Remember When

Remember that one time . . .? This seems to be a quote that The Hubs and I use a lot. We generally don’t use it years down the road, but immediately after something really funny, sad, random or even ridiculously crazy happens. Example. “Hey hun, remember that one time we bet my curtains on our March Madness Brackets because you hated the curtains and you lost!?!” That’s what I said to him as soon as I found out my bracket kicked his bracket’s trash and I got to keep my curtains that I love. hehe. Anywho. . . Remember that one time I showed you this picture

and then nothing happened with it? Well, something happened with it. Here’s what.

So here’s the story with this dresser. My in laws live in a nicer neighborhood than we do. To be expected right? Well with said nicer neighborhood, comes nicer bulk trash. Can you see where I’m going with this? Well one day I was driving to their house and spotted this dresser on the side of the road. Surely they can’t be getting rid of that dresser! Who would put that dresser out on the curb for the garbage man to haul away with his backhoe and giant garbage crushing truck!?! Someone with nicer things than me that considers and vintage Lane dresser with it’s beautiful dovetail drawers and solid wood construction, garbage. That’s who! So while The Hubs was away, I borrowed his sexy truck and enlisted the help of my amazing SIL. We made sure the owners were in fact planning on getting rid of it and loaded it up. The knobs were falling apart and one of the drawers was missing it’s track so it just hung out in the drawer compartment but still works. I LOVE it. And it turned out so pretty too! It’s fabulous what some paint, new knobs and some wood filler will do for such a sad dresser. Here are a few more before and after photos.

You may have also noticed that I have painted the walls as well. They were baby blue. (supposed to be grey originally but it came out blue) So I finally forked out the money to buy my favorite greige (BM Edgecomb Gray) and painted while The Hubs was away one Saturday. It made a HUGE difference as well.

I know it’s hard to tell, but it’s not white. If you read yesterday’s post about my mint green lamps, THAT is what color the dresser is. For whatever reason, I wasn’t able to get the color to translate into pictures. Oh well. I love it. My 3 y/o loves it and The Hubs said it looks nice. Win. Win. Win. Guess what. It's bulk trash there again this week. The Hubs should be afraid. VERY afraid.

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Back in the Saddle

I feel like I’ve been in a project rut lately. Part of that had to do with a rut I was in in real life (as opposed to craft life). So I got out of my funk, and started up my creative thinking again. First thing’s first, I put together a mood board for my Master Bedroom. Surprise surprise, I tweaked it a bit from the one I posed here.  I pinned my new one here via the Olioboard I made for it. Which btw is my new favorite toy! Did I mention, it’s FREE!?! check it out. BUT FIRST, check out my first project for my boudoir starting with the inspiration picture.

It’s an absolutely GORGEOUS lamp and it ought to be for $362.50. Yup! You heard me! $362.50 USD! Just a tad out of my price range, but the color combo of the mint gold and whatever color the shade is.  For a long while now I’ve been working on finding the perfect shape for bed side lamps and settled on Ginger Jar lamps and a favorite. If any of you have looked into these, then you know how pricey they can be like this from Etsy, or these also from Etsy. Not gonna happen. So I found these at a local thrift store. Not an exact match, but I knew I’d be painting them anyway so they were close enough. This is what I ended up with.

The best part about the set? It was $10.86 for the pair! I LOVE thrifting!

I know the shade isn’t an exact match to the inspiration. And I know that the grey stripe will probably bother a lot of you when you first see it. Trust me, I know! I kept texting my sister and a few friends to see what they honestly thought because it was bugging me. Then I decided that I probably didn’t like it because it was so out of my comfort zone. “You CAN’T mix GREY and GOLD!!! It CAN’T be done!!!” Well I tell yo uthat IT CAN! The more I see it, the more I just love it! It was a good first step to take me out of my box and take me towards a more eclectic un-matchy room. I can’t wait to do more!

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Making the World Cuter

FINALLY! A Reveal!

I've been busy busy lately, but finally feel like something is finished. While the Hubs was out of town on a business trip, I got the itch to paint stripes. . . So I did. This little cove was the perfect place for it. Not too much wall, but you see it right when you walk into the house so it has a big impact. I couldn't be happier!

A laser level is a MUST when you're trying to put the tape on the wall. Without it, your tape WILL NOT be straight! I found this handy one that just tacks onto the wall.

TIP: (I hope this makes sense) For the stripe you will be painting, measure on the INSIDE of the tape to get the correct height of the stripe. For the stripe you WILL NOT be painting: measure from the INSIDE of the tape on the painted stripe, and place the level. Then put the tape BELOW the laser line. The non painted stripes should look way smaller than the ones you'll paint. It also helps to mark the ones you'll be painting before you start so you don't accidentally start painting the wrong one. 

Then Paint Away!

I learned really quickly that paint dries A LOT faster in AZ than any other state that I've lived in. It's so dry here that it sucks the moisture out. No big deal? It is a big deal. You have to peel the tape off almost immediately after you apply the final coat of paint or the tape will peel off your paint. 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my wall. Now I just need a lil somthin to house the printer and tower to free up some desk top space. 

Happy Wednesday!

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Clean & Scentsible

LilLuna

Round Table: After

I finally finished the round table project. It ended up being a little bit trickier than my original plan. (2 coats of spray paint) When I went to pick up the table, it was HUGE!!! Like table for a little patio set huge. Maybe not THAT big, but it was at least twice as big a round as I was expecting. For 10 bucks though, it was still a great deal. As I was putting it in my car I thought, man this would fit better if it were cut in half! There it was! I'm going to cut it in half and have a table for BOTH boys!! Pure genius! I've seen this done a few places, but here's inspiration from a fav blog of mine, Gus and Lula.

Both the desk, and her floating shelves in her foyer started out as on table and were made into these beauties. 

Remember the "Before"

Here is what I turned it into. . .

The green on this one ended up being a bit more neon than apple like the monsters on the bed. So it'll stay neon until I can find the right apple green.

I simply attached a small "L" bracket to each table that I then screwed into the wall. I LOVE how they turned out and more importantly, both boys LOVE having their own table. I'm still working on accessories, so don't judge too harshly. I'm getting there!

House Updates

Recently, I had a conversation with my sister, Courtney about how I don't have any projects to blog about. She brought up a good point. . . "What about all of the little updates that you've been doing to your house?" (not exact words. In fact, this is a compilation of like 4 conversations.) Me: "Like what?" Court: "Well like the light switches, and blinds and this and that." I tell you what. . . she's so smart that sister of mine! 

We've haven't gotten around to any major decorating yet, because we've been working on getting the house to normal before it can be extravagant! So here are some pictures to show our "progress" on our little Victorian that we call home.

Before-although nice and bright. . . neighbors can see right through to the back of the house and in the kitchen as well. . . NO PRIVACY!

After-Freshly painted walls and new blinds to boot! Originally we wanted to get wood blinds because that's what is in the rest of the house. When we had them priced, we realized that for $130, we could get faux wood blinds (that will be easier to maintain) instead of the real ones for $500 (that are now chipping in the boys' rooms) Realistically, nobody can tell the difference unless you examine them. Now we can walk around in our underwear pj's at night without creeping out our neighbors.

Here is the only "Before" picture that I have of the back doors. If you look really closely at the trim, you can see the botched paint job that the previous owners started. No priming, let alone sanding, and they didn't even finish the 2 coats. Amateur! I thought I was bad about not finishing projects! They even started to paint the window separators on the inside of the door. . . again just one strip. I'm embarrassed to show that one. 

After- I finally busted out the painter's tape and white paint. I always have both. I finished the job that they started. It looked so unfinished and I didn't want people that haven't been here before to think that WE did that. So I finished it and WE the hubs hung blinds that they left in the garage. I'm not a fan that the base doesn't match this door trim and that this door trim is the only one in the house that is painted. BUT, it's a start and maybe now the hubs will see how good it CAN look and will immediately jump on board with painting the rest starting tomorrow! . . . and then I woke up from my fantasy.

Another project that we undertook was changing all of the light switches. They started out as the old school toggle switches. They didn't all match. Some were white, some were this color, and some double switches had one of each. 

 We just switched them all out for new updated, flat switches. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

 We had the same problem with the outlets, so we switched all of them too.

I thought about giving a tutorial on how to change these, (because it's SUPER EASY!) but decided you had better consult a licensed electrician instead. ;)

So there you have it! We have been making progress. I just wish we had an endless budget to just renovate everything at once, but we live in reality and reality is. . . we take it one thing at a time after dreaming up our ideas from

Under the Mulberry Tree

Kitchen Renno

I totally wish that this post was about MY kitchen Renno! You would probably feel the same if you remember my BEFORE photo.

Pink counters anyone? Anywho. . . I came across this amazing kitchen renovation by Jennifer at The Old Painted Cottage. The horrendousness of the Before pictures of her kitchen are a little reminiscent of the horrendousness of my kitchen, but her AFTER photos are fabulous!   I can only hope that when we eventually get around to updating ours, that the results will be just as satisfying. See for yourself.

I feel like every detail was thought through, down to the craft caddy that she used for her silverware. The details make me smile bigger each time I see them.


*Yes, I am aware that horrendousness was fabricated by my own fabulousness! 


What do you love/hate about your kitchen?