Dressing up the Foyer!!

Painting Furniture

We rearranged some furniture and this guy found its way into our foyer. Originally it was in our master bedroom but I was actually pretty pleased with the way it looked in our foyer {was just kinda plain}.I have been planning on doing a two tone dresser in our bedroom {hence the switch-a-roo} and I decided spur of the moment Thursday to add white accents to the inlays of all the drawers and doors of this handsome guy! I could see it in my head and it seemed easy enough! So After grabbing Kallie from daycare we made a quick stop at lowes. It started like this:) curious but content with the paint brush! 

But unfortunately it ended like this... So we hurried home. 

After Kallie was all tucked in I decided since I was home alone what the heck! So I started taping the drawers off aka the boring prep stuff 
{Super excited and nervous at this point anyway}.

I chose Valspar Latex Enamel Gloss White {low odor and easy clean up} for $4.69 and a Purdy 1" paint brush for $8, so for a GRAND Total of $14.33 with tax for the WHOLE project!! OMG! That really does make me happy:)

So here goes nothing! {FIRST TIME PAINTING A PIECE OF FURNITURE HERE} I cant even lie I was totally SCREAMING on the inside. But after the first coat I felt like a pro..lol Make sure you're doing a thin coat just for coverage it's going to look streaky. 

I know my IPhone takes horrible pictures considering it's a 5, but here I am texting pictures to my sister while im waiting for paint to dry at midnight. 

So here is my stopping point on Thursday night and I couldn't be PROUDER!!!! Obviously I still have to paint the inlays of the doors but I had to snap a shot of the progress.

Its wild how just a little white paint adds class to a Walmart buffet. Im a little disappointed in the painters tape though {probably operator error}. I had a lot of paint bleed through the tape which meant a lot of clean up work. I had to clean up all the lines with a Lysol wipe to get that perfectly straight line I needed. 

That wasn't fun so fast forward to Saturday night when I got off work I had about an hour to dedicate to painting and I decide to free hand. It worked out better than I anticipated though I did only get one coat painted but there is always tomorrow! 

So here is the progress from Saturday Night {night two}.

Yes, im lazy and just laid out a spare sheet as a drop cloth..lol it served its purpose though. Oh and yes that is kallie's shopping cart just hanging out!

Before

After

I'm so pleased with how it turned out! I finally finished it on Sunday and Don't you just LOVE it?!? Yes, it took me a whole WEEK to post but I took my daughter to visit my family in Wisconsin.

 Now I can focus on finding a nice print to replace the mirror or a old school scroll mirror ...not sure yet. I want to spray paint the lamp a bright color, but we shall see im just happy with this little upgrade! 

Wood floors!!

Yay for Home Improvements!! I can hardly believe we did it, best decision we've made in like FOREVER! It's a lot to swallow but once you start you'll never go back. So lets rewind to before we started.

Before 

This is the best picture I have our nasty carpet floors..maybe thats a good thing!{cutest kid ..I KNOW RIGHT} It was pretty bad and as you can see mid-2012 our sweet Kallie was learning to crawl so it was time to pull it up! With the help of my mom we started checking the price of hardwood floors. She is the "Expert" on DIY stuff!

We shopped around and Lumber liquidators had the best price for engineered wood floors.I was a total sceptic at first I must admit. All the samples were lighter than the displays.. I didn't get it. Apparently wood changes colors with exposure to sun. I finally got it after I rode around with a sample on my dashboard of my car for a week {helpful advise form the guy at Lumber Liquidators} I truly understood .All because I didn't believe him... but he was right believe it or not. So we finally decided on Brazilian Cherry. 

 We placed the order and a week later it was in and I was a bundle of nerves. My husband Eric, his dad and our best friend Brett were laying all the floor. My Father in law was the only one who knew how to install it, but thank God the boys learn fast! They had to rip out the existing hardwood in the foyer and laminate in our kitchen so it would all be one seamless floor from the front door through the living room to the kitchen. 

After a couple of hours it looked like this. At that point i was kinda scared Im willing to admit but I had faith it would all be done that weekend. Kallie and I made ourselves busy!Lets just say thank God for grandparents..lol my Mother In Law had kallie friday and majority of the day on saturday but other than that we hung out in her room and played or had Oreo's in her highchair! Anything to stay out of the way considering we only had a weekend to get it finished.

After

I can hardly believe it turned out this AWESOME! I let out a BIG sigh of relief even if kallie proceeded to unload all her toys! After all it was the whole reason we changed it up. I would recommend Lumber Liquidators for sure, they were really helpful AND knowledgable. They gave us so many options and helped us eliminate things like "floating floors" even deciding on glue versus padding. Im just so glad were done and im sure our debit card is glad too!!!  

Are you sold yet? Whats holding you back..?

More DIY Art

Pinterest Inspired Art here! {super cute!} 

We made this little guy back in 2011 when I was pregnant with Kallie and my husband was away on business. I needed something to occupy my hands and her nursery was a little bare. I got the idea while surfing pinterest. I thought for a second about buying it off etsy because of course they had it there for $35.00. But I just knew I could replicate it for cheap so me and michelle made a trip to Hobby Lobby, buttons of all cute-sty colors! 

Pink, Purple,Orange, Green, Yellow and Blue...LOVE them all!! They all matched her bedding so I grabbed them all in one pack for about $4, the 14X12 styrofoam was $8.

I found the perfect fabric to cover the Styrofoam with a bird/branch pattern for $5 and ribbon for $3. Now I was ready to start, I already had my glue gun so here we go. I trimmed the fabric to fit the styrofoam including the sides. Lay the fabric face down{make sure your straight} and secured it with hot glue around the edges. So here goes nothing.. Figure out the size of you want and free hand your letter.

I LOVE cursive initials so that was the obvious choice. I started from the middle of the letter to make sure I was centered using random colors and layered buttons on top for depth readjusting as I went. It was actually fun and stupid simple. 

Here is the finished product that im pretty proud of!For the finishing touch I added the ribbon{in a Watermelon Pink} around the edges and as a loop to hang it. So to sum it up I spent $20 and It was HANDMADE by mommy!

RIDICULOUS Bookcase

I think I've wanted this bookcase for like three years and FINALLY got it! I have had a perfect spot for this bad boy and refused to put anything there until I got it. My sister-in-law got it and I totally copied ..Lol it was just to perfect not too:). Its like no other bookcase I've ever seen, not boring at all. I think it's the unique flare that got me. She got hers from target its called Highpoint Contoured Bookcase. I got my annual bonus and decide I earned it after an amazing year at work {hell yeah}/Mother's day!

But I didn't want to pay a bunch so I got on Amazon and got it at the time for $170.00, HELLO Free shipping saved me $50.00 {loved that!!}. It was a long 7 days waiting for my beloved bookcase but it was so worth the wait! 

It came while I was at work and believe me when I say I couldn't get of their fast enough! Eric helped me put it together aka he assembled it while I watched Game of Thrones @ midnight! {Don't you just love him..hehe}. But OMG that show is addicting! 

It was up in no time, keep in mind I was supervising. I was in love all over again and I mentally checked this guy off my "To Do List".

All my random stuff finally had a home and that makes me smile! I must have rearranged it four times now.

This is the current look including the recent ikea storage boxes at the bottom{keep in mind this picture was taken from my iphone,kinda pixy}. I'm sure I will mess with it some more but I'm content for now! All is right in our little house for now!

Reupholstering a dining chair

We did this project a while back and it's one of my favorites! We were given this table and it needed a little work. The cushions were a weird brown color so we made it work until we could decide on a fabric we both loved! 

Before

We were walking through Hobby Lobby and Eric found this awesome Chevron pattern! Totally shocked he picked something out of the "comfort zone" but I REALLY liked the green so we went for it. We started with a yard of fabric just to be safe considering we haven't reupholstered ANYTHING before. It was pretty exciting though I was so ready to cover up those nasty cushions!   

We gathered our tools

•Screw driver

•Staple gun

•Needlenose Pliers

•Scissors 

So, to start is easy enough flip the chair over and unscrew the cushion from your frame. From every tutorial Ive watched people stapled batting to the seat first but we skipped that step. Our seats are good in the cushy department, so we jumped right into cutting our fabric. Leave yourself at least 2 inches on all sides, we did about 4 inches just because were nervous Nelly's:).

Center your cushion on the fabric making sure your pattern is straight. Pull the fabric tight and put in your first staple, now every couple inches repeat! Keep checking to make sure you're not crooked because that would suck, trust me thats why we had our needle nose pliers ready{I knew it would happen}. Thats just part of the learning process and thankfully staples aren't permanent. 

The corners are where it gets a little tricky! Making small folds that will be hidden on the underside of the cushion was the easiest way to get that SMOOTH corner you want. We did end up flipping over our cushion a few times to make sure we were good! That does save you the trouble of pulling out staples if you're not 100% happy. Once we finished we trimmed some excess fabric and reattached the cushion to our chair! TA DAH!!!!!

After

We're loving the new look! {Super proud} 

We finally finished all four chairs. It took us about a week an a half but it's not surprising considering we have a 1 year old! We got it done while she was either napping or down for the night. Kallie seems to love them as much as we do, she always wants to sit in the BIG Girl chair. 

The break down was super cheap all we bought was fabric so we only ended up spending $25!

First Ikea Trip

We've been doing a lot of traveling here recently and decide it was time to make the hike to Ikea! I had to work literally all day on my birthday Sunday so what better reason to go. It was about a two and a half hour drive from Florence, SC to Charlotte, NC but we did it! I was so pumped I almost couldn't find the entrance.. Not one of my proudest moments but I was just so shocked at how BIG the building was!

I was so tempted to just run in full blast but I stopped and asked how it all worked {more like told the lady I had no idea what to do;) }Its actually pretty simple top floor is the showroom, everything is displayed by room. So every couple of feet it was like walking into someone else's BEAUTIFUL house/apartment. 

Our good friends Brett and Ashley went a while ago and told us how much they loved it! {they picked up this amazing light fixture! Jealous I know so we had to come!}

I loved seeing all the rooms set up but it was like overload! I wanted to be five places at once..lol.But thankfully I had the "voice of reason" with me aka my sister Michelle.

The first floor is all sectioned off by department like frames, kitchen, lighting, and organization. They give you a little pamphlet you can write down all the cool stuff you want then you pick it up on the first floor. I got all A.D.D. and forgot all about that stinkin thing so thank God I was snapping pictures!

I'm seriously making a game plan for our next trip because I was so not prepared for the amount of stuff they have. Our house is only about 1400+ square feet and I found myself stumped on the free wall space we have left. So I was hesitant on making any major furniture purchases considering the distance too and from the store, but we will be back!

Here's me consulting the hubby on the wall space we have at the homestead {since I was having a serious brain fart}.Photo cred to my sis chelle!

LOVE this little guy {slim shoe storage} wanted to take him home but I had no clue where I could fit it him in.. Boo I know RIGHT?

 More ridiculous spreads that you can drool over..we oohed and aahed over everything!

These people probably thought we were slow.

This BEAUTIFUL white kitchen was my absolute favorite kitchen! Its everything I used to hate.. Weird I know. Its everything my kitchen isn't {I always liked the dark cabinets }but its just so clean and open. Just for fun lets list everything I like

*Subway tile backsplash
*Quarts counter tops 

*HELLO open cabinets

*Kick ass hood

Don't mind me Im just inspecting every inch of the kitchen of my DREAMS!

Ok that's enough of that, On to the main floor with all the goodies you can pick up! I was so energized from lunch in the cafeteria I forgot all about the pictures, sorry. I was ready to fill my cart! {ended up being mostly with FRAMES lol I'm OK with that!}

I have seen this Stockholm bowl a bunch of different places and cant get over it so I picked that up in white {imagine that}. It was $19.99.

Here is my lovely sister Michelle ogling all the chairs .. I know she's deep in thought!

More things I like!

*Cute little frames stacked over random hooks

 I kept finding these cool shoe storage thingys, I am infatuated by them but again I don't have the perfect spot for it {DANG IT}.

Is a shame because It seemed so "meant to be".

Overall im happy with the trip and excited about our next trip! We had some awesome girl time and I spent some birthday money! Kinda cant beat that! 

I ended up with this load of goodies.

*Three HUGE frames for above our headboard $9.99 a piece

*two 4x6 frames .99 a piece

*Stockholm bowl $19.99

*Pack of two storage boxes for $3.99

*Kid plates for $2.99

grand total of $63.65!! and $50 was just birthday money. I am kicking myself for not getting more though. 

DIY Art

Paint chip art from +Young House Love book!! Go get their book SERIOUSLY.. it is so inspirational! I incorporated all my colors and plan on putting together a mini frame wall in our living room on the far wall. The walls are blank and I cant wait to put some nails in them! It's really easy just decide on how big you want the strips, I did 1/4 inch. I really wanted the Chevron pattern so I just went for it and I think it turned out great! If I haven't learned anything its "Do what you love!". 

Buy a cute frame and some poster board and get to work! Oh and by the way all I used was scissors, a ruler, and a glue stick.

Puppy silhouette 

I dug out an old picture from one of our photo albums of our beloved pup and very carefully cut out her body. I originally wanted to do a white background with black silhouette but changed my mind because that was so plain. I found green card stock in some of my scrapbook stuff and thought how CUTE! So I decided to do her body in white.
I flipped over my picture and traced it on the white card stock, cut it out then glued it down. I love how simple it was! Miley is such a big part of our family so I had to incorporate her into our frame wall.

She's so damn cute! We have a love hate relationship..LOL She annoys the crap out of me some days and is my snuggle buddy other days.

Travels

We snagged this adorable print in St. Martin on our last trip in April of a courthouse already matted and it fit perfect for our frame wall. We stopped in this little corner store looking for Aloe vera because I was FRYED from the day before in St Lucia and couldn't resist! I mean look at those colors.

Scrabble Art

This is so Pinterest Inspired here! I thought what an AWESOME way to display our little family in a unique way! I price checked at Walmart and Target for Scrabble after deciding I would get more letters that way versus buying the letters off eBay. I ended up grabbing it at target for $17.99. I picked up a sheet of card stock from Hobby Lobby for .50. Then it was all about placement, we had already used our trusty ruler to pencil in straight lines  and glue down the letters! We used regular ole super glue to secure the letters! It was so easy and QUICK the whole thing only took about 20 mins. I think I will end up putting this in a white frame {hello ikea} but it will work for now. It makes me smile every time I look at it :)

Semi Finished mini frame collage

I dont know what it is about me but I cant ever finish a frame wall...their's ALWAYS one frame missing. We did end up adding this huge frame at the bottom right we found in our attic with my beautiful baby! She had school pictures and it was so adorable not to include. Im a sucker for piggy tails and paper lanterns!! Im ecstatic overall the shape is all I was hoping for and the hubby loved it too{believe it or not since he hung all the pictures}. I swear I would cover every wall with frames if I could!

 I will fill that last frame if it kills me. It's a work in progress im just tore because I want to paint some of the frame so they flow better. Any suggestions?  

LOVE me some birthday presents;)

Yay for Birthdays!

After our shopping trip on wednesday my mom apparently caught on to my OBSESSION for anything white. {I know its kind of obvious} She got me this GINORMOUS ceramic urn and its wild...you cant walk by without touching it! Big sexy is what it should be called cuz its all of the above. 

OMG I really could go on and on about it, but hands down best gift! Thanks Momma it is perfect in our awkward little spot in front of the sink. 

Before 

After

That spot is so bare now, im just trying to figure out what I like. Eventually i want to change all our appliances to stainless but as far a quick fix , we need roman shade style curtains. We love these guys!

I like how it fits perfectly in the window and still lets light in. You can visit Young house love to see the whole tutorial. I just need some ideas on fabric! Its hard to choose because our kitchen and living room are so open it has to flow. Sooo any ideas?

DIY Inspiration

 DIY Inspiration

I found the perfect solution to our storage problem! One of my favorite blogs The handmade home gave me this AH HA moment, paint and stain the dresser you've stored away! It was my husbands dresser from when he was a kid and we just stuck it in our spare bedroom. We were just kept putting crap on top of it for years..lol. I always thought it had good bones but didn't really fit in with our bedroom suite because it is so light.

I was not so hot on the idea of painting it a solid color, so when I saw this awesome post about a "Two tone dresser" I was SOLD!  It just adds some "classy" to the room I think.

We decided this will be our next project to tackle and im so excited because it's going to be super cheap! Dresser completely FREE! 

Semi-gloss paint-$15.74

Stain-$8.00

Total $23.74

Needless to say im pretty freaking excited now we just need to fit it into the schedule. 

I can see it now SUPER SLEEK! Love it.