My New Desk

Whew! I think the studio is finally coming together. I do know that if this isn't the set-up that is going to work, I am on my own for the next go around!!! We decided to rework the desks so that I could have morework space with my computer. The little white desk it was on before was only 12 inches deep and barely held the monitor and keyboard. I couldn't set anything on my desk to look at while working at the computer. It had to be in my lap, on the floor, or on the desk behind me. We moved the two ikea desks to the long wall and built a desk to bridge the two. Now my 2 sons have ample work space as well as myself and I am between the two in hopes of preventing any space wars! These aren't the greatest photos ( I just snapped them withmy phone), but they show you what we did. Will get a cool piece of furniture from my mom's tonight to store all the goodies that were in the credenza along this wall before. Check #1, I think you remember the piece. Can't wait to get it in here, fill it up, and label the drawers. I'll post more pics when it is complete!

Laundry Room Makeover

This is a project I have wanted to do for a long time. I got the idea from Sausha at Show & Tell. I was hoping to tackle this one on my own, but DH made it into a much bigger project than I could have imagined. It is all finished now and I am thrilled with the results. Dare I say doing laundry isn't all that bad anymore.

I don't have a picture of the laundry room as it started out.

The biggest flaw was that there was no room for laundry baskets to hold the dirty clothes waiting to be washed. I knew that once this piece were built, I wouldn't be able to move things around for painting. Therefore, the painting had to happen first. We removed all we could from the small space and discovered we even had some old wallpaper lurking behind the cabinet. It was pretty ugly and hurt your eyes. I can't imagine and entire room of this stuff. The paint color we chose was Aegean Blue by Martha Stewart. Does that sound familiar Chick #3? I loved the way the paint color turned out. It was amazing how much brighter the entire room seemed by just changing the paint the color. It was yellow before which I

thought would have been pretty bright, but it just blended in with the white trim, cabinet, and floor. The blue really pops and makes the black appliances look awesome! The room was now ready for the "build". It was apparent that this build had become more than I was capable of. So, DH and his Grandfather took on the task of building. I was a bit apprehensive because I know they think differently than I do. For them, function is more important than form. And yes, ladies, sometimes I allow form to win over function. Oh well, back to the

project. We convinced our dear grandfather to visit for the weekend (we threw in a basketball game and a birthday party to sweeten the pot) and he and DH worked long hours to ensure that the base would be safe and secure. I was worried that it had become too much, but DH husband commented on how much he enjoyed having

this time with his grandfather doing things they both enjoyed. There were moments when they questioned whether or not this would safely hold the weight and movement of the washer. Safety was of the utmost concern. Thanks again to Sausha and her encouraging words that this could be done! Even my two DS's were able to help with the project; they painted, assisted in the building, fetched items, and helped get the washer in place. Speaking of washer - oh my! That thing weighs a ton!!! My DH's biggest concern was how to get that thing up onto the base. He knew we couldn't lift it ourselves and really didn't want to ask his buddies to help. We have reached the age where are potential for injury is greater than it used to be and we all know we don't recover like we used to either! Well, his gears kept turning and he finally came up with a solution; a pretty unconventional one, one I wouldn't necessarily recommend to others.

It did, however, work! Using several car jacks and being extremely careful, we were able to raise the washer to the height needed to slide it back onto to the base. With the washer in place, the remaining pieces of trim and paint could be added to the base. I am so tickled with the end result. It is taller than I had

planned, but my husband feels good about the integrity of the piece. The appliances open at a perfect height for moving loads of laundry and the baskets fit perfectly underneath. The laundry has been caught up ever since! Hope you like the finished project as

well. Would love to hear your thoughts!!!

Looking for some motivation!

Well girls, I think I am slumping into the winter blues. How did it get so cold so fast? I told DH that I think I would be a better bear. The thought of hanging out in my house or the next few months sleeping and eating sounds like a pretty good plan. I promise that if you were to enter my "cave" I would welcome you gladly and try to get you to stay.

Since that isn't going to happen, I need some motivation. I need a good half-time locker room talk. Someone to tell me to get up off my seat and get some work done! We are trying to get the last cabinets from my mom's house today so we can finally set up the workshop in the garage. Currently, we can't even get my car in there. The goal this weekend is to be able to do so. I am writing this down so you can hold me accountable for our accomplishments this weekend.

Hope you have a great weekend. Enjoy the sunshine!

I like marking off projects!

Although none of these are big projects they are things I have been thinking about for some time. It is nice to mark them off the mental "To Do" List.

These little booklets are some gifts I made for the girls in my Sunday School class. I have been working on these for some time. I would run out of rings or we would have new students join us and I wouldn't have them all complete. But tonight, I have finally finished all the ones I have information for. If new girls come, I will make theirs for them later. The idea is that they will begin to write down some of their favorite verses of scripture. This will allow them to find it easily when they want. I hope they like them. I asked them their favorite color and tried to find paper that matched their personality.

The next item on the completed list is this cute little gift for my Secret Pal. I found the tutorial for the precious bird ornament here.
Thanks Chick #3 for the Mason jar. It is filled with Dark Chocolate w/ Almonds by Dove!

Next up is this rustic shelf that I picked up when out boodling this summer. I have been wanting to clean it up and bring it into my studio for some time. The few little things it needed were some weird curved pieces of aluminum needed to be removed. This left some exposed wood that needed some paint. These little fixes took me forever to get around to, but I finally did and I like that it gives me some space to store some smaller items. It is hard to see in the picture, but the shelf is Martha Stewart Aegean Sea. (Thanks again Chick #3). Originally the shelf was more green, but the blue went over it nicely and I sanded the entire piece which allowed some of the green to peak through.

And last, but certainly not least is my lampshade. You may remember from a previous post that I had a lamp in great need of a lampshade. I knew I wanted more of a drum style shade and I knew I wanted to put fabric rosettes on it. It took me longer to find the shade than it did to make the flowers. I tried several stores and could never find a drum shade small enough. Finally, while making a quick run through Goodwill last Saturday after another trip with things from my mom's house, I came across the perfect shade. And of course it was cheap - $1. I snatched it up and by Sunday morning had this cute little lamp in my living room.

What do you guys think?

Grandmother's Memories

I know this isn't a project but I just had to share this with you guys. I found this beautiful set of dishes at yes....Goodwill. I know they don't 'match' what I have or even the colors in my kitchen so why are they displayed in my glass cabnits? Well....Growing up I spent allot of time at my grandmothers house. She displayed these dishes in the kitchen and anytime we had a family get together she served meals on this set of dishes. So yesterday I was looking around at Goodwill for a table and spotted these. I was SO happy to have found them. They bring back so many memories and I could not just let them stay there when I knew I had the perfect spot for them. I think they look good in the cabnits. And everytime I see them....I think of the many meals that we shared as family which she treasured. My Anut has her set of dishes....who knows....maybe one day I will pass them on to my grandchilderen.

Am I crazy?

I need some feedback. While cleaning up my mom's house I have been thinking about the furniture pieces there and if they would better fit my needs than pieces I already have. The realtor and the picture tech person were there on Wednesday and they were going on and on about the drop leaf table my mom had. I hadn't thought much about it because she had purchased it after I had lived there. However, I started to look at it more closely and it really is beautiful. I don't have a picture of it yet, but will soon. She also has some high back chairs with wooden arms. Again, no picture.

So...I got to thinking. Should I replace my dining room table (kitchen table from previous house) with this drop leaf table, Place the high back chairs at either end and mix and match the rest of the chairs? I want to slipcover the chairs in a rustic linen slipcover. I have a picture of this on my phone that I will post when my DS returns from his volunteer shift at the elementary school.

It would have a bit of the feel that the chair on the right does.

Photo courtesy of Seems To Be

Have I lost my mind? Does this sound remotely feasible and fashionable? Can you even begin to answer without any of the aforementioned pictures?

Remake of Pillow

Remember the round pillow with the seersucker? I didn't like it on the seersucker pad so I took it apart and made an even larger Muslin base for the pillow. I thought that putting a solid color between the two uses of seersucker would give the separation it needed. Well, I just didn't like it on the bench. So I moved it to the very dark leather couch in the family room. I like it better there, but I realize making a round pillow is difficult. You can see from the photo that the pillow is a bit lopsided. That may be some of what is bothering me about the pillow. It also made me realize how dark that couch is. Ugh!

Any ideas for making a round pillow actually round? I used round templates, but somewhere between the cutting and the sewing it got off!

Serene Coastal Bedroom or Nautical Nightmare?

Last week I finally decided to tackle the master bedroom. We painted it over two years ago and had not put anything on the walls since. I just could not make up my mind on what to do. So I decided to go coastal and if that did not work, I would just start over. I found a frame at Goodwill last week and brought it home, painted it and hung it over my bedside table/chest. I added the starfish and the plaster footprints of the children that we created at the beach several years ago. I also placed the naked lampshade on my table as well with a few knickknacks (?). The bench that I bought in Bowling Green was sanded, painted and sanded again and placed in the bedroom. I still need to add cushions to the bench but I thought it best not to wait till that is complete before I posted. Who knows when that will happen? For now I have the down comforter from our bed piled on the bench. The wooden piece hanging over the bench with the shells was an idea that I had seen in a magazine a while back and really wanted to incorporate that somewhere. This is where it ended up. The shells are all from a collection of my grandmother's. The white shelves on each side were originally in daughter's bedroom many moons ago and I thought that they may be just right to fill this space. I added more beach stuff on the shelves. The painted beach quote over the tall chest was a purchase from one of my favorite beach stores, Pickets, in Sea Grove from several years ago. Lastly, I took the down comforter off the bed and decided to use the pale blue coverlet as a bedspread, added coral sheets and two shams from TJ Maxx to add a little color. I will have to let this look grow on me a little bit more. At first, it seemed as if I had closed myself in too much with the addition of so many things at once. I will just have to wait and see if this stays as is. What do you think?

CopyCat

I mentioned earlier that my bench needed some pillows to soften it up a bit. Well, yesterday, I remembered the sweet vintage pillowcase that I had in my linen closet. This sweet little embroidered flower pillowcase has been with me since my marriage to my wonderful hubby.

The Enjoy Life pillow is a knock off. I have been eyeing a similar pillow at HomeGoods and decided that I could surely make one just as cute. Not sure I care for the seersucker pillow against the seersucker seat cushion. May have to deconstruct it and do another layer for the base that is the muslin repeated. The stitching was pretty easy. I just printed the words on my computer in a simple font and used it as a stencil for my stitching. It does ned a bit more stuffing around the edges to fill it in.

I really like the pillow itself, just not sure about it on the cushion. Any thoughts?

I made a seat cushion!

Remember the cute bench I picked up Goodwill last Spring. The bench was great, but the fabric on the seat cushion did not go with my decor. I bought fabric this summer to recover the cushion and just had it wrapped around the existing fabric. That was until today. I decided it was high time I began to complete some of the many projects around here.

I began by dissecting the original cover to use as my pattern.

I hit a few bumps along the road and it definitely isn't perfect, but it is complete. I love the freshness of the seersucker and have some great ideas for some pillows to add some more softness. I even used a zipper! I guess I should have straightened the baskets underneath. Oops.

Missing Rooms!

Now that you have had a tour of the house...yes I know. Some rooms are missing. DS room was a MESS and I wasn't going to clean it just to take a photo of it. I will add it when I get him to pick it up!
DD....more my fault than hers. I took her makeup table out to repaint it and 3 days later...still trying to get all the paint off to even put more on! So all her 'stuff' is sitting in the floor. So as soon as I get this done...I will post there rooms.

We still are trying to find someone to give us ideas for the deck in the back we want to do and a porch on the front. Now that the weather has cooled we hope to get a few things done out there and I will start posting the outside.

It is coming along but I will say this has been more "redo" than we really wanted. We have enjoyed it but don't think I want to do this much again. I hope to stay here for longer than a few years. While we miss things there we do enjoy where we are. It is a slower pace here. I love and miss at the same time having very few stores here. I miss it because when you want something....you have to drive to Lexington. But....it does keep me home more and the kids don't ask as much to 'run' out and get things. We are spending allot more time home. I love being close to family. And meeting back up with old friends. BUT miss my other friends. It is weird that I don't feel "new" in the area. We settled in pretty fast.

But, I am having some cravings that only Louisville and my chicks can fix! We need to plan a lunch date there......and then here. I don't have as many cool places for lunch like....Wild Eggs, Havana Rumba, Etc....but we can find something good to eat!

Master Bed/Bath......

We LOVE our room. DH said he feels like he is coming home to a retreat everyday. I still need to hang my old door headboard but we still aren't sure how...we have held it up and it looks great! All I had to do was clean it. I am adding a few "red" items to the room for color and when I change the sheets I have red ones. My makeup table needs alittle TLC but that is a later project too. We love the Queen bed! Not sure how we did 15 years in a Full. WOW!
Here is a project I completed yesterday. It is a silver tray that I stole the idea from Chick #3. Spray painted it with the red and added the name.

Here is the bath....The light came from Resale and was a pretty gold...It is now black. Along with the mirror. This was left in the house...good thing. We would be like the kids if not! I sprayed it with the hammered black too. The sink came from Resale too. This was one thing the DH got when they had a sale. I painted it the dark brown to match the bed room. For a small bath it is pretty nice. I would still like to figure out how to add a tub but just a shower....but that is WAY down the "idea" list!

Kids Bath......

The kids love their bath but it still needs so much work! I didn't post as many photos because there are still places that need paint! I love the floor in here. They need a mirror but good thing the DD has one in her room. DS....what would he need a mirror for? haha. Still need some items on the walls too. I am happy with the colors and style. DS is even letting us put a few purple things in there too. ;-) The cabnit knobs need painting. And two drawers had to be cut to make room for the double sink. My wonderful dad cut them....but now I need to glue them on.

Kitchen

Here are some of my fun finds.

I really like the kitchen. We have allot of space to cook and not be in the way. I still am not sure about the color of the cabnits. I want to do something to darken them but I don't think I am going to paint them black. We still have some projects in this room. The kitchen sink still needs to go in. And we think we are going to redo the counter tops but want to wait and see what happens with the color of the cabnits. I am also still looking for two stools for the bar. Keep your eyes open in the trash!!!

Keeping Room......

Thank you Chick #2 for helping me find the "Keeping Room" sign. It works perfect in this room. We still want to paint the fireplace (not sure what color, any suggestions?) and we need to add the trim.

This has turned out to be one of my favorite spots in the house. I can't wait to have a fire and curl up in the chair to read a good book. I need to redo the table but until we do the fireplace I don't know what colors. I also am still looking for two comfy chairs. If Chick #2 ever wants to sell hers....they already have a good spot! But for now this works well.

We left the table big and I am glad the room will hold it without being to much. We haven't had mom and dad over as much as we want but hope to change that and it will be nice to not have to always add the leaf.

Living Room and Entry......

Here is what you see when you walk in the house. I really wanted to put one of the "doors" or headboard there but really didn't have the room. And we would not use the hooks. We come in the garage. But I am please with how it turned out. I am glad I got to use the basket there. The door is almost all glass and couldn't hang it there.

The bookcase in the middle of the windows is going to get a major overhaul soon. I am wanting to try and add trim to it and paint it. But this will be a winter project.

This wall still needs some major work. I haven't found the right 'thing' to put there. But I am sure it is one of those things that when I see it....I will know. I really need a good shopping day with the girls to help me out!

I was worried that the couches would not fit and we wouldn't be able to see the tv good. But they worked better in this house than the last one. We use this room alot now that we have cable!!!

Office.....

Here is Greg's (but I use it more than him) office. I love the red but HATE how it turns out in the photos! The red and white go very well with all this stuff. The room has alot of UofL or Kroger things. And they both have red in them.

I am not sure why the room shows so much yellow on the wall. It is not yellow...it is the white that is all thru the house. I do hope he will get to use this room more. But it is nice when someone wants to get on the computer you can still visit with anyone in the living room....which is up next!

One Room at a time!

This is the cabnit that came out of the keeping room. Look at the space I have! I love it. Just wish I had room for more!! Just kidding. I still plan to redo the finish on this. Just not sure what I will do. Maybe sand it down some and wipe on some thinned out brown? Any thoughts?

Here is my desk. I love the little nook it is in. The couch will be getting a new cover. Just trying to find someone to do it. This will also make a nice "room" for any guest....hint hint.

The shelve you see will be painted....blue. I am also wanting to paint all the baskets brown. I came home with a few (6) cans of spray paint and guess what the DH asked? Are you trying to be like Chick #2. Why yes....that is a compliment!

The empty wall will get two big cork boards. But this is one thing I can't hang. Not messing with the brick wall...DH will get this job. I love the floors! They turned out nice I think. Do you happen to see all the space? All it needs.....chick #2 and chick #3 to come scrapbook one weekend! I am ready.

I really do enjoy this room already. Can't wait to get to working on some projects in this room. I have all kinds of "hidden" things to work on now that I have the space. I also love the door in the above photo....it goes into the garage where I can spray paint all I want! Rain or shine!!!!