French Provincial Hutch Redo

As a mother of two young boys, there is no down time.  And if there is, it is filled with a to-do list about ten miles long- and that is fine- it's the way it will be for awhile!

Ummm.... Having your gall bladder out should come with a prescription of pain meds and a prescription for a nanny/ maid/ chauffeur!

Clearly I was in a panic on multiple levels- but with the help from some dear friends and my amazing hubs we pulled it off.  Minus one gall bladder and a few days of work for him we pushed through and even found a bright spot in the middle of it all!

That bright spot was found on Craigslist and picked up by my hubs and a sweet neighbor for me on Valentine's Day- and much to my hubs delight, I was pleased as punch to have this be my gift:)

Now I've said it before, and I'll say it again- natural wood is gorgeous and it was on her too- but didn't match my dining room set- so I knew I would paint it- just wasn't sure what color.  The adventurous side of me thought red- the boring side of me thought classic white.

I even did a facebook poll to get some help in deciding- Red actually won out but was vetoed based on the fact that the room is small and the red would completely take over! and it would be easy to paint white and then decide to go red- rather that going red and deciding I should have done white.

So Annie Sloan Chalk paint was the winner- no sanding or priming- love that! gave two coats and then distressed the edges and some of the details and then instead of waxing over it I did a Minwax water based poly that goes on easy and clear.

I decided it would be just a tad too boring for me if the inside was just plain though- so I went ahead and used a bamboo looking stencil and the navy paint that is on the walls in there already and just slopped it on!

I wasn't going for a perfect look- just wanted some interest and I think it accomplished that!  Adding my pretties inside was the fun part- just some things that have had a lack of safe display space in my house (two boys don't forget!) and then I was all done!

I should mention that I did not paint this for several weeks until I had recovered from my surgery- I am super mom, but not that super!

You are getting a small sneak peak at my dining room in this pic as well that has been overhauled and you will see soon:)

Hope you are having a wonderful day!
B:)

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Frame Wreath

This next project I did awhile ago and actually have had it hanging for most of the fall- and it makes me happy every time I pass by it!
I saw it on Pinterest and with my love of all things photos it seemed like fun!
You can click here for link to inspiration.

And here is what I did!

 I started with an oval twig wreath and bought about 20 mini frames from Hobby Lobby (50% off) oh and a couple sparklier ones from Pier 1- I then arranged them on the wreath to get an idea of how many vertical and horizontal pics I would need.  Then I printed out black/white copies just on regular paper of all of my fave pics.

I changed mine up a little bit in that I got an oval instead of a circle twig wreath to make it a bit easier to hang the pictures on.

After that I took each frame and removed the stand on the back, which leaves a little metal piece that you can easily put a floral wire through to attach it to the wreath.  A bit time consuming but worth it!
After I had finished attaching all of the pics I got some burlap and fun ribbon to hang it- but when I was looking for the perfect spot- I decided to try it directly on top of a magnolia wreath I had hanging in my entry and really like it with the green popping out behind.  Happy Accident!
So here she is in all her glory- and I really did just print out the pics on regular printer paper and you really can't tell when they are that small- I just changed the option in printing to be a 3x3 and it was that simple!

Hope you are all having fun getting ready for the holidays! I think a fun Christmas bow will be all this needs to transition right over!
B:)


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and Beneath My Heart

I Did Something I Pinned on Pinterest!!

It's worthy of noting when I actually do something that I saw on Pinterest because let's face it... most of it I just think about doing but don't.
But drumroll please... I did TWO things!
The first is super simple and unfortunately I can't find a viable link back to the inspiration- but it took me all of 10 minutes and made a pretty big impact- i.e.- easy+big impact=my favorite:)
I went to the Motherland Hobby Lobby and bought two packs of mini circle mirrors...

and a pack of ornament ribbon hangers (all 50% off thank you very much)...

I then got out my glue gun and glued a ribbon in between two mirrors. Done. The End.

The idea is to hang them all over your tree and they reflect the lights a ton and they really do! I don't really have a before- but even during the day it makes it shiny and sparkle more-

Stay tuned for the next Pinteresting thing I did soon!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
B:)

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Foil on Furniture...seriously.

So while talking to one of my fabulously creative friends whom I have a love/ hate relationship with (love her ideas- hate her for inspiring me to do crazy things and finding good bargains before me) I was introduced to the idea of putting tin foil on furniture.  Yes, you read that right- mod podging foil on furniture.  The word sketchy instantly came to mind and I had to see pictures immediately and then had to see it in person as well! And a believer I became!
Now this one sat in my head for awhile- I was itching to try it but didn't have anything to try it on.  Until one day I was working in my office and while completely focusing on the task at hand I started mentally redoing my office.  It is a combination of a lot of black furniture... blah.  Now all of the furniture is nice and functional so that does not equal me getting anything new in there- but what if we could repurpose some of it.... and the wheels started turning! Or as the hubs might refer to it... chaos started happening.... whatev.
The desk.  It's a nice desk and when I tell you where I got it you are probably going to have some pretty strong reactions to me touching it but I decided I knew what was best... not ahem... Pottery Barn.
Here she is...

Yes, that's right... but we bought it as a floor model and it had dings in it already so I didn't feel as bad doing my own thing to it- and we've had it for like five years so that's a long time for me not to mess with something- so all of my rationalizations added up and I ran off to Walmart for some tin foil!

My lovely friend gave me some tips:
Tear your pieces before you start so that you can just keep on going
Crumple some pieces up and then carefully smooth out to have some interest in the foil
Prepare to be covered in Mod Podge
Overlap each piece of foil
This isn't supposed to look perfect and smooth so don't kill yourself over any one piece

Now this isn't meant to be done on a highly used piece of furniture- it isn't fragile but you would want to be a bit more careful with it- which is why I decided not to do the top of the desk- just the base.
Once I was done with the foil and peeling off the mod podge from my hands- I started rubbing a thin layer of dark stain and then wiping it off almost immediately which gave it a darker gold/silver look.
I then brushed on a light layer of Minwax water based poly.
I also spray painted the hardware a soft gold for more contrast because it was just a silver before.
Best tip I can give for painting hardware is to put them out on paper plates or a big piece of cardboard and put the screws directly into it so you can spray them upright.

I was too impatient to completely clean off my desk and do an amazing photo shoot so.... tada.... my version of industrial chic!

Before you get too critical- I am going to take better photos of it when the whole office is done later but  it really doesn't photograph well- hard to see the depth of it.  But, I love it- so much more interesting than all the black- and it is giving me some more inspiration for the room but you will just have to wait and see...

Have a great one!
B:)

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and

Beneath My Heart 

What Happened? Craigslist Happened... Again!

Now some of you may think that I ignore my children and search Craigslist day and night... some of you might be right... but only if there is a real furniture emergency in our house... or someone else's house... anyway- I love my kids alright?!

That empty nook in my family room corner had been bugging me for some time- and I finally found this inspiration picture in Pottery Barn Wall Decor Ideas (sorry, won't let me link) that got the wheels turning for me.

I don't have that much space there but I liked the idea of having a tall dresser that would be seen over my chair and that could be a pop of color for fun.  So I put my little fingers to work on Craigslist and found this little beauty for $40! Really great accents and even nice hardware (sorry, got excited and forgot to take pics before I started!)

I actually liked the natural wood and I hate to paint furniture when it's so pretty already- but it wasn't going to match any of the other wood in our house and I wanted it to look like it was supposed to be different.

Now you may remember that I pulled my back about a month ago- this was during that time- and I had just gotten this baby and was itching to get it all done! So with frustration setting in I decided to do something I have never done before.... ok, well that is an exaggeration, I have done it before, but not on a big piece of furniture.... I spray painted it!! I went and bought some spray Zinsser to prime it and then went to town with the most gorgeous color of teal/blue you have ever seen! It was gorgeous- I almost shed a tear!!

I was doing a happy dance to get her into place once she was dry (takes a bit longer to dry when you spray paint something that big- stays tacky for awhile) and when I put her in the corner.... I wanted to shed another tear... it's a dark corner.... and the blue just faded to black:(

She was virtually unnoticable!! how could this be?! All I could do was cuss and throw things around pick another color and repaint the whole dang thing.  And it took a bit of time and thought- but finally decided to do an Annie Sloan color- Duck Egg- and distress it some since it takes hits from the boys anyway.

So here she is in all her glory and pretty stinkin cute I have to say...

See- I told you I would share my triumphs and failures on here- and although beautiful- sometimes things just don't look the way you think they are going to.  And with that knowledge I always either keep my reciept or never spend so much that I will want to jump off the roof if I hate it and want to change it! Ha!


I hope you are all having a fantastic day- and not having to repaint anything!
B:)

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And I am Buffalo Checkaholic.

I may or may not have a problem... I am fairly obsessed with Buffalo Check pattern.  Bring it on- gingham, buffalo check- ribbon, fabric, clothes, furniture... you find it... send it to me... thanks.
Anyhoo... I found some gorgeous black and white and had to have it somewhere! Now I have been working behind your backs on my master bedroom- my financial advisor the hubs cleared some new side table purchases and a new headboard and it is finally starting to be a room I love.  I will share more of it soon- but once I was putting fabrics together I started considering a buffalo check pillow- but really, is a pillow enough when it comes to your biggest obsession?! I thought not!
So my small, boring accent pillow became a big, beautiful bench- yay! A bench, however, was not in my financial officer's approval... hmmm... thinking caps on.
I reminded the hubs about how awesome and smart I am when I dragged the old padded ottoman out of the garage that I had insisted on keeping for any ottoman related emergencies and decided it was going to become a bench.  (in case you were wondering, he did not confirm or deny this statement- but I take his silence as agreement)

Liked the size of it- but wanted it to be taller- so off to Lowes to find some new legs for this lady- at $4 a leg I was ready to go!

Now every once in awhile  a project gets started and I get a bit distracted or pulled in about 100 other directions- this one was unfortunately in this state for a couple of weeks before I just made myself get it done! Does this happen to anyone else?

But I finally screwed in the new legs and painted them some grey paint I had on hand and voila!

I did a quick staple of the fabric all the way around.  I always do the corners like I am wrapping a present and just make sure they all go in the same direction and then staple.  I have said this before but I will say it again- I use a cheapo $15 staple gun- no fancy pants one and it works just fine.

So- for about $35 I got my pretty new bench! yay- and you get a little sneak peak of the bedroom:)
Have you repurposed anything lately- it is so fun to look at things in new way!

Hope you are having a great day!
B:)

And in case you wondered- baskets and accent pillow are from Target


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