Category Archives: home diy

New Floors at Casa Color Bee

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The freeze in Houston did a number on us! We did have to redo all of the plumbing in our house. With that came floor damage from water and foot traffic. Our floors were in poor shape so we went ahead and took the leap to redo them. We chose a tile that is super durable that has a wood look. We chose this because it is virtually indestructible and the kids literally can’t mess it up. It also gave us an opportunity to get rid of the horrible carpet that was on our stairs and in our upstairs. Enjoy these process photos.

Enjoy Color Bees!

Photo Inspiration | IKEA Photo Challenge

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Before you read any further, it is important for you to know the ALL of these photos were taken inside of Ikea Houston. 🙂 If you’re an IKEA lover like I am, this is soooo for you! If you find walking into Ikea a bit overwhelming (I know it’s a lot of stuff) this may be a way to help take things a little bit at a time. Most of all, this is a little life lesson on working with what you’ve got!

My blogging buddy Pam Del and I hit up Ikea for a different type of inspiration. This time it was all about taking the cute but ordinary displays/models and making it look like I woke up in my ideal patio,coffee shop, living room, and flower market!

The first set of images is on the ground level of Ikea Houston right before you get to the registers. As you can see, it looks like I am enjoying a nice cup of tea on a sunny day. The colors are fun and bright like spring and I have everything I need at my finger tips (Theoretically). In real life Pam had to strategically tuck and hide a lot of red tags to pull this shot off.

The second set of images gives you the illusion of being in a cozy out door coffee shop. Keeping the chill of with a nice pink moto jacket that is perfect for spring and and cool wide brimmed hat. I real life, Pam was hiding red tags left and right.

The third set of photos gives the illusion that I’ve just stumbled up a field of flowers or my neighborhood coffee shop! It’s so beautiful right?!?! Ikea is getting their hands on some really amazing faux flowers there days! Again, I’m wearing the perfect spring floral dress, the sun is shining on me and all is right with the world. Ha ha!

In the final set of photos, I reimagined my floral dress as a comfy robe and put my feet up to relax with a book after a long day. Looking relaxed, comfortable, and “at home” was the main goal of this photo. Pam got the perfect angle to capture this look.

This was so much fun to do because it serves as a blaring reminder to work with what you’ve got. There may be “red tags”(distractions) hanging everywhere and people (haters) staring at you because you are doing something unconventional. You can not let that stop you from taking your shot!

Enjoy!

Want more? My buddy Pam came to shoot my IKEA loving self & I got some awesome shots of her too! So head on over to her blog to see what she shot inside of IKEA !

Red Wine Hot Chocolate with Winc

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Everything is better with a splash of wine including holidays! In my case, I get my wine from Winc! A monthly subscription that allows you to taste and explore with wine. It shows up on your door steep hand delivered and you can check out what’s coming ahead of time on your Winc account. Go to Winc.com to get started and use code “authenticallyb” for an amazing discount!

Here’s a fun hot chocolate recipe that can act as a desert or pre-dinner sip. I like this red wine recipe because it’s delicious and super simple. I didn’t even have to go to the store for the ingredients. Even my wine from Winc showed up on my door step. Everything else was already in my pantry. Red wine hot chocolate is super rich so I opted to serve them in miniature cups along with a bite of chocolate. Large servings could be too over powering to the palate. Have fun with this and let me know what you think after you make it! Enjoy!

Thank you Winc for sponsoring this post!

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

• 2/3 cup red wine

• 1/2 cup milk

• 2 tablespoons sugar, optional

• Pinch of salt

Directions

1 Combine the chocolate chips, wine, milk, and sugar (if using), in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is hot.

2 Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour into mugs and serve.

How to Upgrade Cabinets for Under $15 | DIY

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As many of you know our family appeared on HGTV’s House Hunters earlier this year. When we began filming we weren’t even close to being ready to move in. While we were still prepping, I was able to knock out small projects that were fun, easy to do and inexpensive. Let’s be real, renovations are not cheap so I was definitely looking for projects that would make a real impact for not a lot of cash.

This easy DIY helps you provide a serious upgrade to your cabinets that are easy to change anytime you want. Our home was built in the 1920’s so everything isn’t perfect but it will last forever. Our cabinets don’t have backing so to spice it up a bit I created patterned backings to make the bare wall look amazing. To start gather large card board boxes, scissors, fabric of your choice, a tape measure and a hot glue gun.

Measure the length and width of the inside of your cabinets.
Once you have those measurements, cut out card board pieces in the exact measurement and shape of you cabinets.
Take your fabric and make sure too cut a section that will cover the front of the card and slightly fold over the edges and corners.
Use your hot glue gun to glue the fabric to the card board on all four sides and let it cool.
Carefully insert the covered part so that your fabric is visible inside the cabinet.
Press it firmly into the back of the cabinet until its snug.
Repeat these directions until you cover all or part of your backings.

I hope you found this cabinet upgrade simple to do. It can pack a real punch in an otherwise ugly or boring cabinet. Leave me a comment and upload photos to show me how this easy DIY worked for you. Enjoy!