Friday, November 8, 2013

Best $39 Spent

 
As it seem that Ellie grows by the hour, I always feel that I'm missing moments.  A few years ago I decided I needed a SLR, so I went with Nikon.  I noticed the quality over digital cameras right away but I just felt that I never had that "professional" quality.  I thought that an external flash may help, but I thought they had a hefty price tag, so I went to Amazon and found the top seller for $39.00 (Neewer TT560 Flash Speedlite For Canon/Nikon Digital SLR Cameras).  It was highly rated so I bought it, and am looking forward to some quality shots. 
 
 
with standard onboard flash
-note the red eye
 
 
With Speedlite
-much softer light, and more true to life quality


With onboard flash

 
With Speedlight
 
The light is just much softer and the colors are more true to life, and you cant even tell the picture was taken at light in low light
 
 

 
I was really surprised by this one...
 
This is with the speedlight

 
This is with the onboard flash.. you can't even see the what the picture is of


Friday, November 1, 2013

Foyer Updates

I started the foyer update before Ellie's arrival, and was still working on it the day before she arrived.  It's been on hold for a while but I hope to get it finished before Thanksgiving. 
 
So here was the before, it just needed some freshening, but had good bones.
 
 
 
 
So as of date, the dining room and foyer has been replaced with tile, I replaced the curtains with frosted glass film, and added board and batten.
 
 
Most recently the board and batten, I bought pre cut poplar from Home Depot, so it was pretty fast to install. 
 
The key was a good nail gun an a level.

 
So before Elle, it just got one coat of paint and I put the room back together.  I would not be able stand to have people over with the foyer in a mess.
 
So here it is today...
 
While Ellie and I were catching up on some of our DVR'ed shows, I decided that I would tackle the project again.
 
 
In the end of July, I ordered some grass cloth wallpaper from Lowe's, well they emailed me after my order saying it was on back order until November.  I had totally forgot about it and in the mean time ordered a roll of Kenneth James grass cloth in red on eBay for 12 dollars.  Which is a pretty good deal considering its usually over $100.00 a roll.


 
Here is a close up of the Kenneth James red grass cloth.



So now I have to decide if I want to go with the tan or red wall paper, the red will match the dining room, but I'm wondering if the neutral color will be better.
 
So while I decide I'm going to finish calking and painting the board and batten.
 
I really like this red desk from Target, however I'm thinking it may be too wide for the spot but we'll just have to see.