Our Creative Weekend

For some reason this weekend we all had the urge to be creative and get to those projects that we had been putting off. Ryan painted the furniture we had been meaning to get to, I painted some frames in hopes of re-doing our picture wall and sewed up some pillows, and Evan took up a new hobby of paining. It felt so good to see our house looking more like what we had originally pictured. So here are some before and after pictures to show you what we have been up to.

This particular piece of furniture has survived some pretty rough times. It managed to escape a small apartment full of four bachelors and more. Before...

After...

The barstool before...

After...

This little charmer ends up being my favorite. This nightstand was originally my moms, and then mine when I still lived at home and was almost thrown out several times. We started by adding bead board to the inside but it gets even better...

On a trip to get more spray paint Ryan discovered a spray paint color called "Heirloom White".

I AM IN LOVE!

After painting, distressing and adding a new knob it has made this ugly nightstand into one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our house. It has that old time charm that I have been looking for. Isn't she gorgeous! I can think of about ten more places I would like to use it, but for now her home is as our new end table. We are now considering painting the other table in this color too.

Our living room is no where near done yet but it is so much closer to what we want.

Garage Cleanup

Just to give you a fair warning, the pictures that you are about to see may have a lasting effect on your opinion of us. But before you decide to un-friend us please wait until you see the "after" pictures. Since moving into our new house our garage has been our "catch all" for everything we didn't want to have to deal with or see in the house as well as all of the boxes we had yet to unpack. It was seriously getting out of hand. The more we put off cleaning it, the more the mess started creeping towards the door and we were doing the high knee lift exercise just to get to what we needed. Here are the highly embarrassing pictures of what our garage looked like before..

From the door looking in...

 The tool area...

 From the garage door looking in...

After some very hard work, and the boys' handy shelf building skills this is what we have now!!

From the door looking in...

 From the garage door looking in...

Now everything has a place, even the boys' muddy boots and work coats.

 The tools...

It feels so good to finally have that project done. We made a section of the shelf for yard sale stuff so we don't have to go rummaging through all our boxes again. One of my favorite things are the old tables set up in the middle of the garage to work on other projects! So despite the pouring rain we got it done, and are ready for our new projects! Phew!



The Search For The Perfect Headboard

Lately I have seen so many neat ideas for DIY Headboards. Ive seriously considered making one for our master bedroom, and depending on how that goes making one for the guest room. Here are some of the lovely ideas I have found so far...

 How gorgeous is this! Using old fence wood, and then painting on whatever word you wanted. Or even leaving it blank would look great.

House Tweaking

Here is an old mantle that has been boarded up and upholstered in the middle to make it solid. The only problem is I don't think I have the luck to find an old mantle but Ill be keeping my eyes out!

  Apartment Therapy

I love the stenciling in this headboard, actually I love everything about this room! 

 The Idea Room

Here is traditional tufted headboard, which would be so nice because it is padded. This would make sitting up in bed and reading so much more comfortable. (And don't you just love that chandelier!)

 In the Fun lane

And oh to be so brave... Ive actually really come to like this color lately, but not sure if I have the guts just yet to attempt something so dark. I'm not even sure what this color would be called dark teal?

I cant remember where I found this picture, sorry! 

Or a simple framed headboard

Source Unknown



There are literally hundreds of ideas for shapes, sizes, fabrics, materials etc. out there to consider. Ive seen everything from wagon wheels to wallpaper, quilts to windows. You can use anything that gives the illusion of a headboard. In case you want even more ideas, here are some great ones at Tatertots and Jello.

Britna's Baby Shower

These last few weeks my mother in law and I have had so much fun planning my sister in laws baby shower. She has had so much going on in her life, with the building of a new house and preparation for moving, that we wanted to give her a day to relax and who doesnt love looking at that cute baby belly? They are wainting to find out the gender of the baby so we decided to use some of the colors she is doing in her nursery, which is white and grey. But we just had to throw a little color in there!

We went with the "nesting" theme which turned out so cute! We incorporated polka dots as well, since the mother to be really likes them (and they're gender neutral).

Janean made these adorable shadow boxes of the parents to be when they were babies, and from the looks of it, this new baby is bound to be the cutest thing ever!

Anyone who knows Brina knows she is the queen of baking. Her chocolate chip cookies are soooo irresistable, so naturally we had to make the party favors cookies in a jar.

We played some really fun games, like the string game. We asked each person to guess how much string it would take to fit around Britna and her belly. And what a confidence booster that was for Britna seeing as how every guest was at least 6 inches too long! It also gave every guest the opportunity to spend time with Britnas adorable baby bump.

 Next we did the "Who's That Baby?" game. On the invitation we asked every guest to bring a baby picture of themselves. After they all arrived I put them up on this bulletin board for all the guests to come on up and guess who was who. This game was hard! Well for everyone but our Aunt Jan who guessed 8 out of 9! And the only one she missed, she was only one sibling off! It was so cute to see everyones adorable baby face. 

Next was the presents! There were tiny onsies, and fuzzy home-made hats, little hooded towels, and baby shampoo. Below Margaret made her the blanket of her dreams. All of the presents were straight from the heart, and will be so helpful in preparing for this baby. They say it takes a village to raise a baby, but even more so it takes a village to fill a nursery!

 We had cupcakes that looked like little nests with jelly bean eggs, and the most delicious tea sandwiches.

  

 Here is three generations of wonderful women!

Here we are, the party planners! We are quite the team! 

 We are so grateful for everyone who was able to make it. You all made it such a special day. Now if only March 12th could get here a little faster! Come on baby we cant wait to meet you already!

A little inspiration

So Ive been on the lookout for a few ideas for dining room wall decor. Im not a huge art person, and I like it when the dining room decor is somewhat "dining room" related. So Ive found a few ideas I like and thought I would pass them on.



From Country Living



I love how this is made out of something simple like plastic spoons, yet it adds such a fun pop of color. The only problem is, Im not sure how easy it will be to find a plain round mirror. Or if it would end up being more expensive then just buying an already made mirror. But I havent given up on the idea just yet. :)



From The nester



 I am in love with burlap right now. I like the idea of framing silverware but Ive thought also of maybe framing our monogram. Or even better if I can get my hands on a pair of giant wooden silverware!

This is another idea that is growing on me. Some refer to it as a "branchelier". It could work for almost any holiday, and seasons.  They could hang from the ceilings or be hung on a wall. The possibilites are endless!

Do you have some fun dining room decor ideas?