There was really no good place to put the BBQ, so we came up with a pretty fun solution.. We made this little BBQ nook off the side of the eating area so it’s like the cooking station is kind of built in to the “wall” of the deck and we can easily cook and put food right on the table without having to travel far at all.. Just that tiny little deck extension really opened up the whole deck and made it feel so much bigger!

It’s amazing how much more we use at this time of year when we need to keep our homes warm and well-lit for so many hours every day.I just learned this trick and I think it’s so fun and something I never thought of before.

Just turn your ceiling fans on low and run them in a clockwise direction to help push warm air down.You could be able to turn your furnace down by as much as 2 degrees!If you have ceiling fans at home, let me know how this works for you!We did this really simple update to a plain ol’ shelf that we picked up at Target a couple of weeks ago and I just had to show you because I’m so thrilled with the results.

It’s not really anything too exciting, but that’s kind of what.it exciting, you know?

It took no time at all but it really helped add a little extra bit of.

to this corner of the dining room..So, if you’re new around here, then right about now you’re probably thinking “Why doesn’t she just paint the walls a color that she likes?” Well, I could, but that would really be a big silly waste of time seeing as how all the ceilings need to come out and be raised up and replaced, and also the walls all really need to be torn out and re-drywalled.

It’s all in pretty sad shape.So temporary quick-fixes are the name of the game around here until we can get around to do a full reno on every room.. Anyway….

5 minutes later… bam!.This is what things look like on a Saturday night around here.