Week 32

I cannot believe it is already week 32! 

A HUGE majority of people are voting BOY, but I am still thinking girl!  

{I have even had people tell me they pray for our baby by our boy name - so sweet}

 Here is a sneak peak at a few of the things we have been working on in the nursery:: 

We are making most of the stuff for the nursery, including the bedding - I cannot wait for it to all be done! 

I am hoping by the end of this week to be almost fully done with the nursery!!!!! 

Shutters turned Head Board

These fabulous shutters were hidden the back corner of an antique store behind some other furniture. We got them uncovered and got to look at them and fell in love! They were exactly what I had been looking for for a headboard for our bed! 

Because the paint was chipping off and very weathered, I wanted to seal them somehow without losing the look that I loved! After a little research, we decided on this Rust-olium spray. We did two coats and it really sealed the paint off, it has not really chipped at all since we hung them several months ago! 

This was before! (After seeing this old post, I see how even this was a HUGE improvement-I had forgotten how bland it was before we painted)

J figured out where the studs on the wall were and drilled some 1x2's on the back to align with the studs!

We got them both hung!

And I love the final outcome!!! We ordered some new pillow cases with some Anthropologie gift cards we had left over from the wedding and our bed was finally complete! 

COLOR IN THE KITCHEN

Once these two projects were done (bar, cabinets), I was again ready for another! Ready to get some color on the walls! But I had a really hard time deciding on what color. After MULTIPLE samples, we finally decided on a good neutral color that complimented the dining room well, was simple, and looked really pretty with the cabinets!

The thing we learned in the long search for color was to think outside the box. I knew I wanted something in the green family (to compliment the color of the dining room) but after a long day of frustrating samples realized that was not working. We started looking in the grey/brown family and finally found Clay Pebble by Behr - a very earthy color with just a slight green undertone. It wound up being the perfect color - FINALLY!!!

Just a small example of the amount of samples we tried - eeks! 

Before

During

And after 

Because of the lighting in the kitchen, it is hard to get a good picture, but you get the idea! 

Adding color always makes things feel a lot more cozy and more like home! 

and because I cannot just stop after one project, next will be making curtains for that window :)

trashcan find

I was hanging out at the park one day with a sweet friend of mine and I saw this:

She laughed when I said I was going to dig it out, but I loved the wood and saw some potential! 

I got it home and let it sit in the sun for several weeks - just to let the sun do any sanitizing that might be needed! Then with the help of my sweet husband we got the 'signs' off and in about 5 minutes I had them painted with some sample paints we had! 

One was a gift for my sister for her engagement party, one for our laundry 'room' and one for us! 

{Fun. Simple. & Free}

a simple can of paint

A simple can of paint can do wonders to a room:: here was our guest bathroom before: 

{plus a few paint samples on the wall}

 All of the decorations I had in there were just things that I had when we first moved in! I was ready for a small make over in that department too! 

And the after....ahhhh COLOR.... so much better!!! 

We used a high gloss paint in here. I normally dont like gloss, but thought it would look nice and be a fun change for the bathroom! 

I used some other things I had to decorate with for now...soon there will be a lot of baby stuff in the bathroom I am guessing :)

Facelift for kitchen cabinets!

So literally before we even fully finished the kitchen bar, i was already begging John to let us start painting the poop brown cabinets. It didn't take long for him to get on board...he just needed a few weeks to recover from the major project! 

So we started! We thought it would be a much easier project if we stayed organized so we started with pictures of what was in each cabinet  - then emptied them all out! 

Then we labeled each drawer and cabinet door with a number and then put the same number inside the cabinet so that we would remember where each one went! We also put bowls in each cabinet with the hardware from that door so that it all stayed organized! 

We did a quick easy sand down and then went on the primer! We asked Lowes to add in some black to the primer so that at least we would have a little less coverage to do with the dark paint! 

We chose to leave the insides of the cabinets the brown color, such a time saver and it doesn't bother me at all to have the insides different! A big tip we learned was using foam brushes!!! Foam rollers and foam brushes kept the cabinets from having any brush marks! The color is Valspar 'Lincoln Cottage Black'- Satin finish!

Prep work! 

And then the paint went on....this took some time but the patience was well worth it! I love the color we chose and was so thankful for the organization we had put in at the beginning..made the 'put it all back together' go much faster! 

Rocking Chair

Talk about a deal:: $5 rocking chair! 

I found this in Canton and because the lady had never finished painting it, she let me have it for $5.00! 

Not that I would have wanted it pink anyways, but every home needs a rocking chair on the front porch!

I had just enough paint left over from our bedroom to change this pink not so lovely rocking chair into a simple beauty! Now time for some iced coffee and good book! (And maybe a little OFF!)

A lovely bar!

When we first saw this house, we loved everything about it, except the fact that the kitchen was very closed off! We always said maybe someday we would open up that space....but that day happened much sooner than we had ever dreamed! 

So this was the view from the dining room into the kitchen before....

And this was the kitchen wall that backed up the the dining room....

With the help of a good friend, my husband began the demolition work....after a lot of time spent 'prepping' so that our entire house did not fill with dust (which I greatly appreciated!)

Then they built the skeleton of our bar! 

I got drug into Ikea to find this butcher block...let me tell you, I had a full on panic attack. I just really don't like that store and feeling trapped in it...but look how beautiful the butcher block bar is going to be :) and super thankful for my sweet husband who calmly and quickly got us out of there! 

I wouldn't say this project was simple...but it sure is lovely! Lots of detail work at the end of the project took a lot longer than we had expected! 

But here is the final result.....

 One of my favorite parts was the open cabinet that they built at the end!!

 Our house feels so much more open now and we use the bar all the time!!! 

Next project - painting the cabinets! Now that they are exposed for the whole house to see, the poop brown cabinets have got to go - darn! Never really cared for them anyways!!!!! 

{and here is that project}