What's new, you ask?

Things have been pretty busy around the Dore household lately. After the ceiling incident, we had it patched and went on with our lives. Now, I forget it even happened. Spring is in the air and Craig has been doing a lot of much anticipated yard work. I have hung a new spring flag and that is about it. The only new addition to the ever evolving Dore home is our new doors in the bedroom. I have been complaining for some time about not having privacy in the bathroom. Craig decided to take on the project himself. I am so proud of the outcome. He is a do-it-yourself genious! I showered in our master bath the other morning and closed the doors so I would not bother Craig. He said he didn't even hear my hairdryer! I would say that the project was a success.
Nest on my list is to get the chair that I am obsessing over from Pier 1. 

New doors in my master bedroom. They open to my master bath.

New spring flag. It is really cold outside today, so I would not say that it is very appropriate!

Yes, this is my ceiling!

So, today started off on a good note. My Mom was in town, she was making a chicken spaghetti for our dinner, and I was browsing my blogs on the computer, when all of a sudden I heard the worst sound I have ever heard. I had no clue what the heck it was since I was in the office. My Mom ran to the foyer and Craig had stepped through the ceiling from the attic. He was chasing running after a bird, when all of a sudden he fell through the ceiling. I saw his legs dangling. I was frantic. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. He came out of the entire scary incident with just a sore thigh. My Mom and I were scared to death. Just to give you an idea of how hard it is going to be to fix; my ceiling is 18 ft. tall in my foyer! So, drywall and roof patching this week. The Dore's will be in the poor house for sure. Thanks a lot black bird!

Don't you love the hole? Thank goodness Craig didn't fall through.

The perfect pillow

After buying the new duvet yesterday, I got home and put everything together and realized that I needed a blue pillow to complete the set. I found the perfect color pillow at TJ Maxx today. It was sitting on a shelf right inside the door. It was as if it was waiting for me to buy it. I got home with it and it looks great on my bed. Craig really doesn't understand why I needed a blue pillow. Why would a man understand these things? He is getting a little fed up with my design obsession. Silently, I say to myself "if you would spend more time entertaining me, this wouldn't be happening." I will be so happy when his school is over. He has been sitting in a chair all day studying for some test this week. It is getting old!

The flash came on and made it look way too shiny. It really doesn't look like this, I promise.

I love bargains!

I have been searching for a lamp that I saw in the West Elm catalog. I was not willing to give up the $100 something bucks that they were asking. While on a bargain hunt over the weekend, Craig and I went to Southeastern Salvage. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my lamp! I almost ran across the store when I spotted it. Craig was a little freaked out. My cute little lamp was sitting there waiting on me. The only problem with it was the shade. I ended up having the perfect fit at home. I love the way it looks in my living room.

Isn't she cute?

I finally found it!

After hours of deliberation, I finally found the perfect duvet cover for my bed. I have searched high and low for the best bargain. Today, I decided to make the trek to Brentwood to go to Home Goods. I was in there for almost 1 hour and 1/2 looking at everything. I couldn't believe it when I went to the sale section and found the duvet set I had seen online. I had almost talked myself out of a duvet because of a previous experience I had. I walked away from it twice before making my final decision! Thanks, Mom for the support! For $37.00 I thought it was a steal! It even included the shams. I had the other decorative pillows which I was excited about. I love it! My shopping trip was a success!

Design on a budget

Recently I have seen some really cute framed pictures on the Internet. I refuse to pay 20 something dollars just for the print. I was at Wal-Mart the other day (against my better judgement) when I found the perfect 11x14 frames for $7.00 a piece. I was so excited. I decided to go to Michael's to look for some scrapbooking paper to put in the frame. I was so excited to find that Michael's has a sale on all of their scrapbooking paper. Each piece was only 25cents today. I left the store having only spent 75 cents on really cool paper. The ABC paper looks so similar to a print that I saw online for $26.00. That wasn't even with the frame. I only spent $7.25 for each picture. What a bargain! I also added a picture of my mantel. I had the big photo collage and the picture frame. I added the print in the frame (wrapping paper.) The D was from Michael's for a buck! Another deal.

Our entry way with my bargain art.

Love the cute art work.

This print was $24 online!

My mantel art. I had everything except for the D.

So, this is really just a complaint.

So, I am in the mood for complaining today. Craig will say I do this quite often, but I don't agree. I think I have a pretty great life. So here it goes. I live in a very urbanized area of Nashville where I have a great house that I am quite proud of. I feel very lucky to be my age and have such a wonderful house. Most of my cohorts don't. When choosing my house, we chose it because of its wonderful amenities....stainless appliances, hardwood floors, tall ceilings, double sinks in the master, 4 bedrooms, a fireplace, huge garage and basement, great view, and of course the two walk in closets that we don't have to share. I also love the storage. The complaint of today is nothing new. I have a neighbor on one side that needs to live in the country. On the other side, my neighbor is building a house that is taking centuries to complete. I am surrounded by mess. I hate mess. Besides the dog poop yard next door, the leaning doll house, the camper that has a flat tire, and the trailer that never moves, I also hate their loud vehicles. Over the summer, it was the motorcycle, not it's the 4-wheeler that is louder than a Metallica concert. Keep in mind, we live in the city and Nashville ordinances say that you can't ride a 4-wheeler on the roads. This doesn't stop my neighbor. Craig and I went to bed hearing it and woke up to him revving it up at 7:30 this morning. I can't stand it. It sucks! Our bedroom window is right next to their driveway (at least 40 feet away) and I can hear it crystal clear! That's my complaint of the day. I wish I could do something about it. Over the summer, I marched myself outside at 11pm because of the motorcycle. I will do it again if I have to. I really love peace and quite. My neighbor obviously doesn't.