Getting In The Groove Again

Have you ever come home from a wonderful vacation and tried to jump back into normal life?

It's not easy.

Especially when you spent a week in Florida with you parents, 5 siblings and their spouses plus 17 grand kids.

In one house.

For one one week.

At the beach.

Am I repeating myself?

 

Anyway, it was great.

 

 

 

Then we came home.....

 

 

I sat in a lounge chair in our back yard trying not to move a muscle.

Trying to hold on to the memories.

Bragging (via text) to my two younger siblings who were still driving back to VA about how wonderful the weather was here and how I wasn't doing anything but relaxing.

 

Yup.

That's what I said.

 

Then a ball got stuck on the roof and our boys tried to get it down.

With rocks.

Life is always interesting.



 

Teacher appreciation week was also last week.

I had fun creating a few things for our wonderful teachers and staff.

Beau specifically asked that I find or make a piece of jewelry for his teacher.

He wanted it to say "I love you".

I had fun making it and thought it was sweet of him to want that for her.

 

 

You know those bloggers that have beautiful homes?

You know.

The ones that show your their home one day and then the next day they post again with the new flooring they installed the evening before.

On a whim.

With only a toothpick and a paint scraper as her tools.

She actually did it all by herself while she took care of her 4 kids and 3 dogs.

Look at her go.

 

Yeah that's not me.

We have started the demolition of our flooring.

We are down to the nasty, gritty concrete that forces me to wear shoes all the time because I can't stand the feel of it on my bare feet.

Yup.

That's the stage we're in.

It's a stage we will remain in for a while.

We're buying a new back door.

Ahhh!

It's good to be back!

Gli Speciali di Casa Chic Feature

A few months back I was very honored and excited to be contacted from the Italian Magazine

 Gli Speciali di Casa Chic.

I got to work with a lovely lady there by the name of Annarita who did an amazing job of making our house look magazine worthy.

 

I did copy and paste everything into Google so that I could translate to english and see what was said.

It was all good stuff:-)

Annarita tried to send me a few copies through the mail so that I could have them as souvenir's.

Alas...

I received an empty envelope instead since fedex couldn't see to it that they arrived safely.

If any of you over in Europe ever see a copy then email me and I would LOVE to reimburse you any expense to have it shipped over!

Anyway it was a fun experience and I thank Annarita for her patience and her immense talent!

Thank you!

P.S. I also saw this little shout out over on Apartment Therapy that I thought was cool! 

Easy Rustic "Subway" Art

I'm not sure that I would necessarily classify this as Subway Art, but you get the idea.

And for those of you who want to make your own art but need a shortcut...

...here's your answer

the white ones are ones that I "made" out of other letters that I was not using
 since there wasn't enough of each letter that I needed.

I made the mistake of getting letters that were NOT precut.

It took me hours to cut them out but I was determined to do this project for pennies.

(they are vinyl letters that you would put on your mailbox, but make sure you buy letters that are cut out and not blocks)

Next up lay them out on your prepared board(s).

I used some that I had laying around and just stained them.

Figure out how they will fit.

Once I figured out my layout then I took a level and drew lines to make everything nice and even.

I then stuck my letters on, using my lines as guides.

sorry about the blurry photo

I taped off the sides because I wanted them to remain stained and not painted.

I then took my paintbrush and started blotting the paint on.

I tried not to brush at all so that I wouldn't get any paint under the edges of my letters.

This was the part that Jack called "magic".

I carefully peeled each letter off...

It didn't turn out perfect.

That's okay.

The reminder that it brings is worth each crooked line and letter.

Living Room Re-dressing

I used to snicker covertly into my balled up fist when I heard that someone had redecorated again.

*snort*

I am eating my snickers in the same manner as some eat crow.

BUT!

(As any normal person tends to do when they refuse to believe they might have a problem.... )

I do have a good excuse!

I am addicted to moving stuff around.

I paint furniture and resell it.

I paint signs and sell them.

It's only natural that they make their way into my living room for a brief time.

Like a year or two.

They must acclimate themselves to a normal family lifestyle you know.

One can't send an inanimate object off into the wild unknown with no training.

So I train them.

I display them.

I change things.

With no guilt whatsoever.

It's wonderful.

Snicker and snort all you want.

Please excuse the messy writing on the chalkboard.
 I needed that reminder too and didn't waste time making it pretty.

The Christ Is sign was all for me though and won't be going anywhere.

Some reminders need to stay put.

Meanwhile....
I'm painting.

Would you care to see the reveal?

Entry/Living Room Reveal! (Before & After)

Okay, I know I've driven some of you people crazy waiting to show the planking we did in our entry and one wall in our living room.

What can I say?

I'm a dabbler.

I start painting a sign...

...get distracted...

start painting a room...

Start writing a post...

Yeah, I get distracted easily.

Here she is though!

Completely not how it will be in a few days since I have yet to "style" anything.

I finally got to put my .50 cent light to good use.

Please excuse the fact that is crooked here.

Here is a before shot from a few years back.

BEFORE

I love how the new walls make my little coat hook thing look fabulous:-)

The ledge has yet to be addressed or dressed at all.

I have no idea what will be happening up there...

The dresser is on its way out as well.

It was borrowed and is being returned to its owner.

I liked it for the photo's though.

The trim is plain, out-of-the-can white from Home Depot.

(Behr)

The wall color is Sherwin Williams "Alabaster".

I had it color matched at HD as well in Behr paint.

The shade is from Home Depot and the bamboo rug was borrowed from the kitchen

and was here when we moved in.

Source: theletteredcottage.net via Jillian on Pinterest

This is the planks we used from Lowes.
LOVE them and would highly recommend for the price and ease of installing.

So there ya have it!
I will share more when I update the ledge and move the dresser out.

Updates

So these days my living room is looking more like this...

My kitchen looks more like this...

(ugh, I try not to look)

And our bedroom is getting a tweaking...

(our bedroom gets tweaked quite frequently)

I bought some furniture that is getting redone so I look like a one armed paper hanger running around painting this and that and the other.

Got to admit that it is HARD to paint while holding an eight month old in one arm!

If you have put in a sign order then be assured I'm working on that too:-)

***

Speaking of sign (custom) orders...

I have come to the conclusion that I am not a miracle worker.

Hmmm, I may have already known that a long time ago.

Anyhoo...

I will only be taking custom orders on a very limited basis from now on.

You are always welcome to ask, but be prepared for a no or a "it will be about 6 months" ;-)

More updates soon with some pretty cool before and after photos!

He's A Keeper...

Have I mentioned that I married a pretty sweet guy?

I tend to be a fairly independent, can-do kind of person, but there are some things that I neither have the time to do, nor the talent.

Enter Derek.

This is our front hall/entry/living room.

You know how weight loss adds always show the person 50lbs overweight, no makeup and in their underjams?

Yup, that's how you see my house right here.

Derek is in process of doing some planking on these walls.

I. can. not. wait. to show you the final look!

He also made/painted this sign for a coworker since I didn't have time.

Nice job eh?

He has a few other good merits as well:

He is patient and kind to me.

Wrestles and plays with our boys almost every evening.

Watches them for me when I'm going crazy busy.

Would buy me the moon if I asked for it.

He has a ruptured eardrum right now and has hardly complained.

(I do have to yell for him to hear me though:-)

He takes me to Buffalo Wild Wings the moment I hint about it.

He sacrificed his own hunting for me to get two deer this season.

Listens to all of my crazy decor ideas, and even helps me out with them when I ask.

Listens and sometimes comments to my many, many questions and ramblings about life.

Always puts the toilet seat back down.

Comes home to us every evening and calls if he will be late.

Provides for us, loves us and so much more.

 If I had to choose again....

I would choose him a million times.

So anyway, we've been busy with projects and sick kids.

That's life!

My New Coat Rack

While everyone else is posting recaps, I'm still trying to catch you up on what I've done this year before I recap it:-)

My front hall looks like your entering an apartment.

It's ugly and boring to be frank and it's fixing to get its second makeover.

You can see its first makeover  here.

I sold the shelf that I built...

Remember my philosophy on buying/building cheap and selling big?

That's what I did.

The main reason is because that shelf was really more romantic and dreamy than I was wanting.
(It totally had NOTHING to do with making money on it. Really. No for real)

My new one is all manly!

Check him out.

I have big plans for this space so pretty soon my little hook thingy won't look quite so forlorn.

The best thing about him other than his rugged handsomeness?

He cost me $4 and about 30 minutes to build.

He's a keeper.

Until someone wants to buy him...:-)

Pillow Love

When I was at my sisters house I saw a pillow on her sofa that I fell in love like with.

It's the one on the far left with the number #1 on it.

Cool eh?

I decided to make one up myself.

I used a piece of a curtain from Ikea that I have used for tons of things and I still have more left.
(Love their curtains!)

This took me about 45 minutes to make from start to finish.

I printed out the number as big as I could, cut it out then simply used it as a pattern.

I actually cut out some drop cloth too and backed the 3 with it for a little more texture and bulk.

I always use a very simple pocket method when I make pillows then sew in around the edges to give them a more finished look.
It then in turn inspired me to make the little striped one next to it:-)
You just never know where inspiration may lead you!