My Dining Nook

My next project in mi casa was my 'dining room' now in 950 square feet I don't really have a dining room, I have a dining nook. Here is what it looked like when the previous owner lived there.

Of course this just isn't my style. So the first thing I did is head to Home Depot for some paint! Again I like bold and bright so I picked a color called Peacock Feather. The struggle that I would have with painting is that the wall I wanted to paint is connected to the living room wall and there currently wasn't any kind of separation between the spaces. So I had to get creative. I painted my peacock wall and then to breakup the two colors I built with my own two hands a floor to ceiling wine rack!

Basically I bought a piece of wood and cut it to size then stained it. I like a slightly distressed look so I only did one coat of stain and then I buffed the wood and banged it a bit to look a little beat up. I then found 2 iron wine racks on amazon.com, each of them hold 9 bottles. I stack them together and connected them to the board. I then bolted the entire thing to the stud in the wall. WaLa I have a customer, one-of-a-kind floor to ceiling wine rack!

Next I pulled in my buffet table that I had in my old apartment and placed it against the bright wall. I love the contrast of the blue, white, steel and wood colors! I personally think it's a great combo.

I was planning on making floating barn wood shelves to hang above my buffet but then I found an awesome shelf at world market and had to buy it. I hung it above the buffet table and placed a few white ceramic items that help make everything pop.

Please don't judge the mess on the side of the buffet table, it has become my paint storage space hahaha. The overall space is so small that I wanted it to have an open plan but still be functional, this added a lot of storage into my kitchen. Rather than just having a table and chairs (which let's be honest I really would never use anyways) sitting in the middle of the floor.

I still wanted a table though. I was about to buy a brand new one online when I decided to check out the classifieds on ksl.com and I found a cute counter height table with 2 stools for only $40 so I decided I'd grab that and eventually if I want something newer and nicer I can replace it.

The cute little 'LOVE' banner is something I made with my friends over the holidays and just hung it there temporarily. I plan on making a distressed wood sign that says 'HOME' in the same peacock feather color that the other wall is but I want the 'O' to be a heart made out of wine corks. I need to start keep working on my drinking!

It's a simple room but the new look cost me less than $200 and the biggest expense was my $80 shelf from world market.

Tell me what you think of my make over!

Girls Best Friend

Life is full of changes. Not only have I recently upped my life and bought a condo in suburbia but I also fell in love.... I fell in love with a four legged, furry, friend. His name is Copper and he has become my best friend.

I've always loved dogs and I've wanted one for a long time, but I couldn't have one at my downtown apartment. When I bought my condo I had decided that I would buy a puppy for my birthday in March, as I knew I would be traveling at the beginning of the year for work and that it would be easier to potty train in the spring than winter. But then on December 23rd came along. The week of Christmas is always dead slow for me at work and for whatever reason I logged onto KSL.com to look at the classifieds. I soon found myself in the dog section and that's when I saw this cute face.

I knew immediately that this was my dog! So I drove 4 hours to Ely, Nevada to pick him up. His name is Copper he's 3 (almost 4) years old. He is very well trained but was neglected emotionally by his first owner. His original owner sold him (why I don't know) only a week earlier to the sweet family I bought him from. They too fell in love with him. He's so sweet. They took him home and it turns out that Copper was scared of their 2 year old child and their very hyper lab. So after a week they decided to find a home that would be a better fit for him. He was scared at first but by the time I got him back to Salt Lake I think he knew he had found his forever home.

I'll be honest, I've turned into a crazy dog lady. I ditch my social life just to hang out with him and I take a million pictures of him. He's just so effing cute! He loves to tuck himself into my bed, cuddle and go on walks. If I'm in the room it's rare that he's not sitting on or next to me. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Yes, I'm that cheesy.

I of course want him to be a social dog but so far I've only introduced him to one friend. Dylan, they are both selfish and don't like sharing their attention but besides that they seem to like each other enough.

Any how that's copper, you'll probably see a lot of him in the future!

Scrub-a-dub-dub

I’ll admit I’ve fallen off the blogwagon for a minute. I’ve always been terrible about journaling and my memory is already turning to shit. So I MUST KEEP BLOGGING because life is exciting and I don’t want to forget this stuff! So let me rewind a couple of months to a very special purchase. I bought my very first condo. It’s still weird to me that I’m a home owner! It’s nothing big and fancy just a humble 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom place in Murray.  So I’ve spent some time decorating and stuff. Here are some before and after photos. 

My first big project was the main bathroom. I hated the paint, Like HATED it. My friend and now roommate described it perfectly when she said 'it looks like someone got poop on their hands and smeared it all over the place!' Really though, the picture doesn't show you how bad it was. 

So in typical Kristi Cartwright Fashion I decided to make a pretty drastic, bold and bright change. Starting with the paint I went for Mint. I knew it with either be an awesome or completely terrible idea. I might have a biased opinion but I think it turned out great. It livens the space up and feels fresh and clean. I also found a great shower curtain, again it's very bold but I like how it compliments my color choice. Lastly I added a couple of shelves above the toiled and replaced a towel rack on the other wall (not shown above) with hooks. 

Since this is the only bath/shower in the condo space and storage is an issue. Especially in a shower shared by two women. So I got a little creative (at least in my opinion) and I added hooks inside the shower. From the hooks I hung two storage racks so we each have our very own organized space. It helps keeps the clutter contained and the space cleaner I think. 

Off my bedroom I have a private 1/2 bath so besides the shower this space belongs to my roommate. I didn't want to fully take over with my decorating so I added just a couple of decorative items and left the rest free for her items. 

I still have some pictures I need to frame and hang above the towel hooks and of course I need to frame the mirror but this project only took me a couple of hours and I think it's made a big difference.

Tell me what you think!