’t move out of it, luckily. We were ready for a change though… a completely different lifestyle. We just didn’t know exactly what that lifestyle was until we started considering other places to live.

And boy did we look…. We saw so many places even before we were ready to put our house up for sale. We didn’t want to make a hasty decision and then find ourselves in this situation a couple more years down the road.

One thing we were certain of… our house was too big (is that even a thing?).

Yes, I said it. TOO BIG.

We found ourselves only using half of the 5,120 square feet of home that we lived in and frankly in our eyes that was just unnecessary. We did however, want a bigger yard. MUCH bigger.

I longed for a garden (even though I have a black thumb) and a place where I can have the kids playing outside where I would not have to worry about them getting hit by a speedy neighbor… yep, we had those. 🙄

We also wanted a different lifestyle, a little more traditional, a little more authentic.

And let’s face it, you can add as much farmhouse decor and design into a suburban house and it just won’t actually be a farmhouse people!

A few months ago I shared the image below on my Instagram. This picture is of a well to a 2.5 acre property we absolutely fell in love with.

Of course, the price was out of our range and the property went under “pending sale” shortly after we saw it.

We were bummed.

Then it fell through…. and then it was back under “pending sale” again.

This time we were devastated.

Life was over as we knew it (because by this time our house was up for sale and we couldn’t go back!).

However, we put our faith in God and HE always comes through for us.

I can happily say that we are now owners of that property and our well looks like this now…

It’s like the perfect space to capture all the seasons right?

Don’t worry, it’s kid safe.

Of course we go into a lot more detail as to what we had to go through to find and buy this home in my “Where Have I Been” video on my Youtube channel (linked below) that you are welcome to watch.

There were so.many.hurdles…..

But I am glad to say we are here and we are happy.

Even though we only had 4 days to move.

I also shared our move and saying our final goodbye to our last house. In addition, the sellers of the house we purchased left us something that we could have totally lived WITHOUT in our new home. It’s actually pretty gross. 😱

You can get all of those details (including the grossness) in the video below as well.

Oh and we have already hit the ground running with renovations cause this is a true fixer upper so I will be back very soon with more!

October 3, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

My Home Tour – The Basement

Well the time has come to share the last part of our home…. the basement.

I will warn you, we have not done ANYTHING to this level. We have been pretty busy with the upstairs as you can imagine so this level of our home has been on the bottom of our priority list.

That being said, it is a space with lots of potential.

On this level we have a full kitchen, laundry, bedroom, bathroom, living space, workout space and some storage areas (basically an entire apartment).

Our house totals 5,120 square feet and yes, that is A LOT to have to clean and manage, I am well aware. The good news is that this level doesn’t get too much use yet so I don’t have to be on top of it every second.

If you haven’t seen any of the previous tours, be sure to check them out on my previous posts or my Youtube channel.

And without further ado, let’s get started with the tour below. I hope you enjoy!

October 2, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

My Home Tour 2019… Part 2

Hello there again friends!

October is moving along and we are still in the 90’s!… 🥵 If you are still feeling this heat, then perhaps a little distraction will do you some good.

Today, we are continuing with the home tour! I hope you’ve been enjoying the previous exterior and first floor tours as we walked around and throughout my home.

Honestly, it’s been kinda fun for me to film my tours this way. I think it makes the tour feel more intimate. Plus, I get to show you things as they really are and you aren’t left with that wonder of how rooms are laid out throughout a home.

I know I get that when people are just sharing their pretty angles in pictures 😉

For today I am taking you to the upstairs where I share the kids bedrooms, the master bedroom and bathrooms.

You may have already seen them as I have shared some previous transformations. We made updates to our master bedroom and it looks totally different from the day we moved in.

I replaced the most hideous wallpaper in my youngest’s room and I even shared a complete tutorial on how to do it…

My son’s bathroom got quite the change too – it was brown on brown on brown, but not anymore! I even share more changes to his bathroom in the video so that was fun.

So far, we have done a lot and I was happy to share the progress as well as some before pictures in the videos so you can get a sense of how much work was really completed.

In addition I share my daughters’s bathroom in the video and I have not shared it on the blog yet. We have done some really pretty updates to that as well.

So sit back and relax for Part 2 below!

My Home Tour 2019… Part 2

I will see you back here for the last episode!

September 30, 2019 By Yami Leave a Comment

My Home Tour 2019

Hello everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying the last day of September (can you believe it?!) Tomorrow is October 1st and I haven’t even started on my children’s Halloween costumes. 🤦🏻‍♀️ #Momoftheyear is looking a little bleak right now…

Anyways, I thought I would share a complete home tour with you all! I thought it would be fun to invite you to my home and walk you throughout it as if you were an actual guest.

From walking around the exterior to going in the front door and sharing the interior of our home in a more “real” experience.

So below are the first two of 4 videos that I will be sharing with you.

The first is the complete exterior video… from what the house looks like on the outside to our serious lack of landscaping! LOL!

And then the following video is the complete tour of our first floor.

I figured I would break it up in a series so that the video wouldn’t be super long and completely bore you to death, plus I thought it would be fun to have “episodes” like you would on TV.

So grab a coffee, sit back and relax while you walk throughout and see all of the work we have done as well as get a sneak peak of my sweet little family throughout.

My hubby makes several cameos and he just loves the camera. 🙄

This video will also take you through the kitchen reveal I just shared so you can see the actual layout of the kitchen and not just images, so I thought that was kinda fun….

If you have any questions regarding anything you see, just let me know in the comments below.

As always you can check out more videos on my Youtube channel if you haven’t already and I will see you next time!

Yami

So for the challenge we ask anyone interested to join in on the fun!

You can view the video with the invitation to join here.

There’s plenty to choose from:

This one seems complicated but it’s so easy!

This was the most tedious, but the most rewarding and my favorite of all my dupes.

My best work with contact paper to date!

I got super lucky with this one!

There were soooooo cheap to make!

This one was surprisingly popular…

Can you tell the difference between these!?

My attempt at Serena & Lily… not my greatest but I tried…

I love how these Pottery Barn Dupes turned out!

My very first one!

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

*Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here*

Of course I didn’t stop there…. there’s more DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

DIY Rustic Farmhouse Winter Decor

What to Expect in 2020… For video scroll to end of post

RELATED: My Top 10 Videos of 2019

First, off I am happy to announce that my Look for Less monthly challenge will come back.

Next, I plan on posting 3 times a week.

Another item that has been on my mind is to have my own online shop!

The next item is more recipes!

Have you tried my sugar cookies? They are amazeballs!

Next on the agenda are more sewing tutorials!

What to Expect in 2020 (video)

*Some of the links below are affiliate links, please see full disclosure here*

DIY Farmhouse Christmas Placeholder Supplies:

VIDEO TUTORIAL OF FARMHOUSE PLACEHOLDER

Don’t forget to PIN this for later and share with your friends !

How to Make Flan, Perfect Recipe for the Holidays! – Click to Tweet

Watch the detailed video instructions on my YouTube channel or at the end of this post. ⬇️

*This is a sponsored post. The Berkey Water Filter was gifted to us. Please see full disclosure here.*

Our water…

Oh and the stuff you can find also applies to city water, not just well water.

How We Filter Our Water – The Berkey Filter

And as always, please feel free to PIN and share with your friends!

*Some of the links below are affiliate links, see full disclosure here.*

As always you can see the video tutorial on my Youtube channel… or at the end of this post.

I hope you enjoyed this super easy DIY! Don’t forget to PIN it and share it with your friends….

This is a sponsored post and some links below are affiliate links, for full disclosure, please go here.

🛍Stick to the end for sale information and a discount code! 🛍

*Some of the links below are affiliate links, for more information go to full disclosure*

*Be sure to use a facemask, this stuff is pretty strong*

*Quick note, if you use the white as the base color, you will need 2 coats*

*This is a sponsored post. I partnered with Wagner for the transformation of these walls. For more info, see my full disclosure*

We Painted The Sunroom

*Some links are affiliate links, for more details go here*

And as always you can check out the video version of this post on my Youtube channel or by scrolling to the end of this video.

My Home Tour 2019… Part 2

Instagram

Some of the links below may be affiliate links. Please red full disclosure here

Some of the links below are affiliate links, please see full disclosure here

This is a sponsored post. The Berkey Water Filter was gifted to us. Please see full disclosure here.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, see full disclosure here.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, for more information go to full disclosure

Be sure to use a facemask, this stuff is pretty strong

Quick note, if you use the white as the base color, you will need 2 coats

This is a sponsored post. I partnered with Wagner for the transformation of these walls. For more info, see my full disclosure

Some links are affiliate links, for more details go here