Is it Spring?

I am becoming a little concerned about what my flowers are going to look like come March, April, and May.  With the unseasonably warm weather we have been having all during December and January, coupled with the rainfall, my flowers think it is Spring!  The Daffodil shoots are at least 5 inches tall.  When we finally do get winter weather, will my flowers have enough time to rebound and come up again for Spring?  I have never had them this big, this late in the winter.  Any thoughts?

I am thankful, however, that the storms that came through last night were not as violent as had been predicted.  Prayers going out for those in Arkansas and West Tennessee that seemed harder hit than our area.

Let me know what your Spring bulbs are doing and if you have had any experience with the coming up this late in the winter.

Ottoman Slipcover

This was a project I did one afternoon while the boys were out fishing or some other boy activity.  I can't quite remember.  I just know that I was home alone.  Thanks to Jennifer's tutorial over at Dear Lillie I was able to cover the heavy looking ottoman with a fresh slipcover.  The original ottoman is dark brown leather with wooden feet.  I think this one was purchased at Target and has great storage.  The top lifts up and we have a lot of our games inside.  The slipcover allows for quick retrieval of these items, but is a bit more stylish.  The room is dark and really benefited from the lighter colors in both the slipcover as well as the new rug you see in the most recent picture.  If I ever get the nerve, I would love to try to slipcover the dark leather sofa as well.

Sorry It Took Me So Long!

Several months ago I posted about the issues I was having with the wall in the boys' bathroom.  I have finished that room and am very pleased with the results.  Sorry for the long delay in posting pictures.  The Holidays came and I found myself enjoying family and friends.  BTW, the short-term solution for the wall was to just put up what I wanted and ignore the roughness.  Since I am not the one in there every day, it doesn't bother me and I know it doesn't bother 2 adolescent boys!

  This is the only "Before" picture I have.  It was taken before we moved in.

So without further ado, check out what we did.

The walls were yellow as well as the floors.  Since we didn't want to change the floors, I decided to "man" up the room by painting the walls grey.  We chose Embarcadero by Valspar and it is a great color.  We already had the Brooklyn Bridge Shower curtain and that gave me the idea for a sort of travel theme in the room.  The yellow suitcase over the commode is now the medicine cabinet and stores lots of deodorant and Axe Body Spray.  I painted the vanity black using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation Kit. (I love this product and will be using this again.)  The cabinet was done several months ago and is holding up great in a room with lots of moisture and boys handling it how they want!

We hung the mirror and light fixture to replace the lost mirror and lights when we removed the old medicine cabinet.  Eventually we will have to go with a larger mirror as the boys grow, but this worked well with the current budget and fits the current users.  Sorry to any guests that might stay with us that need a taller mirror.


We did update the hardware on the existing vanity as well.  I also chose to distress the edges of the doors and drawers before I put on the protective coat.  I am so pleased with how this turned out. It really made the yellow floors pop!  Even the boys like the floors now.  At least more than the did before.  Above the vanity, I hung an old yellow frame I already had with a great "You Are MY Sunshine" print I purchased from a shop on Etsy.

I wanted it to be a fun bathroom, but not childish so we went with some pretty unexpected items to help with storing and corralling all those needed bathroom items.  The suitcase turned vanity was a ton of fun to make and the boys love it.  I removed the interior fabric and replaced it with a yellow and grey plaid shirt from Goodwill.  You can kinda see the buttons and pocket on the door portion.  Looking at this picture, I realize I still need to paint those shelves.  BTW, the suitcase was originally green and I painted it to match the yellow floor with sample jar of matching paint color.  Again we used Valspar, Santa Monica Blvd. The small hooks that were originally on the back of the door were inadequate to catch the bath towels as the boys tossed them for hanging.  We re-purposed two wooden hangers to act as the new hooks and they catch the towels quite well.



 It was a ton of fun to redo this bathroom and it was fairly inexpensive.  We did replace the toilet, but that needed to be done anyway.  I hope you have enjoyed this little tour.  I have resolved to show you the many other projects we squeezed in to those busy holiday months. It is amazing what you can accomplish when you know you are going to have a house full of people.

Lastly,  I couldn't do any of these projects without the help of my patient husband.  He is always there to assist when a project gets bigger than I thought. He is my biggest encourager and my 2 boys are right there with him.  Thanks for cheering me on when I tackle these jobs.  Love ya!

Why does the simple always become involved?

All I wanted to do was update the look in the bathroom that my 2 boys share; new wall color, paint the existing vanity with the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit, replace the medicine chest/mirror with a fun and funky surprise, new light, fun & funky towel holders, and an inspiring quote or two.

DH helped me remove the old medicine cabinet and light combo that will be upcycled to my MIL.  Boys emptied said cabinet as well as vanity.  I began removing old bathroom fixtures (towel bar, toothbrush holder) and mentioned to DH this bathroom once had wallpaper.  I found a small piece behind the toothbrush holder.  I never gave it another thought until i began to sand the painted square left behind when we removed the medicine chest.  I had assumed the "edge" was a result of too much paint build up due to not removing the cabinet when the previous owners painted.  It slowly began to dawn on me that yes there was some paint build up, but the edge was also a result of the wallpaper that had been painted over.  The wallpaper never went behind the cabinet and now I have a big square that no amount of sanding will get rid of.

What is a girl to do?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

Finally, A Project Marked Off The List!

I have wanted to remodel our 1st floor half bath for a long time. I've had the image in my head for almost as long. About a month and a half ago I decided to start pulling out the quarter round and base boards to see if my idea was even in the cards. These came off easily. I was able todoall of this on my own!!! The plan was to get rid ofthe drab tan and update this little room with some Board and Batten as well as some fresh paint colors. As the project has come to completion this evening I couldn't be happier. It really did turn out the way I saw it in my head. This isn't always the case for me. I was surprised at the relative ease that the Board and Batten went up. We used Lattice forthe vertical pieces. This way there was a small recess from the Board. I love my nailer and mitersaw. They definitely made this project doable. Here are some lousy before (actually during pictures)and some fresh after pictures. Hope you like it!
This shows the small pedestal sink. It is cream and that wasn't going to work with the new colors. Luckily, we still had a lovely white pedestal sink in storage that we had removed from a project years ago. That bathroom had needed more under sink storage for the main bathroom of two growing boys. Glad we hung onto it.
This is a picture that really gives you an idea of the tan. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing exciting either. We did have a picture above the toilet on this wall, but I had already taken it down when I thought to take pictures.

This is a close up of the Board and Batten. The room is already looking better even though the painting is only half done. You can see the great new color going on above the Board and Batten. It is Martha Stewart's Aegean Blue. Yes, that is the same blue as my laundry room. I love the color and I had enough to finish this project as well.

Now to the good stuff. The room is complete as well as another project I have been working on for months. All those frames have been painted, painted again, sanded, arranged, and hung. Love the red accents as well!


We put in a smaller mirror and even though you can't really see it in the picture, the light fixture has been updated. Painted the brass and chrome with the Bronze spray paint I have used everywhere else in the house. It looks a ton better. The mirror is one I have had for years and finally found the perfect spot for it. Painted the stool with the same blue as the walls, sanded it, and it looks fantastic. The wire basket is for tp rolls and it looks like I need to get a few in there.

Another fun addition, were these old doctor's office canisters. The blue wasn't exact, but thought they were a great splash of color and fun way to store the items we do need to have in this bathroom. These came from my uncle's surgical supply business years ago. The two bottles you see have red and blue labels and hold mouthwash for each of my ds's. This is our launching pad in the mornings before school so toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash are must haves. This was such an easy way to have them get their mouthwash and no messy spills.

I have had fun sharing this makeover with you. Hope you have enjoyed it too.

Summer Projects

If I want to get a few projects completed around here I believe that I am going to have to enlist the help of my boodling buddies. Hope you both are up for the job. I'm thinking that if I let you guys in on my to do list you will keep on me, no, encourage me to get some things done. I have compiled a list of some of the projects I want to work on so here goes. Some are big and some are not very big at all, they just require that I stop reading all these blogs and get going.

1. Fan

I have had an old fan for awhile now and I really just need to clean it up and find a home for it. I think that it will eventually end up in the family room but you never know.

2. Shutters

These shutters were picked up on our junk/trash day. They are not in bad shape so I

am just going to attack with a little soap and water. I am not even planning on painting them because I like the blue color even if it is peeling

off in places. I would like to hang them on the wall going down to the basement. We'll see if we can reach that spot with a ladder or not.

3. and 4. Master Bathroom

I have a couple of projects for the master bathroom. First, I want to replace the over-the-toilet cabinet with some shelves. This project,

http://go.tipjunkie.com/dc/652/w

ww.beneathmyheart.net/2009/08/cafe-shelf-tutorial-and-giveaway/, seems like it would be great to try, only with white shelves. Also, I want to paint the room and ceiling, probably the blue that I used in the bedroom. Small room so it shouldn't take long, right?

5. Hallie's Chair

My step-dad finished with the repairs needed

on this chair for Hallie's room now all that is needed is to paint and upholster. Of course, first I have to get it off the top of the camper!

6. Table for TV Room

This little table needs a little repair. The bottom shelf is broken so I plan on taking it out and patching up any damage I do. I will most likely spray paint Heirloom White and distress a little. It will go beside one of the red chairs in the family room.

I have a few more projects that I thought about adding but I have made myself tired typing up these just these six so I am going to stop for now. I am hoping that you will inquire frequently about my progress to keep my working hard.

What have you guys got planned for the summer months? Anything I can help with?

AAAHHH Sunshine!

Well, we have finally strung together two days in a row of sunshine. It is quite encouraging. I have been able to snap a few photos of the flowers that are blooming in my yard. Thought I might share them in order to spread a little sunshine in cyber-space. The Clematis I planted last summer has 3 blooms on it. I was pretty excited to know that it made it through the drought we had. Some of the other flowers in the garden are lookingquite sweet as well; Solomon Seal, Lily of the Valley, and Siberian Iris. Enjoy!

Where is my motivation?

Hey chicks, I need some help here. I seem to have lost my motivation somewhere. I haven't been able to find it in the laundry, under the many blankets we have used to keep warm this winter, or in the pile of muddy shoes at the front door. I was wondering if I could have left it at your house? If I have, would you please stop using it and send it back to me. I really need to find it and start getting some of these projects marked off my mental "to do" list.

I do see some sun shining in the windows today. I know that will help with at least one job around here: the dusting. Maybe that momentum will carry over to others.

Hope you all can find time to get back on the creating side of things.

Come on Spring!!!

Digging out!

There will be no pictures accompanying this blog. It would be too embarrassing. I have almost finished straightening up the upstairs office. This has been a huge dumping ground for paperwork and various" homeless" items (those items that just don't seem to have a place, but can't be thrown out - yet).

Nick has been home from school again today. He is definitely well, but ran a low fever last night and slept in pretty late this morning. I figured it best to keep him home and build up his reserves before sending him back to the germ incubator. While logging Kid's Kloset items, we came across our stack of Webkinz codes. Believe it or not, he was still able to get on his account. As he sits and plays some old favorites; Goober's Lab, Cash Cow and many I can't even name, I am happily filing away all those papers, shredding ones we don't need, and figuring out what to do with the lost items. It is so much more enjoyable with his happy chatter in the background. Amazing what a little company can help me accomplish.

Hoping you guys are able to dig out from under whatever is piling up in your house or better yet, that there are no piles in your house to dig out from.

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!